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What's Up with All the Sharks?; Beaten American Teenager Under House Arrest; Mom Could Face Charges in Hot Car Death; Will L.A. Clippers Sale Go Through?; Americans and the World Cup; Did Zimmerman Verdict Spark Changes?; Aaron Hernandez Returns to Court; Jailed U.S. Marine Calls from Mexican Prison

Aired July 06, 2014 - 18:00   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: There's been lots of sightings in New England and California. It has us asking, what's up with all the sharks?

Question number two, what, if anything, can the U.S. do to help the Florida teen being held under house arrest now in Jerusalem? The family of the 15-year-old said he was beaten by Israeli security forces. Israel is investigating. The teen's Palestinian cousin was abducted and killed shortly after this week's funerals for three Israeli teenagers kidnapped last month.

Question number three, after prosecutors painted the mother of a toddler who died in a hot car in such bad light, could she now face charges? Her husband is already behind bars facing murder charges. Will she be a defendant to witness or a supportive wife in the case of her dead son?

And question number four, will the sale of the L.A. Clippers go through tomorrow in probate court in Sterling versus Sterling to determine who has the right to sell the NBA franchise?

Question number five, World Cup. You know, soccer, remember? Will anyone in the states still be watching? Does anyone in this country still care?

The final matches next Sunday, but when the United States was eliminated, national interest seemed to have evaporated at the same time. We'll talk about whether mainstream America still cares soccer. We think we know the answer already, but we'll see.

Our number one question is starting to sound a lot like the scenes out of "Jaws." A great white shark attack on a California beach, July 4th weekend a shark attack. So, we want to know, what's up with all the sharks?

Fire officials in Manhattan Beach, California, say a juvenile great white shark bit a long distance swimmer. The great white was apparently agitated after struggling for its own life after the previous half hour before this attack.

A fisherman who used chum to attract sharks to this pier had cut it loose after hooking it but failing to land it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN ROBLES, SHARK BITE VICTIM: It bit right into my torso. And I'm sitting there staring at the shark eye to eye, just right there, and I could feel the vibration of this entire shark gnawing into my skin. You could feel the whole body shaking as it's digging into my torso. And it was -- and I grabbed, I grabbed his nose with my hand here and tried to pull it off of me. And fortunately the shark released itself.

I really thought that might be it. I thought -- I thought I might be dying. I thought that -- I just thought this can't be it, you know? But, you know, it just wasn't supposed to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Well, thank goodness Steven Robles is OK. But according to the Shark Research Institute, this is just one of 16 shark attacks this year in the U.S.

Let me bring in Martin Graf from San Diego. He's the managing director of sharkdiver.com.

Martin, is there a reason we are seeing so many sharks lately?

MARTIN GRAF, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SHARKDIVER.COM: Well, the sharks have always been around. I think we are just more aware of it lately. You know, if this was a dog bite, the news would not have picked this up.

And I think it's important to note that this shark was hooked by a fisherman who by the way was fishing illegally there. The great white sharks are protected in California. And if you are catching one or if you have one on the line, you are supposed to cut it away. And this guy was fighting the shark for up to 40 minutes I heard.

And from all the cons, the shark was still on the line when it bit the swimmer.

CABRERA: So, do 16 shark attacks in the U.S. this year sound like a lot to you? Or is that about on par with the average?

GRAF: You know, they are so infrequent that when you get one or two shark bites here and there, it really skews the statistics. When you're looking at, I believe in the last century, and all of California, there were 12 or 13 deadly shark bites. I mean, that's like one every 10 years.

CABRERA: You could say we are going into their territory. There's the ocean and we are up invading their space, but is there something we can do to prevent shark attacks?

GRAF: Well, again, they are so ridiculously I mean, they're so ridiculously rare that -- you know, if you see a shark, yes, you know, you can do some things to prevent it, but basically we go into their environment, we don't see the shark that's going to bite us, typically. Most people that get bit by a shark, they feel it first before they see it. So if you see a shark coming at you, most likely that's not going to be a problem because the sharks are ambush predators and they rely on attacking with stow, that's why they are hard to see in the ocean in the first place.

CABRERA: So, I know with the bear, you maybe make yourself look big or you back away slowly. What do you do with a shark, if you see a shark in -- obviously, I'd be kind of scared. I want to get out of there as fast as I can. But I don't want to thrash and make it more likely for them to come after me.

What's the best course for action?

GRAF: If you do see a shark, just watch the shark, because the shark will see that you see it. And like I said, they are ambush predators and if they are aware that their potential prey is seeing them, they are much less likely to try to bite.

But look at where we dive with the great white sharks, I've actually seen little sea lions, at first they swim right down to the shark and right in front of the sharks and they don't really make a move to try to bite them because they know, hey, the seal sees them and they don't have a chance to get them.

CABRERA: All right. Martin Graf with SharkDiver.com, thanks for that insight.

GRAF: Thanks.

CABRERA: Back to question number two, what, if anything, can the U.S. do to help the Florida teen being held under house arrest in Jerusalem? I spoke with the teen's aunt who says the State Department has contacted their family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANAH ABU KHDEIR, AUNT OF BEATEN TEEN: The U.S. State Department contacted our lawyers and through them they, you know, obviously we got as much media coverage as we could to get him released. And through that, the American embassy and everyone who was involved in his release, it was very difficult. We are still in contact and trying to push further that he was not charged with anything. The fact that he's being under house arrest at this point for no reason really hurts and also that we have to pay a fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman spoke with the teen shortly after he was released from detention and transferred to house arrest. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, Jerusalem today was relatively quiet, although the atmosphere remains tense. One bit of good news, a 15-year-old Palestinian-American boy was released from Israeli police custody, although that's not the end of the story.

(voice-over): Sporting two black eyes and a swollen lip, this 15- year-old Tariq Khdeir leaves Jerusalem's magistrate court, free on bail.

(on camera): So, how do you feel now that you are out?

TARIQ KHDEIR, BEATEN TEEN: I feel way better.

WEDEMAN: Way better?

(voice-over): Images caught on cell phone Thursday evening shows Israeli police punching and kicking the Tampa, Florida native on the ground, his hands bound behind his back. His parents say he was taking part but not throwing rocks in protest sparked by the discovery of the burned body of his cousin, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, widely believed to have been killed by Israeli extremists in a revenge for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month.

Israeli police continue to investigate Tariq's involvement in the protests. He remains under house arrest for nine days, not in the family home, but rather in a relative's house in the adjacent neighborhood of Beit Hanina.

(on camera): What do you think of the decision of the court?

SUHA ABU KHDEIR, MOTHER OF BEATEN TEEN: I'm not really happy because he's being -- he hasn't been charged with anything. And he hasn't been accused of anything, not charged with anything and they have him on house arrest out of his own home and plus they are making us pay a fine. It was $10,000 shekels and it went down to 3,000 shekels. Yes, I am going to press charges.

WEDEMAN: You'll pursue charges against the police who beat him?

SUHA ABU KHDEIR: Yes, we will. Definitely.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Israeli justice ministry has launched a probe into the incident. Tariq's father Salah has scant faith in the process.

(on camera): Are you confident that the investigation will be fair?

SALAH EDDEINE ABU KHDEIR, FATHER OF BEATEN TEEN: With the history, no.

WEDEMAN: As the investigation moves forward, the police have arrested several Israeli Jews in connection with the abduction and murder of the 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir, indicating it may well have been a politically motivated revenge killing and more fuel for the fire -- Ana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Thank you to Ben Wedeman, reporting. Coming up, two cases you'll be hearing a lot more about in the week

ahead. First, police set to release more information about their investigation into the Georgia toddler who was left to die in a hot car. Could that include potential charges for the boy's mom?

Plus, we go back one year to the acquittal that shocked and divided the nation. George Zimmerman was found not guilty one year ago this week. Even the president called for change but have we seen that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Questions continue in the case of a Georgia toddler who died after being left in a broiling hot car for seven hours. The Cobb County magistrate's office says as many as seven search warrants for Justin Ross Harris, the toddler's father, will be publicly released tomorrow, but many are wondering if Harris' wife Leanna could be charged next. Investigators have describe her behavior the day her son died as odd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROSECUTOR: When she showed up at the day care, did she make any comments that were seen not in the ordinary?

DETECTIVE: She did. Once she walked into the daycare, she walked back to Cooper's classroom where she ran into Michelle and she asked, you know, what are you doing here? And Leanna is like, well, I'm here to pick up Cooper, and like, Ross never dropped Cooper off. In front of several witnesses, all of a sudden, she states, Ross must have left him in the car.

PROSECUTOR: Eventually, did she speak with law enforcement back at the Tree House in the place where the defendant worked?

DETECTIVE: She did.

PROSECUTOR: OK. When police spoke with her there, did they say anything of her reaction at the scene?

DETECTIVE: Her reaction at the scene, she didn't show any emotion when I asked her, actually when they notified her of Cooper's death.

PROSECUTOR: At some point, did you put the defendant and his wife in the room together?

DETECTIVE: I did.

PROSECUTOR: When you did that, who was that got emotional?

DETECTIVE: The father.

PROSECUTOR: Did his wife ever say anything to him about what he said to police?

DETECTIVE: She asked him, she had him sit down and he starts going throw this and she looks at him and she's like, well, did you say too much?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Question number three, could Leanna Harris be charged in the death of her son? Let me bring in criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Holly Hughes and criminal defense attorney Brian Claypool.

Great to have you both with us. Thanks.

HOLLY HUGHES, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Thanks, Ana.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Ana.

CABRERA: Holly, to you first, was the prosecution here laying the groundwork on Thursday to charge the mother?

HUGHES: I think they are leaning that direction. Now we know based on our own Nick Valencia's report that the warrants we are going to see released tomorrow are search warrants not arrest warrants. And the warrants have already been executed but they haven't been made public.

So what we are going to see released tomorrow will be all of those search warrants that enabled the police to get the computer records, the phone records, all of that. But, Ana, I would not at all be surprised if they went and arrested her some time this week and we saw new arrest warrants coming out. There's just too much that indicates she may have had some knowledge, she may have encouraged or abetted in this and in Georgia under our party to a crime law, which is not the same thing as conspiracy, she may be facing charges here for the death of her son.

CABRERA: And we spoke with a psychologist Judy Ho yesterday who talked about how she just is so accepting of her son's death, which just seems odd. Brian, what does Leanna Harris need to be doing right now or not doing?

CLAYPOOL: Well, she needs to not be talking, not texting and not writing any e-mails. Because the only way the prosecutor in Cobb County is going to be able to charge her with a crime, whether it is conspiracy or it aiding and abetting a crime, is if there's some tangible evidence other than she's acting odd or we have a hunch that she's not emotional. That Ana is not enough evidence to charge her with a crime.

You've got to have a text message, voice mail message, an e-mail, something tat suggest that she's aware that her husband is going to kill Cooper. We don't have that right now. So I don't -- absent that, she's not going to be arrested.

CABRERA: Well, based on what the detective said in court, it sounds like she may have said a few things already. And we'll see if those hold true.

Holly, let's go back to the search warrants that are being released publicly tomorrow. You talked about those a little bit but what might we expect? Will we learn new details from these?

HUGHES: No. I think what they are going to do is they will release the warrants and we'll see that it's a warrant for his cell phone record. It's a warrant for the house computer, for the work computer, to search the home and the office. If he belongs to a gym, there may be a warrant to search his gym locker.

But I think right now because the investigation is still ongoing, Ana, we're not going to get more details about what they found when they executed those warrants. We're just going to be able to see what the warrants were actually for.

CABRERA: So, we'll only know maybe what they have gathered as far as possible evidence, what they will be going through to learn more information.

OK. Brian, I talked to a lot of different lawyer who is said they expect this to perhaps become a death penalty case. What would have to happen for that to come to fruition?

CLAYPOOL: Well, Ana, you need to have actual malice on the part of Justin Harris to elevate this to a death penalty case. It seems to me like everybody has already plugged in the electric chair and put Mr. Harris in the electric chair.

And as a criminal defense lawyer, I have a problem with that, because look at the picture of him up there. Look at the picture you have up there of him. He is 33, but he looks like a 15-year-old kid.

He has the maturity level of a teenager. He looks like he's emotionally bankrupt. I have a real question about whether he is capable of plotting the murder of his son.

On top of that, Ana, he has I perceived to be a sex addiction the way he was texting not one, two, three, four, five, but six women at work. And if I was a lawyer representing this guy, I might bring up what's called the diminished capacity defense, which means that he's so addicted to sex that negates this criminal intent that you need to find him guilty of felony murder or the death penalty.

CABRERA: That's an interesting point. Brian Claypool and Holly Hughes, thanks to both of you.

Up next, the record-breaking sale of the L.A. Clippers hangs in the balance as Donald Sterling he prepares to face-off against his estranged wife in court this week. Expect drama, expect fireworks. But will the sale go through?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Question number four tonight: will the sale of the L.A. Clippers go through in Donald and Shelly Sterling head to California probate court tomorrow to try to settle this question? It's a complex case but CNN's Alexandra Field has been following all the legal twists and turns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Sterling and Shelly Sterling set to face off in a Los Angeles courtroom with the sale of the L.A. Clippers hanging in the balance. At issue, Shelly's take over of the Sterling family trust, which owns the team, and her subsequent decision to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a deal she struck after doctors she engaged declared Donald Sterling mentally unfit.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Will the doctors that she bought for and paid for in order to evaluate him just that, bought and paid for doctors? And did his wife follow the proper procedures and protocols to remove him from the trust? And so, I think you'll see that battle really develop in a courtroom.

FIELD: A provision in the Sterling family trust allows one spouse to take over if the other spouse is deemed mentally incapacitated.

Donald's attorneys questioned the validity of the medical examinations, in argument Shelly's attorneys call baseless.

JACKSON: I think a Shelly Sterling win goes a long way for finality, we can move on with our lives. And her loss, boy oh boy, it invites litigation that can last a pretty long time.

FIELD: Following that infamous rant toward alleged mistress V. Stiviano, the NBA banned Donald Sterling for life. They fined him $2.5 million and they gave the Sterlings a September 15th deadline to sell the team.

RICK HORROW, SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: The bottom line is the NBA wants this to be done for a lot of reasons, certainty, increasing the value of everybody's franchise at over $2 billion. Certainly, that sale price raises all boats on this issue.

FIELD: Ballmer's blockbuster $2 billion deal, the biggest in the league's history, expires July 15th, with the possibility of a one- month extension. Nearing deadlines now adding pressure to an increasingly complicated legal battle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Alexandra Field is joining us now.

Alexandra, if this issue is not resolved by July 15th, that deadline Ballmer gave, then what happens?

FIELD: Well, at this point, Ana, a lot of people do want to see the issue resolved by namely the owners of the other NBA teams. They know that a $2 billion deal will raise the value of their franchise. But should we see that deadline come, should we see the extension completed and Ballmer essentially walk away from this deal, well, then you're coming up against another deadline, September 15th. That's the NBA deadline for a sale.

At that point, we could see the NBA could be looking at their options. One of the options they could explore would be to just go ahead and sell the Clippers and put the money in escrow why this battle continues. But this case is too tough to predict at this point.

CABRERA: You just never know.

FIELD: You don't know.

CABRERA: Anything can happen between now and July 15th.

FIELD: It seems like it.

CABRERA: All right. Alexandra Field, thank you so much. We're going to dive a little bit deeper now.

Let's bring back in, sports commentator Terence Moore of CNN.com, and criminal defense attorney, Brian Claypool.

Thanks again to both of you.

Brian, we'll start with you.

What are the key issues the probate court will be looking at?

CLAYPOOL: Well, Ana, I got news for you. There's another curve ball that just gave it away a couple days ago. The lawyers for Donald Sterling actually filed what's called a notice of removal into federal court. And they are claiming that the release of any medical records pertaining to Donald Sterling is a violation of his federal privacy rights and they want this case in federal court.

So, I have a prediction there may not be a trial tomorrow in Los Angeles superior court because the case has now been removed -- attempted to be removed into federal court. But if the case does go forward -- I'm sorry.

CABRERA: So, that being said, what happens then? I mean, because there's this privacy issue and what would make it go to federal court? Explain that a little more.

CLAYPOOL: Yes. Sure, it's not ever going to go to federal court, Ana. This is a stall strategy by Donald Sterling's lawyers. What Shelly Sterling's lawyers are doing next week is they're going to go into federal court and gets what's called an ex parte application, which means an emergency application to the federal court to have the federal judge rule that there are no federal issues involved in this case and that the case needs to get back or be remanded back to state court.

So, in a nutshell, that means there's probably going to be a delay whether -- hopefully a short delay tomorrow on the hearing.

But, real quick, to answer your questions, there's really two issues if this hearing does go forward, which I don't think it will. One is whether Donald Sterling was defrauded into seeing these medical doctors which he'll never win on. The second one, Ana, I think he might win on, which is Donald Sterling revoked -- this is a revocable trust. He revoked the trust on June 9th. He's allowed to do that. There's been no approved sale by the NBA. So he might be standing on firm water that this whole trust needs to be broken apart, and the sale can't go forward.

CABRERA: And that's a whole another issue.

So, Terence, we do right now at least, it looks like time is of the essence, Steve Ballmer's contracted by the Clippers ends on July 15, do you think this issue will be resolved by then?

TERENCE MOORE, CNN.COM SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: You know, here's the good news here. For anybody that believes in truth, justice and the American way, amid all the stuff doesn't matter that we're talking about, because the bottom line is, the NBA holds the hammer. As soon as Donald Sterling signed that agreement in 1981, when he bought the Clippers, to say that he had to abide by the bylaws of the NBA was included.

And once you embarrassed the league, they have the right, they being his fellow owners, the commissioner, to boot him out of the league, he's done, OK? Whether it's going to happen within the next couple of weeks, or months. So, it's not going to happen.

You know, here's the thing about Donald Sterling. Donald Sterling is trying to become the biblical character of Isaac, OK? Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob, and Isaac is going blind and Jacob fooled Isaac into thinking that he was Esau so he can get his blessing that way, OK?

But it's not going to work. We see through this. It's not going to work, they're trying to do. The NBA is going to win at the end, and everybody is going to be happy, go home and have cake or whatever.

CABRERA: Well, if it's not Steve Ballmer, it sounds like you're saying somebody is going to end up with the team.

MOORE: No question.

CABRERA: Brian, what kind of leverage does the NBA actually have here?

CLAYPOOL: Yes. Ana, great question. I agree with Terence. At the end of the day, I think the NBA should have come right out at the get- go and ban both Shelly Sterling and Donald Sterling, both of then.

Remember what Adam Silver said, he did not include Shelly Sterling in the lifetime ban. He should have done that. Had he done that, we wouldn't be talking about a probate hearing tomorrow. The NBA could just have move forward, force the sale, the Ballmer sale goes through and we wouldn't be even discussing this right now.

Yet, they didn't do that -- go ahead.

MOORE: Yes, I was going to say, one quickly. Remember this judge said, way back when this first started, this probate judge, he said, I can decide this case in five minutes. So, once he says that, you know which he's going to lean and it's not going to be toward Donald Sterling.

CABRERA: Wow.

All right. Well, we're going to end on that note. Thank you both so much.

Terence, stick around, because question number five as we look ahead. Will you stay with the World Cup this week? Does anyone in America still car about soccer?

Terence Moore, let's hear your take on this. Team USA is out. There's still Brazil, Germany, Argentina, the Netherlands. So, we're down to four. Does any of this matter? Are people in America paying any attention anymore?

MOORE: Well, you know what, when you look at what just transpired, I'm going to be a bad guy here, all right? They played four matches, Team USA, let's not forget they won once, OK?

The other thing about this World Cup, this is going toward being the highest scoring World Cup ever. Guess what? Team USA couldn't score. As a matter of fact, going into the knockout round, the only team that had the ball less than Team USA was Costa Rica. This is not good.

All of those mania that we had, and I say we as Americans, was just because Team USA, this patriotism thing. And now that they're out of here, everybody is going to flip the dial to watch Andy Griffeth reruns or you on CNN for the rest of eternity.

CABRERA: OK. We know -- we know you're not a huge soccer fan, Terence. But really what else is there to watch this week if you are a sports fan. You know, summer baseball, kind of boring, no hockey right now, no basketball, no football, why not get fired about soccer?

MOORE: Well, I would say, Ana, the best thing to watch right now is indeed the other football because trending caps are about to open, so that's where the nation is going to turn its lonely eyes to the NFL, and all the trendy caps out there, the real football.

CABRERA: We will see. Terence Moore, thanks to you, great talking with you, so fun.

MOORE: Thank you.

CABRERA: Coming up, the verdict that divided the nation. It came down in nearly one year ago sparking a national conversation about race. All these months after the George Zimmerman verdict has anything really changed?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The George Zimmerman verdict was announced one year ago, July 13th, 2013. Now Zimmerman was found not guilty in connection with the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. In the wake of the Zimmerman trial, there were calls for reflection and change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I believe that this tragedy provides yet another opportunity for our nation to speak honestly about the complicated and emotionally charged issues that this case has raised.

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: We do not need words, we need action now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why Trayvon had to go --

CROWD: Why Trayvon had to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got a long way to go. There's just a lot of changes that need to be made.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it is going to be important for all of us to do some soul searching. We need to spend some time in thinking about how do we bolster and reinforce our African-American voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So here we are nearly one year later. Has anything really changed?

Let's bring in our panel, commentator and legal analyst Mel Robins and political commentator Marc Lamont Hill.

Thanks to both of you.

Marc, we'll start with you. The Zimmerman verdict, it sparked a national conversation about race. Now looking back, did that conversation really have a lasting impact?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: For the most part, no. I think there is a generation of young people who got their first entree into activism. A group of young people who are in their teens and 20s who believe that racial transformation is possible. That racial justice was possible. And this -- and the Zimmerman verdict was their first opportunity to see up close that white supremacist still exists, that racism still exists, that we still have two different systems.

And for them, you know, they have a reminder of that constantly, but for the bulk of us, this is business as usual. We saw again a divided justice system that gives different outcomes to different people and we were taught that black male bodies still don't matter.

CABRERA: Now the Zimmerman case highlighted Florida's Stand Your Ground law. We heard a lot about it and a lot of controversy about it in the days around the trial. Still lots of people essentially to use deadly force if they feel threatened and they don't have duty to retreat.

Did you expect any changes to this law after that trial? MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know what's

interesting, Ana, I sat and covered that trial and was in the courtroom all six weeks, and it was intense in terms of the emotions. And in fact in the wake of the verdict, there was one state senator in Florida, Christopher Smith, who proposed an amendment to the Stand Your Ground law and it would have removed the no duty to retreat and would have made it illegal to use deadly force if you had a reasonable way to retreat.

Now what happened is it went nowhere. And at the same time Governor Rick Scott had convened a group of 19 people to take a look at the law. And you would think of the 26 states, Ana and Marc, that have a Stand Your Ground law on the books, that Florida would be the one that would succumb to pressure and to do something based on common sense. But just a week shy of the one-year anniversary of Trayvon Martin being shot to death that night in February, the committee returned a finding saying, hey, the law is totally reasonable, we are not changing it.

And so absolutely nothing has been done in the wake of the shooting, in the wake of the acquittal, in the wake of all of the outrage. And I suspect nothing will be done.

LAMONT HILL: Yes.

CABRERA: How interesting to learn that.

Marc, I'm going to ask you, as an African-American man, what about these black teenager boys? Did Zimmerman's verdict create any lasting fear or harm to them?

LAMONT HILL: That's a great question. And let me preface it by saying black women also struggle with these issues. I know you're asking about black men because of Trayvon Martin, but I never wanted to just --

CABRERA: Right.

LAMONT HILL: One person is more vulnerable than the other. So black women have been vulnerable in this country forever. But I think this was a reminder again to another generation of young black men that their bodies are still unsafe. That it is still not only illegal but life-threatening to be young and black and outside. And that can't be the case but that continues to be the reality here.

We learned again there was no justice for black male bodies and most importantly, as Mel just pointed out, with this Stand Your Ground laws, we've essentially codified irrational white feat of black men. We've essentially made it legal and justifiable to kill someone if we have a reasonable fear that they will hurt us.

But the problem is, black men have been constructed in this country to be violent and dangerous and killers and immoral and unethical forever. Even if you're just standing and holding Skittles and Arizona iced tea and wearing a hoodie. So we reminded them. another young generation of young black men, myself included, that no matter how many degrees you have, no matter how well behaved you are, no matter how much you follow the rules, you are still vulnerable to death and the legal system can't protect you even in death.

CABRERA: Do you think that --

ROBBINS: Let me add to that, because you're --

CABRERA: Go ahead.

ROBBINS: Marc is actually right, Ana. And they did a study on the over 200 cases where Stand Your Ground was evoked. And there is a 354 percent more frequent use and acquittal on Stand Your Ground when it is a white person shooting a black person versus a white person shooting a white person.

So Marc is absolutely not only right about what he's talking about but also the studies have proven that when it comes to the justice system, Stand Your Ground is acquitting cases in a way that's majorly discriminatory against black men.

CABRERA: Well, you know, hopefully the conversation we're having here today is creating more awareness about this issue and ultimately could lead to change down the road.

Thanks to both of you. We really appreciate your insight.

LAMONT HILL: Pleasure.

CABRERA: Great to see you both.

Former New England Patriot tight end Aaron Hernandez is headed to court as well this week. Does he stand a chance of getting any of these charges against him dropped? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Football star turned accused killer Aaron Hernandez will be back in a courtroom this week. He's accused of killing two men in 2012 and another man, a semi-pro football player in 2013. Now what will his attorneys try to accomplish in this week's hearing?

CNN's Susan Candiotti has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, accused murderer Aaron Hernandez is expected in court twice in the coming days to challenge prosecutors and the New England Patriots.

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CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Aaron Hernandez flashes an occasional smile while his lawyers fight tooth and nail to drop a first-degree murder charge in the execution style murder of Odin Lloyd. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty. JAMIE SULTAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think that the grand jury could

find, based on drawing out inferences, as it must be drawn, the light must be the rule of Commonwealth that Mr. Hernandez was present when Mr. Lloyd was killed. Yes, I think that they have enough to say that, but that just not -- is not enough to make him a voluntary deliberate participant in that killing.

CANDIOTTI: The defense also wants a judge to throw out evidence seized from Hernandez's home arguing the search warrant was not properly served. That could include Hernandez's own home security video which shows Hernandez holding what prosecutors believe is the murder weapon. It's never been found.

On Monday the trial judge is also expected to rule on the defense request to move Hernandez to a different jail so he could be closer to his lawyers.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a fellow prisoner where he is now.

On Wednesday the defense is taking aim at the New England Patriots. Hernandez wants the court subpoena to force his old team to turn over any medical and psychological information that, quote, "may bear upon his physical and mental state prior to Lloyd's murder."

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CANDIOTTI: Legal experts say this indicates his lawyers might be considering a diminished capacity defense, meaning he didn't know right from wrong -- Ana.

CABRERA: Thank you, Susan.

Let's talk now about this with Aaron Hernandez's case with our two commentators here with us, sports contributor, Terence Moore, back along with defense attorney Brian Claypool.

Brian, Susan Candiotti says Hernandez's attorneys will try to get this evidence thrown out, even maybe some of the charges completely dropped. Any chance of success with these requests?

CLAYPOOL: The chance of that happening is about as likely has the Clippers sale going through on June 15th, which means there's zero chance. I mean, Aaron Hernandez's lawyer just told you that Aaron Hernandez was there when Odin Lloyd was killed.

That, Ana, is enough evidence to get to a jury on first-degree murder, so forget about that. And in terms of getting this search warrant quashed, forget about that as well. As long as there was an adult at the house, it was served on an adult at the house, at least 18 years old, then that search warrant is going to hold up and that could be very damaging evidence against Aaron Hernandez because it depicts a picture of him with a gun that might be matched to the gun used in the murder of Odin Lloyd.

CABRERA: Terence, we expect his attorneys also to try to get his medical records from the New England Patriots and possibly call his mental state into question.

Does this sound to you like they want to somehow blame this on the hit he suffered while playing football?

MOORE: Well, you know what, Ana, this concussion thing in football has become the latest in the long lines of the dog ate the homework and the check is in the mail. I mean, sure, they are going to try but whether it works or not, it's not going to work. But you know they would have a better chance, if you look back at Aaron Hernandez's life, when he grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, it looks as if a lot of his troubles began when his father died, and when he was about 16 years of age or so.

And then after that, his mother got involved with an ex-con that was -- really ugly things and he started joining gangs and what have you. He's got a better chance of going that route than anything else and even that doesn't work.

And I tell you something about Hernandez, besides the fact just being a bad guy, you've got the question the University of Florida, right, recruited him with all of his issues that he had even before he went to the University of Florida. Then you've got -- you really got a question the New England Patriots. When he was coming out of Florida, he was a guy that nobody wanted to touch because everybody knew about the marijuana problems he had, the gang problems, but New England took a chance anyway just because they knew that the guy could play.

So the other thing you've got to look at is all the enablers in his life that have helped to get him to this point, which is not good.

CABRERA: Well, it seems like he had it all and now here he is.

Terence Moore and Brian Claypool, thank you both.

MOORE: Thank you.

CLAYPOOL: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: After more than three months, a U.S. Marine is still in a Mexican jail facing what he calls bogus charges. His day in court just days away. An exclusive interview with him from jail, next.

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CABRERA: U.S. Marine Corps Reservist Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi says he is more hopeful than ever and he's expecting he will be released from a Mexican prison this week. Now more than three months after he was in prison for driving into Mexico with three firearms in his truck Tahmooressi called CNN from Tecate prison where is now being held.

CNN's Nick Valencia joins me from Atlanta.

Nick, I know you have been covering the story. You went down there to Mexico and now you talked exclusively to Tahmooressi ahead of Wednesday's hearing. How he is feeling about all of this? NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a very emotional

conversation. And Tahmooressi told me that he's feeling calm and relaxed ahead of his court hearing on Wednesday. He said that he's more optimistic than ever that he will be released.

I spoke to him for about 20 minutes and here is part of my exclusive phone conversation with the U.S. Army sergeant. I'm sorry, U.S. Marine sergeant.

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SGT. ANDREW TAHMOORESSI, JAILED U.S. MARINE CORPS RESERVIST: Probably hear it from my voice and the sincerity of my voice. And I'm not a guilty man and I'm innocent and that it was just a big mistake and that I never meant to be in Mexico. And I wouldn't go about trying to sell my guns to criminals for one. I'm not a criminal. And I don't like any criminal activity and I especially don't like any cartel people.

I feel like the punishment was never necessary from the beginning. I made it very obvious that it was a mistake for me to be here. They even told me that they were going to escort me back to America. But once the military people got involved, they were like, look what we found. We found these guns. Good for us. Let's get this guy incriminated.

I don't think I deserve any punishment and I definitely don't deserve any more punishment. And I deserve to be -- to be set free because I'm not a criminal.

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VALENCIA: Now I asked Andrew Tahmooressi to respond to allegations made by (INAUDIBLE), the checkpoint director there in Tijuana who said that his agents offered Tahmooressi the chance to surrender his weapons and be returned to the United States without incident. Andrew Tahmooressi told me that that is not the case. That's a lie and in fact it was the U.S. Marine who was pleading to be returned to the United States and asking border officials to take his possessions that he just wanted to go back home -- Ana.

CABRERA: Nick, there are still some people who don't believe his story. What does Tahmooressi say about that?

VALENCIA: Yes, well, he said that you could hear the sincerity in his voice that he is not guilty and that the facts speak for himself. It was that part of that conversation that he got the most passionate, trying to explain that the facts are all there. I'm an innocent man. I have no criminal ties and I don't like criminals whatsoever.

There have also been people in the United States and beyond that say that the U.S. government has abandoned the U.S. Marine who's been in prison for more than three months. We should note that there have been efforts by U.S. lawmakers including Secretary of State John Kerry who's made appeals for Tahmooressi's release. So far that has not happened. In the end, experts will tell to you that it's going to be up to the

Mexican judicial system to decide what they want to do with Tahmooressi.

CABRERA: And we mentioned that Wednesday's hearing, is that it? Will that hearing decide his fate?

VALENCIA: Well, it's an evidentiary hearing. So he'll have his chance to present his evidence. His defense attorneys, part of the problem and this being postponed, Ana, is that it's taking so long for the family to find the right attorney. Tahmooressi told me that that has been part of the problem so far is just finding the right person that they feel comfortable with.

This evidentiary hearing will happen on Wednesday where the judge will have a chance to hear Tahmooressi's defense lay out their claims. Of course the prosecution has already laid out theirs. So we'll just have to wait and see if Wednesday is it. The family and the marine both very hopeful that this is going to be good news.

CABRERA: We know you will be following it, Nick. Thanks.

VALENCIA: You bet.

CABRERA: Get ready for a new regulation when you fly. I'll explain that next. But first, it was 52 years ago this week when rock and roll changed forever.

Got to love that song. On July 12th, 1952, the Rolling Stones debuted at London's Marquee Club. Now the set list on that day included songs from the band's heroes, Jimmy Reed, Bow Diddly and Chuck Barry. You may be wondering how they came up with the name, the Rolling Stones. They said it was easy. They lifted the name from a song by Muddy Waters.

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CABRERA: If you fly a lot, you're probably used to having to turn off your old electronics. Well, now the TSA wants you to turn these devices on. The new directive is aimed at passengers who are flying directly into the U.S. from abroad. So this isn't connected to domestic flights. But security officers may ask those passengers to turn on and electronic device to prove it's not a bomb. Now the concern is terrorists are trying to build explosives that are disguised as tablets or smart phones.

And if you have a cell phone, then you've experienced this. A drained battery with nowhere to charge it. But in the "City of Tomorrow," that may be a thing of the past.

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SANDRA RICHTER, MIT MEDIA LAB VISITING SCIENTIST: For some people, and they were like, what the hell is this? Oh, yes, this is the solar powered thing from MIT. And can you charge your phone here?

We call it Bench-e.

I'm Sandra and I live in the city of Boston. We're here at MIT media lab. We made the future for every park bench. A connected solar powered charger. Cities of the future need to be designed around the human being. Around us.

We're seeing more and more efforts for suitable cities. So Bench-e is a first step into smart urban furniture which connects us to the city. It has a lot of things together that normally don't make sense, which is six solar panels, three lithium ion batteries, a lot of profuse PB plugs, and then we have battery sensing.

So what does that mean? We actually noticed when and how many people are charging off of solar energy and we can communicate that to the Cloud. So the bench right now is actually connected to the Internet.

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CABRERA: And thanks again for spending part of your weekend with me. I'm Ana Cabrera. Up next on CNN, a CNN special report, "BURIED SECRETS. WHO MURDERED THE MCSTAY FAMILY?" At 8:00 Eastern, that will be "THE SIXTIES," "Television Comes of Age." And then at 9:00 Eastern, it's also "THE SIXTIES," "World on the Brink."

So stay with CNN and CNN.com for any breaking news. Good night.