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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Secret Service: We Weren't Warned Of Flight; Aaron Hernandez Convicted of First-Degree Murder; Arizona Police Chief Supports Officer's Decision to Smash Patrol Car into Armed Suspect. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired April 15, 2015 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening, thanks for joining us. Tonight, breaking news in Aaron Hernandez downward spiral from NFL star to convicted killer, we've just learned what he reportedly said just moments after a jury found him guilty of murder and the judge handed down a life sentence.

We begin, though, tonight with breaking news, the unlikely story behind the incredible site that gripped Washington today, a gyrocopter swooping in to land in the west lawn of the capitol. A 61- year-old mailman from Florida named Doug Hughes at the controls, 535 letters on board addressed to members of Congress and delivered across mile after mile on some of the most sensitive air space on the planet.

Now ordinarily we would say most sensitive and carefully guarded airspace except that is evidently not true. This guy not only got inside the perimeter and something about his hi-tech as a flying lawn chair he wasn't even trying to sneak in.

Doug Hughes planned what he did apparently for years, talked to his hometown newspaper about it, and was even interviewed by the Secret Service back in October of 2013.

The breaking news late this evening the Secret Service office in Tampa denied reports that they were given notice earlier today that the flight in fact was going to happen.

Now in any case Doug Hughes was certainly on the radar not just on the radar that really counted, today in Washington. More now on his flight and what it reveals from Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG HUGHES, PILOT: I'm not sure and I'm not going to commit suicide and I'm not going to fly into any monuments. Terrorists don't announce their flights before they take off. OK. Terrorists don't broadcast their flight path. Terrorists don't invite an escort to go along with them.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That video and his website show in great detail what Hughes was planning. How he was preparing to be both a pilot and protester in those final moments.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not good people.

FOREMAN: As captured in this exclusive video obtained by the Associated Press.

HUGHES: I'll violate the no-fly zone nonviolently. I intend for nobody to get hurt. I'm going to land on the capitol lawn in front of the Capitol Building. I'm going to have 535 letters strapped to the landing gear in boxes and those letters are going to be addressed to every member of Congress.

FOREMAN: Hughes who is over 60 even speaks in the video about his fear of being intercepted by security forces long before reaching the capitol.

HUGHES: I don't believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 60-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle. I'm going to give them plenty of warning, well over an hour in advance of me getting to the no-fly zone so that they know who I am and what I'm doing and that it's intended to be nonviolent.

FOREMAN: And in the end even as the video shows him loading up his aircraft to bring to it Washington he speaks with passion about what he sees as the need for this dramatic step arguing that in his eyes no less than the fate of the nation rests in campaign finance reform.

HUGHES: I rather die in the flight than live to be 80 years old and see this country fall.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Tom Foreman joins us now. Do we know if he in fact did give them an hour notice? The fact that he was able to pull this off and land on the capitol lawn, people you have spoken to are they surprised by that?

FOREMAN: People are astonished by it, Anderson. They are trying to ascertain how much truth there is to the notion that he warned everyone about it ahead of time, but undeniably plenty of people knew about it in some fashion and the real concern here is we have an air defense system.

Right now, Anderson, I'm standing under what should be a very specific portion of highly, highly protected airspace and it's built to protect against things like missile attacks and jet fighters.

And yet as you pointed out a guy in a flying lawn chair was able to make his way in here flying for perhaps two hours maybe from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that's where they believe he took off. That's a long way to go at a very slow pace for no one to intercept him or do anything about it -- Anderson.

COOPER: It is incredible. Tom Foreman, Tom, thanks. President Obama was not in town when this unfolded, but was briefed on what happened. Nora Neus on the other hand was just steps away from where the gyrocopter landed. She joins us tonight.

So I understand you were walking around the capitol building, killing time before a job interview, when you saw the gyrocopter land. Can you walk me through what happened, what you saw?

NORA NEUS, WITNESS: Yes. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me here. It was a weird day for sure. I was walking along the capitol, along the west side of the capitol building waiting for this job interview.

[20:05:09] And I saw out of nowhere a machine that looked like something from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" coming straight at the capitol building. It flew straight in toward the west gate of the capitol building, bounce once and just landed right there on the grass.

COOPER: Aren't you too young to even know what "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is? That's a movie from my generation.

NEUS: No.

COOPER: No.

NEUS: My parents raise me right.

COOPER: OK, all right, good. So how quickly did officers approach this guy after he landed? I mean, did you see him being arrested?

NEUS: Yes, I did. The first cop came kind of around the side of the capitol building and stopped him and was yelling something into the walkie-talkie. I would say within about 45 seconds of his initial landing there were multiple police cars on the scene.

The first cop that did respond yelled don't move, don't move. He seemed to comply. He did sit still. He didn't seem to be agitated at all. He wasn't being aggressive at all. The cops did approach him. He stood up and they cuffed his hands behind his back and cuffed him and walked him off the grass.

COOPER: Did it look like there was any more security before the guy arrived? He's claiming in this video that he gave authorities at least an hour warning. Did it look to you like there was any extra security?

NEUS: That's really hard to say around the capitol building. There was very high-security presence on the east face of the capitol building where the motorcade was waiting. It's unclear if actual security was because of that or because it was a capitol bulling.

That said it did take about 30 seconds for than two police officers to show up at the scene, which isn't very long granted, but for an issue of this magnitude.

COOPER: I understand you saw snipers and bomb sniffing dog go around the gyrocopter.

NEUS: Yes.

COOPER: Did they evacuate the area?

NEUS: They did. I think that's when a lot of us got concerned. We were watching seeing what was happening and as about maybe one, two minutes more passed, a large team of policemen with different rifles and guns started running towards us which is when we got very concerned.

There was a bomb sniffing team as well that came very close to the copter. That's when they told us to run. We were right near the copter and at this point they were concerned about explosives although obviously that wasn't the case and they had us run away from the site.

COOPER: I guess I got to ask did you go ahead and have the job interview?

NEUS: I did actually and I got the internship for the summer.

COOPER: All right, congratulations, Nora. Thank you very much for joining us.

NEUS: Thank you so much. Have a great night.

COOPER: Because this raises so many questions about stopping potential bad actors and aircraft and obviously awakens deeply powerful memories especially in Washington, we want to dig deeper on the security angle.

Joining us for that is a former Secret Service agent, Dan Bongino. In terms of the use -- first of all, Dan, are you surprised that this guy was able to do this?

DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Yes. I'm stunned, Anderson. You know, we have two different issues here, both very serious. We have a detection issue, was he detected. Then we have an interdiction issue. We have a number of people asking, why wasn't he shot down?

Leaving that aside for a second, if he wasn't detected and managed to skirt that air defense zone right there without being detected and land on the capitol mall there, we have a serious problem.

COOPER: Particularly if as he said in the video he was going to warn somebody at least an hour in advance. I want to ask you about the use of force guidelines for like the Secret Service which you used to work for. There has to be -- we talked about this in the past.

There has to be an imminent threat presented, right, because this guy, Hughes, said he feared he could potentially be shot down although he said he didn't think anybody would.

BONGINO: Yes, exactly. I'm glad you bring this up because there's this misconception out there with some in the public that because it's an aircraft, it's the national capital region either the White House or the Capitol that use of force guidelines go out the window for federal agents.

That's not the case. You have to present as a subject a threat of a serious physical injury or death to yourself or someone else before a federal agent or federal police officer can use deadly force and make no mistake shooting him out of the sky would have been deadly force.

And I'm not sure that he presented either one of those, SPI series, physical injury or death. So I think use of force was out in this case.

COOPER: And it seems like there's contradictory information floating right now because the "Tampa Bay Times" is saying that neither the Secret Service nor the Capitol police in D.C. knew about this ahead of time. Do you buy this?

BONGINO: You know, Anderson, I was in the protective intelligence section in the New York field office. There's nothing the Secret Service takes more seriously than a threat case. If I showed you the mound of paper work you had to fill out and the questions you had to ask before you could close the case, it would be astounding. You could fill this room full of paper.

[20:10:08] I find it extremely hard to believe that the Secret Service was told about this and just let it fly. I've been there on the ground. I've done these investigations.

Most of these investigations, Anderson, are managed out of Secret Service headquarters as well. Meaning if you didn't want to do the hallmark as an agent you would have headquarters breathing down your neck in a heartbeat. I find it hard to believe that they knew about this.

COOPER: You know, on one hand people might look at this and say, well, look, there is a guy who is making a protest. The other side is that other potential bad actors might see this, see that the guy got away with it and try to do the same thing or something similar with more evil intentions.

BONGINO: Absolutely. You know, that's the big negative generated from this entire thing. It's not this one guy's mistake or intentional act. It's the fact that he could potentially inspire others and plant a seed in someone who has really malicious intentions, plant it in their head.

And all of a sudden now they have an idea of what the air picture looks like, how long it takes to respond, where they could land. These pictures will be broadcast everywhere. I think he cause ad bigger problem than just this specific incident.

COOPER: Dan Bongino, Dan, I appreciate you being on. Thanks. We got more news tonight breaking news, an alleged plot to send deadly weapons to Mexican drug cartel. The accused suppliers, two members of the Armed Forces. Evan Perez broke the story. He joins us now with late details. So what have you learned, Evan? EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Anderson, we are talking about two members of the Army National Guard in California, San Diego, California. According to law enforcement officials I've been talking to, these men thought they were working with drug cartels people who were sending weapons to drug cartels in Mexico.

Instead they were actually trying to sell weapons and ammunition to undercover informants who were working with the ATF out of Los Angeles. That's how they were arrested today.

COOPER: What exactly did they sell or try to sell?

PEREZ: Well, they had quite an arsenal. I have it right here, at least ten firearms, 4,000 rounds of ammunition. Some of it was still in crates stolen from the armory there in California, 190 high- capacity magazines and 24 armored vests, high quality vests that members of the military use and apparently this was also stolen from the armory there.

We're expecting that these guys are going to be in court tomorrow in San Diego where they will be formally charged with trying to make these sales -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Evan Perez, we'll follow it. Evan, thanks as always. Make sure you set your DVR, you can watch 360 whenever you want.

Coming up next tonight, we're going to tell you what former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez had to say after a jury found him guilty of murdering his friend, Oden Lloyd, and why this murder conviction may only be the first of three. He's facing two more charges.

Also tonight, the two sisters on opposite sides of the case, even opposite sides of the courtroom, Odin Lloyd's girlfriend and Aaron Hernandez's fiancee, what the murder and this trial did to them and their family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:16:25]

COOPER: We're getting reaction tonight from the football star who had a promising and lucrative career ahead of him and now faces a lifetime in prison. They got it wrong said former New England Patriot and newly convicted murderer, Aaron Hernandez. "I didn't do it." The jury clearly believed otherwise in the killing of his friend, Odin Lloyd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam Foreperson, charging the defendant Aaron Hernandez with murder. What say you, Madam Foreperson? Is the defendant not guilty, guilty of murder in the first degree, or guilty of murder in the second-degree?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of murder in the first degree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Our Susan Candiotti is reporting that Hernandez was being escorted from the courtroom when he made those remarks professing his innocence. That's according to a law enforcement source who also says Hernandez was still walking with the kind of swagger he had before his conviction telling his escort detail and I'm quoting here, "Man, I'll miss you guys, but you know, they got it wrong. I didn't do it."

That same source said a few days ago he praised them saying, I'll get out of here and when I do I'll get ahold of Obama and tell them you should be doing security for the White House. He was taken here, led in handcuffs inside a maximum security prison for initial processing.

From there, he'll go to another maximum security facility to serve life without parole and he's still facing charges in two other killings. The jury took a long time to convict him more than a week. Susan Candiotti now on the trial on what may have helped jurors reach a decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a packed courtroom, Aaron Hernandez, stunned at the verdict sits down and shakes his head no, pursing his lips and looking back at his mother and fiancee gasping at the news.

Despite his apparent astonishment, Hernandez manages to mouth to them, be strong and I'm OK. And the family of victim, Odin Lloyd, no less emotional, openly weeping, shedding tears of relief.

Sentencing came a short time later, an opportunity for Lloyd's family members to speak directly to the court and to Hernandez, Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, calling him the back bone of the family and talking about the pain of burying her only son.

URSULA WARD, ODIN LLOYD'S MOTHER: I felt like I wanted to go in the hole with my son incident.

CANDIOTTI: His sister, Olivia Tubu, fighting back tears as she tells the court his murder feels like a bad dream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I won't ever see him again, but I have to go to his grave site to look at his tomb stone to tell him that I love him.

CANDIOTTI: With that, Judge Susan Garsh, sentences Hernandez to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. A tremendous fall from grace for the 25-year-old who at the time of the murder was in the middle of a $40 million pro football contract with the New England Patriots.

Speaking to the media after the proceedings, the jury of seven women and five men described how they were very deliberate in their decision-making. And said one of the key moments was testimony from Patriots owner, Robert Kraft.

Kraft testified Hernandez told him he was innocent because the football player said he was in a club at the time of the murder. Jurors didn't buy it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still don't know the exact time of Odin's murder specifically. I don't know how Aaron would have had that information two years ago. Even today after medical examiner's review still don't have that exact information.

[20:20:04] CANDIOTTI: Another big shocker they say, the bomb dropped by the defense team during closing arguments, that Hernandez was at the crime scene, saw Lloyd killed, but did not shoot him. The jury deliberated for more than 35 hours over seven days and in the end say their decision was the right one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Susan Candiotti joins us now from the court house in Fall Rivers. So the jurors also commented on the additional cases pending against Hernandez. What did they say?

CANDIOTTI: That's right. Well, they said that it was the judge who told them about the double murder trial coming up in Boston, Aaron Hernandez being charged with a double murder, with evidence, Anderson, that was actually linked to him because of evidence that was uncovered in this case.

And that Alexander Bradley, who was an eyewitness prosecutors say to that double murder is also accusing Hernandez, the judge told this jury, of shooting him in the face just a few months before Odin Lloyd was killed.

And then the jurors were asked did that help you think that you made the right decision and they said yes, we agree with that.

COOPER: Susan, thanks very much. We'll have more on the pending cases against him shortly. But first, Mike Branch, Odin Lloyd's friend and former football coach. Mike, what was your reaction when you heard the verdict today?

MIKE BRANCH, FRIEND OF VICTIM ODIN LLOYD: Actually I didn't know whether to -- I actually was bottled up with so much emotion that joy or I didn't know if I wanted to cry. Something I hadn't felt. It was a sense of relief, but also, you know, it doesn't bring Odin back, you know. So it's kind of a mixed emotion.

COOPER: And during the trial, Odin's character was called into question as often happens in these kinds of cases, the defendant's fiancee suggested that Odin might have been a drug dealer. I understand that doesn't sound like the guy you knew.

BRANCH: Well, you know, that's b.s.. I would want to say something else. I'll tell you this. If someone is a drug dealer you're not going to come to football practice on a BMX bike that's not even brand new. He's not sending me text help me with equipment. If we went out for a beer or a drink I bought them. The kid

never had money. I had to track him down for team dues. There would be signs if and he was drug dealer and that's one of the reasons I'm here to defend his name and keep his name in good honor because that's not the case.

COOPER: How do you want people to remember Odin Lloyd?

BRANCH: First of all, as a wonderful brother and son. He comes from a remarkable and strong family first and foremost, one hell of a football player. I'll tell enthusiast, irreplaceable. Still hasn't replaced his playing ability on the field and his personality.

You know, when we're out here none of these guys are being paid. We're having fun for the love of the game. He would bring entertainment and fun to this game and do stuff to make you laugh after he made a big play or something like that.

Even at times when we go to the gym, working collectively as a group just that sense of humor, that guy, that funny guy. But, you know, again, defense has to do their job to portray individuals to defend that individual who they were representing.

But, again, I'll tell you this and I will look clearly and squarely -- Odin Lloyd is no drug dealer. Come on, please. No sign. Find a vehicle in his name. Everyone has resources find the vehicle. If you're a drug dealer you would have assets. Why would he still live with his mother? They can reach. They can try, but they weren't successful with that.

COOPER: I understand even when he was growing up he was taking care of his mom, bringing her to church. He was committed to his mom and to his family.

BRANCH: And his mom was committed to him. Again his family is remarkable and one of the strongest families you'll ever meet, sir. They are just wonderful and again, to put her through that, to portray him -- no. That's one of the reasons why I'm here.

This is not about me. This is not about our team the Boston Bandits. This is about Odin. There is some sense of comfort with this verdict and justice being served, but Odin still is not coming through that door. We still have a great loss.

COOPER: Mike, I appreciate you being on and remembering your friend with us. Thank you, Mike.

BRANCH: Thank you.

COOPER: Coming up next, Aaron Hernandez now convicted killer, convicted murderer. He'll be returning to court again on those two other measure charges. We have details on those killings and more legal troubles as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:28:46]

COOPER: Breaking news, former football player tight end, Aaron Hernandez, is now a convicted murderer who will spend the rest of his life behind bars with no possibility of parole. A law enforcement source tells us when Hernandez was escorted from the courthouse he told his handlers they got it wrong, I didn't do it.

This definitely is not the end of his legal troubles. As we've said, Hernandez facing other serious charges. He'll be heading back to court. That much is certain. Jean Casarez has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty of murder in the first degree.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For most convicted murderers this is it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Convicted for the term of your natural life without the possibility of parole.

CASAREZ: But the trouble is not over for Aaron Hernandez. He faces separate double murder charges in a different case with a trial date that will be set within days. July 2012, prosecutors say Daniel Dayabreu, accidentally bumps into Hernandez in a Boston bar spilling the NFL star's drink.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That caused Aaron Hernandez to be quite upset.

CASAREZ: After leaving the nightclub, Hernandez is accused of tailing him and his friends.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defendant leaned out of the driver side window of the SUV with a loaded revolver in his hand extended out and stated, yo, what's up now, and then a racial slur. The defendant immediately fired at least five rounds from a .38 caliber revolver into the victim's car.

CASAREZ: Abraeu and Safiro Furtado were killed. Three of their friends survived. The shooter got away.

Prosecutors had no idea who could have done this. But while executing a search warrant at the Connecticut home of Aaron Hernandez's uncle they unexpectedly found a car matching the description of the SUV seen after the shooting. Investigators say a dealership had loaned that car to Aaron Hernandez for a promotion.

Hernandez was indicted on May 15th, 2014 for the two murders and charged with three counts of armed assault with attempt to murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you plead this indictment, are you guilty or not guilty?

HERNANDEZ: Not guilty.

CASAREZ: Hernandez also is still facing wrongful death suits from the families of the three men prosecutors say Aaron Hernandez murdered. In July of last year, a judge in one of the civil cases freezes $5 million in assets of the former football player which includes $3.3 million he says he's owed by the New England Patriots as a signing bonus. Another legal battle for Hernandez. Alexander Bradley says he lost his eye after his friend Hernandez shot him in the face following an argument at a Florida strip club in February 2013. He is suing Hernandez in federal court. Bradley, it turns out, is allegedly also an eyewitness who prosecutors say was with Hernandez the night of the double murders. Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joining me now CNN legal analysts Jeffrey Toobin and Mark Geragos, also, "Boston Globe" columnist Dan Shaughnessy. So, Jeff, I want to get to these other criminal charges that he faces in a minute. But first, today's verdict were you surprised at all?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Not really although this was not an open and shut case. There was no eyewitness. There was no clear motive other than Aaron Hernandez is one crazy angry person. But, you know, it was a strong circumstantial case. Hernandez was so stupid as to leave his own home security system on which showed him with what prosecutors argued was the murder weapon. So, yes it was a strong case, but it was by no means an obvious one and that's why the jury was out for seven days.

COOPER: And Mark, the fact that Hernandez's defense attorney admitted for the first time in his closing argument that Hernandez was actually present during Odin Lloyd's killing, but that he didn't actually shoot him. Did that end up backfiring on him, do you think?

MARK GERAGOS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it's always hard to tell unless you hear it from the jurors and today we heard from the jurors. A number of them used the term it corroborated the other evidence we had, so arguably yes, it did. Unlike Jeff, I was a little surprised. I thought this was headed for a hung jury, and I will readily admit that my expectations here were that when they were out past Friday afternoon that it was a hung jury. But when you saw them have that joint press conference I think the jurors were trying to make a point of their solidarity.

COOPER: Dan, you've covered the Patriots for a long, long time. What's the reaction up there to this whole thing.

DAN SHAUGHNESSY, BOSTON GLOBE COLUMNIST: I think that the verdict was expected. It's been, you know, two years since this first came out and folks are kind of rolling through it in their minds that the fact that he was already had been shooting people when he played the 2012- '13 season for the Patriots. But folks around here are kind of immune to it now. They are numb to it. It's been so long since they first learned that there was a murder in the huddle.

COOPER: And Dan, I'm sure, the Patriots have known what they were getting into when they hired this guy.

SHAUGHNESSY: Well, you know, it's a fourth round pick. He fell for a reason. It's a lot of town for him to be drafted that low. So, a lot of teams did pass on him. So, yes, they knew there were problems. There had been, you know, drug stuff in his college experience. A lot of teams stayed away from him. The Patriots are about winning, they are about talent and they chose to go with the player and it worked out for him for quite some time.

COOPER: Jeff, Bob Kraft who owns the Patriots testified. The jurors said it was his testimony in the trial that helped convince them of Hernandez. I want to listen to what one juror had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One part for me was Aaron's alleged statement that he wished at the time that Odin was murdered, was made public because he was at the club at that time. To this day we just went through a three month trial, this is now a year and a half - or two years later, we still don't know the exact time of Odin's murder. Specifically. So I don't know how Aaron would have had that information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: It's pretty interesting. I mean it's pretty damning testimony there.

TOOBIN: Yeah, I mean obviously, Bob Kraft, you know, his job was not to protect his player. His job was to tell the truth under oath and that statement from Aaron Hernandez was very incriminating, and I think, you know, Bob Kraft is a very highly respected, very successful owner.

[20:35:00]

TOOBIN: So the idea that his -- I think his testimony as that juror illustrated really was believed by those jurors and it was very ...

GERAGOS: Yeah, but Bob Kraft -- Jeff, Bob Kraft also had a motivation to shade it because Bob Kraft now does not have to pay any of the signing bonus and is now going to try to recoup the 40 million that he paid him for violations of the contract too. So, let's not forget he had a bias as well.

COOPER: He a bias, but, you know, I think that's a little attenuated when you hear a distinguished person like that testify. And look, I think it's quite clear, Aaron Hernandez is not getting any more money out of the New England Patriots sitting in jail for the rest of his life. I mean their - the Patriots don't have to worry about that.

GERAGOS: But they don't have to pay now that he's convicted.

COOPER: Well, Mark, Hernandez ...

GERAGOS: Well, yes, because he was convicted, that was my point.

COOPER: Mark, he still faces charges in that double murder from back in 2012 and that trial could start I guess as early as August. Do you see more convictions coming his way? GERAGOS: Well, the speculation, at least, is that Massachusetts has

got an interesting system so that they could appeal this case if they were successful on the appeal then the prosecutors want to make sure they have got a backstop. In the other case by all accounts appears to be stronger than this one. And be careful what you wish for. He had a good - a great trial judge in this case and she really erred on the side of giving him breaks, which really puts you in a tough spot when you're up on appeal as well.

COOPER: Dan, do you think these further charges against Hernandez, do you think they are going to get sort of equal attention for people in Boston?

SHAUGHNESSY: I do. That happened right in the city of Boston. It happened before this other thing. It happened before the 2012-'13 season. Evidently, there's a witness. There's a gun. They have a lot more on that one and if the notion that he then -- he signed his contract after that murder, after that alleged murder. He got the $40 million contract after that. The Patriots chose to reward this player after this had happened. And Bob Kraft later came out and said he was duped. And that's unfortunate. But it's hard to believe that they didn't take better care of paying attention to who was in their locker room and checking up on guys because they are all about security and checking up on guys there in Foxborough and it stretches believability.

COOPER: Yes.

SHAUGHNESSY: That they didn't know anything was going on with this guy.

TOOBIN: I mean the - I'm sorry to interrupt Dan, but I mean the other thing that's so incredible about Aaron Hernandez is what an intimidating figure he must be, because the other - you know, there are two other defendants awaiting trial in the crime for which he was convicted and they never flipped on him.

COOPER: Right.

TOOBIN: They never turned on him even though they had every incentive in the world to do that. This is a scary intimidating guy even in jail.

COOPER: Jeff Toobin, Mark Geragos, Dan Shaughnessy, thanks very much. Just ahead sisters once close, but now estranged, they introduced Odin Lloyd and Hernandez, an introduction that changed all their lives.

Plus, what happened in the hours and minutes leading up to this? When an Arizona police cruiser slammed into a suspect on purpose. Police chief now sent a detail proof they did the right thing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Aaron Hernandez was obviously an NFL star making millions when he and Odin Lloyd a semipro player crossed paths. And these two men likely would never have met if it were not for these two women - sisters who were once close. The murder and the trial ruptured the bomb between them. A silent drama that was on display in court every day, and today with a verdict emotions boiled over. Randi Kaye reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Her name is Shayanna Jenkins. For months she stood by her fiancee, Aaron Hernandez testifying on his behalf, answering tough questions about a gun in the junk drawer at home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this similar or dissimilar to what you observed?

SHAYANNA JENKINS, AARON HERNANDEZ: Shape? Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Color?

SHAYANNA JENKINS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Size?

SHAYANNA JENKINS: I'm not sure.

KAYE: But while she was there to support him, her own sister was in court too. Supporting the family of the man Hernandez is now convicted of killing. Odin Lloyd was dating Shaneah Jenkins. She told the court about that horrible phone call from police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did you learn?

SHANEAH JENKINS, ODIN LLOYD'S GIRLFRIEND: That Odin was dead.

KAYE: She also shared this about seeing Hernandez after the murder.

SHANEAH JENKINS: Asked me if I was OK. Put his hand on my shoulder, kind of rubbed my shoulder and told me he had been through this death thing before, it will get better with time.

KAYE: For months the two sisters once considered close sat on opposite sides of the courtroom. Shayanna sat behind her fiance, next to Hernandez's mother. Shaneah sat with Odin Lloyd's mother. Their now strained relationship hardly went unnoticed in court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are your close as sisters? Have you been in the past, ma'am?

SHAYANNA JENKINS: I mean this - estranged kind of.

KAYE: Shayanna and Shaneah Jenkins grew up in Bristol, Connecticut. They went to Bristol Central High School where Aaron Hernandez was the star of the school's football team. Shayanna who was Hernandez's high school sweetheart ran track. Her younger sister Shaneah was reportedly a good student making the honor roll.

The two sisters actually introduced Hernandez to Odin Lloyd after Shaneah started dating him. The couples hung out together at Hernandez's house. Shayanna testified the sisters would often go shopping while the boys stayed in what they called the man cave smoking marijuana. Those memories long gone by the time Shaneah testified that Shayanna had been acting strangely after the murder, getting a flurry of calls and text messages from Hernandez. Prosecutors pounced suggesting that Shayanna threw out a box of trash that also contained the murder weapon which was never found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defendant called you and said it was important that you go down and get this box and get rid of it, is that right?

SHAYANNA JENKINS: I believe so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were also asked whether you had taken certain steps to cover or conceal or hide the box.

[20:45:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you recall doing that?

SHAYANNA JENKINS: Yes.

KAYE: When the guilty verdict was read the two sisters never made eye contact. Both in tears for their own reasons. Shayanna with Aaron Hernandez's mother. Shaneah holding her head in her hand. So many lives and a sisterly bond ruined by a handful of bullets.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Randi Kaye joins us now. Did they ever determine for sure what was in that box that Shayanna threw out?

KAYE: No. They never found the box. She told investigators that she can't remember where she dumped it. So, no box, no murder weapon. Because that's where prosecutors think that the murder weapon was, it was inside that garbage bag. Inside that box. But Shayanna testified, I should say, she'd been granted immunity to testify because she was facing about 29 different charges for lying to the grand jury that was looking at this case. So, to compel her to testify the prosecution granted her immunity. She was really helping, of course, to help defend her fiance, but in the end, Anderson, it seems as though she really became a witness for the prosecution.

COOPER: Fascinating. Randi, thank you very much. There's a lot more about the trial and the verdict coming up. At the top of the hour in a CNN special report, downward spiral inside the case against Aaron Hernandez.

Up next, tonight new information about what happened in the moments before an Arizona police officer who calls himself Robocop drove his car into an armed suspect. Slamming right into him. Plus new reaction from the police chief why he says this unusual move was, in fact, justified.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:50:02]

COOPER: An Arizona police chief supports an officer's decision to smash his patrol car right into an armed suspect. Now, we first told you about this last night. The crash was caught on dash cam video, actually, several videos. We want to warn you it is graphic. Here's the moment of the impact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A unit (INAUDIBLE). Stand off. Stand off. Unit on. Stay off. Strike. Man down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So the question, of course, is how did it get to that point? Police say the suspect was responsible for a string of robberies that that very day in the hours leading up to that moment and that he discharged his weapon. Sara Sidner reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators say Mario Valencia's day began at 6:45 a.m. Here at this 7/eleven where he robbed it in his underwear. Then police say he made a stop here at Tucson Baptist Temple where he broke in and started a fire. Soon after he ended up on this block committing a home invasion and police say stealing a car. That was all before 9:00 in the morning. Finally he ended up leaving Tucson driving 25 miles away to Marana. But he wasn't done yet. Investigators say he went to this Walmart where surveillance video shows he stole a gun and ammunition, then scurried out with Walmart security on his tail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't want to do this.

SIDNER: Police say that same gun shown here when they caught up with him in their final encounter. At first police were unsure if he'd been able to release the store lock on the gun.

(SHOT)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One round just went out into the sky. It's definitely unlocked now and it's definitely loaded.

SIDNER: But then -- this is about where suspect Valencia was hit from behind. He was hit so hard according to an eyewitnesses. Body flew over this barrier and you can see what's left of the barrier after the police car smashed into it. To the left of me is a Coca-Cola plant filled with workers behind me a manufacturing plant and right here a self-storage office.

Did police do the right thing? A resounding yes from the chief.

(on camera): Why do you think it was necessary for the officer to use that particular tactic?

CHIEF TERRY ROZEMA, MARANA POLICE DEPARTMENT: The tactic that he used wasn't something certainly that we train or even that would probably be something suggested. Something that came to him at the moment based on the totality of the circumstances. Everything that was going on around him. He was literally 15 second walk away from the front doors to two major businesses in our community. And if he gets into one of those businesses, you know, we're having a totally different conversation right now quite frankly. So, I think it was absolutely imperative that somebody take action.

SIDNER (voice over): The concern was he might go on a shooting spree. But his attorney balks at that idea and says the officer made a terrible judgment.

(on camera): Do you think the officer should be criminally investigated or prosecuted?

MICHELLE COHEN METZGER, ATTORNEY FOR MARIO VALENCIA: I do. I do. Because I think that this was absolutely an inappropriate use of force. An excessive use of force.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And Sara Sidner joins us now. This happened back in February. Why is the video just now being released?

SIDNER: You know, it's interesting. We didn't get a great answer to that question. But we do know that the defense attorney has said she just received it herself. In fact the first time she saw the video was on CNN. So she's trying to figure out why when she did Discovery she wasn't given that video along with the other evidence that she was handed over from the county prosecutor's office. We're still trying to get answers to that question. Anderson.

COOPER: Thank you very much. Sara Sidner. Up next, two TSA screeners are fired after allegedly plotting to grope attractive male passengers. But first, a look at high profits in new series premiering this weekend on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are parasites. They have got no contribution to this society. They are preying on our community and our kids. It is going to end badly. We got exactly $100,000 in cash in the back at his car. I bet there's guys right there now in prison for doing just what we're about to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want the cannabis club to be a household name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is us pioneering a new industry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going after every resort town in Colorado. His plan is brilliant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a big operation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not the Amsterdam ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely unbelievable to us that this happened so quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's when the town erupted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we have an image to protect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The powerful elite has definitely put the pressure on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone is playing everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are going to have a target painted on their back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a real threat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's $2 billion to be had next year. I plan to take more than my fair share.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "High Profits" series premier Sunday night at 10:00.

[20:54:57]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: There's a lot more happening tonight. Amara Walker has the "360" bulletin. Amara?

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, in Boston a day of remembrance on the second anniversary of the marathon bombings. The sister of eight-year-old Martin Richard, the attack's youngest victim and others help the mayor unveil a set of commemorative banners on Boylston Street. Three people were killed and more than 260 others were wounded in the 2013 attack.

Authorities say two TSA workers have been fired after they allegedly set up an elaborate system that allowed male screeners to grope attractive male passengers going through security at Denver International Airport.

And Netflix reports that it added 5 million new members in the first quarter of 2015 bringing its total membership to more than 62 million. The online streaming video service came up short on its earnings, though. Just 38 cents per share. Still, its stock shot up 12 percent in afterhours trading. Anderson?

[21:00:00]

COOPER: Amara, thanks very much. That does it for us. We'll see you again at 11:00 p.m. in another edition of "360". The CNN special report "Downward Spiral: Inside the Case against Aaron Hernandez" starts now.