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New Developments in Trayvon Martin Case; North Korea Threatens Nuclear Test; Suspects Charged in Oklahoma Shooting; Navy to Give Compensation for Plane Crash Damage; Pressure on Santorum to Bow Out

Aired April 09, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's officially the top of the hour. I'm Ashleigh Banfield sitting in for Brooke Baldwin today.

And a big announcement in the Trayvon Martin murder case, or death case, I should say. Two men accused of shooting black people at random appear in court today as well. And North Korea is threatening a nuclear test.

It's time to play "Reporter Roulette."

We begin with David Mattingly in Sanford, Florida, where there are new developments in the Trayvon Martin shooting case.

David, some news from the Florida state attorney Angela Corey's office and it's significant.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Angela Corey all along has had three options in front of her. One was to arrest and prosecute George Zimmerman, one was to drop the case completely and the other was to go to the grand jury.

Now she says she's not going to be taking this case to a grand jury, taking one of those three options off the table. This isn't that big of a surprise. She indicated that she never had a case like this before that she actually did come to a grand jury with. Today shouldn't come as a surprise to very many people who have been watching this case all along.

It does not, however, provide any answers and the press release from her office was very specific. Don't read anything into this that would tell you one way or the other what her office has decided to do. But one thing is clear at this point is that the special prosecutor in this case will now decide whether or not George Zimmerman will be arrested and not the grand jury.

We reached out to the attorney Benjamin Crump who is representing the family of Trayvon Martin. He said they want to see an arrest made here in this case. But today's words that they believe were encouraging. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF TRAYVON MARTIN: We're praying that an arrest is imminent. Ms. Corey has a track record for being a very good prosecutor. We hope after an arrest is made, that it is a very public trial so everybody can see that all the evidence is presented and is presented in a proper way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Today's word that there will be no grand jury was also encouraging to the demonstrators we saw here at the Sanford police station, the building right here behind me.

These were students who marched up over the weekend, over 40 miles to get here today to block the entrance of the police station. They did so today. The police knew they were coming and the police actually shut down operations completely today so there was no confrontation, no arrests were made today. They blocked the doors for about four hours and had a media press conference afterwards saying they felt good about the message they got across.

But everyone today who is supporting the case for Trayvon Martin and supporting his family feels encouraged by the fact that this is not going to a grand jury -- Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: What about George Zimmerman and his two attorneys who have been making the rounds and speaking publicly the last few days? Have they said anything about this?

MATTINGLY: They were actually up in New York when this announcement came back down. They were back on their way to Orlando after they heard about it.

We reached out to Hal Uhrig, who is the lead attorney now representing George Zimmerman and he told us they're not surprised. They don't know what the special prosecutor's final decision will be, but their opinion was it was courageous for her to take on the responsibility to make this decision. So positive comments from both sides at this point about this decision not to go to a grand jury.

BANFIELD: Case not over yet. David Mattingly, thank you for that live from Sanford.

Want to take you to Tulsa, Oklahoma, now, where two white men have been charged in connection with a brutal shooting spree. They face three counts of murder and shooting with intent to kill. Both suspects white, three men they're accused of killing all black.

Here's Jason Carroll from Tulsa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, England and Watts weren't not physically in the courtroom for the proceeding. They appeared via video from jail.

They face charges of first-degree murder as well as shooting with the intent to kill and the question is, will they also face charges dealing with hate crimes? This is just one of the things that investigators will be looking at as they put together their case. One are they will be looking very closely at is England's Facebook page. You know the history on some of this, Ashleigh. England apparently never got over the death of his father. He was killed two years ago, April 5, 2010. He was killed by an African- American man.

England wrote about that on his Facebook page. He used a racial slur. He also wrote something to the effect basically saying, get ready for more funerals. Again police will be looking at this very closely in terms of trying to determine whether or not he and his counterpart should face hate crime charges but in the eyes of one city councilman, the evidence is already very clear.

JACK HENDERSON, TULSA CITY COUNCILMAN: I think I know pretty much a hate crime when I see it. You have an individual who is a white male going into a predominantly black community, shoot at five black people and with the other evidence of the online stuff and some of the things that were said leads me to believe that was totally a hate crime.

CARROLL: Ashleigh, ultimately it was be up to the district attorney to decide whether or not hate crime charges are filed.

As for the two suspects, their next court appearance is scheduled for April 16. That's when they will be formally charged and that's when they will enter their pleas -- Ashleigh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Jason Carroll for us, thank you on that.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon on word of a possible North Korean nuclear test, not only that, a rocket launch.

Put them together and a couple of countries are pretty concerned about this, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Ashleigh.

Across Asia, tensions mounting, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines watching. Indications now that North Korea could be preparing for a third underground nuclear test, some evidence of digging tunnels. That would be concerning enough.

But we have all seen the pictures over the weekend now of another test. The North Koreans took reporters to a site in North Korea where they say they are preparing to launch a satellite into space via this rocket. But it's the same technology that's used for long-range missiles that could carry nuclear weapons.

North Korea hasn't mastered that technology yet, but all of this can be stepping-stones to getting there, and that's why everyone is so concerned. The window for that rocket test with the satellite, April 12 to 16.

BANFIELD: All right, Barbara Starr for us. Thank you very much for that.

And still ahead, a witness tells CNN that she saw what happened the night Trayvon Martin was killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really thought it was the boy crying for help, but here's the lead investigator telling me, no, it was Mr. Zimmerman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: But what the witness said may not quite gel with what the police report says. How did Trayvon Martin end up face down on the ground? And did the teenager touch the gun before he died? I'm going to speak live with a forensics expert about what the shooting scene tells us and why some of those details could be the most critical of all next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Today, we're learning that Florida State Attorney Angela Corey will not take the Trayvon Martin case to a grand jury.

Instead, it will up to her and her alone to decide whether to file charges or drop the case. That teenager was shot nearly six weeks ago by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. We still don't have all the details of what happened that night.

We have contradicting stories from both sides that added fuel to a lot of this fire.

Joining me now is Lawrence Kobilinsky who is a forensic scientist.

Larry, I'm really glad you're here. Because I think forensics could end up being the linchpin to this story and I wanted to talk you a little bit about what one with of the witnesses in the case told me just on Friday night. She had a pretty good view about 25 feet away from her window, even though it was very dark, but she seemed fairly certain that the larger gentleman, who she thought was the Hispanic looking gentleman, George Zimmerman, was on top of the boy that she characterized Trayvon Martin and got up and off him after the gunshot rolled out.

Want to see if we have that sound bite. It would be great if you could hear it for yourself. Have a listen, Larry, and we will talk on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Where were you looking at the moment the gun fired?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was looking at the two men on the ground and heard the gunshot.

BANFIELD: Could you tell who was on the top, who was on the bottom?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it was very dark, but I really would have to say that I thought it was the larger person that was on top.

BANFIELD: And when the gunfire went off, what happened to the larger man who you think might have been on the top? What happened at that moment?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I will just say a couple seconds later that larger man was walking closer to where I could see him. BANFIELD: Before those couple of seconds at the moment the gunshot went off, what happened with the larger man?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, obviously the other man -- the boy was dead and the other person got up and was walking away from the body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: All right, so, Larry, from little we know factually that we know of this case, at least we know this. Trayvon Martin's body face down with a gunshot wound to the chest. When you hear that witness saying what she said, does that jibe at all with the evidence we know of so far?

DR. LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, PROFESSOR OF FORENSIC SCIENCE, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Ashleigh, it's very difficult, because, as you know, eyewitness testimony is sometimes very unreliable.

I think we have to take whatever eyewitnesses say and then look at the forensic science and see what's compatible and what's not. This really becomes a ballistics case. We need to know the trajectories here. We need to know -- obvious the autopsy will give us the cause of death, but we need to know more. We need to know the trajectory of the bullet and the we need to know the distance that the muzzle was from the target. Was it a contact shot, was it a close-in shot?

Was it a distance shot? Does the evidence make it appear that a struggle took place? Is there DNA from Trayvon Martin on the gun? Was there a struggle over the gun? There are a lot of things that we don't really know until we have a complete analysis of not just the ballistics, but also the clothing that Trayvon Martin war at the time of the shooting.

BANFIELD: All of those things you just listed out, so few people have been actually talking about that, the DNA that could or may not end up being on that gun.

From what the witness says, if we know there was a struggle and these two were in close proximate contact, Larry, couldn't there be transfer evidence? If Trayvon and George were in a struggle, wouldn't Trayvon's DNA be on that gun if he touched it or not?

KOBILINSKY: I think that's a very good point. I think DNA analysis will show whether or not there's a mixture. Again, we're trying to look at the science and see if it corroborates one side of the story or other. We obviously can't get into the mind of George Zimmerman, but we can look at trajectories and ballistics, look at the clothing, try to determine exactly how Trayvon Martin's body was reversed on the ground and look at the wounds that Mr. Zimmerman apparently received.

So there's a lot of information that we just don't have yet. And I think whether the prosecutor, the special prosecutor will indicate that an arrest should be made or not, I think he will have more facts to go on. It's quite easy -- it's no problem for a prosecutor to say let's move ahead and arrest Mr. Zimmerman, but is there a basis there? Does he have all the facts, does he have all the science? That's a question.

BANFIELD: And not to beat a dead horse, but I keep going back to the witness account of what she thought was the Hispanic looking man, who she called the larger man. George Zimmerman is 5'9'', about 160, 170 pounds. And Trayvon Martin again to the police report is six feet. According to other reports, he may be taller and is approximately 160 as well. So it's a little hard to determine who is the bigger man.

One is taller and one shorter and maybe stockier. But her account is that she saw the Hispanic looking man on top of the boy as she refers to Trayvon. Is it possible in your experience, and I know you have had a lot of forensic experience, to have a victim face down in the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest and then the alleged shooter being on top of him?

KOBILINSKY: Quite honestly, Ashleigh, I think we really have to be careful with these eyewitnesses. It's not clear how much they saw, how much they're reading into this.

They know something about this case and that, you know, they understand who allegedly shot who. I mean, I think that we have to be very careful in paying close attention to what these witnesses claim.

BANFIELD: I have a critical detail that has been either lost in translation, badly reported or just badly bandied about.

There's been a lot of ado made about the weapon in this case never being surrendered, that the Sanford police never took the weapon into custody or put it into evidence. It's just not true. Take the police report, facts of the case, on the fourth page, the Kel-Tec .9 millimeter not only was surrendered at the police station, but it was entered into evidence.

I had that confirmed from George Zimmerman's attorneys as well. What is happening with that gun? What do you expect that investigators are doing with that gun now?

KOBILINSKY: Well, first, Ashleigh, I hope the gun was properly packaged and not contaminated by handlers or crime scene people. That's always a possibility. But what happens to the gun is it goes to a ballistic section. It will be determined whether the gun is fully operational or not. They will do test fires, using the same ammunition and see exactly whether or not that bullet that was retrieved from Mr. Martin was fired out of the same gun.

This is standard operating procedure in ballistics. Then the issue comes about, gunshot residue analysis, who has it, where is it located? Is there signs on the clothing where the bullet penetrated? There's a lot of stuff that has to be done microscopic, chemical analysis.

Ballistics now is much more complex than it used to be. There may be a lot of information coming out of that analysis, provided, of course, that there has not been an extensive contamination of the gun.

BANFIELD: Talking to you just reminds me how little we actually know about these cases when we all wax about who's guilty and who's not guilty. I look forward to our chance to talk about this. Larry, thank you.

KOBILINSKY: It's a pleasure. Thanks, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Always good to talk to Lawrence Kobilinsky.

OK, weirdness. Are you ready? Just into CNN, brand-new never before seen video, Osama bin Laden's widows and his children, video taken inside the home where they were kept under house arrest. One word to describe it, bizarre. And you're going to see it in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So some brand-new video to show you. Bin Laden's wives and children on tape. The widows wear black burqas. They are praying.

A little child plays with a teddy bear in a rocket chair and then you can see another child, this one playing with a plastic bat it seems. This is extraordinarily rare video. And it was taken while bin Laden's wives and children were under house arrest in Pakistan.

They will be flying back to their home countries of Yemen and Saudi Arabia next week. You will remember they were sentenced to a very short stint in jail for not being in the country legally.

(NEWS BREAK)

BANFIELD: Coming up next, speaking of good form, one airline is tilting its flight attendants lose some weight. It will help us save on fuel. I thought I had heard it all.

I'm going to speak live with a current flight attendant. You don't know what she's going to say about this. It's Ryanair and it just opened one big can of worms. Don't miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: OK, trending today, Ryanair, known for being a no- frills airline.

Check out the lengths it says it will go to cut costs, having one lavatory for aircraft, charging to use the toilet. They looked into making stand-up seats to pack people in a little tighter. They asked travelers if they would up support charging overweight passengers known as a fat tax.

They're also telling overweight flight crew members to slim down in order to fly lighter and help them save money on fuel costs for the company. And if they do, it possible may be featured in a racy cabin crew calendar.

I'm not making this stuff up. We reached out to a Ryanair for comment. In an interview with CNN International, a Ryanair spokesman explains how they arrive at the issue of weight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We serve less air. The carpets are lighter, the seats are lighter. We were considering getting rid of arm rests, that type of thing. Then it came on to the debate about passengers and passenger weight.

And while there is absolutely no way to control passenger weight, we obvious got on to the debate on our cabin crew. And with cabin crew, of course have to be fit. Plus, their weight really isn't that much of a consequence on the overall weight of the aircraft.

The headline said we were absolutely demanding our crew go on diets. That simply is not the case. But our crew do have to stay fit obviously for their duties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Fit for their duties. That is another issue altogether.

Joining us to talk about this is Rene Foss, who is the author of the book on your screen appropriately titled "Around the World in a Bad Mood! Confessions of a Flight Attendant."

I love you already. You had me at hello, Rene. When I heard this story, at first I thought it was a joke.

RENE FOSS, AUTHOR: I did, too.

BANFIELD: It's not a joke.

FOSS: I can't believe. I can't believe it's real.

I mean, I don't know what the laws in Ireland are, but I know that here in the United States...

BANFIELD: That wouldn't fly, pardon is the pun, would it?

FOSS: No, and I would like to weigh in about this topic.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: ... all weekend.

FOSS: Yes.

BANFIELD: Seriously, if you took off a couple of pounds and there's two or three flight attendants per flight, what difference is that going to make?

FOSS: Right. I don't think it will make a lot of difference.

And you know what I think, too? What about the pilots?

BANFIELD: Amen to that.

FOSS: OK? In the piece I read, it was female flight attendants because they want to be in the calendar.

To me, it sort of is a little bit discriminatory. And I think it goes back to something in our country when it used to be the rule in the 1950s. You had to be a certain weight if you wanted to be a flight attendant or a stewardess, as they were called.

BANFIELD: Stews, yes.

FOSS: Stews, yes. You had to a certain weight. And if you weren't -- if you were above that weight, they would ground you without pay until you lost the weight. We don't want to go back there.

BANFIELD: When did that change?

FOSS: I believe that changed in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act.

BANFIELD: Civil rights, sure, sure.

FOSS: You couldn't be married. You couldn't be pregnant. You couldn't be a certain age. All these things -- we -- so many people fought for those things, and I think the people in Ireland would honor those things.

BANFIELD: You would think. You would think. So Civil Rights Act alone, if other countries that have their airlines don't have such protections in their government, they -- some of them do have unions. Would this be the kind of thing that could get past a union?

FOSS: I would say it would not get past a union. I guess what it's going to go beyond is also going to be the passengers, because if you're really trying to lessen -- you know, lighten the load to reduce -- (CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: There's are a lot more passengers in the cabin than there are flight attendants. Right?

FOSS: We've got luggage, we've got cargo, we've got passengers, we've got crew members, we've got ship's equipment, you know, like ovens, seats. So they sort of talk a little bit about --

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: I got all ornery when I started to hear that the airlines wanted to charge me to carry my own bag, because it's me doing the work. OK? Heavy for me to carry on. But then I get it, I mean, this might be a way -- I do that so I don't wait at the baggage carousel. I'm a big --

FOSS: You're on the go.

BANFIELD: Well, I'm a glutton for space in the overhead. So I get it if they want to charge me. I'm asking for extra special attention and care. And they're saying it costs you. Wouldn't that be sort of a better way to go to say, we're going to charge you for your bag weight, not necessarily that you have a bag. But if you go over in weight, you take the passengers there.

FOSS: Right. That's good. And beyond that, if you're in a business where your raw material, where the cost of your raw material goes up. Let's say you're a baker and the price of flour goes up. You have to charge more for the bread. So if you're in the airline business and fuel goes up, you might have to charge more for the tickets.

BANFIELD: Do you think this is a PR move?

FOSS: I do.

BANFIELD: You do?

FOSS: Yes. I hope so. I think it should be. And I don't -- I don't even know that it's really a good PR -- BANFIELD: (Inaudible) -- (inaudible) called you and he said, "P.S., I weigh 125 pounds and I'm 5'5"." You are adorable for offering that up, can I just say --

FOSS: Well, you know what, because I'm going to tell you something, it's -- you know, what if they told -- somebody that's 125 pounds you have got to lose 10 pounds? I couldn't do it, you know.

BANFIELD: Go have a Big Mac. You could stand it.

FOSS: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

FOSS: Thank you very much. BANFIELD: Nice to have you here.

FOSS: My pleasure.

BANFIELD: (Inaudible). Again, the book is called "around the world in a bad mood." I think I've been there. I may have been on your flight. I'm not allowed to say, by the way, what airline she works for.

FOSS: That's top secret.

BANFIELD: That's the rule here, folks. I'm not allowed to say so. So don't tweet, don't ask. And don't --

FOSS: Just buy the book. Buy the book.

BANFIELD: Well, look at her. There she goes. You're good at that. Speaking of PR. Thanks, Rene.

FOSS: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Good to see you -- 32 minutes now past the hour.

And still ahead, a mom loses her infant while sleeping with the baby in her bed. It happens, but just a year later, she loses her second newborn the exact same way. In case you missed it, two babies dead, two years, the exact same cause. And now it's in the hands of a jury. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: One woman says playing video games for an hour each day will change your life. How does she know? She designs them. Here's a preview of CNN's "NEXT LIST."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My process for making a game usually starts with a problem. Someone has a problem, either I have a problem or somebody out in the world has a problem. (Inaudible) was designed as a crash course in changing the world.

It was a 10-week game you would play, and we aimed first at young people in sub-Saharan Africa, although we wound up inviting the whole world to play. You would play it, you would learn about social enterprise, so how to start your own business that could not only make a sustainable profit, but also tackle a social issue, like clean water or clean energy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think this is Jane's greatest genius and contribution is that she is reframing the whole conversation about gaming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: All right. This one is a really big talker. Should babies sleep with their parents in a normal-sized bed? Lots of people do it, but experts often advise against it. And one woman did not heed that advice.

Let me set it up for you. A mom loses her newborn son to a co- sleeping situation. And the very next year, she loses another newborn in the exact same way. And now, a jury has just convicted her. Listen to the story from our affiliate KTRE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vanessa Clark burst into tears as a guilty verdict was read aloud. Angelino County jurors decided she endangered her newborn son by putting him to sleep in the same bed as her and her-then husband, Mark Clark.

DALE SUMMA, PROSECUTOR: Evidence convinced them beyond a reasonable doubt that Vanessa Clark either recklessly or with criminal negligence engaged in conduct that placed a child in imminent danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutor Dale Summa believes two-month- old Tristan may still be alive if the Clarks had learned from another tragedy. The prosecution argued that Clark was reckless to even allow Tristan to sleep in the bed after the death of another infant. Another son died under similar circumstances less than a year before.

SUMMA: A very hard position to say she wasn't aware of the risks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Clark's legal team argued there is no law stopping patients from sleeping alongside their children, and that she was only trying to follow parenting guidelines from CPS after the previous death.

After seven hours of deliberation, a jury determined Vanessa and Mark Clark's bed was a dangerous place for Tristan. The state's case compared Clark to the decisions of a drunk driver.

SUMMA: You have a one-car accident, one or more of the family members are dead. Yes, there's grief. They regret it, but they still violated her law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And her punishment for bad parenting could carry a 20-year prison sentence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: In case you're wondering, the autopsies determined that there was nothing unusual in both of those deaths.

And still ahead, a man is accused of killing Jennifer Hudson's family in cold blood. And today, his trial gets under way.

Plus, police arrest a woman for allegedly stalking actor Alec Baldwin, but the suspect is not a stranger to Mr. Baldwin. Wait till you hear what their connection is and why it matters -- coming up, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A woman has been arrested and charged with stalking actor Alec Baldwin. She is in jail now in New York. She's Canadian, and she worked as a publicist on one of Baldwin's movies. But it was years and years ago. Baldwin's camp is telling CNN that, quote, "Stalking is a serious issue," and they turned the matter over to the NYPD.

Also making news, actress Jennifer Hudson is going to play a part in a very high-profile murder trial. Jury selection is now under way for William Balfour. He's charged with killing Hudson's mother, her brother and her 7-year-old nephew. This all happened three years ago. It was very highly publicized.

Balfour is the estranged husband of Jennifer's sister, Julia. He's denying these charges. His lawyers say there's no forensic evidence to link him to the killings. But is that really the case?

Sunny Hostin is on the case. And, Sunny, obviously a defense attorney will say everything they can say to bolster their case. But what do the prosecutors have in terms of forensics on this case?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we haven't seen their entire case yet, of course, but they feel pretty confident, I'm told, that they have a pretty strong case. They even found gun residue on his car. And we know they found a gun that was used in the commission of these crimes. So the prosecutors feel pretty comfortable with their case.

And remember, this made headlines nationally because not only were three people murdered, those three people were family members of Jennifer Hudson. So you've got to figure out that this prosecution team, in a case with this much media coverage, is going to be very, very careful and thorough in its investigation.

BANFIELD: And it was just a year after she had won her Oscar and was just catapulted into stardom. So that does bring up the big issue of celebrity. In every one of these celebrity cases, and you and I have done enough voir dire that we know big questions about what do you know about Jennifer Hudson, O.J. Simpson, Casey Anthony --

HOSTIN: That's right.

BANFIELD: -- Robert Blake.

HOSTIN: And it's something in L.A. courtrooms, jurors are perhaps used to. But this is in Chicago. And what's so fascinating to me is last week, about 150 potential jurors filled out questionnaires. Get this, Ashleigh, nine of the 66 questions for that jury questionnaire dealt with Hudson's career. They wanted to know if many of the jurors saw "Dreamgirls."

Interestingly enough, they wanted to know if any of the jurors belonged to an organization for which Hudson is a spokesperson, arguably Weight Watchers. Who isn't on Weight Watchers? Who hasn't heard of Jennifer Hudson?

So it's sort of the big elephant in the room. Can, I guess, this prosecution team and defense team, can they find 12 jurors that can just listen to the evidence and not become starstruck?

BANFIELD: OK, and stop right there, because I think a lot of people, when we talk about trying to pick a jury, they get hung up on, well, everybody knows Jennifer. How could they possibly find a jury? And that's not the standard to find a jury. You can get a juror who knows and loves Jennifer Hudson.

HOSTIN: That's right. The standard is whether or not they can be fair and impartial. Can they listen to the evidence? And I've got to tell you, having picked a lot of juries, I wouldn't want a juror that didn't know Jennifer Hudson.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: -- that's living under a rock. You want someone that's in touch with pop culture, in touch with the news. And I think they can find 12 people that may adore Jennifer Hudson, but then can still listen to the evidence and be fair.

BANFIELD: Couple seconds left, but she's going to be sitting in that courtroom.

HOSTIN: She has said through a spokesperson that she's going to be there each and every day.

BANFIELD: And testifying.

HOSTIN: And -- well, she's on the witness list. So she may very well testify. So all the more important that these jurors are fair and impartial and won't be starstruck by Jennifer Hudson. And she is a big star.

Well, we've had big defendants that have been stars, too. O.J. Simpson (inaudible) named a couple of them. And they have to stare them down for the number of weeks that the case takes -- this is a while. This case is going to take a while, right?

HOSTIN: It's supposed to -- opening statements are April 23rd. It's got to take a while. We're talking about three victims, Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew.

BANFIELD: And separate crime scenes.

HOSTIN: And separate crime scenes. So this is going to be a long drawn-out case.

BANFIELD: Oh, it's such a sad story and she's such a lovely girl.

HOSTIN: Lovely.

BANFIELD: Lovely. All right. Sunny, thank you. HOSTIN: Thanks, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Really like talking to you.

All right. So still ahead, the Navy announces what it's going to be doing for many of the people who were involved in this. Look at this. Look at your screen, look at those pictures. Imagine that in your backyard. It's an F-18 on fire. And those are their homes. On fire. The Navy step into it fast. We'll let you know what they're doing for all the people who live there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Last Friday at this time we were bringing you live coverage of that fighter plane crash in Virginia Beach, Virginia. And since then, we have taken in some incredible video. Take a look at your screen.

What you're looking at there is the tail end of that F-18 fighter jet and this video was shot just moments after that crash on Friday. Five apartment buildings were damaged. And the seven people injured include of two of the members of the airplane's flight crew. Take a listen to this witness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT KAVANAUGH, F-18 CRASH EYEWITNESS: I looked out, I saw a pilot laying there, bleeding from the nose and his parachute hanging from the building and I knew exactly what happened, a jet had crashed, I just didn't know where, until I saw the smoke. He apologized sincerely for hitting our complex, and I told him, "Don't worry about it."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, the Navy's doing right by those people. Says it's going to pay compensation to all the people affected by the crash. And those first checks, believe it or not -- just a couple days now? They're going out today.

"THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer coming up in just a couple of minutes, and the man himself, Wolf Blitzer, joining me live with a preview. Lots on that campaign trail or is it kind of quiet?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: No, there's always something going on. And a lot of people are look, Ashleigh -- I know you've been looking at this yourself and a lot of us political news junkies are looking at the enormous pressure on Rick Santorum to drop out of this race before the Pennsylvania primary on April 24th.

Mitt Romney, you know, he's threatening to spend probably $3 million between his own campaign organization and the super PAC that supports him, to try crush Santorum in his home state. And lot of Santorum supporters are suggesting maybe it would be more dignified for him to drop out before Pennsylvania, especially if you were going to lose in Pennsylvania. The counter argument, of course, is if he wins in Pennsylvania, he's got some momentum, and May is a much more hopeful month for Santorum, with Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, a whole bunch of states where he could potentially do well, try to revive his campaign.

We're taking a closer look at that. Ron Brownstein will join us, David Gergen will join us and then we have a lot coming up on North Korea and this rocket launch that they're getting ready to do over the next few days.

We'll have our own Stan Grant, who's in North Korea. And I'll speak with former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson. I went to North Korea with him back in December of 2010. So we'll assess what's going on. There's always a lot of news, no matter what they say, as you well know.

BANFIELD: Yes, I remember seeing you do your report from North Korea, I was very jealous that you got that assignment, my friend. And by the way --

BLITZER: It was a real -- it was a real good assignment.

BANFIELD: Oh, no kidding. I bet that's up on your office wall, the photo.

Just quickly, Rick Santorum's little daughter, Bella, is out of the hospital. Do we know if she's OK? Do we know the story?

BLITZER: I hope she's OK. And he says he's going to go back on the campaign trail tomorrow. I assume if she's out of the hospital and back home, she's doing fine. Let's hope and pray that she's all right and this enables rick Santorum to get a -- he's got to make a major decision. It's not easy, you know. He's done incredibly well.

A lot of us thought he wasn't going anywhere before Iowa, and look how well he's done, you know, first runner up for the Republican presidential nomination is nothing to sneeze at. And if he plays his cards right, potentially, at least, the supporters say he could have a good shot in 2016. He's only in his mid 50s, so he's got a long way to go.

BANFIELD: All right. And we wish him well. Gee, this is the second time that that little one's been in the hospital during this campaign, and that's really stressful on that family.

BLITZER: Yes.

BANFIELD: Wolf, look forward to your show. Sounds like you got some real smart voices coming up. Great, thanks.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Thank you.

All right, so it is a mystery that is really baffling doctors, no one can seem to figure out what causes autism. And yet more and more kids, almost exponentially, are diagnosed. Now we have a new study. And here's something strange. It may have a lot to do with a mother's weight. We'll let you know about that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Autism could be linked to a mother's weight. A new study from UC Davis finding that obese moms-to-be are 67 percent more likely to have a child with autism. It doesn't mean that obesity causes autism. But the study is interesting, and it does suggest there's a risk factor. Irva Hertz-Picciotto is the senior -- is the study's senior author and she joins me now live.

This was very troubling, I have to say right off the bat, Irva, because a lot of people. while they may children who aren't on the spectrum, they do have developmental delays. And there's something in the study that actually incorporates them as well. Tell me a little bit about why is it that weight has anything to do with autism or developmental delays.

IRVA HERTZ-PICCIOTTO, UC DAVIS CHILDREN'S CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH: Sure, thanks for having me. Well, we took a look at a group of children who had an autism spectrum disorder, another group that had developmental delay but not autism, and then a third group that were developing typically. And we found out about the mothers' medical and weight status before the pregnancy and during the pregnancy.

And we found that women who had any one of obesity, diabetes, or hypertension were at higher risk for having a child who had either an autism spectrum disorder or also a child with a developmental delay, a cognitive impairment. In the case of the autism spectrum disorder, about a 60 percent risk.

In the case of developmental delay, more than a twofold, 2.3 to 2.4 fold higher risk if the mom had one of those three conditions. So, as you say, this is not proof of a causal link. It's the first study.

We as scientists like to be a little cautious, and we think that it needs to be replicated in other studies. But nevertheless, it was a strong study, a large number of children, hundreds in each group. And, in fact, this was statistically significant for a finding. And it's definitely suggestive evidence.

BANFIELD: So, Irva, I was looking through just sort of the pricey version of what the study suggests, and it -- there's a lot in there, that it could be an issue with blood sugar. It could be an issue with inflammation. It could be an issue with environmental toxins, microbes, chemicals in the house. So it's confusing.

I mean, listen, I was a mom who was way overweight. I always was worried about it. But at the same time I was worried about dieting during pregnancy. So for moms who are out there, what are they to make of this? And how are they to know when they're obese? Because, quite frankly, we all feel obese when we're pregnant.

(LAUGHTER)

HERTZ-PICCIOTTO: Right. Well, the obesity that we were defining really had to do with your pre-pregnancy weight. And it'll differ depending on your height. It's really based -- it's a weight for height kind of measurement. Your physician can certainly tell you if you are in the obese category or in the overweight category or in the normal category.

And the recommendation about weight gain differ, depending on which category you're in. So you really need to speak with your doctors about that, but I think it's also true that even before you get pregnant, you need to be thinking about your child. And in some other work that we have done, we did find that, for instance, maternal nutrition made a difference.

If you take your prenatal vitamin supplements prior to conception and in the first month of pregnancy, that seemed, for example, to protect against autism spectrum disorder. The issue of the obesity and the diabetes versus autism.

We don't know if it's causal. We don't know if there's something that's causing both of them in parallel, because as people know, the rates of both have been going up.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: I was just going to say, I, for one, look forward to further studies on this because the autism story is a really distressing story, its numbers in the increases -- oh, no, I think we lost Irva HERTZ-PICCIOTTO, so I'll say thank you. Thank you for that, to the color bars.

In the meantime, I think that is my cue that Wolf Blitzer is ready to go, so I am going to wrap it up here. Thanks for being with us today. Now stay tuned for Wolf Bitzer and "THE SITUATION ROOM."