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Michael Dunn Trial; Team USA At Sochi

Aired February 15, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Top of the hour. Thank you so much for joining us. There's a lot going on that we're working on. Sit down. We're going to tell you about a lot.

A record setting drought out west, snow storms in the north and an earthquake in the south, what is going on with this crazy weather? Live pictures now in New York City. It is snowing in the northeast. Look at that. Again, what in the world? What's happening? We'll take you there live.

One athlete also calls Sochi a venue of disaster. We're going to tell you why.

And a look at the new face of heroin.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, I know like me you have been paying close attention to the resurgence of heroin addiction in this country. It's amazing how many states it involves now and who the face of heroin has become. I'll be talking to a guy who is a world class gymnast who has succumb to this illness as well and how he got out of it. That's coming up.

LEMON: All right. But we're going to begin with a developing story for you. Looking live at the court house in Jacksonville, Florida, where 12 jurors could decide the face of this man. His name is Michael Dunn, you have been listening to his testimony all week. They could decide his fate at any moment. They have been at it for days.

Dunn is charged with the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis after an argument over loud music. And the attempted murder of Davis's three friends. Our legal analyst Sunny Hostin have been inside the courtroom for this trial. She joins us now.

This is going to be very tense. It's very tense deliberations, very tense emotions all around the country, of course, from the family and the people who knew Jordan Davis and the three boys involved.

So Sunny, the jury has had several questions about the charges. They have been in there for more than 20 hours. What is taking so long?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's sort of the million-dollar question, isn't? I think if you look and listen to the questions, it seems that they are struggling with Michael Dunn's testimony and his credibility. It was so unusual for a first-degree murder defendant to get on the witness stand, but he did. He got on the witness stand. He claimed to have seen a shotgun, Don, in the car with these four young boys. He claims that Jordan Davis got out of the car and brandished this weapon and that he felt in fear of his life and that is why he shot 10 times into the car. It's clear to me and to other people that have been watching this trial that perhaps there are a few jurors that do believe that version of events.

They have been asking questions directly related to self-defense. Not only today, but also yesterday. And I think that is what this is going o come down to. What is so fascinating is many people are saying this is not a stand your ground case, Don. This is a stand your ground case because stand your ground was instructed to the jury. They got the definition for stand your ground and it's really just part of Florida's self-defense law, and so that is really what the problem is here.

LEMON: So Sunny, you say there are problems with the questions that they have, you think that some of the jurors are believing Dunn's side of the story that it was self-defense. So how does that bode, what do you think, for the outcome here? Plus your thought on the length of the deliberations.

HOSTIN: You know, usually the rule of thumb, Don, is one hour of jury deliberations per day of trial. This was a very short trial. We're talking eight, nine days. So the fact that they are 20 hours in, it's even longer than the George Zimmerman case deliberations, which was only about 16 1/2 hours. It's much longer than the O.J. Simpson verdict, which came in under four hours.

And so I think that this jury is really struggling. They are probably are hung on one or many counts and that tells me that perhaps they will come back in, explain to the judge that they are hung and what the judge usually does in a case like this is provide what is called an Alan charge. It's almost like a pep talk to the jury and tells them "I know you have been working really hard but please try to go back in there, exchange ideas, do the best that you can to reach a consensus."

And so I think that perhaps is what we're going to hear today. Typically the judge lets them deliberate until about 6:00. We're getting close to 6:00. They have started at about 9:00 today. And I think there's some trouble in the jury room. I think they may be hung, Don.

LEMON: Yes, very interesting. Sunny, standby. We're going to be going back to live to Sunny Hostin again live in Jacksonville, Florida at that courthouse where they are deliberating the fate of Mr. Dunn, who is accused of killing this young man, a horrific story.

Let me turn to the parents of Trayvon Martin where people have been drawing parallels to the Trayvon Martin case. They sent a message to the parents of Jordan Davis condemning racial profiling in Florida. They say it serves as a basis for the shooting and killing of teenagers. They said "no matter the verdict, the fact that Ron and Lucia will never see their son again will not change. We know that pain all too well. We walk with Jordan in defining his legacy and continuing the fight against unjust gun laws." Well, the family attorney of Trayvon Martin is Benjamin Crump. He is going to join us live in the 6:00 hour to talk about this case. Make sure you join us right here on CNN. Benjamin Crump is going to join us to talk about this case.

OK. We're going o get to the weather now. We're following that case in Florida. We'll keep an eye on that. I want to go to the weather though. Enough with the crazy weather, right?

Even the government's climate agency says the weather is freaking weird right now. The deep south freezes solid. It's frozen solid and they are wearing short sleeves at the Winter Olympics. It's weird. Something about long wave patterns and slow jet streams. Lots of science stuff.

In California this week, no rain. It's the most severe drought on record for the state. President Barack Obama promising nearly $200 million in federal drought relief. But what Californians really need is the weather to cooperate right now. Talk about weird nature.

An earthquake struck last night in South Carolina. A 4.4 magnitude shaker they felt all the way to Atlanta. That means people in the south and South Carolina had a 70-degree day today. An ice emergency and an earthquake all in one week. What's next? Locusts and more of this is coming to New England today, tonight and tomorrow.

A blizzard warning is in effect starting now for Cape Cod extending past Boston. When the storm passes, Boston could have 12 inches of snow on the ground. New York City will be spared the worst of the storm this time around though. Rosa Flores, that is good for New Yorkers. The snow is - looking outside now, yes, the snow is coming down, but the airports have more headaches to look forward to, right?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are absolutely right, Don. I just checked, there's about 700 cancellations around the country at this hour. There's 3,200 delays. You know that those folks are having some major headaches. Let me set the scene here very quickly.

Take a look. It's snowing in New York. New York is expecting between two to four inches of snow at this hour. But like Don was mentioning, the brunt of the storm is going to be in Massachusetts. He mentioned Cape Cod. The east coast of Massachusetts is under a blizzard warning right now. It includes Cape Cod and hear this. The winds are going to be between 50 and 60 miles an hour. It's going to be tough for those folks. The brunt of the storm is going to be between 6:00 p.m. and midnight. Now Governor Duvall Patrick there is definitely already making arrangements. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. DUVAL PATRICK, MASSACHUSETTS: Under these conditions, it really isn't possible for us to keep the roads clear and safe given the rate of snowfall. So we are asking people to stay off the roads from 5:00 this afternoon until 5:00 tomorrow morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FLORES: Here's a quick breakdown. In the area of Cape Cod and the east coast of Massachusetts, they could get between six to 10 inches of snow. Boston, up to probably six inches. In New York, two to four.

But hear this, Don, Maine up to a foot of snow. Those folks are going to get the worst of it.

LEMON: Oh, my goodness. How many times have we heard that from governors and mayors? Stay off the roads if you don't have to be on the roads for the past couple of weeks.

FLORES: Be careful.

LEMON: A whole heck of a lot. People are still out and milling out and about in New York City. I can see it behind you. Rosa Flores, stick around. We'll get back to you as soon as we need to.

So while you were freezing this week, guess what people were doing at the winter Olympics? They were swimming, they were sunbathing. Yes, it is the winter Olympics. They were enjoying the warm weather while ice shut down the southern U.S.. What in the world is going on with this winter weather? The answer straight ahead, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, while a lot of us have been enduring another winter storm, the winter at the Winter Olympics this week, well, it seemed to be taunting us. Was there really winter at the Winter Olympics? I don't know. Well, this is Sochi, Russia, where athletes on the slopes competing in cut-offs. That's right. While at home, an ice storm shut down cities like Atlanta and Charlotte. What's going on here? Brian Todd spoke with some meteorologists. Brian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The refrain is so similar from Atlanta which got one city-stopping winter storm followed by another.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been like nothing I have seen (INAUDIBLE) in almost 30 years.

TODD: To the Great Lakes where 80 percent plus of the lakes were iced over for the first time in about 20 years. The buildup forming ice caves.

TOM AUCH, ICE CAVE VISITOR: These were something special. I've never seen anything like this. They were as big as a garage.

TODD: People in so many different regions say they have never seen weather like this winter's. Over the past week, we have reached a point where 49 out of 50 states have had snow on the ground. We have seen so called thunder sleet. Captured in this I-report video from a backyard deck in Grand Meadows, New Jersey.

But also a punishing drought in California. People in more than a dozen towns in danger of running out of water. Again, that refrain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the worst year I have ever seen.

TODD: These weather patterns are severe, crazy and connected. This winter a high pressure ridge of stable air blocked precipitation from coming in the Pacific Ocean causing California's drought. Then it pushed the jet stream further up into Canada than usual, which then led to a deeper trough in the east, pushing further south. That's why those areas got hit by cold weather from Canada.

BILL LAPENTA, NOAA CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION: They are associated with the long wave pattern, so they are connected in that sense.

TODD (on camera): Experts say the flow of the jet stream that's driving those severe weather patterns into the south and dumping piles of snow here in the mid-Atlantic is also slower moving this year than in years past holding those severe weather patterns longer over this year and in places like Great Britain.

(voice-over): Which caused severe flooding there. The wettest January in two and a half centuries. And yes, that same wave pattern is what's affected the Winter Olympics making it almost summertime in Sochi. Why is it all so slow moving this year holding those severe weather patterns over us longer?

LAPENTA: That's an area of research we're currently investigating. We don't have a clear-cut answer to that question. If we did, we would have a much more skillful prediction in the longer time scale say out to one to two months.

TODD: Another mystery, whether all of this is connected to climate change or not. Bill Lapenta of The Centers for Environmental Prediction says they are still trying to crack that code trying to find out if climate change impacts those jet stream patterns and our crazy weather.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Brian Todd, thank you.

One athlete calls a Sochi venue a disaster. We'll tell you why. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The U.S. men's hockey team didn't need a miracle to beat Russia today at the Olympics. All they needed was T.J. Oshi. He scored on four of six shootout attempts to help Team USA win. The victory nearly didn't happen though but an apparent goal by Russia in the third period was waved off and the two teams could meet again when the final elimination games begin next week. Stay tune.

Half way through the Olympics, the host of the games winning the medal count. Russia tops the count with 15 medals while the U.S. is tied with the Netherlands in second with 14 medals. Norway, Germany and Canada round out the top six.

Well, the U.S. had high hopes for getting a medal in today's women's Super G race. That didn't last long because the race was a disaster for 18 skiers who couldn't even finish including seven of the first eight racers on the course. Andy Scholes is here with more.

Andy, listen, before we go to that, I want to (INAUDIBLE). Look at this. Put up this picture. People have been asking me, what is going on? Why such disaster at the U.S. Olympics? What's going on with Team USA? I mean could it be the weather? Look at this guy, this is a cross country skiing event and, this guy is standing there - this is not a doctored photograph, by the way, we were told.

This guy is standing there shirtless with his bone or coffee or whatever, watching the ski event. What's going on? What's going on here? Is this the problem? The weather?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, some people are saying that, Don. It's been up almost into the 60s during these Olympics. People have been going out to where the beaches are and laying out there without shirts on and people rocking shorts every day.

A photographer I know that's in Sochi actually put on his Facebook like "I didn't bring enough shorts for the Winter Olympics. That's surprising.

You know, as you were talking about the competition on the slopes today, the temperature was about 45 degrees when they started. They already said this downhill course had some of the most dangerous turns people had ever seen. So the warm weather along with the lack of snow made those turns even harder.

Now Switzerland's Laura (INAUDIBLE) who got fourth in the competition in the Super G race said "There's no snow at the bottom. It's not funny anymore. This is a disaster. It was a shame for everybody." Julia Mancuso of the United States, she finished eighth in the Super G, but you know, that's very disappointing for her. She said afterwards she was just happy to make it down the course.

Now aside of how dangerous some of these slopes are, we saw the worst injury we have seen at the Olympics so far earlier today. A Russian skier Maria (INAUDIBLE) fractured her spine today in a crash during a training session. She was in surgery, Don, for six and a half hours. Just a terrible, terrible injury. Now Russian media outlet is reporting that President Vladimir Putin is though going to go visit her in the hospital eventually when she wakes up.

LEMON: Oh my goodness. So the speed skaters are struggling, they're complaining about their uniforms. Is that correct? Could it be the uniforms? Are we the only ones complaining? The U.S. - is everybody else like "We're fine." And we're just going "It's the course." What's going on? SCHOLES: We just hear it a lot more, Don, because it's our athletes that are doing the complaining. Yes, the speed skaters - they are worried about their suits. They the under armour suits that they were all excited about and they are were going to (INAUDIBLE) Olympics. They're going to be their secret weapon. Well, it turns out the vent that's in the back of these brand new suits that they were trying to use is actually slowing them down and not speeding them up. That's according to the speed skaters.

Now they have reverted back to the suits they were wearing in previous competitions for the competitions today. But it didn't help, Don. The skaters that went today, Brian Hanson finished seventh in the 1500- meters. Shani Davis finished 11th. So underarmour in this whole debacle here is saying, "Hey, it's not the suits. You changed the suits back to the old suites and you're still not performing, at least in a medal worthy finish.

LEMON: All right. I'm not there. Excuses, excuses. We'll see.

My clothes are too tight. I don't know. Thank you, Andy Scholes. Talk to you soon.

You know, it's NBA All-Star weekend down in New Orleans. The biggest highlight so far came from secretary of Education, that's right Arne Duncan, in the fourth quarter of the celebrity all-star game. Duncan made a fancy, no-look pass to WNBA Skyler Digens for the easy score. Look at that. Boom.

That is awesome.

Duncan played for Harvard in the 80s before going pro in Australia. Fans voted comedian Kevin Hart, by the way, the game's MVP. But he insisted on giving it to Duncan who scored 20 points, had 11 rebounds and six assists. He said "Arne Duncan, I got to respect him." He handed the MVP to him.

Ugly, demeaning, that's just a few of the words used to describe the scandal coming out of the locker room of the Miami Dolphins. I'll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're learning more about the culture inside the Miami Dolphins locker room. The NFL team has been in the headlines since last October when a player quit claiming he was taunted by a teammate. Jonathan Martin said fellow 300-LB: lineman Richie Incognito used racial slurs and constantly bullied him. But as our Nick Valencia reports, a new NFL report shows there was more than one bully.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, the explosive report released on Friday by independent investigator, Ted Wells, showed that Jonathan Martin worked in a culture of harassment. Not only that, but Richie Incognito wasn't the only one doing the bullying.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VALENCIA (voice-over): The 148-page document details continuing verbal abuse, racial slurs, and vulgar sexual comments made about Martin's sister and mother by some of his Dolphin's teammates. The situation first exploded last October when Miami Dolphin's player Martin walked off of the team's facility, allegedly because of relentless bullying. He gave this interview in the fall.

JONATHAN MARTIN, MIAMI DOLPHINS: I have spoken to my teammates or former teammates in other locker rooms, across the NFL and ask does this stuff go on. Is this normal (INAUDIBLE) and the consensus was this was not normal.

VALENCIA: The investigative report says Martin was tormented by three of the team's offensive lineman starting in his rookie season in 2012.

On Friday Martin's agent reacted.

KENNETH ZUCKERMAN, JONATHAN MARTIN'S AGENT: I'm just happy that we're able to move forward. I think Jonathan really wanted to get this behind him and start to focus on playing football in 2014.

VALENCIA: The report says Richie Incognito along with veteran John Jerry and old pro Mike Pouncey engaged in a pattern of harassment. But Martin was not the only target of the abuse, according to the report. The investigation uncovered another unnamed Dolphin's offensive lineman who was allegedly subjected to homophobic name calling and inappropriate physical touching. The report also says that an assistant trainer was the subject of racial slurs. In the fall, Richie Incognito defended himself.

RICHIE INCOGNITO: I'm embarrassed by my actions. But what I want people to know is the way that Jonathan and the rest of the offensive line and how our team mates, how we communicate, it's vulgar. It's not right. When the words are put in the context, I understand why a lot of eyebrows get raised, but people don't know how John and I communicate to one another.

VALENCIA: According to the report, Martin tin says he was driven into depression and his failure to stand up to his teammates was a personal shortcoming as he tried to fit. He considered suicide twice in 2013 and sought treatment for emotional distress after leaving the team in mid season.

The report also says Martin struggled with emotional issues since high school. Incognito's lawyer says investigative Ted Wells' report is replete with errors adding "it is disappointing that Mr. Wells would have gotten it so wrong, but not surprising. The truth is that Jonathan Martin was never bullied by Richie Incognito or any member of the Dolphins' line. "

Representatives for John, Jerry and Mike Pouncey (ph) could not be reached for comment, but in a series of tweets just two days ago, before the Wells' report was released, incognito lashed out at Martin claiming "the truth is going to bury you" and on Friday after this report was released came this, "Please stop the hate."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: CNN has reached out to Richie Incognito, Mike Pouncey and John Jerry for comment. So far they haven't gotten back to us. Don.

LEMON: Nick, thank you very much. Appreciate your reporting.

Coming up at the top of the hour, the father of a Colorado theater shooting victim upset at a law (INAUDIBLE) who said "Perhaps it was a good thing the gunman had a 100-round magazine." He's going to join us live.

Plus the latest on the trial going on in Florida, that shooting because of loud music.

I'll see you back here with live news at the top of the hour.