Return to Transcripts main page

Erin Burnett Outfront

ISIS Closes in on Key City, Attacks Refinery; Arizona Official: Tulsa Officer Did Not Train With Us; Ex-Patriots Player Faces Life in Maximum Security Prison. Aired 7-8:00p ET

Aired April 16, 2015 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:09] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, breaking news, new video tonight of a massive ISIS assault as the terror group makes major gains.

Plus, breaking news on the Tulsa deputy who shot and killed an unarmed black man. We looked into his gun training and it doesn't seem to add up.

And tonight, OUTFRONT takes you inside the maximum security prison where former NFL star Aaron Hernandez will spend the rest of his life. Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. Outfront tonight, we begin with breaking news. New video tonight of an ISIS attack, ISIS surrounding and destroying what they say is Iraq's largest oil refinery. New video shows militants firing rocket launchers, some of them operated by young boy. We see anti-aircraft guns, you see machine guns, militant shooting as you see there at what they say is a coalition jet overhead. ISIS also gaining ground as the major city today just 70 miles from Baghdad, that's called Ramadi. This afternoon though, the chairman of the Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff Martin Dempsey, addressed all this, downplaying the games, he said that Ramadi is not important.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT-CHIEFS-OF-STAFF: The city itself is -- it's not symbolic in any way. Not been declared, you know, part of the caliphate on one hand or central to the future of Iraq. The issue here is not brick and mortar. Much rather that Ramadi not fall but it wouldn't be the end of a campaign, should it fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Not symbolic in any way. That's not what our reporter on the ground is saying. And we have this covered from Washington and from Baghdad tonight.

I want to begin with Arwa Damon, who is in Baghdad. Arwa, you have made your way towards Ramadi. When you hear the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs, one of the most senior people in the entire American military say Ramadi is not central to the future of Iraq, what do you think? ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's

a fairly simplistic way of looking at exactly how strategic Ramadi actually is. The 300,000-plus residents living there in sheer terror, half of whom have already fled, Ramadi is the capital of Al Anbar province, Iraq's sunny heart land. And this is at a juncture when the predominantly Shia-led government has to try to win over the Sunni population if it even is to have a hope of trying to defeat ISIS. And if the Shia-led government and the U.S.-led coalition are viewed as abandoning Ramadi, allowing Ramadi to fall to ISIS, it is going to have a devastating blow to the government's campaign and need to try to win over the Sunni population and that is exactly why making sure that Ramadi does not fall to ISIS is so important at this stage. These pleas for help from the civilians, from the commanders and from the officials in Ramadi cannot be ignored -- Erin.

BURNETT: Arwa, obviously, what you are saying, you know, you heard Martin Dempsey, it won't be the end of the campaign should it fall. Obviously, you are painting a picture of a city that is much, much more important than he portrayed it today. And overall, as you know, Arwa, President Obama says, the United States is making, in his words, quote, "Serious progress against ISIS." You have seen the fighting over Ramadi, as you made your way to that key city. What did you see?

DAMON: I saw a population that was traumatized as they were fleeing, children completely shocked in the arms of their parents, the elderly being pushed out by carts. Speaking to officials inside Ramadi, a description of an enemy barreling down on them, that they are barely able to keep at bay, threatening the center of the city, launching numerous attempts to try to take over the government complex. Yes, there were some air strikes that took place that at the very least stopped that is advance, but the fighting force there is outgunned and outmanned and the cries for help are growing increasingly stronger. They need those air strikes. They need those additional boots on the ground to begin to defeat is because, yes, ISIS may have been defeated in Tikrit but it has made significant gains in Al Anbar province, into the city of Ramadi, not to mention the ability that ISIS portrayed when it moved into Iraq's largest oil refinery you were talking about earlier in Baiji, managing to penetrate those defenses and the fighting there is still ongoing -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Arwa Damon, thank you very much. Arwa and her fearless reporting on the ground.

I want to go to Jim Sciutto who is in Washington. Jim, you were at the Pentagon today. Where Martin Dempsey spoke, of course the defense secretary, at his first press conference. You just heard Arwa who is in Iraq give a very different readout of the situation on the ground, right? She said they have made significant gains in Al Anbar province, she is talking about ISIS, she's talking about how important Ramadi is, a very different message than we are getting today from the Defense Department and from the President.

[19:05:15] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No question, what General Dempsey, Secretary Carter say today is that the trend line is positive. They will cite successes like taking back Tikrit, they'll say that they are making a big effort in concentrating forces to preserve the Baiji oil field, which they say is crucial, where as they've say Ramadi is not. But listen, it is difficult to gloss over the loss of the largest city in Anbar province, Ramadi, and particularly this impression and to echo Arwa's point of a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government and a Shiite- dominated Iraqi military not being willing to shed Shiite blood to protect a Sunni city here, as you see those tens of thousands of people fleeing. That's real problem. Secretary Carter himself said today that this government has to demonstrate that they are willing to fight across the board, you know, regardless of Sunni/Shia/Kurd, and that's not something you are seeing happening right now in Ramadi.

BURNETT: No. Certainly not. And as Arwa said, I mean, there's such, you are now hearing someone on the ground saying they are making significant gains. The President saying they have had a setback. So, you know, this is -- you're not hearing the same thing. But Jim, it is not just ISIS. Al Qaeda is gaining strength. Something the secretary of defense has acknowledged. They have captured an airport in Yemen. We found out late today and you asked the defense secretary about that. How significant does he think it is?

SCIUTTO: I pressed him on it today. He said, listen, we have other means in his word, fighting the AQAP threat in Yemen even though. And listen to this list Erin, you have U.S. Special Forces no longer on the ground, you have the embassy closed, which is not just diplomatic but it's also a listening post, we talk about intelligence gathering. And you have a U.S. partner there in the government, the former government of Yemen, collapsing. Those are three major hits to take against what is widely described by officials I talked to as the principle or one of the two most principal terror threats to the U.S. That is AQAP. And when I speak to counter intelligence officials, they say, yes, we have lost capability there. They are concerned that that will allow them to better plan and execute attacks overseas and even if right now, AQAP may be focused on its survival, gaining territory that over time, that's going to give a greater ability to attack abroad. That's a real concern to Americans and to the U.S. homeland.

BURNETT: Jim Sciutto, thank you very much. And now OUTFRONT, retired General "James" Spider Marks, who served as the senior intelligence officer in combat during the Iraq. So, you know this space, General. President Obama says serious progress is being made on the ground in Iraq against ISIS. Our reporter on the ground who is been making her way to Ramadi says that ISIS is making significant in this crucial Al Anbar province. What -- why are we hearing such different things?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, RETIRED U.S. ARMY: Well, what you're hearing from Arwa is a very, very precise view of one of the challenges that exists in Iraq and I would say across the board there have been some gains, but this human tragedy that's taking place in Ramadi can't go without some type of comment or some type of a response and you heard Marty Dempsey talked about it earlier today. So of course, you're going to have some disparate views. It is how you define the center of gravity. Where should the United States apply its maximum pressure to achieve the greatest results? Clearly, we have decided Ramadi could, in fact, be a casualty as long as we can hold in other locations and make sure those aren't lost.

BURNETT: That will be interesting to see, and of course interesting to see the impact of that, given as Arwa points out it is the capital of the Sunni heart land in Iraq and so strategically important in that regard. Thank you very much, General Marks.

And OUTFRONT next, the Tulsa officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man claims he was trained and claims he was trained in fact with a well-known Arizona sheriff's department. When we called that sheriff's office today though, they were puzzled why.

Plus, Aaron Hernandez's new life. We are going to go inside the maximum security prison where the former NFL star will serve the rest of his life sentence.

And new video of the pilot who landed on the U.S. capitol lawn, now charged with a felony. He flew in restricted airspace completely undetected and what's alarming as we found out is, he is not the first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:13:05] BURNETT: Breaking news, OUTFRONT has learned that the volunteer deputy who shot and killed an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, may not have been telling the full truth about his training and qualifications. That deputy is 73-year-old Robert Bates. Bates claimed he was trained to deal with active shooters in Arizona, so we called that Arizona sheriff's office today and a spokeswoman tells OUTFRONT that Bates did not train there. This new detail follows serious allegations made by the "Tulsa World" newspaper.

And Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT in Tulsa tonight. Ed, this entire case rests upon Mr. Bates saying he was qualified to be there today at that day, qualified to have a gun in the field. One of his main contentions though doesn't seem to fully add up.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are many more new questions arising around this case and especially the training, Erin, as you mentioned of Robert Bates. The Sheriff's Department here in Tulsa isn't saying much.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Roll on your stomach.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): You can only see a quick glimpse of Tulsa Sheriff Reserve Deputy Robert Bates in the video when Eric Harris is shot and killed during an undercover sting operation.

(Gunshot)

ROBERT BATES, TULSA SHERIFF RESERVE DEPUTY: Oh, I shot him, I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Oh (bleep), oh (bleep). He shot him. He shot him.

(INAUDIBLE)

LAVANDERA: But how the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department allowed about Bates to work the streets is under intense scrutiny. The "Tulsa World" newspaper reports that supervisors in the department were told to falsify Bates' training records and then at least three supervisors were transferred to other jobs for refusing to alter the records. A sheriff's department spokesman refused to comment saying they don't respond to rumors. Sheriff Stanley Glanz and other sheriff officials have repeatedly insisted Bates was properly trained.

MAJ. SHANNON CLARK, TULSA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: He had the proper training and all the techniques that he needed, we feel he did.

LAVANDERA: The Tulsa Sheriff's Department only released a summary of Bates' training courses over the last seven years. The department rejected CNN's request last week for the full training records because Bates' case is under investigation. But in an interview with the Tulsa radio station, the sheriff acknowledged some of Bates' gun qualification records are missing and the deputy who handled that paperwork is no longer working with the sheriff's office.

SHERIFF STANLEY GLANZ, TULSA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We can't find the records that she supposedly turned in. And so we are going to talk to her to find out if for sure he did qualify with those.

LAVANDERA: Earlier this week, CNN obtained Robert Bates' signed statement about the shooting that he gave to investigators. He writes that he last qualified at the gun range in the fall of 2014 and has been taser certified for at least three or four years. Then Bates writes that he received training by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department on response to active shooters. Maricopa County is run by the controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona, but a Maricopa sheriff's office tells CNN Bates didn't come to Arizona and he certainly didn't train with us.

DON SMOLEN, ATTORNEY FOR ERIC HARRIS FAMILY: Quilt essential good old boy kick back system.

LAVANDERA: The lawyer for Eric Harris' family says Bates received favorable treatment because the 73-year-old reserve deputy is a personal friend of the sheriff.

SMOLEN: There's a number of records that the sheriff's office, they just simply haven't come forward with them. And if they don't come forward with them, it's a reflection that the training never happened.

LAVANDERA: There are growing calls for an independent investigation into the sheriff's department. Earlier this week, a department spokesman boldly rejected any idea of outside investigators into the Eric Harris shooting death. CLARK: We are not scared to prosecute our own. You know, I will

tell you, there's nobody in this culture that could be tougher on cops than their own. You know that old analogy that you will eat your young? You know, that's same thing in law enforcement. If we have a dirty cop in our ranks, we will dispose -- we will disclose them much quicker than the media.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Erin, we've also learned that the sheriff has been saying publicly over the last couple of days that he has reached out to the regional office of the FBI to look into this matter, but we reached out to them and we were told by an FBI spokesperson here in Tulsa that there is not an open investigation into this case. It doesn't sound like that call has been made or at least there's some discrepancy there on the sheriff's department here in Tulsa and FBI office here in Tulsa as well -- Erin.

BURNETT: Obviously. There's so many more questions to be answered. Ed, thank you.

And OUTFRONT now, Clark Brewster, he is the attorney for Deputy Robert Bates. And thank you very much for being with me, Clark, I appreciate your time. I want to begin with our breaking news. In the statement that Bates provided to investigators, he said that he, quote, "Received training by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department in response to active shooters." The Maricopa county sheriff's department of course today tells OUTFRONT they have no record that Bates ever attended one of these classes. Is Bates telling the truth here?

CLARK BREWSTER, ATTORNEY FOR RESERVE DEPUTY ROBERT BATES: Yes, it was in Washington, D.C. I have got a certificate that he attended. And that the sheriff lectured there. So, I -- if you --

BURNETT: Was it with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department or was it just a sheriff from the department? I'm just trying to understand what the nuance is. They're saying he absolutely did not train with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department.

BREWSTER: Oh, he didn't. Sheriff Arpaio lectured in Washington, D.C. at a seminar and he attended that seminar with other law enforcement officers for training.

[19:18:16] BURNETT: Well, he said that he received training by the Maricopa Sheriff's Department on response to active shooters. That is a quote from him in a statement. So we called them and they said that he didn't.

BREWSTER: Well, it was the sheriff himself and he gave lectures across the country. And Mr. Bates attended one of those a few years ago. So, what I'm saying is -- an attack, you said we learned today that he had misrepresented his training. How did you learn that with that fact verification?

BURNETT: Well, we did. We called the sheriff's office and they said that he didn't. So, we have been talking about training. But I think at the heart of all this, Clark, it goes back to something more significant, or two things more significant. One of them is his age, right? He is 73-years-old. Reflexes slow with age. We all know that. It starts much younger than that, in your 30s and 40s, it is one of the key reasons most officers retire around 50. So, there's a fundamental question here as to no matter what training he had, was he qualified to be there?

BREWSTER: All right. Let me ask you how long ago was it that we had a 78-year-old commander in chief of this country?

BURNETT: Right. We've also had medical issues.

BREWSTER: Okay. But he was the commander in chief. You don't condemn a person that's 73 years old, that's mobile and fit, like Bob Bates, and his willingness to serve his community. And he met every training regimen, he met every requirement. And he -- all did he was give of himself. Not only do you learn in training, but you give by service, mostly crowd patrol or backup or documenting a scribe, that kind of thing.

BURNETT: All of those things though might make a lot of sense, but what about carrying a live weapon? I mean, we're getting at that very specific point here. No one is questioning whether he was there out of good intent. Everybody knows he was there out of good intent and he wanted to make a difference, but there is a crucial questions as to whether he should have been carrying a live weapon.

BREWSTER: Erin, you're in New York, we are in Oklahoma. It's a concealed carry state. These citizens believed in their second amendment rights. He could carry a weapon. He is a cleat-certified officer, independent of this office. He provided service. He made an honest mistake. He owned it and confessed immediately, with great remorse.

BURNETT: Okay. So, let me get to the broader point here. Obviously, you know, they are disputing that one point, but I understand your point, it is a lot of things. In fact, I know he was required to have, what was it, 480 hours of field training, Tulsa County sheriff's office itself, department, says he only had 300 hours of training, the "Tulsa World" newspaper, as you are very well aware today is reporting that supervisor at the sheriff's office falsified his training records, said he was certified when he wasn't. What's your response to that?

BREWSTER: Well, I have seen the affidavit that was submitted. It is a redacted, blacked out affidavit, signed by a guy charged with first-degree murder in an adjoining county who hasn't worked at the sheriff's office in five years. I don't put a lot of stock in that report or the credibility of who would further they're report.

BURNETT: What about this issue though of the training, that the Tulsa County sheriff's office, all-in, not one individual alleging this the office, says he had 300 hours of training, to be an advanced reserve deputy, you need 480. BREWSTER: That's false. The sheriff's standards are higher than

the local standards in any other community that I know of. He sets a very high limit on training. Bob achieved that. The training hours logged here would be local training documented. The training that he received, he attended classes in Dallas, Washington, Florida and other states that are documented by third parties.

BURNETT: So you're saying that it would add up to 480 hours?

BREWSTER: Well, it will add up to in excess of that, because not only do you have the local training and the national training, but let's focus on the issue here. He wasn't involved in any kind of advance detective or deputy work that day. He was a lookout. He was a blocks away from the scene. He was to be there just as a containment officer when the arrest was completed, he would come and help them take pictures. This is free service. This is -- the sheriff's office has 127 reserve officers that serve for free. Bob Bates is one of them. He -- there was no training necessary under the circumstances of his duty assignment that day, except to facilitate and help. This guy after having guns draw up, bolted from the arrest, ran two blocks and then fought with officers. Bates -- happened right at the side of Bates' car, this is captured on video. He came out, and tried to use a taser to subdue him and mistakenly had his handgun, immediately owned up and confessed the mistake.

[19:23:23] BURNETT: All right, Clark Brewster, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, sir.

BREWSTER: Thank you, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, now OUTFRONT next, former NFL star forced to face reality in a maximum security prison. We want to know exactly what life will be like in that prison. We are going to show you exactly.

Plus, the new family business getting rich off of reefer. How a basement project has one company making millions and millions and millions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:45] BURNETT: Tonight, a former NFL star's new life. Aaron Hernandez's first-degree murder conviction is only the beginning of his legal woes. He faces a second trial for double homicide charges for the shooting deaths of two men outside a nightclub, two civil trials as well as an appeal on yesterday's murder conviction. But now the former patriots tight-end who would signed a $40 million contract is preparing to spend the rest of his life an hour's drive from the Patriot's stadium in a state-of-the-art, high-tech, maximum security prison.

Jean Casarez is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez may be known for wearing number 81 with the New England Patriots, but now, he has a new number, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. With his first full day of processing completed at MCI Cedar Junction, a maximum security facility down the road from where he played in the NFL, the next 30 days will involve placement tests, medical assessments and a full mental evaluation. Doctors also will look at his state of mind. He mouthed the words "you're wrong" after the verdict came in and told an escort several days before, "I'm going to get out of here and when I do, I'm going to get ahold of Obama, tell him you should be doing security at the White House." Hernandez is still awaiting trial for a double murder in Boston, where the motive prosecutors say was anger over a spilled drink.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: How do you plead this indictment? Are you guilty or not guilty?

AARON HERNANDEZ, FORMER NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PLAYER: Not guilty.

CASAREZ: Once Hernandez is processed, he will be brought to the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, where his actions will be documented 24 hours a day by 366 surveillance cameras, much like the video evidence captured in his own home that was used against him during the trial. He will be confined to a cinder block cell and can expect to be put in the boss chair or the body orifice security scanner. The magnetic rays can see contraband or weapons anywhere on or in your body. Hernandez can start out with $30 a week to spend on snacks, toiletries and even authorized clothing. A far cry from his $40 million contract with the New England Patriots. But there is no limit to how much money Hernandez can have in his commissary account.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: But he would be foolish to do so because other people who are poor, you know, will be very interested in helping him spend that money and buying them things.

CASAREZ (voice-over): Many jobs will be available to Hernandez in time, such as cleaning, scrubbing, sweeping or mopping around the prison. But Hernandez won't have to work if he doesn't want to. Inmates he were about 50 cents an hour.

And as far as doing what he loves, there is rec time, even for someone in protective custody. And, yes, the prison offers touch football.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: Now, the difficulty, experts say really the most difficulty is the acceptance that you're never going to be free again. And the prison encourages visits from the family, his mother, his fiancee, their child. You can embrace very quickly when you arrive, you can maybe touch a hand. When you leave, there is going to be a strip search always of Aaron Hernandez.

And at 25 years old, Erin, he will never have a conjugal visit because that's not allowed in Massachusetts.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jean Casarez, thank you very much.

Now, OUTFRONT: defense attorney Tom Mesereau and our legal analyst, Mark O'Mara, also criminal defense attorney.

You know, Mark, it's pretty incredible, when you actually think for a moment the fact he is 25 years old, what the rest of his life will be like. We saw how he conducted himself in court, mouthing "you're wrong" after the verdict was read. And -- but the rest of the trial, good spirits, talking to his lawyers, winking at his girlfriend, you know, always the kind of large and in charge, I'm too cool for school kind of guy.

So, what does that mean for how his life will be in prison?

MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: His life is going to be much different. His celebrity that helped him out as an NFL player is now going to hurt him. One of the things that Jean said is very true. They are going to know he is a celebrity and he is going to get targeted, I think, because of that.

And more importantly, they are going to know that he could have money in that commissary account, and that maybe if they force him to have money in that commissary account, it comes back to help them. It is going to be a huge change for Hernandez. He will probably need to keep him in protective custody, at least for a while.

We know he had some gang associations potentially before he got to the NFL. And let me tell you, there are gangs in those prison systems and he may well have to get to something like that for protection purposes.

BURNETT: Yes, absolutely.

Tom, do you agree? It is interesting, some might say because of those connections, you know, which we are not exactly sure what they might be, but they, of course, have been reported, that he would be safer, that he would be sort of a king of this prison, but it sounds like from what Mark is saying, might be the opposite.

TOM MESEREAU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It could be. I have had clients, when did a lot of gang defense earlier in my career, they actually welcomed going to prison. They said their partners would take care of them, they would protect them, they had their own subculture.

I don't know how it's going to play here, because you have alleged gang affiliations but you have a celebrity. So, celebrities are targets. There are people in prison who have nowhere to go, never going to get out. If you can whack a celebrity, you can be really a man of status or woman of status.

So, I don't -- I don't think necessary for a fun time and I think the only way to really protect him is to isolate him and that can be a very, very meager existence as well.

BURNETT: And, Mark, what about, as jean was reporting, you know, he has got to go through these searches all the time and that chair, you know, you get $30 a week, 50 cents an hour, but you don't have to work. What is that life like, from what you've seen?

O'MARA: This is -- you know, this is real prison. This is the stuff you see on some of the documentary programs that they talk about. There is no privacy. There are no luxuries. This is truly prison.

He is never going to get out. They are going to treat him as a number. The prison system is woefully underfunded anyway. Through the extent they have to spend more money on him because of his celebrity status, he may not be a favorite of the corrections officers have to deal extra with him because of that.

And you are right, these type of strip searches and everything else they are going to do to him because of any interaction he has is going to be more of a hassle for the system and these people are not particularly sympathetic to somebody who is causing them more time, effort and work.

BURNETT: So, it's both sides, from the guards and possibly from the other prisoners.

Tom, what about the issue he has now, an appeal and another trial for double homicide. He has all this coming ahead of him. I guess let's just take the appeal for starters. Does he have a chance, winning his appeal?

MESEREAU: Well, he certainly has a chance. He had some very good defense attorneys who have an excellent record when it comes to success on appeal. I have to assume they raised every appropriate objection they come.

The problem is the judge. The judge is known to be very fair to the defense. She excluded a lot of evidence the prosecutors wanted to admit, evidence that he had shot other individuals, evidence that he had supposedly committed murder.

BURNETT: Right.

MESEREAU: And this judge is nope to be a fairly appellate-proof in a ruling. So, I think it's going to be tougher because of who the judge was and the rulings she gave.

[19:35:01] but do you have good lawyers and always has a chance.

BURNETT: And, Mark, what about the other double homicide? In a sense, it doesn't matter, right, unless he wins his appeal, because he is already in jail for the rest of his life.

O'MARA: In that sense, it doesn't matter. I can tell you right now the prosecution is going to go forward on that case and they are going to probably get a conviction in that the evidence that we know to date seems even stronger in that case that it did in this case, that he was just convicted on. Not going to give him a free pass because there is the possibility of an appeal, though I agree with Tom, this judge insulated herself from any potential appeal by the way she handled the prosecution's case.

BURNETT: Thanks so much to both of you.

And coming up at the top of the hour, Anderson has an exclusive interview with some of the jurors in the Aaron Hernandez trial. Make sure you stick around for that.

And OUTFRONT from the next, new video of the pilot, he flew undetected in restricted airspace, the most restricted in the world, this in a series of major security breaches. We have looked into it and the results are pretty shocking.

Plus, the marijuana medicine men, two brothers traps formed a budding idea into $15 million.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight, we have video of the man who flew that small aircraft, the gyrocopter over what is supposed to be one of the most restricted airspaces in the planet.

[19:40:04] You can see Douglas Hughes, there he is, a Florida mailman, flying his gyrocopter by the Washington monument. There he goes, going to appear on the other side. There it is. Making his way to the capitol, slowly but surely. So slowly but still so undetected.

Today, he wore his full postal service uniform in court, because, of course, he was taking that gyro copter to deliver hundreds of letters to congress, he said. He is seen in a new video here from ABC news, as you can see, wearing his uniform. He has just actually been wry leased, we can tell, and placed under house arrest in Tampa.

But his stunt is exposing serious national security vulnerabilities and Tom Foreman investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not good, people.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the moment that gyrocopter landed at the Capitol, questions have been rising about the pilot who appeared in court today. How was he apparently up detected by hundreds of security agents along the National Mall? Why didn't air traffic controllers or surveillance cameras spot him?

Some doubt his claims he fully informed authorities ahead of time.

DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: I would be stunned if the secret service knew about this and didn't say anything. I'd be shocked.

FOREMAN: But this was just the latest security breach around central D.C. and came days after a man shot himself outside the capitol. Since the start of 2014, at least five people have made it past

the White House fence, including a toddler who slipped past a barrier this week. Most of the intrusions were benign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody out right now! Go back! Everybody into the park!

FOREMAN: But there was that disturbed veteran who charged all the way not what building with a knife before being captured.

JULIA PIERSON, FORMER SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: This is unacceptable and I take full responsibility, and I will make sure that it does not happen again.

FOREMAN: The head of the secret service did not get that chance. She was pushed out of her job shortly afterward. But then last month, agents returning from a party hit a White House barrier, creating another security embarrassment. In 2013, a gunman went on a rampage at the D.C. Navy yard offices, killing a dozen people before he was shot and killed by police.

The next month, a woman rammed a barrier at the White House, a chase followed and she wound up shot dead near the Capitol.

(GUNSHOTS)

FOREMAN: And on the list goes, from the drone that came down on White House grounds to the infamous party crashers in 2009. A lot of people laughed that off back then, but not nearly as many are laughing now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: As for this particular threat of a low-flying slow intruder, NORAD says such things are very difficult for traditional radar systems to detect so Washington has been experimenting with a system called JLENS, it uses some large, tethered blimps and a different type of radar which might be able to spot something like this gyrocopter, but it's not in place yet. So, the concern remains that at the moment, there's a big crack in D.C.'s protective wall and it needs to be fixed -- Erin.

BURNETT: It is stunning. All right, thank you very much, Tom.

OUTFRONT now, former assistant FBI director, Tom Fuentes and also CNN law enforcement analyst.

Tom, you know, Tom Foreman is describing, they're saying basically, the Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson today said this, too, if it's flying too low, they can't see it. If it is flying slow, it is harder to see. That just seems hard to believe. It is stunning, right? Of course that's the first thing you do, you just fly in low.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's right, Erin. What's astonishing about what Secretary Johnson has said, he has basically announced to any copycat out there or anyone else with even worse intentions that if you do it this way, we can't stop you. You're flying too high to be stopped on a traffic stop or a roadblock or even a red light camera, for that matter. You're not high enough to come up on our regular radar. So, right in between, you can fly all around D.C., tour the monuments, do what you want and we can't stop you, we can't see you on radar, and if we did see you, I don't have any idea what they would do about it.

And the new solution that's being proposed with blimps in the air, what will they do? I mean, even if you have these blimps in place and people on the blimp and they look down and say, look at that guy flying toward the Capitol.

BURNETT: Right.

FUENTES: Now what? Are they going to launch a missile from the blimp and take him out and everybody else that's out on that highway? You know, I don't see an easy answer to this and I think that, again, what's been said about the radar is not comforting.

BURNETT: No, it's pretty terrifying. Of course, you could you have a drone that could be, you know, loaded with something as they get more sophisticated, and, by the time they did anything about it, they dropped its payload.

FUENTES: That's right. We just had this case a couple years ago where the FBI stopped a guy who had a model aircraft with a 10-foot wing span that could carry 50 pounds of explosives into the Capitol.

[19:45:02] And, luckily, the bureau stopped that case. So, another example.

BURNETT: All right. Tom Fuentes, thank you very much.

OUTFRONT next, they call him the Willie Wonka of weed. But this is not a fantasy. Marijuana, with all the jokes that people make about it, is making some people in this nation incredibly rich. We are going to show you one amazing story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight, cashing in on pot. Colorado's booming marijuana industry is making thousands of people rich and one dispensary owner is projecting a $15 million profit just this year.

Ana Cabrera is OUTFRONT with the money and power of pot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've heard monikers, the Willie Wonka of weed, the Ronald Reagan of reefer.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A couple of budding interests.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm an inventor at heart. So, I've got -- CABRERA: Three men in mid to late 40s, now marijuana

millionaires.

(on camera) : I can tell you're the loose cannon. Just to let them, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Very much so.

[19:50:02] CABRERA (voice-over): Pete and Andy Williams are brothers and co-owners of medicine man marijuana dispensary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we'll probably do about $15 million this year.

CABRERA: $15 million of revenue projected for 2015, about $9 million last year. And what began with a few plants in Pete's basement --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at this beautiful left right here.

CABRERA: -- has blossomed into a 40,000 square foot facility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have UVC bulbs, electro static filtration.

CABRERA: A plant operation with 80 employees, sisters Sally and Shelly and even mom are among them, sorting a sea of green, planting and then selling 50-plus different strains of recreational and medical marijuana.

(on camera): This is a plant that has been harvested and ready for trimming. Now, it's the purple urkel (ph). What I'm holding here retailed for about 1,000 bucks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dixie elixirs (ph) are also a big seller.

CABRERA (voice-over): Dixie elixirs inedible went from commercial kitchen to commercial manufacturing plant almost overnight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally, tens of millions of dollars of intellectual are being established here.

CABRERA: Forty-six-year-old Tripp Keber is CEO of one of the most successful edibles marijuana companies in the company. His sophisticated THC oil extraction and purification machines helped pump out about 8,000 products a day.

(on camera): Popular product?

TRIPP KEBER, CEO, DIXIE BRANDS: The elixir. It represents about 15 percent of our revenue.

CABRERA (voice-over): Dixie elixir drinks (INAUDIBLE) cannabis- infused chocolate bars are sold in hundreds of pot shops around the country. Keber predicts his business could be worth a billion dollars in the next few years.

KEBER: This is more than just a job, it is a movement and you have to be fanatical in your commitment to it.

CABRERA: But Keber and the Williams brothers say most of their money goes back into the business.

ANDY WILLIAMS, CO-OWNER, MEDICINE MEN: I have dreams.

CABRERA (on camera): Yes, what are your dreams?

WILLIAMS: I want a house with a dock and a boat so I can go fishing any time, some day.

CABRERA: For now, focused on building an industry that still federally illegal, a looming risk that their pot profits could still go up in smoke.

Ana Cabrera, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And Sunday on CNN, it will be all about pot, everybody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Sunday night is smoking. Times are a-changing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just legally purchased marijuana.

ANNOUNCER: A new movement is growing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never thought I would be smoking weed in a hospital.

ANNOUNCER: And business is booming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what happened when you legalize marijuana.

ANNOUNCER: One night, one ground-breaking event.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to say, I'm kind of stunned.

ANNOUNCER: So grab your favorite munchies and get ready for a night you wouldn't expect on CNN.

The premiers of "Weed 3" and "High Profits" starting at 9:00.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day should be like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: What do you mean, you wouldn't expect that on CNN. Come on, people. We're cool.

All right. Next, back to the future, we'll take you there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:56:51] BURNETT: Back to the future, could it actual happen

with a real time machine? That is tonight's IDEA, our series on new ideas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT (voice-over): All Ron Mallett wanted as a child was a time machine it. It was 1955, the year his father died as a massive heart attack, he was only 33 years old.

DR. RONALD MALLETT, THEORITICAL PHYSICIST: I was devastated. I thought if I could build a time machine and go back in time and tell him what would happen and save his life. So, that became an obsession for me.

BURNETT: Today, Mallett is a well-known American physicist, and he's actually attempting to build a machine that may one day make visiting his father a reality.

Mallett's idea is rooted in Albert Einstein's general theory of relative. In it, time and space flow together, like a river that can be manipulated.

Building on Einstein, Mallett believes he can bend time and space using light.

MALLETT: If I can be able to twist time into a loop, I can go from the past, the present and future, but I'm on the loop, so I can go to the future back to the past.

BURNETT: Another way to imagine this, he said, is through a cup of coffee. The cup is empty space and the circulating light beam and the spoon is the light, and the coffee bean is a neutron.

MALLETT: So, what happens to the coffee is when I stir it is it swirls around. I put a coffee bean in the cup, I can stir the coffee, the coffee is going to drag around, the coffee bean.

BURNETT: As coffee bean goes, so goes the neutron. The energy from the light bean pulls it around, twisting time and space.

Now, if you are still scratching your head, you are definitely not alone. For years, Mallett feared he wouldn't be taken seriously, and so, he kept his dream a secret.

MALLETT: If I wanted to get a job in academia and I wanted to go up the ladder, it would not be a good idea to talk about a time machine.

BURNETT: So, Mallett built his career on black holes, which meant he could covertly pursue his passion.

MALLETT: Black holes were considered crazy but they're considered legitimate crazy.

BURNETT: Even now, Mallett faces head winds, while fellow scientists believes his math holds promises in theory, they say his designs has problems in practice.

MICHIO KAKU, THEORITICAL PHYSICIST: It turns out that to really create a usable time machine, you have to have laser beams about the size of the universe. And, of course, you're not going to be able to build a laser beam of that size, or a laser beam with the energy of a black hole.

BURNETT: Mallett agrees that harnessing enough energy to make human time travel possible is his biggest obstacle. Still though, he remains optimistic about the ability to send information back into the past, like what if he could send a message to his dad and warn about that heart attack.

MALLETT: Imagine if we'd have a way of sending information back to ourselves, to warn ourselves of natural disasters, of tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, think of the thousands of lives that we could save.

BURNETT: Even Einstein might be impressed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: It's pretty incredible when you think about it. I mean, you know, if a real physicist thinks this could be possible, even if this is just for information, you'd still end up with so may paradoxes. What will we do if we finally achieve time travel?

Well, thanks so much for joining us. Be sure to set your DVR to record OUTFRONT, so you can watch the show at anytime. We'll see you back here same time, same place tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

"ANDERSON COOPER 360" begins right now.