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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ohio Teen Prison Escapee Caught; U.S. Surveillance Flights Over Syria; Verdict in Pistorius Trial

Aired September 12, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: prison escape. A notorious teenage killer, a school shooter, sets off a statewide manhunt. How does someone serving a life-term for killing three classmates manage to get out of prison? We have the very latest ahead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: hunting ISIS in Syria. U.S. planes tracking down terrorists as we learn new information this morning about just how big the terror group has grown. Secretary of State John Kerry right now asking other countries to join in the fight. We're live with the latest this morning.

BERMAN: Happening right now -- I mean right now -- a judge issuing the verdict in the Oscar Pistorius trial. Cleared of premeditated murder of his girlfriend, but still facing serious charges. We are live in South Africa tracking all the developments.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday.

BERMAN: That's what I was waiting to hear.

ROMANS: Friday, September 12th. It's 4:00 a.m. -- that's the hard part -- in the East.

We begin this morning with the Northwest Ohio residents breathing a sigh of relief of the capture just hours ago of the teenager killer who escaped prison overnight, 19-year-old T.J. Lane sentenced to three life terms in a 2012 killings of three students at Chardon High School.

You might remember, the smirk, you can see it there, the smirk he wore, during much of his time in court, Lane broke out of Allen Oakwood Correctional Center in Lima Thursday night, along with two other inmates, the Ohio Highway State Patrol set up roadblocks, deploying troopers and a helicopter, searching the area. Six tense hours later, he is snared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF SCOTT NIDHUS, CHARDON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Chardon Police Department alerted that T.J. Lane and two other inmates escaped from Allen Correctional Facility in Lima, Ohio, last evening. I can now confirm that we've heard from officials involved in the search that T.J. Lane is now in custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The warden says Lane escaped by scaling a prison fence. He was found 100 yards away. No word so far on how he got that far. One of the other escaped inmates remains at large this hour.

BERMAN: Yes, a guy who's convicted of kidnapping and other charges.

Meanwhile, a bombshell from the CIA this morning: ISIS has two to three times as many fighters as previously thought. We are talking as many as 31,000 fighters on the ground in Iraq and Syria right now. The CIA credits stronger recruiting for that rapid growth.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry swing through the Middle East appears to be bearing some fruit to 10 Arab nations have signed on to fight ISIS, issuing a joint statement Thursday vowing to do their share calling for a coordinated military campaign. But the secretary of state says the battle against ISIS is not a war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think that's the wrong terminology. What we are doing is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. It will go on for some period of time. If somebody wants to think about it as being a war with ISIL, they can do so, but the fact is it's a major counterterrorism operation that will have many different moving parts.

(END VIDDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Call it a war. You'd have to get different kinds of approval.

CNN's Ivan Watson has been monitoring the secretary's trip around the region. He's with us this morning.

Great to see you, Ivan. What's the latest?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, now, John Kerry is traveling to Turkey. It's a country neighboring both Iraq and Syria. It's also long been a NATO ally of the U.S.

So, it would be an obvious power in the region to recruit as potential ally against ISIS. But the fact is, is that the Turks were at the meeting in Saudi Arabia that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was at, when 10 other Arab countries signed a public joint communique promising to battle against ISIS with the U.S., the Turks abstained from signing that, John.

So, why would they do that?

Well, there are a couple of potential reasons. Number one, perhaps the Turks are afraid to go one-on-one against ISIS right on their border. Number two, Turkey has long served as a kind of underground railroad for jihadi militants, many of them traveling from North Africa, from Europe, across Turkey, into Syria, to fight there. They cracked down some, but I think they may be worried about those jihadists staying and creating trouble in Turkey.

And then the biggest reason of all, the Turks are dealing with the biggest hostage crisis that they faced in a generation. The ISIS militants captured close to 50 Turkish diplomats, security officers and their families in June when they captured the entire consulate of Turkey in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. So, the Turks are very worried if they come out publicly against ISIS that their hostages could be beheaded like those two American reporters -- John.

BERMAN: Just shows, Ivan, how difficult it is to put together a coalition. I know Turkey is a country you spend a lot of time in, not always a comfortable time, I might add. But Turkey could be one of the most crucial allies in the battle against ISIS, but even Turkey having a difficult time going all in.

Our Ivan Watson covering Secretary John Kerry's trip around the region -- thanks so much, Ivan.

ROMANS: So, it didn't take long for the first U.S. surveillance flights to start over Syria. They're already tracking ISIS targets in case airstrikes are ordered by the president. If that happens, Turkey and Germany have already announced they want no part of it. The U.K. is a maybe. Only Syria and Israel are on the record fully supporting the President Obama's strategy. In fact, Syria's deputy foreign minister calls President Bashar al Assad a natural ally for the U.S.

We get more from White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine.

Well, we just heard the president's strategy. It's interesting now to hear from that the White House that they are currently reviewing targets inside Syria. They wouldn't characterize the number of these, the scope of the operation to be planned inside Syria, what exactly these targets are.

They say they are the result of expanded intelligence gathering in the region and they are under review among the White House, the Pentagon and national security advisors. This doesn't mean, though, necessarily that airstrikes are imminent.

What the White House is doing right now is trying to get Congress on board. That is showing some promise with support from, for example, Speaker of the House John Boehner.

But there are still some big questions, including from critics like Senator John McCain, who is asking, why didn't the president listen to some of his advisors in the past when they said he should be training and arming Syrian rebels back then? And he points to an interview the president did just a few weeks ago where he called it a fantasy that they would arm these rebels. For its part, the White House says, OK, that interview was just

referring to the issue back then. The president says that the rebels were just this ragtag band of pharmacists and doctors and the like. They say that was back then when they were talking about possibly arming them to fight Syrian President Assad. That the situation now, though, has changed, that after more than a year of U.S. assistance, these rebels are more organized and strong. The U.S. is also trying to gather international support with Secretary Kerry in the Middle East.

But it's interesting to hear from the U.K., I mean, the U.S.'s closest ally, the foreign minister said, let me be clear. There will be no British air strikes inside Syria. But then the prime minister suddenly backed it up and said, oh, no, no, well, nothing is off the table. All these options are being reviewed.

The White House says it is encouraged by what it calls robust international support for the president's plan, including, it says, within the Middle East -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: It seems like conditional robust support.

Meanwhile, the mother of James Foley, one of two American journalists beheaded by ISIS says she is embarrassed and appalled by the U.S. government.

Diane Foley insists the U.S. government did not do enough to rescue her son while he was in captivity. She tells CNN's Anderson Cooper her efforts to get her son freed were viewed as an annoyance by officials. And she had especially harsh words for the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Did you know that what was happening to him and where he was?

DIANE FOLEY, JAMES FOLEY'S MOM: To be honest, that was rather frightening. We tended to know everything before the FBI or anyone else. Everyone was kind and supportive, but the FBI used us for information.

COOPER: Really? They came to you for information?

FOLEY: Absolutely.

COOPER: About his location?

FOLEY: Absolutely. Oh, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Diane Foley went on to tell Anderson that officials in Washington threatened her with prosecution if he tried to raise ransom money to free her son. U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice defends the government's

work in the Foley case. She tells CNN that she and government officials, quote, "worked very hard to try to be supportive, to try to provide what information we could."

Diane Foley has launched a foundation now to save others from the trauma that she experienced. She says the James Foley Legacy Fund will help other journalists reporting from conflict zones and their families.

ROMANS: ISIS is trying fear around the globe. But so far, the terror group is not spooking markets. The ISIS threat has not caused a spike in oil prices. Crude oil trading about $93 a barrel, much cheaper that it was this time last year and down about $15 from an initial spike when tensions escalated in Iraq earlier this year.

Now, oil prices relatively low, thanks to increased American production and U.S. military success in Iraq. Stocks also are not flinching. They're very close to the records. The Dow, the S&P 500 down less than 1 percent from all time highs.

Experts say there's a feeling ISIS can be contained to a relatively small area of the world, and that the group is losing momentum.

Today, U.S. stock futures pointing slightly slower. European stocks as well.

BERMAN: Interesting the market is betting against ISIS.

ROMANS: They are.

BERMAN: New details about the NSA's heavy-handed tactics to collect your data. According to court documents just unsealed, the agency threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day back in 2008 if it failed to comply with orders to surrender a wide array of customer communications. The company fought and lost a legal battle to resist what it believed to be an unconstitutional program.

ROMANS: The White House is promising frustrated Latino lawmakers that President Obama is prepared to act on his own by the end of the year, to reform the nation's immigration system. White House chief of staff Denis McDonough meeting behind closed doors with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Thursday. They are furious over the president's decision to put off executive action on immigration until after the November election.

BERMAN: An American doctor who survived the battle with the Ebola virus is donating his own blood to help another doctor. Dr. Rick Sacra is described as sick, but stable right now in an isolation unit in a Nebraska hospital. He has been treated with the serum made from the blood of Dr. Kent Brantly, an Ebola survivor who traveled to Omaha last week, to make the donations. It's remarkable.

In Liberia, where Dr. Sacra became infected, the death toll is surging. Ebola is spreading so quickly there that the defense minister says the country's very existence is threatened. Even more grim news for the Democratic Republic of Congo. The number

of Ebola cases there doubling to 62 in just the past week, and to make matters worse, experts say there is no clear sense just who is the leading international response to fight the virus or how funds are being collected and disbursed. The confusion and lack of coordination is delaying shipment of badly needed supplies they say by months.

BERMAN: To say nothing of a medical infrastructure that is, you know, by no means up to snuff to be able to handle something like this. You know, I mean, people who are in quarantine, and breaking out of quarantine.

The other thing that's so interesting about that story, too, is people are told they have to be in isolation, but they have to get food for their families. So, they don't want to be in isolation because they want to work, because that's also part of their survival. It's just really a tough situation.

BERMAN: Twelve minutes after the hour right now.

Judgment day for Oscar Pistorius, cleared of premeditated murder for killing his model girlfriend, but he still could end up in prison. There are decisions, verdicts being read at this moment. We are live in South Africa right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Happening right now: a South African judge reading her verdicts to a riveted courtroom in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius.

Now, the former Olympian has already been cleared of the premeditated murder charges. The judge ruling yesterday that the prosecution failed to prove premeditation beyond a reasonable doubt. But the Blade Runner could still be found guilty of culpable homicide, for that Valentine's Day shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. That's like manslaughter in our legal system.

Kelly Phelps live from Pretoria this morning.

We understand the judge just issued two new verdicts in the case. Tell us about it.

KELLY PHELPS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, actually, things are happening very quickly here. We received three new verdicts. Mr. Pistorius has been acquitted on two of the firearms charges and he has been convicted on one of them. That one that he's been found guilty of is the firearms charge that's related to the discharging of a weapon in the restaurant in Tasha's in Johannesburg. He has been found guilty of that charge.

Right now, the judge is busy recapping all of the charges in this trial and officially announcing her verdicts on those. So, in not very long, we will hear that he is not guilty of murder, guilty of culpable homicide, not guilty on two of the firearms charges and guilty on the final one relating to the discharge of the firearm in a crowded restaurant.

ROMANS: The legal system has some interesting differences, but culpable homicide. There will be a guilty plea, you say? The guilty verdict.

PHELPS: There will be a guilty verdict for culpable homicide, yes. Yesterday, we could see that legally yesterday. It was a certainty yesterday because she found that he acted negligently. He had failed the test for negligence. And that is essentially all that was necessary for the culpable homicide conviction in this case.

So, it was a legal certainty of her reasoning yesterday that he would indeed be conducted of culpable homicide.

ROMANS: So, what are we looking at in terms of a potential sentence? She'll read her verdict and then she'll adjourn and consider a sentence? What kind of sentence could he be facing?

PHELPS: First of all, in terms of what he might be facing, for the culpable homicide conviction, it is discretionary sentencing. So, it's in the judge's hands, guided by sentencing principles and laws. And it can be anywhere from a very stiff prison term to no prison time at all. And she will need to apply the law to determine what is the appropriate sentence.

With regard to the firearms conviction, there is a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison. And anything below that is in the discretion of the judge. There will be a separate sentencing hearing where each party will have the opportunity to put forward to her aggravating or mitigating factors for her to weigh in the balance and deciding what is appropriate sentence on the specific individual circumstances of the case.

ROMANS: Kelly Phelps for us in Pretoria, South Africa, this morning -- thank you, Kelly.

BERMAN: It's still a long way to go.

ROMANS: Sure is.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, ESPN is reporting that Ray Rice told Roger Goodell when they met in June, that he punched his then fiancee in a hotel elevator. Now, this contradicts what Goodell is saying that he only learned what happened after seeing the video for the first time this week, and that his June meeting with Rice was, quote, "ambiguous concerning details."

The commissioner is under fire for his handling of the case. He's appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to conduct an independent investigation despite accusations that Goodell knew more about the tape than he is letting on. The Baltimore Ravens owner is defending the commissioner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BISCIOTTI, BALTIMORE RAVENS OWNER: I believe Roger when he says he never saw it. If the allegation is true that it got to the league office, then somebody was negligent and not getting that to Roger. I have known Roger for 14 years. He's dedicated his life to the NFL and as a man, I can't believe that he saw that video and gave a two-game suspension.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The commissioner is hired by the owners. It's not unusual that they're offering so much support for him.

Now, in the meantime, CBS and the NFL network dropped a Rihanna performance from this Thursday football pre-game show to allow for discussion of the Ray Rice case. The pop star was herself a victim of domestic violence.

As for the game, you know, the Ravens won. They beat the Steelers, 26-6.

ROMANS: Twenty minutes past the hour. Dramatic rescues caught on camera. Memphis under water this morning. Complete coverage next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Breaking news: you are looking at live pictures from the courtroom in Pretoria in South Africa where Oscar Pistorius has just been found guilty of culpable homicide for the shooting death of his model then girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Now, he was found not guilty of premeditated murder. We knew that. He was found not guilty of another murder charge and guilty of a weapons charge. But the news this morning is guilty of culpable homicide, which in the United States is tantamount to manslaughter.

ROMANS: And our Kelly Phelps was saying that it will up to the discretion of the judge within the law and sentencing guidelines to determine what kind of sentence he will serve. But some of these charges do carry -- one of the gun charges carries a five-year maximum and the culpable murder charges could have years in prison.

BERMAN: Up to 15 years for the culpable homicide charge.

However, it could also mean no jail time and that is completely up to the person you are looking at right now. The judge in this case who has completed one full day of reading for the bench yesterday and so far, several hours this morning laying out her reasoning behind the case.

And just moments ago, she summarized everything. The headline: guilty of culpable murder and not guilty of premeditated murder. There is still more to come, a separate sentencing hearing. That is when we will hear how much or if Oscar Pistorius will spend anytime in jail.

ROMANS: It is interesting to watch the South African legal system to work. It is like the American legal system, but different in so many, many ways. The way this judge has so much power over what the outcome is and the way also that she's read through every witness testimony. She started at the beginning and was knocking down witnesses, knocking down key parts of the state's case one piece after another.

BERMAN: Well, she does to a certain extent with legal analysis on TV. Afterwards, she said that was not a credible witness. He or show seemed to be lying.

You know, Oscar Pistorius, she said, was a bad witness. She says that from the bench itself, which is fascinating to see. Again, this is all wrapping up right now.

Oscar Pistorius, the headline, found guilty of culpable homicide. Not guilty of premeditated murder. We'll get some more analysis on that a little bit later.

Meanwhile, breaking news this morning -- other breaking news -- an escaped high school shooter sets off a statewide manhunt. How did this man who killed three classmates get free? We'll tell you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Breaking news: just moments ago, Oscar Pistorius found guilty of culpable homicide in his girlfriend's shooting death. Will the Olympic hero be sent to prison? We are live in South Africa with what comes next.

BERMAN: Breaking news this morning.