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Eddie Ray Routh's Lawyers Poised Him With Insanity Defense; Israeli Prime Minister's Upcoming Visit To Congress Raises Tensions Between White House and Congressional Leaders; Boston At A Loss For What To Do With Snow Piling Up On City Streets And Sidewalks

Aired February 17, 2015 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FLEMMING ROSE, CULTURE EDITOR, JYLLANDS-POSTEN: Why offend gratuitously? Why, in fact, we are -- I mean, I'm offended every day when I turn on my TV. So I think it's -- it's a dubious explanation and we should be more honest about why we're not publishing these images because they are relevant from a news point of view. I mean, they are the news. If I go back and talk a little bit about my own experience when newspapers in your country did not republish our cartoons in 2006, it gave the impression to people around the world that they were really, really offensive. And when people had a look at them, they came back to me and said oh it's just that.

So by not publishing, you were communicating the message that these images are so offensive that people cannot even look at them. And it's also an irony that no one has done as much to distribute these images around the world as the one that would like to destroy them.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Do you fear additional attacks with images like these out there?

ROSE: I didn't get your question?

BALDWIN: Do you fear additional attacks with images like these being published elsewhere?

ROSE: Of course I fear. I mean, I think everybody does. But I think, I mean, I think that the best way forward would be if the public space could be flooded with these images because then Muslims could calm down rather quickly like Christians did after having to live with blasphemy for decades and centuries but that's not going to happen.

But I'm just -- I'm just calling, you know, on my colleagues to be honest about their motives when they do not publish these images. When they are relevant of course. I don't think that one should just offend other people's religious sensibilities. But when there is a news worthy reason to do it, if we don't do it we should be honest about it and then have a debate about why we're not doing it.

BALDWIN: Some people would be disagree with you and I have seen people do such with tears in their eyes, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. And I appreciate you sharing yours.

Flemming Rose, his book is "the Tyranny of Silence," thank you so much, sir. I appreciate your time.

Coming up next, the recorded confession of the American sniper trial. What the accused killer said might be useful to the defense in the prosecution. Could it even provide an argument for self-defense? We'll explore that next.

And when you hear the name Patty Hearst, you might think of her kidnapping, perhaps you think of stock holms syndrome, but what about dog trainer? What Hearst is up to these days, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Minutes ago, the prosecution rest in the trial for the man charge of murdering American sniper, Chris Kyle. Lawyers for Eddie Ray Routh now poised him out with insanity defense, arguing their client did not know right from wrong when he shot Kyle and another man, shot and killed them at Texas gun range two years ago.

Today, jurors saw video of a very agitated Ralph squirming in his patrol car after these killing. And they heard from him as well. They heard from him in the form of this videotape confession to police, a string of comments that range from odd to apparently downright bizarre.

So we have CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin and Danny Cevallos with me to go through some of these confessions.

Let me -- I have to read this. Let me just read. Let's begin with this. This is what Routh said.

In his confession, I fled. I didn't know what else to do. My adrenaline was so high I didn't know what was right and what was wrong. Well I know what was right now. I left you, you know.

The officer says, you know what you did today was wrong? Do you understand that?

Routh, yes, sir.

So he apologizes. He admitted that he is wrong. How does that factor into his mind set?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This is all happening after the fact. What is really an issue is what is going on in his mind during the shooting. And I think that although these defenses are rarely successful, they're not even, you know, put forth most of the time, this case does have the makings of one of those cases where I believe a jury will believe that he suffered from tremendous mental illness and may have been -- and wasn't sane -- was legally insane at the time he committed these murders, Brooke. I haven't seen anything like this before. I mean, we're talking about someone who is clearly, clearly -- there's evidence that he is psychotic.

BALDWIN: Again, to your point that it wasn't during, do you agree with Sunny? Do you think jurors will --

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Completely disagree and here's why.

Texas has one of the most restrictive insanity tests in the entire country. It is second only to those states that don't have an insanity defense at all. And in this case you look at the skill of the investigators here. They ask them the specific question. They know the statute. They know what they are asking. Did you know right from wrong? Yes I did.

Now, the defense might say look, this is a medical determination. But look, in Texas the courts have said insanity is not strictly a medical determination. If it was, this would be decided in the hospital. It is decided by a jury. And for that reason, it is both a medical determination and a moral determination.

The jury is going to see evidence of number one that he fled which is that consciousness of guilt. And number two that he clearly knew what was right and what was wrong because he said so.

BALDWIN: What about this whole crazy bit about his soul? Routh said if he didn't take Kyle's soul Kyle would take his. His lawyer said this and I'm quoting you're entitled to use deadly force if you think that the other person is going to use deadly force against you.

HOSTIN: There you go. I mean, those are clearly not the statements of someone in their right mind. And when you look at this confession video and you look at the transcript, it's clear that his statements, Routh statements that he knew right from wrong came, you know, after having been interviewed for a long time.

And so, again, you know, when you look at the fact that even the victim in this case, Chris Kyle sends a text message to his wife saying or to the other person in the car saying this guy is nuts. The victim himself recognized that something was going on with this person at the time of the incident.

CEVALLOS: It's not whether he was nuts. It's whether he knew right from wrong. It is -- Texas has the simplest test in the world and where you have a defendant saying I know right from wrong, that is going to be quite a hill for this defense to climb.

BALDWIN: OK. Danny Cevallos and Sunny Hostin, thank you both.

HOSTIN: We will see.

BALDWIN: We'll see indeed. We'll keep watching it at Stevensville, Texas.

Meantime, Israeli's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Congress is raising tensions between the White House and congressional leaders. Congress invited the Israeli prime minister without checking with the president. But also keep in mind, Netanyahu said yes about checking with the White House.

Now CNN is asking Americans do you think it's right or do you think that is wrong? What you're saying coming up. Plus the place we are taking you to the place where snow, this is

fascinating to me, you know they have snow farms in Massachusetts? Like all this stuff gets hauled away to a snow farm. We will actually show you what happens to the stuff to make way for more snow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It's an invitation most Americans think wasn't handled properly. We're talking about the leader of Israel coming to address Congress in Washington next month. The CNN/ORC polls, these new numbers we have here, find 63 percent think it was wrong for House speaker John Boehner to invite Benjamin Netanyahu without first telling President Obama. And

I want you to take note of something else. The poll also found two- thirds of Americans prefer that the U.S. take no sides in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

I got CNN's chief Washington correspondent, anchor of "the LEAD," new winner of the CNN presidential anchor quiz show adding to your title there.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You didn't have money against me.

BALDWIN: Get it up there Tapper.

TAPPER: I'm assuming you didn't have money against me.

BALDWIN: I mean, I knew it was like you and Berman and --

TAPPER: You have money against me. You are betting on Berman.

BALDWIN: At the end of the day, you pulled it through.

TAPPER: That's fine.

BALDWIN: Congratulations.

TAPPER: That's fine.

BALDWIN: I know. When we talked about this whole Netanyahu invitation. I remember our take away was that Netanyahu didn't reach out to the administration as well and hey, say I'm going to accept this, right? So number one. Number two, with the poll results, do you think that would surprise Republicans to see how Americans feel?

TAPPER: Well first of all, we should know that Republicans dispute how the poll characterized what the Congress did. They say they did inform the White House. They didn't consult. That means they didn't seek permission, but they didn't tell them they were doing it. That's what the house Republicans say. You don't want to get into semantic thing here.

BALDWIN: Sounds like it is kind of semantic-ish.

TAPPER: I don't want to be anti-semantic. But, it is debate against Israel.

But the other thing that -- you point out this, the thing about the American people wanting to stay out of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, that is true. But we should also look at other polls that show time and again the American people express sympathy and identify with Israel and not with the Palestinian territories. The people of Israel and not with the Palestinians.

So it's not as though people don't feel like they have a stake in it. It's just a question of people, I think, not wanting the United States to get involved abroad.

BALDWIN: Yes.

TAPPER: That would be my take, anyway.

BALDWIN: Let's get your take on the DHS as well. The poll about the budget from the department of homeland security isn't well for Republicans. If there is a standoff over money and DHS has to shutdown, the survey found 53 percent would blame the Republicans, 30 percent would blame Obama, 13 percent say they're both at fault. How do you read the numbers?

TAPPER: Well, one thing that's interesting is that Senate Democrats are not in that list of who should be blamed and the Senate Democrats are not taking up the House Republicans bill. The House Republicans bill includes funding for department of homeland security but also takes away President Obama's executive actions. Strips them away.

Senate Democrats are just not even allowing a debate on that. So be that as it may, I think one lesson that Republicans have learned from the government shutdown is people might be mad. People might think it's a bad thing for parts of government to shutdown. At the end of the day, how much blow back is there really? Republican won seats in Congress a year after that shutdown. So I don't know how much blow back there can actually be.

BALDWIN: Are you gloating today at all?

TAPPER: I'm not a gloater.

BALDWIN: No?

TAPPER: I just -- I won. I don't have to gloat.

BALDWIN: I feel like this aura around you a little bit. You are not walking around with that, though.

TAPPER: What's upsetting to me is that you bet against me.

BALDWIN: Let's move past that. I didn't say I didn't bet on you. I just knew that it was you or Berman and it was sort of like a test between the two nerds. My favorite nerds and you, my dear, succeeded.

TAPPER: I just --

BALDWIN: I'm proud to share your oxygen at this moment.

TAPPER: As a general rule, don't bet against Jake Tapper.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Going forward as a lesson.

BALDWIN: Stay tuned for Jake.

TAPPER: All right.

BALDWIN: Let's move on to this. The Westminster dog show began its preliminaries last night, something we would not normally cover on this show. But it so happens one of the winner's owners is a name you probably haven't heard in a while.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here is rocket, New York City, New York, owned by Patricia Hearst-Shaw.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Yes. That's Patricia Hearst, the newspaper eras made famous when a radical gorilla group kidnapped had her in 1974. The rebel turned dog show enthusiast brought about flashbacks of those dramatic images in San Francisco. After her shits sue, Rocket, placed first in the toy category at the Westminster dog show.

She is the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper mogul and the inspiration for Orson Welles' citizen Kane. As a sophomore in college, the (INAUDIBLE) liberation army kidnapped her from her apartment and a year later she joined them taking on the name Tania. Surveillance cameras caught these now iconic images of her robbing a bank. After her capture, hers testified that she was brainwashed. Historians referenced her case as one of the most famous example of Stockholm syndrome where victims form a bond with their captors.

PATTY HEARST, KIDNAP VICTIM: The leader came to my group and said, your father has hired psychics to try to find you. So I don't want you to think about, you know, where you are and anything about this place. I mean, I realize I was trying not to think about even anything that could lead a psychic to me.

BALDWIN: The jury rejected that defense. Patty Hearst sentenced to seven years in prison for the robbery. But President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence after she served less than two years behind bars. And later she got a full pardon by President Bill Clinton.

HEARST: It will never go away, and, you know, certain things can bring it back like it's just happened.

BALDWIN: Hearst has tried her best to move on with her life starring in B-list movies and signing up for dog shows. She told "the Associated Press" last night, quote, "I guess people somehow imagine you don't evolve in your life. I have grown daughters and granddaughters and other things that normal people have." Her Shiatsu, Rocket, will join six other dogs tonight in the championship ring for best in show.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: There is so much snow in the northeast, it doesn't actually have a chance to melt before more snow comes sweeping through. But it has to go somewhere. And Ryan Young is there at the tip pity top of the snow melting at a snow farm. We'll talk to Ryan coming up next. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, as parts of the northeast deal with wave after wave of brutal winter weather, Boston has a problem, what to do with all the snow that is piling up on the city streets and the sidewalks. One answer, take it to a snow farm. Lots and lots of snow here. They're actually being trucked away to several areas where it's stored and then melted to make way for more snow.

We have Ryan Young. He is at one of those snow farms in Summerville, Massachusetts.

And Ryan, I couldn't believe just leaving Boston a couple of weeks ago. They were saying to me, it just goes to a snow farm. And I was like what? How does that work?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we found this snow farm. I got to tell you, we've seen trucks all day trying to bring more snow here. And guess what, they cannot bring it in here because it's already full.

Take a look at all the snow here. In fact, it's more than four football field of space here and it is all full to the top. And of course stacked more than 20 feet high. Look in this direction. It just goes on for a distance. They've been actually working on this for the last few hours trying to knock some of this out. How do they do that? Well, they start to melt it.

We'll show you some of the video that we've shot just in the last hour. There are two guys here who are actually using a forklift. They come here with a front loader, they take some snow, they will bring it over to this device, they drop it in and it melt it's down with a jet engine. It is a process that we've been watching for the last three or four hours or so. It is not that complicated but you got to think it is a lot of work just for two people. And there is more snow that is coming in this direction.

Look. So much snow has hit the ground here that right now they're paying people $30 an hour to try to clear the transportation lines so the subway system can work. We are going to come back here live and look at the mountain of snow. This something you have to climb to get up here, more than 25 feet in the air.

That's the front loader they're using to scoop the snow up, take it over to the machine and try to melt it down. But guess what, they're also running out of salt in the area because so much salt has been used on the roads, they're trying to truck it in as fast as they can because, guess what, more snow is falling.

BALDWIN: Ryan, you look like you're in this huge white abyss, this arctic tundra that is Summerville, Massachusetts. I mean, where does exactly, forgive me if I miss it, but where exactly does the melted snow go? Does it sip into the spoil and in to the ground often to -- I'm assuming not the Charles River. Where does it go?

YOUNG: Great question. So there's a drain that is nearby. And once it melts down and turns into water, it goes right into the drain. And once it go to the drain, hey, it's just like water and everything else. And then they come back, they clean the same street now and they re-salt that to make sure no one slips and slides in the intersection where they're working. So they do have a good system. But you can tell it's going to take months, months, to get rid of all of this.

BALDWIN: I bet you didn't realize you'd joining us here at CNN and having to pack your clamp-ones for climbing quite this mountain of snow in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.

Thank you so much, Ryan Young. And if I haven't said hello, welcome to the CNN family. It is great to have you onboard. Thank you so much in Massachusetts for us right now.

YOUNG: Appreciate it.

BALDWIN: And that does it for me here in New York. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We are going to send you a little early here to Jake Tapper. "THE LEAD" starts right now.