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Zimmerman Murder Juror Speaks Out; Stand Your Ground Scrutiny; Baxley: "This is not a Stand Your Ground Case"; Wall Street Rises at Open; All-Star Game in the Big Apple

Aired July 17, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Choked with emotion and overwhelmed by the pressures. The jurors in the George Zimmerman murder trial says plenty of tears were shed before the not guilty verdict was read and soon ignited nationwide protests.

Here's more from that juror's exclusive interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Did you cry in that jury room?

JUROR B-37: I cried after the verdict. I didn't cry out when they were reading the verdict out in the jury room because we were all crying before we went in. And then --

COOPER: What do you mean you were crying before you went in?

JUROR B-37: Well, we were in a separate room when the foreman handed the bailiff our verdict. And then we were crying back there before we went into the jury room. So they gave us about 20 minutes to try and get everything together.

COOPER: What do you think you were crying about?

JUROR B-37: The pressure. The pressure of all of it. And everything just kind of came to a head because I kind of tried to keep everything out. Emotionally out during the whole process. And then it just flooded in after it was done.

COOPER: But you want people to know and the reason you're speaking is you want people to know how seriously you took this.

JUROR B-37: I do. I don't want people to think that we didn't think about and we didn't care about Trayvon Martin. Because we did. We're very sad that it happened to him.

COOPER: And you want his family to know that, as well?

JUROR B-37: I do. And I feel bad that we can't give them the verdict that they wanted. But, legally, we could not do that.

COOPER: Do you think Trayvon Martin played a role in his own death. This wasn't just something that happened to him. This was something he also --

JUROR B-37: I believe he played a huge role in his death. He could, he could have -- when George confronted him and he could have walked away and gone home. He didn't have to do whatever he did and come back and be in a fight.

COOPER: And the other George felt t that, as well in.

JUROR B-37: They did. As far as my perspective of it, they did.

COOPER: So you think based on the testimony you heard, you believe that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor?

JUROR B-37: I think the roles changed. I think, I think George got in a little bit too deep. Which he shouldn't have been there. But Trayvon decided that he wasn't going to let him scare him and get the one over up on him or something and I think Trayvon got mad and attacked him.

You call George Zimmerman George, do you feel like you know him?

JUROR B-37: I do. I feel like I know everybody.

COOPER: You call Trayvon, Trayvon, as well.

JUROR B-37: I did. Trayvon wasn't as well known by us because there wasn't as much said about him. All we really heard about Trayvon was the phone call that he had and the evidence they had found on him. We basically had no information what kind of a boy Trayvon was, what he did. We knew where he went to school and that was pretty much about it and he lived in Miami.

COOPER: What would you say to Trayvon Martin's parents? To Tracy and Sybrina.

I would say I'm terribly sorry for your loss. It's a tragedy. That's pretty much all I can say. Because I don't -- you know I didn't know him. But I felt their pain because of his death.

COOPER: What do you hope for George Zimmerman now?

JUROR B-37: I hope he gets some peace. Because I'm sure he's going to be on slot by media for months at a time. I hope his family can live a normal life after a while. I don't know how he's ever going to do that. But I hope he can. He'll never forget, but I hope he can.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: OK, so, that juror's comments have raised a lot of eyebrows, including those of her fellow jurors. Late last night four of the five other members of that panel sent this statement distancing themselves from this juror's public comment. Quote, "We the undersigned jurors understand there is a great deal of interest in this case. But we ask you to remember that we are not public officials and we did not invite this type of attention into our lives. And the opinions of juror b-37 expressed on the Anderson Cooper show were her own and not in any way representative of the jurors listed below. The jurors identify themselves only by their jury pool numbers and not their names." So let's talk about this.

Defense attorney and former prosecutor Tanya Miller join me here in Atlanta along with criminal defense attorney, Page Pate. Welcome to both of you.

TANYA MILLER, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Thank you.

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK. First of all, I just thought it was striking that the other jurors felt the need to put out this public statement, is that unusual, Page?

PATE: It's unusual but then again this case is unusual. Rarely do you have this much attention post-trial. It's not uncommon for a juror to want to talk about his or her experience, it's not uncommon for a lawyer to want to find out what they were thinking but it's very uncommon for that to be broadcast to the world, like it is here.

COSTELLO: And it's unclear exactly what they're upset about, Tanya, right?

MILLER: Right. Right.

COSTELLO: But you sort of read into it. It's like some of this Juror B37 statements are riling them up for some reason.

MILLER: Right. And we don't know, right, because they haven't told us. But what I think they're responding to is sort of this public reaction to Juror B37 that she was insensitive towards Trayvon Martin and that she identified so deeply with George Zimmerman, the man who actually shot and killed the teenager. Normally you would expect to see people identifying and feeling sympathy for the victim. And so that's a little odd and I think that has struck people as being odd.

COSTELLO: Well, something that juror said, she said she had no information what kind of boy Trayvon Martin was.

PATE: Look, it's hard enough for a jury like this given the racial makeup of the jury to relate to someone like Trayvon Martin. So it is the state's job to make them relate to Trayvon Martin. Talk about him as a kid. Talk about his family. Let them know who he was so they can put themselves in his shoes, as well as looking at it from George Zimmerman's perspective.

COSTELLO: But they knew had some information, right? They knew he was 17 years old. They saw he was a skinny kid because they saw his body on the autopsy table. Right?

MILLER: Right.

COSTELLO: They heard from his brother who attend college. They heard from his mother, but, still at least this juror seemed to assume the worst about Trayvon Martin. MILLER: Right. And I think that's what is rubbing people the wrong way about it. You know, as a prosecutor, you really try to humanize your victim throughout the trial. I think they did what they could. There's limits to that. You know, you can't bring in a bunch of character witnesses to say how great the victim is because then the other side gets to bring in witnesses to say how bad the victim may have been.

So the state is limited to some extent in doing that. But I agree with you, there were millions of people who saw this trial and identified completely with Trayvon Martin and viewed him as a victim and that's why they've taken to the streets in protests.

COSTELLO: Wow, Page Pate, Tanya Miller, I'm sure you'll be back because it just gets stranger and stranger.

Thanks so much.

PATE: Thank you.

MILLER: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Just ahead in NEWSROOM, Stand Your Ground. The controversial law raised in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. One of the sponsors of that bill, that law, he'll be here next, I promise. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Florida's Stand Your Ground law, let's just say Florida's self-defense statute is under heavy fire. In fact, in some circles it's made Florida a national joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Folks, this is a victory for the rule of law in that Florida apparently no longer has rules or laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Stevie Wonder has vowed to never again perform in Florida until it repeals Stand Your Ground and much more seriously Attorney General Eric Holder called the law dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation's attention, it's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and so dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But Florida is standing firm. With me now, Florida state lawmaker representative Dennis Baxley. He co-sponsored Stand Your Ground.

Good morning, sir.

DENNIS BAXLEY (R), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you, Carol. Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: Do you feel under attack?

BAXLEY: Well, I don't think so. I think we're in a political debate and I think there'll continue to be a political debate. Fascinating to me because we've been watching this case to see if Stand Your Ground would be used and that concept that's in our self-defense simply was not used in this case. This is not a Stand Your Ground case.

COSTELLO: Well, it --

BAXLEY: This is a very simple defense case --

COSTELLO: It is true, though, that Stand Your Ground wasn't used at trial, but it certainly was in the minds of jurors in the Zimmerman case. In fact, Anderson cooper talked about that with Juror B37. Let's listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUROR B-37: Because of the heat of the moment and the Stand Your Ground, and he had a right to defend himself. If he felt threatened that his life was going to be taken away from him or he was going to have bodily harm, he had a right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So it definitely was in the mind of jurors and you could argue that it very much came into play in the Zimmerman case.

BAXLEY: Well, I think we do want to empower law-abiding citizens to defend themselves from violent attack. We actually have a shared goal with our critics. We would like to see reduced number of victims of violent crime. And unfortunately, I think this is a distraction and really attacking the statute is just some way of trying to bring some relief to the situation or we have an underlying problem.

COSTELLO: But how can it be a distraction when that juror said that she took it into consideration and coming to the conclusion that George Zimmerman was not guilty. So is it a distraction?

BAXLEY: Well, I think it is, because this case was not decided based on the provisions of that Stand Your Ground element. And what's more important is we need to look at this case and see what is the nature of violence in our culture and where are we and how do we get here and how do we get out of here?

And I don't think that helping people to keep themselves safe is anything more than a deterrent of violent crime. Matter of fact, we've seen violent crime go down since this bill was passed in '05 and I think that we do need to continue to look at how young black men are being harmed. And, largely, it's drug violence and gang violence and this is really a distraction from how most young black men are being killed.

I agree with the juror. There's a very unfortunate and tragic event. It really would have been better if he had a right to be on the street. If he would have just kept walking home. He would have been fine.

But this being irritated of somebody observing you and coming back and getting in a fight cost someone their life. And that is, that is tragic. That is truly tragic.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: But -- but you see how some people -- but you see how some people say -- would say that you're blaming the victim in this case because, after all, Trayvon Martin is the one who's dead.

BAXLEY: No, what we had is a violent incident.

COSTELLO: And they -- they would say he also had a right to defend himself.

BAXLEY: And what happened is -- well, every individual has a right. This law would protect any person from the right of somebody attacking them. You know, if -- if the scenario that some critics are playing was true that he had traced down an innocent child and shot them, he would be in prison. That is not what happened. There was an observation. Clearly, the jury saw that what happened is he returned and attacked and was the aggressor against Mr. Zimmerman.

And that's -- that's the facts of the case. And they spent hours and hours and hours sorting that out. We've been waiting for this jury trial for them to sort out what happened. And that's what happened. And we need to accept that as tragic as it is, that's what happened.

COSTELLO: So we need to accept it and move on and not talk about it?

BAXLEY: No, I think it's very healthy. I think one of the great things that can come out of this discussion is a much clearer understanding of what our self-defense law is and what it is not. And it does not allow you -- there is nothing in this statute that allows you to pursue, confront and provoke other people. It allows you if you're a law-abiding citizen doing nothing wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well let me -- let me read the law -- right I want to read the law to our viewers just so they understand. The law says "A person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another."

Even some police officers like the former Miami police Chief John Timoney told "The New York Times" that phrase "Reasonably believes" encourages people to use deadly force in situations where it's not warranted, like perhaps, the Zimmerman case.

BAXLEY: Well, I don't share that characterization because it is a reasonable person standard. It's not -- it's just not what you reason. It is that any reasonable person could look at the facts of that circumstance and agree with you that you had every reason to believe that you were in harm's way. And I believe this case shows that.

Mr. Zimmerman had seconds to decide if he wanted to be -- continued to be pounded on the pavement or he was going to have to change tactic and stop this attack. And that's unfortunate that that's the way it ended. And I'm very concerned about how it ever escalated to this kind of situation. And I'm deeply concerned about violence in our culture and how we can minimize the times that people resort to violence.

COSTELLO: Representative Dennis Baxley -- thanks so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

BAXLEY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still ahead in the NEWSROOM markets are kicking higher this morning getting some encouragement from the Fed Chief, but can the good news last? We're live from the New York Stock Exchange, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We expected more than this, but markets remain flat. The Fed Chief Ben Bernanke is on Capitol Hill today speaking in about ten minutes, but he released his remarks early and we thought Alison Kosik that the stock market would do something.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well the wait is on really to the Q&A portion because we've seen in these comments was Ben Bernanke is going to say this pre -- his remarks have already been released and what they do show is that the Fed does intend to keep the stimulus flowing for now before starting to scale it back later this year.

So that is kind of keeping stocks a little bit in the green. Bernanke also expected to say that risks to the economy have gone down since the fall and that both the housing and the labor market are improving but that the jobs market is still far from satisfactory. I've got to mention though that his term, by the way, is up at the end of the year, Carol, so this is going to be Bernanke's final grill on the Hill -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I like that it rhymes. Alison Kosik --

(CROSSTALK)

KOSIK: Ok. I'm a poet and I know it.

COSTELLO: I didn't know it. Anyway thank you, Alison. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The American League secured home field advantage in the World Series last night by winning the all-star game and the highlight of the night belonged to Detroit Tigers' first baseman Prince Fielder.

Andy Scholes is here with "Bleacher Report".

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: And good morning Carol. Prince Fielder didn't start the game and he only had one at-bat but that one at-bat was the most exciting play of the game. Fielder pinch-hitting in the top of the ninth inning and take a look he's going to hit this ball to right field. Carlos Gomez can't get to it. And Fielder's going to get the engines going.

COSTELLO: He's a big man.

SCHOLES: He's 275 pounds and he's going to go all the way around, slide into third, a triple. And Carol of all the plays that were possible on this game, a Prince Fielder triple had to be right up there as one of the least likely.

COSTELLO: Even he's amazed.

SCHOLES: Yes, yes he got a big ovation in the dugout sliding into third right there.

All right, check -- check this out, someone over at Nike apparently needs to go back to second grade and learn their geography. Look at this shirt, the Carolina Panthers' T-shirt and the Panther's logo with the letters "NC" are inside the wrong state, that's South Carolina on the shirt not North Carolina. Nike quickly realized this mistake, they removed all the shirts on sale and they apologized for the error.

COSTELLO: Oh my God.

SCHOLES: And it's something that shouldn't really happen. But I guess it's understandable they're called the Carolina Panthers, not the North Carolina Panthers but still --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Oh come on. Please.

SCHOLES: You got to know your geography.

COSTELLO: Jesus, North Carolina is a big one.

SCHOLES: Yes.

COSTELLO: Andy Scholes, thanks. I wish we had more time, but we're out. The next hour of CNN -- CNN NEWSROOM after break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Stifling heat and no water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is sweat on just about every --