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CNN NEWSROOM

Zimmerman Jury Back at Work; NSA Leaker Speaks from Russia; Investigation of Asiana Flight Deepens; Wall of Dust Blankets Phoenix Area; State Department Calls for Morsy Release; "Boston Strangler" Remains Examined; Same Sex Marriage Opponents File Lawsuit; Excitement Grows Over Royal Baby; O'Mara: Zimmerman Will Live In Fear; "They Can See The End Of Tunnel"; Jurors Consider Reasonable Doubt

Aired July 13, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm Chris Cuomo.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Kate Bolduan. Welcome to a special edition of CNN Newsroom.

CUOMO: Day two of verdict watch in the George Zimmerman trial. The jury reconvened at 9:00 a.m. this morning. We will be live in Sanford throughout the day until we get a verdict. When we do, we'll bring it to you.

BOLDUAN: Other big stories we're following today, a man without a country. NSA leaker Edward Snowden is making his plea for asylum from the Moscow airport where he's been holed up for more than two weeks now.

CUOMO: Also some more sad news in flight 214. Another person has died in that crash. Just as the final pieces of debris are being cleared from the runway this news came out.

We're going to start this morning by getting to Sanford. Right now the jury, six women, and one step sideways. In Florida if it's not a death penalty case, the jury has six people on it. A lot of you have been asking that question. That it's all women is a little unusual, and that was obviously argued out between the two sides. So they're just over what, Kate, five hours?

BOLDUAN: Just over five hours into deliberations. And here is what they're focusing on, the possible outcomes of the trial. Here are their options. George Zimmerman could be found guilty of second-degree murder. That clearly is the harshest kind of sentence he would get. He also could be convicted of a lesser charge of manslaughter, or he could he be found not guilty completely. If the jury can't reach a unanimous decision, we have a hung jury, and a mistrial would be declared.

CUOMO: Not to get ahead of ourselves. Let's get back down to Sanford, Florida.

Don Lemon is outside the courthouse. He's been working the scene. Don I understand that you got a chance to talk to basically everybody involved here including the prosecutors which is very unusual. DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

CUOMO: What did they tell you? Good morning.

LEMON: Good morning. Good morning to you guys you know as I say God works in mysterious ways. There was a little bit of misdirection this morning. So I got to the courtroom late. And I said, oh man, I missed the jury.

So as I got -- as I got to the courtroom, I got in a little late. The jury was leaving, but the Zimmermans were coming out, so I got to see the family -- George Zimmerman's family. They were a bit solemn. I got to see his wife. I got to see the defense -- the defense team's wife and their family as well. And so they walked away.

And so I went back downstairs to report on it, and then but we were in taped programming. So I went back into the courtroom and the court officers directed me back to the fifth floor. So I go to the fifth floor, Chris and Kate and there is George Zimmerman as I round the corner with his family. And I just looked at him and say hello. And they keep walking past me and then they walk over to a window and they look out.

And then the prosecution team walks over as well. And then the -- but they don't -- they don't say anything to me. They don't get on the elevator with me.

And as I'm walking down, the prosecution walks over to the elevator and they invite us in, me and a couple other reporters. I say to them I said can we walk in? Are we breaking any kind of rule? They said no, come on in, come on in. So we get into the elevator and I said you know it's interesting you're smiling this morning, what does that say? And I said that to John Guy who is a younger prosecutor, the one that everyone has been calling McDreamy and then Bernie De La Rionda says -- doesn't say anything, he just says he's had a good night's sleep and they kind of laugh.

And then I looked at him. And I said you know quite honestly, I know this is serious but how do you feel about you being a you know a big serious prosecutor and being called McDreamy and the whole elevator erupts including him and he turns bright red and goes oh that's -- that's an awkward question.

And then Rich Mantei just looked and said yes how does your wife feel about that? And then the elevator door open and he kind of laugh and he said have a great day but that's the most interesting question I've gotten throughout the process.

So it seems that everyone, they're in good spirits this morning. The defense seems to be a little more serious than the prosecution at least -- you know obviously the burden is on the prosecution but they seem to be a little bit more light-hearted.

And the interesting thing is guys is that you know when I said that George Zimmerman walked over to the window with his family, if you look up at the top of this building, George Zimmerman at times is watching, he's looking out onto the courtyard here, he's looking at all the media. He's looking at the handful of protesters who have walked out and who have gathered this morning, and I went over and talked to them and got some signs Chris and Kate check it out there is one here that says "Justice 4 Trayvon".

And they have this picking, they stock this into the lawn here and then I took some picture and there are -- there are two people here -- three people who have George Zimmerman signs and they say you know "We love you, George. We are not" -- this is "we are Americans. We are not color." And "George was hit, so you must acquit."

Anyway it was just interesting this morning. But I -- I found it very interesting that George Zimmerman is standing on the top floor of this courthouse looking out and watching all of this happening outside.

CUOMO: Don did you get any feel for, you know, the energy among his family and him? I mean obviously, a very difficult process of waiting for them, but did you pick up anything in your observation?

LEMON: You know, he was -- his family seemed more serious than he -- more solemn I should say because his mom and dad looked pretty solemn and his wife looked pretty solemn as well. He seemed to be the one who was -- I wouldn't describe his mood as jovial but a little more sort of even-keeled -- a little bit happier than his family, and his team, his defense team, seemed very serious this morning. No smiles among them and they did not get on obviously as I've said on the elevators with -- with any of the people, any of the court observers or any of the reporters.

But he seemed to be in good spirits but his family is very serious.

BOLDUAN: All right Don, thanks so much. We'll be coming back to you throughout the morning as well as we all watch and wait. And I mean as Don was saying, the prosecutors seemed to be in good spirits. One of the reasons is it's completely out of their hands at this point. It's now in the hands of the jury and they will be deciding George Zimmerman's fate and the jury is looking at a mountain of evidence. I mean this is including 14 days of testimony, more than 200 exhibits as you pointed out earlier Chris -- just a huge amount of information that they potentially can try to sift through if they have not already reached agreement on -- on what the verdict will be.

Joining us now to talk about all of this from Sanford are our legal analysts: Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst, of course; as well as criminal defense attorney Mark Nejame. Good morning guys. And thanks, you guys have been together and watching this process all throughout.

The focus is squarely, Sunny, to start with you, is on the jury and what they're going to be considering. None of us are in the jury room. We don't know their process, but from your experience as a prosecutor, what do you think they're looking at now as we are into just past the fifth hour of their deliberations?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, they have a lot of evidence in front of them. And I think that's probably why the first question I think two minutes into their deliberations for the judge was can we have a list of all the exhibits. And I suspect that they are going through the time line. I suspect they're going through all of the statements that George Zimmerman made and they're going through some of the forensic evidence as well.

This is a murder case after all, and some of the elements that the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt are sort of an intent piece of it is the depraved mind. And I think they are going to have to really get into that type of evidence in order to find him guilty or not guilty of second-degree murder.

I also think that, you know, this is a tough time for certainly the defendant. It's a tough time for the victim's family, and it's a really tough time for lawyers. I remember having a jury out. I think it's the worst time for -- for a lawyer because you can't do anything. It's out of your hands Kate, as you mentioned. You've done everything that you could possibly do but you're doing the should have, would have, could haves today you know while you're rested but you're -- you're nervous.

CUOMO: Now one of the advantages we have here especially with you and Mark and me just a very little bit is that we do know what kind of dynamics go on in the room, what kinds of things will be discussed and how? We understand the dynamics especially in fact-driven cases like this.

So let's ping-pong a couple of these things between the two of you, Sunny, you know you will take the prosecution side in answering the questions and Mark, you can do the defense side. The first one will be very important for this jury is to figure out how the fact that George Zimmerman ignored the 911 call and went into this situation, what that means, ok? Whether you want to line it up as an element or not, we know it's been so big in the trial, they're going to be dealing with it.

So Mark, the idea that, hey, he didn't listen to that 911 call, he went there. He had not just a gun, not just a loaded gun, but a bullet in the chamber. They told him to stay away and he obviously confronted this guy in some way or at least that's what I kind of think from what happened from the record speaking as a potential juror, right that that's maybe what they're thinking. What's the other side in that analysis? Because it was a big part of the trial.

MARK NEJAME, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, let's say that you do have this split within the jury. You know the jurors are really a microcosm of our society and we know how almost evenly split people are in this case. With that said there's got to be -- presuming there's someone on the jury who says but it wasn't illegal. It might have been dumb. It might have been irresponsible, but it wasn't illegal.

So how can you fault somebody and put them in prison and find them guilty if what they were doing was not illegal? And that's got to be the point that somebody who believes that he should be acquitted would be pounding home, because it was not illegal. It might have been a whole bunch of other things, but against the law? No, because, of course, he was never even charged with any other offenses because they weren't against the law.

BOLDUAN: And Sunny, one other big issue that -- it's not even really a fact of the case because we don't actually know how it played out and that's actually the big reason is who was on top in this struggle? One thing that I found interesting was that throughout the trial the prosecution seemed to change approach partway through, no longer trying to make the argument that Trayvon Martin was -- that Trayvon Martin was on the bottom and that George Zimmerman was on the top. More just trying to question the account that the defense was putting forth that George Zimmerman was on the bottom.

Do you think that kind of change in strategy or that kind of approach was I feel like that cannot be lost on the jury?

HOSTIN: And see and I didn't see it that way from being in the courtroom and -- and when you listen to John Guy's closing rebuttal argument and Bernie's closing argument, quite frankly, they never conceded, Kate, that Trayvon Martin, indeed, was on the top. What they said to the jury is two people, two witnesses, saw George Zimmerman on top. Trayvon -- one witness, John Good, saw George Zimmerman -- thinks he saw George Zimmerman on top.

However, even if Trayvon Martin was on top, then, you know, perhaps he was trying to get away. So the prosecution certainly gave those jurors an alternate theory and prosecutors make that argument all the time. And so it shouldn't be seen as a concession. It should be seen as an alternate theory, an alternate possibility of what happened.

And I just briefly want to get back to the other point that Chris brought up in terms of, you know, what this case is all about. The defense wants to make it about self-defense; wants to make it about what happened when they were confronted and doesn't want anyone on the jury to think about what started this emotion.

But that is a very critical piece of the prosecution's case. Had George Zimmerman listened to the 911 dispatcher when he said, "Don't follow him, we don't need you to do that", we wouldn't all be here. We wouldn't be in Sanford talking about this and the jury is going to notice this.

(CROSSTALK)

NEJAME: We wouldn't be here -- we wouldn't be here if Trayvon wasn't in Orlando and we wouldn't be for a whole a lot of reasons. How far back to you take it?

But to speak to the question, I think that Mark O'Mara was gentle on the prosecutors and the thing that has offended me throughout this case, especially at the end, is that I absolutely believe that the prosecutors knew that Trayvon Martin was on top -- the forensics, John Good, the neighbor, everybody. There's no doubt as far as who was on top.

And they conceded that point the day before the final arguments. How? When they brought out those dummies. What did they do? They gave hypotheticals with what? Trayvon Martin atop of George Zimmerman in a re-enactment. Never once did they show the jury the reverse with their opening statement said was that Trayvon Martin was on the bottom, excuse me on the top. They said it with their first witnesses but yet they concede it at the end. That was wrong and they should be held accountable for that.

CUOMO: Impassioned. Impassioned and Sunny, I like your impassive look while he's being passionate defusing his passion. We're going to leave you guys right now we're going to come back but two things to keep in everybody's mind. Remember this is the type of analysis that can go on in there. Big questions for that jury. If George Zimmerman was on the bottom the way Mark Nejame suggests why did the screaming stop after the bullet is shot?

BOLDUAN: And it goes to the question of who is the aggressor.

CUOMO: That's right.

BOLDUAN: It's one of the questions that got heated at this case.

CUOMO: That's right so there are things they'll be talking about. I appreciate the perspective very much. We'll get back to you guys down there in Sanford.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

CUOMO: Thank you, but we're going to move on now to some other news big stories.

First up, NSA leaker Edward Snowden he spoke out for the first time since he's been holed up in that Russian airport. He said yesterday he does not regret leaking secret details about NSA surveillance programs. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER: A little over one month ago I had a family, a home in paradise and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant of law to search for, seize and read your communications -- anyone's communications at any time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Snowden also accepted offers for asylum from countries like Venezuela and Bolivia, but he said he can't get anywhere because of threats from the U.S. So he is requesting temporary asylum in Russia.

Elise Labott is live in Washington. Elise what do you believe the White House response will be to this situation? Russia was supposed to be helping them, said we can't help you if you're going to do anything bad about the U.S. and now this.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: That's right Chris. Well the U.S. is furious for what they say Russia giving Mr. Snowden what they call a propaganda platform. Really heavy criticism yesterday from the White House and the State Department and President Obama got on the phone to call President Putin. Russia has said they were neutral they couldn't help him in this transit area. And now officials are telling me by allowing him to have this press conference, to meet with human rights activists, they're almost in effect treating him as if he almost has asylum already.

So what the U.S. is really urging, they hope that Russia still has a chance to do the right thing, send him back to the United States, but President Putin is in a bit of a box now because he is not -- he's in a lose/lose situation. On one hand domestically he needs to show that he is the strong man not bowing to the United States and caving to their pressure.

But at the same time he really wants to preserve his relationship with President Obama. The two leaders are supposed to have a summit in September. Officials tell me that's on hold while this whole matter is resolved. So right now there's a little bit of tension, not sure the U.S. is willing to destroy its entire relationship with Russia, but they're really hoping that this U.S. pressure and this box that they're putting Mr. Snowden in will convince Russia that they have no choice but to send him back.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much reporting from Washington. We'll going to be checking in with you again this morning. I appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: All right other stories we're watching this morning.

In San Francisco, a third person has died from injuries suffered in the crash of Asiana Flight 214. The plane crash landed in San Francisco airport last Saturday. I'm sure you remember. In keeping with the wishes of the family, doctors are not releasing the victim's name only saying that she was a young female.

CUOMO: Well rail stations across France observing a moment of silence today to honor the victims of a fatal train crash there. At least six people were killed, 22 injured when a passenger train derailed south of Paris yesterday. The head of the railway says a mechanical failure caused that crash.

BOLDUAN: And the death toll from that train wreck in Quebec is rising. Officials say 28 people are now confirmed dead and about 30 more are still missing. The runway -- the runaway train carrying crude oil exploded last Saturday in the town of Lac-Megantic. The engineer claims he set the brakes on the tanker cars before leaving for the night. A criminal investigation is now under way.

CUOMO: In Texas the state senate has passed the state's most restrictive abortion bill. Now, to break this down, critics say it will shut down most abortion clinics in Texas and restrict choice. Proponents say that it gives more dignity to human life and increases the safety of those clinics. The bill originally failed after a filibuster by a Democratic senator. Republican Governor Rick Perry is expected to sign it into law today.

BOLDUAN: We're closing in on hour six on the jury deliberations in Sanford, Florida. And we're watching it closely and waiting for the jury to return a verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. We're going to show you some of the key moments from closing arguments, the high drama from both sides as they wrapped up the case.

CUOMO: As it ping pongs back and forth with analysts, you have to remember, the burden of proof is on the state. So a fundamental question is, did the prosecution leave any reasonable doubt? Our experts will weigh in on that.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: There's a lot of news this morning, but one story looms larger than others, especially here in the U.S. -- the George Zimmerman trial. So we're keeping a close eye on the courthouse in Sanford, Florida. The jury is deliberating right now. On Thursday and Friday they sat quietly as both lawyers talked for hours and hours delivering their closing arguments.

The presentations were very different.

BOLDUAN: Very different.

CUOMO: But both were compelling. If you missed the action, we have some highlights for you right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE DE LA RIONDA, ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: A teenager is dead. He is dead through no fault of his own. He is dead because another man made assumptions.

He profiled him as a criminal. He assumed certain things: that Trayvon Martin was up to no good and that is what led to his death. Why is he able to yell if the defendant claims the victim was -- how is he going to talk? Or is he lying about that?

Look at the gun. Look at the size of this gun. How did the victim see that in the darkness? But you see what he is saying now? He's saying that -- how does he get the gun out?

He profiled a 17-year-old boy that had Skittles. That's the crime he committed that evening.

Oh, he's skipping away, la, la, la.

This innocent 17-year-old kid was profiled as a criminal.

MARK O'MARA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: How many could have beens have you heard from the state in this case? How many what ifs?

But that's cement. That is a sidewalk. And that is not an unarmed teenager with nothing but Skittles trying to get home. And the suggestion by the state that that's not a weapon, that that can't hurt somebody, that that can't cause great bodily injury is disgusting.

If I were to walk in today let's say and I just as an example walked in like this, just walked in the courtroom as a lawyer. He would just have an impression. What in God's name is he doing with his sunglasses on? And who does he think he is?

You might have an impression of George Zimmerman. Stand up for a second. You might have an impression of him because he's sitting at the defense table and that maybe as we talked about he's not just a citizen accused, but maybe he is a defendant, maybe he has something he has to defend.

You look at these facts, you look at all this evidence, and you have to say, I have a reasonable doubt as to whether or not the state convinced me he didn't act in self-defense. That's all you have to do. You don't have to write innocent on the bottom of the verdict form.

JOHN GUY, ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: If there was ever any doubt about what happened, really happened, was it not completely removed by what the defendant said afterwards? All of the lies he told, all of them. What does that tell you? There's only two people on this earth who know what really happened, and one of them can't testify, and the other lied. Not about little things like his age or whether or not he went to the hospital, but about the things that really, truly matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right. So you just got a little taste of both sides there. Something very important just to isolate for you all in the prosecution -- that George Zimmerman is a liar. That's the point the prosecutor is making. In the law we have a lot of Latin. One of the phrases is "falsus in uno, falsus in toto". If you lie about one thing, you can reasonably assume you're lying about everything.

But here is the catch in this case. Does that mean you then know what happened?

BOLDUAN: Right.

CUOMO: Even if you assume George Zimmerman is a liar, did the prosecutor prove beyond a reasonable doubt what did happen? That's why this case is difficult for the jury.

BOLDUAN: It's difficult for the jury. But when you watch that, just to remind our viewers how this all played out in terms of closing arguments, first we heard from the prosecution laying out their closing argument and then you heard from the defense and then the prosecution had their chance for about an hour of rebuttal. Many people are saying that that rebuttal was pretty key for the prosecution to really button up their argument and make that final case to the jurors before they went into the deliberation room.

Let's talk a little bit more about this with two of our legal minds, joined by former prosecutor Wendy Murphy and criminal defense attorney Anne Bremner. Good morning to both of you.

AMY BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.

BOLDUAN: I guess, Wendy, I'll pose that question first to you. How critical do you think that opportunity the prosecution's rebuttal was to trying to leave that lingering thought of what they want the jury to remember going into the jury deliberation room?

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: It's strategically always an advantage for the prosecution to have the last word. You know, the concept of primacy in recency which is important in jury trials. Juries remember the thing they heard first and the thing they heard last, particularly well.

Nevertheless, if you don't have anything to say, the jury won't have anything to remember and that's the problem for the prosecution in this case.

BOLDUAN: The rebuttal.

MURPHY: You know, they were very dramatic, there was a lot of emotion, but, you know, if you don't have the facts, you're supposed to argue the law. This is the old saying in law. If you don't have the law, you argue the facts. If you don't have either, you pound the table. For me the prosecution's entire case and all of its closing argument, including the rebuttal, was all table pounding because there is no way they disproved beyond a reasonable doubt that George Zimmerman acted in self-defense and that's their burden of proof.

CUOMO: Let's get a response on that. What do you say? Take the other side on that for me. Obviously, we had the charges, we got through this. America is certainly divided on it. What's the other side to why the prosecution has a strong case?

BREMNER: Well, you know, in looking at this, I actually totally agree with Wendy. I was going to say exactly what she just said --

CUOMO: You can't now, Anne. Too late.

BREMNER: I know. It's not fair. I have an e-mail there this morning. I'm like what are you going to say. Some debate.

Great minds think alike. The other side of this is he who has the burden of proof has the last word in a criminal case. And he did a beautiful job, even I think one juror wiped a tear from her eye, when he talked about the fact that who won this fight? There's someone is dead in the ground, a boy. And there is, you know, Zimmerman with a gun we a little bit of a head wound. Who won? We know who won and who lost.

And the other part of it is you talk about, you know, Falsus in unum, falsus en pleurium, falsus en toto -- whatever you want to say -- falsus in omnibus is another way to say it. False in one, false in all. You lie once and you lie about not the little things -- you lie about the big stands.

How can we believe you, the only guy standing, the only one that was there who can tell us what happened. How do we believe you, George Zimmerman, when you say you were defending yourself? And we know you had ill will, hatred and malice in your heart. And we know it by your own words. I think emotion is what this thing is about.

MURPHY: Proving -- I think -- proving that George Zimmerman lied is not affirmative proof of anything. It may be very good evidence that Zimmerman had self-interest in the case which goes without saying, but it's not affirmative proof of the crime and that's the problem.

I think what the defense did so well was go through the nuts and bolts of the law, which strangely enough, because I prosecuted so many cases, that's usually what the prosecutor does. They say here is the law, here are the facts. Here's why we have proved this case beyond a reasonable doubt.

It was almost the reverse with the defense laying out the law because they really do have the law and the facts on their side and the prosecution I thought was trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and it just did not work. It struck me as a bit unethical. If you're the government, you're not supposed to try to win. You're supposed to do justice and that means representing both sides including the rights of the accused.

I was as a prosecutor offended at how emotional the prosecution side was because that's not what they're supposed to do. The public may feel that way, but the prosecution is supposed to rise above intense sentiment and really just play it straight and they did not do that.

BOLDUAN: All right. Wendy, Anne -- stick around with us. We have a lot more to dig through. We do want to let everyone know that we did hear from the courthouse that coming up in about a half hour, the jurors are going to take a break from noon Eastern to 1:00 Eastern to eat lunch. There will be a pause in deliberations then and then, of course, they will get right back to it and we'll be watching it all very, very closely as we wait. As we call it -- verdict watch we are now on and we'll have more about that coming up.

CUOMO: Also coming up, we're going to talk about the investigation, flight 214. We're going to show you just how they piece together clues there -- very important stuff. We're watching that as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back, everybody. We are watching the Florida courtroom for any sign of a verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. The jury is in its second day of deliberations, about six hours now. As soon as they reach a verdict, we will be alerted. They're saying it's about a one-our window so everybody can get together, it can be done the right way, it can be read as the process of the court dictates, and we will then carry it for you live. We promise you will not miss a thing.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime, we're watching some other news this morning. A third person has died as a result of the crash of Asiana flight in San Francisco's SFO airport last week. She'd been only identified as a young girl who had been in critical condition since the accident happened. Meanwhile, all four runways at the airport are now clear but, of course, the investigation into just what caused the crash continues.

CNN's Casey Wian visited the warehouse in California where the accident investigators are trained to put the pieces of this puzzle back together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Several Korean aviation accident investigators now looking in the Asiana crash got their training here according to the USC's Aviation Safety Program. Inside an old Sears warehouse where the twisted wreckage of plane crashes serves as a classroom for aviation accident investigators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you see around here is a safety system that has failed.

WIAN: Instructors took me through part of the training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What strikes you?

WIAN (on camera): What strikes me is that there was a big fire and it doesn't look like anybody could have survived this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look over there, what do you see on that left wing?

WIAN: Well, I see twisted metal. It looks like some sort of significant trauma happened to that wing, crashed into something, hit something. I don't know, a pole.

THOMAS ANTHONY, DIRECTOR, USC AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY PROGRAM: We teach the discipline of accident investigation, namely to observe the fact, to document the fact, and then let the facts take you by the hand and lead you to the next fact and the discipline not to conclude, not to summarize, and not to think too far ahead but to stick with the facts.

WIAN: So how wrong am I?

ANTHONY: You're right.

WIAN (voice-over): But minutes later I jumped to a faulty conclusion looking at different wreckage.

ANTHONY: It almost looks like a crumpled beer can. What we see is the power of a thunderstorm.

WIAN (on camera): So lightning hit this aircraft?

ANTHONY: There's no evidence of lightning strike. This is simply evidence of an aircraft being torn apart by the severe turbulence that's contained in a thunderstorm.

WIAN (voice-over): While investigators in San Francisco still are gathering information. There are clues.

MICHAEL BARR, USC AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY PROGRAM: We're pretty sure that we are going to look at how the airspeed decayed to a point where three fully qualified people on the flight deck didn't see it or saw it and didn't warn the captain. In today's world with the way these airplanes are made, the weak link is always going to be human factors.

WIAN: One question these instructors are beginning to ask is how pilots become too reliant on automation. The NTSB says it's looking into the role an automated throttle may have played in the Asiana crash.

ANTHONY: If we can teach one thing, it's never one thing. It's always a chain of interrelated causes. The reason it's safe is this, is that the lessons that we have learned through accident investigation and through investigating the procedures, they're the ones that have changed this and they've made it such a safe form of transportation.

WIAN: Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: All right, Casey, thanks so much for that.

CUOMO: Real painstaking look at how seriously they're taking it.

Now we have a very incredible sight for you. A wall of dust covering parts of the Phoenix area has an interesting name. Sounds like something Kate calls me almost every morning, a haboob. Alexandra Steele, what does that mean?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's actually haboob, the word in itself, Chris, comes from the Arabic word for wind, but what a haboob is, is just a wall of sand, a wall of dirt coming at you. The biggest threat with the haboob, which we see around Phoenix three times a year is the limited visibility. Visibility got so low yesterday around Phoenix is where the video was from. Visibilities were less than a quarter of a mile. We've seen an incredible amount of accidents on highways and roadways.

Here is how a haboob forms. First of all, you need dusty terrain. We certainly have that in the southwest in Phoenix where this was from. You also need thunderstorms and with a thunderstorm within it, there's an updraft component. But there's also a downdraft component, and with the downdraft component, the winds press down and out, and when they do, they form a gust front, and that kicks up all the dirt. That's what creates that wall of sand, which really you could barely see through at all, quite scary and ominous looking at it.

Today around Phoenix no threat for thunderstorms, we won't see that until Wednesday, but today the temperature there will be 107 degrees. So in the southwest that's actually average for Phoenix. But where we're going to really see the temperatures jump dramatically will be the northeast. Today 74 in Boston, 81 in New York, 86 in Washington, as we head toward tomorrow, we boost these numbers into the 90s and then by the time we get to Wednesday, Washington, D.C. will be 96. We'll be 94, 95 in New York City, guys. So temperatures really in the northeast we've got an official heat wave on tap for this coming week. BOLDUAN: All right, so appreciate the break while you can because it's not going to last long. All right, Alexandra, thank you so much.

Any minute now the jury in the George Zimmerman trial could return with a verdict. That's why we're watching it as it is happening. The big question, did the defense leave any reasonable doubt? Our legal experts weigh in.

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CUOMO: We are watching the trial of George Zimmerman, very closely waiting for a verdict from the jury. But there's other news this morning as well. We want to get you caught up.

First up, the State Department is now calling for the release of former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy calling his detention, quote, "politically motivated." This as tens of thousands of Morsy supporters gathered in Cairo to protest his ouster.

The remains of a man who claimed to be the Boston strangler are being examined after new DNA tests link the suspected serial killer to a 1964 murder. Although Albert Desalvo confessed to being the Boston strangler he was never definitely linked to the murders and was killed in prison even though he was never formally charged in those crimes.

Opponents of same-sex marriage in California attempting to reverse the Supreme Court's decision to allow gay marriages there by filing a lawsuit, a ban on same-sex marriages known as Proposition 8, which was struck down by the Supreme Court last month as you might remember. But now a group known as protectmarriage.com says the decision only applies to one marriage involved in the Proposition 8 lawsuit, not the entire state.

In Britain they're waiting on word of the arrival of the royal baby. Today is the due date for Katherine, the Duchess of Cambridge and that means the baby could arrive at any time. The child, whether it's a boy or girl, will be third in line to the British throne after Prince Charles and his son, William. It's a big deal there. That's for sure, waiting on a baby, of course, their biggest concern, healthy baby.

BOLDUAN: Hope he or she is OK and then we can all get excited after that. So the intense waiting game continues in Sanford, Florida. That's where jurors are deciding whether or not George Zimmerman is guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.

CNN's Martin Savidge sat down with George Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, for a one-on-one interview. He asked what Zimmerman's future will be if, big if, if he's found not guilty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think that George Zimmerman, your client, if he is acquitted, what kind of life will he have? MARK O'MARA, ZIMMERMAN'S DEFENSE LAWYER: Not a good one. I think he has to live mostly in hiding. He has to be able to protect himself from that periphery that still believe he's a racist murderer or acted in a bad way, and that you don't know who they are. You don't know if they're down the street or if you don't know if they're across the country. I think that he's probably concerned about living still in Central Florida and never having a normal life.

SAVIDGE: His life will never be the same.

O'MARA: Never, ever.

SAVIDGE: Never like be able to go to work or have a regular job?

O'MARA: I don't know how he gets a job where he is out in public without having the fear of somebody finding out where he works.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: All right, to be clear, we asked the state of Florida and prosecutors if they would be available to speak with us this week. They declined saying that they would speak after the verdict. We also reached out to Trayvon Martin's family for interviews and they are also waiting until after the verdict to speak. You can see CNN's entire interview with Mark O'Mara coming up at 2:00 Eastern.

CUOMO: And attorney for Trayvon Martin's family is also speaking out. Daryl Parks told our George Howell the Martin family is glad the ordeal of the trial is nearly over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARYL PARKS, ATTORNEY FOR MARTIN FAMILY: Now we're at a point where they can see the end of the tunnel, and they're very prayerful and very hopeful to God that this is going to end in justice for Trayvon. There's no happy ending for them either way, right? Their son is not here. It's not like they are going to rejoice in George Zimmerman going to jail. It's an unhappy situation for both sides. However, what it does mean though is that Tray's killer doesn't continue to walk free as if he did nothing wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, once again we're going to be bringing in Wendy Murphy and Anne Bremner. Let's look at some of the legalities at play here. A big question is obviously going to be whether or not George Zimmerman needed to do what he did that night to save his life. I mean, when you finally boil everything down, that's what the jury has to agree on, right? Wendy, let's start with you. How do you see that question shaping up after everything we've heard?

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. Chris, I actually think you misstated the legal standard. That isn't what the jury will be focused on, at least not in terms of the exact language you used.

CUOMO: So you give it to me. What is the question? MURPHY: The legal question is not did you have to kill. The question is did you have a right under Florida law to use reasonable force -- to use lethal force, reasonable use of lethal force in the circumstances. And because stand your ground law applies and is part of the definition of self-defense, the only thing George Zimmerman had to believe about the circumstances was the pounding of his head against cement and the injuries that he was suffering through the punching posed a risk he could suffer serious bodily injury. He didn't have to actually suffer serious bodily injury. He just has to reasonably fear that he will, and if that's the case, he can use lethal force in self defense that's the law in about 12 states. You may not like it, but that's the way the jury is going to examine that question.

CUOMO: Let's get it the right way though. So -- I'm sure yours is the right way. I'm saying for people who are watching at home because a lot of people are asking about this. So say it for me again. What does the jury -- if the jury believes "x," what you're about to tell me, then George Zimmerman is not guilty. What is it? Give me that minimum standard.

MURPHY: Did George Zimmerman reasonably fear serious bodily injury? If the answer is yes, he has a right under Florida law to use lethal force in self-defense. And I don't think there's any doubt, just the objective forensic evidence shows that those injuries are the kind of injuries that would make a reasonable person fear serious bodily injury. Therefore, you can shoot to kill.

BOLDUAN: But, Anne, jump in on this. I think one of the problems that goes along with that is that everyone kind of agrees that we still -- no one really knows what happened that night.

ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.

BOLDUAN: Only two people really know. There were not witnesses so does that pose a problem then for really the prosecution in trying to make their case?

BREMNER: Well, sure, because they have to prove to a moral certainty that he didn't use self-defense. I agree with Wendy on that, but let's take a look at the prosecution on this. You know, there's circumstantial evidence in the case. Trayvon Martin was shot through the heart and there's -- on the stand your ground, it doesn't mean you can run after somebody and then stand your ground. It doesn't mean you can follow somebody and then stand your ground.

It basically means stand your ground, if you're in a place you have the right to be and somebody threatens you. There's another part of the test for the jury. Did you fear serious bodily harm or death? And did he? Is there any evidence that he did? I mean, he shot a kid through the heart and his injuries were minor. So even using that test, they're minor. We heard it from a physician. He had minor injuries. They were not serious.

MURPHY: But you don't have to suffer serious -- you don't have to suffer the cracked skull before you act. That's the whole point of self-defense.

BREMNER: I agree.

MURPHY: People think this law is controversial. Let me tell you why it's a great law. I do a lot of work on behalf of rape victims and children. This law allows a woman being raped to kill in self-defense because it's kind of dopey to say to someone being raped you can only use that kind of force against your assailant as if a woman has a chance using physical force against a rapist. We want people to be able to protect their bodies from serious bodily harm, not only face near death before acting. That's the point and it's a good law.

BREMNER: Yes, but this case has captivated and divided the nation. I hope it doesn't do that with a jury. You don't kill somebody because you have not a broken nose, not a big wound on your head, just head wounds bleed. That's it. He killed somebody and he's saying racial epithets and he's racist and he's aggressive and he's --

MURPHY: Everybody uses racial epithets. Trayvon Martin did. Trayvon Martin used -- and called him a cracker jack or whatever that was. He did not use -- don't say that.

CUOMO: All right, let me stop you for a second. First of all, obviously, this is what this case does. It brings a lot of passion on both sides especially for very two strong legal minds because --

BOLDUAN: And also shows the huge responsibility on the jury now because they have heard both of these sides presented before them in a courtroom and these jurors -- these are not lawyers. These are regular citizens that are tasked with a huge job.

CUOMO: But it is a regular person test. At the end of the day once properly stated as Wendy helped me out -- thank you for that -- is exactly what these two are debating. The idea of was what George Zimmerman was dealing with that night enough to justify what he did to Trayvon Martin. Wendy says he doesn't have to think he had to die. It just has to be serious bodily injury.

But we see from our audience, we see here on the Twitter just like everybody else, that people are divided on it was just a fistfight. Did he have to kill him? Other people say he was banging his head on the concrete. He was going to kill him. There are six women who have to decide for themselves unanimously which they way go on that.

BOLDUAN: A lot about it is degree. I mean, the whole question of reasonable doubt. What is reasonable?

CUOMO: If there is doubt, they have to acquit. If they don't know beyond a reasonable doubt, if they have reasonable doubt that they're not sure about whether or not it made sense, even if they believe it was against George Zimmerman, I'm not sure that he was right. It's not beyond what I think might have been reasonable. I don't agree with what George Zimmerman did though, even that is enough to acquit.

BOLDUAN: That's why you saw Mark O'Mara with that chart showing the degrees. CUOMO: So it gets very tricky. We're going to come back to you. Thank you very much, Wendy, thank you for helping me out and thank you for the discussion. We'll be back to you. We're going to take a break right now. Just 10 minutes before noon in the east. That's when we're told that the jury is going to take a break for lunch, for an hour and then we'll continue their deliberations and our coverage will be here as well. Stay with us.

BOLDUAN: Be right back.

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BOLDUAN: Record territory on Wall Street this week. Our Alison Kosik has the details from the stock exchange.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Him there. The bulls picked up momentum on Wall Street with both the Dow and the S&P 500 setting fresh closing records. The Dow rallied 169 points on Thursday and eked out a small gain on Friday to launch a new record. The S&P 500 did the same though both averages have a bit more headway to make if they want to touch the all-time highs they hit during the session. Those records have been in place since the end of May.

Positive earnings from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo played a role in the games, but the main motivator, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. The fed chief said on a speech on Wednesday that monetary policy would remain highly accommodative for the foreseeable future. The language sounds wonky, but it basically means the $85 billion a month in stimulus that's being pumped into the economy is likely to continue.

That easy money is what's helped the stock market reached record highs multiple times this year. The S&P 500 which many retirement and mutual funds track is up more than 17 percent since the beginning of 2013. Most economists expected it to gain that much for the entire year. Bernanke also indicated interest rates will stay at their current historic lows, making it more affordable for Americans to take out things like car loans and mortgages.

The question now is whether the market can continue this record- setting run. Experts say it could be tough especially since stocks have gained so much already. I'm Alison Kosik in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome to our verdict watch here at CNN. We're waiting for the jury to reach its decision in the George Zimmerman trial. While we are, we're going to hear from outspoken Judge Hatchet. You know her from television. We're going to get her thoughts on how the judge is handling this case.

BOLDUAN: And also in other news, other big stories we're watching today. We've learned that a third child has died from injuries she sustained following the Asiana Airlines crash, the latest on that and the investigation. NEWSROOM continues right after a break.

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