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Cindy Anthony May Face Perjury Issue; Destigmatizing Suicides in Military; Romney Still Leads in New Hampshire; China Blogs Alleged Death of Ex-President; Facebook Plans "Something Awesome"; William and Kate in Canada; Hugh Grant Takes on the British Tabloids; What do We Know About the Jurors in the Casey Anthony Case?; Picking Host City for 2018 Olympics; Counting Down to Final Shuttle Mission
Aired July 06, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys. Thanks so much. And it's 6:00 a.m. out West.
Here are some of the stories that have us talking this morning.
The verdict is in but still lots of questions about Casey Anthony's future. She could go free at tomorrow's sentencing hearing on those charges of lying to police.
Search and rescue teams still scouring the waters off Baja, Mexico, looking for missing Americans. Their charter fishing boat sank in bad weather three days ago.
And Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will launch something awesome. New apps for your tablet maybe or a Skype video chat service? We'll see.
Casey Anthony is officially not guilty of her daughter's death but public opinion, of course, is another thing. And a lot of people are outraged at the thought of her going free to continue her bella vita.
David Mattingly joining us now live from Orlando, Florida.
Let's discuss what's next for Casey Anthony now -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, on Thursday, Casey Anthony goes back into court. She is going to be in front of the judge again to be sentenced for those four misdemeanor charges of lying to investigators in this case.
Each of those counts carries a maximum of one year in jail. Now she's already served three while she was awaiting trial. It's possible the judge could give her a sentence that would rely on time served and she could go free. So that's one of the possibilities we're looking at tomorrow.
Looking outside the courthouse today, all of those crowds that we got so used to looking at here, they're gone today. People going back home, going back on with their lives after getting so close and so many people getting so emotionally invested in this trial. Now that the verdict is out, there are no crowds here at the courthouse. Last night, we saw sheriff's deputies in the neighborhood where Casey Anthony's parents live. People there were concerned that there would be too many onlookers and too many people coming by for sightseeing in the neighborhood so the sheriff said that they would have deputies there to make sure that the residents there were protected and they could get back on with their lives.
But, at the moment, everyone wondering what's going to happen next with Casey Anthony. She will be before that judge on Thursday -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. David Mattingly, thanks. Live from Orlando.
Now Casey Anthony's courtroom drama is over but some legal experts wonder if her mom will face any repercussions over her testimony. Prosecutor Jeff Ashton addressed that question on the "Today" show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT LAUER, HOST, "TODAY" SHOW: You are leaving your post, but do you think there would be legal action taken against Cindy Anthony for perjuring herself on the witness stand?
JEFF ASHTON, PROSECUTOR: I think there could be. You know that will be a decision made by another branch of our office. And --
LAUER: Would you pursue the case if you were staying in office?
ASHTON: I don't -- I honestly don't know. That will be a very, very difficult decision to make.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. Prosecutor Jeff Ashton kind of wiggled out of that one, didn't he? At issue here is Cindy Anthony's testimony that she was the one who did those Internet searches for chloroform. The prosecution later showed work records that seemed to preclude that.
Here with me now criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Holly Hughes.
So what do you think? Could Cindy Anthony be prosecuted for perjury?
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Technically speaking, under the law, yes. Because I think they've got enough proof to show it's a specific intent crime.
For our viewers, what that means is you're going to have to prove to your jury or your judge she willfully did this. She meant to lie and I think they've got enough evidence to prove it. But from a personal human standpoint, I don't think we're going to see it happen.
Remember, no matter what we think of Cindy Anthony, she is a victim here. She is a grieving grandmother, and, Kyra, I mean you watch that testimony, just like I did, sobbing, heaving, racked with grief. So we know that she truly, truly loved that little girl and misses her. And at this point, all she was trying to do was save her daughter's life and it worked. So at this point I think any prosecution is going to look like sour grapes quite frankly, so I don't think we're going to see it happen.
PHILLIPS: What about further prosecution in this case? Other family members or other players?
HUGHES: No. It's a done deal. Because again if you want to get anybody for perjury it's specific intent. How are you honestly going to prove that George lied about anything? The only thing that was iffy, in my mind, I think he lied about the affair but how do you prove that?
Unless there's videotape which if there was, we'd have been is, believe me, Jose Baez would have handed it out when Krystal Holloway was on the stand. So I don't think so.
And as far as Casey is concerned, this is a done deal. Double jeopardy clause of our U.S. Constitution says hey, state gets one bite at the apple. If it's not successful, you cannot go after her again.
SPITZER: Got it. Holly Hughes, thanks.
HUGHES: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: President Obama says that he wants to de-stigmatize the mental health cost at war so now he's reversing a long held White House policy of not sending condolence letters to families of our troopers who died by suicide.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence live this morning from Washington with more.
Let's talk about this change with Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. This is a fairly big change. Even though, granted, it's only going to affect a small number of troops who actually commit suicide while -- during deployment in a war zone. But still, there's been this ongoing fight in the military and outside the military among families to sort of de- stigmatize suicide.
And I think if you listen to the president's statement that's exactly what this was designed to do, to sort of, you know, put suicide in a different light.
The interesting thing about it was the president had commissioned this review of this policy before making the decision. He said the review was exhaustive, it was tough, which suggests that in some level there was, you know, some pushback and we're going to be looking more into that throughout the day to find out exactly maybe, you know, where the pushback was and why the folks who didn't want this change, why they felt that way as well.
PHILLIPS: Well, as we know, suicide has become a really sad reality within these two wars.
Chris, thanks.
Republicans in the nation's first primary state weighing in with their picks for presidential candidates.
CNN's Jim Acosta joining us with the result of a new poll from New Hampshire.
So is Mitt Romney still the frontrunner, Jim?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is very much the frontrunner, Kyra. And you know a good sign of that is when you leave the country to go do some fundraising. Mitt Romney is going to London today to do some fundraising across the pond. And he might as well because if you look at this latest poll from our friends at WMUR up in New Hampshire, they are looking at the all-important New Hampshire primary and who voters are preferring at this point.
And Romney is way out in front, 35 percent. Look at that. The closest challenger at this point is Michele Bachmann at 12 percent who, you know, for a lot of people didn't think, you know, she was going to do all that well up in New Hampshire. But guess what? She has bounced up about eight points, according to some of these polls.
And then you go down the list of Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, who hasn't even announced that he's running for president. Same with Rick Perry. He hasn't announced as well.
Btu look at the bottom half of this poll. I think this is rather striking as well. Tim Pawlenty, 3 percent. Jon Huntsman, who has staked a lot of his campaign on winning New Hampshire and had this big rollout with a lot of media coverage, only at 2 percent at this point. He's right there with Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich who has not had a very good month obviously in the month of June.
So, Kyra, some very surprising numbers there and some very good numbers for Mitt Romney.
Now we mentioned in that poll there, Tim Pawlenty, he is also not doing very well in that poll. But he is hoping, obviously, to win Iowa. That is where he is staking all of his campaign and he's brought basically what is a pretty good political young gun on his squad, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, the daughter of Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses back in 2008. She has joined his campaign.
So you can say that Tim Pawlenty is looking for some Huck luck. And Sarah Huckabee-Sanders was a close confidant to her father and was a big integral part of that campaign. And Tim Pawlenty says she will be a big part of his campaign in Iowa.
So if Pawlenty is going to do well in Iowa, Sarah Huckabee Sanders will probably be a good bet in terms of helping him form that strategy moving forward because right now he needs all of the help he can get -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jim Acosta, out of D.C. Jim, thanks.
And we're going to have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder for all the latest political news, go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.
All right, blogs and Web sites in China tossing around rumors that their former leader may be dead. Jiang Zemin was president of China, his 10-year run ending in 2003.
Jon Mann is here to help us clear this up.
Now what -- can we figure out if this is true or not? Because we know about the issue of censorship.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The short answer is we do not know the state of Mr. Jiang's health. But that's really the story. That's what's fascinating about this.
Now, I don't know if politics is your thing. Jiang Zemin isn't exactly household name anymore but people who were watching may remember his owlish glasses. His face was pretty famous back -- well, 10, 15 years ago.
We don't know where he is now. He wasn't in an important event in December. More importantly he was missing at Communist Party anniversary celebrations on July 1st. And people really, really, took that as a signal something was wrong and people started blogging about it.
It really started I guess yesterday in China. And all of a sudden people noticed that, well, his name started disappearing. If you'd look for the word death on the Internet in China you'd be blocked by an official censorship notice.
His name actually means river in Chinese. So if you look up the Yangtze River -- the Yangtze River was blocked on Chinese Internet site by official notice. The hospital where people think he might have been treated blocked as well. So everywhere people went, they noticed that there's one consistent theme here, they can't get to any information about Jiang Zemin.
They tried all kinds of intriguing things. Now China treats the health of its leaders like a state secret and so when questions about his health came forward they did what they always do. Hand-fisted censorship that hits everybody who was trying to just get the basics of what happened to Jiang Zemin.
PHILLIPS: And not just China but I mean North Korea as well, you know, when you start hearing something about Kim Jong-Il.
Now how did bloggers get around the censorship? Because obviously this happened after the fact. They put the word out there.
MANN: It's not easy. China has the largest Internet police force in the world. There are believed to be 30,000 people who do nothing but censor the Internet in China. PHILLIPS: Wow.
MANN: So what they do is they come up with different things like the word hung is euphemism in Chinese for died. Well, they put clothes of hanging, empty clothes hanging and that's what they're referring to. Or when Liu Xiaobo, who's the Nobel Prize-winning dissident was mentioned in Oslo as the laureate for last year's peace prize, he got an empty chair. They come up with symbols. They come up with drawings and eventually those 30,000 people they find ways to censor even those.
So just to make the point once again, we do not know if Jiang Zemin is alive or well or what. But we do know the government of China is trying to stop the Chinese from talking about it.
PHILLIPS: Interesting. We'll follow it.
Jon Mann, thanks.
Well, Facebook has a big announcement later today. Mark Zuckerberg says it will be something awesome. Our tech guru has some ideas of what that awesomeness might be.
And it looks like something out of a science fiction movie. A huge wall of dust darkens Arizona. We'll try and explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories "Cross Country."
A state of emergency in seven Montana counties after a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline sends thousands of gallons of oil in the Yellowstone River. High-water levels and rapid river currents are hampering the cleanup effort.
A train is to blame for leaking diesel fuel in the Chouteau River in Columbus, Ohio. Cleanup crews soaked up as much fuel as they could. The environmental damage is considered minor at this point.
And check out this phenomenal sight in nearby Mesa, Arizona. A massive dust storm. Nearly 60 miles wide blackening the skies of the (INAUDIBLE), Phoenix and beyond. The storm delayed flights and cut power.
And in Tucson, well, tears and applause greeted an aide to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Ron Barber returned to work yesterday. He was one of the 13 people wounded along with his boss back on January 8th. He'll work part-time as he continues rehab and recovery.
Facebook has a big announcement today and Mark Zuckerberg says it's something awesome. So why should you care? Well, according to some estimates 500 million people use Facebook. That's 1 in 13 people on earth. Seventy-one percent of American Internet users are on Facebook. And with young adult women, more than half of them talk to friends online versus face-to-face. Mario Armstrong is joining us kind of face-to-face, our tech guru.
Today's Facebook announcement, might just --
MARIO ARMSTRONG, TECH GURU: It might work.
PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. The new announcement might change that last number of the amount of people that are speaking online and versus face-to-face.
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely, Kyra. And you know what is very interesting about your stats that you just pulled there, especially when it relates to women, one of the things that Facebook does not offer for chatting with people is the ability to have video. So many more folks would much rather be able to have a video chat with someone than to be using keyboard and text messages to go back and forth. So, that's big speculation of the announcement today.
Now, look, Facebook could announce a lot of things. They could announce -- music service has been talked about, maybe some new photo sharing features or even tablet applications. There could be a lot of things.
But everyone is speculating and expecting them to announce video, because that is the killer thing on the Internet that people want to do.
PHILLIPS: OK. But remember iPhone tried to get people to embrace video chat with FaceTime, right? And that wasn't really a blockbuster. So, why would Facebook want to do this?
ARMSTRONG: Well, at the time, iPhone -- great question -- but iPhone did not have 500 million people using the service. So, that's one thing.
PHILLIPS: That's true.
ARMSTRONG: Number two, you also needed to have that device.
So, you know, you have much more accessible, many more people are already on Facebook and it really just makes natural sense. The idea probably will be that they will use Skype, something that we are all familiar with, already use. Microsoft bought it. Microsoft is an investor of Facebook.
So, a lot of these pieces of the puzzle seemed to make sense, that it will be a natural thing for them to launch some type of video platform and it will go gangbusters if that's in fact the case.
PHILLIPS: OK. All right. We'll see.
I want to ask you while you I have you -- the president is going to hold this Twitter town hall today, right?
ARMSTRONG: Yes. PHILLIPS: So, with all of the hacking that has taken place lately and all of the scandals we've seen on Twitter, if you know what I'm talking about --
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: -- do you think this is a good idea?
ARMSTRONG: Well, I think it's -- you know, a good idea depends on really what you're trying to accomplish. I think it's a good idea for the president at any time in America to try to reach people outside of Washington. So, I do think this gives him a chance to talk to not only younger folks but people outside of the Beltway.
But I think this may be a better move on a marketing aspect for campaign of 2012. When you look at the Twitter account for the White House, it only has about 2 million followers. When you look at the Twitter account for Barack Obama, he has close to 9 million followers. So, this could be a way for him to address the nation through Twitter, but also build his followers -- that would be a smart move for the campaign for 2012.
PHILLIPS: Our tech guru, Mario Armstrong -- Mario, thanks for weighing in today.
ARMSTRONG: Thanks for having me, Kyra. I really appreciate it.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
Will and Kate's charming Canada tour. A little video diary of their seventh day, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's check showbiz headlines this morning.
Singer Nicki Manaj tweets her followers some pretty devastating news. The murder of her cousin, Nicholas Telemaque, he was gunned down Monday near his Brooklyn home. Manaj says she thinks his murder was a case of mistaken identity.
"Us Weekly" magazine reporting that Jennifer Aniston is planning a year-long break from work to better focus on her personal life.
And troubled funny man Charlie Sheen to be the next celebrate roastee of Comedy Central's "Celebrity Roast." It's set to air September 19th, the same night Ashton Kutcher makes his debut as Sheen's replacement on "Two and a Half Men."
So, just how cool of a band is U2? Check this clip from their recent gig in Nashville.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
BALDWIN: No, it's not the Edge playing guitar. Listen to this. Bono brought a fan who happens to be blind up on the stage to play "All I Want is You." Far more exhilarating than a game of "Guitar Hero," I would say.
Adam Bevell is the guitarist. He had been right there in front of the stage holding this sign in front of the stage saying he wanted to play a song for his wife. And get this: Bono even gave Adam the guitar and helped him off the stadium. That's how cool U2 is.
For seven days, Will and Kate have charmed Canada -- and by no means was this a tour of banquets and VIPs. They visited cancer victims, homeless youth, and now, survivors devastated by a wildfire in Alberta.
Max Foster hand traveling alongside the royal couple.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Day six of the North American royal tour, the couple wanted to explore Canada's great outdoors.
Now familiar welcome to the duke and duchess -- but this time, people traveled vast distances across the northern territories.
PRINCE WILLIAM, ENGLAND: It's great to be north of 60.
FOSTER: The couple showed their competitive side again in a penalty shoot-out. This is chene (ph), a local version of street hockey. More practice needed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 15 years old and I attended school (INAUDIBLE).
FOSTER: After a session of a youth parliament -- Catherine and William headed further out. This part of the world is so far north, the sun doesn't set at this point of year.
William is an honorary ranger. He wanted to learn more about how they camp and survive on patrol in this isolated stunning wilderness.
The duchess has an interest in craft and traditional arts. There was plenty of her to take in here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Max Foster now is live in Calgary.
They are so down to earth, Max. Local food, tradition sports, and totally getting out there in the dirt.
FOSTER: Yes. Absolutely. And William is always interested in finding about local cultures. So, you see a lot of that on these tours.
I'm in Calgary at the moment (AUDIO BREAK) tomorrow is the stampede. It's a big celebration of Western culture and they're going to go to a rodeo, a chuck wagon racing event, and they're going to see them throwing themselves into that s well. They're even, Kyra, going to be dressing up as a cowboy and a cowgirl. So, that's their finale in Canada and then, of course, they head to the U.S., your way.
PHILLIPS: That's right. And they're going to actually head to L.A. for a weekend visit and I'm sure do a little bit of the Hollywood thing. But this shows how down to earth they are. They're going to visit skid row as well.
FOSTER: Yes, Inter-City Arts. It's an organization that the couple really like. And William has had this long-standing interest in the youth homelessness. He was taken to a homeless shelter as a boy by Princess Diana and ever since then, he supported those sorts of causes.
Centrepoint is an organization he supports in U.K. and it's linked up with this organization Inter-City Arts. And they use arts and performances to give young people confidence. And this is where Catherine's interest all comes in because she's very interested in arts and crafts and how that can unlock people's potential. So, they're going to go down there and have a look around and it's going to be a really interesting event I think for them.
PHILLIPS: Yes, we'll be following it. Thanks, Max.
Well, the clock is ticking down to NASA's final shuttle launch, just two days left. But just because the shuttle program is ending doesn't mean down time for astronauts. They are preparing to explore the final frontier in the post-shuttle era.
Casey Anthony owes 12 people her freedom. Coming up, we will take a look at this jury of her peers, who they are, and why they were chosen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.
President Obama has invited congressional bipartisanship leaders to the White House tomorrow to talk about the federal debt ceiling. An August 2nd deadline looms to raise the ceiling or risk default.
Attorneys for Dominique Strauss-Kahn plan to meet prosecutors in New York today. They'll be looking for a way to salvage the sexual assault case due to the accuser's credibility issues.
Jury selection this hour in the Roger Clemens perjury trial. The baseball legend is accused of lying to Congress about the use of hormone enhancing drugs.
It took 33 days and more than a hundred witnesses for the jury in the Casey Anthony case to decide the young Florida mom was not guilty of murdering her daughter.
Tom Foreman takes a look at the key testimony and pivotal evidence that led to that verdict. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The jury took less than 11 hours to hand down a verdict, but sat through 35 long days of arguments, alibis and shocking allegations, starting with the defense's opening statements.
JOSE BAEZ, CASEY ANTHONY'S ATTORNEY: And shortly thereafter, George began to yell at her. Look what you've done! Your mother will never forgive you.
This child at 8 years old learned to lie immediately. She could be 13 years old, have her father (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her mouth and then go to school and play with the other kids as if nothing ever happened.
FOREMAN: And from the prosecution?
LINDA BRANE BURDICK, PROSECUTOR: Casey Anthony went to a club with her boyfriend Tony Lazzaro and entered or participated in a hot body contest. Caylee Anthony wasn't there. Caylee Anthony wasn't at Tony Lazzaro's. Caylee Anthony wasn't with her grandmother Cindy. So, where is Caylee?
FOREMAN: At the start, it looked like the prosecution had a clear edge. The jury saw pictures of Casey out partying, getting a tattoo, enjoying the wildlife even as her daughter went missing.
The state said this was evidence enough that the young woman did not want to be a mother anymore and planned her child's murder on a home computer.
John Bradley is a software expert.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that a Google search?
JOHN BRADLEY, SOFTWARE EXPERT: Yes, it is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For?
BRADLEY: The words "neck breaking" with a space in between, "head underscore injury." "Ruptured spleen, chest trauma. Hand-to-hand combat." The search term of "internal bleeding."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many times was that site visited?
BRADLEY: According to the history, 84 times.
FOREMAN: Central to the state's case was the theory that Casey used duct tape and chloroform to kill Caylee. The defense struggled to explain her often contradictory stories to investigators and friends but then came a bombshell from Casey's mother Cindy Anthony.
BAEZ: Do you recall in March of 2008, you doing any types of searches for any items that might include chloroform?
CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S MOTHER: Yes. FOREMAN: Suddenly, the prosecution was scrambling, forced to prove that Cindy was at work when those computer searches were done from the Anthony home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you first opened it, what was your reaction?
DR. ARPAD VASS, PROSECUTION WITNESS: I essentially jumped back a foot or two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you immediately recognize the odor that was emanating from the piece of carpet in the can?
VASS: I would recognize it as human deposition.
FOREMAN: But Casey refused to at that time stand herself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it is your decision not to testify?
CASEY ANTHONY: Yes, sir.
FOREMAN: Letting her lawyers portray her as a victim, too. Picking away at the prosecution's story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you, from the evidence, sir, rule out accidental death?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
FOREMAN: They called Casey's father George Anthony the culprit behind an accidental drowning death in the family's swimming pool, who then forced his daughter into a cover-up. They accused him of sexually abusing Casey as a child. He denied it.
GEORGE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S FATHER: Sir, I never would do anything like that to my daughter.
FOREMAN: The defense also claimed Casey's only brother Lee tried to grope her. Her mother slapped that accusation down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you recall several years back when there were -- there was an incident involving your son Lee going into Casey's room at night?
CINDY ANTHONY: No.
FOREMAN: But most of all, Casey's defense team pounded away on the fact that precisely when and how Caylee died remains unclear to this day.
BAEZ: You have to have an abiding conviction of guilt. That's what you have to have inside of you. You have to know that this case was proven.
FOREMAN: And in the end, it was enough. The once seemingly sure case for the prosecution crumbled and so did the murder charges against Casey Anthony. Tom Foreman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, at least one of the jurors is shocked at the huge public outcry over this verdict. In fact, this alternate says they only saw evidence that Casey Anthony was a good mother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL HUEKLER, ALTERNATE JUROR (via telephone): First of all, when the prosecution did not prove their case, the big question that was not answered, now how did Caylee die. I think there was probably a lot of discussion that was probably horrific accident that Dad and Casey covered up and, unfortunately, did so and got away from them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Jurors say they can be impartial and are sworn to do that, but let's face it. We all have our own preexisting beliefs and biases. The 12 jurors who let Casey Anthony off the hook aren't speaking to the media at this point but we know a little about them anyway.
So let's talk about those jurors with jury consultant Dr. Philip Anthony to try to get inside of their heads and the heads of the attorneys who chose them.
And Dr. Anthony I better make the point that in no way, shape, or form you are related to the Anthony family, correct?
DR. PHILIP ANTHONY, CEO, DECISIONQUEST: Thank you, Kyra. That's correct. I'm not related.
PHILLIPS: OK. Just for the record. All right. Now, this turned into, obviously, an international headline grabbing story and Casey Anthony became infamous. Could that have in any way, shape or form, impacted a juror in any way?
ANTHONY: Well, it certainly could impact a juror, Kyra, but I don't think in this instance it did. I think this was a group of people who were willing to be fair, impartial, unbiased and make a reasonable decision.
PHILLIPS: Now, our Nancy Grace came forward yesterday and said Casey Anthony's fate hinged on the jury selection.
Do you agree?
ANTHONY: Well, jury selection is always important in a case. However, I think the court was thorough in this instance. And what really made the difference was the fact that the prosecution didn't put forward enough direct proof of Casey being the murder as is expected by the jury. I think as one juror even said, the circumstantial evidence was not enough for them to convict Casey of first-degree murder. PHILLIPS: And we've talked a lot about that. So let me get into the heads of the three jurors, if we can try to do so, just because of your background and your job as a consultant to the jury or to juries.
Five of the jurors either committed a crime or had a family member that committed a crime. Do you think that played into this decision?
ANTHONY: I certainly think it's possible that people's own backgrounds and experiences played a role in this case. For example, clearly one of the defense team's primary themes was that Casey had been molested as a child. And I think there could have been jurors who either had familiarity with molestation or knew people who had been molested.
And so when they come to the jury room, they are able to say things like, yes, you know, I was involved in a crime at one point. I know what it feels like ton intimidated, to be threatened and that is what happened to Casey and why she didn't step forward more to the authorities and explain her position early on.
PHILLIPS: And it's interesting that two of the other jurors either had a cop or attorney in the family. Five jurors had no problem with the death penalty. It's interesting to study the backgrounds of these jurors.
Dr. Philip Anthony, thanks for your time.
ANTHONY: Yes, it is.
PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.
ANTHONY: Thank you very much, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Preparing to explore space after the shuttle program ends. CNN takes you behind the wheel of a space rover and underwater with astronauts as they prepare for NASA's next chapter.
And where will the Olympic flame be heading for the 2018 winter games? Three cities vying to host. We'll out who makes the grade.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Some people do just about anything to find out the scoop on our Hollywood celebs. Now, actor Hugh Grant says he is the latest victim of that. He says he's been hacked by British journalist, even claims to have met the guy who did it.
CNN's Richard Quest just finished interviewing Grant.
So, Richard, what is the deal?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, Hugh Grant has been one of those Hollywood celebrities who has come out and has been forceful in the criticism and allegations concerning the "News of the World," the British paper at the center of discussing phone hacking scandal in Britain at the moment. Grant basically says that some years ago he was hacked as a Hollywood celebrity. He then went out and hacked the hacker and learned all sorts of investigations about just how bad things are -- British tabloid newspapers.
When I meant Grant this afternoon, Hugh Grant was very clear that he said he had no confidence in the newspaper investigation, little confidence in police and what was needed is a full judicial inquiry in Britain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUGH GRANT, ACTOR: What we need is a big, public inquiry into all of the methods and the whole culture of tabloid press in this country. That's one thing.
And people can vote very much with their wallets, you know? They just don't have to buy these papers, especially the "News of the World." Advertisers have to look themselves very hard in the mirror and say do we want to advertise in papers like "News of the World?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now what's interesting about this, Hugh Grant admits quite openly that bearing in mind his own past in which he was arrested in somewhat salacious circumstances. He says, look. He may not be the best person to be putting forward these arguments and he's fully expecting, Kyra, the tabloids to turn their force and ire on him. But he says someone has to speak up and he has now become the unlikely spokesman.
PHILLIPS: Interesting. And so quite a message here about the tabloids there overseas, Richard. Now is this part of the largest hacking scandal, though, that we've been talking so much about that is unfolding in the UK?
Does it fit into that?
QUEST: Absolutely. Because what he's saying is that the way the papers have been behaving, really requires this judicial inquiry.
Now, as you are I are talking at this very moment, the British House of Commons is debating the hacking scandal. Until now, to put this into perspective, until the last 48 hours, this was a scandal in which celebrities and maybe some politicians had their phones hacked.
But now we know it was a murdered young schoolgirl, her voicemail was hacked and messages deleted. Parents of bomb victims allegedly had their phones hacked. Parents of murdered children had allegedly their phones hacked.
So what we have is a rogue newspaper that is hacking mobile phones on an industrial scale. And now everybody is waiting to see what the British government is going to do about it.
PHILLIPS: Yes. Keep us updated on what's happening there in the House of Commons, Richard.
Thanks so much.
QUEST: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well they're crossing their fingers in Munich, Germany, Annecy, France and Pyeongchang, South Korea. Those cities are awaiting the international Olympic Committee's 11:00 a.m. announcement on which city will be selected to host the 2018 Winter Games.
CNN's Matthew Change, Jim Bittermann and Paula Hancocks are in the big cities.
Paula, let's go ahead and start with you in Pyeongchang.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it's all singing, dancing and kimchi here in South Korea. There are several thousand people here, just at the foot of one of the biggest ski jumps in Pyeongchang and everybody is very excited and very hopeful that it will be third time lucky.
Now, this is the third consecutive time that Pyeongchang has gone for the Winter Olympics and everybody is hopeful that finally they will get it. Now, the president has been front and center in trying to push this bid. He says the pluses for Pyeongchang is the fact that it's only ever been in one Asian country before, the Winter Olympics. That's Japan and that was in the '70s and also in the '90s.
He's saying bring it to Asian and then you'll have a huge new following for winter sports. He's also saying that Pyeongchang itself, you only have to travel up to half an hour to get to different venues. That's always a bonus when it comes to these kind of events. Much of the infrastructure is in place. Thirteen venues, we understand, have been built already. Only six to go and they are prepared to put the money in.
And what they're also hoping is that there will be a sense of fair play and continent rotating.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matthew Chance in Munich, where it's just over an hour to go now before the decision of the Olympic (INAUDIBLE) where the 2018 games are going to be held.
You can see hundreds of people have turned out into this central square in Munich to look at the big flat screens behind me to see what the decision finally is.
What the organizers say is this is going to be a festival of friendship if they get the games. What that, I think, means is there's going to be lots of fan zones and kind of ways to try to bring the fans into the process, into the winter games, should they come here. That's something the bid hopefuls say is a big positive.
But then they also say they're trying to emphasize the environmental credentials of the 2018 bid from Munich because many of the buildings necessary to stage an event like the winter games have already been constructed. In fact, they were used when Munich last staged the Olympic games back in 1972. So they would have to be renovated, rejuicing the environmental footprint on the area, Kyra.
JIM BITTERMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Jim Bittermann in Paris. And down in Annecy in France, in the heart of the Alps and the shadow of Mont Blanc they are waiting to see how the bidding goes this afternoon as well.
The fact is though, they are not all that confident. Because in fact if this were Olympics were to be held in France it will be the fourth time -- the fourth time there has been a Winter Olympics in France. And so for that reason, for a number of other reasons, they are not really hopeful but, nonetheless, they've got a bid in, they're hoping as an underdog perhaps they can pull it off.
They are saying that they have a very compact site with just two venues, they're going to be environmentally friendly like the Germans are. But they are also stressing they want to go back to the ideals of the Olympics and away for the commercialism and that's kind of a dig at both the Germans and the Koreans.
In any case, they've got 91 percent of the French who'd like to see them win this Olympic bid. We'll just have to see how it comes out this afternoon -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Ok guys, we're going to be watching. Again, the announcement is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Stay with CNN and we will bring it to you live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the space shuttle "Atlantis" is set to lift off Friday morning at 11:26 Eastern Time and that puts us just a little over two days from the start of the historic and final shuttle mission.
John Zarrella is live at Kennedy Space Center. But John, we're now getting concerns about the weather and it could be scrubbed. What do you think?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Kyra yesterday, the probability that they would have good weather was at 40 percent. And you wanted to see that today increase. But it went the wrong way. Now it's down to only a 30 percent chance of good weather on Friday morning.
But you know what? They've launched before with 30 percent chance and, all of a sudden, you get a break in the weather and its fine. So I'm sure that NASA will very likely go ahead and proceed with the countdown. Until they get to a point where they say, you know what? Forget it.
But they may well go ahead and fuel the giant external tank and -- and go ahead with the countdown and just try to -- and try to get the launch off the ground. PHILLIPS: And -- and when it does finally happen, you know, we've been talking so much about what happens next for NASA. And you know, will it fall behind when it comes to -- to the space race?
ZARRELLA: Yes. Yes. And that -- and that, Kyra, is a really, really interesting question, because NASA says, look, we're going to build a heavy-lift rocket, we're going to go to an asteroid or we're going to go to Mars, maybe back to the moon.
But the problem is that they haven't got the rocket yet. They're working on the capsule now, the crew capsule. But is there going to be a national will? And a lot of experts that we've talked have said you know what, it's really expensive when you're talking that kind of mission.
So will there be the money? Will there be the national will? Some people have told us NASA may build it, but they may never have the money to fly it anywhere. And then what happens is you may get some other countries that start to pass the United States by and do these things that the U.S. has always done. It maybe China that goes to an asteroid or back to the moon or on to Mars before the United States ever does it.
So those are very real concerns.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's not forget the Richard Bransons of the world, the Jeff Bezos and what they are doing also.
ZARRELLA: Yes.
PHILLIPS: You know riding and how that could contribute to what we are able to do space-wise.
ZARRELLA: Yes. Right. Exactly. The only real thing about that is they are talking lower earth orbit, the same place the shuttle went. They are not talking about going to Mars or an asteroid. You know, it's other nations like China that are really, really moving in that direction.
And you know, one person told me, it might be a good thing if the Chinese actually beat us to an asteroid or to Mars or back to the moon because then the United States like there after Sputnik will suddenly be inspired to go back and start doing things.
PHILLIPS: There you go, we don't want that competition. We want to be number one. John Zarrella thanks so much.
ZARRELLA: Yes, exactly.
PHILLIPS: And stay with us for a live coverage this Friday starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern as the space shuttle "Atlantis" takes off for the very last time.
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PHILLIPS: All right, let's look ahead at some stories that will be making headlines later today at 11:00 Eastern -- a.m. Eastern, rather. The International Olympic Committee will announce its pick for the city to host the 2018 Winter Games. The bid cities are Munich, Germany; Annecy, France and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says his company is launching something, quote, "Awesome today". You can expect that announcement at 1:00 Eastern. There's speculation the company will unveil a video chat feature powered by Skype.
And at 2:00 Eastern, tweet up the White House; President Obama will hold his first Twitter town hall. He'll be answering questions about the economy and jobs.
All right. We're following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with David Mattingly -- David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, Casey Anthony might be a free woman tomorrow. I'll tell you how that might happen at the top of the hour.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, it's called a "haboob". It's kind of a silly name to some people but look at the amazing dust that kicked up here across parts of Arizona. We'll find out what it is and what it could mean to the wildfires that have been burning. That's coming up in the next hour.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Ed Lavandera. Tens of thousands of parents who send their children to Atlantic public schools stunned by allegations of widespread cheating and fraud in the district. We'll have many more details on that story coming up.
PHILLIPS: All right, thanks guys.
Also ahead next hour, we're going to talk with Michael Jordan's old high school sweetheart. Why? Well, she says, someone stole a love letter that he wrote her some 30 years ago, put a price on her priceless memories and then sold them to the highest bidder.
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PHILLIPS: Ok. I got my theories why Tiger Woods is going to miss the British open but I won't say it out loud.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN HOST: Kyra is not one to hold back when the topic is Tiger Woods. All we know for sure is that he will not be playing at next week's British Open, right?
PHILLIPS: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
FISCHEL: He says he's not healthy enough to play in the British Open, aka, the Open Championship. His left leg still isn't right. In a statement on his Web site, he says he's very disappointed but only wants to compete again when he's 100 percent and he says he still believes his best years of golf are ahead of him. Kyra is shaking her head.
PHILLIPS: Worry --
(CROSSTALK)
Phillips: -- that's all I have to say.
FISCHEL: More evidence now that Albert Pujols is not your average baseball player. He's back after needing a minimum stay on the 15-day disabled list for a broken wrist. The Cardinal who takes his list on the DL will be gone 15 days for sneezing. Brian Tallet strained a rib muscle -- reminds me of this guy Chris Brown once. He was hurt because of a strained eyelid.
Anyway, Pujols stayed on the bench, his first game back. Manager Tony la Russo said he would have used him if he needed to, but he didn't need to because of Matt Holiday, two home runs yesterday. It's his 16 career multi-homerun game. The Cardinals beat the Reds 8-1. Expect Pujols in the starting line up tonight.
And a Lamborghini is fast, but sometimes a squirrel is quick enough to avoid them. Watch that again. The squirrel crosses the track at California Speedway and avoids becoming road kill. This was shot during an even called "The Ultimate Lamborghini Experience". It's the ultimate squirrel experience, I think. I did read that he might have lost a bit of his tail there, but that's about it.
PHILLIPS: Poor guy.
FISCHEL: Unbelievable that he survived that.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jeff.
FISCHEL: Ok.
PHILLIPS: Ok.
