Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Charges to Be Filed Today against Bales; Trayvon Martin Case; Cocaine a Factor in Houston's Death; Massacre Suspect Could Face Death; Angered Man Pulls Gun on Reporter; Foreclosure Alternative: Rent; Anger at George Zimmerman; Celebrity Hacker to Plead Guilty

Aired March 23, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: For now, hello, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. A lot happening over the course of the next couple of hours. Want to begin, as always, with "Rapid Fire." Roll it.

Just in to us here at CNN, a verdict now in the trial of that billionaire polo mogul charged with DUI manslaughter. He is the guy who adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend just before the trial. The jury has now found John Goodman guilty of causing a crash that killed a young man back in 2010. Goodman claims he doesn't remember a thing.

We are also awaiting murder charge against staff sergeant Robert Bales. A senior U.S. official tells CNN Bales will face 17 counts of murder for the March 11th slayings of many in Afghan, women, children, in that village several Sunday's ago. Bales' attorney is asking today, though, where's the evidence? Stay with us. Those charges could be announced this hour.

Also today, President Obama calling the death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin a tragedy. Went on to say, if he had had a son, his son would have looked like Trayvon. Martin was shot to death last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer. A case that has stirred anger not only around the country, globally. In fact, President Obama, today, said his main message was to the parents of the 17-year- old victim. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. And, you know, I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And now we have just gotten a statement from the family of Trayvon Martin in response to what the president said then. Let me just read this to you in part. Quote, "the president's personal comments touched us deeply and made us wonder if his son looked like Trayvon and wore a hoodie, would he be suspicious, too?"

Students at several Florida schools walked out today, protesting the failure of police to arrest the shooter, George Zimmerman. In fact, Florida's governor now has set up a task force and appointed a new state attorney to investigate the killing.

And the bodies of five more victims have been found aboard the cruise ship Costa Concord. That now brings the number to 30 as far as the number of bodies located since that Italian ship collided with rocks back on January 13th and partially sank. Still two people are missing. Workers completed the removal of 2,400 tons of oil from the ship just this week.

And the Senate has now passed a bill making insider trading illegal for lawmakers and their staff. The measure passed with strong bipartisan support today. Now it goes on for the president to sign this. He called for the law during his State of the Union Address. Critics say, though, this act doesn't go far enough.

And Mexico, get ready, the pope is coming. The catholic leader making his first trip. Expected to arrival, actually, just a couple of hours from now. Crews spent months and months and millions of dollars building this altar in an outdoor venue in Mexico that can hold as many as 700,000 people.

And we now know what killed Whitney Houston. The initial autopsy report lists drowning as the official cause of death, but heart disease and cocaine also played a role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG HARVEY, LOS ANGELES CO. CORONER'S OFFICE: The autopsy results indicated approximately 60 percent narrowing of the artery. So the finding of atherosclerotic heart disease suggests a cardiac event, complicated by the cocaine use.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Houston apparently slipped under water in her hotel bathtub and drowned.

T-Mobile cutting 1,900 jobs across the country as it's trying to slash costs. The cut, they say, will be made as the company is trying to reduce its call centers all the way from 24 to 17. T-Mobile is the fourth largest national cell phone carrier but has been losing customers. A planned merger with AT&T failed to get regulatory approval last year.

And finally, for the folks in Clintonville, Wisconsin, they now know what's being causing those mysterious booms around town. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a mini quake registering a tiny 1.5 hit the area. The quake released energy that created those booming sounds people have been hearing. So here's what people in Clintonville now have to say about this result.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA KUSS, CLINTONVILLE CITY ADMINISTRATOR: It appears that at least the mystery is solved. I don't think it means that the work is done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This doesn't happen here. I -- something's wrong and something's amiss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It don't worry me at all. Nope. We're not going to fall in the ocean. We're not going to fall into Lake Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Still bizarre, right?

We still have a lot more to cover for you in the next few hour, including this.

The government could know your private business, keep tabs on you for five years, even if you're not a terror suspect. Is it a big must or big brother? I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Can't pay the mortgage? Listen to Bank of America's new idea. Give us the house and we'll be your landlord. I'll ask economist Ben Stein what he thinks.

Police say a man studied serial killers, even graded their work and then he became one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The breaking point of whether he was fixing to do a mass shooting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Plus, she's married to the man accused of ordering the slaughter of his own people. Now Bashar al-Assad's wife and her luxurious life are in trouble.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were just trying to find out what was going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A reporter's house call takes an unprecedented turn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're leaving. We're leaving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are standing by for a list of formal charges -- formal charges being filed today against Staff Sergeant Robert Bales for that massacre in Afghanistan. We believe those charges are coming down today because that is what we're hearing in this senior unnamed U.S. official and also from Bales' attorney.

Now, that U.S. official says Bales will face 17 counts on murder for those brutal slayings in an Afghan village. Just think about that for a second. Think about that number 17. Why 17 since up to now the number of dead has been reported as 16? What's changed? And what else might we be learning from this filing expected again any time now.

First, we want to talk with Ted Rowlands. He's standing by live for us at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. That is where Sergeant Bales is being held.

First, Ted, do we know where the charges are actually being filed?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't exactly. We expect that they'll come out of Lewis-McChord, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which is where Bales was stationed. And that is where we're expecting to get word of the charges. And that may be, Brooke, where the proceedings take place. He's being held here in Leavenworth, but it's very unlikely that the actual proceedings will take place here. It will most likely take place at Lewis-McChord.

BALDWIN: Right. We still don't even know that yet.

I want to play a little sound, Ted. This is Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne. He has met with Bales twice this week there at Fort Leavenworth. He says Bales doesn't remember March 11th. At least not the details of the killings. Here's what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HENRY BROWNE, ROBERT BALES' ATTORNEY: He has some memories about what happened before the alleged events and some memories after the alleged events, and some windows here and there into things. But he really doesn't have any memory of -- and my meetings with him clearly indicates to me that he's got memory problems that go back long before that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So beyond memory problems, Ted, he also described Bales as being in a state of shock. You know, you're at Fort Leavenworth. Do we know whether Bales is under medical supervision there? Do we know who even makes that call?

ROWLANDS: Well, we've been told that he is not. And he's not being medically evaluated at the behest of John Henry Browne. He says he doesn't want any psych evaluations going on just yet. And so what we're being told from the folks here at the post is that he is being treated like any other prisoner at this point and that he is going through the daily routine of any other prisoner with chores, et cetera, et cetera. He did meet with Browne for a couple of days earlier this week. But, otherwise, they claim here at the post that he's being treated as normal.

BALDWIN: OK. And presumably we mention those 17 counts of murder. Do you have any guidance, Ted, as to when that may be happening? Or we'll just take it when we get it?

ROWLANDS: Well, yes, we don't know specifically, but there are indications that it's coming sooner than later because we are getting some word that we're going to get a statement out of John Henry Browne possibly within the next few hours. So likely he has said that he would wait on a statement until the charges were official. So, stay tuned.

BALDWIN: OK.

ROWLANDS: We do believe they'll be coming down in the next couple hours.

BALDWIN: OK. We will indeed stay tuned. Ted Rowlands for us in Kansas.

Ted, thank you.

As we await those charges and we take this over to the Pentagon, let's go to Chris Lawrence.

As we mentioned, you know, what we're hearing, he will be facing -- Sergeant Bales will be facing those 17 counts of murder. Have you been asking your sources why 17 counts? Because when you look at the number of dead, Chris, it's been reported as 16.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that was the first question that really jumped out at us, Brooke. We have been asking our source, but so far no definitive calls, although we have been able to rule out a few things.

First of all, a senior defense official confirming to us that none of the wounded that had been being cared for by the U.S. military have died. In other words, you know, there was no person wounded in the shooting who later passed away to add to that count. So we can rule that out.

There's been a lot of speculation that perhaps this was a pregnant woman, in the late stages of pregnancy, who was one of the victims. But that's not very likely either, because that would be the U.S. military, you know, making a statement on when life begins and that gets into all sorts of complications.

So it's still unclear exactly where this 17 came from. It may simply be that the military never had a definitive count of 16 starting out and that the investigation led them to conclude initially that that it's now 17 victims.

BALDWIN: I see. Let me ask you also, we were talking -- I was talking to Ted Rowlands about, you know, Sergeant Bales attorney, John Henry Browne, you know, also asking, where's the evidence? Where's the evidence against his client? Here's what he's saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWNE: You know, I'm a criminal defense lawyer and, you know, my first reaction is -- and I don't mean this disrespectfully -- but my first -- my first reaction to all of this is, prove it. This is going to be a very difficult case for the government to prove, in my opinion. There is no crime scene. There is no -- you know, there's no CSI stuff. There's no DNA. There's no fingerprints. It's just going to be interesting to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Interesting to see, he says. You know, prove it. You're at the Pentagon. Are the folks there pushing back against that notion that there's essentially no evidence against Sergeant Bales?

LAWRENCE: Yes, somewhat. I mean he's right in one respect. Difficult case. Yes. But he says there's no crime scene. Well, there is a crime scene where the shooting happened. And there are CSI folks, as he describes them, the Army detectives who went to that crime scene to interview witness, to collect some evidence.

I just spoke with a military JAG official who said, look, some of that evidence may be in the bodies of the wounded. In other words, some of the bullets that were fired may be in some of those wounded victims who are still alive. Possibly some of the bullets may have passed through some of the victims and lodged in the wall. If those bullets were in, you know, sort of good enough shape, they could be possibly matched to a weapon.

He said one thing to really think your eye on is when the accused got back to base. Did they take custody of his weapon and initiate an immediate sort of evidence chain to sort of keep that weapon secure and not have it passed around through several folks. He said that could be a key going forward as well.

BALDWIN: Right. The when -- the weapon and, wow, evidence still could be in some of the wounded. Chris Lawrence, excellent reporting from you. Thank you so much for us at the Pentagon.

Moving on. Powerful memorials for Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Students at multiple high schools in Miami created huge, you can see it, "TM" on multiple football fields this afternoon.

Also today, the president, the president of the United States weighing in on the death of the 17-year-old.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hear what else the president had to say after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Since Florida teen Trayvon Martin was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, I know a lot of parents have been thinking, that could have been my child. And that includes President Obama. He spoke about the 17-year-old shooting victim after a reporter asked about the case today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But obviously this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. And, you know, I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. And that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened.

So I'm glad that not only is the Justice Department looking into it. I understand now that the governor of the state of Florida has formed a task force to investigate what's taking place. I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen. And that means that we examine the laws in the contest for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident.

But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. And, you know, I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, we now know that message was received by Trayvon Martin's parents. They have since responded. Let me just read part of the statement.

Quote, "the president's personal comments touched us deeply and made us wonder, if his son looked like Trayvon and wore a hoodie, would he be suspicious, too?"

You also heard the president, he mention that the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, has now set up this task force and appointed a new state attorney to handle the investigation on the killing, which still the shooter here, George Zimmerman, maintains was in self-defense. But the public continues to show outrage and disbelief and anger when it comes to Zimmerman's story. So students in Miami, for example, where Martin lived, from the initials, here it is, "TM," on their school's football field today. And the online petition for the arrest of Zimmerman has been gathering as many as 1,000 signatures a minute. This is according to the petition group change.org.

Also, last night, look at this crowd. Look at this. Several thousand gathered in another rally, this is Sanford, demanding an arrest of George Zimmerman. Martin's parents responded to the fact that Sanford's police chief has now temporarily removed himself from his post.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON'S MOTHER: Says the chief has stepped down. It's a temporarily relief. But we need a permanent relief. (INAUDIBLE). We need an arrest.

TRACY MARTIN, TRAYVON'S FATHER: The temporary step down of Bill Lee is nothing. We want an arrest. We want a conviction. And we want him sentence for the murder of my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk more about this with John Zarrella. He's there live for us in Sanford.

And, we know, John, that the city's manager, he held his first of what he says will be daily news conferences yesterday. The news broke about, you know, Chief Bill Lee stepping down temporarily. There was a briefing today. What happened?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at the briefing today, it got a little bit testy there when Mr. Bonaparte, Norton Bonaparte, was asked about the chief. And he said, yes, well, the chief is on paid leave.

And then Bonaparte went on to say, which caught us because really this is the first time that Bonaparte has actually defended Chief Bill Lee, saying, you know what, the problems in this community, the distrust of the police department, predate Chief Lee arriving. Chief Lee only got here 10 months ago. And he said that Chief Lee had done a lot since then to try and fix things with the community. But now, he said, Bonaparte, that they're going to have to start from ground zero once again to rebuild trust with the police department. And, of course, he did say that paid leave thing. And still did not give a clear answer as to what ultimately will happen to Chief Bill Lee.

BALDWIN: OK. What about this new special prosecutor now handling this case. Her name is Angela Corey. What do we know about her?

ZARRELLA: Right. Right. The governor, late yesterday afternoon, early evening, made the announcement that in order to preserve complete transparency here, the state attorney in Seminole County steps aside from this case and he brought in Angela Corey, appointed her, out of Jacksonville, to head the investigation, which will ultimately lead to that grand jury convening on April 10th, I believe it is.

BALDWIN: Tenth.

ZARRELLA: April 10. And Corey's team is already in place, or at least some of them, are already in place here in Sanford, continuing to go over what evidence was gathered and to continue all the groundwork that they need to do before that grand jury convenes. And she actually spoke this morning about her appointment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA COREY, NEW PROSECUTOR ON MARTIN KILLING: We don't worry about backlash from cases. What we worry about is seeking the truth. That's our mission. That's the United States Supreme Court defined mission for prosecutors is to seek the truth. I have the two best lawyers I know of to put on this case that will seek that truth. And then, when it's the appropriate time, we'll be able to give the public details.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: The governor also said yesterday that he was going to form a task force that would begin its work immediately after this investigation is completed. One of the things the task force is going to look at is the stand your ground law.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: In Florida and I think in some 21 other states as well.

ZARRELLA: Correct.

BALDWIN: John Zarrella for us in Sanford. John, I appreciate it. Thank you.

And also join Don Lemon tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. He's going to have this one hour special on the Trayvon Martin killing. So, obviously, as the national outrage is intensifying. One group in particular caught our attention. That being minority mothers. Hear their unique perspective and the advice they're giving their own young children in hopes they don't end up dying young. You're also going to hear from neighbors and friends of both Trayvon and the admitted shooter, George Zimmerman. This is all a CNN NEWSROOM special with Don Lemon. "The Trayvon Martin Killing," tomorrow night, please watch, Saturday, 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Meantime, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, all found in Whitney Houston's system when she died. Coming up next, a medical examiner is going to walk us through what likely happened the day she died.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Cocaine, marijuana, Xanax, a muscle relaxant, even Benadryl. All of that was in Whitney Houston's system the moment her life ended in that Beverly Hills hotel. But of all of those drugs, only the cocaine played a role in her death. This is according to the coroner. The report says Houston had heart disease, which combined with the cocaine led to her slipping under water and accidentally drowning in a bathtub filled with water.

Now, one of the world's absolutely all-time greatest singers undone by an addiction that plagued her for years. And I want to bring in Dr. Vincent Dimaio. He is a medical examiner with all kinds of experience in this particular area.

And, doctor, now that we have this report, if you would, just walk us through exactly is likely happened in her hotel bathroom that day.

DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, MEDICAL EXAMINER: I would be glad to.

The first thing I want to say is, the drowning was really a contributory cause. Really what she died of was the cocaine. The cocaine, in all medical probability, produced a fatal cardiac arrhythmia. That is the heart could no longer propel blood to the organs.

This was -- the impairment to the heart was due to the cocaine working directly on the heart and possibly indirectly on the hardening of the arteries that she had. She had 60 percent narrowing of one of the major vessels. Cocaine causes contraction of the coronary arteries. And this 60 percent could be increased to 70, 80, 90 or 100 percent blockage.

And so this produced an arrhythmia. She went unconscious. Then slipped under the water immediately. Or maybe a little later. But she was dying as she went under the water and the water may have played no role in her death. But cocaine did.

BALDWIN: She was -- she was dying, you're saying, prior to her even potentially slipping under that water. And according to this coroner, she took this cocaine fairly immediately before slipping under water.

How can they even tell that?

DIMAIO: Well, the only thing you can do is look at the cocaine level and then look at the metabolite what it breaks down to. If you have a very high cocaine level and a very low metabolite, that means this is an acute dose because it hasn't had time to break down in the body.

But the problem with cocaine is there are no safe levels. If -- you could have a level on Monday and be high on Tuesday, be dead, same level.

BALDWIN: What is it do to your heart specifically do, Doctor, and especially repeated use of cocaine?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Repeated use of cocaine can cause scarring of the heart, enlargement of the heart and also development of hardening of the arteries, which she had. And 60 percent of a woman of her age is unusual.

The cocaine also directly acts on the heart muscle to kill the heart muscles by interfering with their exchange of nutrients. It also works to cause spasm of these vessels so the flood with not go through and you can get a heart attack.

There are cases of 4-year-old children who have taken cocaine having heart attacks because of the constriction of these blood vessels.

BALDWIN: So, Dr. Dimaio, let me just ask you, if Whitney Houston had stayed off cocaine, would her heart condition have been manageable?

DIMAIO: You know, she had a bad heart, but she wouldn't have -- but with regular medical attention, care of her doctor, yes. There's no reason she should have died of heart disease as best I can tell.

You know, I don't have the whole autopsy, but you know, people are walking around with hardening of the arteries all the time. You know, if they get real bad, they put stents or they do coronary bypass and you live.

But you take cocaine, you're in big trouble. Cocaine is cardiac toxic. It works damage to the heart and can kill you.

BALDWIN: So, so tragic. Dr. Vincent Dimaio, thank you. Thank you so much.

Coming up, a man threatens a reporter with a gun. The whole thing caught on camera, the video and the story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, as predicted, we do have some news here in the case of Sergeant Robert Bales. He is the man, the member of the military who is over in Panjwai District of Kandahar in Afghanistan. He was accused of killing those 17 Afghans in a village.

Let me just read to you. This is from Chris Lawrence who's with us from the Pentagon from U.S. forces Afghanistan now. We are learning the charges allege that on or about March 11th, Bales did with pre-meditation murder 17 Afghan civilians.

And assaulted and attempted to murder six other civilians. Let me skip the head here. Let me read this to you, under the UCMJ, which is by the way is, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the maximum possible punishment for a premeditated murder conviction is a dishonorable discharge from the Armed Forces, reduction to the lowest enlisted grade, total forfeiture of pay, allowances and death with a mandatory sentence of imprisonment for life with eligibility of parole.

Again, this is all happening back on a Sunday on March 11 in Afghanistan. We know his wife and two small children are now being protected, held back at his home base at joint base Lewis-McChord.

Do we have -- we have Chris. Chris, let me go to you here at the Pentagon. You've read through this. You're the one who passes along to us here. Seventeen, 17 charges, what do you read from this?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the thing that jumps out there was a little confusion over the past day about the number 17. This clearly says that it was 17 Afghan civilians.

So I think that now that clarifies that perhaps there was maybe just some initial confusion about how many victims were in the villages. But it sort of removes the possibility that someone else at some point perhaps near the base or on the base may have been killed.

This all involved the Afghan civilians and I think the other things are the attempted murder charges. In speaking with some of the folks who have knowledge in this case, one of the things they talk about even in military law is the fact that the prosecutor will always try to sort of stack the case.

In other words, if prosecutors are not able to prove premeditated murder, and there are some certain challenges to these prosecutors to do so. You want to have other charges that may be more provable so that the person doesn't completely walk if you aren't able to prove your primary charges.

BALDWIN: Chris Lawrence, that's right. It says with premeditation, murdered 17 and attempted to murder six other civilians at or near this area of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan.

Chris Lawrence, my thanks to you. We're going to have a lot more on this as far as what's next legally, where does the story go from here. Again, he's being held at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, met with his lawyer twice who this week has said, quite honestly, he doesn't remember the specifics of that night back on March 11th.

Meantime, let me move to this next story comes from Arkansas. I want you to see it because it shows a man getting riled up and making a choice to pull a gun.

In this case, the man in question was talking to a reporter and a photographer when he decides he's had enough. So with the camera roll, we're just going to show it to you. This is a story from our Arkansas affiliate, WREG.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This joiner Arkansas home is where Wilton Goodall lived before his death February 21st. His three caretakers including his own son have been arrested in death case accused of abusing the elderly man. We went to the home to see if other family was around. That's when an angry friend confronted us.

(on camera): OK, we were just trying to find out what was going on. We weren't going to do no harm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to leave right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just trying to find out what was going on. That's all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the camera away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't touch the camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're leaving. We're leaving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): It was clear he had a gun and was threatening. We moved back to our station vehicle and he sped away. We called the sheriff's department showing them the video of what happened and pressing charges.

It turns out the man with the gun is Brandon Odom, a friend of the Wilton Goodall's son. Officers say the three in jail admitted giving the elderly Goodall sleeping pills that knocked him out for days.

Authorities are also looking into some $108,000 stolen from him and reports he had been beaten and left without food before he died. But apparently Brandon Odom didn't want any of that told and he used a gun to show it.

CAPTAIN LARRY ROBINSON, MISSISSIPPI CO., ARKANSAS SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: What I viewed on your camera is aggravated assault, which is a class D felony.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: That was April Thompson of our Arkansas affiliate WREG with that one. By the way, the man with the gun has been arrested. He faces aggravated assault charges.

Coming up, more help. I know many of you homeowners who have been foreclosed upon, and perhaps fear that could be happening to you soon, Bank of America is going to let you rent your home to them instead of kicking you out. Ben Stein, our friend and economist, h has some thoughts, surprise, surprise. He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Bank of America's announcement that it will be testing this alternative to foreclosure definitely caught our attention. So here's the deal. The bank's alternative allows people to stay in the home and rent it from the bank.

So the bank would retain ownership of the house with the troubled homeowner losing all claims to the property. Basically, the bank becomes your landlord, but there is a time limit.

After three years, the deal is up. Bank of America says the rent it will charged will be less than the monthly mortgage the homeowners are currently unable to meet.

So we wondered, is this a good deal or is there a catch? So we ask our friend and economist, Ben Stein to join us. So this whole mortgage to lease program. Ben Stein, I hear you love it. Why?

BEN STEIN, ECONOMIST AND AUTHOR: I think it's a great idea because it allows the homeowner to keep his or her dignity. That is the main thing you lose when you lose your house. The house is just bricks and mortar and glass.

But if you lose your dignity, if your neighbors see you packing up and you have to tell them you're in foreclosure, I think there shouldn't be any lack of dignity in that because it's happening to everybody.

But now you can just stay in your house. I'm questioning how the banks are going to treat that as an accounting manner. If they can solve that problem, I think it's a great nationwide approach to the foreclosure crisis.

BALDWIN: But so if my toilet stops working do I call up Bank of America and say can you come to my house?

STEIN: Yes, you do. They are your landlord. If your toilet gets clogged up, if your roof is leaking, if your hot water is not working, they'll give you a number. If they're the landlord, they'll give you a number.

They'll send somebody over to fix it. As I say, I think the main casualty of money worries and money problems is your dignity and your peace of mind. This allows you to keep it. What would be even better is if they would allow you to look around and see if you can step back into buying it again.

BALDWIN: Which could be a possibility, again, let me clear, this is a pilot program. It's only available to 1,000 homeowners, Arizona, Nevada and New York. You're selected by the bank.

But what about all the other Americans in the country obviously still very much struggling to make that mortgage payment every month, maybe contemplating foreclosure, what would Ben Stein do?

STEIN: Well, Ben Stein thinks that the housing market is going to revive soon. Ben Stein sees a lot of positive signs although the signs this month are a little bit disheartening, that fluctuates from month to month.

But I think the long-term trend is up for housing. If you can hang on a little bit longer, I think you will probably not regret it, but I could be wrong. But this program should be adopted by all the banks who are holding ton under water mortgages.

It's a great, great, great idea. And it is finally the banks doing something to award some measure of dignity to their customers.

BALDWIN: So this doesn't worry you at all. I mean, all the conversations we had about our nation's banks. Are they too big to fail and giving so much power to the banks, this doesn't worry you, this arena?

STEIN: Doesn't worry me at all. I think too big to fail is a perfectly good doctrine. I think bailouts are much, much better than a great depression. And I love the idea of a bank going to its borrower and saying look, you're not a number to us, you are a human being, you have a family. Let's see if we can work this out so everyone walks away with a maximum of head held high and feeling good about himself or herself.

BALDWIN: What about the people, though, who are watching and they feel pretty good about himself or herself because you know, look, they're able to make ends meet. It's a struggle, but they're staying current on their loans.

But it's tough. You know, no -- no buts about that. But they're not getting breaks and they're thinking hang on a second, the banks are getting help for the folks who can't make ends meet, but look at me, I mean, I'm successful, can I get any help? STEIN: But that person is going to get to keep his or her house and when the market rebounds, that person is going to make money and that person is going to be happy and that person is going to have that house and be able to call it his own or her own and leave it to their children or grand children.

And that's a very good way to feel. I have a friend who thinks that people should be given metals now days every time they make a mortgage payment. Maybe they should. But I'm not concerned about the ones who can make the payments, the ones who can't go through agony.

I'm 67. For the first time in my life in this recession, I've had many close friends lose their houses. It's agony for them. If they could have stayed in and rented, they would have done it. I really applaud Bank of America for doing this.

BALDWIN: OK, so you say if you can make ends meet, forget the medals, you have your dignity and that's the most important part.

STEIN: You have your dignity. If you can make ends meet, you're all set. I mean, in today's economy, people who can make ends meet are a rare breed and God bless them. They should be very happy with themselves every day.

BALDWIN: Ben Stein, always appreciate having you on. Thank you, sir. Have a great weekend.

STEIN: An honor, I assure you.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Coming up here, we are going to go back to the story out of Florida, the teen, Trayvon Martin, you know the story. He was shot and killed by the neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman who says he was acting that night in self-defense.

Coming up next, we're going to take a closer look at Zimmerman's life. We have some new details. His past. Don't miss this that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: More than half a million people say George Zimmerman should be arrested, should be arrested now. That's the latest number of signatures on this online petition about the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

An unarmed 17-year-old Zimmerman shot and killed a month ago he says in self-defense. Now today, Sanford city manage said police know how to get a hold of Zimmerman and aren't providing any additional security for him.

CNN's John Zarrella has a profile here of the man who's now the target of mass outrage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George Michael Zimmerman, 28 years old. Until a month ago, he was his neighbor, Frank Taaffe says just a guy who cared.

FRANK TAAFFE, NEIGHBOR: George was a caring, passion -- he had a passion for the safety of our neighborhood and he demonstrated to the rest of us that one person could make a difference. He was an average guy just like me.

ZARRELLA: We know him only from what people say of him. From the couple of pictures there are of him and from his voice on the 911 calls he made February 26, the night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin.

ZIMMERMAN: This guy looks like he's up to go good or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's sort of walking around looking about.

ZARRELLA: Zimmerman says the shooting was self defense. He has not been charged with a crime. What we've been able to piece together about George Zimmerman's life, you might say is a contradiction.

In 2005, he's arrested for resisting a police officer without violence after an incident at a local bar. He pleads not guilty, but later re-enters a six-month pre-trial diversion program as part of a plea deal.

As this document shows, it's extended two months because, quote, "My program participation has not been satisfactory." Later that year, Zimmerman and his ex-fiancee both file for protection against domestic violence after each alleged there was pushing and hitting.

None of this sounds like the Boy George and Kay Hall knew. Zimmerman was an altar boy in the Catholic Church. He didn't move to Florida until after he graduated from high school in Manassas, Virginia in this house across the street from all.

KAY HALL, FORMER NEIGHBOR: They were a tight knit family, very good with their children were very well behaved. They weren't -- they didn't run around or move or anything. They were faithful. They were active in the Catholic Church.

ZARRELLA: And this is the George Zimmerman, the just a guy side, the man trying to make something of his life. The side George Hall knew. Zimmerman was a part-time student at Seminole State College, studying general education.

But today the college withdrew him for safety reasons. He's worked various odd jobs, security for a home party company and for a time around 2008, he worked at Carmax.

(on camera): That same year, Zimmerman applied for and was accepted into a citizens outreach program run by the sheriff's department, which introduces participants to law enforcement procedures.

(voice-over): Before he's accepted, Zimmerman has to explain his 2005 arrest. He writes in part, quote, "I hold law enforcement officers in the highest regard, as I hope to one day become one," end quote.

In fact, a couple of years ago, Zimmerman called his old neighbor, George Hall, asking for a letter of recommendation for a law enforcement application.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing but the strongest positive feelings for the whole family, including the boys.

ZARRELLA: We don't know what happened to the application, but when he volunteered for and became the neighborhood watch captain a coup of years ago it may have been George Zimmerman's way of walking a beat. John Zarrella, CNN, Sanford, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: John Zarrella, thank you.

Meantime, the man accused of hacking into the e-mails of actresses, Scarlet Johansen and Mila Kunis expected to plead guilty. He was able to hack into the e-mails of some 50 other celebrities. Find out what other the accounts he got into next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Trending today, the hacker of Scarlet Johansen and Mila Kunis's e-mail accounts expected to plead guilty as charged on Monday. This is according to Reuters. Nude photos of the stars eventually leaked online after this guy got access of accounts of more than 50 people in the entertainment industry.

Singer and star of the TV show, "The Voice," Christina Aguilera was also hacked. Here's the man. His name is Christopher Cheney. He said he looked at the pictures, but never linked them online though he did apologize while on camera with our affiliate WAWS last October. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I deeply apologize. I know what I did was probably one of the worst invasions of privacy, you know, someone could experience. I'm not trying to escape what I did. I know what I did. It's wrong and I just have to deal with that and go forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now Cheney faces up to 60 years behind bars.