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"Loud Music" Murder Trial Juror Speaks; Michelle Obama on "Tonight Show"; CNN Hero Feeds Children; Miami Photog Snaps Pic of Baby CPR

Aired February 21, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Juror Number Eight in the Michael Dunn murder trial says the case was not about race despite what many people think.

Creshuna Miles is 21-years-old. And you first heard a portion of her exclusive interview with our Alina Machado on this show yesterday.

Now, we're hear the rest of her story and what happened in the jury deliberation room.

Miles said it got wild. There was yelling, even prayer, but in the end she and 11 others convicted Michael Dunn of attempted second-degree murder.

Dunn fired into an SUV full of teenagers in 2012 after an argument about their loud music.

The bullets hit and killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis, but Dunn was not convicted of first-degree murder in his death.

Juror Number Eight says she tried to fight for Davis, but at the same time she says this case was not a white and black thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The protests you were chatting on the phone, that's the really reason where you came out here. .

CRESHUNA MILES, DUNN TRIAL JUROR: Yes, everybody is making this a white and black thing and it's not. Nobody brought up, not one race. Never. It was never brought up.

MACHADO: If this case was not about race, what was it about for you?

MILES: It was about justice.

MACHADO: Justice?

MILES: When I walked into it, I wanted to bring justice to whoever it was. If it was Michael Dunn, I wanted to bring justice to him. Leland, Kevin, Tommy, or Jordan. I wanted to bring justice to them.

MACHADO: What would you tell Jordan's family? MILES: I would tell them from my end, I tried. I really did try. I tried to fight for their son. Everyone felt he was guilty. We fought. We fought and we fought and we fought.

I started look at his face when we came to nothing. I saw the look on his dad's face when we were on the stand.

I know it hurts. It's like you got this wound and then somebody slices it open, now to go through the process all over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Jordan Davis' parents saw that interview and they told her race has always been an element in their case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DAVIS, JORDAN DAVIS' FATHER: I don't think she is being genuine.

For her as an African-American female to go into this case with this type of evidence, with this type of rage, with him saying thug music, how can you as a juror not think this was about race?

LUCIA MCBATH, JORDAN DAVIS' MOTHER: I think she didn't want it to be about race. I think she really hoped that that was not an element of it.

But it's always been an element of what's happened in our case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I want to continue this conversation about whether race played a role or not.

Crystal Wright joins me now. She is an editor and blogger at ConservativeBlackChick.com, and CNN commentator Michaela Davis.

Michaela, what's your reaction to this juror?

MICHAELA DAVIS, CNN COMMENTATOR: This trial is so layered in pain and computation. I believe what Jordan's mother said to Anderson last night. I think she wanted to believe that race had nothing to do with it.

She wanted to do her best job. She was probably instructed in a lot of ways. She was probably picked because she didn't racialize things off the bat.

She is 21-years-old in the middle of something that is so much bigger than she is, so systemic that I think she wanted it to be that way.

But the pain of this and the complications and the history of this is probably more than she was prepared to handle. I do think she was trying to be thoughtful.

I don't think that she should be the poster child of post-racial American youth, but she does pose this proposition that not all young black people think alike.

Not all young black people push everything through the lens of race. Not all young black people know about systemic or institutionalized racism.

She kind of breaks this stereotype in a way which I think it's our job to have these conversations about race, right?

We are kind of doing the next level of work. Perhaps it wasn't -- the evidence of the phone calls and the highly racialized notes were not part of the evidence. I think he was grappling in there.

LEMON: OK, Crystal, Davis' parents say that race was always an element in this case. Do you agree with that?

CRYSTAL WRIGHT, EDITOR AND BLOGGER, CONSERVATIVEBLACKCHICK.COM: People are misreporting what Creshuna Miles said so eloquently.

The way I looked at her interview and the way I interpreted it is she said in the deliberations, race was not a factor in the way the jurors came to their conclusions about Michael Dunn's guilt.

She said it was clear to her in the end that he was guilty, but not on the first charge of premeditated first-degree murder.

I don't think she needs help, and I am very troubled by the demeaning talk that this child needs help. It's a wonderful thing that this is a black woman who spoke very eloquently and intellectually about her experience.

You know what she said, and you ran the tape. She approached this as a duty to serve justice wherever justice was to be served.

I think Michaela is right that all black people don't think alike and approach something based on a racial lens or let me get race revenge here.

I think Michael Dunn's rage played a role in the tragic killing and murder of this young boy. That is true.

I don't think the juror -- I don't think she was saying -- she was talking about the deliberations in all of this, and I think she did a wonderful thing.

Isn't it great in America that a woman like her, a young woman -- actually, why should she bear -- what burden do you want her to bear but her own experience?

LEMON: I understand. I agree and I think race did play a role in the case.

It may not have played a role in the deliberations, especially when they said don't consider race, but that's like saying, hey, Don is wearing a red sweater. Don't think about the red sweater. That's kind of what you think about.

It's interesting for the instructions.

But here's the thing for me. Here's the thing for me. I think Michaela makes a good point.

This young lady is 21-years-old. Twenty-one-years-old and I -- listen, I'm not saying anything bad about her.

Twenty-one-years-old, your brain is not even developed yet. You don't have certain life experiences yet. You don't understand how the world works.

WRIGHT: What experiences did you want her to have?

LEMON: I'm saying as an adult, you don't have full life experience as a 21-year-old.

WRIGHT: But you don't need that. She has common sense and she was very impressive in that interview.

LEMON: What do you mean you don't need that? Of course you If you are going to be decided, you need to have as much -- let me finish.

Can you hang on, Crystal. I will let you speak. If you are deciding whether someone should face a life in jail or in prison or whether someone at some point should go and have their taken away, you should have as much life experience as possible to be able to make an informed decision.

That's all I'm saying.

WRIGHT: So 21-year-olds shouldn't serve on a jury.

DAVIS: Hold on for a second. I think it's very layered. There is a lot of things for her to take in. She is one of those kids. She is a pier.

You get to -- what I think is interesting in this case and in the Trayvon Martin case, we start to see the voices and the faces of more black youth. They are varied.

This way hopefully we can start to break up the stereotypes that get these kids in these places where people have irrational fears or call them thugs.

If they never heard Juror Number Eight speak, what do you think they have around her? She doesn't see race or she wants justice for whoever? No.

WRIGHT: Yes, actually, I have an example of that.

DAVIS: Because we have voices of people who matter who these lives are affecting. It's really important.

LEMON: Crystal, I will you the last word.

WRIGHT: No, you make a great point, Michaela. I saw a post on Facebook, and people prejudged Creshuna, and they said, oh, you think she can be -- she didn't see race in this case?

And I thought that was absolutely abhorrent. I think the young woman did a wonderful job and I disagree with you, Don.

I think a lot of 21-year-olds are wiser than people in their 50s, 60s and 70s.

LEMON: I don't agree with that. I think there's nothing like time on the planet. I absolutely don't agree.

I think you can be smart. I think you can be bright, but it does not -- no, this is not about race at all.

WRIGHT: I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about Michaela. I think Michaela wants this to be a race revenge and the young woman didn't look at it that way.

DAVIS: What in the world did I say that would recommend that you thought that I said that. Nothing that I said --

WRIGHT: You said at the beginning that this child is complicated, this child needs help and --

LEMON: She is a child. She is 21.

WRIGHT: She is not a child, and that's your opinion. But I think that it was the demeaning tone that you took, Michaela. I don't like it.

She is not a child. She is a thinking woman. And you might not think that she's -- no, has she lived a life? No. She hasn't lived the life we have, but I hope our journey still continues, too.

DAVIS: Your listening is very interesting, but that's OK. We are all different, right?

LEMON: All I'm saying is --

WRIGHT: Yes, we are. Three great black people that are very different.

LEMON: Hold on. I'd love to talk. I won't even be able to get it in. You get what I'm saying.

At 21-years-old, you are still a child. I don't mean to demean the young lady. I think she worked very hard --

DAVIS: Not at all.

LEMON: -- and is very bright, but I think there is nothing like time on the planet when it comes to experience and wisdom you cannot -- that's something that you cannot buy.

No amount of smarts gives you that.

Thank you very much. Appreciate both of you.

We will be back in a moment. DAVIS: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Thank you.

DAVIS: Bye, Crystal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Did you catch Michelle Obama? Here is the first lady yucking it up last night with Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show."

Later, she talked with Fallon about the moment every parent dreads when the child turns 16 as Malia Obama will in July.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Ladies and gentlemen in D.C., watch out.

JIMMY FALLON, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": Yeah.

OBAMA: Malia Obama on her own, it's kind of frightening.

I have security so I'm good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Oh, my gosh. She is 16.

Jake Tapper, let us know what you're talking about on "THE LEAD." Will you be talking about this and the first lady, how she plugged ObamaCare with Fallon last night?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It's important to reach young people. The ObamaCare enrollment depends on what are called "young invincibles," young, healthy people to enroll.

But right now, the projections, they are -- the government, the ObamaCare, people running ObamaCare are hundreds of thousands if not more than a million away, below, behind projections.

So, that's why you see Michelle Obama on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," yucking it up and also talking with ObamaCare.

We'll be talking about that on our panel, of course.

LEMON: Do you think that Republicans are going to miss Jay Leno because he did more traditional, sit-down interviews with politicians?

TAPPER: It's not just that he did the more traditional, sit-down interviews. Leno prided himself on his jokes being equally against Democrats and against Republicans.

And, in fact, I think somebody did a study of all of his jokes and found that he made fun of Bill Clinton the most out of all the presidents.

But friends I have at NBC would talk about how Leno really was proud that he was somebody who appealed to both Democrats and Republicans with his humor.

I think there is a fear among conservatives that this new crop isn't as worried or as concerned about being bipartisan in their yucks.

Although I do think that there a lot of people who are very politically minded who have entered the late-night game.

Seth Meyers, the former head writer for "Saturday Night Live," enters on Monday night and I'm sure he will be very political as well.

LEMON: Ten minutes, give or take, Jake Tapper with "THE LEAD," right at the top of the hour. Thank you, sir.

TAPPER: Thanks.

LEMON: Next, he is famous for fending off soldiers with just 300 men. Now, Gerard Butler is talking about his face-off -- his faith's off- screen battle.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You may know actor Gerard Butler as the rough-and-tumble Spartan warrior from "300," but the star has a softer side.

He showed it at his work with the CNN Heroes charity event that works to help impoverished children in Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERARD BUTLER, ACTOR: Please join me in honoring CNN Hero, and I'm proud that he's a fellow Scotsman, Magnus MacFarlane Barrow.

I was actually a little bit star struck when I met Magnus. I went, You're amazing.

Since then, we've become good friends. And now here I am in Liberia.

So we've been driving for about an hour now. We're right in the heart of that. We're going to pass little kids going to school where the feeding program is going on.

It's me and Magnus against everybody else.

MAGNUS MACFARLANE BARROW, CNN HERO: There's a huge need here. There's so many kids out of school, huge problems with malnutrition. We're providing daily meals so kids come to school.

All right. Who is next?

BUTLER: There you go. BARROW: There's a great partnership going on here, the parents, the elders, children.

When CNN Heroes happened, we were feeding just over 400,000 children, and now we're well over 800,000 children every day. That's in the world.

We've seen that enrollment in schools has increased.

BUTLER: What is this? A lion.

A lot of them didn't eat at all in a day before they came to school. Now they're motivated to come to school. They can focus. Education suddenly becomes like a possibility.

Who'd have thought that when I gave Magnus the CNN Heroes Award, that I'd be surrounded by the most amazing kids?

BARROW: It just shows you what one person can do when they show a bit of love.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Every week, we'll be honoring a new CNN Hero, an everyday person doing extraordinary person doing things to help others.

If you know someone who deserves this recognition, go to CNNHeroes.com now and tell us about them.

A dramatic roadside rescue when a baby stops breathing in a car, first-responders and other drivers rush to rescue.

Hear the photographer who took these images, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: There are a few people in Miami who are being called heroes today. That's because they helped keep this 5-month-old baby alive.

He stopped breathing in his aunt's car while they were stuck in traffic yesterday afternoon. And you can see his aunt frantically performing CPR on him.

But she got some help, as well. A woman rushed over and performed CPR on the baby, and a "Miami Herald" photographer rushed to help, too.

I spoke with him just a short time ago about that terrifying experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL DIAZ, PHOTOJOURNALIST, "MIAMI HERALD": Pamela had been working on giving her -- giving the baby CPR, and the baby started breathing again and everything started to calm down.

So, that's when I turned around and went and got my camera and started taking pictures.

The baby went under duress again, and Pamela took the baby and started performing CPR again.

And that's when I captured those images.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Mr. Diaz says he hopes his pictures encourage people to take CPR classes.

Thank you for watching. Have a great weekend.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.