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Memorial Today for Two Slain Police Officers; Interview with Mayor Johnny Dupree; Awaiting Unarmed Teen's Death Report Findings; 57 Million at Risk for Severe Storms; SNL Pokes Fun at Drawing Prophet Muhammad; Defense Rests in Boston Bombing Trial. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 11, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:03] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And touchy topic. "SNL" taking on the draw Muhammad controversy. Did it cross the line?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Heartbreak in a small southern town. Hattiesburg, Mississippi, coming together today to remember two police officers gunned down over the weekend. That memorial service set for this afternoon.

Also today court appearances for the accused cop killers and two others accused of helping them afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Curtis, did you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir, I didn't do it. No, sir, I didn't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Obviously that's one of the suspects. One of the victims, Officer Benjamin Deen, 34 years old, the father of two children. Just a few years ago the department honored him as Officer of the Year. The other slain officer, a rookie. Liquori Tate was living his life- long dream as a police officer.

This morning we heard from his mother on "NEW DAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOULANDER ROSS, MOTHER OF OFFICER LIQUOR TATE: He always wanted to be a police officer since he was young. Playing with police cars and having Xbox games, and just having a protective spirit. That has always been one of his dreams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I want to take you live to Hattiesburg now and CNN's Alina Machado.

Good morning. ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Those four

suspects are expected to go before a judge this afternoon. They are facing a long list of charges connected to that shooting that left those two police officers dead.

Now I want to show you the pictures of the suspects. Two of them are charged with two counts of capital murder. 22-year-old Joanie Calloway is one. The other is 29-year-old Marvin Banks. He is also charged with grand theft auto. Police believe that he took one of the police vehicles as a getaway car. His younger brother, Curtis Banks, is also facing two counts of accessory after the fact of capital murder and the fourth suspects, Cornelius Clark, is charged with obstruction of justice.

Now at this point police here have not released many details in terms of what led to the actual shooting. What we know is that Officer Deen conducted the initial stop. It was a traffic stop. He called for backup. And that's when Officer Tate responded. What happened next in those moments right before the shooting we don't know but we definitely know that these two officers, their lives tragically lost in those moments.

Also today, we know that there's going to be a memorial service this afternoon to honor the lives of those two fallen officers -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alina Machado, reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

The murder of police officers will shake any community to its core but the heartbreak may be even more gut-wrenching in a small town like Hattiesburg. Listen to the family of Liquori Tate describe the extraordinary compassion shown to them when they arrived at the hospital and found out their officer child had not survived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNELL LONNIE ROSS, STEPFATHER OF OFFICER LIQUOR TATE: They took us in a room and when we got the news of course we fell out in grief. And it was amazing the police officers as well as staff and the mayor, they fell out with us in grief and grieved with us. It was really very emotional.

We walked through and saw the family of the other officer whose life was taken as well and we knew that this was just something much more serious than we -- we imagined before we walked into the hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now on the phone is Johnny Dupree, the Hattiesburg mayor who grieved with the family at the hospital.

Welcome, Mr. Mayor.

MAYOR JOHNNY DUPREE (D), HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Tell me what it was like in those moments at the hospital where you shared grief with the family.

DUPREE: It was the most difficult thing I think I've ever done. Not only doing it once but having to do it twice. They are fabulous families. Both families. You know, stronger than I thought that any family could be during this time when even though they knew that their loved ones were going out to protect and to serve people they don't even know. They're resilient.

Today you can call and they can talk -- you talk to Reverend Ross and I just heard him on the radio and it's the first time I've heard him speak about that night and how strong this family is and what kind of faith they have to be able to talk at this time.

COSTELLO: Mayor, do police know why these suspects allegedly opened fire on these officers?

DUPREE: Well, certainly, Carol, you know, we continue our investigation and the Department of Investigation along with other agencies are continuing that investigation. And, you know, we want to make sure that when we prosecute these individuals that we have a strong case and we have one that's not tainted by information getting out that should not be getting out.

[10:05:16] And so based on all that, Carol, we know -- I can only tell you so much and that's not one of the things that I can divulge. But we do know that there was a reason why Officer Deen called for backup and I'm sure all of that will be -- will come out at a time when we know that it will be used -- put to good use.

COSTELLO: Was there dash cam video?

DUPREE: Carol, I will again tell you that, you know, we're technology savvy here in Hattiesburg, even though we're not a really large city. But the kinds of things that I can share with you, in the end our Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has not allowed me to share much more than what we've already shared now. But I promise you, you know, at 3:00 today these individuals will be arraigned and maybe some of these things, some of the questions that you are asking may come out during that time.

But as you see, we have -- we have three suspects, I mean, within hours we had three suspects in hand, and many people thought that that was over but because we were diligent in our investigation and making sure the crime scene was pristine and make sure that we evaluated all the evidence, we were able to come up with a fourth individual.

We want to make sure we get everybody involved, want to make sure that we don't taint this investigation and make sure that when we bring them to justice that justice will be served.

COSTELLO: Mayor, some say it's open season on police officers right now because of the climate in the country. Do you agree?

DUPREE: Well, you know, we don't see that in Hattiesburg. You know, I hear that and I get that question, I've gotten that question I don't know how many times. And I try to share with people that I believe that the vast majority of police officers in cities are just like Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I have to believe that. And I believe that we have a fabulous city here. We have a great relationship.

I wish that we were perfect. We are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but we strive every day in the community of policing and we strive every day to make sure that citizens know that they count and not only they count but police officers count as well. I believe the vast majority of the cities of our great nation are like Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and that what we see are those things that happen that are out of the ordinary. I just have to believe that.

COSTELLO: Mayor Johnny Dupree, thank you so much. I appreciate you being with me this morning.

DUPREE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Turn our attention now to Madison, Wisconsin, where the district is planning to release the findings from a more than two- month long investigation into the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager Tony Robinson.

Rosa Flores has been following the story.

The interesting thing about this is authorities in Madison came out with a two-day warning that get ready, Madison, because we're going to make this announcement and we want everybody, like, to chill.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And the other thing, Carol, is that if you think of the day that it was yesterday. It's Mother's Day. So the mother of Tony Robinson received a phone call from authorities on Mother's Day. This is the first Mother's Day after her son was shot and killed by a police officer, letting her know that the 48-hour notice had been out and that authorities would announce on Tuesday whether or not the police officer, Matt Kenny, would be charged or not.

So this was heartbreaking for this mother because she was surrounded by her living children when this phone call came through and they were trying to ease her into Mother's Day because of what has happened to this family. And here's what the spokesperson said happened when she received that phone call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME FLOWERS, FAMILY SPOKESPERSON: Getting this call right as you're receiving gifts from your other children and seeing your other children then be frustrated with the fact that they're now going to have to take a backseat again and they couldn't just enjoy their mom for this day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: So the mom described it as a bit cruel to do that to anybody. They are hoping for justice, of course. And they say that that would come in the form of whether Officer Matt Kenny is charged or not or something else happened, the department makes some sort of change. But from the get-go they said -- they have said that they will accept whatever the D.A. comes up with -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rosa Flores, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the death toll rising in the latest round of severe storms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to go right over the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Tornadoes tear through the nation's heartlands and the threat isn't over yet. We'll talk about that next.

[10:10:09]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It was a deadly weekend for storms across the Midwest. We're now hearing reports from our CNN affiliate KLTV that multiple people were killed when a possible tornado ripped through Van, Texas, last night. Officials say the violent storm damaged about a third of the town, leveling homes and knocking down power lines.

Jennifer Gray is live in Van this morning with more.

Good morning.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you, Carol. Yes, our affiliate is reporting that there are possible multiple fatalities. They're not sure exactly how many. And they're also reporting that there could be people missing, and so there are people going door to door to make sure everyone is accounted for, and make sure everyone is OK.

Just look at the destruction behind me. You can see trees snapped in half. Power lines littering the roads. In fact, crews are out here cutting up the trees. They're trying to get power restored. A lot of people have lost cell service as well. That brick building back there, that is the original school here in Van and they still use it for their gymnasium.

And I took a closer look a couple of hours ago. The roof is completely blown off. There's insulation that's sagging all within. All the things that are inside the building now out and it looks like that most of the windows have been blown out. So just a lot of destruction around here. In fact, several of the blocks here have major damage. Some of the homes completely destroyed.

We're hearing that roughly 30 percent of the town has sustained some sort of damage whether a total loss or trees down. We've been speaking with neighbors all morning long. Some of the local residents who attended that school as children and now they have kids of their own that attend that school. They said it feels like seeing their entire childhood destroyed.

[10:15:17] We also talked with a lady down the street who said that tornado sirens went off about five minutes before the tornado hit. She didn't have a lot of time. She didn't have time to get into her storm shelter, and so she had to get in her bathtub in the center of her home with her two dogs, and ride the storm out.

She just described such a scary situation here, Carol, and it looks like we're going to see days and weeks of cleanup here in Van.

COSTELLO: So when they say -- when they say multiple people were killed, what does that mean? How many people are missing? Do we know?

GRAY: We have no idea. We are just hearing what our affiliate is reporting and they say that the city marshal has said that there could be multiple fatalities, they're searching for people. I know they have a couple canine units out here that are helping with the search. So there is another briefing coming up in the next half hour, I believe. And so hopefully we'll have more information then.

COSTELLO: All right. Jennifer Gray reporting live this morning from Van, Texas.

Of course the threat is far from over. 42 million people could be at risk for severe weather.

CNN's chief meteorologist Chad Myers is here with that side of the story.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. Let's give you the lay of the land. About one hour east of Dallas, Texas, by car is Van, Texas, right there along I-20. The storm rolled through about 8:55 last night. Five-minute's notice according to the residents there with sirens. But this was a very large tornado.

I've seen aerials and I know that this is an EF-3 or maybe a 4. There's no chance that this is a one or two. Homes are completely gone in some spots. Roofs are all gone in the path of this storm. 71 tornado reports, though, over the weekend and a lot of rainfall as well. Look at Corsicana Airport that is south of Dallas. 11 inches in just three days.

Take a look at what happens when you get that kind of rainfall in any area across the country. You get -- yes, you get rescue helicopters picking people out of flood rivers, flooded waters. So many areas in Texas, and I lived in Oklahoma for a really long time and love visiting Texas. Have these things called dry washes. You literally drive down and up the other side. You don't have a bridge to go over the creek. You actually drive through the creek and back up the other side because 361 days out of the year the creek is dry. Well, those four days when it floods, you need to stay out of the way

of when those raging waters come through along the Red River here Gainesville. There's Dallas-Fort Worth, that's 10 inches of rainfall in the entire white area there in white now down near Corsicana as well.

A couple of areas of severe weather today from Dayton all the way back up to Detroit and all the way down even into parts of Texas. There may be a tornado or two. Some dramatic video out of Iowa yesterday where the roof of this -- of this school was just torn completely off. It's hard to even discern that there's a tornado there. It kind of looks just like a cloud because the tornado wasn't connected to the ground by the gray cloud doesn't mean the tornado wasn't actually on the ground because clearly it was.

That debris sucked up into the air from that school there. I heard someone yell that is not the Casey's, which is a general store, that is the elementary school roof going away -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, luckily no one hurt there. It was amazing. Right?

Chad Myers, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, funny or offensive? Why this "SNL" sketch is getting kudos from some and criticism from others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:36] COSTELLO: A lot of buzz this morning surrounding a skit on "Saturday Night Live" that had to do with the drawing of the Prophet Muhammad. It was spoofing a game show called "Win, Lose or Draw." Contestants are assigned a person, a movie or a thing to draw and then the contestants guess the answers. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your category is trendsetters. And here's what you'll be drawing today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Wait --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready to go, Daniel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put time on that clock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, wait --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And of course he never drew it. The skit was powerful, I thought. It showed how many are afraid to draw the Prophet Muhammad, which is absurd. Right?

Dean Obedallah is a writer for the "Daily Beast." He also worked on "SNL" and co-directed the documentary "The Muslims are Coming."

Welcome back, Dean.

DEAN OBEDALLAH, POLITICAL COMEDIAN: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So you talked to some of the writers who came up with that skit. What did they tell you?

OBEDALLAH: I talked to one of the writers who came up with the sketch. I mean, I thought it was extremely funny. I praised it. I thought they did a great job. You know, they are making fun of the fear some people have about drawing the Prophet Muhammad. And I think "SNL" at its highest point is making you laugh, making you think, pointing out something in society or pointing out something in politics that's going on hot button issue. And they did that exactly perfectly.

COSTELLO: I have to say while I was watching that I kept wondering what would happen if they actually drew the Prophet Muhammad.

OBEDALLAH: Yes. That's an interesting question, what would happen. And I really hope and I wrote in my article for "The Daily Beast" that we get to that point. And I think frankly among mainstream Muslims, which in America that's what we are, except for a few exceptions. What we saw in Garland, Texas, it's a yawn. You know, the idea that you're going to draw the Prophet Muhammad. You can do that.

And the response from the Muslim community if they were upset would be to call NBC or send e-mails just like any other group when they get upset about something you've seen. Freedom of expression, I've made this point over and over. It's two ways. One is you have the freedom to say things, and I have the freedom to use words to counter what you say if I don't like it. And that's completely normal. Every group has done it.

In this case, I posted my article on Facebook and every Muslim American friend who saw this thought it was great, they thought it was funny. Made a good point. And we need to laugh sometimes at fears. We need to laugh at ISIS. We need to laugh at some of the scary people out there. It's cathartic.

COSTELLO: I have to agree with that actually. There are those who say, though, Dean, the skit also captured the media's refusal to deal with the issue. Red States' Erick Erickson writes, quote, "History shows us over and over that the moment evil realizes you are scared of provoking it, you have provoked it into action. Islamic radicals are now emboldened by the press reaction in Texas. 'Saturday Night Live's' skit last night was a perfectly humorous way to point out the absurdity of radical Islam's refusal to let people draw Muhammad." OBEDALLAH: I -- you know, Erick Erickson is known as a comedy

commentator. You know, at Red State, I find his stuff very unintentionally funny often. I think what's interesting here is that, well, liberals and conservatives are laughing at the sketch. So let's look at it from a good side. It's hyper partisan where we live in. I don't think I can agree with Erick Erickson on anything, let alone this.

The writers, their goal was not to make fun of radical Islam. This made-up idea. There are radical Muslims but the idea of radical Islam and this comes --

COSTELLO: Well, I think he's confusing two separate issues. Right? So Pamela Geller has the right to put that cartoon on.

OBEDALLAH: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: She had the right to do that.

OBEDALLAH: Sure.

COSTELLO: Nobody is really saying that she didn't, right?

OBEDALLAH: Right. Right. Right.

[10:25:01] COSTELLO: But you have to talk about exactly why she did it. Now the "SNL" skit did it but without the underlying hate, which made it much more powerful.

OBEDALLAH: And I agree. And that's what I wrote about. They addressed it in a way -- they punch up in comedy. And that's the best form of comedy. You're punching up at people in power and maybe scary boogeyman.

Punching down is demonizing minority groups. That's what Pamela Geller did. So in some week -- if you look back in the week, it was a great week. "Saturday Night Live" had this great sketch we all laughed, and Pamela Geller was finally exposed for what we know in the Muslim community as a well-paid, well-compensated anti-Muslim bigot who demonizes for a living, frankly. So I'm -- I think overall a great week. I'm really -- I feel really good about it.

COSTELLO: Dean Obedallah, thanks so much. I appreciate your being here.

OBEDALLAH: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We just have a bit of news into CNN. The defense has rested in the Boston marathon bombing trial and they finished up their case with a blockbuster. Sister Helen Prejean, she's the nun and anti-death penalty activist made famous by her book and the film "Dead Man Walking."

Jurors are determining now whether or not to sentence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death after his conviction on 30 counts.

Let's talk about Sister Prejean taking the stand and talking to the court and of course the jury. Deb Feyerick is following that for us.

Tell us what that was like, Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was very interesting. Her testimony was nothing short of explosive, Carol. She met with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev five times most recently in the last couple of days. There was a question as to whether in fact she would testify but she took the stand and she said that they discussed the marathon bombing and that they talked about the victims, and she said that when she spoke to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, quote, "He said emphatically, no one deserves to suffer like they did."

She said his eyes were lower. There was pain in his voice. And he appeared to be sincerely remorseful, telling the jury I had every reason to think he was genuinely sorry for what he did.

Now we have seen so little reaction from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in court that her being able to testify about what he thought about the bombing is the first insight that we have had in the many weeks of this trial. Now prosecutors tried to essentially tear that apart saying the only reason that Sister Prejean who wrote "Dead Man Walking," as you know, was taking the stand and testifying is because she feels so strongly against the death penalty.

But when asked by the defense whether in fact she would not tell the truth about him being sincerely remorseful, she said, no. That's the way he appeared to her. So that is what the jury has heard and that is what they're going to be left with as they begin to deliberate whether he should get life or death -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So was there any emotion from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as Sister Prejean was testifying?

FEYERICK: You know, he seemed -- I'm sitting in the back of the court, you know, behind him. And so it's very difficult. The only way you can tell is whether he tilts his head. So it was unclear. But she was one of those people who when she saw him, she really smiled and smiled warmly. We saw that happen a couple of times with his teachers and with his friends really acknowledging that the person who was sitting there is somebody who they know as being a good person ironically enough, and so that's what the defense is trying to show.

But again we're going to be hearing a lot about the crimes themselves and, Carol, you and I have talked about this. The first stage of the trial was all about the crimes and the guilt. This part of the trial is really all about the personality and what went behind all of this. And so this was really some powerful testimony that we heard from today.

COSTELLO: All right. Deborah Feyerick reporting live from Boston this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, President Obama hosting Mideast leaders this week but a major player will be missing. Is it a royal snub? We'll talk about that next.

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