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Zimmerman Bond Revoked; Pavlopetri, City Under Water

Aired June 02, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Right now in Sanford, Florida, the clock is ticking for confessed shooter George Zimmerman. He has less than 24 hours to report back to jail. He has been free on bail for weeks after he pleaded not guilty to murdering Trayvon Martin.

Martin Savidge is in Sanford, Florida. Martin tell us how the stakeout is going. What kind of timeline are we talking about?

All right, sorry. We're going to work out that audio and then try to get back to Martin Savidge there in Sanford, Florida.

All right, meantime, let's turn to Egypt now. Let's take a look at these live pictures coming out of Tahrir Square in Cairo. Thousands of demonstrators are gathering as they have been all day as they're protesting the life sentence given to Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak earlier today for his role in killing hundreds of anti- government protesters last year, adding to the unrest, two of Mubarak's sons were acquitted of corruption charges. Six of his former aides were also acquitted.

And the first day marking the queen's diamond jubilee celebration begins with a bang. A 41-gun salute was fired at the Tower of London while other similar salutes echoed across the United Kingdom marking the 60th anniversary of the queen's coronation. Hundreds of thousands cheered as the queen and Prince Philip arrived at the race course in London. Her first engagement of the four-day celebration. And we'll have much more on the royal family tomorrow. Be sure to watch "A Royal Celebration, Elizabeth's 60 years as Queen," hosted by Brooke Baldwin and Piers Morgan, Sunday 11:00 a.m. Eastern time.

So from the pomp and circumstance of the UK to the regal recognition of the U.S. Navy's newest submarine. Earlier today, the USS Mississippi was commissioned into service in the port of Taskagula (ph). It costs about $2 billion to construct and it is part of the Virginia class, which is billed as the Navy's next generation of attack submarines.

All right. Let's go back to Sanford, Florida. Our Martin Savidge is there. And at any moment now, it's expected that confessed shooter George Zimmerman would report back to jail, Martin, how much longer does he have?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we figure it's less than 24 hours. The judge, of course, made his ruling yesterday about 1:30, 2:00 in the afternoon. He gave 48 hours. So I mean the clock is ticking down. That's the receiving intake area of the Seminole County Jail. Same door he came out six weeks ago. Same door he's going to enter to get back into the facility, and then over here if you look at the tents, that is the rest of the media party as we wait 24 hours a day. They have actually been sitting here to try to catch a glimpse and maybe even a word as George Zimmerman returns to the facility here. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, Martin, the reason why he's being asked to report back to jail is because the judge said yesterday that he's revoking that bond because he was disingenuous. He wasn't honest about how much money he had and come to find out the Zimmerman family, Zimmerman and his wife did have enough money to post bond, right?

SAVIDGE: Right. And that's exactly, it all comes down to money essentially. If you remember the first bond hearing, the family said they didn't have any. As a result, the bond needed to be set low. Then we learned a couple of days later they did have a lot of money sitting in a Paypal account as a result of donations that were made online. That's what got the judge upset. Because the state was able to provide transcripts of a recorded telephone conversation between George Zimmerman when he was in jail and his wife when they talked about the money. So clearly, they knew about the money. Yet when they get under oath, they say they didn't know anything about the money. That got the judge angry and that's why the bond was revoked.

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry. Go ahead. Sorry about that. Go ahead.

SAVIDGE: I was just going to play for you just some of the sound from what the judge had to say when he delivered. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE KENNETH LESTER JR.: Mr. Zimmerman can sit back as I use again the euphemism, a potted palm and let his wife testify falsely before the court when he knew well that (INAUDIBLE) that hearing the amounts of money in controversy, nor can he allow his attorney to stand up and make misrepresentations. Not by your fault, whatsoever Mr. (INAUDIBLE) you were completely candid and honest with the court as you have always been, and he can't sit back and obtain the benefits of a lower bond or circumstances based upon those material falsehoods. That's what they were. So at this time, revoke his bond. Place him on no bond status.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: You couldn't quite see the steam coming out from his ears. But it was pretty clear that the judge was very angry and upset. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so I wonder, Martin, once and if Zimmerman shows up again, reports, you know, to be put back in jail, would there be another bond hearing?

SAVIDGE: There is likely to be another one. His defense attorney, Mark O'Mara, said there will be. The other attorney who was speaking out, this is interesting, it's the attorney for the Martin family, and Ben Crump said what this gets to is really whether George Zimmerman tells the truth or not. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, MARTIN FAMILY ATTORNEY: It was at the crux of the matter in this whole case, Judge Lester finding that George Zimmerman is dishonest is very important because his credibility is the most important thing in this entire case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And it is because it's a self-defense case, and George Zimmerman was the only survivor. But yes, you can expect another bond hearing maybe as early as next week. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Martin Savidge, thanks so much, from Sanford, Florida.

All right. A woman sues the department store because they won't take back more than a million dollars worth of gifts her husband bought her. The legal guys are on the case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The legal guys are here. Hello, Richard and Avery. Some pretty fascinating cases this week, including a lawsuit against Nieman Marcus for refusing to take back more than a million dollars of worth of items. Avery, how would you ring this one up?

AVERY FRIEDMAN: Well, the question is Fredricka, there's the law make a department store liable to a wife when her husband is having sex with their personal shopper? We got the answers for you and more.

WHITFIELD: OK. And Richard?

RICHARD HERMAN: Well, Fred, apparently this personal shopper got very personal with the woman's husband while she was recovering from a car accident. And therefore, the woman says "I want to return everything because this personal shopper got commission on $1.5 million." We'll see what that return policy of Neiman is and we'll see how this case tries to unfold.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. All right. Legal guys, 90 seconds from now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. A Dallas woman is suing Neiman Marcus for refusing to take back more than a million dollars worth of gifts that her ex-husband allegedly bought from the wife's personal shopper. Out legal guys are back. Avery Friedman in Cleveland and Richard Herman in Las Vegas.

Oh, boy, this is a whopper of a case, isn't it? OK. So Richard, you first. Patricia Walker, she was in a traffic accident back in 2007, and her husband apparently was giving her a number of gifts during her recovery. Apparently, he was buying these gifts from the personal shopper who very much knew the tastes of the wife. But the wife says they were having an affair and so that upsets her and she says I'm taking all of the stuff back. Many of the items which she never wore, et cetera, but Neiman Marcus hasn't been taking the items back. Now she says she's suing. Does she have a case, Richard?

HERMAN: First of all, Fred, that's quite a personal shopper there, I must say. Really.

WHITFIELD: In terms of the $1.5 million. Knows her tastes -

HERMAN: No, not those terms, Fred. You know what I'm talking about, Fred. Anyway, $1.5 million in items purposed through the personal shopper there who got commission on everything, look, Neiman Marcus has a Web site. They put their return policy up on it, it says if you're not fully satisfied with your products, return them and apparently they're not living up to the promise.

WHITFIELD: But is doesn't matter how many months have passed or years have passed?

HERMAN: It's got to. It's got to. Three years ago is when everything was purchased. So all this information came out during the course of the divorce. There's got to be some fine print in there. Right, Avery? There's got to be something and I think Nieman tried to resolve it, but apparently it's too much money. $1.5 million. They wouldn't do it all.

WHITFIELD: So Avery, I mean usually, there is a, you know, 90 days or you know, 60 days or two weeks most stores will extend that on their return policy.

FRIEDMAN: Sure.

WHITFIELD: So if that term has expired and she wants to return these items to Neiman Marcus, how can she sue that they honor her request?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I don't think she can affect a lawsuit, Fredricka. Claims that there's a breach of a fiduciary duty, meaning there's a trust relationship between Neiman Marcus and Patricia Walker who is the plaintiff. I mean there's no trust relationship. And then she claimed fraud. Well there's no relationship between Neiman Marcus and the recipient of the gifts. I mean to be honest with you I don't - I can't begin to understand this case. Because it's not - they're claiming well, they should take the - Neiman Marcus should take these gifts back.

In fact, Fobby Lowell, who was the personal shopper in here, is named a defendant. So it's a very odd piece of litigation. I don't know where it's going, and frankly, I don't think it will ever get to a jury, Fredricka, because I think the judge has to dismiss this case.

WHITFIELD: OK. And we did reach out to Neiman Marcus and they had a no comment on that case. So we'll see where it goes and how it goes. All right. Meantime, let's talk about another case. This is very interesting. This involving young ladies (INAUDIBLE) and Alexandria Lipton who are suing their former employer, Sutton Place Restaurant and Bar for what they call sexual harassment and discrimination. The women claimed that the managers of this restaurant forcibly weighed the female employees and then allegedly posted the results on the internet and so these women are saying, a, that's not right. We were harassed, and then to make that information public, so apparently, the court has taken this case. They have agreed to take on this case, Avery. How do you see it playing out?

FRIEDMAN: Well, they didn't originally. It took a five-judge appellate panel to reverse it. Remember these are mere allegations right now. But you know what? We have dealt with cases like this before. What is especially interesting is what is it with people that own restaurants and bars, the men, that they feel like they have to weigh women. What's that about? The Sutton Bar owners actually claim that there was a weighing issue in here, but they were just kidding about the whole thing. I kind of like this case, and again, you think they're really weighing the men? They did, there was a 400-pound guy there, but why weigh the women? They're waitresses. So -

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And how many employers - how many employers have a scale that nearby? When you're hired, you have to get on the scale. This doesn't seem right. OK. So Richard, they're talking about - these women are trying to seek $15 million in this lawsuit. And we did reach out, by the way, to the restaurant, Sutton Place Restaurant and Bar, and they did respond. Their attorney, Joseph Meilen said this, "At this point, all we have are allegations made by the plaintiffs. When it comes to trial, they will have to prove those allegations." So what will it take to prove those allegations, Richard?

HERMAN: Well, he's right, number one. That's all these are, allegations. But more importantly, Fred, Avery is right. The initial trial judge dismissed the case. They had to take an appeal, and I'm sure the restaurant was feeling real good when that case got dismissed.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

HERMAN: Except the appellate division in New York reversed it and said "No, this case has merit." And in addition to that, the grounds that the restaurant said for their dismissal were in addition to the weight, they said that they came in late and they violated certain rules. The appellate division commented on that and said they didn't believe any of that. So that is going to permeate through the case. This restaurant, yes, this restaurant is a little bit of hot water right now, and I think it's best for the restaurant if they would sit down and try to make a deal because they're not going to get $15 million, but they could get hammered by a jury in New York in this case.

WHITFIELD: All right. I'm sure there will be a follow up on this one. We'll be talking about it again. Gentlemen, so good to see you. Thank you so much. Avery, Richard, have a great weekend.

HERMAN: Have a great weekend.

FRIEDMAN: Are you going to the jubilee, Fred? Going to London for that?

WHITFIELD: I did not get that invitation.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: But I'll be watching, and you can watch, too. Our live coverage begins between 11:00 and 1:00 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow. All right. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

And of course, you can catch our legal guys every Saturday at noon and 4:00 Eastern time.

All right. Explorers discover secrets about an ancient city under the ocean. I'll ask the man who led the excavation about the artifacts that he found at the bottom of the sea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tomorrow, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is behind the scenes on the hit series "Game of Thrones." They'll introduce us to the man who created the language spoken by some of the characters. Here's a preview of tomorrow's "The Next List."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to make it feel like kind of like an old book or maybe some comfortable clothes that had been worn, shoes that had been walked in for miles and miles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For instance, mentioned there was no phrase for thank you in (INAUDIBLE) but they have something like 42 words for horse. You know, I mean it's a horse-based culture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It started as kind of an imagined time that was about 1,000 years before the action of the series. I kind of conceived how the language would look at that point and then evolved the language over a period of 1,000 years. In doing so kind of helps to make the language more authentic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And tune in tomorrow to watch "The Next List" or set your DVR, 2:00 Eastern time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A city buried under the ocean for thousands of years. Well, now we're seeing some pretty amazing images and learning the secrets of that city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... probably perhaps with wine or olive oil. (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: The city of Pavlopetri was once a thriving port off the southern coast of Greece around 5,000 years ago. This amazing site dates back to the bronze age. Archeologists discovered it in 1967. But now a new Discovery Channel program is revealing remarkable new details about this ancient city.

Dr. Jon Henderson is the lead scientist on the underwater excavation project. Joining us now. Good to see you from London. So doctor - hey, so doctor, I understand, you know, your team essentially rebuilt this city in a digital form at the same time giving us some, a real look through photography, underwater photography, what it looks like. So you know, what is the most extraordinary sight that you recall seeing underwater here of this ancient city?

DR. JON HENDERSON, UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGIST: Well, this is the oldest underwater city in the world. And as you said, it was first discovered in 1967, but then there was no work for 40 years. We've gone back using the latest technology really to kind of bring it back to life, to re-create what it was like to live in that city 3,000 years ago.

WHITFIELD: And how did you know what to recreate?

HENDERSON: Well, we can base it upon the whole plan of the city exists under water. It's only about three to four meters of water, but you can swim over it. It's an absolutely beautiful and amazing experience to do this. You can see streets and courtyards and houses sitting side by side across an area of about eight football fields worth of space. It's just fantastic.

WHITFIELD: That is incredible. And so, I'm a diver. And if you want to plan a trip, is this off limits or does this mean this is a dive that anyone could plan? You could actually see the remnants of this city?

HENDERSON: You don't even need to dive because it's only in three to four meters of water. Actually one of the best ways to see it is just to snorkel over it. It's next to a beautiful beach, a lovely tourist beach. There's no problem with swimming and looking at it, but it's protected - it's protected by the Greek government. So you're not allowed to take anything away from it. But like a coral reef, you can go and look but don't touch.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. So you used some extraordinary technology to help create this documentary. What did you use and how were you able to do so?

HENDERSON: Well, we've used just about every single piece of underwater technology to survey the seabed, everything that exists just about, we've used on it. But one of the most exciting things that you'll see in the documentary is a stereo photo mapping technique which we attached to a robot. That allows us to reconstruct everything that's there in 3-D, in photo realistic 3-D, the seabed in detail in centimeter detail so we can identify individual pottery shards or we can come out and look at the entire city.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

HENDERSON: And one of the exciting things which surpassed all expectations is our project. We discovered much more of the settlement. The settlement doubled in side, and not only that, we showed that it was much older than previously thought with pottery going back to about 5,000 years ago.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. this is incredible, JUST looking at the digitized renderings there and what appears to be kind of re- enactments. So what happened to the city? Was it an earthquake, how did it become underwater, erosion, what?

HENDERSON: We know it was occupied from about 5,000 to about 3,000 years go. And then it was abandoned. And what we have found out is that there are at least three earthquake episodes. This area of Greece is one of the most active earthquake zones in the world. As a result, it's been pushed down - the surface of the ground has been pushed down by about four to five meters and that's why it's underwater.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, it's extraordinary. Well, it's an incredible view. Thanks for bringing that to us. I know it had to be a very, you know, exciting and very rewarding project to be a part of. Dr. Jon Henderson, thanks so much.

HENDERSON: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: And you want to check out this show. It's pretty amazing. "City Beneath the Waves, Pavlopetri," airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on the Discovery Channel.

All right. That's going to do it for me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)