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Helicopter Crashes Into Pub, Eight Killed; Plane Crash In Namibia Kills All On Board; Obamacare Site Deadline 11 Hours Away; Pentagon: Restricted Zone Flights Won't Stop; Woman In Self Defense Case Out Of Prison; Montana Appeals Teacher's 30-Day Sentence For Raping Student; $3,500 Fee For Negative Shopping Review; U.S. Offers To Destroy Syria's Most Dangerous Chemical Weapons At Sea; Police: Italian Mafia Fed Man To Pigs; Tough Talk From Mike Tyson

Aired November 30, 2013 - 12:00   ET

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

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miguel Marquez. These are the top stories we're following in the CNN NEWSROOM right now.

Eight people dead so far after a police helicopter crashes into the roof of a pub. Now the search for survivors, hear what witnesses say they saw in the moments before impact, coming up next.

Is the Obama administration's own midnight deadline for repairs to the Obamacare web site, but can it be fixed in time and will it work properly for everyone? A live report moments away.

And China scrambling fighter jets to monitor U.S. activity in its newly declared air defense zone. The Pentagon saying it's not going anywhere. The latest between the face-off between Washington and Beijing, coming up.

Now at least eight people have died after a police helicopter crashed into a pub in Scotland, investigators have been searching since the crash last night for any survivors. They said people were trapped inside the pub. The helicopter smashed into the roof as a concert was going on inside. Richard Quest has the latest from Glasgow.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miguel, according to one of Scotland's most senior politicians, this was the news they had been dreading but expecting. Having spent most of the day with only one person confirmed dead, everybody knew that the number of fatalities would rise, and now they're saying eight people perished last night.

Nor are they able to say whether that is the final total because, as the head of police Scotland put it, the helicopter is in the middle of the building. And until they can remove it, they don't really know what's underneath. Removing the helicopter will be an extremely difficult, complex, and intricate operation.

The building is unstable, and they want to ensure that maximum safety before they try any further operations. Finding out what happened, why the helicopter fell out of the sky in such a disastrous way last night, again, the police describe that as a sensitive and complex investigation, one that going to take many weeks if not months.

Tonight, though, in Scotland, the people are mourning the fact that eight people perished. The number may go higher, and flags in the country are at half-mast -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Thank you very much there, Richard. We've also learned that the weather was good last night at the time of that crash. The NTSB is investigating a small plane crash last night in Alaska that killed four people including the pilot. Police say there were ten people on board and the others survived. There's no word on how the other six are doing. The Cessna crashed Southwestern Alaska near St. Mary's Village.

A plane went down in Namibia killing everyone on board that's according to a government official in Namibia. The Mozambique Airlines flight lest Mozambique's capital of Maputo yesterday. It was heading for Angola. Authorities found the wreckage in Namibia near the border with Angola. There were 34 people on board. It is not clear why the plane crashed.

Back in this country, the White House and other Obama staffers have their fingers crossed. They're hoping that most of the problems with the Obamacare web site will be fixed by midnight tonight. That's just under 12 hours from now, and President Obama has said the web site should work fine for the vast majority of users.

CNN's Tory Dunnan is one of the vast -- keeping track of the vast majority in Washington for us. Tory, the deadline is approaching, but do we really expect to see improvement on the web site by midnight?

TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Miguel, really quite honestly, we are probably just going to have wait and see what we see at midnight. We can expect to hear from users if it's working well or if it's the opposite situation. But the administration says so far so good. They are telling us that with the scheduled upgrades last night and tonight, the ones that are coming. They are on track to meet that goal this weekend.

Now the White House has said that the site should work for the vast majority of users. It's a promise that we definitely heard time and time again. In fact, here's President Obama just this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This web site is going to get fixed, and we are going to be signing people up and we're going to make sure that everybody in California and everybody in America who needs health care is it going to get it. We just keep going. We don't stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUNNAN: All right, so we'll see how that works out, but let's break down what all this means because according to the administration, the goal is for 50,000 people to be on the site at the same time. If there are any more users than that at any given time, we are told that people are going to be put in a virtual cue that they'll later receive an e-mail telling them of a better time to come back and try.

Also, in total, they're saying that some 800,000 users will be able to go through the site each day. Miguel, those are just some of the benchmarks we are looking at, but we're also waiting for word from the administration that they have hit those benchmarks, likely to tomorrow.

MARQUEZ: Right. We know they took it down for 11 hours overnight, they'll take it down another 4 hours going into Sunday. Do we know if today it's meant to be running the way it going to run tomorrow? Do we think what we're seeing today we may see tomorrow?

DUNNAN: You know this is really tricky. Basically as reporters we're waiting for the administration it to release those numbers. We they're holding a conference call tomorrow. The administration says this is not a re-launch of the site. We could see more problems along the way.

Also important to point out, even if the site is determined to be functioning smoothly, insurance insiders are telling CNN there might be problems on the back end of the site. They say some customers' personal data is getting lost, mangled. We'll is to see what the fixes are and what exactly they cover today, tomorrow and in the next few days.

MARQUEZ: Such a complicated thing. Tory Dunnan keeping of it all for us. Thank you very much.

A woman who was facing 20 years in prison is now out. Her case has been put on the stand your ground law in the spotlight. We break down her chances in a new trial, but next new restricted area creating tension between the U.S., Japan and China. Why the Pentagon is saying no to a no-fly zone?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: New images for you now, that California man being held in North Korea. This is Merrill Newman. The North Korean government claims that 85-year-old was a spy during the Korean War. It released video of Newman reading his alleged confession letter. No word if he will be let go. Newman had finished a ten-day tour of North Korea when he was pulled off a plane on his way out of the country. A detailed report coming up in our 1:00 p.m hour.

The U.S. won't stop military flights into China's newly declared air defense zone, but it is advising commercial airlines to comply with it. The decisions coming despite China's decision to have fighter jets monitor American and Japanese planes flying to the restricted space. Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, reports.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Miguel, the Pentagon is emphasizing it is not trying to escalate tensions with China, that these flights into this restricted zone by the U.S. military are routine, scheduled flights. It's what the U.S. military does out in the Pacific.

For its part, China's rhetoric continues to be pretty frosty. They're saying they will continue to monitor any flights coming into this zone and that they may try and send their fighters up again to intercept the planes to identify them. The frosty rhetoric aside, the real question may be how long China can keep this up. They don't have a lot of mid-air refuelling capability. Their radar warning aircraft are few.

It's going to be hard for them to continue to monitor this zone. That's something the U.S. is going to watch very carefully. Now, Vice President Joe Biden set to arrive in Beijing to sit down and talk with Chinese officials about all of this. Administration officials say Biden will ask the Chinese straight out, what are your intentions? What are you trying to do here?

Biden will try to, of course, de-escalate all of this. The U.S. says adamantly it does not believe that China is looking for a military confrontation over this disputed air space, but the worry is that in the coming days and weeks if this continuous, if they send up more of their own aircraft there could be some kind of miscalculation, some kind of accident, and that tensions may only rise further -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Barbara Starr in Washington, thank you very much.

The stand your ground law under the microscope. Here's a case where it plays a big role. Marissa Alexander claims she shot at her husband in self-defense. Will she be able to save herself from a possible 20-year prison sentence? That's next.

But first, the holiday season has officially begun and tomorrow night we're celebrating the "Top Ten Heroes Of The Year" and their work helping others it's our own holiday tradition, "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute."

One of those recognized, Dell Beatty, a disabled Iraq war veteran. When his community honored his sacrifice by helping build him a new home, he decided to pay it forward and now he helps injured veterans of all generations get the welcome home they deserve. Here is a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All veterans have been taught to be responsible for the guy to your left and the guy to your right. And no matter what, you're going to bat for them, if they need you. We wouldn't leave one of our soldiers behind on the battlefield, but we do it so often here at home. I did three tours in Vietnam. My injuries include my right leg, left elbow, and lower back, for 35 years no one cared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every war is forgotten when the next war starts. People welcome me home and say they love us and that I'm their hero. I knew after meeting other veterans that wasn't the case for all of us. These other guys who struggle, they need a hand up. It's my mission to help other veterans get the support and the homes they need from their communities.

This is the young man, why we're all here today. To get the community engaged around a couple of simple changes to someone's house or an entire house built from the ground up. We want to make their life easier, safer, just better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could not get my wheelchair in and out my front door because I had steps with no handrail and it made me less of a social person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're able to build a deck and a ramp. There used to be a concrete sidewalk here. We busted that up, got it out of here. Doesn't sound like a lot, but the impact it made was tremendous. And their emotions are being rehabbed as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They made me realize the challenges that I've had to endure meant something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They jump-started me back into life. Purple Heart homes said "welcome home." It's great to be home after 40 years. Regardless of when you served, where you served, we're all the same. We're all veterans. They just need to know that somebody does care about them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: And it was a CNN Heroes first. Don't miss the incredible act of the generosity from a CNN hero that this year brought the audience to its feet. "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" is tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: A woman caught in the middle of a controversial case spent Thanksgiving with her family, getting out of prison just in time. Marissa Alexander was released on bond Wednesday as she waits for a new trial.

Last year, she was sentenced for 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot at her husband, who she claims abused her. The case made national headlines when she tried to use the stand your ground argument. Nick Valencia has been following the story. Nick, what's her status right now?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's out on $150,000 bonds. She's spent a long time in jail, about 1,000 days in jail. So it's good news for her supporters and good news for her family. She got to spend Thanksgiving with her children. Part of the argument of her lawyer was that she was not able to see her 3-year-old since the baby was 6-months-old. They are hoping to have her home for Christmas as well, Miguel and her new trial is set for March 31st, 2014.

MARQUEZ: The stand your ground law, how did that play into her getting out?

VALENCIA: So this is something we should be very clear about. Her supporters tried to draw this parallel, this comparison between George Zimmerman and her case. Her case actually didn't receive that much attention until the Zimmerman case came to light in 2012. Her case was heavily underreported. They tried to say that there was a parallel there.

She used a stand your ground defense. The court denied that, saying, she went to the car, got a gun and shot at her husband. The prosecutors have maintained from day one it threatened the husband's life. That is wasn't a warning shot that she meant ill will --

MARQUEZ: She had an option to escape at some point.

VALENCIA: That's right. She actually did. She left the house and only to come back. In fact, legal experts might tell you that she probably going to be reconvicted in this trial in March.

MARQUEZ: Well, we will find out very shortly because, thank you very much, Nick. Let's bring in our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor. He is in Cleveland. Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor joins us from lovely Las Vegas.

Avery, the new trial based on problems with jury instructions, it's not new evidence but could all of this attention the case has gotten help for a different outcome for this woman?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I wonder because actually if you remember, the George Zimmerman case there was an enormous amount of talk about "Stand your Ground," it never was and neither is Marissa Alexander's. The fact is, the trial judge initially said, you know, she's got to prove her defense beyond a reasonable doubt.

The jury was out for 12 minutes. No wonder it got reversed. As nick said it's going back to trial, but I think this is going to be a very tough one. I think we're going to look for a plea deal here.

MARQUEZ: Richard, do you agree? What do you think? Publicity on this case help, hurts?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Miguel, here's the problem with the case. There are a lot of problems here. The initial plea bargain was a three-year deal which she rejected. Florida has mandatory minimum sentencing. If you get convicted of an aggravated assault with a firearm, which makes it aggravated, there's no discretion by the judge. You must get 20 years in prison.

So that's one issue to discuss in the public. Here we're bringing up "Stand Your Ground" because it made so much publicity with Zimmerman. And Avery's right, the Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case was not a "Stand Your Ground" case and this is not a "Stand Your Ground."

If she goes with the "Stand Your Ground" defense, she will be convicted again. She must go with a castle Doctrine defense. Listen, there was a restraining order against this man. She got the restraining order lifted and married him. Then she moved out of the marital premises where he was living, went back there and slept with him.

Then when she had a fight with him she went into the garage and grabbed a handgun and came back into the house. There was no fear of imminent, grave bodily harm or death. That's what you need for "Stand Your Ground."

FRIEDMAN: Wait a minute.

HERMAN: It doesn't fly here.

FRIEDMAN: Two of the three judges on appeal said it should go back for retrial, again, because of the wrong instruction by the trial judge. That's why I'm in accord. There is tremendous complication for this defendant coming up.

HERMAN: The wrong instruction dealt with the self-defense instruction that was given. That's what was faulty.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: But here it's not going to be a self-defense. She has to use a castle Doctrine in order to have any chance of beating this case. If they stick with stand your ground, she will be convicted again.

MARQUEZ: It sounds like the defense has the bigger job to do here. Avery, the defense is also citing civil rights issues. Do you see, as a civil rights attorney, any grounds to make that argument?

FRIEDMAN: Well, you know, they're saying that because they're comparing it to the George Zimmerman case. Frankly, I don't understand the argument. There's no civil rights issue. Everyone is the same race. Her husband, Rico, it had nothing to do with race. Ultimately I think this is a criminal trial, going to go forward. Unless prosecutors move those charges and a plea deal is struck. That's the only way she'll get out of this mess.

MARQUEZ: On that plea deal, she had rejected one early on, Richard. Does this new trial open up the window for another one?

HERMAN: There are always opportunities, Miguel, for plea. But when you put the government to the test and you make them spend the money to prosecute and actually go to trial, you know, the offers are not as good as they were from the beginning. They don't like it.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: There may be an offer, maybe five years on the table now. But her story has a lot of holes in it. It doesn't stand up to the evidence and the CSI at the crime scene. She's got big problems. If she goes again with stand your ground, she going to be convicted and get 20 years.

MARQUEZ: Wow.

FRIEDMAN: And there's no civil rights case. MARQUEZ: All right, you guys are passionate about this one, clearly. Our legal eagles for this week legal turkeys, stick around. That was really cheesy.

HERMAN: That hurt.

MARQUEZ: An outrageous case that affects anyone who buys something online. A woman who wrote a negative review online and now she's saying she is facing a fine for it. Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Health officials in Nevada are trying to figure out what got nearly 100 youth football players sick while visiting Las Vegas for a tournament. Thirteen kids and five adults were staying at the Rio Hotel were taken to the hospital with flu-like illnesses. Some thought food poisoning was to blame.

But the football team's manager says the people who got sick did not share a common meal. A spokesman for the Sports Network International calls the sickness unfortunate, but says it is fairly common for viruses to hit entire teams.

And in Montana it is fighting to get a former teacher back behind bars after he served only a month for raping a student, a 14-year-old girl who later killed herself. State prosecutors have appealed the judge's 30-day rape sentence handed down to Stacy Dean Rambold arguing the sentence was illegal under state law.

And a Utah woman says she was just a little annoyed when her husband ordered something online and never got it. Then she became really frustrated when she couldn't get in touch with anyone from the company so she wrote a negative review online to warn other shoppers. And she was stunned when the company slapped her with a fine. Pamela Brown has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Palmer bought a few Christmas gifts for his wife, Jen, on the web site, cleargear.com in 2008, never imagining he'd still be paying the price five years later. The Palmers say the items they ordered never arrived. The transaction was canceled.

JEN PALMER, CONSUMER: After 30 days or so, Paypal said there's no activity here and they turned around and gave the money back to my husband's account and effectively canceled the sale.

BROWN: After repeated calls to Clear Gear to find out what happened, Jen Palmer posted this review of the company on rip- offreport.com saying, in part, there is absolutely no way to get in touch with a physical human being. No extensions work. Fast-forward 3 1/2 years. The Palmers received this e-mail appearing to be from Clear Gear stating they'd be fined $3,500 that the negative review wasn't taken down in 72 hours. PALMER: We were shocked someone would attempt to do this. It's ridiculous that anyone would turn around and try to extort us like this.

BROWN (on camera): Have you ever heard of anything like this?

HITHA PRABHAKAR, CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER, HP RETAIL ADVISORY: I've never heard of anything like this happening to the consumer only because retailers mainly protect the consumer.

BROWN (voice-over): The e-mail cited this on obscure non- disparagement clause in the terms of use contract that says, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts cleargear.com. Legal experts warn more and more companies are adding this language in the fine print as protection.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The first amendment does not protect certain kinds of free speech. And you can sign a contract giving away your free speech rights if it's a fair contract. This contract, though, is not fair and frankly it would be thrown out by any court.

BROWN: We found other examples of non-disparagement clauses in customer agreements including this one from a vacation rental company threatening to charge customers up to $10,000 in damages if a post containing unreasonable negative sentiment isn't removed. The company told CNN it stands by its practice.

The Palmers couldn't take down the review and refused to pay up. Clear Gear apparently then reported the bills as unpaid to a collections company.

PALMERS: It was bad enough that when we went to get a second car it took them a month to find a bank that was willing to finance us because of the huge ding this puts on our credit.

BROWN: CNN tried multiple phone numbers listed on Clear Gear's web site, all disconnected. They responded via e-mail defending its actions. The Palmers say they're taking their fight all the way to court.

PALMERS: We don't want them to get away with this. Apparently we're not the only people that they have done this to. We're just the only ones who are fighting back. We're not giving up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Can you see the steam coming out of my ears? That's ridiculous. The Better Business Bureau says it's investigating and has put the company on alert. And thankfully our legal guys are back, Avery Friedman in Cleveland, Richard Herman in lovely Las Vegas. Avery, this is ridiculous. They can't get away with this, can they, the company?

FRIEDMAN: Let me tell you something. I am so proud of the Palmers because the only way this is going to be taken care of is if they go to court. The fact is their non-disparagement negative inclusions in the so-called user contracts, these people click agree and never read the stuff. Ultimately that winds up on the credit report for the Palmers.

They're going to court. That provision going to be held unconscionable unenforceable, it going to be cleared up but at the end of the day, this happens over and over again and it is a real consumer problem.

MARQUEZ: To hear about it on the eve before the eve of Cybermonday is really upsetting to me personally. Richard, is this family just going to win outright and Clear Gear going to be punished itself?

HERMAN: Miguel, here's the situation. With all due respect to my dear colleague, Avery and Paul Callan, who I know very well, they're -- both wrong. These non-disparagement clauses are absolutely enforceable, and it's buyer beware. If you sign a contract, you agree to purchase terms, and that provision is in there, you will be bound by it.

FRIEDMAN: Come on! Bargaining power, Richard!

HERMAN: Cyberspace is enormous. It can create tremendous damages for companies. They're seeking to protect themselves. Here the problem is this, Miguel. This provision was not in the agreement at the time these people purchased their $25 ornament. It was not there. It was put there three years after their purchase so this family going to win.

FRIEDMAN: The company is going to lose.

HERMAN: They'll win, the claim going to not be enforceable.

MARQUEZ: You're in Vegas, Richard. We're taking bets on this one.

FRIEDMAN: That sounds like scrooge talking.

HERMAN: It's not scrooge it's legal law. These clauses are enforceable.

FRIEDMAN: No way.

HERMAN: You have to be careful what you buy.

MARQUEZ: We agree to a lot. We all hit OK, OK, OK online. Avery, is there something that folks can do to protect themselves?

HERMAN: Don't do that.

MARQUEZ: Come on! Are you going to read through 35 pages of documents before you buy something?

FRIEDMAN: Richard just said, yes, don't do that. Well, everybody does it, I'm sure.

HERMAN: Pay the price.

FRIEDMAN: Ultimately they'll have to challenge it in court. He's right on that. But the fact is, I think it's unconscionable and I think a court going to invalidate it and clear their credit record.

MARQUEZ: Richard, you're so smart, what should consumers do avoiding this with online reviews and falling into this legal situation?

HERMAN: Right. Read everything very carefully, like all our paralegal students do. Don't buy from companies like this. They had a B-rating. They weren't a great company. Don't buy from them. There's so much competition out there. Stay away from these clauses. These are devastating clauses and they are enforceable, Miguel. Trust me. Don't listen to Avery.

FRIEDMAN: They don't know that.

HERMAN: This is enforceable.

MARQUEZ: Avery Friedman, Richard "The Scrooge" Herman, thank you very much. Hope to see you, if I don't see you before Christmas, Merry Christmas and happy holidays --

HERMAN: Despite calling us legal turkeys, you do a great job, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: I apologize, guys. Thank you. The legal guys are here every Saturday at this time to give us their take on the most intriguing legal cases of the day.

It's no secret. Mafia assassins are ruthless. But in Italy there could be a breed of gangsters that are far worse. The shocking details of how an alleged mobster killed his rival.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: The U.S. is offering to take the most lethal parts of Syria's chemical stockpile and destroy them at sea. Paid for by the U.S., the operation is expected to happen aboard a U.S. Navy ship. The chemicals going to be diluted to safer levels using a process called "hydrolysis." The goal is to remove the most dangerous chemicals from the country by December 31st.

As far as mafia killings go, this one has got to be one of the more gruesome. Police in Southern Italy say a mafia assassin beat a man with a spade then fed him alive to pigs. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It sounds straight out of the imagination of a Hollywood script writer, but according to Italian police, this is not fiction. They say a member of one of Italy's most notorious and violent organized crime rings fed a rival gangster live to the pigs, fed a rival gangster live to the pigs.

They say that in the course of a crackdown on organized crime in the southern part of the country, they monitored a phone conversation by one who they say was behind the murder and has now been arrested. They say he told friends that now his bosses going to appreciate his work.

According to the transcript released by the police, he said it was satisfying to hear him scream momma mia how he screamed. They say pigs always leave something behind, but I saw nothing. Nothing was left. I said these pigs really can eat. Now, this killing is part of a feud that goes back more than 60 years and has left dozens of people dead. This, however, is the first murder it seems done with the participation of a pig. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.

MARQUEZ: Ben Wedeman, I guess thank you for bringing us that. Out of the movie, "Snatch," by the way, is that particular scenario, terrible, terrible, thank you, Ben.

It's rare to find a happy story in the aftermath of a tornado, but this is one. For nine days this pit bull puppy lay waiting buried under a pile of rubble after a tornado ripped through the town of Washington, Illinois. His owner National Guardsman Jacob Montgomery spent days scouring the wreckage looking for his dog. When he got a phone call from a neighbor, a rescue group had found his little Dexter incredibly alive and well, very sweet.

Obamacare has its supporters and it certainly has its critics. In this case, the critic is Mike Tyson. In a minute, I'll tell you why the former heavyweight champ is coming out against the president's health care plan and he'll share his thoughts on the knockout game. A side of Tyson you've never seen, and it is next from the CNN NEWSROOM to your living room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Former heavyweight boxing champ is a lot of things. He is a convicted felon, boxer and even had his own one-man show on Broadway. Now he is a social critic and author. He spoke with CNN's Piers Morgan about his new book.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN LIVE": Joining me is the one and only Mike Tyson who tells his story in his new book "Undisputed Truth" and in the HBO film of the same name. Mike, great to have you back. How are you?

MIKE TYSON, "UNDISPUTED TRUTH" BOOK AND HBO FILM: Awesome. Feel great.

MORGAN: Mike, this knockout game, not really a game because people have been killed by it.

TYSON: Have they been?

MORGAN: Yes. People are losing lives where the kids around America --

TYSON: I'm familiar with it.

MORGAN: What do you make of it?

TYSON: I don't make anything of it. It doesn't make sense. It's a game to some people. I don't think it's cool. They're not -- I saw one guy hit a woman, a girl, from behind.

MORGAN: Would you ever -- when you grew up on the streets of Brooklyn -- have done something like that?

TYSON: Yes, if I'm robbing someone, I've done something like that, but this is just for fun. There's no purpose. I saw someone hit a woman. I would never hit a girl. I can't imagine. The only thing I can imagine is that being my daughter or my wife.

MORGAN: Why do people do it, do you think?

TYSON: I have no idea. I don't have no idea. Maybe they're just evil, just some evil people.

MORGAN: Last time you came on the show I talked to you about health care. We had this exchange. When you go back to your old streets and meet your old guys and so on. what do you think the real cares and fears of the average American on the street are right now?

TYSON: Health care. There's people that haven't been to the doctor in 20 years, haven't seen the doctor because they can't afford it. Man, there's hunger, homelessness. We're talking about the land of plenty. It's just difficult. We're in dire straits right now as far as hope. I believe Obama and Mr. Biden, vice president, give people in that desperation they'll need that hope.

MORGAN: Now, since then, it was a year ago, obviously they tried to do this with Obamacare.

TYSON: It just really went horrible, didn't it?

MORGAN: Yes.

TYSON: It's really bad.

MORGAN: I mean, the idea behind it, you would be supportive of the idea of bringing millions of Americans into health care who wouldn't otherwise able to afford it?

TYSON: If they can get the health care. But as of now it doesn't seem as though they could get it. I was for it 100 percent, but we come to the reality that it didn't work.

MORGAN: When you saw Barack Obama, the first African-American president in the country's history staring down at cameras repeatedly before all this happened saying, if you want to keep your doctor or your plan, you can do that, now it turns out that's completely untrue. He basically told a falsehood. Does that diminish him to you? Does it reduce his standing as a president?

TYSON: Well, maybe as a president. I don't know what it takes to become a president. I don't know how many butts or how much you've got to be a brown-noser to be a president, you know. But just from his symbol of looking at him, a black man in America being the president, the most powerful man in the world, it's very positive for young black kids like my son. But the reality of this plan, it didn't work. So we have to find another plan.

MORGAN: A lot of African-Americans have come on my show, notable ones, and said how disappointed they are that Barack Obama hasn't done enough for African-Americans in this country in the time he's been president. Do you think that's a fair criticism from what you hear on the streets?

TYSON: Well, listen, we've got to stop being involved with the knockout game. We have to conduct ourselves as respectable African- Americans. I'm not blaming Obama. It has nothing to do with Obama. He's the president of the United States and he's supposed to help us?

That's never happened in history. No president has ever cared about the African-American community. I don't think that's ever going to happen. I'm just talking as a black man, a person that lives on this planet for, what, 47 years and watched the struggles through African-American communities.

MORGAN: When you see so many young African-American teenage boys in particular in somewhere like Chicago shooting each other up --

TYSON: Doesn't have to be Chicago. It could be anywhere.

MORGAN: Right. But the particular issue of gun violence amongst young black teenagers in America, what do you do? How do you tackle that?

TYSON: Listen, it was meant that way. That's why the jails are full of us. It's for the gun charges, for nonviolent charges. More of us are in jail for nonviolent offenses than violent offenses. You have to look at the Rockefeller law. There are more African-Americans and minorities in prison for nonviolent crime and doing more time than the violent offenders are doing.

Double life sentence, triple life sentence, that's another issue in itself. It's just in my own recollection that's just the way it is. It's always been that way.

MORGAN: What does America do about guns generally, do you think?

TYSON: Everybody is going to get guns. What do you think they're going to do with guns everybody going to have guns?

MORGAN: Can it go on and on like that, just more and more guns?

TYSON: White people have guns, too. White people shoot people, too. Everybody has guns. That's what happened to Trayvon Martin. He got shot and more kids way before him have been shot by people who legally own guns. If they believe that, most black people said, if I'm going to get killed like that, I need guns to have self-defense.

If everyone gives their guns away, we're just sitting ducks. We can't have guns we're felons. We can't defend ourselves, our families? Because we're felons, we have to defend our family after the fact? No. People are going to have guns and defend themselves.

It's just really bad. We're really -- we're in a country where there are more guns than there are people. It's really bad and it's really scary.

MORGAN: We had a big debate on the show a week ago, I think it was, about the use of the "n" word in America now whether it would help if the black community also stopped using that word, rappers and so on. You use it quite a lot on stage, in the book a bit as well. What is your view about that debate?

TYSON: People are going to do what they want to do in life and have nothing to do about what our community do. We have to think about how this word originated, where it came from, and just because we've stopped saying it doesn't stop them from saying it. Why are they mad we're saying it because they can't say it?

It's going to be a double standard if they say it whether we say it amongst each other. I don't know. You tell me. I don't plan on stop saying it anytime soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Watch "PIERS MORGAN" weeknights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern for more compelling interviews just like this.

Their story is amazing, tales of a bright light, peace and angels. A look at what happens when people say they have been to heaven and back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: Everyone has their own vision of heaven. Over my shoulder here you see how the director of the film "Resurrection" sees it. Tomorrow night, Anderson Cooper brings us the fascinating story of three people who came close to clinical death and say they actually went somewhere, or at least felt something profound. Bren Breedlove was one of those people. His story was told here by CNN'S Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've reached 17,000 subscribers. That's insane.

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What was it about making videos your brother loved so much?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His strong connection to people. That's the reason why he gravitated towards giving advice to teens, is he genuinely wanted to help them out. He became a little bit of a local celebrity, especially with the girls. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't matter how a person looks, if they have braces or acne or anything like that. What matters is their personality. I have a really big challenge in my life. I have a heart condition. It's called hypertrophic cardio myopathy and I have a pacemaker.

KAYE: Do you remember that day that you got the diagnosis, what you felt?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do, because it was very scary, the doctor just very clearly stated, he has this condition. There's no cure. We'll have to be careful throughout his life.

KAYE: How nervous were you that he could die?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was afraid every day that I'd go downstairs or go to his bedroom and he may have passed away in the middle of the night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember the paramedics gathering around Ben and measuring all types of vitals and that sort of thing. The ambulance arrived, and they put him into the back of the ambulance with my mom.

KAYE: There was a moment there where you just let go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a point in there where I realized that the answer to my prayer maybe was going to be, I'm going to take him home to heaven. Finally they were wheeling him from the E.R. to a regular room, and I was walking alongside the gurney holding Ben's hand, his warm little hand, which I was loving at the moment. Ben was looking straight up and he said mom, do you see that light? Now I don't see anything. He said but it's there can you see it?