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American Sniper Trial Could See Closing Arguments Today; Fashion and Speeches at the Oscars

Aired February 23, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for the five things to know for your new day.

Number one, Egypt's president calling for a unified Arab force to defeat ISIS. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates offering troops to joins the fight.

And the Islamic militant group al Shabaab posting a video calling for attacks on shopping malls in the U.S., Canada, and U.K. The Homeland Security chief warning folks to be vigilant when shopping at malls.

More propaganda from ISIS. The terror group releasing video claiming to show captured Kurdish Peshmerga fighters locked in medal cages and paraded down the street.

And hundreds of thousands of people in Yemen turning out to support their president after he escaped house arrest. He's now calling all political decisions made since a rebel coup, quote, "illegal and invalid."

And "Birdman" takes the top prize at the Oscars. It was named best picture over the sentimental favorite "Boyhood." "Birdman" also took home best director honors.

We're always updating the five things to know, so go to newdaycnn.com for the very latest.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn, closing arguments could come today in the American sniper murder trial and there were big moves in the finish by prosecutors. Is Routh a faker? Is the show "Seinfeld" relevant. Those are big question that they put with the closing arguments coming up next. So does Nancy Grace to give us her take.

Now, from vice to virtue, do not forget please that starting this Sunday, March 1st, the new documentary "Finding Jesus" begins on CNN. Here's a look.

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(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Closing arguments could begin as early as today in the murder trial of American sniper Chris Kyle. Ten women and two men will decide the fate of Eddie Ray Routh. So, will testimony from psychologists cast doubt about Routh's state of mind during the crime? Joining us to take a closer look, on the phone is Nancy Grace. She's a former prosecutor and host of HLN's show "Nancy Grace."

Good morning, Nancy.

NANCY GRACE, HOST, HLN'S "NANCY GRACE" (via telephone): Good morning. Thank you for inviting me.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for being here.

So, let's talk about what we think may happen today. What do you make of the insanity defense that Eddie Ray Routh's team has put forward?

GRACE: Well, I don't make very much of it, but you can never tell with a jury. You know, the Texas insanity defense is very unusual. For him to actually rise to the level of insane under the law using post- traumatic stress syndrome, he basically has to be in a middle of a flashback, in a fuge (ph) state caused by post-traumatic stress syndrome. And here's the big defect in that for the defense. This guy never saw action. I kept waiting for the defense to put it on where (ph) he was in battle, but the only time he got off the ship when he was outside of Haiti is to go collect his paycheck. So he's got a big problem.

CAMEROTA: And yet his mother says that he did seem changed after he returned from Haiti, that in terms of doing earthquake relief there, that things somehow did get into his psyche and made him more unhinged. So what if there is no PTSD, can he still be found insane?

GRACE: Yes, he can, he can, if a jury buys into it. I thought the mother was a very credible witness. Now, it did hurt her testimony after the defense had put up this fantastic photo of the defendant, Eddie Ray Routh, you know, in fully decorated outfit. You know, it was his Marine outfit. But then the prosecution ruined that, torpedoed that by showing the mother a picture of him with a giant bong in front of the jury. And bottom line, this is what it boils down to, voluntary use of alcohol or drugs. If that comes into evidence, it's game over. And there is an extensive, extensive history of not only using marijuana, but marijuana laced with formaldehyde. Embalming fluid. It's called wet marijuana. I'm sure the jury was shocked by that. But he also has some mental episodes. The only question is, does it rise to insanity.

CAMEROTA: Eddie Ray Routh reportedly told psychologists that hybrid pig people were trying to kill him, he believed. And then the prosecution showed that that was one plot line on "Seinfeld" and that that --

GRACE: I know.

CAMEROTA: So what do you make of that?

GRACE: I can't believe that, Alisyn. And not only was it a plot on "Seinfeld," he had also been watching "Boss Hog" reality show I guess it's on "Investigation Discovery" and was overheard talking about it. So the fact that he was watching that, possibly saw the Kramer episode that dealt with the pig person, it throws a real wrench in the defense case. The main thing about that, the main strength for the state is that he never ever discussed seeing pig people before he was charged with this crime.

CAMEROTA: So, Nancy, can you read the tea leaves at this point? What do you think is going to happen with the jury?

GRACE: I think they're going to come back with a guilty. And if I thought that if he was found insane he could go to a mental facility, get treatment as soon as he's stabilized, go to jail, it wouldn't be a big deal. But the reality is, you go to a mental facility, you get stabilized, they let you walk free. He could walk free after he's quote "stabilized."

CAMEROTA: Nancy, let's switch gears for a second. And we have to congratulate you on the 10 year run of your wildly successful HLN show, "Nancy Grace." And, you know, television is a fickle world. To what do you credit these successful 10 years?

GRACE: Well, you know, as much as I would like -- thank you, number one. And as much as I would like to take credit, I really can't because any perceived success of our show is grounded in the cases that we cover. The real cases of people involved in, going through the criminal justice system. Unsolved homicide, missing people, especially missing children. It's what we're all about. And our desire to help really keeps me and my whole staff going.

CAMEROTA: Nancy, it sounds like you're getting emotional thinking about your mission.

GRACE: I am a little bit. You know, my mission hasn't changed since the murder of my fiance many, many years ago. But what we do every day is so vitally important to me. The fact that we have been able to help solve some missing case, help solve some unsolved homicides means the world to me. And I could never do -- have done it without HLN. I'm very, very grateful to HLN and to the viewers that make us possible.

CAMEROTA: Well, Nancy, you're awfully modest because a lot of the success of the show, of course, are -- is your colorful personality. We have a little sample of some Nancyisms. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: The devil is dancing tonight.

Unleash the lawyers.

Unleash the lawyers.

I'm having a little crow sandwich on the set tonight and it's not going to taste good. Be right back.

Whoa, please cut her mike.

Don't make me cut your mike in the A block!

Rot in hell. And, hey, if you're listening, you can put that on your Christmas tree.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

That's putting the perfume on the pig.

Why don't you just pull out your Ouija board taffy (ph)?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Nancy Grace.

GRACE: Well, OK, yes, I think that was me. I plead guilty. No, forget it, I plead the fifth.

CAMEROTA: That's great. Well, Nancy, keep doing your special magic. Great to have you on with us and congratulations again on those 10 years.

GRACE: Thank you for inviting me.

CAMEROTA: Yes, a pleasure.

Don't forget to tune in tonight. We have a special of our own. It is a CNN special report. It is "Blockbuster," the story of American Sniper," tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN, where we look at the trial and so much more.

Also, tomorrow night at 9:00, tune in to HLN for Nancy Grace's 10th anniversary special. All good stuff.

Chris.

CUOMO: I feel like she said all of those things to me at some point.

CAMEROTA: I'm sure she did.

CUOMO: All right, so it took Julianne Moore five nominations, but, guess what, she is now an Oscar winner. What about some of the other upsets and surprises and drama? Michaela has the inside look from Hollywood.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM MOORE, WRITER: Stay weird, stay different. And then when it's your turn and you are standing on the stage, please pass the same message to the next person that comes along. Thank you so much!

JULIANNE MOORE, ACTRESS: People with Alzheimer's need to be seen so that we can find a cur cure.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, OSCAR HOST: Acting is a noble profession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHEALA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, what a brave move. My goodness. Just some of the highlights for you from last night's 87th Academy Awards. "Birdman" was the big winner, grabbing the award for Best Picture and its director winning as well, Alejandro Inarritu.

Joining me here at the beautiful Montage Hotel in the heart of Beverly Hills, we have CNN contributor and Entertainment Tonight host Nischelle Turner, who looks fantastically awake, CNN entertainment commentator and the editor of "Vanity Fair" Krista Smith, who has been at some parties and looks fabulous. Mr. Joe Katz, a stylist at the Montage Hotel Beverly Hills. The three of them have raged all night and yet are here.

Joe, we'll talk fashion in a second, but we have to start, ladies, with the big show and big winners. "Birdman" collecting the big Best Picture right off the bat. Not a surprise because it was down to the wire for a lot of people. Were you pleased? KRISTA SMITH, CNN ENTERTAINMENT COMMENTATOR: Well, I think once it

won Best Original Screenplay, I was like, oh, boy now it feels like it has momentum and it just rolled through the whole way. I picked it -- earlier we had both picked "Boyhood" to win. But it was either/or and "Birdman" got it.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Which gives a little eyebrow raise on that because it won Best Director, it won Best Picture and did not win Best Actor, which you kind of thought the conventional wisdom would be Michael Keaton would have taken the Oscar home as well.

PEREIRA: But Eddie Redmayne winning for Best Actor, we knew that that was very likely to happen.

Also, speaking of "Birdman", we have to talk about two years in a row a Mexican director winning. This year, Alejandro Inarritu winning for "Birdman", terrific and powerful direction.

SMITH: And I loved his speech.

TURNER: Shout-out to Mexico.

PEREIRA: There was a lot of shout-outs, in fact. Last night was kind of the night of people speaking very personally from the heart. We saw everything from -- mention of stay weird from Graham Moore to John Legend and Common speaking about equality, racial inequality in the nation.

TURNER: We did, we did see an Academy Awards with a heart last night, and a message. We saw Patricia Arquette stand up and have the ladies in the audience screaming and hollering.

(CROSSTALK)

JOE KATZ, STYLIST: Patricia Arquette said, it was so good that she was -- and Graham was so touching. I saw that tape and it was like, oh, it just was so touching

TURNER: And then when we saw John Legend and Common perform on stage and they're building, recreating the Edmund Pettus Bridge, building that, and the production of that. And when it was over, grown men crying in the audience. David Oyelowo, Chris Pine, just literally weeping.

PEREIRA: So we had emotion in there. We had real feeling. Did we have the funny, Krista? Do you think we had the funny in the show last night? What do you think?

SMITH: Thank God he came out in his underwear. I thought that was -- we needed that. It was great when he came out. And I also I have to say "The Sound Of Music", we didn't give Lady Gaga enough love. That was incredible.

PEREIRA: We knew she could sing. This was not an auto-tune gal. But I don't think we knew she could sing like that.

(CROSSTALK)

KATZ: I just felt like she brought the house -- everybody stood up. It was like -- and she looked gorgeous and she was just like this amazing singer.

TURNER: Can we go back to Neil Patrick Harris, though, for a second. Because Krista started touching on it and I think he will get very mixed reviews this morning. One of his best bits, and I talked to Benedict Cumberbatch about this last night, he thought the joke with him and John Travolta was his favorite of the night. I thought that was one of Neil's best moments last night. But I think a lot of his attempts fell kind of flat. I don't know if it was the timing of it? I mean --

PEREIRA: Look, we know this is a tough gig. The toughest gig in Hollywood. But we also have -- they have the recent memory of Ellen Degeneres, a comedian who was in her element. She owned the stage, she owned the moment, she looked completely comfortable. There are going to be those kind of comparisons, no?

SMITH: Always. It's a lose-lose and a win-win.

PEREIRA: He said that going into it, didn't they?

TURNER: Yes, but I wish they would put pronouncers in his scripts for him.

PEREIRA: Well, speaking of that, can we talk about the red carpet? Or should I say the soggy red carpet. There's this whole rumor that it never rains in L.A., well, I guess we should say except on Oscar night. Because it did last year.

KATZ: Oh my gosh, it was dripping down.

PEREIRA: And Joe, it didn't seem to get in the way of the fashion. That is what is amazing.

KATA: Yes, I tell you, a lot of the women had their hair back. It was very smart but it was elegant. Everybody just looked really beautiful and really elegant.

PEREIRA: Who are some of your favorites last night?

TURNER: Oh, this is some of my favorites. Lupita.

KATZ: Oh, I loved Lupita. Lupita looked beautiful. That was Calvin Klein, all in pearl. And Reese Witherspoon very classy, very elegant. Very custom Tom Ford and I love that. Emma Stone looked really beautiful too. I thought she really -- it felt very old Hollywood glamour.

PEREIRA: Didn't you feel there was a lot of old Hollywood glamour last night? I even noticed that from some of the men and oftentimes the fellows get kind of the short stick on the red carpet. But John Legend looked amazing. KATZ: Oh he looked great; that was Gucci. Common looked great. He

was in Prada which was the mix of the blue with the black lapel. I thought it looked really, really cool.

PEREIRA: Chris Pine, you were saying, was one of your favorites.

KATZ: Oh, I loved Chris Pine because it was a double breasted Armani, which was really cool. Like, he just wore it -- once you saw him, he wore it so elegantly. I thought he owned it.

TURNER: You know what I noticed from the men last night, and I did like this, too, I saw white dinner jackets. And I love a man in white dinner -- Benedict Cumberbatch had one. Adrien Brody, Kevin Hart, all wore the white dinner jackets, and I thought that was a really clean and sophisticated look.

PEREIRA: Krista, final thought, how do you think this year's Oscars will be remembered?

SMITH: I think that the speeches were excellent; I think they've been the best in recent memory, and I think people will remember it was going to be -- it all the controversy in the beginning but I think during this show everyone kind of came together.

TURNER: Can I say the producers went out of their way to add diversity to the presenters and performances?

PEREIRA: Did you notice that?

TURNER: So, yes.

PEREIRA: No more #allwhiteoscars.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Joe, thanks for being with us on the red carpet. Nischelle, you did a great job. Krista, as always, we love you. Thanks to the three of you. Go get some sleep.

TURNER: Thanks, NEW DAY, for coming to see us in the West Coast.

PEREIRA: Hey, we want to continue the conversation with you online because we know that you've seen some of these films, some of you are complaining that haven't had a chance to see them yet. Tweet us at @newday or go to Facebookcom/newday. We'll interact with you in a little bit because, Chris, we've got our own opinions about which films should have won as well. Are you happy?

CUOMO: I'm happy. Your talk was so provocative, that you had Alisyn and I here discussing the role of women in Hollywood and whether there's been enough progress, and whether or not Adrian Brody is a legit sex symbol, which I was very strong on the yes.

CAMEROTA: So thank you.

CUOMO: And I don't know how we get to him. PEREIRA: And you now have changed your minds or no?

CAMEROTA: We're not there yet. Still deliberating.

PEREIRA: OK, we'll take progress where we can.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Michaela.

CUOMO: All right, here's a pitch for you for the Good Stuff. A cop puts down his ticket book and picks up a shovel for a vet who needs it. Kind of gave away the whole story. But it's such Good Stuff you'll still want to see it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: What do you say, a little Good Stuff?

CAMEROTA: Lay it on us.

CUOMO: Here's today's edition. To protect and to shovel. Sidney White is Vietnam vet who lost both legs to diabetes; he is snowed in like so many others, so he keeps missing physical therapy appointments. His therapists caled the cops to check on him. Patrolman Lyman Conrad (ph) showed up and his first question was where's your shovel?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER LYMAN CONRAD, WATARVLIST PATROLMAN: I didn't really think twice about it. I jus, as soon as he showed me the shovel, I did it and I threw some salt down and let him go and went on my way.

REPORTER: Shoveling is not generally in your job description.

CONRAD: I'm sick of shoveling snow. It's been a long winter.

REPORTER: But this one you didn't mind so much.

CONRAD: No, not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: To protect and to serve. Sidney's landlord, who should've been clearing the snow, says he just couldn't keep up with it. We'll put that to the side. But thank you, Officer, for doing the right thing for a man who certainly deserved it.

CAMEROTA: Excellent.

Time for "NEWSROOM" now with Carol Costello. Hi Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEWSROOM": Hi, Happy Monday. Have a great day.

"NEWSROOM" starts now.