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Princeton Begins Meningitis B Vaccinations; Newlywed Murder Trial Begins Today; Remembering Nelson Mandela; More Snow, Ice Today for East Coast; Man Says He Was Trapped on Plane

Aired December 09, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Berman in New York. Let's look at our "Top Stories" right now.

The railroad line involving that deadly train derailment in New York is announcing new safety upgrades. Metro North will install reinforcements at critical curves and movable bridges. Signals will also alert train engineers to reduce speed when approaching the curve where the train derailed last week. That train jumped the tracks while heading into a curve at 82 miles per hour. That is nearly three times the posted speed limit.

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner in court today to face sentencing for kissing and grabbing three women. Filner resigned from office after 19 women accused him of offensive behavior during his tenure as mayor and as a U.S. congressman. He is not expected to go to jail, but he will be on probation for three years.

Concern over the spread of Meningitis B has heightened on the campus of Princeton University with eight cases reported since March. Starting today, the University is offering thousands of students a vaccine, one that has not been licensed for use in the U.S. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now.

Elizabeth -- students have a choice to make now.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, they certainly do. And again, it's important that we use the word "choice". No one is making these students do anything. They can either get the vaccine or they can leave themselves vulnerable to getting meningitis.

So let's look at the consequences of each of those choices. So if you leave yourself vulnerable to meningitis, meningitis can cause terrible side effects. Things like hearing loss, brain damage, kidney damage, loss of limb. And one of those things will happen to one in five people who get meningitis; so one in five will get one of those things that or something similar that I listed. And one in ten people who get meningitis will die from it.

Now let's look at the consequences of getting the vaccine well obviously you get vaccinated so that's good. But you can get mild soreness at the injection site and you may possibly get a temporary fever. Those are some of the more common side effects. There are extraordinarily rare side effects that are much -- that are much worse, but again, those are extraordinarily rare.

BERMAN: Yes the possible outcomes to your getting meningitis seem awfully bad. So what are medical experts telling you? What advice are they giving?

COHEN: You know we asked several doctors, what would you do if your child were at Princeton? What would you advice your child to do? And they said, absolutely, I would tell them to get the vaccine. One of them said, "My child would be first in line to get the vaccine." He said meningitis can just -- it can get you very sick, very, very quickly.

BERMAN: It is a serious, serious issue. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for being us. I appreciate it.

COHEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Still to come, just eight days after they were married, a Montana woman is accused of pushing her husband to his death. She says it was an accident. But prosecutors say, not so fast. We'll break down this case. Coming up next.

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BERMAN: Prosecutors say Cody Johnson fell face first after his wife allegedly pushed him over a cliff with both hands back in July. Jordan Graham was on trial for the murder of her husband just eight days after they were married. Her defense team says this was all an accident and Jordan was simply trying to push his arm away after a heated argument.

Let's talk about more -- let's talk more about this with Page Pate. He's a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta. Page where to start here. Let's start with the defense. It seems like a difficult case to prove that a wife mistakenly pushes her husband off a cliff. That's an awfully big mistake to make.

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is. It's a very difficult defense to prove especially when you have the person who is on trial already making inconsistent statements about what she said happened.

You know, the first story was he went out with friends, he didn't come back. And only later did she change her story to say it was self- defense. "I thought he was grabbing for me. I tried to move my arm away and then somehow in the scuffle he ended up falling over the side of a cliff." So they have an incredible burden to meet in this trial.

BERMAN: That said, no one else was there. And now the prosecutor says, suggests that the husband was pushed face first off the cliff. How do they prove that?

PATE: Well it's going to be interesting. There was a pretrial hearing to determine whether the prosecutors could use this blindfold that they found at the bottom of the cliff. There is some DNA evidence on that blindfold or that piece of cloth that the prosecutors will attempt to try to their theory that she blindfolded him and brought him to this location and then pushed him off.

The judge at this point said I'm not going to allow it in because I don't see the connection. But he did leave open the opportunity for the prosecutors to tie it up later and so it may come in as evidence at trial.

BERMAN: And we are expected to hear from a whole lot of experts, forensics experts talking about how he was pushed, how he was shoved. How important will they be to each side's case?

PATE: Well as you mentioned before John we don't have any eyewitnesses in this case. So when you don't have eyewitnesses you really need to piece together the other evidence in the case. And here it's forensics.

I also understand there's going to be some communication evidence about e-mails and other discussions that she may have had with other individuals to try to cover up where she was that day.

So we're going to hear a lot of testimony and it will be up to the prosecution to try to bind it together with a theory that works.

BERMAN: You know what about her -- what about Jordan Graham? It's always a big risk to put the defendant on the stand. But in this case you really need to curry sympathy with the jury. You need to sort of get a sense of what was going on in her head probably. Might it be a risk worth taking putting her on the stand?

PATE: I think so. But good defense lawyers will always wait until that point in the trial when they have to make that decision. Usually if your client has already made statements to the government, that help her then you won't put her up on the stand. We saw that in the Zimmerman case. But here her statements to the FBI hurt her. So I do think they will be at least the consideration by the defense team of putting her up on the stand to at least explain those statements.

BERMAN: And then the circumstances here Page. This was eight days after they were married. I have to believe that's just going to hang over the jury this entire case. Eight days after they were married -- this is not how newlyweds are supposed to act.

PATE: No far from it. You know there was also some evidence that she had even threatened to kill her parents. And the judge did disallow that. The prosecutors said look this shows her intent, that it was not an accident. But at this point that evidence is not coming in. But the prosecutors still have a very solid case.

BERMAN: All right it will be interesting to see how this plays out to be sure. Page Pate, thanks so much for being with us -- really appreciate it.

PATE: Thank you John.

BERMAN: We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone.

As world leaders head to South Africa to join residents there in celebrating the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela, we're learning more about the man from those who were closest to him. Among them noted poet and author, Dr. Maya Angelou, who wrote and recited a tribute to Nelson Mandela on behalf of the American people. This is now posted on the State Department website.

She spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper about her friend in this week's "American Journey".

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Dr. Angelou, I watched the poem that you wrote and recited in memory of President Mandela and one of the things you struck me that you said, you refer to him as David, not just South Africa's David, but as our David, the world's David and our Gideon.

MAYA ANGELOU, POET: The truth is we have -- many of us are Davids. A man, a woman, we can all be that particular person who has enough courage to stand up and say I am one. I have enough courage to dare to be a lover. Not an indulger but somebody who dares to love.

That's what Nelson Mandela was about. He had enough courage to say I am -- you may call me. I am a person who dares to care for other human beings.

And you see, one of the reasons I said this to you some time ago when I had the pleasure of speaking to you, Anderson, Cooper, I like the fact that you have enough courage to stand up. Courage is the most important of all the virtues.

It's true. It's true. He was a courageous human being and full of the idea that he was on a journey and he had something to do. He had a place to be, and it's fabulous to realize that there is an old spirit, an old gospel song which is -- I'm on my journey now Mount Zion, on my journey now Mount Zion and I wouldn't take nothing, Mount Zion for my journey now, Mount Zion.

He was on a journey and he knew it, and he had something to do, and this is what each of us has. If we have enough courage, we can say I'm on a journey. I have a charge to keep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That is so moving. Dr. Angelou first met Nelson Mandela back in the 1960s when she was a journalist in Egypt.

About 50 minutes after the hour right now.

Flights canceled, cars piling up and millions of people left stranded all because of a winter storm that has dumped heavy snow and ice across much of the U.S. It's going to bring more of the same to the northeast today.

This has become a familiar scene -- traffic coming to a standstill because of slick and treacherous driving conditions.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We really were just heading out for a morning drive just to enjoy the beauty. And see the unique snow fall here in St. George. And then we happened upon all the cars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I had known it would be like this, I would have flown back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.

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BERMAN: And look at that. That's sheets of ice cascading down from buildings and crashing under cars in the Dallas area. No one has hurt -- the cars severely damaged.

And if you watched the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions game yesterday, if you could see through the snowflakes, you probably saw players slipping and sliding across the field all day. Not to mention some creative work from the field crews there.

CNN's Rosa Flores joins us now from alongside the New Jersey turnpike in Richfield, New Jersey. How are things now -- Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John, slick, wet road conditions are what drivers are expecting here. We just talked to one a driver who said that he made a 180 on the interstate. And let's just say that he's counting his blessings this morning.

But let me show you around so you can see what it's like in this area. We have light precipitation. And if you take a look, visibility is one of the things that emergency officials are telling us that they're worried about because you can see clouds are low, visibility is low. They're worried about that.

I just got off the phone with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, and they say that they had 800 trucks out overnight plowing, also spreading salt to make sure that's those roadways were as good as can be for drivers. But it's been difficult.

I also talked to the Emergency Management. And they tell me that in New Jersey, they saw almost a split. Now the storm was moving from south to north. And the conditions initially were really bad in the southern part of New Jersey. Now they're experiencing more flooding and ponding in that part of the state. So they're asking drivers to be very, very careful, not to drive in ponding situations.

Now the northern part of the state, which is where I'm at right now, they tell us it's the snow, the sleet, it's about -- it's in the 30s right now. So they're worried about that. They're asking drivers to be extremely careful in these conditions because as you just saw, visibility is very low.

You mentioned flights. About 1,000 flights were canceled throughout the United States today. That's an improvement. Yesterday was about 2,600 flights. So it's been dangerous.

I also talked to state police. They say they're not monitoring any serious wrecks in New Jersey right now. But overnight there was a 20- plus car pile up in Yonkers, New York.

So the conditions are treacherous, like you mentioned. So be advised: pack some patience and be very careful out on the roadways -- John.

BERMAN: It looks like an awful day to be outside. Rosa Flores, stay warm out there. We really appreciate it.

The weather not just causing problems and headaches for humans. I want to show you a picture right now. That's a deer in need of help after falling into the Plain River near Chicago. Rescuers have jumped into the water. We saw some swimmers in there before. They're working their way toward that stranded deer trying to do what they can.

There you can see someone in the water right now trying to move closer. You have to be careful. Those deer can move awfully quickly. Hopefully they'll be able to get to him and get him out of the water as soon as possible.

Up next for us a story that you only expect out of a movie. A traveler wakes up after a flight all alone, locked in a dark cabin of a grounded plane. When he calls his girl for help, she didn't believe him.

He'll explain just how in the world he got in there and out of there -- coming up next.

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BERMAN: So, you hate the thought of a long flight? Well, imagine being trapped on a plane alone and in the dark. Tom Wagner thought he was just taking a quick nap on his flight but when he woke up, everyone was gone and the cabin was totally empty. He spoke to "NEW DAY" this morning about his bizarre adventure.

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TOM WAGNER, LEFT SLEEPING ON THE PLANE: I happened to look up and the lights were out. I was like, well, what's going on here? And then I was like, I looked out in the aisles and nobody was there. I got up, I walked around. I had to go to the bathroom. So I worked my way to the back and found it.

And I called my girlfriend, Debbie, I said "Listen, you got to call the airlines, I'm locked in the plane."

I got a lot of questions like didn't you feel when you landed? And I was like, well, you know, I work on -- I'm a captain on a offshore oil -- I work for the oil field industry, and sleeping and bouncing around is kind of the norm.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: What do you say to the gate agents?

WAGNER: Well, they were like, what are you doing on this plane? And I said, oh, I was a passenger. And I woke up and I was locked in the plane. The workers came on first. Those are the ones who found me.

I was standing -- I was going to open the door. I walked up towards the cockpit, you know, the boarding door. And I had my hand on the handle. I said, no, no, I better not do that. And a couple of minutes later, the other side door start opening up. And the worker -- the one worker had come in and said who are you? And what are you doing on this plane? I said, dude, I was a passenger on the plane. I fell asleep. I woke up.

BOLDUAN: They gave you a travel voucher. Is that enough? Will you be traveling with them every again?

WAGNER: I'm traveling back on my return flight to Louisiana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Oh my. Express Jet told CNN affiliate KTRK there was a post- flight cabin inspection but the company could not explain how Wagner was overlooked.

Thanks for joining us today. I'm John Berman.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: 1,500 more flights canceled this morning. And that is an improvement over yesterday. But this winter storm is not done yet. The forecast, you may not want to hear, coming up next.

Also this hour, she became a widow just eight days after promising till death do us part. Now she's on trial for murder trying to convince a jury that she didn't mean to push her new husband off of a cliff.

And works been piling up around the House and I do mean that literally. Just wait until you see the week's to do list for the do- nothing Congress. Is there time to get it all done and avoid another government shutdown?

Hello everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's Monday. Happy Monday. It's December 9.