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At This Hour

14 Tornadoes Touch Down in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri; Jury Deliberates Aaron Hernandez's Fate; Obama May Meet with Cuban Leader; Man Beaten By California Police. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired April 10, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:40] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now. The pictures from the Midwest are just devastating. 14 tornadoes touched down in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri. That's just huge. One person was killed and several others injured. So much destruction.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: One tornado cut a 22-mile path in just one county in Illinois taking down buildings, landmarks and you saw that there, even massive trucks on the highway, taking them down along the way.

James Joseph is joining us on the phone, director of the Illinois Department of Emergency Management.

This is one of those days where you don't have time to talk to many people on the phone other than the governor. We appreciate it.

We heard you were on the way to Rochelle, one of the hardest hit areas. You're traveling there as we speak. Lay it out for us. What all happened in Illinois last night?

JAMES JOSEPH, DIRECTOR: ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (voice-over): Starting from the Western part of our state we had tornadoes that developed and we had strong storms that were occurring throughout the last couple of days and these tornadoes developed. They went east and then northeast. In from Iowa and out through the northeastern part of the state into Wisconsin. We had multiple reports of tornadoes in the air and on the ground. But the two communities that we saw the most impacted were in Rochelle and also in DeKalb County, Illinois.

BERMAN: Do you have any update at this point on the human toll? We've been told only one person has been killed in this awful storm system. Any news on that front?

JOSEPH: Yeah. That still remains the same. We did have one individual that unfortunately lost their live due to the storm. We also had several people that were taken to area hospitals. At least six of which are still admitted in the hospital and receiving care. So there has been some injuries and of course it's very unfortunate loss of life as a result of this storm and we also have several areas that have damaged homes and structures as you mentioned earlier and we have crews on the ground right now conducting damage assessments in those communities.

BOLDUAN: What is the early read on those initial damage assessments? How bad is it in these hard hit counties especially? Are you putting any number to it? What percentage of these communities has been damaged?

JOSEPH: It's too hard to put any specific percentages or financial numbers to it. We are getting reports that there's in some communities 16 homes that have been completely destroyed and I have to say at this point as well the county sheriff, his home was destroyed. He took care of his family and he himself is back and working to make sure the community recovers from this. The shout-out to him and his efforts and all of the first responders that live or work around that community that are digging in to really assist the community and recover from these events.

BERMAN: We understand in Olga County they had 27 minutes' warning. The siren went off 27 minutes before the funnel cloud actually went through. That's a pretty good length of time. That's a big warning there. Do you get the sense that your systems worked as they were supposed to here and that could have saved lives?

JOSEPH: You know, it definitely did. I know the national weather service -- we had been receiving briefings from them as early as Tuesday of this week on what the impacts could be Wednesday into Thursday. We also reached out to communities and the public on Wednesday letting them know to prepare for and brace for this. It wasn't just the risk of tornadoes or severe storms but also potential flooding concerns that we had in southern parts of the state of Illinois. There was a lot of information and warning because the system was developing so rapidly, over time and evolving as well there was a good amount of information and alerts that were able to go out in advance.

[11:54:54] BOLDUAN: I know this is what you guys prepare for. You never want to see it. This is when you kick into action. On a personal level, Mr. Joseph, what do you think when you saw this video come in? You saw the video of the tractor-trailer tossed over like a toy. You see pictures of these homes being devastated and destroyed at first light. What's your message to the community now?

JOSEPH: The community that I live at home and preach as an individual, we have to have a sense of individual preparedness and readiness even when there are severe storm warnings and tornado warnings, there's often people that think it's not going to happen to me or it won't impact my community. We want people to be prepared and stay safe and understand what their emergency plans at home are and what the emergency plans at work are and to make sure their family has enough sustainability where there will be power outages as a result and have enough food and water and clothing and supplies to last for at least three days on their own. That's the message I want to send. When I think of it, it rings close to home because I've had impacts to me in my own life. Not as devastating as this but from natural disasters. My heart goes out to them. Like you said, we hope for the best but we plan for the worst and this is where we kick into action and make sure our communities within Illinois, Governor Rauner's message to me is let's make sure we get our communities recovering from this as quickly as possible.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

James Joseph, director of the Illinois emergency management agency, thank you so much for jumping on the line. Good luck. You have long days ahead.

BERMAN: Our best to you.

JOSEPH: Thank you both.

BERMAN: Ahead for us AT THIS HOUR, the jury is deliberating in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial. Who has the upper hand right now behind those closed doors? The prosecution, the defense? We'll tell you what signs we've seen. BOLDUAN: A police chase that ended up on horseback, ending with

police beating a man. The disturbing chase and beating caught on camera. That's coming up.

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[11:40:10] BOLDUAN: Happening now, deliberations in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial. This is the third full day the jurors behind closed doors. No eyewitnesses. No solid motive that we know of. No smoking gun. Prosecutors still hope a jury will convict the former NFL star.

BOLDUAN: Those jurors as John is starting to lay out have a lot to consider including testimony from more than 130 witnesses as well as more than 400 pieces of evidence. So which side with all that to consider, which side in this case has advantage inside that jury room, prosecution or Aaron Hernandez's defense team?

Legal analyst, Mel Robbins, is here. Danny Cevallos is also here, a criminal defense attorney.

Let's go through this. No one can go in the jury room. We know that. Surprises always come out of a jury room but it's fun to talk about it. Inside the jury room, what are the advantages that the defense team has, do you think?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: They have three. Of these three advantages, they're not very strong. First one is motive. The defense hammered this home. They said it doesn't make sense why would he do this? There's no motive. But, remember, motive is not an element of any crime. If you find yourself arguing motive to a jury, your chase in chief may have weaknesses. Two jury instructions this jury received which is mere presence and mere knowledge. Mere presence at a crime without participation is not enough to be found guilty of the crime and mere knowledge that a crime is about to happen is also not enough. You have to go the extra step and show some kind of -- magic word is participation. So defense is clinging to that. If you look at the jury argument at the end of the case, they did a little surprise and said, OK, he was there.

BOLDUAN: You called it a Hail Mary. CEVALLOS: It is sort of a Hail Mary. That's maybe a little dramatic.

(CROSSTALK)

CEVALLOS: In the sense that when you argue mere presence and mere knowledge to a jury, I think defense attorneys would agree that means the rest of the case hasn't gone that well.

BERMAN: Mel, do you think the prosecution feels that way? Do you think they feel the defense case hasn't gone that well? What are their strengths as they wait for this jury?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Nice try, Danny.

Prosecution has a much stronger case. Let's talk about the first thing that Danny talked about. Motive. This is interesting they are weighing behind the scenes. If he had no motive to kill and of course the defense hammered this. He's got a $40 million contract. He's an NFL player. He's a new dad. This is his future brother-in-law, why the heck didn't he report this to the police. If he was merely present and showed no intent or participation and he's got everything to lose as the defense argues and he witnessed the execution-style murder of his future brother-in-law, what on earth would make him stay silent about this.

The other thing prosecution has that defense doesn't is facts. They've got 400 pieces of evidence. 127 witnesses for the prosecution. When you don't have the facts, you argue the law and doubt which is what the defense has been doing. I do think at the end of the day, even though this is a very difficult case to prove, you've got his footprints at the scene, a joint with his DNA. You also have in my mind this idea that he's got everything to lose so if he was merely present and he merely witnessed something, why on earth didn't he go to the police? Why lie to the owner of the Patriots and say that he was at a club? And so I do think at the end of the day the prosecution has a stronger case here, guys.

BOLDUAN: To Mel's point, the prosecution has been trying to hammer home that he's an unsavory fellow. Not a guy of good character. They've worked on that thought the heart of the case. It doesn't necessarily mean he's a murder.

CEVALLOS: More than that. Character evidence is generally inadmissible but prosecutors try to crowbar that in one way or another.

BOLDUAN: But don't juries care about that? Maybe not like the guy but empathize with him.

CEVALLOS: It's about relatability. The jurors will not be able to identify with this behavior as a total package. It will make it easier to find this person guilty.

BERMAN: We like your character, Danny and Mel. Thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

[11:44:50] BOLDUAN: Thanks, guys. Great to see you.

Ahead for us AT THIS HOUR, President Obama may meet Raul Castro today in a hope to revive friendly or at least defrost relations between the U.S. and Cuba after decades of animosity. Details on that coming up.

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BERMAN: We could on the verge of history in relations between the U.S. and Cuba. President Obama could meet face to face with Cuban president Raul Castro. We learned the two leaders got a jump on a possible meeting. They spoke by phone on Wednesday.

BOLDUAN: That's a huge deal when you think about the relationship between these two countries has been frozen for 50 years now. The White House is considering removing Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list.

Let's bring in senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, who is in Panama, traveling with the president.

Jim, we can say this means history but why would this mean history? How close is the White House to this decision do you think?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think they're very close to this decision. We were told earlier this week that the State Department's recommendation is expected to be that Cuba be taken off this list of state sponsors of terrorism. Only four countries on the list, Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan. It's not great company. The Cubans wanted off that list for a long time. It's a major impediment to the normalizing of relations. Cubans are demanding this be done to have embassies opened in Washington and Havana.

But getting back to this historic encounter that we'll witness over the next this meeting that's supposed to occur between President Obama and Raul Castro. They spoke on the phone on Wednesday. They've been keeping a lot of this Cuba stuff under wraps. My sense is because we'll be getting a lot of news dumped on us about the latest on this relationship in the next day or two.

But, yes, no question about it, if and when we have a picture of President Obama meeting with Raul Castro, they could be coming face to face tonight at meeting. But when they have a meeting when they sit down and talk about things, that will be something. I was at Nelson Mandela's service in South Africa when they shook hands. They spoke by phone in December of last year to talk about the reopening of ties. But nothing like this. This is going to be something else.

[11:51:01] BERMAN: Jim Acosta, and John Kerry, our secretary of state just met with the Cuba foreign minister.

ACOSTA: That's right.

BERMAN: Jim, you were a young man.

John Acosta, thank you. In Panama for us --

ACOSTA: I was a very young man. You go it. Take care.

BOLDUAN: I'm going to speak in Jim's defense.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Jim is a young man, John.

BERMAN: Our thanks to him for that.

Ahead AT THIS HOUR, what a story out of California. A police beating caught on camera. This beating happened after a chase on horseback. What on earth is going on there? We have new details ahead.

BOLDUAN: But first, a young woman meets children living in poverty. She uses money she made while babysitting to provide them shelter and an education. Maggie Doyne is today's "CNN Hero."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGGIE DOYNE, CNN HERO: Most 28-year-old girls my age have a very different reality. A lot of engagements and first babies. I took a very different path.

After high school, I decided to travel around the world with my backpack.

In Nepal, for the first time, I really saw the effects of civil war and children and women suffering. And it changed me.

There was one little girl, she was standing in a heap of garbage. And she said, "namaste." That means hello. And that was the beginning.

(SHOUTING)

(LAUGHTER)

DOYNE: I called up my parents and I asked them to wire me over my $5,000 of babysitting money.

Time to get up. Morning.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Good morning.

DOYNE: We started with the home. Then we built a school.

(SHOUTING)

DOYNE: We select children who without us would not be able to go to school. A lot of them are begging on the streets.

You've got it.

We have been one of the top performing schools in the region for 350 children. And 50 of those kids live in our home. (CROSSTALK)

DOYNE: Our first priority is to keep a child with their family. And then in the severe case of a child who really has nobody, they come in to live in our home.

(LAUGHTER)

When you walk in the front gates, you don't see suffering. You see healthy, laughing, thriving kids.

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Those smiles say everything. Every week we honor a new "CNN Hero" like Maggie, everyday people going above and beyond to change lives every day. If you know someone who deserves this recognition, go to cnnheros.com and tell us about them, please.

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[11:57:39] BERMAN: "Worse than Rodney King," those are the words from the attorney of a man whose apparent beating by several California officers was all caught on tape. An investigation is now under way into this incident, what started as deputies were trying to serve an arrest warrant. The suspect fled, eventually stealing a horse, leading the officers on a really wild pursuit.

BOLDUAN: The chase ends with the suspect falling off the horse, kind of hiding but then spreading his arms and legs and laying on the ground. Deputies deployed a taser, then appeared to kick and punch the suspect.

Stephanie Elam has the story.

What more are you learning?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is pretty phenomenal when you take a look at that video. But what they're saying here is that in this case, they went to go serve this arrest warrant because there was an identity theft issue they were going for in apple valley, which is pretty rural, this area of San Bernardino. He took off in car. Then he got out and fled on foot. Then he stole someone's horse which makes it look like we're in the Wild Wild West when you look at this video here that was obtained, shot by KNBC here in Los Angeles. But it looks like the suspect puts his arms out and then puts his hands behind his back before he seems to be beaten by these law enforcement officials. The San Bernardino sheriff, John McMahon said they will do an investigation into this excessive use of force. He's ordered an internal investigation be conducted immediately. Lots of questions about this 30-year-old whose name is Francis Pewshock, and whether or not they went too far. As you see, more and more people showing up into this video. Pretty striking when you take a look at it.

BERMAN: Any explanation at to why it took so much force or they decided to use so much force or are they just waiting to provide that?

ELAM: This is all part of the investigation that they're saying they're going to look into this, they said haze clothes were lose, that the taser didn't hit his body. But the investigation continues.

BERMAN: Video is alarming.

BOLDUAN: It is alarming. Even when you see it from this bird's-view from the helicopter.

Stephanie Elam, thank you.

Thanks for joining us AT THIS HOUR, everybody.

[12:00:04] BERMAN: Yeah, have a great weekend. But first, watch "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield. It starts right now.