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Violence in the Streets in Colombia; Connecticut Home Invasion Juror Speaks Out; End of the Line for Governor Schwarzenegger
Aired November 09, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just two days ago, a mother got some devastating news about her only son, that he was beaten to death at a party. And now, as she's grieving, she's trying to figure out what happened and why. She will join me live on set in 60 seconds.
(voice-over): A jury convicted Steven Hayes for killing a mother and her two daughters inside their own home. Now one of the jurors who sentenced him to die will join me live. I'll also talk to the grieving family.
And a seven-day cruise turns into a two-day nightmare -- no power, no air conditioning, no hot food, no phone service. Even the toilets wouldn't flush. How did this happen?
Tear gas, Molotov cocktails and homemade bombs -- Colombia's economic tensions exploding on the streets of Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: We have some new developments for you this hour in the investigation, in the heart-wrenching investigation, of a house party that took a tragic turn just over this past weekend.
This whole thing happened in a suburban Atlanta home Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Essentially, 10 teenagers were invited to the party. Parents were there. But what ended up happening was, far more showed up.
A fight broke out. And, when the chaos cleared, an 18-year-old named Bobby Tillman lay dead, brutally stomped to death, beaten so badly, so terribly that, according to local reports we're just now getting, one of his bones punctured his heart.
Bobby Tillman's mother, left to cope with the loss of her only son, here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONIQUE RIVARDE, MOTHER OF BOBBY TILLMAN: He was my best friend. He was a child of God. He was very loving. He was an angel here on Earth. And I was blessed to be his mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: That was Monique Rivarde. She is the grieving mother. She will be joining me any minute.
In fact, I was set to speak with her right now, but I just want to be entirely transparent with you. We just found out she got some kind of unexpected visitor, a knock on her door. A local politician wanted to talk to her about her son and about possibly passing some kind of law, perhaps so something this horrific never happens again. I'll ask her about that conversation. And, of course, we will get her to share her story.
And she has a message for parents. We all need to sit and listen to that. That should happen any moment now. We're watching them -- watch the door for her to walk through it.
Meantime, want to move on to another story that has been resonating with a lot of you. You have been on a cruise ship? Imagine, you know, you have got the pina colada in one hand. You're on the cruise ship headed to the Mexican Riviera for the seven-day vacation, and, suddenly, this fire in the engine room breaks out, no power, no air conditioning, no working toilets, no hot food, among other things.
So, that ship is apparently still stranded off the coast of western Mexico.
Chad Myers has been watching this whole thing --
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- joining me with some of the details.
And at least the update we have at this point in time, that auxiliary power is back on. So, at least that means what?
MYERS: Toilets flush.
BALDWIN: Working -- working toilets?
MYERS: Toilets flushing, cold water in the room.
BALDWIN: Oh.
MYERS: So, it's at least sanitary enough to wash your friends.
BALDWIN: Yikes.
MYERS: Are -- are you a cruiser? Do you like cruising?
BALDWIN: You know, I'm wishy-washy --
MYERS: Oh, OK.
BALDWIN: -- on the cruise thing.
MYERS: I have -- I have been on dozens. BALDWIN: OK.
MYERS: And I -- and I really enjoy it.
BALDWIN: OK.
MYERS: I don't -- I have pants that expand because I know what happens to --
BALDWIN: Because of all the food.
MYERS: Yes. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: I know.
But, anyway, the story here is that there was a fire in the engine room yesterday morning, and they reported it to the Coast Guard, saying, hey, we have a fire, but we have it out. It's under control, but we have no power.
They not only lost power to the ship. They lost power to the engines. So, they were unable to move. They were -- they called -- it's called dead in the water.
BALDWIN: Dead in the water, stuck, stranded.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Stuck, right.
So, then cutters went out. Coast guards went out. And tug -- now tugboats are there, going to try to drag this ship back into Ensenada.
BALDWIN: And when we say drag, that's like five-miles-an-hour drag. This is, like, just barely faster than --
MYERS: Right.
BALDWIN: -- drifting along.
MYERS: And we're about 55 to 60 miles out to sea.
BALDWIN: Wow.
MYERS: And the boat -- when -- when a ship loses power and it stops moving, the planers that keep the boat from doing this all night long don't really do anything anymore, because you're not planing through the water. You're not stabilizing the boat anymore.
And then the boat turns itself to the waves, and the boat goes back and forth all night long. And, hopefully, you have had your Dramamine or your Bonine. But, otherwise, this boat -- it was on its way to a -- a -- a pleasant cruise. It wasn't a -- it wasn't a big cruise.
It was seven days. It was going to go up and down the Mexican coast.
BALDWIN: Pretty nice.
MYERS: There you go. There it is, the Carnival Splendor, built in Italy, built in 2008.
BALDWIN: This thing is brand spanking new.
MYERS: Yes. You wouldn't think you would have this kind of a problem. There could be user error. There could be any kind of a mechanical issue.
What they knew and -- and what they know now at least is that the fire was big enough to put a dent in the operation systems, because the -- the boat is a diesel-powered boat. But the diesel generators generate electricity to run electric power out the back of the boat, kind of like a train. A train does the same kind of thing.
Here's what the boat was supposed to do.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: It was supposed to leave Long Beach, come all the way down on a two-day cruise, fun day at sea here, fun day at sea here, land in Mazatlan, spend the day, day three, here, then go to Puerto Vallarta day four, spend -- spend the day here, Cabo San Lucas, and then travel back up here and go back up toward Long Beach.
It is stuck right there, about 200 and so miles from San Diego. They're not going to drag it to San Diego. They're going to drag it to Ensenada and let the people off. It's too far out to sea to put everybody in those lifeboats that you see out there and then --
BALDWIN: That was one of my questions.
MYERS: -- and run them --
BALDWIN: You have these 3,300 passengers. You have 1,100 crew members.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: This is a big honking ship with a lot of people on it. And I was curious as to, you know, whether or not they were going to get the passengers off at some point --
MYERS: No.
BALDWIN: -- because it will still take a while for them to get home.
MYERS: Yes. And you know what? Those -- those little things -- they're called tenders -- that go back and forth, they could take them there, but that's a very long trip in a tender.
BALDWIN: I see.
MYERS: So they're going to drag the boat, all the people all at the same time, and drag the boat into -- into harbor. Put -- the tugboats can get it in to harbor just as well as the guy with a little joystick. And these things are almost fly-by-wire.
These are almost easier to -- to maneuver now than -- than a plane. You have a little joystick. It goes forward. It goes left. It goes right. There are bow thrusters. There are stern thrusters. This boat could actually literally go sideways when there's power.
BALDWIN: So, bottom --
MYERS: Can't do it now.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Bottom line, ETA? When are they getting back to home base?
MYERS: I don't think they will be back for at least 12 hours --
BALDWIN: Yikes.
MYERS: -- and maybe more. If you have said five knots, I would think that that's a pretty good way for a tugboat to be tugging this thing. It may be more like two to three knots. You multiply that by 60 miles, all of a sudden, you have got a day.
BALDWIN: Wow. Imagine that.
MYERS: Mm-hmm.
BALDWIN: Chad Myers.
Those poor folks, 3,300 people, plus -- plus crew.
Chad, thank you.
MYERS: Sure.
BALDWIN: You know, I had promised we would be speaking with Bobby Tillman's mother. And I'm looking just over to my right, if you can see that way. She's heading my way. This is going to Monique Rivarde. We will be speaking to her about her son, about this brutal beating. She lost her son over the weekend.
Folks, this is such fresh news for her. This is just over two days. But she has a message for parents. She is good enough to join me in the studio. We will be speaking with her next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right.
This is a story that all parents, especially if you have a teenager, you need to listen up, and listen closely. Look, this could happen in any city and involve any family. But, this time, it happened at a home in a middle-class suburb of Atlanta. You had teenagers -- 10 teenagers invited to this party.
Dozens end up showing up. So, a girl fight -- some kind of girl fight breaks out. A young man gets hit. So, he can't apparently bring himself to hit a girl. So, what does he do? He says he's going to strike at the next man who walks by.
And that young man just so happens to be 18-year-old Bobby Tillman. A total of four young men are charged with brutally stomping and beating Tillman to death. And Bobby Tillman's mother is left to cope with the loss of her only son. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVARDE: He was my best friend. He was a child of God. He was very loving. He was an angel here on Earth. And I was blessed to be his mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Bobby Tillman's mother, Monique Rivarde, is in.
And my condolences to you from myself, from our entire team here at CNN. We're so struck by this story.
I want to just first start -- there are several different stories kind of circulating as to what happened Saturday night in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I want you to tell me what is the story that you know. What happened to your son?
RIVARDE: I have heard dozens of stories about what happened to my son. I'm not completely sure which one to believe.
And I was advised by the DA just to wait for him to inform me, that they're gathering that evidence right now, as we speak, I'm sure, and they're getting to the bottom of everything. And they will have all the facts of what happened to my son that night for me.
BALDWIN: Fact in terms of Saturday night?
RIVARDE: Yes, Saturday night.
BALDWIN: Saturday night. And also, though, the fact is, the last time you spoke with your son was Saturday.
RIVARDE: Saturday night, the last time I heard from my son. I sent him a text. I changed his laptop screen saver to like some trees with flowers and things. And I took a picture -- my daughter took a picture and we sent it to him. And he was like: "Not cool, mom. Put LeBron James back."
So, that was the last text I received from my son. That was at 8:22 p.m. Saturday.
BALDWIN: 8:22 p.m.?
RIVARDE: Yes. So, some time after that, what happened to him did.
BALDWIN: And what happened was, he's at this party.
RIVARDE: He was at -- well, I received a call from one of his best friends. Actually, my daughter did. I texted him, because he usually -- Bobby was very good with letting me know where he was, when he's on his way home. He had a 2:00 a.m. curfew.
BALDWIN: He was responsible?
RIVARDE: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: Good kid.
RIVARDE: I had no reason not to trust my son.
But I hadn't heard from him, and it was a quarter to 2:00. And we also had the extra hour because the time change.
BALDWIN: Right.
RIVARDE: So, I'm like, OK, let me text him just to make sure he's fine and he's safe. I didn't hear back.
So, I called him, because he's prompt. Like, if I text, especially at that time, he's like: "Mom, no, I'm OK."
BALDWIN: Yes.
RIVARDE: "You know, I'm -- I'm on the way home or I'm -- I'm getting in the car."
So, I called him like four times. He didn't answer. So, I said, well, maybe he's driving. You know, I just didn't want to think negative.
BALDWIN: But your motherly -- motherly --
RIVARDE: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: -- intuition --
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- alarm bells were ringing?
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: And, so, ultimately, somehow, you decide to call 911?
RIVARDE: Well, his friend -- as I'm calling him, his friend called on my daughter's cell phone and was like, "I need to speak with your mom."
So, I get on the phone. And he said, "Ms. Monique, Bobby was jumped, and he's in critical condition."
And I was like, "Where is my son? Where is this party? Is he in the hospital? Is he on the ground? Where is he?"
So, he was like, "Ma'am, I don't know. I didn't go to the party. Someone called me."
So, I hung up. I called 911, and I said: "Look, my name is Monique Rivarde. My son is Bobby Tillman. I was just told that he was jumped or beat up really badly at a party. I just want to see if someone called in this situation. And, also, is he at the hospital?"
So, while, they had me on hold, I asked my mom to go to the emergency room at WellStar Douglasville. That's the closest hospital.
BALDWIN: So, your mom is headed to the hospital.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: In the meantime, you decide to call --
RIVARDE: To go to his friend's -- I'm on the phone still, but I'm going to the friend's house that he went with --
BALDWIN: Sure.
RIVARDE: -- because I want to see if they're home, if they are, where's my son.
So, in the midst of me traveling to their home or to their -- trying to find them, I got a call from the investigator. And he said --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Does he tell you over the phone?
RIVARDE: No. No, no, no, no. And, actually, it was maybe his assistant or someone that worked with him. And she said that an investigator wanted to speak with me.
And I said, "Why?"
And she said, "They just want to speak with you about my son."
And I said, "Well, I'm on the phone now. Tell me now, unless you know something about my son that you're not telling me."
And she said, "Well, the investigator would prefer to tell you." So, I pulled over and I waited 10 minutes. He was supposed to meet me. He didn't show. I said, "Look, I have to go home. My mom is at the hospital. She knows Bobby is there. I need to go home and wait to hear back from my mom."
BALDWIN: When did you finally find out?
RIVARDE: When the investigator came to my house.
BALDWIN: You remember that moment?
RIVARDE: Yes. He walked in.
And he said, "There was a fight."
And I said, "Is my son at the hospital?"
He said, "Yes."
And I said, "Is he alive?"
And he said: "No, ma'am. He died from blunt-force trauma, and he died instantly."
And I just started crying.
And he said, "Ma'am, let me tell you, we picked up over 60 children from that party. And everyone that we interviewed told me that your son did not provoke a thing, that he was such a good guy, that he did nothing."
And he said: "We have three suspects. And we are in the midst of looking for the fourth right now as I'm talking with you."
BALDWIN: We heard that it was a party of 10, ended up multiplying. This whole thing happened in the front yard, absolutely unprovoked, absolutely senseless.
RIVARDE: Mm-hmm. Yes.
BALDWIN: In fact, if I can, we have some sound from the sheriff, Sheriff Miller --
RIVARDE: OK.
BALDWIN: -- who talks about what happened in this moment before your son was murdered.
RIVARDE: OK.
BALDWIN: Let's listen.
RIVARDE: All right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PHIL MILLER, DOUGLAS COUNTY, GEORGIA, SHERIFF: One of them made the statement that they were going to beat up the next guy that showed up. And this little 5'6'', 125-pound 18-year-old kid with braces happened to come by. They beat him down on the ground and stomped him and killed him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Brought him on the ground, stomped him, and killed him, I mean, totally unprovoked.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: You had -- it was -- he was a good child --
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- a good young man --
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- your best friend.
RIVARDE: Absolutely, yes. He was an angel here on Earth.
BALDWIN: How are you sitting here so composed with me?
RIVARDE: Because my son was strong. Bobby was a man. He was 18. He was all of 5', he said, 7''.
BALDWIN: Yes.
RIVARDE: And he was small in stature, but his heart and his spirit and his strength was bigger to me than this world. And I know he would want me to be strong for him. And --
BALDWIN: And you are being strong.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: And I know one of the questions you're asking is why.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: But another question so many other people are asking is, there were 57 witnesses. I mean, is there a part of you, Monique, that's angry --
RIVARDE: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: -- that no one stepped in?
RIVARDE: I think that's a question I will go to my grave with. Why didn't anyone help my son? I don't understand. And I don't know. I -- I wasn't there. So I can't say. But I just don't understand. And, to me, it's a form of bullying. My son was bullied by four cowards. And it just has to stop. And I know these kids are in fear, because they're like, if I step in, maybe this will happen to me.
But, if four children would have helped, it not only would have stopped them from killing my son, but then their sense of strength --
BALDWIN: You wouldn't be sitting here.
RIVARDE: Yes, you know?
BALDWIN: You wouldn't be sitting here.
RIVARDE: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: I know -- I know you have a message for parents.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: And that's exactly -- exactly why you're giving me the time of day to sit with me and tell me this story.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: I want to -- if you can just hold the thought --
RIVARDE: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: -- let's go to break, and we will bring you back after the break. Stay there.
RIVARDE: OK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM.
Monique Rivarde, Bobby Tillman's mother.
He is the young man who was stomped to death at a teen party simply because he happened to walk through that door at the wrong point in time. If that isn't understatement, I don't know what is.
We're looking at some pictures. This is a makeshift memorial, actually, at the house where he died. And you and I have not been able to stop talking through this break, because you were telling me how you lost your father two years ago, and how, you know, Bobby really became the man of the house. You're a single mother.
RIVARDE: Mm-hmm.
BALDWIN: And, to have this happen, you're sitting with me because you have a message to parents.
And the message is what, Monique? RIVARDE: My message is, let's start from the root.
To me, Bobby is the end result. A death is the end result. We need to stop it before it even gets there. I want a law passed. I mean, these guys, I want them to go away forever.
But let's stop it before it even gets to that, before it gets to death. My son died from bullying. If we can stop it before it gets there and help these children -- it was rage. It was jealousy. It was pride. All these things in these boys to make them want to stomp my son and kill him? That's outrageous.
How can someone have so much of that inside of them, especially someone that is not even 21 yet? So they have lived only that long and have that -- so much of that built up that they had to stomp my child.
It has to be stopped. It's before, not once they're caught, because we can put everyone in jail, but before. You know what I mean? Like --
BALDWIN: Before it happens.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: I saw the look in your eyes.
Roger, if -- guys, if we can pull up the video once again and the memorial at that home.
I saw a look in your eyes, almost like you had not seen those pictures yet.
RIVARDE: No. I haven't --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: You had not seen the memorial.
RIVARDE: No.
BALDWIN: And so here it is.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: I mean, looking -- look at all -- you're looking at these signs for the first time.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: "Young man, your death was not the end."
RIVARDE: Yes. I -- I haven't -- I haven't been watching the news. I haven't been doing anything.
And it's just beautiful that everyone is pouring out all this love for Bobby.
BALDWIN: You had to change the church. As you're having to go through the motions and make these funeral arrangements, you had to change it to a larger church --
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- simply because of the outpouring of support.
RIVARDE: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Talk to me about the fund the is set up.
RIVARDE: We established a fund. Actually, today, it's settled. It's final. And it's called the Bobby Tillman Fund. And it's through Bank of America.
And we have been called or contacted with so many people wanting to contribute in some type of way. They wanted to give flowers or anything. We're just asking, like, if they do, just to give money to his fund, because this fund is going to help -- we want to help children Bobby's age or younger to stop with the rage or just, you know, whatever they're feeling to where they have to bully and they have to hurt or take it out on someone else.
Let's see what it is, so that it can be helped, and then it will help another child and another one and another one, and they won't end up and go through what my son did.
BALDWIN: You are so strong and so put-together, sitting here in front of me. And it's just one of the situations where you think, as a parent, I'm not supposed to be burying my child.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: It's supposed to be the other way around.
RIVARDE: Absolutely. Yes, I never thought -- I don't -- my sister has been handling everything. I -- I don't even -- I didn't know step one. I have never in my life imagined -- this is the worst time in my life. This will be the worst time of my life.
I never thought I would have to bury my child, never. I never thought that.
BALDWIN: Monique Rivarde, I'm sorry to -- I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for your son.
RIVARDE: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: -- an amazing young man, full of strength.
RIVARDE: Yes.
BALDWIN: He would be proud.
RIVARDE: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Monique, thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVARDE: Thank you.
BALDWIN: We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: As you know, the president is out of the country, and Congress is taking a bit of a break.
So, for our political fix today, we're headed to California to touch base with this guy. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Arnold Schwarzenegger, that's who we're looking at today, serving out his final weeks as governor of the biggest state in the union.
And he popped in -- there he is with "The Tonight Show," Jay Leno, where he announced his candidacy -- candidacy seven years ago.
Jessica Yellin is our national political correspondent. She is in California.
Jessica, good --
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- to see you.
Let's first just listen to a little bit. This is Governor Schwarzenegger talking about the midterm election, and kind of, you know, assessing the -- the current political scene. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: You have people screaming on -- on one side, you know, we shouldn't spend any more money, and the other side, you know, spend all the money in the world.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Mm-hmm.
SCHWARZENEGGER: The other side was screaming, hey, let's go into Iraq and continue with the war in Afghanistan, and the other side, no, let's pull out of Iraq.
There were people that were against having sex with themselves.
LENO: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
SCHWARZENEGGER: And then there were people that want to have sex with everybody.
LENO: Right.
SCHWARZENEGGER: So, I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
LENO: A little bit of everything.
(APPLAUSE)
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARZENEGGER: All of the extreme things. It was wacky, the whole thing. It was really wacky.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Kind of an interesting take on some things, Ms. Yellin.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: But -- but, you know, I kind of think his -- his act has worn a bit thin with California.
YELLIN: Yes. You know, he can get away with saying some things that I think --
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: -- just about no other politician could.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Yes.
YELLIN: But you are right, Brooke.
You know, when he came into office, there was all this hope, and he promised to do things differently. Right now, his approval rating, just 22 percent of Californians approve of the job he's doing as governor. That's his favorability. Seventy percent -- seven-zero -- disapprove. You know, here are some of the harsh realities right now. There's a $19 billion budget hole in California --
BALDWIN: Whew.
YELLIN: -- the most outstanding deficit in the nation, and the -- the state borrowing more than $44 million a day just for unemployment benefits.
And, you know, the unemployment rate here is more than 12 percent. So, Californians are struggling. And that's something that Arnold acknowledged -- I should say Governor Schwarzenegger acknowledged -- on "The Tonight Show" last night also.
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: Let's listen to that for just a minute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
SCHWARZENEGGER: I have to say that I'm sad about the fact that we had a second -- during my term, a second decline economically, because, no matter how much I brag about what we have accomplished, it is horrible when you see so many people unemployed, so many people losing their homes, so many people suffering, businesses closing down, and all of those kind of things.
So, you know, I hope that Democrats and Republicans get together and bring back the jobs and bring back the economy as quickly as possible --
LENO: Yes.
SCHWARZENEGGER: -- because there's just too many people that are hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Brooke, another reminder that it is -- governing is, as another person in the news, George Bush, used to say, hard work. It's hard work, and more of a challenge than maybe he expected when he got the job.
BALDWIN: Absolutely. And, you know, on his way out here, you mentioned his disapproval rating, Jessica. It's 70 percent.
I'm just kind of curious. You know, how will California look back at -- at him, our second Hollywood president, of course, the first being Ronald Reagan?
YELLIN: Right, Ronald Reagan.
BALDWIN: Right.
YELLIN: Look, he inherited a very, very difficult budget. And that's the reality a lot of politicians are dealing with right now. You know, they couldn't do what their positive agenda was. They had to deal with the negative reality of the budget.
But, look, he did promise to be different. He promised to bring Republicans and Democrats together. And he really wasn't able to do that very often. He got a couple of initiatives that he backed pushed forward, especially on the environment, also on redistricting.
He turned smoking marijuana in the state from a major crime to almost not illegal. There's --
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: It's no longer even a misdemeanor to smoke a joint in the state.
BALDWIN: Wow.
YELLIN: But people, you know, will look back and say, he really wasn't able to accomplish a lot of what he promised.
He was a new kind of Republican, but challenging times. It sounds familiar, like other politicians these days, Brooke.
BALDWIN: I know. I know, indeed. Inheriting the deficit, we have heard that before.
Jess Yellin --
YELLIN: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- for us in L.A.
Jess, thank you.
Hey, did you see what happened off the coast of California last night? Look at this. It's a beautiful picture. What is it? Someone launched a mysterious missile. And no one seems to know a thing about it, not even the Pentagon. Hmm.
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Here is some -- a look at other stories unfolding right now.
First the president -- we mentioned the possibility yesterday, now we know officially he's cutting his visit to Indonesia short. The problem -- all that volcanic ash from Mount Merapi which could very much so ground Air Force One. So the schedule has been tweaked just a little bit.
Mr. Obama and Indonesia's president did talk to reporters earlier today and one of the topics was trade. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are looking to expand our trade and investment and commercial relationships, because it can create prosperity in both our countries. Trade between us is growing fast, and that includes American exports to Indonesia.
And that's why Indonesia is one of the growing markets that we're going to be focused on as part of my initiative to double U.S. exports.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And we should mention the president not leaving Indonesia yet. He still has plans to go to an official dinner and give a speech at the University of Indonesia.
And 69 kids are safe today and nearly 900 people are under arrest in this nationwide crackdown on child sex trafficking. The feds apparently targeted 40 cities across the country. The raids lasted three days and ended just this past Sunday.
The FBI says the largest of kids, that being 16, were rescued in Seattle. And in middle Tennessee, 29 people are under arrest accused of trafficking underage Somali and African-American girls.
And look at this pretty picture with me, a possible missile or rocket, what is this streaking across the sky? This is off the southern California coast. It's beautiful, looks kinds of cool. But here's the thing. Nobody knows who launched it.
People at the Pentagon shrugging their shoulders. No idea. But they also say it doesn't actually look like a military missile. One analyst tells us he thinks it was just a streak of condensed air from a commercial airliner. How about that? It looks like it's coming out of the sea because the plane is flying over the horizon.
Charlie Sheen says he has a perfectly good explanation for that wild night at that ritzy New York hotel, you know, the night that led to $7,000 damage in claims violent from a porn star? We'll let you hear it and you can be the judge for yourself.
Also ahead, got to love a good animal story. Hello, Mr. Alligator. He came close, very close to making it through hunting season. But his luck ran out on the last day. We'll tell you how he got wrangled coming up.
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BALDWIN: Jurors in Connecticut took all of five hours to find Steven Hayes guilty, but they took four days to decide he should die for a terrifying home invasion that ended in the triple murders of a Connecticut mother and her two young daughters.
What was it like in that jury room? What went into the decision to sentence a man to death? I will ask one of the jurors about that in just a moment here. But first Randi Kaye is going to take us back, take us through the evidence in this particularly brutal crime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the trial of Steven Hayes, it was never a question of guilt or innocence. It was simply a question of whether or not Hayes should die for his crime.
A prominent Connecticut family held hostage and terrorized in their home. Dr. William Petit nearly beaten to death with a baseball bat, his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit sexually assaulted and strangled by Steven Hayes. Their children, Haley and Michaela, left to die in a fire.
From day one Hayes defense attorney said his client killed Mrs. Hawke-Petit, but then spent the last few weeks trying to spare his life. The jury sentenced him to death anyway. Here may be a few reasons why.
The duration of the crime, seven hours, during which Mrs. Hawke- Petit was forced to withdraw $15,000 from the family's bank account. This bank security camera video was played for the jury. It shows her desperate attempt to save her family, which way was tied up just three miles away. The video was recorded just 40 minutes before her murder.
It wasn't just how long this family was held but the sheer brutality of the attack.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: The beating of Dr. Petit, the fact that an 11-year-old girl was tortured, was sexually assaulted, was killed, that evidence was just so, so heinous that I believe that is what really tipped the balance in favor of the death penalty here.
KAYE: There were also crime scene photographs -- a mother's body burned beyond recognition. Haley, 17, found at the top of the stairs. Michaela, 11, found still tied to her bed. Both girls died from the smoke.
Jurors also viewed text messages sent from Hayes to the other suspect, Joshua Komisarjevsky, just before the home invasion. Those also weighed heavily on the jury. Hayes wrote, "I'm chomping at the bit to get started. Need a margarita soon." Komisarjevsky responded "I'm putting kid to bed. Hold your horses." Hayes -- "Dude, the horses want to get loose, LOL."
HOSTIN: That was significant. And I recall looking over at the jury, and they were glaring at Steven Hayes when that evidence was on the projector.
KAYE: And there was this surveillance video of Hayes at a gas station buying the gasoline that was later poured throughout the house and on the victims. The jury was also convinced Steven Hayes had every opportunity to walk away.
HOSTIN: He left the house to buy gasoline. He left the house with Mrs. Petit. They left the house to park their car somewhere else. Time and time again he had the opportunity to not be involved in these murders, and he never walked away.
KAYE: As the death sentence was read in court, Steven Hayes stared straight ahead and smiled. His lawyer says Hayes is happy with the sentencing, so full of remorse, Steven Hayes wants to die.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Diane Keim, one of the seven women and five men who decided whether Steven Hayes should live or die. Diane, we just heard the piece. It was a trial of torture, sexual assault, murders, bodies burned. How did you get through it? It must have been very emotional for you?
DIANE KEIM, STEVEN HAYES TRIAL JUROR: Oh, it was extremely emotional. We looked at the photos and we -- when I looked at the photos of the girls and Mrs. Petit, I hugged the photos, and then I looked at Dr. Petit and I looked at the family. And I -- the pain -- their pain became my pain, OK, their pain became our pain.
And all twelve us tried to keep our emotions in check because we knew that we had to make a decision here on a man's life. And it was very, very difficult for us.
BALDWIN: And you made two decisions essentially, it looked like at the trial. You had to decide whether or not he was guilty on "x" number of counts -- I think it was 16 out of 17 that he was guilty. And then ultimately you had to decide whether Steven Hayes should live or die.
It took you a couple of hours after the trial but took you going into the fourth day of deliberations to decide he should be put to death. Why did it take into the fourth day?
KEIM: Well, first of all, we had some difficulty understanding the procedures that were involved in -- the paperwork and the procedures that we had to follow for each count. And that's why it took us a day, and we asked two questions for clarification based on the material and the information that was provided by Judge Blue.
You have to understand this jury was highly intelligent. We had someone with her doctorate. We had a graduate from MIT. I have two masters degrees. There was another with a masters degree.
BALDWIN: A highly intellectual crowd poring through every detail.
KEIM: That's right.
BALDWIN: And when you finally though decided death on six counts for Mr. Hayes, what was that like, having someone's life in your hands?
KEIM: Well, these are our choices, OK. We took a look at all the evidence. We also pulled the evidence apart. We had to differentiate between who was -- who was telling the truth, who was more credible. And that's where we used our intellectual prowess in differentiating and making the decision.
Each count we had to follow a procedure. There were safeguards in each count, and we must -- and we had to reach consensus. And in reaching consensus, we could not move on to the next part of the paperwork and bringing us close to the death penalty --
BALDWIN: I see.
KEIM: -- on that decision.
BALDWIN: And you finally came to your decision. I have two questions. We're going to go to break, but I want you to think about this. My two questions being the fact that Mr. Hayes -- Steven Hayes is apparently happy he'll be put to death. And number two, I want to talk to you have about Dr. Petit who appeared so stoic through this whole ordeal.
Stand by. We'll go to break. We'll talk on the other side.
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BALDWIN: I want to pick up where we left off with Diane Keim, one of the jurors who found Steven Hayes, decided that he should die for invading the Petit family home in Connecticut and killing Mrs. Petit and her two daughters. When you heard that was happy to be put to death, what do you think about that?
KEIM: I don't think he was happy. I think what he was happy -- it wasn't so much being put to death. He doesn't want to be in isolation. That's a greater punishment for him.
You have to understand that if he had life in prison, all right, that would be going home for him. He has spent 25 years being incarcerated in a prison. But he was in the general population, and, you know, he could socialize with his peers, his prison mates. He had a job.
BALDWIN: So he will not get to go back to that.
KEIM: He will not. He is on death row.
BALDWIN: That is correct. That is correct.
KEIM: Yes, that is correct.
BALDWIN: Also let me ask you about Dr. Petit. He's the man who appeared so stoic, Diane, through this whole ordeal. He lost his wife and he lost his two young daughters in the brutal home invasion, sex assault, murder. What was it like speaking with him when you finally got to go into the basement, you and the rest of the jurors to say hello? What did you say to him, and what did he say back?
KEIM: Well, first of all, the whole Petit family was there. And meeting the whole family, I could see how Dr. Petit, his wife and children had such strength of character. The whole family has strength, the whole family has courage.
And to hug him, which is something I wanted to do throughout the whole trial if I could somehow take his pain away, I felt that when we met him and met the family, I felt that we did something to help take some pain away, whatever we could do.
BALDWIN: You mentioned -- you know, Diane, you mentioned the family. We're fortunate enough to have Cindy Hawke-Renn. She is Jennifer Hawke-Petit's sister. And Cindy, since I have Diane here, what message may you have for her and what message may you have for those jurors who could be listening?
CINDY HAWKE-RENN, JENNIFER HAWKE-PETIT'S SISTER (via telephone): As I said earlier today, I'd really like to thank you as my parents Richard and Mary, we really appreciated all that you guys did. We know you had to be very brave in seeing all the information that you saw and looking at the pictures that you saw, and I'm sure that was embedded in your mind almost like it was in ours. I know it wasn't an easy job and we really appreciate what you guys did.
BALDWIN: Diana -- she says thank you.
Cindy, my next question, I was so struck, all of us really were when we watched Dr. Petit speaking outside the courtrooms and a reporter was asking does this bring you closure? He spoke about, no, it doesn't. Let's play the sound bite where he references this huge hole in his heart and I'll get you to respond on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WILLIAM PETIT, FAMILY KILLED IN HOME INVASION: You know, the way I've imagined this day through, it's a hole with jagged edges, and over time the edges may smooth out a little bit, but the hole in your heart and the hole in your soul is still there. So there's never closure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Cindy, I imagine you have a large hole in your heart as well. Jennifer was your only sister. How do you cope?
HAWKE-RENN: One of the things I try to do is I look for sisters everywhere I can. I have a lot of friends and coworkers and distant relatives, cousins that have become like sisters to me now. There's no replacing a sister, but there are certainly people you can put around you to help uphold you.
I feel also a huge loss in my life not because my sister's gone but because my only two nieces and my husband's only two nieces are gone. All their cousins were taken away from them.
BALDWIN: You mention Michaela and Haley and Jennifer. We've been following the trial and there's so much focus about how they died, and if we can just take a moment and talk about how they lived. How should we be remembering these three women? HAWKE-RENN: You know, my sister was a great Christian woman. She tried very hard to give her children the greatest upbringing she could with wonderful morals and values. You know, she taught all of us so much just from being a nurse and being as kind-hearted as she was to all of our family members who were ever ailing with anything.
BALDWIN: She was there.
HAWKE-RENN: To students that she taught that, you know, also need her nursing advice at times.
She just was radiated. She was full of love and, you know, I would say she was such an elegant person to be around. And I loved it when she walked into a room, just to see her move with such poise and grace, and she had a lot of class, but she was very humble about it.
BALDWIN: She had class, she was humble. Cindy, really my final question is you remember your family here. We've been talking to Diane about ultimately this verdict, the fact that Steven Hayes will be put to death. Do you feel like justice has been served?
HAWKE-RENN: If he really is put to death I might feel like justice was served one day, although I know there isn't a closure in anything like this. And even if he is put out of this world peacefully with an injection in his arm, my pain doesn't end.
And I think justice has been served, but I don't know that there truly is anything just when something like this happens.
BALDWIN: Cindy Hawke-Renn and Diane Keim, ladies, I think you both.
HAWKE-RENN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: We're going to be back in a moment with some breaking news from the world of politics. Stay there.
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BALDWIN: All right, CNN has all your latest political news with "The Best Political Team on Television," CNN = Politics. And Wolf Blitzer is at the CNNpolitics.com desk. And, Wolf, I hear you're getting some new information, a new poll regarding the New Jersey governor. What do you have?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Yes. Chris Christie is a very popular governor in New Jersey and he's a rising star in the Republican Party. But according to this new Quinnipiac University poll, they don't want him, the folks in New Jersey, to run for president at least not yet. They don't think he's necessarily ready.
He's indicated he has no plans on running for president, even though the Republicans love him, a lot of conservatives love him because of the very strong stance he's taking on cutting the New Jersey budget in the face of a Democratic controlled legislature. This new Quinnipiac University poll says 51 percent of New Jersey voters approve of the job he's doing. That's a higher job approval number in New Jersey than President Obama has right now. But at the same time they say he should not necessarily run for president right now. They don't think he's ready to run for president right now. They're very happy he's still governor of New Jersey, and apparently he's going to stay governor of New Jersey for the time being.
That doesn't say maybe he couldn't be tapped as a vice- presidential running mate. There's been some speculation about that. But right now he's the governor of New Jersey.
We're going to talk, by the way, Brooke -- and you will be interested in this -- I think our viewers will as well -- with two other rising stars in the Republican Party in "THE SITUATION ROOM," Michele Bachmann, the Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, and Rand Paul, the senator-elect from Kentucky.
They're both going to be joining me. We will have separate interviews with them and pick their brains on some of the key issues. Rand Paul, he is being criticized at least right now. Has he flip- flopped on whether or not he supports banning all earmarks? There was some confusion as a result of an interview he granted to "The Wall Street Journal" over the weekend.
He clarifies exactly where he stands on earmarks in the interview that you will see with me in "THE SITUATION ROOM." And we have got a lot to discussion with Michele Bachmann as well. She wants a leadership job in the Republican -- in the new Republican-controlled majority in the House, but there's some opposition to her from some of the established Republican leaders.
We will pick her brain on that as well. So it's going to be a strong two hours in "THE SITUATION ROOM." And I know I can always count on you, Brooke, to watch.
BALDWIN: Of course. Michele Bachmann and Rand Paul, I am there. Wolf Blitzer, I am there. Thank you, sir.
By the way, we will get another update for you in about half-an- hour. And you can get the latest political news. just go to CNNPolitics.com and on Twitter at @PoliticalTicker.
