top the hour. i'm michael holmes in for suzanne malveaux. let's get you up to speed on what's happening in your world. george zimmerman, the man who killed trayvon martin, will be freed from jail. a judge granting him $150,000 bond. >> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am. and i did not know if he was armed or not. >> zimmerman is going to have to wear a monitoring device, also

check in with authorities every three days. we're going to go live to sanford, florida, just a minute or so from now. to pakistan, authorities saying at least 50 bodies have now been recovered from the scene of that terrible plane crash. 131 people, including 9 crew members, were on board that flight which was going from karachi to the capital, islamabad. the plane crashing just five miles from its destination. bad weather may have been a factor. republicans rally around mitt romney at their romney run and neck with president obama. the cnn poll of polls is an average of six national surveys, and it shows president obama with a slight edge, you see it there, 47% to romney's 44%. the difference, it's statistically insignificant. it's less than the sampling errors. you can call it a dead heat. police in new york tearing up a basement in lower manhattan

looking for clues to the 1979 disappearance of etan patz. he was of the first missing child to be featured on milk cartons across the country. a cadaver dog picked up the scent in that building. the property was searched back when patz first disappeared. >> i think what's significant is there's new technologies involved, new chemicalischemica new techniques. certainly law enforcement are hopefully we can give some comfort to the parents. let's focus back here now on the trayvon martin case. the man who says he killed the unarmed teen in self-defense is going to be let out of jail while he awaits trial. a judge setting a $150,000 bond for george zimmerman. now, in a surprise move, zimmerman actually took the stand. this doesn't happen in these sorts of hearings. he apologized to martin's parents. the prosecutor not so happy about that. let's see how it played out in court. >> i wanted to say i am sorry

for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am. and i did not know if he was armed or not. >> nothing further, your honor. >> and, i'm sorry, sir, you are not really addressing that to the court. you're doing it here to the victim's family, is that correct? >> they are here in the court, yes. >> i understand, but i thought you were going to address your honor, judge lester, not -- so that's really addressed to the family and where the media happens to be, correct, mr. zimmerman? >> no, to the mother and the father. >> okay. and tell me, after you committed this crime and you spoke to the police, did you ever make that statement to the police, sir? that you were sorry for what you had done or their loss? >> no, sir. >> you never stated that, did you? >> i don't remember what i said. i believe i did say that. >> you told that to the police? >> in one of the statements i said that i felt sorry for the

family. >> you did? >> yes, sir. >> so that would be recorded because all those conversations were recorded, right? >> yes, sir. >> okay. >> now martin savidge joins us now from sanford, florida, outside the very complex where those proceedings were held. martin zimmerman's apology unexpected, to say the least. what was the reaction outside the courthouse? >> reporter: well, you know, michael going into this day, we felt that it was going to be certainly interesting as far as this hearing and potentially dramatic. it was every bit of both, and afterwards the family of trayvon martin, his mother and father who were in the courtroom there, came out and they immediately left. they came straight out of the front of the building and normally they do talk to reporters, but this time it was clear they were very upset about how the proceedings went, and they immediately left without saying a word. now, their attorney did come out and speak. that's benjamin crump. he said the family is devastated. here is more of what he said. >> all throughout the hearing tracy martin had tears in his

eyes as he watched the killer of his son. and it was devastating that he got to give a self-serving apology to help him get a bond. they were very outraged at that. >> reporter: now, you may remember that george zimmerman apparently through his attorney had tried to reach out to trayvon martin's family several days ago to have some sort of private meeting. now we know what that meeting apparently was about, which was this chance for george zimmerman to express an apology. his attorney says he normally would not want him to have done it in such a public way on the stand in a trial or in a courtroom, but the family had turned down the private meeting, so this was the only choice george zimmerman thought he had to speak to them directly. they were in the courtroom. >> martin, thanks. martin savidge in sanford. we are going to hear more about this case in a moment, but first want to bring you a run down of some of the stories we are going to be covering for you

over the next hour. first, the search for a child who disappeared more than 30 years ago while walking to school. new clues in a manhattan basement. and i'm going to be talking with the co-sponsor of florida's stand your ground law as his state starts a task force in the aftermath of the trayvon martin killing. and then a cnn investigation into soldiers who say they were diagnosed with personality disorder after reporting that they were sexual assaulted. do stay with us. does aspirin even work on my headache?

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a cold case heating up after 33 years. at this hour police are searching a manhattan building for clues to the disappearance of 6-year-old etan patz. patz's case grabbed the nation's attention when his photo was featured on milk cartons across the country. the first time that had ever been done. he disappeared in 1979 while walking to his bus stop alone for the first time. his parents never moved from the neighborhood. they kept the same phone number so etan would be able to reach them. the case made parents everywhere fear for their children's safety. >> i think it ended an era of innocence in this country. parents around the nation saw how it happened and thought, there but for the grace of god go i or my child. it really awakened america. >> and now there are new leads in the case, and as cnn's susan candiotti is following the

investigation, we're going to go to her and ask what the police are actually looking for in that building and how are they doing it? >> reporter: it's an incredible piece of work that they're doing right now. let me help you get your bearings a little bit. where i am standing is about a half a block away from where etan patsz and his parents used to live. at this hour, michael, fbi agents have formed an assembly line, and they're bringing out chunk after chunk of concrete that they have been using jackhammers to get that out of the basement. as they have been digging down and stripping the walls and digging into that concrete basement. they have set up a grid operation there. here is what we can tell you about what they're doing. they're trying to go, they said, at least four to six feet below the level of that concrete to see whether there's any indication that any earth has been moved. they're bringing out all the

debris and they're going to send much of it to the fbi -- >> we lost susan's signal there from new york. sorry about that. let's talk more now about the trayvon martin case. george zimmerman, the man who killed the unarmed teenager, is going to be released from jail. he's on bond. we're going to talk about that after the break. do stay with us. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it.

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the trayvon martin case, george zimmerman, the man who killed the unarmed teenager, will be freed from jail as we have reported, granted that $150,000 bond. i want to bring in legal analyst

sunny hostin now. he only has to come up with the $15,000 bond which is 10% of the 150, which is normal. does the decision to grant him bond surprise you at all? >> it didn't surprise me because the standard is so very high, the burden so very high for the prosecution. so i suspect that the government knew going into this that was a real possibility. they did ask for a million dollar bond plus other conditions. i am a bit surprised at the $150,000, although we now know after the hearing and hearing all of that evidence that this is a family, at least george zimmerman's family, of meager means. i suspect the judge took that in consideration when fashioning the $150,000 amount. >> it's within the ballpark of what normally happens. >> i think that's right, although, you know, we have to remember this is a second-degree murder case. this is a nonbondable offense. he's looking at a maximum penalty of life in prison. and so in my view that's why the prosecutor asked for a million dollars and i do think $150,000

while maybe the norm, was a bit low. >> we actually talked to mark o'mara earlier, zimmerman's attorney, and he said it could be a stretch for them to come up with the 15. >> that's right, that's right. >> did the prosecution in your view come across as unprepared in any way during the proceedings? >> i think they certainly may have been caught off-guard when george zimmerman took the stand because that just doesn't happen, but, no, i think what we saw in the courtroom today was two very, very skilled, seasoned attorneys. that's how it should be done. we saw a very gutsy judge, a decisive judge. i think we saw really, really skillful lawyering today. >> any major points that came out from the hearing to you from a legal standpoint? >> for me it was george zimmerman taking the witness stand and saying three things. he said i'm sorry for the loss of your son. okay. but he also said i thought he was a little younger than me. george zimmerman is 28 years old. he said on those 911 tapes that he thought that it was a teenager, a kid. so that's an inconsistency that

may come back to hurt him. he also said i did not know if he was armed or not. well, he said to the police that he shot trayvon martin in part because trayvon martin was reaching for his gun. so i think yet again another inconsistency. attorneys always tell clients do not get on the witness stand. anything you say can and will be held against you. i think he may have hurt himself more than helped himself. >> really? he said he made those comments because he heard the parents wanted to hear him say sorry. >> that's right. and the family i'm told is devastated that he got out on bond. devastated. and tracy martin was weeping in the courtroom, and so i think they feel that it was a bit disingenuous and timed to be considered in terms of getting out on bond. >> but in fairness though, when you look across legal precedent or what normally happens in these sorts of cases, he's not been convicted. would anyone else in a less

high-profile case have gotten out on bail? >> i think so. again, i suspected from the very beginning that he would be given a bond package because the burden is so very high. in a bond hearing for the prosecution, they have to prove their case almost beyond beyond a reasonable doubt, so i think there was every indication that he was going to get some sort of bond. >> all right, all right. great to see you, sunny. sunny hostin there, cnn legal analyst. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> running all the way from "headline news." >> i made it. >> you did make it. good to see you. an enormous crowd, all egyptians, all angry, packing central sigh row todcairo today. have a look at this. look familiar? yeah, it's tahrir square, reminiscent of more than a year ago when the egyptian people demanded the ouster of long time president hosni mubarak. today thousands of people turning out from across the political spectrum. you had ultra conservatives,

liberals, islamists, all of them not happy with the military leaders that took mubarak's place, and they're worried about the process to choose the next president. that's what this is all about. let's go to cairo. ian lee is there. it is evening now. ian, the anger on the streets, it's about candidates, who can run, can't run. a lot of anger and sort of a unity in that anger. >> reporter: that's exactly right, michael. there were ten candidates out of the 23 who were barred from running, and in the square today we saw a lot of the supporters of these candidates come out very angry, come going so far as to say we're not going to accept the ruling by the supreme presidential elections commission. we're still going to push for our candidates. there were other people who were supporting their candidates who said, you know, this is just the way things are going, and we'll just support the next person. but a lot of anger because a lot of the -- three of the candidates out of the ten were

major candidates who could have been the next president of egypt, so their supporters are definitely disappointed, michael. >> what's interesting here, too, is you had this unity as i said on this one subject, about candidates, popular ones, being banned from running, but this is a very disparate group. they don't agree on much other than this sort of thing. >> reporter: that's right. in the square it's really interesting when you walk into the square because the square is actually very segregated. like you said earlier, they are strange bedfellows because it's the first time you had islamists and conservatives going to the square to express their voices. it was very segregated. one group on one side, one group on the other side. you had two different messages from both groups. the liberals who are pushing more towards the constitution. they want a constitution that

focuses more on individual liberties where you had the islamists who were mainly angry about their candidates who were unable to run in the upcoming election. >> and the military's reaction to all of this briefly, ian? >> reporter: well, the military has kind of kept a low key during all of this. with the ruling that barred those ten people from running, it was the supreme presidential elections commission that ultimately had made the decision about those people. the army backs that ruling, and also the army recently said that they hope that the constitution, egypt's new constitution, is able to come to fruition before the presidential election, which is in may. it's kind of cutting it short. it doesn't look likely right now but that's what the supreme council is hoping will happen. >> ian, thanks so much.

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get a lyric in your life. here is the run down of some of the stories we're working on for you. next, a task force in florida reviews the stand your ground law in the light of the trayvon martin killing. we're going to be talking to a state senator who co-sponsored that law. then a former chief of general motors talks to me about the need for electric cars. and later a cnn investigation, female soldiers who say the military gave them a psychological diagnosis instead of taking their claims of sexual assault seriously. well, he's not out of jail yet, but the man who killed trayvon martin will be getting out in the next day or so. a judge today granting george zimmerman a $150,000 bond. he's going to have to wear a monitoring device and will also have to check in with authorities every three days

right up until his trial. he's, of course, charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the unarmed teenager. he unexpectedly took the stand and apologized to martin's parents during the hearing. >> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am. and i did not know if he was armed or not. >> the lawyer for trayvon martin's parents quick to express outrage over zimmerman's apology. benjamin crump calling it self-serving. >> zimmerman makes this self-serving apology in court 50 days later. the real george zimmerman website, and you all have reviewed it, never once said i'm sorry. why today? when he made all those statements to the police, why not show remorse there if he was

sincerely apologetic for killing this unarmed child? >> and zimmerman, of course, said that he did make an apology in the interviews with police. just to clarify that. the trayvon martin case has triggered this ongoing national debate over florida's stand your ground law, and similar legislation in other states as well. joining us from gainesville, florida, dennis backsly, a florida state representative who actually co-authored stand your ground and now sits on a task force created to review the law. welcome to you, sir. did you -- when you co-authored this, did you ever think this law would apply in this sort of situation? >> well, i definitely knew there would always be some close calls and decisions to make, but i have maintained from the early days of this situation occurring that there's nothing in our statute that provides for

pursuit, confront, or provoke, and i have maintained that from the very first, and i think the fact that mr. zimmerman was charged was actually redemption of my understanding of that statute. >> why did you think -- >> there may be other self-defense claims he can make. well, the reason we need it is because there needs to be a presumption on the side of victims of violence. this statute was about protecting law-abiding citizens who are doing nothing wrong who come under a violent attack. they shouldn't go through an episode of wondering if they have to defend themselves in court when they're simply defending themselves from a violent attack. that was nestled in the fact that right after the five hurricanes, we had looting going on, and we had a specific incident in pensacola where an intruder did come in on someone in an rv who was simply trying

to protect their property, and there was months before he knew whether or not he would be charged with a crime for simply defending his property. >> educate me on that. in florida under state law, do you not have the ability to defend yourself if you feel you're at risk? is it not self-defense? >> well, you can make those arguments, but it was always up to the prosecutor to decide how they wanted to proceed. and there was no presumption in the law. in fact, the whole castle doctrine idea, that your home is your castle and if someone comes in and you have a right to defend it was really from common law and there was no canonization of that into a statute. by doing that we moved that presunks pr presumption in the direction of a victim of violence. since 2005 we see 120,000 less violent crimes committed in florida. i don't claim all the credit for that, but i think it was part of

a mosaic of good policy. what we prove sd if you empower people to stop violent acts from occurring, they can and they will. >> a lot of critics say the law is vague, it creates a dangerous environment where people might feel that they can commit an act of violence and then say i felt threatened and that's that. what do you say to that criticism? >> well, i think one thing that could come out of this tragedy, if anything good can come out of it, and i pray it does, is that there will be a clearer articulation of when to use this defense. obviously, there will be people trying to use it that it doesn't apply to. but the statute's really very clear, that it's for a law-abiding citizen in their home or vehicle or somewhere they have a right to be and they suffer a violent attack. i think it's very important that we stand with the 20 million citizens of florida and say, look, if you're under attack, we're going to stand by you and you're not going to have to defend yourself for stopping that violence. they have seconds to decide are

they going to be a victim or are they not, and -- >> part of the discussion is going to be -- >> so we put the presunks in ms the conditioneanon. >> i guess part of the discussion is whether there are already existing laws that give you the right to defend yourself. you are on the task force for the governor. what do you hope to accomplish with that task force? >> well, the purpose of the task force is really broader, and that is to review public safety and protection for our people. that will, of course, involve a discussion about stand your ground and how it's been interpreted and utilized out there where it meets the road in the judicial community. but i think we're going to find that it has been a success and that it has protected peep from harm, and it could even protect people like trayvon martin and others who are simply doing nothing but minding their own business and come under attack, if that's the narrative that

plays out. i think, of course, there's always going to be some close calls on how those facts come together and that's why there's always an investigation. >> all right. dennis baxley, florida state representative. thanks so much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. appreciate you. well, the prosecutor bringing charges against george zimmerman, no stranger to controversy. angela corey charged a 12-year-old as an adult in a murder case. we're digging deeper on that. they're just part of who i am. she convinced me that there was no limit to what we could learn. i don't think i'd be here today had i not had a wonderful science teacher. a teacher can make a huge difference in a child's life. he would never give up on any of us. thank you dr. newfield. you had a big impact on me.

a major development today as we've been reporting in the trayvon martin case. that florida judge setting a $150,000 bond for george zimmerman, the man who shot and killed the unarmed florida teen. zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. some legal analysts believe the prosecutor may have made a misstep by not charging zimmerman with a lesser crime, like manslaughter. the second-degree murder is going to be hard to prove, they say. well, it's not the first time angela corey has been accused of

overcharging a defendant. here is cnn's gary tuchman. >> reporter: this 12-year-old in the oversized inmate uniform is not a boy in the eyes of state attorney angela corey. she declared christian should be tried as an adult in a first-degree murder charge. he sits with adult inmates in court. >> mr. fernandez, you have discussed with your attorney your right to a speedy trial? >> sure. >> okay. >> reporter: and for the first few weeks of his imprisonment, he sat in this adult jail in solitary confinement. the youngest person in florida to be charged as an adult for murder. this is what angela corey said last year when he was arrested. >> and it will be a very dramatic, to say the least, sight to see a 12-year-old who

looks like a 12-year-old appear in adult court, but we want the public to understand at this point we have no choice. >> reporter: no choice? many people vehemently disagree. such as the man who had the state attorney job before her and decided not to run for re-election. harry shorstein was angela corey's boss. >> i clearly think the decision was a travesty. >> reporter: and then this man, the former president of the american bar association, the former president of florida state university, and a current professor in the university's law school. >> this is off the charts in terms of overcharging in my judgment. >> reporter: christian fernandez is accused of killing his 2-year-old brother david by pushing him twice in a bookshelf. he also broke his leg one time before opinion but all acknowledge that christian had been abused for much of his life, particularly by his stepfather who committed suicide when he found out he was going to be arrested for that abuse. his mother was away when he

assaulted his brother. when she came home and saw her 2-year-old was seriously hurt, she waited eight hours before getting medical attention. for doing that, she, too, is implicated in this case. she pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. but her 12-year-old son got the far more serious charge. listen to what angela corey said last year about why she charged the 12-year-old who had no previous arrest record as an adult. >> at what point do you step in and just come down hard so that you prevent a future murder? and that's how we felt in this case. if we don't intervene now and do the right thing and do the tough thing, whether people think, you know, it's the just thing to do because of his age, we have to protect the public from this young man. >> reporter: preventing a future murder. angela corey would not talk to us on camera. was that an unfortunate choice of word? >> i don't necessarily believe it was an unfortunate choice of words. >> reporter: does she have a crystal ball?

>> unfortunately, some of the background and information in this case we cannot discuss. >> reporter: what about angela corey saying she is doing the tough thing? >> our role as constitutional officers is not to be tough. it's to do what's right. >> reporter: but she said here, we need to intervene now and do the right thing and the tough thing, whether people think it's the just thing to do because of his age, we have to protect the public. she's saying the opposite. >> i think you're misinterpreting it. the tough thing she's saying right there is the difficult decision that she had to make. >> reporter: angela corey says she'd like to reach a plea bargain so christian fernandez doesn't spend his entire life in prison. but if there is no plea bargain, that could happen. >> i think she wants to be our equivalent to the sheriff in phoenix who keeps the people in tents in 110 degrees. >> i don't know of a single 12-year-old that's capable of forming the kind of intent that would be necessary to sustain a first-degree murder conviction.

>> reporter: christian fernandez defense attorneys are working for free and not wanting to anger the prosecution team have decided not to comment for the story. when you sleep at night, are you comfortable with this decision? >> absolutely. i can go home, i can look my family, my 12-year-old in the face and feel comfortable that what we are doing in the prosecution of christian fernandez is the right thing. >> reporter: gary tuchman, cnn, jacksonville, florida. >> plenty you could talk about there. americans need to get green. that is the message from a former vp of general motors. we're going to talk to him about his push for electric cars and his new book on green energy. stick around. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn.

[ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! i get my cancer medications through the mail. now washington, they're looking at shutting down post offices coast to coast. closing plants is not the answer. they want to cut 100,000 jobs. it's gonna cost us more, and the service is gonna be less. we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball, they can make the right decisions.

welcome back. organizers say a billion people will participate in the 42nd annual earth day this weekend and a big push in the green energy movement has been towards electric cars. bob lutz spent 47 years as a liter in the auto industry. his book is "car guys versus bean counters." you worked with many of the gas opinigas gas-powered car makers. why your interest in electric vehicles? >> it doesn't matter what i believe about the origins of climate change, but for sure we want to keep the planet green. we want to keep it healthy. we want to conserve natural resources, and a big motivator

for me is to protect domestic energy resources and make the u.s. energy independent and get us exploiting all the domestic energy we can. >> why do you think that people have been slow in many ways to embrace electric cars? is it the cost? is it the performance? what is it? >> well, up to now electric cars are more expensive, especially cars like the chevrolet volt because they have a gasoline engine to power the car once the battery is down. and the price of batteries is still high. but as you go into full-sized pickup trucks like via motors who demonstrated their trucks in times square this morning, the

combination of the price of the truck plus the price of fuel will be lower than a conventional fuel. i think now there will be market demand driving it rather than a desire to participate in the green movement. >> electric cars have been around since the turn of the 20th century. there's always been a conspiracy theory that people were holding them down because they wanted to keep the combustion engine going. you worked in the industry for 47 years. what did you think of that old conspiracy theory? >> well, all of the conspiracy theories are just that, they're conspiracy theories. automobile companies don't produce fuel. automobile companies are fuel neutral. they'll make the cars run on toothpaste if somebody passes a law and says they have to run on toothpaste. so car companies don't care. and car companies are no fonder of big oil than the general public is. >> so why is it then? they have been around for years. we should all be driving them. >> the problem with electric vehicles traditionally is, one, range.

because up until recently you couldn't store enough energy in batteries to get a reasonable range. and then there's the other issue is the cost of the batteries. cost of the batteries are coming down -- is coming down and the energy density of batteries is going up. so we're starting to see the first electric vehicles now, and again the via full-sized pickup truck is the first of many to come where the actual all-in cost of ownership is lower than it is for conventional vehicles. when that happens, it's going to tip over very fast. >> great to talk to you, bob. i wish we could talk more. bob lutz. the book is "car guys versus bean counters." thanks so much. >> thank you. all right. u.s. military says it has a no-tolerance policy for sidewalks, but a cnn investigation has found female soldiers who say they were sexual assaulted and turned away, even given a psychological diagnosis. stay with us.

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try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. zyrtec®. love the air. the military has long come under fire for ignoring sexual assaults. well, this week the pentagon's top man, defense secretary leon panetta, announced a new crackdown. the main change, accusations will be investigated by senior officers, not just unit commanders. the pentagon estimates last year alone there were about 19,000 sex assaults, most were unreported, and, of course, unpunished. dr. sanjay gupta spoke with several former service women who

all shared a sadly similar story. once they reported an assault, they were drummed out of the military. >> reporter: doing the right thing was in 21-year-old stephanie schroder's blood. >> i joined shortly after 9/11. i thought it was the right thing to do. >> reporter: six months after enlisting in the marines, she found herself training at a base in virginia. one saturday she decided to she blow off steam with some fellow marines. >> we went out to dinner. i got up so go to the restroom and my attacker followed me and forced his way into the bathroom. i went to pull the door shut and he grabbed it and flung it back as hard as he could and charged into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. >> reporter: back on base, schroeder reported what happened to the officer in charge. >> i told her i need to report an assault. and she just looked at me and

she started laughing and said don't come bitching to me because you had sex and changed your mind. >> schroeder says she took a lie detector test and passed. but charges were never filed against her attacker. in fact, she was forced to work with him side by side for over a year. meanwhile, her rank was reduced and her pay was docked. she says all because of the incident. >> if you want to keep your career, you don't say anything, you just bear it. you just deal with it. >> reporter: but dealing was a struggle. in early 2003, five months pregnant with her now husband in iraq, schroeder felt suicidal. she went to see an on-base psychiatrist. >> the first time he was very nice. the second time we got into the assault and then shortly after that, the chain of command said well, we're starting an administrative discharge against you. >> reporter: on june 30, 2003, schroeder received her discharge

papers. the reason given for separation -- personality disorder. a disorder that the textbook for psychiatrist defines as a long-standing pattern of maladaptive behavior beginning in adolescence or early adulthood. >> it makes absolutely no sense medically for people to be diagnosed all of a sudden after being sexually assaulted as an adult in the military to say no, you've had this all along. >> reporter:s in a former marine and this is a directive executor of a veteran's advocacy group. >> it's also extremely convenient to slap a false diagnosis or a young woman or man and then just get rid of them. . >> that's really at the heat of this. are these false diagnoses being used as an excuse essentially to discharge these soldiers. we had a chance to talk to the defense secretary leon panetta about this specifically. listen to what he said. >> obviously our goal here is to try to put in place here what we

need in order to deal with these cases moving forward. there are procedures within the department of defense that allow these individuals to raise these concerns and determine whether or not they have not been treated fairly. and i hope they'll follow those procedures to determine whether or not that has been the case. >> and the pentagon also said, michael, that they can file a -- they can file an appeal, which stephanie schroeder is doing to see, in fact, there is a case there. >> on the face of it, it would seem very frightening that this would happen. does that happen a lot? and does it impact their benefits? >> i think so. you know, i mean, the numbers -- i learned some of these new numbers just over the past several days. between the years 2001-2010, for example, 31,000 people were discharged from the military based on a diagnosis of personality disorder. men and women alike. not obviously involved with sexual assault as the case was

in these five women, but what is interesting is that personality disorder itself is usually a chronic diagnosis. something that comes along in adolescen adolescence, early adulthood, not in response to a traumatic event. they may not be eligible for benefits. if you have a pre-exist conditioning it can be hard to get health benefits. >> if they can diagnosis when they want to get out of the military, why didn't they catch it when they enlisted? >> that's a big question. obviously the amount of screening that's done psychologically to these soldiers before we put them in the field, i mean, this is something you've covered a great deal. most would say even in the highest levels it's been inadequate certainly up until now. in 200, there was hearings on this very subject. they said at least a psychiatrist had to make the diagnosis. but before that, that wasn't even necessarily mandatory. that a doctor trained in this area would, in fact, confirm the diagnosis.

>> i think that's scandalous. good to see you, my friend. good to see you doing reporting. you're never around. i love to see you. >> we'll catch up. sanjay is going to have more on this story tomorrow. also sunday, 7:30 a.m. eastern. "sunday gupta m.d." i watched it last week. it was jogly good, too. there's blood being shed in the streets in syria. how to make a cease-fire stick. it isn't even a cease-fire anymore. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

we're having the same numbers we had before the cease-fire.

>> it's incredible, when you think there's sick or steven in the country, and they announced they're not doing any patrols today. why? because friday is the traditional day of protest in syria for more than a year now. the government security forces said it could get too crazy and we don't want it to be used for propaganda purposes, which is a big omission. instead what we saw, in one of the protests, a couple of guys that looked like u.n. monitors. they had blue berets, blue vests. their uniform said u.n. on them, but they weren't observers. we called those guys and they told us they dressed up as mock costumes to look like u.n. observers with cotton sticking out of their ears to show that the whole world has turned a deaf ear to the dying and the bleeding that continues to go on in syria. >> the death toll is just the

same as they were before. "the news room" continues now with brooke baldwin. george zimmerman's bail hearing turns into a minitrial. we're not only hearing from his wife but the man himself at the center of this case that's gripped the nation. i'm brooke baldwin. "the news" is now. concessions in court. an alleged mass killer says he studied the oklahoma city attack and he played the call of duty video game all to prepare for a bloodbath. the gang rape of a teenage girl caught on video. >> they were candidly joking with one another. >> it's an area where some young

men see rape as a sport. plus, protecting child actors from sex predators. "different strokes" star todd bridges tells me why he's begging one state to intervene. and you can't fix stupid. a comedian's famous joke ends up at a sfaf meeting. one principal won't rest until he gets his job back. all right, here we go. happy friday to you. i'm brooke baldwin. he admits shooting trayvon martin. he has only been in jail a little over a week now. but george zimmerman could soon be a free man, at least for the time being. a judge set zimmerman's bond at $150,000 after a lengthy hearing today. in a surprising move, we heard from the man himself. when he took the stand. zimmer mavn apologized to trayvon martin's parents who were in the courtroom.

>> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am. and i did not know if he was armed or not. >> also for the very first time today, we heard from zimmerman's wife, shelly nicole zimmerman. she actually had to testify over the phone, simply out of concern, fear for her her own safety. and of course, the safety of her husband. here she was. >> you also mentioned that you yourself was concerned about your safety, is that correct? >> yes, i am. >> have you yourself personally been through anything? >> anything that happens to my husband is a personal threat to me. >> yes, ma'am. i don't mean to argue with you, but you yourself have not gotten threats, is that correct? >> i received hate mail. >> david mattingly was inside the courtroom today for that hearing this morning. do we know when george zimmerman could soon get that fresh breath of air? get out of jail? >> well, the courtroom the judge

said it probably won't be today. and zimmerman's own attorneys are guessing it could be multiple days before he gets free. it all has to do with security concerns for zim eman himself. expressed his remorse for the loss of their son. but i looked trektly at trayvon martin's parents as zimmerman was saying this. they seemed absolutely impassive. they seemed like they were not moved whatsoever. immediately after the proceduring we heard from their

attorney who expressed their outrage. >> zimmerman makes this self-serving apology in court 50 days later. 50 days later. you all have reviewed it. never once said i'm sorry. when he made all those statements to police, why not show remorse there if he was sincerely apologetic for killing this unarmed child. but nonetheless, zimmerman was given bond. that's something else he's going to have to work out. we heard from his wife, mother and father. all talking about how little money they have together. his attorney came out and said he felt like the bond was a little high, but giving no indication, however, that they will not be able to make that bond. >> but there are conditions.

the judge set conditions on the bond. run through those, david. >> zimmerman himself made that comment directly to the family. he's going to be on a curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every day. he's going to check in with the whereabouts. he's going to the to be checking electronic tracking and gps device to let everybody know where he's going to be. but the judge did say he's going to be allowed to go out of state where he was before he turned himself in for his security. that was a little bit of an interesting concession here by the court for george zimmerman's safety. >> that is interesting.

david mattingly, thank you. i have lots of legal questions i want to bring to sunny hostin. were you even surprised? we're talking second degree murder charge. were you surprised the judge granted him bond? >> i'm not surprised. although it's a nonbondable offense and although the maximum penalty for the defense was life in prison, the burden on the prosecution is almost beyond beyond a reasonable doubt. so i think we all knew it was very likely he would get a bond package. i thought the $150,000 bond was a little low. >> you thought it was low? >> i did, yeah. the prosecution wanted a $1 million bond. i thought that was a bit high. bond isn't supposed to be punitive. it's just supposed to make sure that someone comes back. but with $150,000 bond, that means he really only has to put up about $15,000 down. and although it's a family of limited means, i don't know that that really matches the crime alleged here. >> what's normal for second

degree murder charge for a bond. >> i would say there is no normal. it depends on the facts of the case. >> his own attorney called him indigent. who fronts the money? >> probably his family. we heard today during the hearing hi parents do have a home. of course, they have a mortgage on that home. his phatter is a disabled veteran. his mother is also retired. his wife is unemployed. she's a nursing student. i suspect they will pull the money together to get get bond. i did have the opportunity to hear from mark o'meara. i thought he was very skillful in the courtroom today. i thought the prosecution was very skillful. >> when i think of bond hearings, you think it's fairly

quick. to think we saw george zimmerman take the stand and his wife call in. did that surprise you? >> that was a wow moment. i heard there was gasping in the courtroom. i was anchoring "in session" on court tv this morning. i gasped. i can't imagine that the prosecution expected that. that's something that typically does not happen during a bond hearing. i don't know that he helped himself very much. i think there were some inconsistencies. he talked about the fact that he thought trayvon martin was a little younger than he is. george zimmerman said on the 911 calls he thought it was a teenager, a kid. that is a very significant inconsistency. some were saying it was a very self-serving statement. i'm not so sure. >> i have more questions for you. see you next hour. awful, awful video coming in of this deadly plain crash.

a plane carrying 127 people. also police believe this missing fort bragg soldier is in danger and today her family got very candid. >> you guys need to get your story, which is fine. but this isn't a story for us. this is my sister, you know what i mean? this isn't just oh, another missing person. >> and apparently got a little confrontational. we're going to explain what's going on there in north carolina. plus, it is one of the comedian ron white's most famous routines. he always says you can't fix stupid. but a principal is in big, big trouble for using that line and a clip in a staff mee iting. ron white wants to say something live to me on cnn. [ male announcer ] there's a crushing national debt

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and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. in new york, second day here digging, looking for clues for the dus appearance of eta etan paetz. he became the face of missing children in today. and today, police are talking to a handy man that worked in the building. >> i think what's significant is new technologies involved. new chemicals, new techniques that can be used. i think law enforcement, certainly fbi are hopeful that we can give some comforts to the parents. . >> and even more drama in the secret service sex-capades.

this involves a campaign stop when sarah palin was running for vice president. take a look at david cheney's facebook page. here you go, there's the picture. he's already a cads you'llty of the colombia prostitution mess. it is so tiny, i know you can't see it. i'm going to read the comment. i was really checking her out, if you know what i mean. yep, that's what he wrote. listen what palin had to say this. >> this agent that was kind of ridiculous posting pictures and comments about checking somebody out. well, check this out. you're fired. i hope his wife kibs him to the doghouse. >> three unions representing workers at american airlines are announcing there's support of a merger saying, quote, it's the best strategy and fastest way to save the bankrupt airline. and the brother oof a missing

fort bragg soldier is now reaching out for help in finding his sister. >> i mean, you just -- it's so unimaginable to wake up every day and this is the reality, you know? th i'm standing in front of you guys hoping my sister is found safe and sound. >> his sister kelly bordeaux hasn't been seen since saturday when aquaint tans s-- acquainta dropped her off near her apartment. a plane plummeted into a residential neighborhood in pakist pakistan. the big question is why. that's still not clear. weather conditions did include thunderstorms and limited visibility. and take a look at this frothy starbucks strawberry frappuccino. maybe you had one this morning yourself. a barista at the iconic beverage

franchise reveals this. that dye comes from bugs. yep, bugs. insects. after a bunch of news reports revealing this bug dye, starbucks says it will stop using it in favor of a tomato-based product. and to new york where local and federal authorities are involved in what they call a very pain staking process. as we mentioned a moment ago, they are there. here's day two of this five-day search, looking for the remains of etan paetz, the little boy that disappeared 30 years ago. a handyman's sudden outburst is raising eyebrows. [ wind howling ]

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they're dicking once again today in northern manhattan. they're searching for the remains of etan paetz missing for 33 years. he was 6 years old when he disappeared walking home. here's the map. you can see how close this is. while walking from his home in soho to a bus stop. the building they're searching, this renewed search 33 years later was prompted by a mysterious comment made by a possible suspect. susan candiotti has the latest. >> reporter: the fbi has been hard at work all day and into the afternoon tearing apart the basement of the building behind me. they even set up sort of an assembly line to bring out gig big chunks of concrete.

they've been using jackhammers to knock out the wall and dig up the cement ground. the fbi says they plan to go a good four to six feet beneath the surface of that kron crete to determine if any of the earth had been moved below there. they're trying to see if they can find the boy's remains or any kind of clothing, anything that belonged to him. here's what led them to this building. sources tell us that they were talking to a carpenter who used to work in the basement of that building and source says that carpenter had spent some time with the little boy, even had given him a little bit of money and spent some time with him the day before he disappeared even n that basement. they've also been able to determine the fresh concrete laid in the building. canines picked up a scent of a human being. that was about 10 days ago. that among other

alarms. they interviewed the man and he said during the course of the investigation, quote, what if the body was moved. that's when they set up this excavation work and they planned to be here for four more days. the fbi says they feel fairly optimistic that this will lead to some good evidence. >> i don't want 20 qualify cautiously optimistic. again, there is probable cause to believe there's evidence at this location regarding the etan paetz's disappearance. whenever law enforcement executes a search warrant, it's hopeful they're going to find what they're looking for. >> the excavation is going on half a block away from where etan paetz and his patients lived in 1979. in fact, his parents still live in the same place. they haven't spoken publicly about the latest developments. however, an author who wrote about the family years ago has

spoken to them. and she said they've been learning how to deal with this. they're just playing a waiting game at this point. >> awful thinking about those patients waiting all these years. susan candiotti, thank you. coming up, todd bridges joins me to talk about his latest effort, protecting young stars from child predators. he's going to share his very personal, very painful story of abuse. also a man who confesses to a massacre says he got inspiration from al qaeda, timothy mcveigh and the call of duty video game. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go.

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at least 50 bodies have been found at a plane crash site in pakistan. 120 people were onboard on the air flight from karachi to islamabad. the boeing 737 crashed in a residential area. so far it looks like no one was hurt on the ground.

>> translator: i was preparing for evening prayers. i thought it was lightning striking. the plane fell in a village and wheat caught fire. my younger brother was outside. i called his game and came out to see what happened. there were pieces of the plane all over the place. we did not see any survivors. after 10 minutes i called emergency. >> obviously it's still too early to determine exactly why this plane crashed but they say weather might have been a factor. there were thunderstorms, low visibility in this particular area of pakistan. and before norway's mass murderer ever spoke a word on his stand, his smirk alone enraged people inside this courtroom. and before the smirk, ander

anders behring breivik did a nazi-like salute. he talked about reading al qaeda's on line magazine for followers in analyzing al qaeda closely from 2006 to 2011. he was inspired by the attacks at oklahoma city. he called a local police chief to surrender. no high level officer would come to the phone he took that as a sign the police didn't want himself to turn himself in. the only tears breivik showed was when a part of his manifesto was played. you can't hear him firsthand because a judge banned his testimony from being broadcast. george zimmerman takes the stand

and apologizes to trayvon martin's family. and later, a principal shows part of a ron white comedy routine to his staff. the comedian is going to join me live.

until today, we have only heard george zimmerman's voice on a 911 call before he shot trayvon martin. this morning we heard from him for the very first time since that fateful night. the judge grantded him a bond of $150,000 in this hearing. and in a surprise move, zimmerman took the stand and offered the apology. the voice you're going to hear is that of the prosecutor

questioning zimmerman's sincerity. >> i wanted toe say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little younger than i am. i did not know if he was armed or not. >> you're addressing the victim's family, is that correct? >> they are here in the court, yes. >> i understand. but i thought you were going to address your honor, judge lester, not -- that's really addressed to the family and where the media happens to be, isn't that correct? >> no, the mother and father. >> after you committed this crime and you spoke to police, did you ever make that statement to the pol sorry for what you had done or their loss? >> no, sir. >> you never stated that, did you? >> i don't remember what you said. i believe i did say that. >> you told that to police?

>> in one of the statements i said i felt sorry for the family? is. >> yes, sir. >> that would be recorded because all the conversations were recorded? >> yes, sir. >> you're certain you said that? >> i'm fairly certain. >> which officer did you say that to? >> you made five statements total. >> all the names blend together. >> was it a male or female? >> there were both males and females. >> at the time you made that statement that you were sorry? >> yes, sir. >> you stated exactly what to those detectives. >> i don't remember exactly verbatim. >> but you're saying you expressed concern for the loss of mr. martin or that you had shot mr. martin that you actually felt sorry for them? >> i felt sorry they lost their child, yes.

>> did you tell the officers you wanted to convey that to the parents. >> officers, i apologize. >> i didn't know if they were going to convey it or not. i just made the statement. >> and then you said you called them up, left a message for them to have tell them that? >> no, sir. >> why did you wait 50 days to tell them that. >> i don't understand the question. >> why did you wait so long to tell mr. martin and the victims mother, the father and mother, why did you wait so long to tell them. >> i was told not to communicate with them. >> there is just a little bit of a portion of that hearing we heard this morning. we also heard from zimmerman's family during that hearing. we'll play that for you next hour. >> and perhaps you've seen this comedy routine. i know a lot of you have. you can't fix stupid. ron white is the one who coined it. a principal showed that clip of this particular routine at a staff meeting. it offended a lot of teachers. the principal is in trouble and

now ron white is joining me live to discuss this. don't miss this. but. >> when ichs in involved in heros in 2008, carolyn's messages project touched my heart. when you think about the people in this world that need help, the last people on that children are the children of incarcerated parents. that to me is why i'm coming out here today. >> approaching destination on the left. >> what are the total number of messages delivered by the messages project now? >> we're right at 9,000. >> wow, that's a lot of children that have this opportunity. >> gate, please. >> so tell me about this facility. >> this is a maximum security prison, and it is the pilot for california.

>> i know you're angry with me. you should be difficult with me. the difficulties you faced over the years, that's my fault. hold on a second. man. >> you could see that sadness, that guilt they had, whatever decision they made that's imkt paed their children for their entire lives. >> when you set down these fathers in front of the camera, they're dad. i can't imagine with all the things going on in these children's lives what this means to them. on behalf of all of them, thank you so much. ♪

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hanging over us. hindering economic growth. it's time for some common sense -- people in congress who'll come together and put partisan politics aside. not with radical schemes that gamble with america's future. but with a plan that requires washington to balance the budget the right way -- protecting the priorities of america's families. tell congress to pass a common sense balanced budget -- now. sign the petition at center-forward.org. so why exactly should that be of any interest to you? well, in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. like the transatlantic cable that connected continents. and the panama canal that made our world a smaller place. we supported the marshall plan that helped europe regain its strength. and pioneered the atm,

so you can get cash when you want it. it's been our privilege to back ideas like these, and the leaders behind them. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping people and their ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ >> you can't fix stupid. ever seen that now classic bit by comedian ron white. some staffers at columbus high school in georgia now definitely have. their principal showed it to them at this after-school faculty meeting and some of them weren't happy about this at all. >> if your eyes go bad you can have lasik surgery and they can give you 20/20 vision at any

age. if your hearing starts to fail, they can put a device in your ear that makes you hear as good as you could the day you were born. but let me tell you something, folks, you can't fix stupid. >> now, we're not showing you the part right before that where he talk abc the female anatomy, plastic surgeries. some of the staffers definitely complained. the school district gave cnn this statement, quote, a video clip you can't fix stupid was played in a columbus high school faculty meeting on april 9 by the principal. when it was brought to the superintendent's attention, it was deemed inappropriate for professional setting in a school. the principal has been reassigned to another administrative position. end quote. a number of students at columbus high having rallying for proms to be reinstated and someone else would like to see him get his job back. who is it? ron white himself. the comedian. ron white joining me live.

ron, boy, oh, boy. you called this a fuss. what do you make of this, the fact that he's being, i guess, reassigned. >> number one, this is probably the cleanest piece of material i've ever written and most quoted lines in the 20 years i've been doing standup. this is a man who's dedicated his life to educating the children of georgia. this isn't some guy who showed up that thought they had an opening nor a principal. this man is overqualified for this job. >> how do you know that? do you know him? have you reached to him? >> i just researched. i'm going to try to play golf with him. i'm going to be there next saturday. for him to be fired for something like this is just an atroci atrocity. i don't think we have a surplus of fine educators in this country that we can start dropping them for no reason

whatsoever. his entire point was he thinks i'm wrong. he was trying to motivate these teacher to go out and give it their all and try as hard as they can to make these kids smarter. i thought it was a very clever way to do it. but they're -- >> well -- >> i don't know who the administrator is that fired him. but i'm going to find out and we're going to go after her job. >> some of these fellow educators didn't think it was so clever. let me go back to this golf game. you're going to tell me you're going to find this principal and you're going to go play golf with him, see if you can get his job back and since you're going to be in the neighborhood you're going to drop by the school? >> well, we're going to drop by somewhere and have a rally. i'm not sure if it will be the school. but we're going to try to do something. i'm there next saturday anyway. i would love to meet dr. crums and let him know we're going to do everything we can to make sure awareness is out there. the way it was described, efemale body parts. it could have been anything, but

it was absolutely nothing. >> well, you have to see it, tho ugh, from other people's perspectives, ron white. i know it's your bit and a lot of people find it funny, but you have to understand some fellow educators in that room, men and women did not. >> yeah, but not all of them. a few of them did. >> don't take a man that holds that important a position with this school, take completely out of the picture because you feel like he made a slight error in judgment. >> i bring this up so many times. there was an op-ed and the whole bit was about how we're too quick to apologize. we can't quite take a joke. do you think our society has a problem laughing things off? >> everybody laughs it up just fine. i think that some people are --

you know, i really don't understand. i can't understand the motivation for letting him go. i don't think that many people were offended. it was one person's decision to have him fired. not reassigned, fired from the position he was in. and that person is the, i think, the person we need to take a look at. >> all right, ron white. good luck can your comedy the next couple of days. good luck with the golf game. if you near in georgia, come by cnn and see what you're able to accomplish. >> i live in atlanta, i'll pop by. >> there you go. ron white, noo is ice to meet y. our next guest is probably somebody you watched growing up. todd bridges was willis on "different strokes." now he's taking action to stop molesters. he was once a victim. back in 60 seconds. [ horn honks ] hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy...

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cnn photo journalist william walker takes us out to the yard. >> there's native plants all over the united states. they easily adapt to your area, your sail temperatures, your soil types. you're adapted to their regions you don't have to do extra fertilizing if you keep them happy. for the most part, once plants are established, they don't need as much water a as we think nay do. a rain barrel is a good idea. rain barrels, you store it and you're able to watt you aer you

plants. >> you can water any tree periodically as you please. >> another way to conserve water is by capturing the condensation from your air conditioner. drip, drip, drip. just one drip at a time. >> i always used a manual mower on my own lawns. it's not like your grandfather's mower. there's a savings on gas and also environmental impact. power mowers do not have to have catalytic converters as automobiles do. pound for pound, they are much bigger polluters than automobiles. >> we're cleaning up good old rakes and brooms. it is very possible to save money and be environmentally friendly. it is, in fact, a win-win situation.

>> you probably know him as willis, happy, older brother watching over his younger brother around. popular sit cam "different strokes." he's actor todd bridges. he's all grown up now. we know the child part of this actor's life was not as happy, not as watched over. he's a growing chorus of former child actors saying they were sexually abused by adults connected with hollywood. and he is backing this proposed bill in the state of california that would get very tough for anyone on access to child performers.

a casting agent spent five years in prison after kidnapping and molesting an 8-year-old boy. thanks for coming on. what can can you share? >> yeah. well, i was 12 years old and my publicist basically talked many einto doing things i can't really want to do. i never had sex before. he kind of convinced me this is the right thing to do. kind of told me, don't tell your parents. he kept doing for things that i didn't understand. >> he kind of seduced you? >> yeah. it started 11 years old to 12. finally one day at 12 years old, i realized it wasn't the right

thing. when came to my house the next day i attacked him. my mother went after him. my dad stopped him and my dad took his side and didn't believe me. >> wait, wait, wait. your dad took his side? he didn't believe his own son? no. my dad -- the guy had did it -- predators are very smart. they set my father up to know i was going to say something eventually. and he got in my father's ear and told him that i was goen ino say something and it was all a lie. my father told my mom i was lying. my mom knew i wasn't lying. she could see it in her child's face. i just attacked the guy. then after that, the guy stalked me for two years. that's when they had no stalking laws. everywhere i went, the guy was still there. the problem that we have to do is we have to figure out, we've got to get this bill passed. we have to make them realize

that children need to be safe on the sets. parents want their kids to be in show business so bad they're willing to do anything. they'll send them off with strange people. that's something you just shouldn't do. >> we talk about kids abused sometimes ultimately at the hands of parents, stepparents, ultimately deaths. but we don't often think about k kids in hollywood. it's not on our minds. what specifically would this bill, what would it do? >> it would make sure that anybody that's around a minor would have to be fingerprinted, background checked, his record gone through to make sure he has no convictions. some of the guys change their names. they have been child molestors in other states, they change their names. it would prevent kids from being

unsupervised around a person who may have been a child molestor. it would just protect the children. do deep background checks on people. >> because you don't want what happened to you -- i mean talk to me a little bit, todd. >> let me be clear. because this man you're talking about, this abuser, never been charged but it led you and you're sober now and you're acting. but what did that ultimately do for you? what kind of dark, dark places did you go to? >> ultimately what happens to a child when he's molested he goes through shame, he has a lot of anger, a lot of frustration. and, you know, you just -- it's a dark secret you're keeping inside of your head. and you don't know how to handle it. when a child is moest willed -- for me, i can't speak for every other child, it made me feel shame, degradation, it made me feel less than average. i spent from 12 to 13 years old trying to figure out whether i

was homosexual or not. i didn't know. i liked the feeling but i didn't know that was wrong. if i can keep any child from having to go through what i went to getting the background checks before you become a publicist or a manager, you know, you have to have these before you get around minors in show business. show business is an open field to child molesters. there's a lot of kids around and it's very dangerous. and children i don't want them to suffer like i did. i can't blame my disease of alcoholism on what happened to me. but i certainly can say that contributed to me leading in that direction. >> todd bridge, final question here. i hear the passion in your voice and i know you want this legislation passed. but if your alleged abuser sitting next to you today, what would you say to him? >> you know, i probably would ask him why and probably just

ask him why. why would you do that to a child? don't you know that ruins a child's life? you now? and some kids get ruined forever. i just want to ask him, it's really -- ask him why, what would he do a child molester is going to be who he is. he likes to victimize children. if he's sitting next to me, what good is that really going to do for him. the bottom line is people like this need to be locked away until they get the help they need. if they can be helped. but sometimes some of these people cannot be helped. they just need to be gone away forever because children's lives are being destroyed. i thank god i was able to get my life back. >> you're looking out for young people in hollywood. todd bridges we're going to follow up and see if this legislation makes its way through. i appreciate it. i appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. >> i hope these guys there let it pass. thank you. >> we'll follow up. thank you, sir. coming up next, it is one of the most famous stadiums in america. today, fans in boston are celebrating 100 years at fenway. i em.

>> going to talk about that with a guy who owns a bar in boston and he has an interesting take on this one. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker...

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in boston, they're kicking

off a wicked big ceremony today. they've sold out every game since 2003. dana, i imagine folks there are pretty excited. >> the atmosphere is very exciting with the 100th birthday celebration. it's something we've been anticipating if ar long time. i'm excited fenway park is there and will be there for decades to come. >> this is a picture of my iphone. there's morse code on the green

monster. i'm sure you know this, dana. this is all part of the scoreboard. it traps lates into the former owners. fun little trivia. you really grew up in the shadow of the green monster. what was that like? >> well, it's been a lot of stories, that's for sure. i mean, as you said, it's been in the family for 40 years. i worked there myself for the past 23 years. experienced a lot of heart ache. it was very exciting for us. something our family certainly has been waiting for for a long time. it was exciting to see the fans and how they reacted to those victories. it was one of the best experiences i've ever had. >> here's another one of my pictures. it was so fun walking the field at fenway. tick off some of the legendary red sox who graced the green