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Trayvon Martin Case; Major Earthquake In Mexico; 7.6 Earthquake East Of Acapulco; Suspect "Can't Remember" Massacre; Defense Strategy For Massacre Suspect
Aired March 20, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DEB FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Deb Feyerick, in today for Brooke Baldwin. Let's catch you up on everything making news this hour. "Rapid Fire." Let's go.
A girlfriend of the Florida teen killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer was on the phone with the shooting victim moments before he died. The attorney for Trayvon Martin's family says her testimony contradicts what George Zimmerman told police, that he shot Martin in self-defense. The girlfriend was on "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): He said this man was watching him. So he put his hoodie on. Trayvon said what are you following me for? And the man said, what you doing around here? Then somebody pushed Trayvon, cause the headset just fell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: The case is going to a grand jury next month, and the FBI and federal prosecutors say they're also investigating the February 26 killing.
His lawyers say the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians was not drunk at the time and has no memory of the massacre. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales' lead attorney told CBS his client doesn't remember the killing spree that left nine children, three women and four men dead. Bales' wife has released a statement calling the rampage a terrible and heart-breaking tragedy.
We're keeping an eye on some severe weather. Parts of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas are bracing for heavy rain and the possibility of flash floods. It's the same weather system that spawned this tornado last night near San Antonio.
And House Republicans released next year's budget plan. A proposal designed to make deficits smaller for the next five years. It calls for major tax reform and an overhaul of Medicare. Congressman Paul Ryan calls it a sharp contrast to Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), BUDGET CHAIRMAN: Well, yes, we are sharpening the contrast between the path that we're proposing and the path of debt and decline that the president has placed us upon. And, yes, we do believe that our nominee, whoever this person is going to be, is going to be perfectly consistent with this. I've spoken to all of these guys and they believe that we are heading in the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: The White House says the Republican plan fails what it calls the test of balance, fairness and shared responsibility.
Car bombs hit at least seven cities in Iraq on the ninth anniversary of the U.S. invasion. Explosions killed at least 43 people and wounded more than 200. The U.S. State Department condemns the attacks. It says violence in the region is at historic lows and the Iraqis are capable of maintaining law and order.
Frightening moments at the Buffalo, New York, zoo after a gorilla escaped from his cage and attacked a zookeeper. Koga, the 400-pound male gorilla, broke through an unlocked door and got into the zookeeper's area behind his cage, coming face-to-face with a female handler. When she tried to contain him, the silverback began biting her. Zoo officials say her quick thinking may have saved her life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What a scene at the Buffalo Zoo. A SWAT team, people running, all because Koga, this 24-year-old silverback gorilla, escaped into an area where he didn't belong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: An emergency team tranquilized Koga. The handler is OK. She was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Ashton Kutcher is headed to space. The actor will ride Virgin Galactic's flight into suborbital space, which gives passengers a few minutes of zero gravity. He's the 500th customer to sign up for the adventure. The flight costs $200,000.
More layoffs at Oprah Winfrey's network, OWN. Twenty percent of the network staff has been axed according to an announcement by Winfrey. Network executives and producers are among those let go. The retired queen of daytime calls it restructuring, saying it's a necessary step in the network's long-term success. The news comes just days after OWN canceled Rosie O'Donnell's five-month-old talk show.
And four-time MVP quarterback Peyton Manning is landing in Denver. The prized free agent is about to official become a Denver Bronco at a press conference scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll let you see it live when it happens. Manning opened contract negotiations with the Broncos yesterday after weeks of speculation over where he would go. What remains unknown is what will happen to current starting quarterback Tim Tebow. Despite taking the team to a playoff win last year, multiple reports say the Broncos are putting Tebow on the trading block.
We've got a lot more to cover in the next two hours. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's that crying?
CROWD: Trayvon's crying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: The family and friends of a teenager shot by a neighborhood security volunteer share new information about the night Trayvon Martin died. A teenage girl heard the whole thing go down. She was on the phone with Trayvon. And public outrage builds against the man who pulled the trigger. What kind of a man is George Zimmerman. Today you'll hear his voice.
CNN's Anwar Damon shares the stories of the youngest victims in Syria.
Then, would it surprise you if I told you Uncle Sam is selling millions of dollars worth of wheat to Iran?
The search resumes for America's most famous missing woman aviator. What happened to Amelia Earhart?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: Well, it's not an arrest, but new details from a girlfriend could make all the difference for the family of Trayvon Martin. The teenage girl, who has not been identified, was on the phone with the 17-year-old boy moments before a neighborhood watch volunteer shot him to death. Plus, a Florida grand jury, the FBI and the Justice Department are getting involved. We'll get to it all.
But first, let's focus on the man some accuse of vigilante justice. His name is George Zimmerman. The neighborhood watch volunteer, who shot the 17-year-old boy, made 46 calls to police since 2001. Some you've heard. The night he called police about a suspicious man that turned out to be Trayvon Martin. But just weeks before, Zimmerman phoned them showing much more caution. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DISPATCHER: What is he wearing?
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: He's wearing a black leather jacket, a black bomber hat.
DISPATCHER: And what is he doing?
ZIMMERMAN: He keeps going to this guy's house. I know him. I know the resident. He's Caucasian. And he's going up to the house and then going along the side of it and then coming to the street and then going back to the side of it. I don't know what he's doing. I don't want to approach him, personally. If you have an officer available, I'd probably have him stop on Rinehart. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: There you see the watchman using a lot more caution. Twenty-four days after that call, Zimmerman opted to follow Martin in this gated community in Sanford, Florida. Police say Zimmerman acted in self-defense and the evidence they came across did not disprove that. But the family attorney now says that Martin was on the phone with his girlfriend who describes a man following Martin. Here is that unidentified girlfriend speaking on "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): He said this man was watching him. So he put his hoodie on. Trayvon said, what are you following me for? Then the man said, what you doing around here? Then somebody pushed Trayvon, cause the headset just fell.
BENJAMIN CRUMP, MARTIN FAMILY ATTORNEY: He kept pursuing Trayvon Martin. And how do we know? Because this young lady connects the dots. She connects the dots. She completely blows Zimmerman's absurd self- defense claim out of the water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: And that was the Martin family attorney a couple of hours ago at a news conference in Florida. The girlfriend's information is likely to be pivotal when the grand jury meets on this case. CNN's John Zarrella live in Miami.
And, John, what does the grand jury meet and what are they likely to go over with these new calls?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Deb, initially this morning Norm Wolfinger, the state attorney in Seminole County, announced that he was going to go ahead and use the grand jury to help with the investigation, to help gather the evidence, to go over thing. And that grand jury is going to be empanelled on April 10th. So still a while before that grand jury gets into place.
Of course, what are they going to be looking at? They're going to be looking at all of that evidence of what happened exactly. They're going to want to look at physical evidence. They're going to want to look at time lines. They're going to want to listen to this recording that was made of the 16-year-old girlfriend of Trayvon's and exactly -- and perhaps even want to talk with her. So there's going to be a lot that's going -- they're going to want to digest once they begin their proceedings. But again, not until April 10th.
FEYERICK: You know, and, John, apparently the girl signed the affidavit telling authorities that she was on the phone with Trayvon moments before he was shot. That, in fact, he was frightened it seems. That she told him to run. He said, no, I'm just going to walk quickly. And then Zimmerman seems to have been the one who was following, going after him, even getting out of the car. So it really does throw a very different perspective on what was going on that evening.
Federal investigators are getting involved. What are they going to be looking into?
ZARRELLA: Well, you know, if it comes down to the federal government, the Department of Justice and the FBI office in Tampa is going to be handling this. You know the burden of proof is extremely difficult if it is a civil rights case that they are looking at down the road. Much different than the state case would be. So their burden of proof is very high. They would really have to prove beyond any doubt that there was absolute premeditation, you know, on the part of Zimmerman. That would be one of the things that they would really have to prove.
But they're going to be looking at all this evidence. And, in fact, the attorney, Crump, who released that transcript of the girl's conversation with him, the girlfriend's conversation, said that they were not going to turn that information over to the authorities in Sanford, Florida, because they did not trust the police there. They were going to turn that information over directly to the Department of Justice.
And, also, you know, it is important to note, Deb, that in the police reports, some new information came out as well, that kind of supports what Zimmerman says. Because it said that when the first officer arrived, Zimmerman had a cut on his nose, a cut on the back of his face -- the back of his head, and that his back was wet. An indication to the authorities, the police, that perhaps there was a scuffle and that Zimmerman as well ended up on the ground. But that does not, either way, one way or the other, indicate who was the aggressor in all this.
FEYERICK: Sure. Absolutely. And you used the word premeditation, but it could also be sort of a preconception as to whether the watchman stereotyped or had some bias. And that's usually what civil rights case also -- that the feds look into. And so that's very key.
ZARRELLA: Correct. And that's very, very difficult. Right.
FEYERICK: Yes, absolutely.
ZARRELLA: It is very, very difficult.
FEYERICK: And there were more protests today. Obviously this has rocked this community. Do you get any sense that people are now feeling the case is heading in the right direction now that the feds are involved and now that this tape has surfaced? Or this conversation, I should say, more than the tapes, since it's just a transcript of minutes of conversations, I should say, John.
ZARRELLA: Right. There's certain things that definitely help. The fact that the Department of Justice is involved, the fact that the governor came out and said, look, I want the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to help in any way with the local authorities. The fact that Wolfinger has come out, the state's attorney in Seminole County, and said, we are going to go ahead and get the grand jury involved, that's all helped.
But the bottom underlying theme through all of this yet, Deb, is that people are still saying, why has George Zimmerman not been arrested? And so until that happens, if it happens at all, there's still going to be a great degree of uncertainty in the community up there.
There is a meeting tonight. A rally at one of the local churches up there. And, of course, there are protests that are being planned throughout this week and into next week.
FEYERICK: All right, John Zarrella. This is one definitely to watch. We thank you.
ZARRELLA: Sure.
FEYERICK: We're going to, now, go to some breaking news. And earthquake rocks Mexico. We have Chad Myers and he is in our weather center. We're going to take a look right now.
Chad, what are you learning? What's going on right now?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Deb, it appears that a 7.6 -- these are preliminary numbers, so I don't have everything here that I need. USGS doesn't even have it on their website yet. But A 7.6 may have occurred between Acapulco and Mexico City.
Now, this is an area -- at a 7.6, this will be a violent shake. And there's the word mayor earthquake. That is a valid statement. A 7.6 would endanger many, many people in this area. A lot of these homes are built very strongly, but yet not really made to take the shaking of an earthquake. To take the waves that an earthquake takes. And then these buildings crumble. We saw how this can happen in Haiti when we had the very large earthquake there.
And here's the -- here's Acapulco, Mexico. Kind of in a bowl here or a bay. We think it's about 30 miles or so from Acapulco, which would insulate Acapulco a little bit. But at a 7.6, they may have felt something about a 7.0. So quite a bit of damage expected here and, of course, then into Mexico City. Quite a few miles away. Hundreds of miles away. But this is the largest, highest city literally in the world at almost 8,000 feet. And the shaking there would have certainly crumbled buildings. We are literally just getting a lot of these things on the Twitter feed. Our CNN offices there in Mexico City reporting some shaking.
FEYERICK: Yes.
MYERS: Very long duration shaking too. Not just a quick jolt, but a very long earthquake.
FEYERICK: And, Chad, we're now hearing -- Chad, we're not hearing that it was a 7.9 earthquake.
One quick question before we let you go and look into this more, with the way Acapulco is shaped, is there the possibility of one of those gigantic waves, the tsunami type waves, hitting Acapulco City?
MYERS: That would only happen if the earthquake was offshore and the sea surface floor moved. If the surface floor moved up or moved down, then a wave would have been generated. But from what I can tell, the earthquake was under land. And so earthquakes do not generate tsunamis when they happen under land. They only generate tsunamis literally when they are under the water and the sea surface floor moves.
Now that doesn't mean that if you have a 7.9, if it's 20 miles inland, that the sea floor didn't move a little bit. Because it certainly could have. So a localized tsunami would not be out of the question. But not the one like we saw with Banda Aceh earthquake. That was a 30 or 40 foot wall of water. Just don't expect that.
FEYERICK: OK, Chad Myers, we are going to let everybody get in place on this story. We're going to be right back after a quick break. So, stay with us, everyone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: Welcome back, everyone. We want to bring you up-to-date on some breaking news.
An earthquake has rocked Acapulco, Mexico. A 7.9 we are being told. Chad Myers is there monitoring this for us. And we just want to remind everyone out there, any of our iReporters, that you can start sending in photos, reaching out to us either through i-Report. You can tweet me @debfeyerickcnn or @brooke here at CNN as well as we begin to develop this breaking story.
Chad Myers, an earthquake hitting. What do we know?
MYERS: We now know that it's 120 miles from Acapulco. And these numbers are going to change and that 7.9 is going to change. We know think it's about six miles deep. But that number is going to change.
And why? Because there are triangulation stations and triangulation stations will take the distance from when this occurred and when the shake got to that station. When the shake got to that station and to that station and it literally will almost, like a GPS receiver, hone in on where that earthquake happened and how deep it was. Right now we know that it was a 7.9, at least at this point in time. Mexico City, quite a few miles away. I would say that's at least 300 to 400 miles away, but a 7.9 earthquake, even in the middle of a rarely or fairly unpopulated area is still going to do significant damage in the surrounding vicinity.
Sean, go ahead and zoom in here and just show me what's around, because we can -- we'll actually be able to find -- we'll find Acapulco, which is way down there. One hundred and twenty miles away. These mountainous areas here. This is very rugged. These are just small little villages. Small literally little dirt and gravel roads in between these villages.
The best news I can tell you is that this did not happen under Mexico City. It's -- still, they felt a lot of shaking. There's still been reports of damage in Mexico City. But we can't even find a village here under where that earthquake was, Deb. FEYERICK: Right. And I guess -- and, obviously, that could potentially minimize loss of life --
MYERS: That's correct.
FEYERICK: Given that it was almost 120 miles outside Acapulco, which, as we all know, is a big tourist destination.
MYERS: Yes.
FEYERICK: So they're still going to be dealing with that.
What does it mean, though, for places like Acapulco? Are there -- is there the potential for an aftershock, for example --
MYERS: Yes.
FEYERICK: Closer to that major city?
MYERS: It depends on where the seam -- the fault, actually, broke. If the fault broke this way, there may be aftershocks even closer to Mexico City. If the fault broke this way, the earthquakes could certainly be closer to the shore, the Pacific Coast here, and that would be the Acapulco area right through there.
So, yes, there certainly will be aftershocks. And if this was a 7.9 aftershock -- or a 7.9 earthquake, there could easy be a 7.0 aftershock. One full magnitude less, but very significant earthquake in itself. And we will call them aftershocks, but let me tell you, people in California, you ask them what a 7.0 earthquake might feel like, they wouldn't know an aftershock from an earthquake. It's when the earth moves. It moves almost too much. The first break in the earthquake breaks the earth, slides the fault and it slides too much. And then it has to slide back a little bit. And every time it slides to get its equilibrium, that there's -- there's an earthquake and they're called aftershocks. There have been thousands and thousands of aftershocks since the Japanese quake that did so much damage to the Fukushima area and all there (ph).
FEYERICK: And, you know, Chad, when we look at this area, for example, is this an area that's known for earthquakes? This area that's shifting. You mentioned California, obviously, which is north. Here we're looking a lot more south. But is there some sort of -- I don't want to catch you off guard, but some sort of ratio? Is Mexico hit as often as California, for example?
MYERS: In fact, it is, because this is still part of the ring of fire. The ring of fire going all the way from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, southern tip of South America, all the way up through the Andes in Chile. All the way up even toward Bolivia, Ecuador and along the Mexican Rocky Mountains. The Sierra Madre here and every -- the mountains are there because the earthquakes have been forming this chain. This abduction (ph) zone of the coast here. This is a very deep trench off the coast of Mexico. And that's abduction zone down into the earth is caused -- as the earth continues to move in a couple of directions, because this earth is moving this way, and it's being taken under by the movement of the earth you can see here, this moves about 61 millimeters a year under the surface.
FEYERICK: Right.
MYERS: And, you know, it doesn't shake every day, but you get that 61 millimeters to build up a couple of years and all of a sudden it moves a lot. And when it moves a lot, we get the earth to shake like this.
I have now been told in my ear it's been downgraded to a 7.6.
FEYERICK: Correct.
MYERS: You know, that number could still go back one way or the other. It was originally a 7.6, moved to a 7.9. And, in fact, some of the other zones from the Mexican Geological Survey to the Japanese Meteorological Survey, and to the USGS, they have different scales and so the numbers may still be fluctuating around for many more hours.
FEYERICK: Sure. And obviously when an earthquake strikes it's very fluid because it's one of those events you usually cannot predict. Even in the couple of minutes that we've been talking, it went really up to the 7.9, down to the 7.6. I think if you're in the middle of an earthquake, though, does that 0.3 really matter or does it feel as dramatic a shaking? Do we even know how long the earthquake, the tremors lasted?
MYERS: It does matter a little bit. Now I haven't been able to look at a shake map yet, but I will. And that does matter. Because if the earth shakes for 30 seconds, then buildings get cracked but they don't fall down. If you see the shaking continue for three minutes, well, that first 30 seconds cracked the building. The second 30 seconds cracked it worse. Then the next minute, knocked it down.
So, yes, the duration of shaking does matter and that duration of shaking typically will tell you how long the fault moved, how long the crack or the slide happened. Did it happen for 500 miles or did it only happen for 50 miles?
It's almost like when the thunder rolls. Where the thunder comes down, it's right on top of you, you hear a crack, boom. But when it goes across the side for a long distance, your hear the thunder for a very long time.
FEYERICK: Right.
MYERS: It's the distance between where the shaking started, where the shaking stop, that slide in the fault itself. And that's what we will know and we'll figure out whether it was a very long duration quake. And we -- the initial report that I had from Mexico City. But let me tell you, when you're in a 15 -second earthquake, it feels like a minute. Those 15 seconds will --
FEYERICK: And I'm sure there's no question about that. And as a matter of fact, right now we do have Nick Parker, who is one of our CNN producers, there in Mexico. We're going to go to him.
Nick, first of all, where were you and what did you hear or feel?
NICK PARKER, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, when it struck, I was in my apartment in Mexico City. And it was sort of -- obviously extremely unexpected. The room started shaking. And it was a very prolonged tremor lasting about 10 or 15 seconds or so. And the vases in the room began staking and rattling. And I have a couple of dogs who began barking at the reaction as well. So it was obviously something that was immediately noticeable and quite sustained.
FEYERICK: Nick, what is the distance between Acapulco and Mexico City roughly? About how long is the drive? How many miles, if you know?
PARKER: Yes, the drive is -- it's around -- actually, I just came back from Acapulco yesterday and it's around 400 kilometers or so. It takes about four or five hours. And the earthquake, it seems the epicenter was outside of Acapulco and we're still trying to determine what kind of cultivation center it was near. But just to give you an idea, that's probably still about a three or four --
FEYERICK: Nick? Nick Parker there is on the phone. We're going to try to re-establish a connection.
But for those who are just joining us. A 7.6 earthquake rocking Acapulco. Our producer, Nick Parker, telling us that it was felt from where it hit, and again, the earthquake was actually about 120 miles outside Acapulco. But the drive from there to Mexico City, about four to five hours. So, think about that. That's roughly the same drive between New York and Boston. And that's the distance between which the earthquake, the tremors, were felt. He said buildings shock. It lasted for about 15 seconds. And again, this is a couple hundred miles away from the epicenter.
Chad Myers is looking into this for us right now and he's there.
What more are we learning? The distance seems pretty great if Nick felt that a couple of hundred miles away.
MYERS: Yes, the distance is important. The distance -- the farther you are away from the earthquake, the better you are, obviously. But now we know this was about a ten-mile deep earthquake because now that honing in, that triangulation, is now taking place. So, 10 miles deep. A very shallow quake. That's about the same distance into the earth's crust as the Haitian quake. And that, obviously, did tremendous amounts of damage.
But you have to understand, Port-au-Prince was almost directly under that quaking, directly under that shaking. If you go out 200, 300 miles, you get a lot of padding. You get breaking up of the shaking a little bit. And so one thing we noticed about -- and I know we talk about distances -- but remember the earthquake that happened in Virginia that really damaged a lot of the national monuments in Washington, D.C., hundreds of miles away. The earth does shake for a very long time.
Now, in the east, the earth shakes a little bit more. It almost rings like a bell because, in the west, there are many faults. And when one fault breaks here, it doesn't move much farther than the next fault here to the north, to the south, to the east of it. So it becomes a little bit more insulated because of the number of faults in the west compared to the lack of faults in the east, where when the east rang the bell, we felt the Virginia quake in Georgia, you probably would not feel this quake in places like say southern California. Although the seismographs, we certainly feel it and I'll get those on the line as soon as I can, we'll see the shaking. Even in Northern California where they're just so intensely technical that we will certainly feel the shaking.
You probably didn't feel it. The dog maybe felt it or heard it. But in Northern California, those seismographs would certainly be moving and we'll get a feel for how long this earth --
FEYERICK: We are starting to get some pictures in, Chad, from some of our I-Reporters. We have a picture in from a former New Yorker in Mexico. You can see some of the damage done. That was posted on Twitter.
You can see some fallen furniture there as this all happens. Again, that was over in Mexico and monitoring the quake. Chad, what is this in terms of the damage that this does and what can be expected?
Because I think whenever we hear of an earthquake happening, everybody sort of holding for the next tremor, the next shock, wondering sort of what the next sort of environmental hit is going to be, the one-two punch. What can people there expect?
MYERS: Well, there certainly will be aftershocks. Without a question, there will be aftershocks about half as strong as the earthquake that they have already felt. And so that is going to happen.
If you see this people on the church next to your home and it's already broken or it's crooked, you need to just get away from that area, anything above you that doesn't look just really nailed down, if looks broken at all, you need to get out in the streets and away from everything else because the earth will certainly shake again.
That's certain something very, very important we're going to worry about. Something else to worry about now, because it happened under the land, we touched on this a lit bit ago, but I didn't exactly know where the location was, there will not be the a tsunami because it did not happen under the water.
The floor of the ocean did not shake and so when the floor of the ocean doesn't shake, then the water doesn't move and so there won't be a tsunami. Here's a shake map now that I'm getting from my producer in my ear.
This will tell us the shaking in, is it moderate, is it severe? We see it here, if you hit some very strong almost category 7 shaking here where Acapulco, here in the blue at a weak to a light shake. That's great news.
And here, this again because of the number of faults in the area, the shaking doesn't go as far. We're under earthquake right there --
FEYERICK: Chad, we want to --
MYERS: -- Mexico City 300 miles away. It wasn't as bad as it could have been had this happened under Mexico City.
FEYERICK: Chad, we have some pictures that are coming in now live from Televisa, you can see it there. That we're looking at there?
MYERS: Let me tell you what I see.
FEYERICK: This is Mexico City. This is where Nick Parker, our producer was calling us from. People have been on the streets. They're coming out into the venue, but you can see that it does seemed people are continuing to move probably as they try make sense of exactly what is happening and how much damage it's costing.
Obviously, this is one of those events when an earthquake strikes, you may want to go to plan B. You could see a couple of people who are out there. We don't know whether they're out there because of the earthquake or because in fact they happen to be there given the time of day.
It's just a little after lunch time. Here are some additional pictures coming to us from Televisa in Mexico City, some fire fighters there. Again, we don't know whether they're trying to access some sort of underground tube or some sort of an underground venting system.
MYERS: Deb?
FEYERICK: It appears that phone lines also now flooded in and around Mexico City. People try to call in. People try to call out. That is going to be very difficult for them right now, which suggest that clearly, there was more damage that struck into that main city.
And if there was damage in Mexico City, Chad, I'm sure we can imagine there was certainly some damage done in Acapulco, which was just about 120 miles from the center of that quake. Chad, we see the people out there, but we also see cars driving normally. What do most people do when there's an earthquake?
MYERS: Let me tell you what I see and let me tell you what I don't see. What I don't see, Deb, I don't concrete dust engulfing the city. I don't see dust that occurs when a significant shake crumbles concrete and sends the dust flying.
You can remember what the dust looked like from 9/11. That's the same type of dust we had in those buildings that will shake the buildings to the core and those buildings will continue they'll collapse on themselves just the World Trade Tower collapsed. I don't see that.
This was not that bad. This is not a Port-Au-Prince earthquake, but people are in the streets. They're exactly where they should be. They need to be away from the buildings because buildings are cracked, glasses breaking.
When you get into the city as far away from those tall buildings as you can, that is the safest place to be. Now, there will probably be some gas leaks. There will be some gasoline ruptures. There will be a lack of electricity.
There will be earthquakes again today and what I called aftershocks. We will also as we get away from Mexico City, see landslides because when you see -- they're not mud, it's not like a mud slide in California.
But the land above on a high mountain top will shake and crumble and collapse through on to roads and to small towns. It just happens. The closer we get to the epicenter, the closer that will be. Mexico City looks OK to me right now. Certainly there's damage. It's not devastated.
FEYERICK: Sure, absolutely a bit of collateral damage there. We're told phone lines are flooded. So people may have trouble getting calls in or out of that country.
We remind you to continue sending in your I-Reports. You can also tweet us. I'm @debfeyerickcnn or @brooke here. This is CNN breaking news. We'll be back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: Welcome back, everyone. We want to bring you up to date on that earthquake in Mexico. It has registered a 7.6 on the Richter scale. We're told that there is seismic activity in and around Mexico City.
The quake happened about 120 miles from Acapulco, but we have reached out to people there. They say they did feel some shaking, but right now, there does not seem to be any sort of interruption in electricity or phone lines in the Acapulco area.
We are being told in Mexico, in the Mexico City area that phone lines were flooded and so they are experiencing some delays. We received that picture on Twitter. That's a New Yorker now in Mexico who said that furniture fell. You could see some of the damage that occurred there.
The schools have been evacuated, but this quake happening outside of major cities, likely meaning that there is much less damage than initially anticipated.
We're going to bring in our Chad Myers. Chad, still obviously a very strong possibility that there could be additional tremors. Where do we see this going?
MYERS: Yes, we could certainly get tremors to 6.6, even 7.0. That's typically one magnitude smaller than what we had here. A 7.6, very large earthquake in Mexico. You take this here, this line. We only care how the crow flies.
We don't care about how the road goes. So 120 miles to Acapulco and exactly 180 miles to Mexico City so almost a similar distance when it comes to, you know, to rock formations. But the shaking, I believe, here in this rural area was violent.
That's the best word I can get. But the farther you get away from the shake, it became less violent. We saw pictures at the aerials from Mexico City. It looked like nothing had happened.
It looked like people were just out on their lunch break, but that's where you need to be. You need to be away from those buildings, out of those buildings, away from the glass. So I suspect we'll get a lot of shaking and an awful lot of damage in the coming days.
Right around the earthquake site, below the epicenter, but not very much as you get farther and farther away because the shaking was less and less significant the farther you got from the earthquake.
A 7.6, a very big earthquake, I can't imagine a better place to have it, which is literally in that very lightly populated area compared to Mexico City or closer to the coast.
FEYERICK: And clearly the expectation is that probably Mexican authorities right now are trying to get people, trying to get emergency teams to those areas, to those smaller villages where there could have some damage. But for people who are in Mexico, what should they be doing right now?
MYERS: Well, you don't want to travel close to it. There's no reason for you as an American citizen or whatever citizen to go try to help because that's what the authorities are there for.
When you get close to these areas, when you get close to the devastated area, you're going to find most of the roads are going to be closed because rocks and bolders from above came down and collapsed the road. That's just what's going to happen.
Most of the areas around this epicenter will have the roads closed. Here's the shaking map itself. Thank you, Sean, for putting it up. It's the same colors we showed you earlier.
So the yellows, very significant shaking and that's where the earthquake happened right there, but when you get farther to a Acapulco, light green to almost light blue. We'll call that light to moderate shaking.
All the way up to Mexico City, light shaking at best. I'm sure it rattled people's nerves. You can come home if you would like on the next airplane, but unless you're in this vicinity, you're in no danger in Mexico. FEYERICK: Absolutely, you don't feel like coming from California. You know it's going to happen at some point, but obviously when it does hit, it's unexpected and Chad, as you said, because of where it did hit, the likelihood of any sort of large wave coming either into Acapulco, into Mexico City, highly unlikely.
MYERS: Correct. Well, that doesn't mean this isn't a fore shock. Deb, there are things called fore shocks and typically, a fore shock will indicate a larger earthquake possible within the next hour or two.
So the 7.6 could turn into something much larger. It typically doesn't happen, but it does. It's even 5 out of 100 earthquakes will have a fore shock and then the real earthquake later, so it's still not good to be inside the building.
Don't take anything. Just take the precautions you can if you'd be in California or any place, don't go near glass. Don't go near things that are high above you. That may come tumbling down if another big earthquake does happen.
FEYERICK: All right, Chad Myers, thanks so much. We have a lot more news coming up. We're going to obviously be keeping an eye on the earthquake that happened there. But we're going to be moving on.
The American soldier accused of killing nine kids, three women, four men has no memory of the attacks in Afghanistan according to his lawyer. CNN's Ted Rowlands now standing by live outside the military prison in Kansas where Sergeant Robert Bales is being held. That is coming up live next.
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FEYERICK: Now the latest on the U.S. soldier accused of terrorizing an Afghan village and killing 16 Afghan civilians. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales' lead attorney says his client doesn't remember the killing spree that left nine children, three women and four men dead.
They also allegedly shot and sound as victims and set many of them on fire. He's not been formally charged. Ted Rowlands joins us on the phone from Fort Leavenworth where Bales is being held. Ted, what are we learning?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Deb, we just saw John Henry Browne, the attorney for Staff Sergeant Bale and we're awaiting to get another update with him in terms of specifics from today's meeting.
This was the second day meeting with his client. He spent more than 7-1/2 hours with him yesterday. And during that period of time, Brown says his client didn't remember a huge chunk of what happened in Afghanistan during the massacre, saying he remembers bits and pieces from before and after.
But nothing during the actual incident, which, of course, has raised more questions as to what pushed this. Otherwise, well decorated member of the military to go (inaudible) and kill so many innocent people.
FEYERICK: Obviously, Ted, the conversations between Bales and his attorney. Those are confidential, but his attorney described his demeanor? How he is now -- does Bales even understand what he is allegedly being charged with?
ROWLANDS: Well, he said the demeanor -- that he's very upset. He had said that. We don't know to what extent he understands what happened. I'm sure he does now and I'm sure he understands the ramifications of his actions or alleged actions in this case.
But we don't know specifically so what degree he understands the gravity of this because quite frankly (inaudible) John Henry Browne. Maybe we will, but at this point, we haven't gotten it.
FEYERICK: And Ted, his attorney has told reporters the government is going to have a hard time proving this case. Obviously, there are eyewitnesses. There are Afghans, but what about other eyewitnesses and forensic evidence? Has he talked about that at all?
ROWLANDS: Well, I don't know if those comments were taken out of context or what? But I think the federal government would take issue with the statement that they don't have a lot of evidence in this case.
So you mentioned the Afghanis, lots of witnesses there. And there's surveillance tape apparently of him, Bales, surrendering and coming back on to the base in the morning. And you have 16 innocent people that were massacred including women and children. So I think there's going to be a mountain of evidence against him. If he did say that to the attorney, I can't understand why he would given just the pure facts of the case.
FEYERICK: Absolutely. All right, Ted Rowlands, thanks for the clarification. We appreciate your insights on that. We'll check in with you in a little while. Now the U.S. military does say Bales will be tried in the U.S., but exactly where hasn't been decided.
His lead attorney said Bales was not drunk, does not remember large chunks of what happened and is in shock. CBS News quotes the attorney as saying, "He would not use the insanity defense, but a defense of diminished capacity?
So what exactly does that mean? Gary Solis, is adjunct professor of military law in Georgetown University and a former Marine prosecutor.
Mr. Solis, what are we talking about when we're talking about diminished capacity? Especially given what you just heard about this sort of blackout that he doesn't remember.
GARY SOLIS, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: No, he doesn't remember because that's laying the ground work for his defense, diminished capacity. There is no defense of diminished capacity in military law.
However, it may be argued by the defense counsel to the members, to the military jury, if the military jury accepts that he has no memory of what happened during the critical period then he will have succeeded.
Because premeditated murder, which is what he's going to be charged with, is what the lawyers call a specific intent crime. In other words, it's one of the things that the government will have to prove is that bales had a specific intent to commit murder.
If he can't remember anything, then the government is going to have a much harder time proving specific intent, although it can be done.
FEYERICK: Technically lawyers could argue that he didn't go out intending to kill anyone and then something sort of happened. And again, this goes to, I think, what we're hearing about that he suffered some sort of potential brain injury.
Obviously, there are going to have to be extensive psychiatric exams and they're going to be bringing up his medical records to see whether he sought any sort of medical help.
SOLIS: Yes, intent however, doesn't have to be formed long before the act. Intent can be formed seconds before the act. But you're right, there's going to be a lot of medical maneuvering, both medical psychiatric from the medical side and the defense side.
When it does go to trial, the diminished capacity argument, if accepted will reduce, and if the government can't prove specific intent, it will reduce the offenses from premeditated murder to something much lesser.
For example, negligent homicide, which has a maximum penalty of three years per count so this diminished capacity defense, although it's not recognized in military law can be argued and if accepted, it could have a great affect on sentencing if he were to be convicted.
FEYERICK: And what's so interesting, Gary is that he could face execution. He was in the military when he committed these crimes, but I remember, I covered the case, the first sort of death penalty case against a U.S. soldier in Iraq who killed a family.
And I remember the closing argument of the defense who said, this was somebody we sent into war who wasn't broken when we sent him. He became broke and the U.S. doesn't kill its wounded warriors.
It was probably bar none one of the best closing arguments I have ever heard. How does that come into play? That this was not a man who even as described was capable of something like this. How does that come into play?
SOLIS: Well, of course, there's an argument against that too. He had his problems, financial problems. He was convicted of financial fraud before he ever came into the argument. He's had a hit and run record. He's had intoxication record. He's had a minor assault record.
So it's not all that clear that there weren't some problems with this individual before. And of course, the army recognized this in that they did not promote him to sergeant first class. And so there's something in his record probably that we don't know about.
But in fact that's a good argument for a closing argument, but it's not something that the defense can bring in its case in chief because that's not what the case is about.
The case is about guilt or innocence, but in a closing argument, you bet. That's dynamite and it may affect the military members if the case ever gets that far.
FEYERICK: And also just finally, how does -- finally, how -- you know, when we look at a sort of medical defense, the witnesses that are going to be brought to trial, you made the clarification that this is in going to be held before a military jury. How does that differ from a traditional jury if at all?
SOLIS: Not at all. I think that a military jury is in some respects superior to a civilian jury. And that's because all military officers who compose the military jury are college educated and are trained to obey orders.
So if a military judge tells them I want you to ignore this elephant in the room, they're going to do the best to ignore that elephant. Of course, if the accused wishes, he may ask for enlisted members in his trial as well.
But I think the military jury is going to be no different than a civilian jury. They're going to dispassionately review the facts as presented by the prosecution and the defense and carry out the instructions of the military judge in reaching their verdict.
FEYERICK: All right, Gary Solis, thanks so much. We appreciate your insights.
Coming up after this quick break, we're going to get back to that major earthquake in Mexico. We have new video, new life pictures and new information from government officials about the quake. Stay with us.
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FEYERICK: Welcome back, everyone. We are following the breaking news of the earthquake in Mexico. Right now, we're going to go to Rafael Romo who is live for us in Atlanta. You can see Mexico City, a little bit shaky, but everybody's apparently seeming very calm as they try to process exactly what is going on and where they should be.
You can see some people they're standing close to the walls, which is usually where you're supposed to go, the center of the building when these kinds of things happen, getting organized. And this is coming to us from Reuters, as you can see.
So they are the ones who are getting it together and doing what needs to be done during an earthquake. Rafael Romo has been working his sources, making calls to colleagues in Mexico.
And Rafael, what are you learning? What are they telling you about exactly what happened and what they felt?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The reports we're getting is that this particular earthquake has cause no major damages in places like Mexico City. The state of the south and Acapulco where the epicenter was believed to be located, what we're hearing is that the general situation in Mexico at this point is calm.
People have routinely, slowly but surely abandoned buildings. Back in 1985, Mexico City had a major earthquake that left thousands upon thousands of people dead. I spoke with people in Acapulco who also tell me that they felt it for sure.
But communication lines, power lines that the water system, everything is working as normal. So at this point, everybody is just standing by. The government has implemented an action plan just in case it's necessary. There has been at least one other tremor since the first one, but nothing major at this point -- Deb.
FEYERICK: And Rafael, the action plan that the Mexico government puts together. Do you know specifically what that is?
ROMO: From time to time, people in Mexico City, because it's such a vulnerable area for earthquakes, from time to time business offices and government buildings, they conduct earthquake drills so people in those buildings real will know what to do based on their terrible experience in 1985.
In Mexico, of course, the main concern is the density of the population. In places like Acapulco, people who live on mountains, on hills and then in the south is the -- the structures are just very old in places like Wahaka so you have very different concerns.
Not too long ago, President Felipe Calderon tweeted that as of now there's no serious damage being reported. And he's calling it a 6.6 earthquake, according to Mexico's seismological center, Deb.
FEYERICK: OK, which is a full point lower than what was being reported by U.S. Geological Services, who had rated it at a 7.6. Again, all very fluid, everything moving as we determine what exactly is going on.
Chad Myers has been following this for us also live in Atlanta.
And, Chad, Rafael says there was another tremor. What are you seeing?
MYERS: Yes, I am actually seeing that tremor on one of the seismograms out of Southern California. Now I have been able to -- I have just couple of minutes to get off the screen and back on the computers. We can actually show you the shaking. And the shaking was felt by the needles in Southern California. You probably didn't feel it if you're standing in Southern California.
But there's the initial shape. These are the minutes as we go across, 15 minutes every line, every hour we go down here, so right here. That was the shake, initially about one minute worth of shake. Then it just kind of rumbled away, right here, a secondary shake, which would have been the aftershock.
It looks like at least 1.5 miles. I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of maybe a 5.5, although it hasn't been yet posted by the USGS. There will be -- I know we push this to the back burner a little bit and said there's not a lot of damage. That is true. There's not a lot of damage in big cities.
But let me tell you, a 7.6 -- and Mexico is saying 6.6. Not that it's a different earthquake. It's a different scale. All of the countries have different scales. There's no such thing as a Richter scale anymore. The scale just means that's where we think it is, doesn't mean it's not a 7.6. It just means on our scale it's a 6.6, on the U.S. scale it's a 7.6. So for us knowing our earthquakes, it's still a 7.6.
And that shaking around in northern Oaxaca, certainly those rural communities were devastated. A 6.6 at only 10 miles deep, there's an awful lot of devastation there. We're just not getting to those people yet. We're not getting any communication with those people yet.
But from our pager map, USGS knows where everybody lives really and it's Big Brother watching down, and they said just a couple to 3,000 people saw violent shaking and other than that, about 200,000 people felt a shake enough to probably rattle the home and rattle the nerves. And even Mexico City was not even that bad.
FEYERICK: I think rattling nerves is definitely a good way to categorize it.
But, Chad, let me just ask you, I see that dip on the chart behind you just as you begin to see the earthquake, but then it goes all the way down. What is that, and what does that suggest to our viewers, because it's fascinating? You see it building and then it dips, and what is that?
MYERS: I wish I had my Slinky with me because I kind of give you this idea.
There are a number of different-waves that come out of an earthquake. There's a P-wave and an S-wave. The P-wave is the first thing that you will feel. And it's the first thing that the USGS found here in Southern California. When you think about, if you would rear-end the back end of a train and that train car would go boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and eventually the cab or the engine would feel being rear-ended by the train behind it. That's the P-wave.
That comes very quickly because that's all the dirt and all the rocks just hitting each other this way. Then the shaking occurs. This was is S-wave, almost like the shape on an S, like a sign wave. And that will begin to move the buildings back and forth. As you go up and down like this, that's where the buildings begin to tilt and turn and tilt and turn. That's when a lot of damage can actually occur, when you go those S-waves to come.
That would have been right in here. And those S-waves not that significant compared to what that initial big bang right there. That's the P-wave and the bang of the P-wave as it occurred and felt in Southern California. Felt by very, very technical machines and probably not by people standing in the ground.
FEYERICK: All right, Chad.
Right now, we do have on the phone Pascal Clemens and he is live with us, a businessman who was in Acapulco when the earthquake hit. It's about 120 miles away from the epicenter.
Mr. Clemens, what did you feel when this happened? And where were you?
PASCAL CLEMENS, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: Well, I was actually at my office in a condominium building, seven floors, up in the highest floor. It was a very strong earthquake.
It was shaking and rumbling. It felt pretty uncomfortable. So I tried, of course, to get out of the building, which I eventually managed to do. And it went on for two minutes. As a matter of fact, right now, as we speak, we have a slight aftershock. So we can really feel it, but it's not very strong.
FEYERICK: And sir, you were on what floor of the building? Did most of the building evacuate when the earthquake hit?
CLEMENS: You know, not really. People are used to this kind of shaking so you never know if it's a stronger one or a softer one. In Mexico City, they're more cautiously to the earthquakes and they evacuate the building.
In Acapulco, this is not what they really do. Of course, people go quickly on the street if they have a strong earthquake like that, but quickly five or 10 minutes after that, they're back in their offices and their homes.
FEYERICK: And, sir, has the government in Mexico, have they -- Rafael Romo has told us they have instituted an action plan. Are you hearing on television or radios what it is you're supposed to be doing, sir?
CLEMENS: I'm not looking really television right now, so I can tell you normally they say they have it, but really they are not prepared for something like that. I can tell you that, living here. They're supposed to have a plan, but I don't think they have one. FEYERICK: No one is really quite sure what it is. All right.
Pascal Clemens, thank you so much,a businessman who was in Acapulco when the earthquake hit.
Rafael, you have been -- oh, and I'm sorry.
Before you hang up, sir, Rafael Romo has a question for you -- Rafael.
ROMO: Pascal, first of all, good to hear you're doing good. I have known Pascal for quite some time. And he has lived 17 years in Acapulco.
I wanted to ask you, Pascal, how do you compare this earthquake to others you have experienced in the past?
CLEMENS: That was a pretty strong one. I would say in the top 10, and that was certainly among the top five earthquakes I felt here, definitely.
ROMO: And, Pascal, we know that Mexico City normally has evacuation plans when you have an earthquake of this magnitude. What is the situation in Acapulco? The local government, do they have any sort of plans? Do they conduct drills from time to time to make sure people are ready for something like this?
CLEMENS: They do exercise from time to time, but it's not really that there's a plan in terms of that. It's also happening too fast, you know, maybe, but a plan could kick in if there would be damages after it.
But for an evacuation plan like they have it for the buildings in Mexico City, that is not -- that doesn't happen here too often that you see that people are running out of the building and gathering on the street, and just have seen that once in the last 15 years. Really, people running out of the buildings, on the street and stayed there for, like, an hour or two, and that was the strongest one I have felt in Acapulco.
ROMO: Let me just ask you something else. This is a time of year. This is prime time for tourism in Acapulco. A lot of international tourists. A lot of Americans go to Acapulco this time of the year. What is the situation this year? Is there a lot of tourists there? Do you know anything what hotels are doing to make sure they're safe?
CLEMENS: Well, it is not -- it's supposed to be the high season, but we just had the national holiday ending yesterday, so the town is not crowded.
If it would have happened yesterday, it would have been a different thing. But today it's rather calm. I believe all the hotels, of course, they have their evacuation plan. And in a case like that, they will help the people to find their way out of the building. And, well, when the problem is over, then they will certainly guide them back.
ROMO: Pascal, really nice talking to you and to know you're doing very well -- Deb, back to you.
FEYERICK: Rafael, we did check with some of the hotels there in the area and they did tell us that, in fact, they felt the shock, but really it hasn't hindered or hurt anything going on right now.
So a little bit of excitement there for the folks in Acapulco and Mexico City as well.
We're going to be moving now to another big story, one that's rocking the football world. Football star Peyton Manning getting ready to make a major announcement about his career with the Denver Broncos. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.
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