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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Juror B-37 Speaks; Anger and Frustration over Zimmerman Case; North Korean Ship Seized; "Nuclear Option: Still on the Table; Wall Street Breaks Records

Aired July 16, 2013 - 05:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUROR B-37, JUROR IN GEORGE ZIMMERMAN TRIAL: It's just hard, thinking that somebody lost their life. There's nothing else that could be done about it. I think both of them could have walked away. It just didn't happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP))

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Inside the verdict in a CNN exclusive. A juror explains why George Zimmerman was found justified in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Outrage in the streets. Thousands protesting the verdict across the country. Demonstrators rested as calls for justice turn violent.

BROWN: And the new trial. Why George Zimmerman could soon be back in the courtroom defending himself again in Trayvon Martin's death.

LEMON: Good morning, everyone. And welcome to EARLY START. I'm Don Lemon.

BROWN: And I'm Pamela Brown. Nice to have you with us on this Tuesday morning, July 16th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.

LEMON: It's good to be with you.

BROWN: You, too, Don.

LEMON: All right. We are going to move on and we're going to starts with this. Let's start with the latest on George Zimmerman case.

More than two days after a jury acquitted him in the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, we still have not heard from the former neighborhood watch volunteer. And there's no word yet if Martin's family plans to sue for wrongful death.

Amid calls for federal civil rights investigation, Attorney General Eric Holder says the Justice Department is looking into the case. He called Martin's death tragic and unnecessary and promised to act consistent with the facts and the law. There were more protests Monday in Atlanta and Houston with demonstrators demanding justice for the 17-year-old. In Oakland, there were arrests, assault and vandalism. Arrests also in Los Angeles when a protest through a neighborhood turned violent.

And we now know more about what happened inside the jury room as the six women debated George Zimmerman's fate. Juror B37 spoke exclusively to Anderson Cooper on "360" Monday night about what she thought of the testimony and the people involved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What did you think of George Zimmerman?

JUROR B-37: I think George Zimmerman is a man whose heart was in the right place, but just got displaced by the vandalism in the neighborhoods, and wanting to catch these people so badly, that he went above and beyond what he really should have done.

COOPER: Do you think he's guilty of something?

JUROR B-37: I think he's guilty of not using good judgment. When he was in the car and he called 911, he shouldn't have gotten out of that car.

But the 911 operator also, when he was talking to him, kind of egged him on. I don't know if it's their policy to tell them what to do, not to get out of the car, to stay in their car. But I think he should have said, stay in your car, not "can you see where he's gone?"

COOPER: Do you feel George Zimmerman should have been carrying a gun?

JUROR B-37: I think he has every right to carry a gun. I think it's everyone's right to carry a gun.

COOPER: You think, based on the testimony you heard, you believe that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor?

JUROR B-37: I think the roles changed. I think, I think George got in a little bit too deep, which he shouldn't have been there. But Trayvon decided that he wasn't going to let him scare him and get the one- over, up on him, or something. And I think Trayvon got mad and attacked him.

COOPER: Do you feel like you know for sure what happened in the altercation? And did the other jurors feel for sure that they knew what happened?

JUROR B-37: Nobody knew exactly what happened.

COOPER: What did you think of the testimony of Trayvon Martin's mother and father? Did you find them credible?

JUROR B-37: I think they said anything a mother and a father would say. Just like George Zimmerman's mom and father. I think -- they're your kids. You want to believe that they're innocent and that was their voice. Because hearing that voice would make it credible that they were the victim, not the aggressor.

COOPER: So in a way, both sets of parents kind of canceled each other out in your mind?

JUROR B-37: They did, definitely. Because if I was a mother, I would want to believe so hard that it was not my son that did that, or was responsible for any of that, that I would convince myself probably that it was his voice.

COOPER: So you don't believe race played a role in this case?

JUROR B-37: I don't think it did. I think if there was another person, Spanish, white, Asian, if they came in the same situation where Trayvon was, I think George would have reacted the exact same way.

COOPER: Was that a common belief on the jury that race was not -- that race did not play a role in this?

JUROR B-37: I think all of us thought that race did not play a role.

COOPER: It didn't come up, the question of, did George Zimmerman profile Trayvon Martin because he was African-American?

JUROR B-37: No, I think he just profiled him because he was the neighborhood watch, and he profiled anyone that came in acting strange. I think it was just circumstances happened that he saw Trayvon at the exact time that he thought he was suspicious.

COOPER: People have now remarked subsequently that he gets his gun back. And there are some people that said that the idea that he gets -- is -- can have a gun, worries them. Does that worry you?

JUROR B-37: It doesn't worry me. I think he would be more responsible than anybody else on this planet right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Juror B-37 says she's now dropping plans to write a book about the case. It's better, she said in a statement, to return to the life she lived before she was called to sit on the jury.

BROWN: One of the key witnesses for the prosecution was Rachel Jeantel. She's Trayvon Martin's friend and was on the phone with him moments before he was shot. She tells CNN's Piers Morgan the verdict made her disappointed and race did play a role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Do you think that was racially motivated or more a case of somebody he thought was a young thug, black or white?

RACHEL JEANTEL, TRAYVON MARTIN'S FRIEND: It was racial, let's be honest. Racial. If he -- if Trayvon was white, he had a hoodie on, would it happen?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Jeantel says Zimmerman should have testified calling him weak for not doing so.

LEMON: And, Pam, this development from the legal side of the case. Mark O'Mara, one of Zimmerman's defense attorneys, now tells "Reuters" the prosecutors should be sanctioned for withholding evidence. He called them a disgrace to the profession, saying they intentionally did not turn over pictures and text messages from Martin's phone, reportedly pictures showing gun and text messages about buying one.

Special prosecutor Angela Corey insists they followed the highest standards of ethical behavior.

BROWN: All right. Shifting our focus to the weather.

LEMON: Yes, it is very warm.

BROWN: It is warm in the studio and very warm outside. We are in the middle of a heat wave right now, it appears.

LEMON: Yes, it is summertime. And mercury is rising. It's just 5:00 in the morning, and it's already pretty bad in New York City. Indra Petersons is outside.

Indra, you picked the wrong morning. What's going on?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, what are you guys thinking -- eighty degrees with 70 percent humidity, right? Awesome. It's what exactly we are dealing with.

We are talking 5:00 in the morning here. Let's look at the temperatures right now. We'll take a look at the map here, and we are looking at 80s and upper 70s really across the entire area.

And as we go through the afternoon, we are going to talk about mid- 90s. I mean, temperatures are going to be soaring. We are talking temperatures that feel like the triple digits out there.

So, what do we have? We have a huge dome of high pressure parking itself across the area. So, with that, we are talking about a threat, really, of all these storms or sorry, high heat in southern New England, also in D.C. I mean, big metro areas, Philadelphia, D.C., New York. All of you are going to feel like you are sweating it out way worse in what I'm dealing with already in these morning hours.

So, we don't have maps here I can see in front of me. I'm going to try to wing this. We're talking about 50 percent humidity in the afternoon. So, 70 percent now. You are talking mid-90s. Temperatures above normal.

But 50 percent humidity, that is a sticky factor we are talking about. And you guys, I think we have it. The heat is going to be here all week long. So, we better get used to it, right?

LEMON: Oh, my goodness. Yes. BROWN: Get used to it.

LEMON: Get used to it.

BROWN: A new New Yorker here.

LEMON: At least for now -- it's not the heat, it's the humidity. It's cliche, but it is true.

All right. Thank you, Indra. We'll check back in with you.

Other news now to tell you about -- a North Korean ship has been seized in Panama with a hull of weapons onboard. Panamanian officials say they thought the ship en route from Cuba might have drugs on it but were surprised to find weapons hidden among a cargo of brown sugar. The captain and crew resisted arrest and the captain apparently tried to kill himself.

International inspectors are being called in to figure just what kind of weapons were found.

BROWN: The kingpin of a notorious Mexican drug cartel is now in police custody. Authorities in Mexico picked up Miguel Angel Trevino Morales on Monday, not from Monterrey, in the U.S. border. He's the head of the Zetas drug cartel known for killing and mutilating civilian who got in their way during a brutal drug war.

Morales apparently had $2 million and eight weapons with him at the time. Both Mexico and the U.S. had offered millions leading to his capture.

LEMON: Boy, it's looking like Edward Snowden won't be getting temporary asylum in Russia. President Vladimir Putin told Russian media he hopes the NSA leaker will leave the country as soon as he can, but then he really doesn't know what will happen. Putin also said Snowden was not invited to Russia and he'd have to stop his political activities if he wanted to stay.

The former CIA contractor is believed to be living at Moscow's airport.

Pam?

BROWN: Don, so far, no deal in the Senate to avoid the, quote, "nuclear option." That's a Democratic plan to end Republican filibusters of presidential nominees.

Nearly all 100 senators attended a rare, private meeting late last night but failed to come up with a deal. They will keep talking until the deadline later this morning. And then, after that, Democrats plan to change the rules of appointing nominees a lot simpler.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The Constitution is very, very specific. The Founding Fathers talked about supermajority. They mention presidential nominations. Majority. Majority.

Founding Fathers wanted up or down vote. That's basically what we've been crying for now for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Two cabinet member nominees and five appointees to agency posts come up for vote this is morning. Republicans have been stalling the confirmation process for months now.

LEMON: Charges this morning for a former staff for Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Javier Sanchez is accused of stealing from a congressional office building. Police aren't saying what was taken, but the congresswoman's office says she no longer works there.

At one point, Sanchez was Bachmann's legislative director.

BROWN: Former Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich is asking a federal appeals court to take a look at a conviction for corruption and trying to tell President Obama's former Senate seat, saying a juror was biased against him. The judge excluded evidence that could have helped his case and that his 14-year prison term was too harsh. His lawyers filed the appeal 30 minutes before a midnight deadline.

LEMON: Good news for 401(k)s and other investments. Another record- setting day on Wall Street. Traders pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to a new all time high Monday, boosted by strong earnings reports. The Dow was up about 20 points, closing at 15,484. The S&P was two points higher to 1,682.

It's the third straight session where the indexes have set new record highs. Great news.

BROWN: That is great news. We love to hear that.

All right. This is (INAUDIBLE) to tell you about. This is just a bizarre story.

LEMON: OK.

BROWN: This one involved, though, a Chinese woman who got stuck inside walls. These pictures right here, these are from eastern China, not far from Shanghai. The woman was apparently trying to take a shortcut through a narrow gaps, when she got stuck late Saturday.

The owners of the house thought her cries were from a ghost. That's right, a ghost. They left her there for seven hours. They didn't look into it more until the next morning.

When fire crews arrived, with hammers, and chisels in hand, they were able to set her free in about 20 minutes. Can you imagine if you are claustrophobic? Oh, don't even get me started.

LEMON: Yes, she's actually she's still be there.\

BROWN: I know. LEMON: A ghost?

BROWN: A ghost.

LEMON: So weird.

All right. Speaking of ghosts, coming up, seriously, killer iPhone? Why the Apple product is being investigated in the death of a woman.

And royal baby watch, the world is waiting for the Will and Kate baby, when will it be born? We're live in London next, where everyone is abuzz.

BROWN: So much anticipation around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Good morning. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Don Lemon.

Apple says it is investigating reports out of China that a 23-year-old flight attendant was electrocuted while using an iPhone 5 when it was connected to a charger. The women's sister has posted a statement online asking Apple for an explanation.

Apple has offered its condolences to the family and says it will cooperate with authorities in northwestern China to figure out exactly what happened.

BROWN: In Boston, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense is asking to hire a second death penalty expert. Law professor David Bruck from Virginia's Washington and Lee University has represented hijacking and terror suspects. Defense attorneys have requested Bruck before, but the judge refused.

Tsarnaev could face a death penalty if convicted of the Boston marathon bombings. He has pleaded not guilty.

LEMON: The Army private accused of leaking thousands of classified documents is making one last push to get the most serious charge dismissed, aiding the enemy. Bradley Manning has already pleaded guilty to 10 charges in the case. But his lawyers at his court martial argued he didn't realize documents he gave WikiLeaks could end up in the hands of terrorists.

BROWN: Don, the Jodi Arias case is back before a court today in Phoenix, where a status hearing in the penalty phase of her murder trial. Arias was convicted back in May of first degree murder for the death of her ex-boyfriend. But the jury couldn't decide whether to give her life or death. A new jury will be picked to decide her punishment.

And a royal prediction this morning. Could Will and Kate's baby be just days from being born? That's what one member of the family is hoping for -- drum roll.

Max Foster is right outside St. Mary's Hospital in London for us. He's been there covering the story for a while. Max, the anticipation continues to grow.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And last night, I did actually get it confirmed that Saturday, last Saturday was the due date. So, we are actually in overdue territory. No wonder the family is on tenterhooks.

This is what Camilla, Prince Charles' wife had to say when she was called yesterday. We don't often get that opportunity. She's expecting the baby by the end of the week, she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got everybody camped outside --

CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL: I think so, I think so. I think by the end of the week, he or she will be there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, we are not quite camped outside, Pam. We are not quite camped outside, Pam. We are sort of coming and going every day. But, yes, there's pretty strong media presence here, still.

BROWN: Hey, you guys are kind of becoming the story out there, it seems. There's such a big crowd. I'm sure tourists are stopping by, taking pictures of you all.

FOSTER: Absolutely. On the other side of the road, you have these moments where people are taking pictures of us. It's going a bit insular. We are hoping Kate is going to arrive soon.

BROWN: Yes, I bet. All right. Well, hopefully, it will be soon. Thanks so much, Max Foster. We appreciate it.

LEMON: When you have a name like Max Foster, it's like he's a superhero, right? Max Foster --

BROWN: Meant to be on TV.

LEMON: Coming up, prices at the pump. They are going up. When will it end? Money time is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I would say it's a beautiful morning, but it's 850,000 degrees in Central Park. Its temperature rose as high as the stock market did yesterday.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm Don Lemon here with Pamela Brown.

BROWN: Yes, great to be here.

LEMON: Yes, it's money time. And the money lady is here, Alison Kosik.

BROWN: Yes.

LEMON: It says you are here with everything we need to know. Everything? Do you know everything?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Everything that matters to us. When you are driving down the street and see the gas prices? Guess what? They are on their way up, that relentless run-up in gas prices continuing.

AAA saying the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular sitting at $3.64. And that's up 16 cents compared to a week ago. You look at gas prices just this year. You know, they'd have those picks. They've had those valleys.

They're actually the highest in March. You look at the overall trend, it's just been higher. Especially as we get into the heart of the summer driving season, what we're in right now. A big factor, pushing up prices at the pump, higher oil, of course.

Several reasons for that, these tensions in Egypt. And true, Egypt is not a big oil producer. It does control the Suez Canal, a very important shipping channel for oil products. So, what happens is it becomes an oil delivery issue. It becomes a supply issue.

Another thing squeezing prices are refinery shut downs. Some have been scheduled. Some unscheduled, and this is at a time when demand is at its strongest.

And when gas prices move higher, guess what, there's a domino effect. That cuts into the family budget because guess what happens? We spend less on other stuff, if we have to, you know, shell out more for filling up our tanks. For every cent gas rises, that takes $4 million from consumer pockets.

One ominous sign to remember for oil and gas prices, we are heading into the middle of hurricane season. With that comes the possibility of world platforms, oil refineries potentially being damaged at a time gas prices are climbing.

Let's talk stocks. We hit new records Monday for the Dow. It was the 26th record of the year. It's only July. And for the S&P 500, it was 20th record close of the year.

So far this year, the Dow, S&P are up 18 percent, the NASDAQ up 19 percent. The S&P, by the way, that rise -- your portfolio is looking good right now. On Wall Street, we're going to be watching company earnings today. This is when companies are handing in report cards for the second quarter, which is April, May and June. So, we're going to get results from Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola. After the bell, coming up, Yahoo!

LEMON: Yahoo!, that's a lot of people were saying, Yahoo! yesterday, right?

BROWN: Exactly, the stock prices.

KOSIK: Yes.

BROWN: All right. Alison, thank you so much.

LEMON: Appreciate that.

Coming up, two CNN exclusives in the Trayvon Martin case. The last person to speak to the unarmed teenager opens as a juror explains why George Zimmerman was set free. That's next.

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