premieres sunday june 16th. >> thanks for watching "around the world." "cnn newsroom" starts right now. have a good day. she said she wants death. this hour jodi arias faces the jury once again to find out if that's her fate after being convicted of stabbing and shooting her boyfriend. we're live in the courtroom. plus -- >> get back here. we got to go soon! >> terrifying moments as tornadoes touch down across the midwest. and it's not over yet. there's another round of severe storms today. and it's every passenger's worst nightmare, the moment you think your plane is going to crash. it happened to these travelers. their dramatic emergency belly landing, we'll have details ahead. this is "cnn newsroom." i'm wolf blitzer reporting in washington. so will jodi arias get life or death? and which one would she prefer?

the jurors deciding her fate are back in the courtroom right now in phoenix. and we'll hear from jodi arias herself though she may not necessarily take the stand. ted rowlands is covering the penalty phase of this trial, the final phase of the trial. ted, arias i understand she could go before the jury, answer questions. or she might just release a statement, is that right? >> well, she could go into the witness box. that's one of her options is to actually take the stand under oath. if she does that, her lawyer can sort of guide her through her history, childhood, all the rest of it. all the points they want to bring up. the downside to that is that juan martinez then gets to go after her, the prosecutor in this matter. her other option is just to make a statement to the jury, that is likely what we're going to see at some point today. first, we're going to hear from at least one of her friends, if you will. an individual she dated at one

point. and maybe other witnesses. we're not sure if both the scheduled witnesses are going to take the stand, but then she will likely have the last word. again, we think it will be a statement to the jury rather than her taking the witness stand because she wants to avoid likely the cross-examination. >> with that statement do we have any clue, would it simply reiterate what she said in that local affiliate interview after she was convicted of first-degree murder that she would prefer death to spending the rest of her life in prison? >> yeah. that's the big question, what is she going to say? after the guilty verdict, within 20 minutes she sat down and did a local interview. and in that interview she said i would much rather be put to death than get life in prison. some period has gone by, maybe she has changed her mind, maybe she will plea to this jury to save her life. or maybe she'll simply try to just apologize and make some sort of statement. we just don't know especially in this case. >> who's going to testify in her

defense? >> first off is going to be daryl brewer, this is an ex-boyfriend who testified during the trial and his testimony basically brings to life the other side of jodi as a girlfriend saying she was a wonderful girlfriend. she associated with his daughter and spent time alone with her. he's bringing some humanization to jodi arias that she wasn't able to do in the trial in chief. and then patricia womack is the other scheduled witness. there's a chance, however, that she may not take the stand. she had some reservations because of all of the media attention. and now we're hearing there's a possibility that she may back out and not testify for her lifelong friend. >> her lawyers we're told they're going to show some of jodi arias' artwork, is that right? >> yeah. it sounds ridiculous. how would artwork work into this? but now we're talking about the value of somebody's life.

and that is one of the mitigating factors that the lawyers are arguing to this jury. don't kill this person, keep her alive. and there are a number of things that they're argue, but one is artwork. this is a talented artist who can bring something to prison life, to people incarcerated and the general public if you want to take it to that point, but another piece of detail they're going to argue to these eight men and four women to spare this life. don't kill her. she's this, this, this and she's an artist. >> ted, we'll stay in close touch with you. let us know what's going on. ted rowlands in phoenix for us. let's move to another major story we're following right now, the tornado terror right in the nation's heartland. take a look at this. the size of this huge tornado. the tornado was a monstrous

half-mile wide in shawnee, oklahoma. in all 26 tornadoes were reported in the state overnight. we're talking about oklahoma, kansas, illinois, iowa and missouri, all those states. the storms left hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed. two elderly men are confirmed dead, dozens of people are injured. a helicopter pilot from our oklahoma affiliate kfor explained what he saw. >> i'm used to seeing trees ripped up, but the house is usually there. this, everything was gone. it was just gone. like you took the house, you put it in a gigantic blender, turned it on pulse for a couple minutes and then just dumped it out. >> shawnee, oklahoma, certainly one of the hardest hit areas by these tornadoes. nick valencia's on the scene for us. nick, what's it like now that the residents are beginning, slowly but surely, to come back to what's left of their homes? >> well, wolf, just to give you

a sense, we just heard blood curling screams behind us of a woman that presumably just saw her house for the very first time. we're standing in the kitchen of what was somebody's home. this is littered with memories and momentos. it's just a terrible scene for jessie addington. she's lived here her whole life. you want to come through and join me. you're going through this. your mom was here at the time. your dad's ashes are among the items missing, your dad's urn? >> yeah, it's somewhere around here. there's no telling where it's at. but, yeah, that and his guitar. those were like the two main things that we wanted to get was his guitar and his urn. >> what are you thinking about coming back here and seeing this for the first time? >> my mind, like i said, my mind's blown. everything's gone. it's like it's just like traumatic. it's -- i don't know. like i said, i don't know what to think. >> it's a terrible situation for

you and your family. our hearts and thoughts and prayers are with you and your mom. is she doing okay? is she doing better? she was hurt. >> yeah. she was hurt bad. she just had a lot of external injuries, nothing internal. like i said, she had that hole in the back of her neck. just the bruises everywhere was really the main thing that really got like, you know, was bad. but other than that she's okay. >> we feel for you, jessie. wolf, this story is not -- it's not unique here. there's a lot of residents coming back and going through this very same thing right now. going through the momentos trying to piece together their lives again. they're not out of the woods just yet either, wolf. you mentioned a second round of perhaps severe weather is expected in town. there's a possibility for that. so just as residents are recovering from what they went through yesterday, there's a possibility that they can go through the very same thing today. wolf. >> even in the same area in shawnee where you are? are they bracing for more of this? is that what i'm hearing, nick?

>> yeah, residents are timid. they're very reluctant and anxious about the weather. in fact, our crew was looking up to the sky a short time ago and we thought to ourselves we hope we don't get hit with severe weather. if you can see, wolf, if you want to pan, this goes back -- the depth of this, this was a whole community here, mobile homes, lives, strong families, now reduced to this. diminished to rubble, diminished to wood planks. this is jessie's front door where she would come in every day as a child. now it's flattened. it's terrible, wolf. >> yeah, it's heartbreaking. it's not over with yet. all right, nick is on the scene for us, nick valencia reporting. as we say, the worst may not necessarily be over. people are now bracing for more brutal weather. it's probably on the way. let's bring in our meteorologist chad myers. he's at the cnn weather center in atlanta. chad, what do we expect? >> typically on a day like yesterday, wolf, you'll get a

cold front. it will push ahead. and then the storms will be another 150 to 250 miles farther to the east. well, if nick goes out there like he is all day, he can feel the humidity. it's back. the cold front never moved through shawnee or oklahoma city or tulsa. so the potential is back again to the same place we had tornadoes yesterday. probably only ten tornadoes on the ground total. but we talked about 28 reports of damage. that's different damage reported from different angles by different reporters, different storm spotters. the big tornado now ef-4 was the shawnee tornado. it started just to the east of norman and moved right across called highway 9 and right into the shawnee area. a very large single cell thing. it's called a supercell tornado when they're out there all by themselves like that. that's when they rotate. and this thing was probably in the neighborhood of probably 200 miles per hour. today, we're seeing sunshine. and you would think to yourself,

well, that's a great thing. no, that's exactly the opposite of what they want. that sunshine's heating the ground. it's heating the humidity. it's all going to go back up in the sky like a hot air balloon. and it's going to cause same places, same storms, probably more hail than tornadoes today, but still you wouldn't want to be out there without any protection with wind and hail damage whether it's a tornado or not, wolf. >> chad used to work in that area. he knows the story well. >> i did. >> chad, we'll stay in close touch with you as well. here's what else we're working on this hour, she thought she was never going to see her kids again. >> thought it was it. i'm going down. you see on the news all the time. not many people survive plane crashes. that was my thought. >> a terrifying flight for passengers as their plane was forced to land on its belly. and it was like a bombshell, that's how one of the first officers described the scene when he went to the house where three women were held captive in

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[ female announcer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. ...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. in chicago, teachers have taken to the streets. >> we're no stranger to this fight.

it is going on in cities throughout america dismantling our public schools. >> dozens of people including teachers, parents and students, they are in a three-day 30-mile march. they're protesting the city's plan to close more than 50 schools. the protest was organized by the chicago teachers union. they just re-elected its president who took on mayor rahm emanuel in the fall. in bridgeport, connecticut, five people remain in the hospital, one in critical condition after that train collision on friday. that happened on one of the busiest tracks in the country. a northbound train collided with one that was headed south. 2,000 feet of track is being repaired. the morning commute was expected to be a nightmare, but turns out commuters took the government's advice and carpooled, took buses or took the day off so things seemed normal. connecticut's governor says people should be patient while the tracks are repaired. federal investigators are still

trying to determine the cause of the crash. they do not suspect foul play. there is another transportation close call, this one from the air. a u.s. airways flight with 34 people on board had to make an emergency landing without its landing gear. our pamela brown has the exclusive report on the belly landing in new jersey and one passenger's fear that she was never going to see her family again. >> 34 people sat aboard this u.s. airways flight as it made this dramatic emergency belly landing at newark airport due to trouble with the landing gear. linda was one of them and never thought this could happen to her. >> thought it was it. we were going down. basically it was a controlled crash, but it was a plane crash. you see on the news all the time not many people survive plane crashes. that was my thought. >> the mother of two says she

was exhausted. she was making her way back home to new jersey after training for her new nursing job in dallas. the flight was going smoothly until. >> the captain comes out of the cockpit with a flashlight and he starts looking at the wing. at this point everyone on the plane knew something was going to happen. >> moments later the crew confirmed her worst fears. >> the flight attendant told us that there's something mechanical problem. you can see the flaps opening for the landing gear on the right side, but the left side the flap would not open. >> her first thought, contact her family. >> i wrote to my husband, we can't land, one landing gear went down. they're trying to fix it before we make an emergency landing. then i wrote to him, no announcement from the pilot yet, i love you. and then i wrote we are crashing. and that's when i turned off the phone. i kept thinking of my kids and my husband.

that they would lose me. then i thought back about 9/11 how families left messages for their loved ones. so i text each one of them that i loved them. and i turned off the phones not knowing. >> and what she heard next she says she'll never forget. >> so about 200 feet before we hit the captain comes on the speaker yelling crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash. while she's yelling stay in position, head down, keep positions, heads down. so we're like this on the back of our seats. >> with sparks flying, the cabin of the turbo prop quickly filled with smoke, emergency shoots deployed, passengers evacuated and the plane was quickly foamed. she said those minutes felt like a lifetime. >> i just kept saying to myself stop, stop, stop, stop, please stop. and when you finally stop, it's like, oh, elation, you made it. >> u.s. airways says nobody on the plane was injured, but for

her and her family the gravity of what happened still hasn't sunk in. >> i was joking with somebody i should have played the megamillions, but then i thought, you know what, i already won. so i don't need to play. i have my family. >> and she says throughout the ordeal the crew was very comforting and calm. she wants to give a big thanks to the pilot even saying that the pilot is the "captain sully of land." a spokesperson told cnn that the incident is "a testament to how our crews are trained to respond and act with the utmost professionalism." pamela brown, cnn, new york. >> that pilot did do an excellent, excellent job. thank you to him. in a minute i'll tell you how a 26-year-old high school dropout got a billion, yes billion-dollar, payday. and he didn't win the lottery. i'm the next american success story. working for a company

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the florida lottery office has been open all day. they're waiting for someone to cash-in that winning $590 million powerball ticket. only one ticket matched all the numbers saturday to win the record jackpot. it was sold in a publix grocery store in the tampa, florida, area the at the peak of sales this weekend, by the way states like texas and california were reportedly selling more than $1 million worth of tickets every hour. there's a billion-dollar payday also in the works for a 26-year-old high school dropout. david carp of new york city didn't win the powerball lottery. he sold his blogging website called tumblr for $1.1 billion to yahoo. he created the site six years ago in the back room of his mom's new york city apartment. carp is going to stay on at ceo and run the company as a separate entity within yahoo. it doesn't bring many much money, but the big appeal here

for yahoo at least is that tumblr has become the go-to blogging site for the 18 to 24 crowd. it already has more than 44 million users in the united states. 120,000 people are signing up every single day. yahoo's shares jumped just a little bit on the news this morning raising about -- rising i should say about 1% in trading. let's take a look at how the broader market is doing right now. the dow jones industrial average looking at flat down six points or so right now. the flood of earnings reports in the past couple of weeks has slowed to a trickle and that's been keeping traders in check at least today. as the president's speech at morehouse college in atlanta over the weekend, reminded us it's commencement season. but college grads entering the work force have to contend with high student debt and a tough job market out there. that means they need a battle plan.

christine romans explains. >> after this, you may think you're done with this, but the homework has only begun. the good news, the economy is recovering. stock markets are on a tear. and companies are flush with cash. the bad news is they're still not hiring robustly. and competition is intense among new college grads. one-third of recent grads surveyed said they were making no more than $25,000 a year. with tens of thousands in debt to pay off and a still sluggish jobs market, was it all worth it? >> the long-term data says that investing in a degree is the right thing to do, but you've got to treat it like an investment and treat it seriously. really show interest and passion about the area you want to work in. and start networking early. and the last thing is take every opportunity. >> every opportunity because your dream job may not be attainable at first. and it's going to change with time. >> people that have more skills and more education are doing better and surviving better in

this comeback than our people who do not. >> the data show is nearly two-thirds of recent college grads say they need more training in order to get that dream job. but fewer than half say they got it in their first job after graduation. meaning, plan your next two or three career moves now. and figure how your first job out of college can help with those moves. finally, start planning for retirement now. does your company offer a 401(k) match? take it. start saving now and pay off your debt as soon as possible. christine romans, cnn, new york. jodi arias gets one last chance to speak directly to jurors today. she has said at least in the past she'd prefer a death sentence rather than life in prison. the difficult decision for the jury, that's straight ahead. everyone's retirement dream is different; how we get there is not.

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right now we're keeping a very close watch on the nation's

heartland. more storms may be on the way. that's after being hit multiple times by powerful tornadoes overnight. oklahoma, kansas, illinois, iowa and missouri all reporting tornadoes. two elderly men were killed in the storms. dozens of people are injured. hundreds of homes are damaged or destroyed. katie blakey of our affiliate koco shows us what's left of a mobile home park in oklahoma city. >> this whole mobile home park just ripped apart. i want to show you this over here. you see this big slab right here of brown dirt, this huge rectangle? that's where a mobile home was. but where is that mobile home this morning? well, it is shredded in pieces all over this mobile home park. see this cinder block, can you imagine this flying around in 150-mile-an-hour winds? over here you see the pickup smashed. we don't know if the truck was on the property before the twister or if it landed he

here afterward. if you can imagine people coming back today, this is what they'll be returning to. i don't know what they could say from all of this. everything appears to be ruined. >> thanks to katy blakey of our affiliate koco for that report. now back to the jodi arias trial and this crucial question, will she get life or death? the jurors deciding her fate get back into a phoenix courtroom this hour. but we have a little preview of what arias herself might prefer. in an interview she gave to a local tv station in phoenix right after being convicted of first-degree murder, she also talked about whether the jury will consider what are called mitigating factors when making their decision. listen to this. >> do you know what your mitigating factors are going to be and how you're going to play that? >> well, i've been told i don't have any mitigating factors. >> by who? >> my attorney. >> said to you there are no mitigating factors for you in terms of arguing against the

death penalty? >> nothing that is what you typically see in a case like this. i said years ago that i would rather get death than life and that still is true today. i believe death is the ultimate freedom. so i would rather just have my freedom as soon as i can get it. >> it's pretty extreme statement jodi arias saying she'd rather die than spend life in prison. of course, it's not up to her. let's talk a bit more about this final phase in the case, the penalty phase. i'm joined by paul callan, a cnn legal analyst. paul, they've just resumed their deliberations there. it's not often if ever you aren't sure if the defendant will beg for her life or for death. what's your take? >> well, it's highly unprecedented although we have to think back to gary gilmore in 1977. i don't know if you remember that one, wolf, but he was convicted in utah of multiple

homicide. and he wanted to be killed by the firing squad. and he refused to appeal his cases. he's famous for his last words of "let's do it" before the firing squad opened fire on him and killed him. so people have asked for the death penalty in the past. and i think she's going to get on the witness stand and ask for the death penalty. she said it a year ago. she said it most recently to that affiliate post-conviction. sounds to me like she's going to ask for the death penalty. now, is that because she wants it or because she's manipulating the jury into thinking, well, if that's what she wants, let's give her life because obviously life is a greater punishment to her. hard to say whether it's an act of manipulation or genuine desire for the death penalty. >> she could take the stand, as you point out, make her case. or she could simply make a statement to the jury and not have to go through cross-examination. what do you think she's going to do? >> i think she's going to opt for simply making what we call

an allocution to the jury. it's a speech pleading whatever position she may be advocating, either death penalty or mercy. i don't think she wants to subject herself to another one of those grueling cross-examination by prosecutor martinez. so that's how i think this is going to play out. and what's really interesting is they were in chambers a few minutes ago having a closed door meeting with her and with the defense attorneys. the prosecutor wasn't allowed in. i know from trying murder cases myself as a prosecutor what that means is the defendant and the attorneys are having a fight about something. and the judge has to try to resolve it. and i'm betting the attorneys are saying, judge, she's going to ask for the death penalty and we disagree with that. and we want to be relieved as counsel in the case. there's something like that going on in chambers. i can't say that's precisely it, but it's obviously something serious if the prosecutor was excluded from the in chambers hearing. >> it's interesting because do the lawyers automatically have

to try to spare her life even when the client says she prefers the death penalty? >> very hard question. normally in a case including death penalty cases an attorney has to follow the basic instructions of the client. and the client in fact can fire the attorney, go pro se, plead her own case. i'm a little surprised she hasn't tried to do that if she's sincere about her efforts for the death penalty. most lawyers, however, tend to feel on this one issue, on the de death penalty issue, that they're ethically bound to seek life even a client who seeks death. we're seeing a pretty bare bones defense here. this thing is going very, very fast. usually in the mitigation section you see lots of witnesses, psychiatrists, psychologists, detailed

examination of their childhood to look for a place to find mercy. and this thing is moving, you know, like a freight train going down the track at high speeds. so it's an unusual death penalty case. >> and i take it she's not going to -- lawyers aren't going to say she was mentally ill and that's why she really didn't know what she was doing. it's too late for that, right? >> well, i think they've already put that on the table with the jury because, i mean, what's unusual about this case is that she was on the witness stand for so long. i happen to think she might have been -- might have been the longest testimony by a defendant in american history, but it's certainly close to if not the number one. and she told an extensive story. and we heard psychologists testify about her suffering from post tr post-traumatic stress disorder and a variety of other disorders that might have contributed to her committing the crime. the jury rejected that obviously. and i think jodi arias understands that, that the jury's not buying into that defense. so they're really scraping to

find witnesses to come forward and say she deserves life. >> we should know soon enough. and we'll stay on top of it. paul, thanks very, very much. paul callan, cnn legal analyst. the top lawyer for michael jackson's concert promoter will be a star witness in los angeles today. jackson died after this final rehearsal back in june 2009. it's week four of the wrongful death trial. his family is suing aeg live, the promoter, for billions of dollars. they say the promoter's responsible because it paid the salary of jackson's doctor. that man, dr. conrad murray, is in prison for manslaughter after giving jackson propofol to help him sleep. last week was a rough one for president obama, but with not one but two and three actual controversies. did he take a hit when it comes to public opinion?

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a week spent dealing with one controversy after another has not taken a toll on president obama's approval rating, at least not so far. some called it the worst week of the obama presidency. he was confronted with problems at the irs and the justice department as well as the fallout from the terrorist

attack in benghazi, libya. but a brand new cnn/orc poll shows the president's approval rating holding steady. in fact, it's actually up slightly to 53%. the increase within though the sampling error. the president's job approval rating was 51% in april, 47% in march. let's bring in our chief political analyst, gloria borger. is this trend sort of surprising to you, gloria? >> i think it is a little bit surprising, wolf. particularly giving all the at the white house regarding benghazi and the irs. if you dig into the numbers, what you see is this is a president who remains polarizing as he always has been. overwhelming majorities of democrats approve of him and overwhelming majorities of republicans disapprove of him. people also, and this occurred during the campaign, wolf, they give the president the benefit of the doubt here. they like him.

and so that also helps his numbers. and when you look further into our poll, you'll also find that a majority of americans do not believe the president himself had anything to do with the targeting of the irs. and about 50% say he did not intend to mislead the public on benghazi. so there you have the public again giving him the benefit of the doubt. >> i assume, gloria, and i assume you also agree that his popularity is helped by the fact that some of the institutions involved going after him aren't very popular. >> yeah, you could say that. he's very, very popular particularly compared to the people who are involved in these controversies. so we went and looked at the popularity of the irs and of the republican leaders in congress. that speaks for itself, wolf. we also looked at the popularity of the democratic leaders in congress. and that's not much better. it's at about 35%. i was actually surprised the irs

was as high as it is. but when people watch these things play out particularly regarding the irs, they're looking at this story and they don't have anyone to root for. because they don't like anybody who's involved in particular, so the president does well by comparison, wolf. >> gloria borger, i'll see you later in "the situation room" 5:00 p.m. eastern. >> you will. >> thanks very much. the new england patriots give hundreds of newtown, connecticut, kids a day they will never forget. our bleacher report, that's next. ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb

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in turkey, a day of hot air ballooning went horribly wrong. people were shocked when they looked up and they saw this. two hot air balloons collided midair and this one was caught on video as it was going down. according to witnesses, one balloon hit the basket of another causing a tear in the fabric. two brazilian tourists were killed and 23 other people were hurt. it's a major tourist attraction in turkey famous for its volcanic rock formations. we have an update now on the boston marathon bombings. the university of massachusetts dartmouth campus, the school where one of the suspects, the younger brother, dzhokhar tsarnaev, attended, is setting up a public safety task force. the chancellor says and i'm quoting "the terrible events of april 15 will linger and leave sorrow in the hearts of americans for a long time. our campus like everyone mourns

for those killed and injure while remaining strong and resilient in support of the great city of boston and this entire commonwealth." the chancellor has asked the task force to complete its work and issue a report in august. now, for a story about turning your life around. he was 17 when he was charged with sexual molestation for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl. he was convicted and served two years of a ten-year sentence before the georgia supreme court ruled his punishment was too harsh. it's been more than five years since he walked out of prison and he's made a complete turnaround including a major milestone sunday in atlanta. he was part of the graduating class at morehouse college where president obama gave the commencement address. he says he's not looking back. >> i just look back at myself back then and i just say, you know, i can't believe i exhibited that kind of behavior because i don't condone that

behavior. but it's something that happened. and i just had to fight for what i believe was right. i knew there would be some people who may feel like i don't deserve a second chance or an opportunity, but we all make mistakes. >> wilson is not only a graduate, he's engaged, has a 2-month-old daughter. congratulations on his college degree. newtown, connecticut, continues to try to heal from the school shootings six months ago. and the new england patriots are doing what they can to help. cnn's sports andy shulz has that and more in the bleacher report. >> good afternoon, wolf. the kids of newtown, connecticut, have definitely been through a lot over the last six months, but this weekend they got the chance to just be kids again and play a little football. patriots were on hand to hold a football and cheerleading camp. the field was packed from sideline-to-sideline as

youngsters got a chance to learn from the pros and play some games as well. over 500 kids attended the one-day camp. what do you get a star nfl quarterback for his wedding? if it's robert griffin iii, apparently you can go to bed, bad and beyond. they are set to tie the knot on july 6th and redskins fans have been hitting up their online registry fulfilling all sorts of orders. rg 3 tweeted thank you to the fans of the pic of him laying on top of all the empty boxes. he says he didn't tell redskins nation about the registry, the fans found it on their own. this may be the best non-home run catch by a fan all season. at the cubs-mets game yesterday a home run heads for the bleachers. this guy goes for the ball while trying to protect his wife. not only does he not get the ball, his wife pours her beer on his head. in an interview after the game she said she got mad because he bumped her causing her to spill beer on herself. so it was only fair that he got beer spilled on him. doesn't seem fair to me.

that will do it for today's bleacher report. wolf, back to you. >> andy, thanks very much. that's what happens at ball games. these officers were the first on the scene in cleveland when three women held captive for years were rescued. they were overcome with emotion as they describe what it was like to help these women. >> it took everything to hold myself together. you know, i have michelle in my arms and then gina coming out. it was like one bombshell after another. ♪

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there has been an intriguing development in the jodi arias

trial. the final phase, ted rowlands is in phoenix on the scene for us. what just happened, ted? >> reporter: well, wolf, we're expecting two witnesses to testify on behalf of jodi arias and one of those witnesses, patricia womack, says she could not do it because of witness intimidation, saying she felt she was under too much pressure, too many threats against her, so she withdrew. at that point, the defense asked for a new trial. the judge denied that request. then the defense asked to be removed from the case. the judge, again, denied that request. the defense said we can't give you the full picture if we don't get these witnesses in. the judge denied their request. and at that point the defense said, all right, well, then we have no witnesses at all for jodi arias. we're going to move on. they took a quick break. it is unclear at this point whether jodi arias will address this jury. but at this point, no witnesses will be taking the stand for jodi arias. clearly they are setting up an appeal in this case. the defense basically throwing

their hands up and saying, for -- we quit, we don't -- we're not doing any more here. we can't have our witnesses up here, we're done. >> i thought, ted, there were two witnesses that were going to testify on her behalf. an ex-boyfriend and her former friend, the friend apparently now saying she's intimidated, she doesn't want to do it, she's scared. what about the ex-boyfriend? >> reporter: darryl brewer is here, presumably at the courthouse and ready to testify. but the defense counsel in the wake of the judge's ruling that they were not given a mistrial, their strategy has been to throw in the towel and say, all right, well, we're not bringing darryl brewer in either because we don't feel the full picture is being developed for this jury, for our client, and she is not getting a fair trial. so their strategy here is to basically say, okay, no witnesses, we're not going to put up a defense, we would like to leave the case, the judge has denied the motions, so they are moving ahead, but there will be nobody testifying on jodi arias'

behalf as this jury of eight men and four women get ready to deliberate whether or not she should live or die. >> let's see what happens next. all right. fascinating new development. we'll stay in close touch with you. ted, thank you very much. we'll take a quick break. more news right after this. we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer,

one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪

you remember the three women who were enslaved in the cleveland home. well, the police officers who saved them, they are now speaking. and their stories are very

emotional. especially that of one officer, anthony espada. listen to him explain what happened as he entered the home to help rescue two of the victims. >> something going on in this room. and, you know, i'm looking that way, just waiting to see what's going to happen. and it was michelle. she kind of popped out into the doorway and paused there for a second. within moments she came charging at me, she jumped on to me, she's like, you saved us, you saved us. i'm holding on to her so tight. and then within a few seconds i see another girl come out of the bedroom. i just look at her, i -- you can immediately tell who it is. just thinner. and, again, i just needed confirmation. and i asked her what's your

name? she said my name is georgina dejesus. >> what an emotional moment that was for anthony espada. thank you. cleveland officer barbara johnson, by the way, says one of the women jumped into her arms saying please don't let me go, repeatedly. a massive meteoroid crashed into the surface of the moon. the explosion was so bright, it could be seen with the naked eye. happened back in march, but if you missed it, don't worry, nasa has just released video of it. the meteoroid was about the size of a boulder. it was traveling, get this, at 56,000 miles per hour when it slammed the surface of the moon. it ignited into the brightest lunar explosion ever recorded. it was the equivalent of five tons of tnt. according to nasa, the moon's been hit more than 300 times since 2006. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern

in "the situation room." ashleigh banfield picks up our coverage. she's live in phoenix. she starts right now. hi, everybody. i'm ashleigh banfield reporting live at the maricopa county courthouse, where jodi arias' trial is under way and the developments have been fast and furious. just like many days in this bizarre case, there have been extraordinary twists. now we are learning that this defense team plans to put no mitigating witnesses up in jodi's defense. intimidation being quoted for the reason one of those witnesses does not want to testify. a request for a mistrial because of it. the judge said no. on with the show. and then another request for these attorneys for jodi arias to withdraw from this case. this is the second request