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CNN Saturday Morning News

Afghan Shooting Suspect Identified; Guilty Verdict in Rutgers Spying Case; Guilty Verdict in Day Care Murder; March Madness Upsets; Pet Potty for Your Dog

Aired March 17, 2012 - 08:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. It's 8:00 a.m. in the East, 7:00 a.m. at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas where we have learned the alleged Afghanistan shooter has arrived. We now know more about his identity, his service in Iraq, and what his friends and neighbors are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was super fun to hang around with, kind of the life of the party kind of a guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: We'll also talk to an expert on traumatic brain injury, which Bales was treated for in 2010. He'll be joined by an Iraq veteran who suffered a similar injury.

And what is Hollywood hunk George Clooney doing in handcuffs? We'll tell you.

This morning, the soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in a house-to-house rampage is back in the U.S. The suspect is identified as 38-year-old Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. He's now in custody at Fort Leavenworth in a cell by himself. A married father of two, this was his first tour of duty in Afghanistan, but he had done three tours of Iraq. Neighbors say they only knew Bales as a caring family man who was the life of a party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was completely blown away. I was devastated, heartbroken, I mean, completely shocked.

I would describe him -- he was super fun to hang around with, kind of the life of the party kind of guy. Super loving, friendly to everybody he met. Great with his kids. I just -- I don't -- I don't see how this has happened.

I never saw any signs of marital problems. They always seemed pretty happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: CNN's Sara Sidner has been following this story since it broke last Sunday. She joins me live now from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Sara, we know Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has been highly critical about U.S. authorities' account of what happened here. Why is he so skeptical?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the big reasons why is because the soldier was sent out of the country. Although the U.S. said that there were some Afghan officials who were aware that he was sent out of the country. But he was sent out before Afghan investigators got a chance to talk to him, to interrogate him.

And there is a lot of frustration there. Let me let you hear what President Karzai said about the investigation and how the U.S. is handling it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMID KARZAI, AFGHAN PRESIDENT: The Afghan investigation team did not receive the cooperation that they expected from the United States. Therefore, these are all questions that we'll be raising and raising very loudly.

It is by all means the end of the road here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, the questions he's talking about there are questions being raised by the victim's family members and by the village elders of the Panjwai district in Kandahar province.

Basically, the villagers are saying that they believe that there was more than one person involved in this. And they simply cannot understand how old one soldier was able to do this massacre on his own.

They also talked about some of the details of what happened when they spoke to Mr. Karzai, saying that in one case he killed 11 members in one household and ended up taking some of the people and putting them into the room, and then after shooting them, setting them on fire -- Randi.

KAYE: And what are Hamid Karzai's plans today? I mean, is he actively doing anything to speak to the villagers or try and get this soldier back there?

SIDNER: He is speaking to the villagers. He said yesterday that he had invited them back, that they would have a talk more traditional style than an official style, which is sort of the same way they would do in a village when something happens.

So he is going to be speaking more with them, for sure. He also talked about the fact that he was probably going to put someone to head this investigation. They have already started their investigation.

They've sent a team out to the Kandahar district where this happened. And what they've seen so far doesn't seem to be satisfactory. According to them, they say that they were shown this surveillance video by the United States officials that purportedly shows the soldier as he's trying to come back to the base and turn himself in.

In seeing that video, the investigators say, we're not convinced. So there's a lot of skepticism about this, the way that this investigation is being handled at this point -- Randi.

KAYE: Sara Sidner for us in Kabul, Afghanistan. Sara, thank you.

And coming up in just a few minutes, I'm going to talk with a doctor who specializes in brain trauma, as well as an Iraq War veteran who is also being treated for a brain injury.

Syria's capital woke up to explosions, fire, and smoke today. At least two explosions just minutes apart tore through Damascus. Syria's health minister says at least 27 people were killed, 97 others wounded. The blasts targeted police and government facilities, including the air force intelligence headquarters.

Syrian state TV is blaming terrorists. The attacks come as the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime enters its second year.

To politics now, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney will both tour the Midwest today. Santorum is visiting Missouri and Illinois, while Romney will head to Illinois later today after a swing through Puerto Rico.

Missouri Republicans are holding caucuses today, but no winner will be chosen like we've seen in other contests. It basically begins the long process of selecting delegates.

Next up, Puerto Rico, which will hold its primary tomorrow. Twenty delegates up for grabs there. Things wrap up Tuesday in Illinois where recent polls show Romney with a slight edge.

President Obama is putting his re-election campaign into high gear. He kicked off a jam-packed day of fund-raising in his hometown of Chicago before heading to Atlanta for an event hosted by filmmaker Tyler Perry. The 13-hour campaign blitz raised nearly $5 million.

Mr. Obama took a swipe at his Republican rivals' economic proposals, saying November's election will be a make-or-break moment for the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our story has never been about what we can do alone. It's what we do together. We don't win the race for new jobs and middle class security and new businesses with the same old "you're on your own" economics.

I'm telling you, it does not work. It did not work in the decade before the Great Depression. It did not work in the decade before I took office. It won't work now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: March Madness is in full swing and Cinderella is smiling this morning as three teams pulled off improbable upsets. Lehigh and Norfolk State made tournament history. Both number 15 seeds won their games, Lehigh against Duke and Norfolk State against Missouri. Only four 15 seeds in history have won a tournament game, and never on the same day.

But don't forget about Ohio. No, not Ohio State, 13th-seeded Ohio University beat fourth seed Michigan yesterday, as well. Sports anchor Joe Carter will have much more on this and all the highlights and the analysis in just about 30 minutes from now.

Reynolds, there were some major upsets, some amazing finishes. We're just a couple of days into this whole thing. How is your bracket looking?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I didn't do a bracket this year and I'm really glad I didn't because I would have been zonked out already.

KAYE: By me, right?

WOLF: No -- yes, you've been whole money all during the tournament. You've been just incredible. But I'm telling you, some of the upsets, especially the Duke game last night, wow, that was certainly a shocker. I'm very happy for the Ohio Bobcat fans. We have got several of those great folks that work here at CNN, so I know they're happy this morning.

Hey, if you're happy or at least hoping for some sunshine and warm temperatures on the Eastern Seaboard, hey, the world is your oyster. It's going to be picture perfect, nice and sunny and warm for you. Out to the West, though, cooler temperatures and a chance for snow up in the Rockies. We'll have more on that coming up in a few moments -- Randi.

KAYE: All right. Reynolds, thank you very much.

And we're digging deeper on today's top story, the American soldier accused of gunning down 16 Afghan villagers suffered from a traumatic brain injury during one of his tours. Next, we're talking live with an expert who says TBI, traumatic brain injury, is treatable, and he has an innovative way to do it.

You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING where news doesn't take the weekend off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We have talking this morning about the soldier accused of gunning down 16 civilians in Afghanistan. His name is Robert Bales. He is a staff sergeant with the Army. And here's what we know so far about him.

Bales is being held in a prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He's in a cell by himself. He joined the military after the 2001 terrorist attacks. And he lived at Lewis-McChord's Joint Base near Tacoma, Washington.

New details are also emerging about Robert Bales's combat history. According to his attorney, during one of his three tours in Iraq, the Army staff sergeant was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, after a vehicle rollover incident.

Here's that attorney, John Henry Browne.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HENRY BROWNE, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT BALES: It's a tragedy all the way around, there's no question about that. I think it's of interest that we have a soldier who has an exemplary record, a decorated soldier who was injured in Iraq to his brain and to his body and then despite that was sent back. I think that's an issue. I think it's a concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: More than 233,000 military personnel have been diagnosed with TBI since the year 2000, according to the Department of Defense. But there are treatments. Joining us now from New Orleans is Dr. Paul Harch, a physician specializing in hyperbaric medicine to treat brain trauma; and along with him, one of his patients, Chad Battles (ph), who served in Iraq.

Welcome to you both to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Doctor, let me start with you on this one. Can you remind our viewers what TBI is and how you have specifically treated it?

DR. PAUL HARCH, HYPERBARIC MEDICINE SPECIALIST: It's a mechanical injury to the brain that causes wounding. And hyperbaric oxygen is a treatment for wounds. And so based on what we had found, treating decompression sickness or the bends of the brain many years ago, we began to apply this to some Louisiana boxers and then people with other chronic brain injury.

And starting in 2008, we began to treat veterans with residual effects of their traumatic brain injuries.

KAYE: And, Chad, if you could, just tell me briefly what caused your traumatic brain injury and has this type of treatment helped you?

CHAD BATTLES, HYPERBARIC TREATMENT PATIENT: Yes. My injury was caused in Baghdad by performing on a quick reaction force. I was a machine gunner and just the everyday -- the effects of the concussions and from every type of explosive you can imagine.

And since I've been doing this therapy with Dr. Harch, I've noticed improvement in balance, a lot of the headaches I had been having are subsiding. And I've noticed an overall increase in how my body feels and quality of life.

KAYE: Well, that's wonderful to hear. Doctor, what has your success rate been with this treatment?

HARCH: More than 90 percent of the veterans that we have treated have experienced substantial improvement.

KAYE: And this is all about getting more oxygen flowing through the body, right? That's what helps the brain?

HARCH: It is. But it's more the intermittency of it. By exposing someone to this high pulse of oxygen for one hour, it acts like a signal to DNA of cells in damaged areas in the body, and in particular, in the brain, wherever there is wounding. And the responsive gene are genes that code for growth and repair hormones.

So in effect, what we end up doing is repairing the wounds in the brain that are due to the trauma.

KAYE: And we understand -- we've read this Swedish study that was published in the Public Library of Science Medicine. It looked at a group of nearly 23,000 TBI victims, and it found that almost 9 percent committed acts of violence after diagnosis. Does that sound consistent with your findings?

HARCH: Well, yes, although most of the veterans that I've treated have not committed acts of violence after that. In fact, I believe none of them have. But violence post-traumatic brain injury is a well-known sequelae. And one of the things that can exacerbate this or amplify the effects of the brain injury is exposure to altitude.

And particularly Afghanistan, the elevations there, the traumatic brain injuries in our soldiers, we have felt, may be a factor in potentially amplifying their brain injuries.

KAYE: And certainly we just want to be clear, we don't know what happened here. But, I'm curious, is it a change in the brain...

HARCH: We don't.

KAYE: ... that makes someone more violent or is it about a brain injury causing someone to not be able to control their impulses or know right from wrong?

HARCH: I believe it's more the second. I think the general feeling is that due to the areas of the brain that are injured, there is a release or decrease of inhibition. So people don't have the control that they normally have.

KAYE: And, Chad, I know you're doing better with this treatment, but have you noticed any type of side effects from it?

BATTLES: There has been a slight side effect. For approximately a week around my 30th treatment, I noticed an increase in agitation and just an overall feeling of frustration and just not feeling well. And that subsided. But one of the main problems that I've noticed in having this, pre-treatment/post-treatment, is that with the TBI and including the PTSD, sometimes while I'm having an event or if I would be triggered, it's like driving a car with no brakes. You see the wall ahead of you. You want to stop. You push the brakes, but they're not working. So you know what's happening, but it's like you're just stuck in the reaction because your body is reacting and you're not able to say, whoa, let's stop this.

KAYE: Well, we do appreciate what you've done for your country and for the rest of us. Chad Battles, Dr. Harch, thank you both very much.

BATTLES: Thank you.

HARCH: Thank you.

KAYE: Stop what you're doing right now and take a look at this. It is a dramatic perspective inside the EF-4 tornado that hit this school in Indiana. An amazing look at what the surveillance cameras reveal in just 70 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A revealing look this morning into the EF-4 tornado that wiped out entire communities in Indiana. Surveillance cameras inside the Henryville Junior High School were actually rolling on March 2nd as the tornado headed straight for the school. Students already on their school buses.

But just minutes after the teachers got the students back inside the school, this is what happened. The tornado hit. About 80 staff, teachers, and students were inside the school at the time. Incredibly, nobody was injured.

Let's check back in with Reynolds. Reynolds, isn't it incredible? You look at that. I mean, wow.

WOLF: Just terrifying. You know, it's a true testament about tornadoes how they can strike so quickly. They can form anywhere on the planet. It's just the opposite of, say, a hurricane, where a hurricane is obviously very devastating, but a lot of times we can see hurricanes moving towards a given area, sometimes days even weeks in advance as they move their way across the Atlantic or even form in the Gulf of Mexico, or wherever they happen to be on the planet. But a tornado is very different.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WOLF: Randy, back to you.

KAYE: We call that a wrap. Thank you, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

KAYE: Apple lovers now have their hands on the new iPad. And tech guru Mario Armstrong has one. Oh, you are making me jealous there. Right after the break, he's going to tell us if it lives up to the hype. It looks like it does.

You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING, because news doesn't take the weekend off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The new iPad had Apple fans lining up and waiting for hours. Take a look here. This was the line at Apple's flagship store in New York City. And you had better believe Apple fanatic Amanda Foote is caught in the middle of it all. She has built a reputation on waiting in long lines for her iPad. After selling her spot for $900 last year, her asking price this year? $2,500. I wonder if she got it.

People were also lining up in cities around the world to get their hands on the new iPad. This was the scene in London. You had better bet techies in Japan were lining up, too. Hundreds in Tokyo braved freezing temperatures for their new iPads. And down under in Sydney, Australia, the line stretched around the city block. More than 200 people waited for hours at Australia's largest Apple store. It's like New Year's Eve there, counting it down.

So what is the verdict on the new iPad? HLN's digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong has been giving us some information and giving his new iPad a workout.

MARIO ARMSTRONG, HLN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: I have.

KAYE: Are your fingers tired? What do you think of it?

ARMSTRONG: I'm worn out. I feel like I did an iPad marathon already. I'm so worn out. Look, my first impressions on this thing, Randi, is that it lived up to the hype on the retina display. This whole thing about having four times the resolution of the current iPad, looking better than your HD TV in your house, the display delivers.

You can see it in photos, you can see it when you're playing games, you can see it in the movies that you watch, very, very, very powerful display. So I really, really like that.

One of the other things that I think has really touched a chord with me is the ability to edit movies right on the device. Because now for the first time you can actually shoot movies in 1080p. So full HD. And as you can see real quick here, I even have a storyboard that I can easily put together.

So any mom or any parent or caregiver who wants to do a quick little birthday movie can easily put together a storyboard and then create their own visual beautiful display of their child's birthday.

So it has made it easier to make things on this device. I'm not convinced that people need to run out and spend $600 on it, though. I still think that most people should probably hold off unless you really know what you're expecting to use it for.

KAYE: Yes. I was thinking that whole retina display was just a marketing term. But it sounds like you're pretty impressed about it. What have other iPad users been telling you about their experience?

ARMSTRONG: Well, you know, iPad users love it, for the most part. You find that many people -- I have found some people that have said, look, I have an iPad, the first generation. I will now bump up to the 3.

It is a big difference when I even look at this, the size, this is the original iPad. It is a little bit thinner on the 2 and the 3. And the graphics are better. So I think it's a great jump from the iPad -- from the first one to the three.

I'm not so convinced that you need to move from the iPad 2 to the 3. If you have the 2 -- if you have money, spend it. But you have to know what you're going to use it for. I think if you're going to shoot video, and if you really want to edit photos and things of that nature, and if the display really means something to you, then you want the new iPad.

If you're just browsing the Web, doing e-mail, you don't need that or you can get any of the Android alternatives like the Samsung or the...

KAYE: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

ARMSTRONG: ... prime, or the Kindle Fire.

KAYE: All right. Good advice, Mario. As always, thank you.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you, Randi. Appreciate it.

KAYE: Enjoy your new iPad.

ARMSTRONG: I just want to make sure that people spend wisely. That's all I want to get the point across. And if you don't have a computer at home, buy a computer before you buy a tablet, please.

KAYE: Very good advice. Excellent advice. Thank you.

ARMSTRONG: Thank you, Randi.

KAYE: And, of course, join us every Saturday at this time. Mario always has the scoop on the latest technology.

We're learning more about the soldier accused in that shooting rampage in Afghanistan. Reaction from one of his neighbors, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: It is half past the hour. Welcome back. I'm Randi Kaye. Thanks for starting your day with us.

Checking "Top Stories".

This just in to CNN: we just learned John Demjanjuk the former Nazi death camp guard has died in Germany. His death confirmed by a police spokesman. Demjanjuk was sentenced to five years in prison last year for accessory to murder. He was extradited from Ohio three years ago where he retired as an auto worker. We're learning more about the soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan. He's been identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. He's now being held in solitary confinement at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas; Bales had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was on his fourth deployment when the shootings occurred. We'll have much more on this developing story and a live report, straight ahead.

More violence being reported in Syria today, the latest happened in the capital of Damascus after several huge explosions killed at least 27 people. The country's health minister says 97 others were injured. Syria's state-run news agency says two booby trapped cars exploded in central Damascus just minutes apart. It's blaming terrorists and say the attacks targeted criminal police headquarters and air force intelligence offices.

And now to the latest on the soldier being held in the killings of 16 civilians in Afghanistan -- this morning some of the people who knew Staff Sergeant Robert Bales are speaking out.

Athena Jones is watching the developments in Washington for us. Athena, we're learning much more about Bales from his friends and neighbors. What are they saying?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly we know that Robert Bales, Staff Sergeant Bales is a 38-year-old father with two young children. He lived in Lake Tapps, Washington, which is just outside Tacoma.

He, as you mentioned, had done three tours in Iraq and was on his fourth tour in Afghanistan. And you know his lawyer John Henry Browne, a Seattle-based lawyer and his neighbors described Sergeant Bales as a family man, as a loving husband. Let's listen to what more of one of his neighbors had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was completely blown away, yes. I was devastated, heartbroken. I mean completely shocked.

I would describe him -- he was super fun to hang around with, kind of the life of the party kind of guy. Super loving, friendly to everybody he met, great with his kids. I just -- I don't -- I don't see how this has happened.

I never saw any signs of marital problems. They always seemed pretty happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Marital -- marital discord, that's one of the things that has come up, one of the ideas that could -- that people are saying, could be behind what led him to -- to snap and potentially do this -- this shooting rampage he's been accused of in Afghanistan.

Now his lawyer, John Henry Browne has said their marriage was fine. They have any normal problem that a marriage would but he said, he's challenged really that assumption that things weren't going well in his family. The lawyer did say, though, that Bales suffered a traumatic brain injury and lost part of his foot while in Iraq. And he indicated in interviews yesterday that he could be looking at some sort of mental health issue as part of the defense.

And so we'll learn more as we go, but we also know that that Bales did not expect to be redeployed. He didn't want to be redeployed after those three tours in Iraq. And so the family thought he wouldn't be and was disappointed to find out that he was going to have to go back to Afghanistan back in December of last year.

KAYE: Yes certainly a lot of questions about that, about why he was redeployed so quickly when he wasn't expecting it.

Athena thank you very much.

And in our next hour, we're going to chat with a former military lawyer. You will hear his thoughts on -- on what will happen next regarding Staff Sergeant Robert Bales.

It is a case that thrust cyber bullying into the national spotlight. A former Rutgers student convicted of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate. We'll talk about what's next in our legal segment, just ahead.

Covering politics and the White House can be a grueling 24/7 job. You've got to have a little break every now and then. In this week's "Travel Insider", White House correspondent Brianna Keilar shows us where she goes to unwind when she's not following the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Brianna Keilar and I cover the White House for CNN. And one of my favorite places in the D.C. area is Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. It's about seven and a half miles south of the White House. This is a place where you can come and get a great meal, do a little shopping and even get a history lesson.

This is, after all, the hometown of George Washington. And here at the old Presbyterian meeting house, you can find the grave site of his personal physician, James Crate. It's a little spooky. It's one of the stops on the ghost tour here in town. But I say we get out of here and go find some other spirits.

This is one of my favorite places in Old Town to end the evening. This is the PX VTV. It's completely unmarked. And the blue light means that they're open so you can just knock on the door and come on in.

When you get up stairs at PX, you might be lucky enough to show up on a night where Todd Trasher, the owner and bartender here. Thanks Todd.

TODD TRASHER, OWNER/BARTENDER: Great, how are you? Nice to see you.

KEILAR: He's here to mix you a drink. So what are we having tonight?

TRASHER: Now what are you in the mood for, rum, vodka, gin?

KEILAR: Let's try gin.

TRASHER: Gin tonight, ok.

So this is the Le Blanc, it's a fortified wine from France, purple basil put a little dash of gin just to give it a little bit of a backbone, three drops of citric acid in it, orange flower water, a little bit of ice to start. Stir 30 more times not that I'm counting. You smack it, wave it, to the cocktail gods. The sweet basil.

KEILAR: That's amazing.

TRASHER: Thanks very much.

KEILAR: Cheers from Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Now to some legal stories that we're following. I'm joined now by criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Holly Hughes; so much to cover this morning.

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes.

KAYE: So let's dive right in.

First, I want to start with the case of this Rutgers webcam spying. It's getting a lot of attention for our viewers. I just want to bring them up to date, if you haven't been following this.

This is a case where he was found guilty on all charges for using a web cam to spy on his roommate. Jurors convicted 20-year-old Dharun Ravi yesterday on 15 counts, including evasion of privacy, witness tampering and the most serious offense, bias intimidation. His roommate Tyler Clementi, as we all know killed himself in September of 2010 after learning that he had been spied on.

So did you expect the jury to -- to convict him on -- on the top counts like this?

HUGHES: I actually did not. I knew for sure that they had him on the spying, on the invasion of privacy because quite frankly, we had the videotape, Randi. You just can't deny what's before your eyes. But when you talk about a bias crime, the difference between a hate crime and a regular crime in the legal system is that not only does the jury need to determine what the defendant did, like he shot somebody, he stabbed somebody, he spied on somebody. They need to figure out why.

They need to get in his head and say did he commit this particular crime because he has a bias against a group of people? And I just didn't think there was enough of a pattern of conduct. We don't see this defendant, Dharun Ravi, having gone out and used gay slurs --

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: Right.

HUGHES: -- or targeted gay groups or gone outside of a gay night club maybe and stalk somebody. We didn't have any prior language. So I've got tell you, this one incident, the jury thought that was enough for them to say it was motivated by hate.

KAYE: Do you think we would have seen a different result if Tyler Clementi hadn't jumped off the George Washington Bridge?

HUGHES: Absolutely. And I think you hit the nail on the head Randi. That's exactly what's happening here, unfortunately. This is a tragedy all the way around --

KAYE: Sure.

HUGHES: -- ok, for everybody involved, all the families.

KAYE: Both families.

HUGHES: All the families. Absolutely.

But what we have is a young man whose death will never be avenged so to speak. No one will ever be criminally responsible because, very sadly, Tyler made the decision to take his own life.

And so I think what the jury is trying to do is some sort of justice, you know, say well, Dharun Ravi's actions played a part in Tyler's decision, maybe a small part, maybe a large part. We'll never know because we can't get into the head of Tyler Clementi, very sadly.

But I think that's what's going on. I'm thinking it played into it a little bit.

KAYE: Yes.

HUGHES: They were thinking there's a young college man dead, somebody should pay.

KAYE: And let's talk about what could happen here, to Dharun Ravi. I mean he -- he could get the maximum penalty and it could -- he could now face up to five to ten years in jail and even deportation back to his native India.

HUGHES: Right. Exactly and typically what will happen when you are convicted of a felony in the United States, anything that carries more than a 365-day prison term is a felony and they can absolutely deport you as soon as you're done.

I mean they could be waiting outside the prison doors and say get on this van, we're driving you to the airport. So again, tragic all the way around --

KAYE: Yes. HUGHES: -- and we'll see what the judge does. This is Dharun Ravi's first offense. And so typically what we would think is we would see a little bit of time, maybe a year or two with some probation to follow. But this case hasn't followed the normal track.

KAYE: Yes.

HUGHES: We've seen the jury go for that maximum crime.

KAYE: Right.

HUHGES: We may see the judge go for the maximum penalty, Randi. We need to keep an eye on it.

KAYE: Let's talk about this case of the day care, this day care murder in Atlanta. The judge and jury, the sentencing Hemi Neuman to life in prison without the possibility of parole; that's after the jury have found him guilty but mentally ill --

HUGHES: Yes.

KAYE: -- for the 2010 murder of Rusty Sneiderman. That happened outside the Georgia day care center as Sneiderman was dropping off his then-2-year-old son.

Now, police describe Neuman, Hemi Neuman, as cold and calculated. He claims that he killed Sneiderman after having these delusions of a -- of an angel and a demon, one in the form of singer Olivia Newton John. Is this the right verdict here, I mean, guilty but mentally ill?

HUGHES: I think it is and let me tell you why. First of all, mentally ill, when you use that as a defense, this is what we call an affirmative defense and it typically does not work. It works in less than one percent of the cases it's used in and it's used in such a small percentage of cases.

So if this jury listened to the experts, heard every single word that the state's experts and the defense's experts testified to and then said, yes, we do think he's mentally ill, that tells me a lot, Randi. Because juries -- they're common sense people. And they don't want the excuse. They don't want to hear that, oh, now that you're in trouble, oh, all of a sudden you're crazy, right?

KAYE: So did the insanity defense work?

HUGHES: It did work. It worked as it was supposed to. Because the jury, you know now they could have gone not guilty by reason of insanity, but again, you've got a fellow who was a loving father and now he's dead and he was somebody's son and husband.

KAYE: Right.

HUGHES: So the jury is looking at it and they're saying well, you confessed, Hemy Neuman. So you know there has to be some type of punishment. But the interesting thing many people don't realize, Hemy Neuman, the defendant in this case is not the one who said Olivia Newton John. The therapist, he said well, you know this voice comes to me and it's kind of Australian and it reminds of that singer -- the therapist is the one who suggested Olivia Newton John.

KAYE: Yes.

HUGHES: And the therapist is the one who suggested Barry White so people are going oh, he's crazy, he's saying it was -- no, he never said that when he was describing the voice and said, let me give you a reference, do you mean Olivia Newton John? And so now, of course, everybody is going wild.

KAYE: Right.

HUGHES: And he said Olivia Newton John said, not true. So again, you've got to listen to the testimony from the actual experts. And the jury got a chance to do that and I think they made the right decision here.

KAYE: All right, Holly Hughes, nice to see you.

HUGHES: Thank you.

KAYES: Those were the two big cases this week, for sure.

HUGHES: Yes, it's sad.

KAYE: And this just in, we have brand new video to show you out of Jalalabad, Afghanistan where hundreds of people are marching to demand U.S. soldier Staff Sergeant Robert Bales be put on trial according to Islamic law; protesters here chanting "long live Islam" and "death to America".

We'll have a live report from Afghanistan at the top of the hour. Things certainly are heating up there.

Hollywood heavyweight George Clooney is out of jail this morning. Police took Clooney, his father and others including members of Congress into custody during the protest outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington yesterday. He was charged with a misdemeanor, fined and later released.

Clooney has been an active voice on the issue and testified before the Senate and met with President Obama about it earlier this week.

Stay with us this CNN SATURDAY MORNING for more headlines where news doesn't take the weekend off.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Good morning Washington. Yes, that is Washington clearly. I'm Randi Kaye. It's 46 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Lovely day in Washington, it looks like.

All right. So if you're making some coffee or doing something else around the house this morning, take a little break because it is time to check out some of this week's stories that caught our eye, our meaning Reynolds and I, right?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely.

KAYE: You've been looking for the best stories?

WOLF: You know -- and I think, you know, I think all three of them are good, but the first one is a little bit different. It's a little bit demented and strange and --

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: That's what I love about it.

WOLF: It is, it is a good one.

KAYE: All right. Take a look at this. This is a gorilla and his little bunny friend. I think it might be my favorite story of the week. It's a bit of an unusual pairing. It's at the Erie Zoo in Pennsylvania. The gorilla is Samantha and Panda is the rabbit's -- kind of strange name, right?

WOLF: What? That's ridiculous. That's insane.

KAYE: You don't get that at all.

WOLF: I don't get it.

KAYE: Well, Samantha the 47-year-old western lowland gorilla. Apparently she needed a companion. She's been alone so many years, since 2005.

And Panda, you know, Panda the little bunny rabbit isn't a threat.

WOLF: Its name is Panda. It's not like his name is Bronson, Charles Bronson or something aggressive. It's Panda, Panda bunny.

KAYE: Well, you know, the gorilla actually, she pats Panda on the head and feeds her a little bit.

WOLF: Wow.

KAYE: It's actually really kind of sweet. She's very protective of her as well.

All right. So this next piece of video --

WOLF: Ok.

KAYE: -- not as sweet. Take a look here. It's a guard that actually passed out -- this is during the whole St. Patrick's Day parade in the UK today. Look at that. And look at the rest of them. They're just still standing at attention.

Finally, hello, somebody goes over to help this guy. He just passed out, falls to the ground and it seemed like -- watch, boom --

WOLF: Wow.

KAYE: -- down he goes. Isn't that incredible? This is an event in England where the Duchess of Cambridge was actually passing out --

WOLF: Absolutely. Well, you've seen these guys. They're like statues. They're living statues. And to see one fall over like that, kind of a -- yes -- a little disconcerting; almost as weird as a bunny named Panda. Just strange.

KAYE: All right. On a much lighter note -- hopefully the guard's ok. But on a much lighter, it is St. Paddy's Day. So a lot of people are out there celebrating, drinking a little bit.

Turns out D.C. is the heaviest drinking city -- that's right -- for single people, at least. That's what we know. There's the list of the others. Any of those surprising?

WOLF: Not particularly, especially Austin, it's a fun party town. Boston, absolutely, come on; Chicago, New York, Washington -- all makes sense there.

KAYE: This will surprise you though, light drinking cities, check it out. Las Vegas at the top.

WOLF: I don't get that. That makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I mean it's a party town, you have a lot of people that have their honeymoons or they have their old -- before a wedding, when the --

KAYE: Oh, the bachelor parties?

WOLF: Yes. Thank you.

KAYE: I love how you claim like you don't know what that is.

WOLF: I can't remember that. I still have, you know, a bunny named Panda on the brain. But yes, bachelor parties, bachelor parties all go to Vegas. What do they do in Vegas? They imbibe.

KAYE: Yes. Well, apparently not. Apparently not so much.

WOLF: Yes. Go figure.

KAYE: Go figure. All right. Well, that was fun.

WOLF: Yes, it's a --

KAYE: I'll get you a little bunny named Panda. You should bring it home, too.

WOLF: It's going to be a long morning. I'm sure there are going to bunnies falling from the sky. Yes.

KAYE: And it's not even Easter yet.

WOLF: Exactly. KAYE: All right Reynolds. Thanks.

Well, they don't call it March Madness for nothing. Three big upsets send some big-name teams home include Lehigh over Duke. We'll break it down with the Cinderella story, next in sports.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: March Madness is in full swing and Cinderella is smiling this morning as three teams pulled off improbable upsets. Remember these names: Lehigh, Norfolk State and Ohio. They made history in yesterday's games.

And although I am -- well, my March Madness bracket is doing pretty great. I kind of have to say that.

JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS: You're being very modest.

KAYE: I am being very modest. Somebody wrote that for me. I would never have said that.

But I know very little, actually, Joe, about college basketball. So it's a good thing that we have our sports guru, Joe Carter, because he knows everything about college basketball.

CARTER: You have a 97 percent accuracy right now.

KAYE: Yes.

CARTER: It's pretty good.

KAYE: Isn't that great?

CARTER: You're better than --

KAYE: I have to give my producer a little credit, though.

CARTER: You're better than 99 percent of the people out there, I would assume.

KAYE: I'm still in it.

CARTER: You know, the best thing about the whole tournament is that in college basketball, the NCAA tournament, the little guy always has a shot at beating the big guy, unlike the NBA where you know, you're always going to get the best team that wins because you're going to play a seven-game series.

Yesterday was historic. You know, Thursday of course, kind of quiet. But never have these teams, two 15 seeds win in the same day. Duke already out of the tournament, thanks to Lehigh, they were 15th see. Five minutes after Lehigh beat Duke yesterday, their school's Web site went down because so many people were on the Web site; Justin Bieber tweeting about Lehigh.

KAYE: Wow. CARTER: This is the second time that Duke has been knocked out of the first round. Mike Krzyzewski puts it all in perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE KRZYZEWSKI, HEAD COACH, DUKE UNIVERSITY: I've been in it for 37 years and it takes you to incredible highs and it also takes you to incredible lows. And tonight is one of those lows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: All right. Let's talk about another big upset. Norfolk State, a 15th seed knocked off Missouri, a two seed. I know a lot of people out there thought Missouri was going to go deep into the tournament. President Obama picked Missouri to make it in his final four.

This is the first time Norfolk has made it to the tournament and what a way to make an entrance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE O'QUINN, NORFOLK STATE SENIOR CENTER: Well, you always go into the game with confidence. I mean we're in the game, we feel like we can't win it from the tip. But I never thought it was an upset alert until that buzzer went off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: Ok. How about one more? Ohio, a 13th seed took out Michigan, a fourth seed. That was a bracket buster. But it kind of got lost between Lehigh and Norfolk State's shocking wins. But still a huge upset. And I know Ohio now advances to play South Florida. They also had a big upset win yesterday which means between Ohio and South Florida, we have two Cinderella teams. When they play on Saturday -- or excuse -- yes, when they play Saturday, they will definitely have a sweet 16 Cinderella team, which is great.

KAYE: So maybe I'll still be in it. We'll see.

CARTER: You're 97 percent accurate right now. You have a great shot at beating most of your colleagues.

KAYE: I'm going to call the President and give him some advice on his bracket next year.

CARTER: He could you use it.

KAYE: What do you think?

CARTER: I think it's a good idea.

KAYE: All right, Joe. Thank you. I know you're a little bit under the weather, so I hope you feel better.

CARTER: Thank you, thank you. Appreciate that. KAYE: Listen we're down to 32 teams left in the tournament. Today's coverage begins at noon Eastern and here's how you can catch the action. Every tournament game is live on either CBS, TBS or TNT. And if you're away from your television, no worries, we've got you covered. You can watch online at ncaa.com/marchmadness.

But first, house training a dog can be frustrating, especially if you live in a high rise apartment or you don't have a yard. Yes, been there. A new invention is helping dogs take care of business without going outside.

Gary Tuchman has the story in this week's "Start Small, Think Big".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tobi Skovron's career is going to the dogs.

TOBI SKOVRON, PET LOO: These are my top two employees, actually.

TUCHMAN: His dog's late night urge to answer nature's call helped Tobi find his own calling.

SKOVRON: It had to be 2:00 in the morning and raining outside and she would need to go. And you couldn't just let her out; we didn't have a back yard.

TUCHMAN: So Tobi put a backyard in a box and called it the "pet loo". But the prototype literally stunk.

SKOVRON: The first version of it was a wood box with soil, with real grass on top. So it worked for the pet. What didn't work was after -- the after effect which was draining and channeling and the collection of the waste.

TUCHMAN: Tobi then designed a drain and collection system and added synthetic grass. The pet loo became a hit in Tobi's home country of Australia.

SKOVRON: Like all these new markets just found us. You know, lived at cold climates, people who live on boats, people who live in nursing homes.

TUCHMAN: Tobi moved his company and the Pet Loo headquarters to America and a bigger market.

SKOVRON: The Australia market has 7 million cats and dogs and the United States has 170-odd plus million cats and dogs.

TUCHMAN: The Pet Loo is now sold in more than 80 countries and pets around the world can answer nature's call any time.

Gary Tuchman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)