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U.S.-Russia Tensions Escalate; Emergency European Summit; War On Religion?; Komisarjevsky Gets Death Penalty; New Hearing For Sandusky; Election Protests In Russia
Aired December 09, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go, just about the top of the hour. Take a look at this.
Hour two as we roll on. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Here's what we were looking at. A new deal for Europe, will it stop the financial bleeding?
Also, American hospitals fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for leaving spare parts in patients. And rapper, Jay-Z, economist?
Time to play "Reporter Roulette" here on this Friday.
Richard Quest, let's begin with you in Brussels, sir, you at the emergency European summit. There you are.
What did the Europeans, Richard, what did they come up with? And will it solve the credit crisis?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, two really good questions and I promise you I won't bore on about the minutia.
The long and short of this is really simple. They agreed that they were going to rewrite the rules of the euro. They will have no budget deficits, they will have automatic sanctions, they will have stricter rules, tighter regulation. The whole thing will be much, much better run.
They're going to get on and do that. The only problem is, the United Kingdom said no and could become troublesome in the future. I promised I wasn't going to be boring and bore on about it, but the one thing they did also do was increase their firepower, the so-called big bazooka to try and stop the contagion. Hundreds of billions of dollars have now been pledged, and if you look at the Dow Jones, Brooke, at the moment, up over 180, 190 points, they might just have done the trick for today.
BALDWIN: For today. Stop the contagion. But you mentioned we're not looking at the minutia. The British angle is a huge one because, I mean, is it an ominous sign, Richard, that Britain opted out of this agreement?
QUEST: Britain opted out for its own domestic political reasons, its own self-interest. It wanted an opt-out clause on a particular tax. It didn't get it, so it said it wouldn't agree to the treaty. The other countries, the 17 plus the rest of them except Britain, are going to plow ahead. Britain can be troublesome. She can be bothersome. And she can be obstructionist in the way they do it. But, ultimately, my gut feeling is they're going to move ahead with this change.
Now, whether or not they have built a new house sufficient to withstand the hurricane of the financial crisis, well, the markets will give their judgment. As of today, they like what they have seen. The U.S. has welcomed it. The White House has welcomed it. The IMF has welcomed it. Uncle Tom Cobley and all has welcomed it.
But we are still not out of the woods because this whole thing that they have arranged doesn't really come into force until next year. And between now and then there is plenty of opportunity for slip and fall.
BALDWIN: And we will continue then this discussion, you and me, about this hurricane, hurricane, Richard Quest. Thank you so much for us in Brussels.
Next on "Reporter Roulette," this is frightening, some California hospitals facing fines for medical errors, such as leaving foreign objects in patients' bodies during surgery. Yikes.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, I got an e-mail about this today and thought, what? What's happening?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What?
Can you imagine you go in for a surgery and afterwards you're feeling a little bit of pain, you get a fever? What's going on? And they find out the doctor left something this size of you, a piece of gauze this size in you.
Well, this does happen. You don't always hear about it a lot, but it does happen. In California, the state looked at records and actually hospitals reported things that had gone wrong. So at 14 hospitals things had happened and they had fines ranging from, like, $25,000 to $100,000.
Let's take a look at some of the types of things that they were fined for. Objects left inside patients, there were seven examples of this at these hospitals. Medication mistakes, for example, someone was supposed to get 20 milligrams of morphine, and they were given the wrong dosage. Wrong surgery. Patient was operated on the left eye when they were supposed to operated on the right eye.
Baby snatched. A baby was taken by somebody posing as a nurse. These are errors that occurred between 2008 and relatively the present.
BALDWIN: Yes. I had ACL knee reconstruction surgery a number of years and I remember waking up and seeing a big no on one knee and yes on the other. So, there's a reason for that, obviously.
COHEN: That's one way to do it.
BALDWIN: So my question would be, give me that napkin. Right? This gauze, this is easy, don't put it in the patient. Why is this happening?
COHEN: You put it in there because you need to soak up blood so the surgeon can see the...
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: There's a reason. Right? So what you're supposed to do is before the surgery, you're supposed to say, all right, we have 14 sponges. It's not really that number. But let's say 14 sponges. Then at the end of the surgery, 14 should come out. And what happens is sometimes they miscount. And so it really was 13, but they counted 14.
So human error is responsible for a lot of this, but a lot of people have blamed hospitals for not doing a better job of staffing better because the same nurse who's counting those sponges also maybe has a lot of other things to do.
BALDWIN: Got it. Got it.
COHEN: There is some criticism against hospitals here.
BALDWIN: So final question, what are the hospitals doing about this?
COHEN: The hospitals say they are doing more and more. They really have. We definitely have seen them take greater and greater steps. But many people say they're not doing some things they really should be doing to take care of errors. Now here's the question. Given that this is an imperfect system and humans will do things wrong, you as a patient have to be empowered and do what you can do to keep yourself error-free in the hospital.
And there really are things that you can do. If you go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient -- writing on your surgical site is one thing along with your surgeon, is one that you can do. But you really can protect yourself.
BALDWIN: CNN.com/empoweredpatient.
Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.
COHEN: There you go.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
BALDWIN: And that's your "Reporter Roulette" here on this Friday.
Still ahead: Tensions are escalating between the U.S. and Russia. At the center of this whole thing, two heavyweights, here they are, why we're just hours away from a big moment in the back and forth between Vladimir Putin and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Plus, this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not in very good health. I am running very quickly out of diabetes medicine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Those desperate words from a former FBI agent who has been held hostage for years. As this new video is surfacing, his wife speaks to us here at CNN. We're going to hear more of that.
Also, a death row inmate off the hook after a discovery is made about his trial. It involves a juror, speaking of social media, a tweet.
And he is the man behind the world's most popular legal thrillers. And now John Grisham is speaking to CNN about several cases in the news, including the West Memphis Three. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it "Rapid Fire," let's go, beginning with police.
They're searching for the culprits behind a letter bomb attack in Rome. This blast happened here at Italy's tax collection agency. One person was injured. Reports indicate an Italian anarchist group is claiming responsibility for this. Also, German police are investigating a link to a similar bomb mailed to the president of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt earlier this week. That bomb was deactivated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities say Ravi had set up a Webcam in his dorm room to capture his roommate's intimate encounter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Randi Kaye talking about this man right now, a former Rutgers student accused of streaming live video of his roommate's sexual encounter with another man.
Today, Dharun Ravi turned down a plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid any jail time. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, killed himself last year after finding out about the video.
And a woman accused of dousing fellow Black Friday shoppers with pepper spray at a Wal-Mart in California will not now, we're learning, will not be facing felony charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My eyes are burning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Their eyes, they're screaming, they're burning, they're burning. Firefighters had to treat 10 people who had been pepper sprayed there. The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office will consider possible misdemeanor charges now.
And have you heard about this woman who police say tried to mix up a batch of meth in the middle of a Wal-Mart store? Police arrested this woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, yesterday. Some alert employees apparently noticed this woman mixing different cleaning supplies in a bottle in the store. So what do they do? Call police. One police officer suffered minor chemical burns as he took that bottle out of the store.
And country singer Mindy McCready speaking out today saying she did absolutely nothing wrong when she took her little boy across state lines which violated a custody order. Her 5-year-old son, Zander, was taken into police custody just last week in Arkansas. And McCready spoke on "Good Morning America" spoke, alleged that her mother was an abusive guardian to her son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MINDY MCCREADY, MUSICIAN: Zander was being beaten with a wooden spoon. There are scars on Zander's back. There are scars on his bottom and his legs from the spoon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: ABC reached out to McCready's mother. She denies those allegations.
Texas police now have a new weapon to battle drug dealers and human smugglers along the border, armored gunboats. The fleet of patrol boats will be used along the Rio Grande and other international lakes. Each boat, the price tag here, more than half-a-million dollars. It comes equipped with four machine gun turrets and night- vision cameras.
And breaking news just in to us here at CNN: A sentence decision has been reached in the home invasion trial in Connecticut. We will take you there live coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: As we mentioned again moment ago, we're now getting an update here, breaking news into us here at CNN. A sentence decision has been reached in the home invasion trial in Connecticut.
Let's go straight to Deb Feyerick, who is standing by outside this courthouse in new haven.
Obviously, this is regarding the fate of Joshua Komisarjevsky. Deb, what do you know?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here's what we know. The knock came just a couple of minutes ago.
The jury is going to have to go through each of the six counts and decide whether they have voted unanimously on death on each of the counts or whether some of the counts will get life in prison. Now, this all goes back, Brooke, as you know, to the brutal home invasion here in Connecticut that left a mom strangled to death and her two daughters who died in a terrible blaze set by this man, Joshua Komisarjevsky.
The Petit family has been waiting for this for many, many years. They want to see justice done. The family has been here every single day of this trial to make sure that the jury didn't forget how heinous the crime was and how brutal the deaths were of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, who was strangled to death by the accomplice, Steven Hayes, but also the deaths of the two girls, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley.
We're waiting for the verdict to come in right now, but again, a lot of people have been in that courtroom, Brooke, just waiting, talking about whether this is going to be a slam dunk for the prosecutors, whether in fact he will get death by lethal injection on all counts, or whether, in fact, some of those counts will carry life.
I'm getting an e-mail from my colleague who's in there. He says, right now, they're waiting on one of the defense attorneys. The judge is telling spectators to keep calm. When we heard that knock, the marshal went to the door. Usually, there's a little bit of chitchat. He looked very serious. The judge was immediately alerted and got the bench ready, bringing out some water, really trying to keep control of the room, but a lot of people, you know, waiting and waiting, Brooke, for the last five days.
It's very trying. And, clearly, there is a lot at stake here, but fro the family, who simply wants justice, who wants to be able to move ahead, this is what they have been waiting for, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes. As you mentioned, Steven Hayes, he was the first man to be the accomplice in this horrific crime. We know he was sentenced to death. So we will wait and we will stay in close touch with you, Deb Feyerick, and your crew.
As soon as you learn any bit more with regards to the sentence, we will pop you back up live and come talk to you in New Haven. but for now, Deb Feyerick, thank you so much for the update.
Moving on, it is a rare look at a war that's gone on for a decade now. U.S. Marines have released their own personal footage of a firefight in Afghanistan, and it's one they did not see that was coming and one they were determined not to lose.
We want to go to the Pentagon and bring in Barbara Starr.
Barbara, tell me about this.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, you're about to see some gripping footage, to say the least. This was a three-and- a-half-hour firefight at a small outpost in remote Southern Afghanistan.
These are the men of 1st Battalion 6th Marine regiment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reloading!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gets you out of nowhere. I'm in a sleeping bag still. So, all of a sudden, you hear the flare going off, RPG, then fire just started going off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to the northwest of us across the Helmand River, they have a ridgeline up there. And there's caves in the ridgeline that they will crawl into and they engage us from there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We started losing ammo. By the time, like, a couple of hours, we were -- like probably had 100 still left for a .50-cal, and that was it. It just got really bad real quick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) .30-millimeter grenades hitting inside the compound, getting close, real close. Took a casualty. Took a couple casualties. You hear about people being battle-tested. This one tested the boys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to get him on the bird as fast as possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Been one hell of a day. You're thinking, yes, regular patrol, any other day. It ain't happening that way.
That definitely teaches you how people -- everybody has got to be ready from now on. And then you never know what's going to happen from now on. We lost one person, injuries. Who knows what is going to happen next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another day, man. Another day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, whoever sees this will actually know this was actually happening. I mean, at the end of the day, we're the ones out here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: This was shot by a young Marine Lance Corporal Jacob Lagoze under fire during the entire firefight, down to their last 100 rounds for a .50-cal machine gun.
We did check, Brooke. All of the Marines, we are told, who were wounded in this firefight are either recovering or thankfully have already returned to duty -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: You heard him say another day, just another day there for them in Afghanistan.
Barbara Starr, thank you at the Pentagon for us.
STARR: Sure.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, Rick Perry has a new ad out accusing President Obama of inciting a war on religion.
And a new poll suggests Americans are fed up with Congress. How fed up? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, before we talk politics, I just want to remind you we are awaiting some news from a jury in New Haven, Connecticut. In fact, some live pictures outside this courthouse as we have a crew awaiting the fate of Joshua Komisarjevsky.
He is a person, the second person involved in that horrific home invasion in which a mother, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her two daughters were brutally killed some years ago. So we're awaiting the fate. The jury is voting on life or death. And as Deb Feyerick was reporting, the knock has come, meaning they have come to a conclusion.
He's facing six counts. And it must be unanimous on death if he receives death. And then later the judge would sentence Joshua Komisarjevsky. That is how the legal system works. We're going to -- as soon as we hear anything more from our crew there in New Haven, we will bring it to you live. So, stay tuned for that. Could happen any minute.
Meantime, let's go to Washington, shall we, get -- or check our America's Choice 2012 politics update with our senior political editor, Mark Preston.
And, Mark, lets's talk about this new ad, this Rick Perry ad calling out the president on religion.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes. You know, Brooke, the fact of the matter is, we are just a few weeks away now from the first votes that will occur in the Republican presidential nominating contest. It will happen in Iowa and the Iowa caucuses are dominated by social conservative voters.
So, if fact, Rick Perry has a television ad out where he does attack the Obama administration on the whole issue of religion. In fact, let's take a quick listen to some of it, Brooke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know that there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As president, I will end Obama's war on religion, and I will fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.
I'm Rick Perry, and I approve this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESTON: Wow, right, Brooke?
BALDWIN: War on religion.
(CROSSTALK)
PRESTON: You can't say it any stronger than that. Clearly, Rick Perry is trying to reach out to those social conservative voters, those Iowa caucus goers that can either make or break his campaign.
He really needs to do well in Iowa should he continue on in this race for the Republican presidential nomination, Brooke, and that's exactly what we're seeing right there in that 30-second ad, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. How about this poll? The voters are saying, Congress, get out.
PRESTON: Get out.
You know, if you're a congressman right now and you are believe the numbers, you might want to start looking for another job. This new Gallup poll has very devastating news for them. Let's take a quick look at these numbers right here, Brooke -- 76 percent of Americans think that members of Congress do not deserve to be reelected.
Basically, as Donald Trump would say, you're fired, Brooke. Now, what's interesting about these numbers is, is that when it comes down to it, though, most Americans probably do not want to see their congressman fired. They want to see other people's congressmen fired. So the fact is, people are very upset, of course, at what's happening here in Washington or what's not happening here in Washington, Brooke. That's what we're seeing in those numbers.
BALDWIN: Well, that's why it's so, so important to vote. The onus falls on us, the voter, right, Mark Preston?
PRESTON: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: Mark, thank you very much.
Still ahead: Reports of election fraud have sparked protests around Russia. And Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton instigated all of it. We will tell you why in this battle between these two heavyweights and why tomorrow could change everything.
Plus, a death row inmate is getting a new trial, all because a juror was caught tweeting -- that story next.
But, first, each and every week right around this time, we introduce you to someone who has achieved something pretty remarkable, despite having to overcome major challenges.
So, for Georgia Tech baseball player Colby Wren, just figuring out what was wrong with him was half the battle.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this week's "Human Factor."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Georgia Tech first baseman Colby Wren, just playing Division I baseball is a huge accomplishment.
COLBY WREN, GEORGIA TECH BASEBALL PLAYER: I know I love the game. I love being out here.
GUPTA: Because Colby has a mitochondrial disorder, which means, in most of the cells in his body, the energy-producing mitochondria are failing and can't convert food and oxygen into life-sustaining energy.
As a teenager Colby realized his body wasn't working like his twin brother Kyle's.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started getting some really sick, throw up every day. I had brown urine and I had small incidents of -- I would lose consciousness and black out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Apologies. We've got to break away from that because now we have a vote in the fate of Joshua Komisarjevsky. Let's go straight to Deb Feyerick. Deb, what's the news?
FEYERICK: Brooke, there are six counts in all of this. On the first count that Joshua Komisarjevsky intentionally caused the death of two or more people, the mom, her two daughters, the jury found that in fact that is a death by lethal injection. So right now the six counts on the first one he will receive death by lethal injection. They've got to go through each of those counts separately, but right now it is death.
What's interesting about this, Brooke, is that was the one that the jury seemed to be wrestling with. They wanted to know, based on the facts of the case which appeared to have his accomplice strangling the mom, whether, in fact, maybe he did play a minor role. But it appears that ultimately they found that he was as responsible. So right now it looks like death by lethal injection, and that's one of six counts, which means it will be a lot more difficult for his attorneys to try to appeal this, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Deb, I know we have some folk there's in the courtroom. I'm sure Dr. Petit, other friends, family are in there as well. Has there been any sort of visible reaction?
FEYERICK: No. You know, this is what's interesting. Everybody has been waiting for this, even the Hawke-Petit family. He's a reverend, Dr. Reverend Hawke, and that's the father of the mom who was strangled. Even he said that in this particular case death is the appropriate response.
And Connecticut is one of those states they were about to abolish the death penalty. However, because of this crime and because it was so heinous, so depraved, in fact they decided to put that on hold. So right now it looks like this man, along with his accomplice, they will be on death row.
Right now he is facing death by lethal injection. That is on count one, the death of all three women, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, Michaela Petit, the 11-year-old, and 17-year-old Hayley Petit. So death on that count. We're waiting for the other, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK, Deb Feyerick, thank you so much. Keep us posted from new haven. And more news right after this quick break. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Before we move on to "On the Case," just quickly here, breaking news. The fate of Joshua Komisarjevsky, involved in the brutal home invasion murder in New Haven, Connecticut, from 2007, count one of six just returned from the jury here in the ending of this penalty phase, death, death unanimously from this new haven jury.
We're still awaiting counts two through six. Once we hear the rest of that, then the sentencing phase follows. That's when the judge ultimately sentences this man, Joshua Komisarjevsky.
Meantime, a death row inmate gets a new trial, all thanks to a juror who tweeted. In an unusual court proceeding next week, we'll bring former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky face-to-face with his accusers. Sunny Hostin "On the Case." She joins me on the phone today. So Sunny Hostin, I want to begin with this tweet, this that overturned this murder conviction. So this guy sitting on death row. What did this juror tweet that gets his murder conviction tossed out?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: The juror was sort of tweeting the philosophical things about the deliberation. He sent out several tweets, and one of the last tweets indicated that a verdict had been reached, that it was all over. And the judge had instructed the jury, of course, not to use social media, as judges often do. And after instructing this juror, he did it again. And that really, I think, was the basis for the court overturning his conviction. He was told twice to stop. He continued. And the court found that the integrity of the verdict had been compromised.
Judges typically do instruct juries and they expect the juries to follow their instructions. The appellate court felt that if the juror disregarded that particular instruction, it was possible that the juror had disregarded other instructions, one of the most important being finding guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. So taking all those things into consideration this appellate court did overturn a death penalty conviction. Really, really big news because we know that so many jurors and people in general are using social media, like Facebook, like Twitter, and that is something that cannot be used when you're deliberating.
BALDWIN: All thrown out because of something tweeted, 140 characters or less are. Have you ever heard of something like this happening, Sunny?
HOSTIN: You know, I have. In a death penalty case perhaps not, but this is becoming more and more prevalent in the legal system. Many judges are instructing jurors not to use social media. And when it is found that they have used social media, sometimes verdicts are being tossed out.
BALDWIN: Got it.
Case number two, got to talk about the Jerry Sandusky case. We know a preliminary hearing is set for next Tuesday. At this hearing, Sandusky will be coming face-to-face with some of these men who claim this former Penn State defensive coach sexually assaulted them when they were kids. Is this kind of proceeding rare or usual?
HOSTIN: It is usual. You have -- you can waive a preliminary hearing, but, for the most part these hearings take place in courtrooms every single day in criminal trials. The standard is just showing probable cause.
And I will tell you, Brooke, it is usually the defense's turn to preview the prosecution's case. And it's interesting, I think, and many times prosecutors use it to show a defendant how much evidence the prosecution has. And it typically sometimes leads to a plea deal.
It is unusual to have so many accusers, so many accusers, all testify at a preliminary hearing. Many are saying the reason these accusers are coming forward in mass to the preliminary hearing is because Sandusky has giving so many interviews, has been so staunch in his denial of their accusations. They want to appear against him face-to-face and tell the world what happened to them.
BALDWIN: Right. Jerry Sandusky, as you mentioned, he has been talking, granting a couple of interviews. Also we're hearing from his wife Dottie Sandusky. She's talking, or at least I've read statements she's released. How will what they have said thus far affect this case?
HOSTIN: You know, I think it has had a grave effect on Sandusky. Certainly many of the accusers, attorneys are saying that they've been outraged at his outright denial of these accusations. And I think it has given them strength to come forward.
Many people are shocked at Dottie Sandusky's statements in which she also denies the accusations, because there are accusation that's she was in the home when a lot of these -- a lot of this abuse occurred. And that she is standing by Jerry Sandusky and also professing his innocence. They have been married for 45 years. And so certainly their statements have, I think, made these victims stronger and have sort of bound them all together. And we will see that effect at the preliminary hearing next week.
BALDWIN: We have complete coverage of the prelim next Tuesday. So we'll be all over that early next week. Sunny Hostin, thank you so much.
HOSTIN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Let's continue talking to Deb Feyerick. I want to take you back live to New Haven, Connecticut, more information here as the penalty phase of this trial involving Joshua Komisarjevsky. Deb, you first came on, you said count one of six, death. What more do you know now?
FEYERICK: Well, now they've worked their way through five of the six counts, and on five of the six counts the jury found that Joshua Komisarjevsky should receive death by lethal injection. Komisarjevsky's lawyers tried throwing everything to convince the jury there were mitigating factors, that in fact there were certain circumstances, the abuse he suffered during his childhood, his upbringing, the religious sect that he was isolated in. But apparently the jury did not buy it.
Right now they have voted for death on five of the six counts. We are told by the producer inside the courtroom that in fact some of the members of the family are crying. It appears that Dr. Petit, the sole survivor, all right, the sole survivor is looking straight ahead, as is Joshua Komisarjevsky. So far, no emotion on behalf of the two men who were face-to-face that night back in July of 2007 when the two men broke into Petit home, held the family hostage for many, many hours, in fact, force the mom to go to the bank and withdraw money before they strangled her and set the house on fire. That's what killed the two children who were tied to their beds. The two daughters Michaela and Hayley died of smoke inhalation.
So right now, Brooke, death on five of the six counts. Again, his lawyers tried everything they could, throwing spaghetti at the wall. None of it stuck.
BALDWIN: None of it worked. I remember Dr. Petit came out with the family after Stephen Hayes was sentenced to death, so possibly we'll hear from family members here as this begins to wind down there in New Haven. Quick question, Deb, now that we know five of the six counts death -- what's next? What happens next? The judge sentences him?
FEYERICK: The judge will be sentencing him. But now that -- really, what the jury does, this jury has not only listened to the whole guilt phase, found him guilty of 17 counts, but now they've had an additional six-week phase why the where they listened to the life of Joshua Komisarjevsky, how burglaries were his addiction of choice, how he would do these in a way exorcising the demons of his youth. He was sexually abused as a child. None of that really mattered in the end. It didn't lessen the crime.
Whether his attorneys will appeal, that's usually what happens. They're going to have to find grounds for appeal. They're going to have to find something that went wrong, either during the guilt phase or the penalty phase, that they can point to and say, look, this was not -- nobody thought about this or nobody thought about that.
And that's going to be very, very difficult because it appears that this jury was unanimous, at least on five of the six counts. And because three of the counts, Brooke, relate directly to Michaela, the 11-year-old, the youngest, this last count is the murder of that child. So chances are he's going to get death on that. But we'll bring you that. BlackBerries should be going off momentarily.
BALDWIN: Deb Feyerick, thank you. What an ordeal for the Hawke- Petit family. My heart just goes out to them. Deb, thank you.
Got to move along. Got more breaking news to pass along to you, involving a cold case in Oklahoma. These two little girls here, they were shot dead. They were left on a dirt road. Now three years later a major development we are just now learning about. That was announced minutes ago. Be right back, 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: More breaking news. Before I explain what's happened in the last couple of minutes, let me set this up. You may or may not remember this. This was June of 2008, the town was Waleka, Oklahoma. You have these two little girls, and here's their pictures -- 13-year- old Taylor Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker. They were best friends. They were found, their bodies were found on this dirt road. They were found shot multiple times in their chest and stomach, and they were found not far from Taylor's home, half a mile away from one of the little girl's homes. In total, they were shot 13 times. No arrest. No suspect.
In the very beginning after the news broke with regard to the story, hundreds of tips were pouring in. Then apparently the whole case went cold. And police also found the two little girls were shot with two different guns.
So here's the news. We now know this man, 25-year-old Kevin Sweat, is now in custody, charged with the murders that go back to '08. We're told he tried to sell one of the weapons used in the murders at a gun show. So finally an arrest in this cold case some three years later.
Time to take you now "Globe Trekking." We've got to talk about Russia because Russia is bracing for more antigovernment protests come tomorrow. More than 20,000 people have signed up on Facebook pledging to protest in Moscow and cities all around the country. Protestors say last Sunday's parliamentary elections were a fraud. Even former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says the election should be redone.
The growing anti-government sentiment has sparked a tirade harkening back to the cold war. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accuses U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of fueling all this outrage, but she says she's not interfering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We expressed concerns that we thought were well founded about the conduct of the elections, and we are supportive of the rights and aspirations of the Russian people to be able to make progress and to realize a better future for themselves. And we hope to see that unfold in the years ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And CNN's Phil Black is keeping up with all the election uproar. He has this report form Moscow. Phil?
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, the protestors organizers have official permission. They have been assigned a venue, a square in central Moscow that can take 30,000 people. They now just have to fill it. And that's going to be quite some scene.
Most of the protests we have seen so far have been driven by organized political groups and their membership. They're going to need tens of thousands of Russians who are not normally politically active but who have decided that they are sufficiently frustrated with the Kremlin, frustrated by these recent claims of electoral in the parliamentary elections last weekend, so frustrated that they decide to turn out and ad their voice to this sense of outrage.
It will be something of a challenge, but if they do it and get those sorts of numbers, it will be one of the biggest protests the Russian capital has seen for some time.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says the sort of street democracy, as he calls it, should be allowed to happen, that opposition groups should be allowed to have their voice heard on the streets, but only as long as he says it is legal and peaceful.
And there are going to be the two issues that will be examined very closely as this crowd assembles and meets in central Moscow tomorrow. The organizers behind the protest are also expecting a large police presence and are pleading with everyone planning to come to the protest not to provoke the police in any way, not to give them any reason to shut down this protest. Brooke?
BALDWIN: Phil Black, we'll watch for it tomorrow. Phil, thank you from Moscow.
Coming up next, he is the king of legal thrillers. "The Client," "Runaway Jury," A Time to Kill" just to name a few. This week John Grisham testified on Capitol Hill and CNN spoke with him. He talked about the legal cases in the news from Casey Anthony to the West Memphis Three. We're going to play you an exclusive clip of that interview ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Let's go to Washington and check in with my colleague Wolf Blitzer. You sat in "THE SITUATION ROOM" today Senator Rand Paul.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, the son of Ron Paul, who's doing really well in Iowa and some of the other states as well. And Rand Paul, I don't know if you had a chance to read his article. He wrote in op-ed in the "Des Moines Register." Among other things, the headline says this, "Republicans would take a giant step backward by choosing Gingrich."
Let me read to you one line that he writes here because it sort of jumped out at me. I'll just read it to you. "I will conclude by saying two things. Gingrich is not the Tea Party. He is not even a conservative." Wow. Pretty strong stuff from Senator Rand Paul going after Newt Gingrich. We're going to discuss that and a lot more. We got a lot of political news coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM" at the top of the hour.
But even more important than that, guess what else, Brooke, is happening later tonight?
BALDWIN: You got me. I have no idea.
BLITZER: The CNN Washington holiday party at Washington National Stadium.
BALDWIN: Well, the CNN Atlanta Christmas party as well.
BLITZER: When is yours?
BALDWIN: It's tonight.
BLITZER: Ours is tonight, too. So the entire Washington bureau and all of our significant others, we're all going to be there. We're going to have some fun in the batting cage. We'll do a little karaoke.
BALDWIN: What's your tune?
BLITZER: "Sweet Caroline."
BALDWIN: Nice.
BLITZER: We're going to confiscate all cell phones.
BALDWIN: You know somebody's tweeting that.
BLITZER: Everybody who walks in and watches me do the karaoke, they will be clean. We're going to make sure we power down all the cell phones. We're going to take their batteries out, the whole nine yards.
BALDWIN: Have fun. Tell Mrs. Blitzer --
BLITZER: There will be no evidence of that. BALDWIN: Tell Mrs. Blitzer I said hello.
BLITZER: I will.
BALDWIN: Thank you. See you in a few minutes.
Coming up next, though, we're going to talk about the West Memphis three. They severed more than 18 years behind bars for murder then they were released just a couple of months ago. John Grisham weighs in on the story, the author behind some of the world's most popular legal thrillers. Just a piece of that interview next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The West Memphis Three convicted of murdering three young boys in the early '90s spent more than 18 years behind bars. They were released just a couple of months ago. They were released but not exonerated. Their story became this cause celeb with far too many questions about how police handled and possibly mishandled their case. Many say they are innocent, and thriller novelist John Grisham thinks so as well. He spoke with our own Piers Morgan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": I did a very emotional interview with the West Memphis Three, two of them, anyway, a very powerful, compelling story. I'd be interested in your view of that. What did you think of it?
JOHN GRISHAM, NOVELIST: Well, I lived in the Memphis area and remember the big newspapers there is the Memphis commercial appeals, the morning daily, we all read it. And I remember when that story happened 18, 19 years ago because I was living there.
And the reporting was such that it was horrendously scandalous. You couldn't believe how horrible the story was. The boys were, all kinds of bad things were done to these three little cub scouts. And it turns out not all that was accurate.
If you look at what happened to those three defendants, it was mishandled from the very beginning. One kid was 14-years-old. The police took him into a room, kept him for hours. His parents were trying to get to him. The interrogated the kid, finally broke him down and got a bad confession. And when they went to trial, as so often happens in these wrongful convictions, there's no physical evidence against the defendants because they're not guilty, OK? So, they rely on bogus confessions. They rely on jailhouse snitches, all these other things that aren't really evidence.
But even I think in the West Memphis Three, there was not even bad science at trial. There was just this very sensational trial, and the community wanted justice. And so they had some bad confessions to work on and these three guys get convicted and they spend 18 years in prison. And then what's bad, the investigation was so botched that we'll probably never know who actually did it. MORGAN: That's the scandalous thing about it. It means the real killers are out there when this kind of miscarriage of justice happens.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: This interview tonight, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" 9:00 eastern. But first, Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts now.
