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Nepal Earthquake: Racing the Clock in Search for Survivors; Baltimore Protests Turned Violent; Aurora Theater Shooter Goes on Trial Monday.. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 26, 2015 - 18:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:48] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Six o'clock Eastern. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow, joining you live in New York.

And we begin with breaking news from overseas. The number of people dead and injured in the hours since the huge earthquake that hit Nepal is already staggering and it is expected to rise significantly.

The heart of the disaster is the city of 3 million people, Kathmandu. Almost 2,500 people are believed dead in Nepal, alone. More fatalities in India, China. Even people on the side of Mt. Everest were not safe.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HARLOW: That is what it felt like to be inside of this.

At least 17 climbers dead at the base camp when the earthquake triggered massive avalanches. It is the start of climbing season there. About 1,000 people were on the mountain when it started to shake.

The initial earthquake was enormous. It measured a 7.8 magnitude and throughout the night and today, survivors have reported feeling more very powerful aftershocks.

Our team has just arrived in Nepal. CNN's Sumnina Udas joins me now from the capital of Kathmandu where it's before 4:00 in the morning.

Sumnina, if you can hear me, what are you seeing, what are your first impressions on the ground there?

SUMNINA UDAS, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Poppy, it seems as complete despair here. Outside the airport, there are so many people, each with a very different story. Some are just waiting for their luggage. They've been waiting for hours (AUDIO GAP). And they leave (AUDIO GAP)

They can't leave the airport because there are no taxis. They have no means to leave this area. Outside, further outside the airport, there's a makeshift shelter of

sorts, the area where families come to meet (AUDIO GAP) arrive in that part. This has been turned into a makeshift (AUDIO GAP) many surrounding villages completely lost their homes. They have nowhere else to go.

I mean, we spoke to them, they said they came here (AUDIO GAP)

HARLOW: We just lost our Sumnina Udas on the ground. But what that does is that gives you a sense of what it's like there, even her cell phone connection to us was not strong enough to last. You can imagine what the search and rescue teams are going through.

As soon as we get her reconnected we'll bring in more of her reporting on the ground. But it is absolutely devastating. As I said, more than 2,500 people in Nepal, alone, have lost they lives. That number expected to rise significantly.

And one of those lost when a wall of snow buried the route to Mt. Everest, Google executive Dan Fredinburg. He was an avid climber, self-described adventurer.

Earlier, Laurie Segall and I spoke with his girlfriend and his best friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY ARENSON, BOYFRIEND KILLED IN AVALANCHE ON MT. EVEREST: Just by making the choices that he made, I think it was always unintentional but he had this way of making people around him just feel special, without even trying. And make people feel like they could accomplish anything that they wanted, and that, you know, they hadn't accomplished enough, that there was more that they could do and there was more that they could be because every single person around him was able to feel special and amazing.

And he's brought out the best version in me and I'd say he's brought out the best version in norm and everyone around him is just -- he constantly makes you want to be the best version of yourself and that's without trying. That's just by the actions that he would take, the choices that he would make. So, he truly lived by doing and by example. And it's part of who he was.

It's what made him happy. He wanted to be back there after the devastation of the year before and making those choices and saying I wanted -- the choices I make I'm making because these are the things that make me happy, make me feel complete.

[18:05:04] That's truly inspiring, and truly contagious. I mean, I'd say it is the one thing I will take away from knowing him is that just happiness is important and that's what he strived for.

MICHAEL NORTH, FRIEND KILLED IN AVALANCHE ON MT. EVEREST: These are Nepalese prayer scarves that Dan gave us before he left, and it's part of a ceremony to give people safe passage on the mountain. And today, we're wearing them to honor Dan, and his passage that he's going through right now.

ARENSON: I'd say to honor everybody in Nepal that's experiencing loss and devastation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Our thoughts with them and all of the families who have lost people they love in this tragic earthquake.

With me right now on CNN is John Wood, he's the founder of Room to Read, focuses on educating kids around the world. He's also a good friend of mine, and I've worked with the organization.

And the reason why I called you and wanted you to come on today is because I remember the story, 1998, you quit Microsoft as an executive, you go to Nepal with a sack of hundreds of books and that then becomes this global charity, Room to Read.

So, this story of the essence of it is Nepal.

JOHN WOOD, FOUNDER, ROOM TO READ: Yes, we started in Nepal. We're now working in almost 20,000 communities around the world to get kids literate, make sure girls also go to school because girls are often left behind. Nepal is the country of our birth.

So, it's a difficult day for us at Room to Read because we have over 100 employees in Nepal. We know some of them have lost family members. We know some of them are sleeping in their vehicles because they're afraid to be back in their homes. So, it's been a tough 48 hours for our whole team own our hearts just go out to the people of Nepal.

HARLOW: Eleven hundred schools and libraries you have in Nepal.

WOOD: Yes, we've opened 1,100 schools in Nepal and about 3,700 libraries. We have about a quarter of those schools and nearly half those libraries are in places in the quake zone. It will be difficult the next few weeks as we assess what happened. A lot of these communities are off the grade we don't know what's happened.

HARLOW: Well, that's on of the point you made earlier that's so important, is this number of 2,500 deaths in Nepal, you don't think that's close because we've not heard from the rural parts.

WOOD: Yes, for viewers who have been Nepal, it's a country where be most of the communities aren't on a road. It might be a two or three- day walk down a donkey path or yak path. They don't have telecommunications, as you saw with your correspondent. Even on a good day communications are lacking especially in the rural areas and a majority of the Nepalese people live in the rural area.

So, my gut feel is the numbers will get much worse over time. These communities from which there is no news, I don't think that's no news is good news. My fear is that no news is bad news.

HARLOW: You've taken long trips to Nepal, long extended periods of time where you've been working on the ground with your team there. What can you tell us about the infrastructure? Because I keep thinking back to Haiti and the reason why so much collapsed is because of the way it was built.

WOOD: Yes. And Nepal is somewhat similar in many ways. When people are poor living on a dollar a day or two dollars a day, when they build a house, they just grab whatever building materials they can find. It might be boulders, might be timber, might be a tree branch. It might be just rocks. It might be some bricks they have lying around. But they may not even have cement or high quality cement.

So, a lot of the construction in Nepal unfortunately is suboptimal. Our schools we built, we have worked to make sure they are set up for reinforced concrete, that we work with groups that help us to figure out how do you make these structures earthquake proof? When earthquakes this strong hit --

HARLOW: Never know.

WOOD: Just you never know. The fear is there's going to be a lot of rebuilding that will need to be done.

HARLOW: What about your staff, your teams on the ground? I mean, can you reach all of them?

WOOD: Thankfully, we've reached some of them. Most are accounted for. Some lost very close family members. So, our hearts go out to those staff members. Most are accounted for.

They are ready for action. Our staff is already talking about going out to the rural areas once things stabilize to figure out what's happening. We know from the post-tsunami experience we had in Sri Lanka, that there's going to need to be a lot of rebuilding done of these communities, especially their schools.

HARLOW: So, that's an important point. After the immediate search and rescue and saving livings were the kids. I mean, you work with the kids.

WOOD: Yes.

HARLOW: What do the kids need the most once they have hopefully their parents with them, once they have enough food and shelter? What do they need to get back to that sense of somewhat normalcy?

WOOD: Well, as you remember when we talked about the tsunami when we worked in Sri Lanka, we stayed out of the way because there's a need to get immediate aid in. But after that, look at rebuilding, redevelopment. For children to have a sense of normalcy, what does normalcy look like? I mean, they do have a school with a functioning library, well-trained teachers who are showing up to welcome them. Some of the happiest moments I experienced post-tsunami in Sri Lanka, was seeing schools rebuilt, hope that was returning.

So, without wanting to get too far ahead of ourselves, our team at Room to Read is already planning to go out and try to figure out what can we do to help to rebuild schools, rebuild lives? We have some investors getting behind us to say they'll be with us as we go. We don't know what the situation is going to be.

HARLOW: Yes.

[18:10:00] WOOD: But I can tell you from having made several trips to Nepal, there's going to be a lot of rebuilding and reconstruction not just on homes but on things like schools and libraries so kids will have we have a return to better life.

HARLOW: John Wood, I'm so sorry for the loss that your colleagues have felt losing some of their family members. I know.

Thank you for talking to us. A difficult time for everyone. If you want to help, you can go to roomtoread.org/nepalearthquake. That's John's organization.

You should also go here, CNN.com/impact. A lot of different ways you can help right there. You can help the victims of this tragic, tragic earthquake.

For the loved ones, there are very few things worse than not knowing whether a family member is alive or dead. Coming up next, we're going to show you how companies are helping to reach out and helping to reunite people with their loved ones in this disaster zone. That's next.

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HARLOW: The people of Nepal are trying to cope with the devastation of a deadly earthquake and a series of avalanches that followed. But amongst the tragedy of more than 2,500 people who have died, there are some stories of survival. Some miraculous stories of men, women, and children pulled alive from the rubble. Just like this young man, countless others still trying to find their loved ones.

Laurie Segall is with me from CNN Money, because a lot of tech companies here in the United States have been instrumental in terms of the people being able to know whether their loved one is even alive.

[18:15:05] LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Yes, at a time like this everyone wants to know, are you OK, not OK? Everyone needs information.

There are a couple tools that these tech companies have launched. Facebook have launched something called safety check. This is a really interesting one. And, actually, if you're in the area, if you're in Nepal, you'll get a Facebook alert. It will say, are you OK? You can check in and say, I'm safe or I'M not safe. Or you don't check in.

HARLOW: It just knows you're there from the geolocation.

SEGALL: It knows there via geolocation.

So, I actually went to this, I was looking at it and I saw three of my friends were actually in the area and had checked in as safe. I was like, I didn't know they were there. So, it's such a powerful tool. It shows the power of social media during times like this.

Another one, Google has just announced Google -- their Google crisis response team. They announced something called People Finder. This is kind of this crowd sourcing tool, right? An emergency worker going on the ground can say I have information about someone, they can say, you know, I am looking for certain information about --

HARLOW: How do they get to that page?

SEGALL: All you have to do, it's very, very easy. Find it pretty easily on Google. Type it in.

HARLOW: Person finder.

SEGALL: Yes, it will take you right there. Put in your name, see if there's any information about them.

So, it's just a way for you to say, hey, I know that something's happened. Another app called Viber, a lot of international folks use Viber a lot, just like they would use -- they actually announced that they're planning to announce they'll have free inbound calls to Nepal but they're allowing quake victims to get free international calls right now.

You really see in times like this a lot of tech companies saying, hey, we have a responsibility to help in any way we possibly can because right now, it's so difficult for people on the ground to communicate, Poppy.

HARLOW: I know earlier we spoke with, you know, two, a young man who lost his best friend, Dan Fredinburg and Dan Fredinburg's girlfriend, they were on the program last hour.

He was a Google executive. I know Google is really stepping up donating, what, $1 million?

SEGALL: Yes, they're donating money and asking people to match this. Look, these tech companies, these are the guys that have the money right now. So, for them to kind of take a step forward and put themselves out there and say, hey, please donate, that's always a good thing.

Even, you know, as Dan's girlfriend was saying they even put up a crowd funding page and they're asking people to fund. So, you know, at a time like this, every cent counts and also being able to communicate in any way you can is so, so important.

HARLOW: Laurie, thank you so much.

Laurie did a remarkable interview with those two individuals. Go to CNNmoney.com. It's there on the home page now. You can see that. And also, go to CNN.com/impact to find out ways -- other ways that you can help.

Thanks, Laurie. I appreciate it.

Rescuing the victims of this disaster has been a huge challenge. A huge challenge for the search teams on the ground. The weather there now is making it even harder. We're going to have more on the disaster and whether survives are vulnerable to more earthquakes, next.

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[18:21:35] HARLOW: Anthony Bourdain is back with a new episode of "PARTS UNKNOWN." His first stop, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN is South Korea. Before that, 7:00 Eastern, see which episode your fellow voters chose as their favorite. That all starts tonight right here on CNN.

Now to our top, back to our top story. Powerful aftershocks continuing to frighten people in Nepal following the country's worst earthquake in 80 years. As if it weren't bad enough, crews digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors will have to continue in really, really rough weather. The forecast is calling for heavy rain and lightning.

CNN meteorologist Tom Sater is standing by for us.

Tom, how bad is it going to get?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Weather-wise, it's about 4:00 in the morning and it's clear right now, but last evening, it came down heavy with the lightning and there's more on the way. We know from the past, though, Poppy, that sometimes if there are victims that are trapped, some rain can sustain their life if they have some air. That's where the teams from around the world now are heading in that direction to try to do what they can with search dogs and search crews.

If you look at what we're watching now, hundreds of thousands are out in the Kathmandu Valley. That means in the elements. They grabbed what they can. These tarps are not going to sustain winds that are 60 or 70 miles per hour with thunderstorms in the forecast the next couple of days.

Here is the satellite picture. If you notice, we're going to get in a little bit closer. We have fatalities in China. We have them in northern India, Bangladesh as well. Most have been right here in the Kathmandu Valley.

Notice Mt. Everest, that's another complete story. The weather there is bad. This is going to be an unfolding tragedy as there are hundreds on the mountain there.

But again, it looks like it's clear. We've got a window. At midnight hour last night once the thunderstorm ended, we were able to see the first of five flights land with aid. But the window is going to close during the afternoon. It looks like during the morning hours, unfortunately at night when it's dark, that's our best chance to actually get in. Of course, they have no power, no running water -- 95 percent of

Kathmandu is without water. That means the airport as well, limited air traffic control. So, they didn't want to land at night without power with a rain storm. But that's what we've been watching.

Another side of the story, we've had 50 aftershocks and they have been pretty strong. Two at a 6.0, one at a 6.7 which was in the last 24 hours.

This girl you see here is on a third-story building. They're going in when they can, but the fear obviously is with them that more aftershocks are going to happen. That's the mystery, Poppy.

We're not sure how much energy is still locked into the earth under the earth's crust. Will we have another? And that's a big factor right now. Not only Kathmandu, but what's going on and what will unveil itself on Mt. Everest?

HARLOW: And that's why 50, you know -- as you said, there have been 50 aftershocks, Tom, that's why so many of these people are literally sleeping outside because they don't want to be in unstable structures if there's another aftershock.

Tom, thank you so much on the reporting. Keep us posted on what you hear as it develops there.

Also, just how difficult is it to carry out search and rescue operations in the middle of a disaster like this that we're witnessing? We're going to discuss the challenges ahead.

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[18:27:54] HARLOW: More survivors rescued, pulled from crumbled buildings after a huge and deadly earthquake.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

HARLOW: This is Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, the center of Saturday's tragic earthquake is just a few miles from there. The number of people killed has now reached about 2,500. Most of them right in Nepal.

That number will very likely rise when those search and rescue teams get started again as the sun comes up.

The earthquake and aftershocks rattle the world's highest mountain. We're talking about Mt. Everest, where about 1,000 climbers were at various base camps when the earthquake hit and triggered enormous avalanches.

At least 17 people we know thus far have been killed on Mt. Everest. In Nepal, time is of the essence. Every single hour that passes is another hour gone for these search and rescue teams to try to find people alive in the rubble.

Let me bring in Lieutenant Colonel James Reese. He's a former U.S. Army Delta Force commander. Also, he's our CNN global affairs analyst.

Thank you for being with me.

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET.), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: You've been through search and rescue efforts in tragedy zones just like this one. We just heard from our Tom Sater, there have been 50 aftershocks.

REESE: Right.

HARLOW: And 95 percent of Kathmandu is without power.

How much harder does that make it when you don't have power?

REESE: Yes, makes it a lot more difficult without the power. It really does. But these search and rescue teams will come in, they'll have, you know, generators coming in.

The U.S. Army has got -- or the military has got a C-17 flying with a USAID team. They'll have, you know, portable generators that will be able to bring power. The problem is then, is how some type of equipment to get those larger generators to the --

HARLOW: Where it needs to be.

REESE: Where it's going to be.

HARLOW: And we know some of the regions that were struck because this was so widespread -- I mean, people 200 miles away in India, China felt this and there were deaths in India and China. There aren't even roads accessing some of these communities. They're completely cut off.

REESE: Correct. That's why the Nepal government is asking for, if you'll see, they're asking for a lot of heavy equipment. So, India is trying to get a lot of heavy equipment in there to help clear these roads, take up, you know, pick up some of these mass elements of concrete.

[18:30:01] That once they lift those pieces up, a lot of times these pockets of safety that people were able to hold in and stay, and that's so you don't want to call the search and rescue too early because people will be there.

HARLOW: Do you think anything has been learned from what happened in Haiti in terms of all of the international aid went to Haiti, where it was effective, where it wasn't effective?

REESE: Yes, well, one thing you always have to have -- there's got to be what we call unity of command, unity of effort. One person in charge making sure all this coordination's coming in.

HARLOW: And look, for our viewers, just look at this photo. This came to us today. This is a photo of a man completely buried in the rubble. Search and rescue teams able to find him alive and pull him out. But that shows what we're dealing with and how just close life and death are at that moment.

REESE: It is. I mean, that's intestinal fortitude right there. That man wants to live and he's going to live and those people are out there trying to find him.

HARLOW: A warning to people who want to help. What can they do from afar?

REESE: Sure. Well, the best thing to anyone, you and I, can get online tonight when we go home and give some type of cash donation to help all these agencies because they need the money. They just don't do this for free. The great volunteers that are out there. But stay away from these instant pop-ups you see. Go to the basics. Go the American Red Cross. Go to Samaritans Purse. Go to UNICEF.

You know, these -- they've been around for years. Stay away from the posers because you'll lose your money.

HARLOW: And you'll always see that in the wake of tragedy you do have some of these frauds that pop up.

REESE: It's unfortunate, but it does.

HARLOW: Colonel Reese, thanks so much.

You can also go to CNN.com/impact. There's a whole list of ways there that you can help. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back in just a minute.

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[18:35:01] HARLOW: In Baltimore, 25-year-old Freddie Gray will be laid to rest tomorrow but the city itself is far from restful. At least 35 people were arrested. Six officers were injured Saturday when a peaceful protest march suddenly turned into something very different. It turned ugly. Baseball fans at nearby Camden Yards were warned to stay in the stadium as downtown streets teemed with unrest and looting.

The turmoil is over Gray's death one week ago. His family says that his voice box was crushed, his neck broken while he was in police custody. Exactly how that happened is the subject of an internal police investigation.

Our Miguel Marquez has been on this story from the beginning and has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Protests became violent some two weeks after Freddie Gray was arrested in this west Baltimore neighborhood. The worst of it came after the official protests on Saturday. That evening, focusing on Camden Yards, the baseball stadium. We were at the gates with protesters as they moved from city hall to

Camden Yards, confronting police who had gathered there behind barricades. Several police officers and their cars got stuck in a large throng of protesters who were yelling at them. They were becoming more and more aggressive toward the police. The police then backed off, pulling their cars out and finally begin to get reinforcements in there. That's when the scuffles really got under way.

Once police and the protesters were separated there on Howard Street right near Pratts there were several police cars parked along Howard Street that the protesters just had their way with, busting out windows, the lights, opening the trunks. And at one point one of the protesters picked up a police hat from out of the patrol car, put it on his head, standing on the patrol car and the crowd went wild.

It was after that incident that things got really tense. The police officers coming at the protesters, very rapidly at first, all the way up Howard Street, and then they formed up a line all in their riot gear, backed up by horses as well. The police in helmets and shields and batons, and they would then force the crowd back in small bits, saying move back, move back. It was about as tense as it got.

Earlier in the day, several thousand protesters may have been angry, but they were peaceful. They were chanting, they will fight for Freddie Gray. They shut down streets around town.

The feeling in this neighborhood since Saturday night and that violence has changed. Everybody here wants to disassociate themselves with that violence. I did for the record see some of the individuals that I know from the neighborhood putting themselves between more angry protesters and police, telling the protesters to go home, stop, this is not what Freddie wanted. It didn't quite work out that way.

People say it could have been worse which certainly it could have been. But people feel differently about it in the neighborhood right now. I think it's taken on a greater seriousness for this neighborhood and for Baltimore.

Right now they just want to bury Freddie Gray, get on with their lives and hope that there is justice down the road.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Miguel Marquez, thank you for that.

Miguel is going to stay on that story for us in Baltimore. We're going to talk more about it now and where everything stands with our legal panel, attorney and CNN legal analyst, Mel Robins is with me in Boston. Here with me here in New York, HLN legal analyst and defense attorney Joey Jackson. Also CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Danny Cevallos.

Guys, thanks for being here. I appreciate it.

Mel, let me start with you. Look, we don't know a lot about what these officers, the six officers that arrested Freddie Gray and put him in the back of that transport van. What they're saying, five of them have given statements. The sixth has invoked his right not to give a statement. How significant do you think that is?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, I think it is very significant. And one of the things that's interesting about this is that, you know, it's very important that everybody not rush to conclusions as we saw happen in the Michael Brown incident. And, you know, ultimately the grand jury determined that the officer was justified.

Now look, we've got Freddie Gray's memorial service tomorrow. Clearly something horrible went wrong here. And the question is, and I think what we're going to see everybody focus on is you're going to see everyone focus on the stop and go ride-about in the van.

And we're also waiting, Poppy, remember, for more videotapes to come out, so I am certain that the police are probably circling the wagons. They're making sure that they're not putting too much out there yet until the investigation is complete because we have seen time and time again that officers say one thing immediately following.

They might say another thing, Poppy, when they fill out their reports about the incidents and then later on we see videotape come out like we did in the Tamir Rice case, like we did in the Eric Garner case, like we did in the South Carolina shooting, that seemed to conflict what the officers are saying. So I'm not surprised that one is lawyered up and others are being sparse with what they're saying.

[18:40:11] HARLOW: But one thing that we have heard is that on Friday, the police chief, Danny, came out and said, yes, we made a mistake and a big mistake was not giving Freddie Gray the medical attention that he asked for. We're going to address that in just a moment.

Now please listen in to a press conference held by the Baltimore mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, BALTIMORE: Offered their leadership and support during this very difficult time. I want to thank our host for this evening, Reverend Dr. Frank -- I have to say your full name, Frank Madison Reid III, Bethel AME Church. I want to thank Bishop Angel Nunez, the Bilingual Christian Church, Bishop Marcus Johnson, New Harvest Ministries, Reverend Dr. Todd Yeary, Douglas Memorial Church, Bishop Michael McDermott, Life Source International. Howard Henderson, Baltimore Urban League. Tessa Hill Aston, Baltimore NAACP.

I want to thank community leader, Mike -- Mark Washington, sorry, Mark. From the Coldstream Homestead Montebello Community.

I also want to thank other elected officials who are here. I know that Congressman Elijah Cummings will speak after me, but I also want to thank Senator Catherine Pugh who is here. This is her district. Sorry. Try to get better. State Senator Catherine Pugh, as well as Delegate Antonio Haynes. I want to thank Jerome Stephens for being here on behalf of Senator

Cardin. I want to also say that I spoke to Senator Mikulski shortly before coming here to this event who sends her regrets and also sends her support at this difficult time.

I want to take a moment to thank our Baltimore City Police Department as well as law enforcement officers from partner agencies around the state for their professionalism as they work to keep order in the city and facilitate a peaceful demonstration. I'd like to speak briefly about what we experienced yesterday.

Last night, we saw a small group of agitators turning what was otherwise a peaceful demonstration into violent disruptions downtown and in West Baltimore. Ultimately, about 34 people were arrested and unfortunately six Baltimore officers suffered minor injuries. Meanwhile, we saw multiple store fronts vandalized while other property was damaged along the downtown area.

As I said last night, this is something that is unacceptable to me, and it is something that is unacceptable to everyone who lives in and loves our city. I got so many calls and messages last night, this morning, from people who certainly express their frustrations and their grief about the tragic death of Mr. Freddie Gray but they wanted to also explain how heartbroken they were that our city was being vandalized by a small group of individuals who, as I said, turned what was, what has been all week a peaceful demonstration.

I have and I will continue to support the vast majority of the demonstrators who are exercising their right to peaceful protest. But we cannot and will not let a minority of incendiary individuals exploit the honorable intentions of those trying to exercise their rights. And I will not let those individuals put their own agenda ahead of our communities.

This is our city. These have been challenging days. And I know that we'll have more challenging days ahead. We will continue to work through a very public process, but I want to reiterate my commitment to our residents. To reiterate my commitment and to encourage our residents who wish to voice their opinion, their concerns, their frustration, even their anger, to remain peaceful.

From the days of our nation's earliest civil rights sit-ins, Baltimore has a long tradition of peaceful and respectful demonstrations. Earlier today, I released a statement with leaders of different faiths from our community to call on our citizens to honor that history. In my conversations with leaders from neighborhoods across the city, I have heard the exact same thing. And I know all of those who are gathered with us this evening echo those sentiments because at the end of the day, we are one Baltimore.

[18:45:10] We need to support peaceful demonstrations and continue to enforce in our communities that rioting, violence, and looting will not be tolerated in our city. Together, we can be one Baltimore and seek answers. As we seek justice. And as we seek peace.

Thank you. And before -- and before we open up to a few questions, I would like to turn it over for -- to a few of the leaders who are here with us this evening. First we will hear from Congressman Elijah Cummings. Then we will hear from community leader Mark Washington. Then we will hear from NAACP Baltimore President Tessa Hill Aston. Then we will hear from Bishop Clifford Johnson and then we'll close it out with our host, Reverend Reid.

HARLOW: You've just been listening to a press conference from Baltimore's mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Joined by Congressman Elijah Cummings as well as the state senator from Maryland, as well as a lot of faith-based leaders within the city. Condemning the violence that we saw take place last night. Noting it was just a minority of people. As you know, we saw thousands of peaceful protesters fill the streets of Baltimore yesterday and last night there were some that turned it violent.

She reiterated there were 34 arrests made, six police officers that had minor injuries and she had that is, quote, "unacceptable to me." She also said, "We are one Baltimore," and she said we cannot allow a minority of incendiary individuals to put their own agenda ahead of our city.

Back with me, my legal panel, Mel Robbins, Danny Cevallos, Joey Jackson.

Danny, to you, your reaction to how this mayor, this leader is handling this situation?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: We've seen it before. I mean, it's important to let the people know that this is a minority of people that are causing the problems and that the important thing is that the First Amendment, the right to protest, should be preserved.

I just have to go back to, you were talking about the potential liability before we went to the break.

HARLOW: Yes. Because -- and I'll just reiterate for our viewers if you're just joining us, the police chief there in Baltimore came out on Friday and said, yes, we made some mistakes, one big mistake was not giving 25-year-old Freddie Gray the medical attention he needed in a timely manner. Ultimately we know his spine was crushed and that he died. What does that do to the police force?

CEVALLOS: This a huge constitutional issue especially in Maryland. It's important to know that it's better for the police from a liability standpoint if Freddie Gray's injuries occur only after he's in the paddy wagon and not before as he's being arrested.

Here's why. The Fourth Amendment, search and seizure issues, only apply before and up to the moment of arrest. So for liability to attack, the actions must just be unreasonable. To a lesser burden. A lesser standard for a plaintiff. Once you're arrested, however, then constitutionally for some reason it shifts into the 14th Amendment. I'm not getting too wonky, but what you need to know is that once someone is arrested and they're an arrestee the plaintiff has to show that the cops were malicious, sadistic.

HARLOW: Really?

CEVALLOS: They went way beyond mere unreasonableness. So understand going forward, the police want these injuries to have happened from a liability standpoint after he's being transported and not before as he's being arrested.

HARLOW: Joey.

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: From a criminal perspective, it doesn't make a difference, though. A couple of things to note. First of all, it's so unfortunate. You see the mayor speak out, wanting peace and wanting calm in the community. But to have images like that of people being destructive, I think it detaches from the message. And the real message is --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Unfortunately, that's what you're going to see more of.

JACKSON: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Than the two weeks of peaceful protests.

JACKSON: And it's just a shame because, you know, look, people are concerned obviously because you want -- you want to be out there. You want to exercise your rights to First Amendment, freedom of speech. But you don't want it to generate into that. In any event, in terms of what Danny was speaking about, from a criminal perspective, in the event that the officers at all, and we'll find out, mishandled him, had a rough ride with him, did any of that and we don't know, but from a criminal prosecution perspective, it doesn't matter when they engaged in any criminality as to him, they'll be prosecuted for it.

Now in terms of a civil rights violation, certainly it matters, Poppy, because you have to demonstrate wickedness, evilness, ill will, spite. There has to be some intention for the police to violate his civil rights. We'll see what those --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: And I do want to get --

CEVALLOS: After he's an arrestee. Not before.

HARLOW: Good point. I do want to bring Mel back in here.

Because, Mel, Joey brought up this issue of a rough ride. What is that? That's a case where someone is purposefully given a rough ride, jostled around. We know he wasn't buckled in as they should have buckled him in. And actually this has happened -- I'm not saying it happened in this case, we don't know, but this has happened in Baltimore before. Two people have successfully sued the city and won, because they say they were paralyzed as a result of rough rides in the city of Baltimore.

[18:50:12] But isn't this a case of the officer's word? Because Freddie Gray isn't here to tell his story and there were no cameras in the back of that paddy wagon?

ROBBINS: Well, not necessarily, Poppy. And I'm not sure this is a case of a rough ride. He doesn't have a concussion. He has a crushed vocal box and a spinal cord injury that killed him. And I think one of the very critical moments in this case is going to be what happened at 8:46 a.m. because remember, you have the initial stop, you have the chase, you then have the arrest.

We see the video of that arrest where he's being dragged into the van. The police say he was speaking at that point in time but calling for medical attention. However, almost four minutes later, the van is stopped and he is pulled out of that van. He is put in leg shackles and there are several witnesses that are speaking to the press that say they witnessed him being beaten with batons at that second stop, Poppy.

So, you know, it goes more beyond a rough ride. There were several stops, second one where he was taken out and actually handled and so I think there's more video to come. There's certainly a lot more eyewitnesses and it's not just the police's word in this one because you've got multiple witnesses at multiple scenes -- Poppy.

JACKSON: In addition to the autopsy report, in addition to spinal experts, that will evaluate his injuries, Poppy, and those injuries will have to -- look, either it happened with intent and force and power, or it happened because he was bumped around the van. We don't know.

HARLOW: Right.

JACKSON: But the experts are going to be critical. And whatever police officers say has to be corroborated by the physical evidence.

HARLOW: And we know the family is doing their own autopsy as well. They wanted their own independent one as well.

Guys, thanks very much. Stick around. We're going to talk about another big case next. Because defense attorneys in the state of Colorado are trying to make the case that their client should not die.

We're talking about James Holmes and the 2012 mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, where 12 people were killed. More than 70 injured. We'll talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:59] HARLOW: After years of delays, the trial for the gunman in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater massacre will get under way tomorrow. James Holmes admits that he gunned down 12 people and injured 70 others back in 2012. This case, though, is really about, was he insane or not at the time? That is his defense strategy.

Let's bring in our legal panel to talk about it.

Mel, to you, when you look at all of the factors here, when you look at the fact that he went out and purchased the guns, that he went from the movie theater back out to his car to get them, back in, that he booby trapped, rigged his apartment with explosives, how hard is it going to be for them prove insanity?

ROBBINS: Well, you know, this is an interesting thing, Poppy, and one of the things I want to point out to all the viewers, a lot of people don't realize Colorado actually has a different legal standard than most states. In most states it's up to the defense to put up the proof. Usually by clear and convincing evidence or by compelling evidence that you were legally insane. So in Colorado, however, it's the prosecutor that has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were sane.

I do believe in this case, Poppy, based on all the reasons that you just listed that they will be able to prove that he knew what he was doing was wrong and that makes him sane, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. And to you, Danny, they have the death penalty.

CEVALLOS: They do. So it raises the question, insanity becomes a really important factor. Maybe the only factor. And in Colorado, Mel is absolutely right, the prosecution has the burden of proving sanity, not the other way around. It's not an affirmative defense in the sense that the defendant must prove his insanity, he must prove in Colorado, for example, that he lacked the culpable mental state or that didn't know right from wrong.

HARLOW: Right.

CEVALLOS: And it's important when we talk about insanity, knowing right from wrong is not whether you personally think something that you do is right or wrong. It's about being aware that --

HARLOW: Aware.

CEVALLOS: -- that society deems your conduct to be wrong. And again, in Colorado, the prosecution has the burden. So it leaves us wondering should the prosecution maybe have made a deal to take the death penalty off the table if insanity is a possibility?

JACKSON: Here's the problem with the death penalty in Colorado. Twofold. Number one, no one has been executed in Colorado in two decades, and since 1977 they've only executed 1 person.

Number two, Poppy, and that's this. From a very practical perspective in terms of the death penalty, the Supreme Court has said if you have a mental illness, you cannot be executed. I suspect that even if he doesn't establish his insanity, there will be appeals based upon his mental state that may get him into the view from the Supreme Court that he shouldn't be put to death. And so the -- you know, we know that the prosecution said, hey, we're not entering a plea deal with you, he's being held accountable. But the practical effect of putting him to death may be very difficult.

HARLOW: Mel, final word.

ROBBINS: I think Joey and Danny are exactly right. You know, it's an interesting twist, he's going to be found guilty on all counts, but because he does have a diagnosis, a severe one, it may have not allowed him to know right from wrong. And he'll be convicted. However, I agree with Joey, it might just cause enough of a reason to have these jurors not vote for the death penalty.

HARLOW: All right, guys, thank you very much. Again, this trial gets under way tomorrow morning after years and years of delays, the selection from about 9,000 potential jurors. We'll have full coverage for you here right on CNN.

Thanks so much for being with me tonight. We have a lot lined up for you here on CNN after this.

At 10:00 Eastern, CNN's newest series, "HIGH PROFITS" takes a look at the budding recreational marijuana industry in Colorado. And the complications that come with trying to grow that business.

Before that, "PARTS UNKNOWN" returns with an all new episode from South Korea. That is at 9:00 Eastern.

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