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tv   Erin Burnett Out Front  CNN  July 11, 2013 11:00pm-12:01am PDT

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allowing jurors to consider a lesser charge than just second-degree murder and we begin by catching you up on another big day in court. here is martin savidge. >> reporter: unlike his profanity laced opening, it was more rev rant tones like a ulogy. >> a teenager is dead, through no fault of his own.
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he is dead because another man made assumptions. >> reporter: prosecutor emphasized the claim that george zimmerman actively profiled trayvon martin. >> he profiled him as a criminal. he assumed certain things, that trayvon martin was up to no good, and that is what led to his death. >> reporter: the state contends zimmerman is a want to be cop and self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who grew frustrated by criminals who always manage to get away. >> because the defendant knew. >> reporter: his narrative pause once for a recess and interrupted at another point for an objection. mark o'mara said the state was wrongfully interpreting the law. it state often returned to it's
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tactic of using zimmerman's words against him. >> he does not want to admit at all that he is following him or chasing him or profiling him. >> reporter: while the jury sat impasse sievely for much of the delivery, zimmerman's parents in court for the first time as spectators looked at times incredulous. >> the man that is guilty of second-degree murder, thank you. >> reporter: earlier the court heard arguments on lesser charges that could be presented to the jury. it was no surprise the state asked for the lesser charge of manslaughter, but the defense was stunned when it wanted to add third degree felony murder. the death of 17-year-old trayvon martin was of other things child abuse. >> the felon in this case alleged is child abuse, obviously, the information
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alleges that the defendant shot and killed the victim, that the victim was under the age of 18 and child abuse must be according to the third degree felony murder instruction defined. >> reporter: defense attorney don west was outraged. >> oh my god. just when i thought this case couldn't get any more bizarre. >> reporter: the debate brought more testy exchanges between west and judge debra nelson. >> i understand. i've already ruled, and you have -- you continually disagree with this court every time i make a ruling. >> reporter: in the end, the judge ruled third degree felony murder would not be an option for the jury. >> i just don't think that the intentional part of that is there for the child abuse charge, and it's not alleged in the information that way, and i just don't think that the evidence supports that. >> reporter: the pressure now on mark o'mara to close out the defense's case friday before it
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heads to the jury. martin savidge, cnn sanford, florida. >> a lot to talk about tonight between the fight over lesser charges, the judge tangling with the attorneys and the i have a dream speech trying to redeem rachel jeantel to the lesser charges ruling, there's a lot to talk about, as i said. sunny hostin and jeffrey toobin and danny savalas and we'll talk about the mlk reference later in the conversation. mark, let me start with you, though, the lesser charges, don west obviously very upset, outraged about the prosecution's move to introduce this lesser charge of third degree felony murder, a child abuse charge resulting in death. did he have a right to be upset? >> yes, i think he does. i think it was frankly outrageous and he's been upset all along. i don't know that it was a good
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idea to channel that anger towards her honor, but ultimately, the manslaughter was going to be given, no matter what. we had that argument yesterday about the propriety of lesser included and the judge did what she -- what the law calls on her to do. >> jeff, did it surprise you to -- the idea of bringing up this third murder charge? >> it was outrageous. really outrageous attempt by the prosecution. you can say what you want about this case. it's not child abuse. i thought, again, the judge was exactly right in her rulings that she said manslaughter is an appropriate lesser included offense but this third degree murder with child abuse was not. so she did the right thing. she fought with the defense attorney, but he won that key ruling. >> sunny, i know you've been favorable towards the prosecution throughout this. did you think that was a bridge too far for them. >> yeah, that was a stretch. i mean, i think it was a surprise to everyone. i was in the courtroom when they
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announced it, and you could hear the lawyers in the courtroom grasp. i was among those. they were really shocked. i think the judge made the right ruling, that the government tried for it, they tried for ag assault at one point but the case law didn't support them -- or the facts of this case don't support felony murder child abuse. i think the judge got it right. >> danny, how do you think the prosecution did in the closing? >> overall look, the prosecution i said from the beginning is doing well with very difficult facts. i think they did a good job bringing in a motion in and did something i thought was interesting. they are making this case suddenly about george zimmerman's charter and by that i mean, he says out right, this case began months ago when zimmerman was frustrated -- >> before trayvon martin -- >> right, so i they are grafting
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that frustration into his intent the night of. historically, you don't introduce charter evidence, people's prior acts or behavior to prove action or conformity. i thought this was a brilliant way of sort of backdooring in charter evidence, which, by the way, taken in the abstract is relatively benign. he started a neighborhood watch -- >> it's interpretation and jeff, you said last night i think on the program that you could look at this either way. you can look at george zimmerman wanting to start a neighborhood watch as a good descent thing for a citizen to do or if you think he's a racist and a profiler, you can look at it that way. >> and i thought that was the most interesting -- in many ways the most effective part of the opening statement, which was the beginning part where he sort of set the stage and said this guy was out to get and he almost -- you could tell the implication he's out to get black people although he never said that. he said profiling but didn't say profiling by what or about what. the problem with this summation, which is to me, the problem with the prosecution's case is it
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never answered the question what happened? you know, how did this -- how did this death unfold? >> where as we know the defense will have this video and a very clear interpretation of what they say happened. >> exactly. it not even the defense's burden to prove what happened. it's really the prosecution's burden and this issue of who took the first swing, who was on top, how were the shots fired? that i think is a gap in the prosecution's case. >> mark, there was a moment i want to play for the viewers where the prosecutors pulled out george zimmerman's gun for the jurors. let's watch. >> he's got this gun and this holster and you'll see in a few minutes, maybe more than a few minutes, one of the things that he does, he demonstrates to the police where he had the gun, and it wasn't right here in the front.
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it was towards the back and it was hidden. and he'll demonstrate to the police out there where it was. look at the gun. look at the size of this gun. how did the victim see that in the darkness? where was it? it wasn't outside. it was tucked in behind. >> sunny, do you think that's one of the -- sunny, let me start with you, do you think that was one of the weakest parts of george zimmerman's defense that trayvon martin went for his gun, that's what he told police? >> absolutely and i think the weakest part is the inconsistencies, the different versions of what happened that night. i think the prosecution has answered the question as to what happened that night. they are -- what is before the jury is that george zimmerman chased, profiled trayvon martin as a criminal and shot him. you know, and they have
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dispelled i think george zimmerman's version of events. you can't believe what he says because there are so many inconsistencies. what are you left with? forensics and the forensics show trayvon martin was shot and killed by george zimmerman. i thought the closing was masterful, brilliant. i thought they really changed the narrative, the focus was on trayvon martin's death and george zimmerman's actions on that night. i was looking at the jury, and they were captivated. >> the second half of his summation was devoted almost entirely to zimmerman's various statements, and pointing out what he said were the contradictions and the lies. i thought that was a little -- that was frankly somewhat confusing and in too much time on that issue, not enough reconstructing what actually happened. yes, there are inconsistencies but, you know, i think mark o'mara is going to talk about what happens when you repeat
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stories a lot. i mean, i'm sure sunny disagrees with me but i didn't see inconsistencies that looked like devious lies. >> mark, the police have testified that they didn't really see glaring inconsistencies that pointed to lies. they saw the regular inconsistencies that you see when somebody repeated their story multiple times. >> that's exactly what they testified to. it's interesting that it would be characterized as a masterful change of the narrative, is, i think, what sunny called it. what struck me is that old saw about if you got the law, pound the law. if you got the facts, pound the facts. if you have neither, pound the table. this guy sat and yelled and yelled and yelled and i don't understand how this was masterful. if anything, it was comical in a bizarre way. i mean, yes, there is a dead 17-year-old and everybody regrets that and that's a
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tragedy but at the same time, this to me was an abomination. i just didn't understand what they thought was being accomplished. sunny says that the jury was captivated. okay, the jury was captivated. maybe they were captivated by what is this guy on because i don't understand why he's yelling at us. >> danny, do you think it was effective, the theater of it? >> he's maximizing what he has. the skittles and iced tea. they aren't an element of the crime. they shouldn't have anything to do with the case but he uses these because we think of skittles like a child-like thing to eat and fruity iced tea. if trayvon martin was buying smokes and motor oil at the store, nobody would care about it but he takes that instead of
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it being a non-issue, shows it to the jurors. this is what this child was buying. he's doing a terrific job with tough facts and that's style points he gets for using something basically irrelevant and turning it into a plus. we'll take a quick break and have more from the panel. everybody stick around and more about the closing arguments, including the way the prosecutor tried to boost a witness, rachel jeantel in the eyes of the jury and we'll look at mark o'mara's closing arguments tomorrow. later, 911 recordings just now coming a light after the jumbo jet crashed in san francisco. >> i just spotted a plane crash and a lot of people need help. >> we have people over here that weren't found and burned really badly. >> we're trying to keep her alive.
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welcome back, we're talking about what the prosecution was trying to achieve and whether
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the six-women jury they succeeded. we're trying to play as many highlights from today as we can so you can decide yourself. the lead prosecutor talking about the witness, rachel jeantel and channelling martin luther king jr. >> i had a dream that today a witness would be judged not only the color of her personality but the content of her testimony, on the content of her testimony. just because she's got a colorful personality and referred to me as a bald-headed dude or whatever, that doesn't mean her statements aren't accurate. >> back to my panel, danny, you're shaking your head. >> i don't agree with this. i don't agree with the injection of -- look, you can out there listen to rachel jeantel and conclude that she's not a credible witness. it doesn't mean you need sensitivity training. it doesn't mean we need to bring out a podium and talk about race relations in america.
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you can, as a reasonable person, conclude someone is credible or they are not and rachel, when you put rachel jeantel against the parade of witnesses that george zimmerman called, it's not about race. it's about credentialed people that came across as more credible witnesses. so i think it's a little risky to point at rachel jeantel and say, oh, you know, ignore all her problems and believe her just out right. >> is she really that important? obviously, she's a colorful witness -- >> very important. >> how so? >> sunny, why -- >> i think she's very important because she's the person on the phone with trayvon martin when the confrontation happened and she's the person that said trayvon martin was afraid. he believed that george zimmerman was creepy, was following him and that george zimmerman confronted him by saying what are you doing around here when trayvon martin asked why are you following me? george zimmerman didn't say i'm the neighborhood watch guy or
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anything like that and she says she heard trayvon -- she heard a bump and heard trayvon martin say get off, get off. that's important testimony and danny, you were one of the people that said she wasn't relatable. i don't know what you meant by that but i took that to mean somehow because of the way she spoke perhaps -- >> i'll tell you what i meant -- >> shep was not relatable. >> i meant she said she couldn't read cursive. >> that makes someone not relatable? that's ridiculous. >> when you assess the credibility of a witness, you look what you can relate to -- >> as the children in america grew up on computers -- >> if that's your political issue, great. it's a murder trial so i'm focussing on that. >> i want to help the wall flower, mark garagos get in here. >> i don't understand this, first of all, let's put aside for a second that the prosecution is injecting race and everybody has been injecting race and it's a reason it got traction. more fund mentally, that's not
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the law. you get a jury instruction, take a look at the jury instruction. a witness's attitude in giving testimony is absolutely irrelevant -- i mean, is relevant. whether don west wasn't asking for a curative instruction is beyond me because what he told that jury is not the state of the law. that is absolutely not what the jury instruction reads. you can absolutely take a look at her attitude, demeanor, like any other witness and if you feel that there's a problem with that, you can discount or you take that testimony with a grain of salt. that is -- >> can you discount her testimony because she can't read cursive? can you discount her testimony -- >> no, no, that has nothing -- >> because she's not relatable? >> if she says -- i -- did i argue that? i don't think i did, sunny. i'm not danny. what i'm telling you is they told have objected to the time that's not the law because it's clearly not what the jury will get --
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>> you have all argued at one time or another that a defense -- that a person on the stand was relatable. i mean, sunny, you've argued for trayvon martin's mom that as a mother, she's relatable to everybody on the jury because they are -- they are moms. >> sunny. >> isn't relatability something -- >> but i certainly didn't say someone isn't relatable because she can't read cursive. i think that's code for these women -- >> it's code to you, sunny. it's code to you. >> someone like rachel january tell. >> sunny, you're bringing your own things to the table. code to you. >> that's not true. i understood her very well. >> i just want to play this -- >> sunny, you have been bringing your own stuff to the table in this case and you know it. >> not true. >> true -- >> let's move on -- >> all of you -- >> all right. you guys can talk about this later. let's -- i do want to play the moment that danny talked about playing -- bringing out the skittles, bringing out the drink, that -- you know, an
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effective moment danny said the prosecutor used. i want to play that. >> trayvon martin. he was there legally. he hadn't broken in or snuck in or trespassed. he was there legally. he bought skittles and some kind of watermelon or iced tea or whatever it's called. that was his crime. >> mark, do you find it effective to use props, to use things like that and the gun et cetera? >> yeah, i think it is effective when you use props. i don't think its effective to be yelling the whole time. i think that if you modulate, it's a lot more effective, and i think at a certain point it looks like as i said before, that there is something wrong with your case if you have to scream at the jury the entire time. >> i think that's an over statement -- >> emotion is good at a certain point. >> but that part of the summation is sofective because the brought us back to why this case got national attention in the first place. what kind of a country do we
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live in that a 17-year-old boy can't go to the corner and buy candy and soda and come home for the nba all-star game without being killed? that's a troubling aspect -- >> that's why -- i think it is easy to lose sight of that essential fact in all of this. in all the talk about what the jury is thinking and how mark o'mara did and the back and forth on it, the essential core issue here is the death of this young man for in reason. >> what we'll hear tomorrow is the issue of self-defense, so maybe there was a reason. that's the intent. that's the guiding conflict of this -- >> but as you pointed out, we don't know and still after all this trial, there is no definitive way of saying exactly what occurred. >> and i -- i followed this trial closely. sunny disagrees with me and thinks it's clear. i don't know what happened here,
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and i think that's bad for the prosecution. >> you may remember from the casey anthony trial, that's one of the things the jurors said in interviews afterwards, they said the prosecution couldn't tell us exactly what happened. does that mean that's the way the law is supposed to be applied? maybe not. but jurors focus on that. if they can't come up with a narrative and i respect sunny believes they proved that but if you weigh the narratives, fair or not, george zimmerman's narrative is much clearer than what exactly happened according to the prosecution, and i don't think they are concluding anything. i'm with sunny on this. they are offering alternatives or counter to the idea of whom was on top of whom. i think they are not quite as clear of george zimmerman, although, one is alive and one isn't, though.
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>> the dummy, the way zimmerman was pinned down made it unlikely he would be able to reach his gun at his side. look at this demonstration. >> i might as well do what everybody else has done. using whatever we call this. but do you see what he is saying now? he is saying that armpits, how does he get the gun out? armpits, how does he get the gun out? the truth does not lie. >> sunny, to mark's point it does sound like he's yelling a lot. did you find that off putting at all? >> i was in the courtroom and i did not feel like the entire closing argument was yelling, and i was right there. i mean, there were parts that he
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was passionate. there were parts that he certainly was trying, i think, to drive the point home. he raised his voice. but i didn't see the women on the jury -- >> so in the courtroom itself it didn't feel like that? >> not at all, and i want to say this also, what i bring to this case is the fact i'm a former prosecutor, have been in many courtrooms, i'm a woman, i'm a mother, i'm a latino, i'm african american, part white and i bring the same stuff in the jury room to this case that the jury brings, and i can tell you with bringing all of that and that perspective, i think the prosecution was masterful today. >> all right. everyone stick around. it's the defense's turn of usually tomorrow. the panel will weigh in on how mark o'mara and his team has done and what they are looking for in the closing arguments. i spoke to mark last night and he gave us insight how he prepares for a closing argument like this.
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we'll look at the judge, debra nelson laying down the lay. she's been tough on attorneys on both sides. we'll look how she presided over this trial. "i'm part of an american success story," "that starts with one of the world's most advanced distribution systems," "and one of the most efficient trucking networks," "with safe, experienced drivers." "we work directly with manufacturers," "eliminating costly markups," "and buy directly from local farmers in every region of the country." "when you see our low prices, remember
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this trial.. well, even critics can see that george zimmerman's defense team turn in a strong performance, all that's left is the finally, the chance -- well, it's going to be quite dramatic. let's take a look. >> knock knock? whose there? george zimmerman. george zimmerman who? all right. good. you're on the jury. nothing? that's funny. >> remember, that is how it all began for the defense, clearly, they won't be telling knock
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knock jokes in the closing statements. tomorrow mark o'mara will do the close, not don west. what do you think, mark, is the most important thing that o'mara needs to convey to the jury tomorrow? we know he's going to be using that, what jeff, calls a cartoon, that animation. >> right, the -- he's going to use the rekeyuation and animation, but i don't think you'll see him yelling at the jury. i don't think you're going to see him getting into or trying to play on a motion. i think what he's going to try to do is he's going to try to emphasize, this is what the facts are, this is the law, and if you follow the law and do what you're supposed to do, you will find mr. zimmerman not guilty. and i think he's going to just passionately for a large portion of this, what it is to have reasonable doubt. i think he's going to detail exactly what the facts show, and
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i think he's going to do what i was saying last night, the definition of reasonable doubt is. if there is two reasonable interpretations, one that points towards guilt, one that points towards innocence, you must adopt the one that points towards innocence and find him not guilty. in this case i think that's what he'll do. >> he's got one very specific assignment, i think. he's got to show that self-defense is a defense both to murder and to manslaughter. he's got a big problem with this manslaughter. the jury might want to compromise somehow and convict him of manslaughter that would be a disaster for george zimmerman, so he's got to make the argument that self-defense is an absolute defense to both charges, and try to persuade the jury not to compromise. >> it's interesting, sunny, when you compare mark o'mara's style to the prosecutor today and o'mara, you've been in the court more than anybody, how does his style play in that courtroom?
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he seems very methodical, calm and able to score points with prosecution witnesses. >> i think it plays very well, especially when you compare him to don west. the judge likes him. the jury likes him. he's a very likable lawyer. he's got a really great demeanor. his voice is soothing, and i think he comes across as sort of -- i expect his summation to be very, very good. i'm interested in seeing how he incorporates the animation into his presentation. he isn't going to write out his summation because he sort of breathes this case. he's been living it and will speak from the heart. this is a tough case with a lot of elements using, using demonstrative aids to speak from
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the heart. i'm interested in seeing how that comes across to the jury. >> that's the animation we were showing that is controversial. it's all from george zimmerman's perspective, what the defense is saying happened. i spoke as sunny mentioned, i spoke to mark o'mara last night and i want to play some of what he talked about. i find it surprising, the point sunny raised, that he doesn't prewrite or write out the final thoughts. let's listen. >> the most important part is to make sure this jury looks at this case and decides whether or not george acted in self-defense. i think there is overwhelming evidence that he did act in self-defense. there is very little evidence that he didn't and if the jury listens to the instructions given by the court, looks at the evidence and compares the two, not to do anything else, don't give us more than what we deserve, what the facts in the law than they will conclude that george acted in self-defense. my fear is that because of bias or sympathy they may get from the state's closing arguments where they try to bring up the expletives the way they yelled at him and george and mentioned
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loss of the 17-year-old that a jury may consider a compromised verdict. we don't want a compromised verdict like we don't want a jury pardon. we want a verge based upon the facts of the law and that's an acquittal. >> there are two schools of thought. one may say you have a defense that's pretty solid and the prosecution may be arguably on weaker ground, that you're better off sticking to your own case. the prosecution could essentially lay a trap for you f. you spend your time responding to their argument. there is the idea you're giving it more credibility. an example might be the mma expert. some said why call an mma guy? why would you call -- people would think more about mixed marshall arts and that to the defense should be a red herring. mark o'mara is so polished and such a pro. i don't think he's changing up
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what he's doing too much because he doesn't need to. they have enough good facts and good law that he can stick to what he knows. he's been doing it so long, he doesn't need to write anything down. i use plenty of yellow note bads but you don't have to write anything down. it's up here. >> how does it work with two counselors, don west and mark o'mara, does don west give his points of what he wants in the closing? >> well, the way it often works is one lawyer handles legal issues and don west dealt with the charge and the prosecution is dividing things up in a fairly common way when there is more than one prosecutor. one prosecutor will give the opening summation and the other will give the rebuttal summation. that's i think fairly standard. >> all right. we got to take a quick break. a lot more to talk about. judge debra nelson kept both attorneys on her toes.
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we'll look at her tough style in the courtroom and where she came from and photos released from the asiana airlines plane and the dramatic 911 calls from passengers moments after it happened. throughout the zimmerman trial judge debra nelson has
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throughout the zimmerman trial judge debra nelson has been shown to be tough and called out lawyers for not obeying rules of her courtroom. how judge nelson lays down the law. randi kaye reports. >> reporter: judge debra nelson hardly notices the cameras in her courtroom. she's too busy see putting attorneys in their place. >> i would like to making a speaking objection. >> you can't make an objection to your own question. i have told counsel before,
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first of all, nobody talks over the other. please don't go off focus here. >> no, no, no -- >> don't no, no, no me, either. >> reporter: it may be a turnoff to some but to a cnn analyst that presented cases before judge nelson, it's a breathe of fresh airplane. >> this case could have easily unravelled and imploded. the judge was going to have no part of it. she will let everybody know who is in charge and it will be her. >> reporter: judge nelson wasn't originally chosen to hear this case. she replaced another judge who the defense claimed had a bias against zimmerman. she's been serving on the bench since 19 99. she earned her law degree from south texas college of law. she tends to agree more with the state, which is not uncommon for
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a judge, something on display again today as she clashed with defense attorney don west over jury instructions. >> i am not giving that instruction. >> it's an error to not instruct this jury properly on the law. >> you continually disagree with this court every time i make a ruling. if i have made a mistake in this case, you will appeal. this is my ruling on this issue. >> reporter: but it was this moment after a hearing late into the night that will forever be cemented in trial watcher's minds. >> i'm not physical able to keep up this pace much longer. it's 10:00 at night. we had full days every day. weekends, depositions at night. >> reporter: she simply decided it was time to go. she may not be warm and fuzzy but judge debra nelson is always on her game. >> when there is a difficult argument, she said i'll go study it. that night she did or that weekend she did and came to court prepared. >> reporter: prepared and ready to rule as she thought the rule dictated.
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randi kaye, cnn new york. >> joining me once again, my panel, mark, the judge certainly runs a tight ship. what do you make of her style? >> look, the -- what most people don't understand is in the last 20, 30 years, there's been a swig, a pendulum swing in the types of people that get appointed to be judge and the overwhelming majority or ex prosecutors, so they come to the bench with that perspective. having said that, there is something, i think, endearing about this brisk style. i think she's a great judge in the sense that she takes no non-sense. she keeps everybody on board. the only thing i would ask about her and what i think i really like about her, is she's an equal opportunity person. she gets -- she gets in the
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prosecution's face. she gets in the defense's face. that's all i ever ask. now i know she's got issues with don west and i don't know if there is a history there. maybe somebody else can tell me. a lot of times i just respect a judge. i don't mind if they get into my face, as long as they do it the same time with the prosecution, and i think she's handled this case as well as anybody could have. >> does it ever pay to argue with the judge? >> sometimes, yeah, most judges will listen to you and some of these legal arguments could go either way. but what i have liked about what judge nelson has done, is she's always been aware that there is a sequestered jury. these jurors are in a hotel away from families. they want to get back. that's why she's kept this trial moving along. that's why she was sitting at 10:00 at night so that she wouldn't have to use the trial day, use the jurors time to deal with legal arguments. you know, that is something that is hard to do for judges, and she's done great at. >> you know, there is a theory about life with referees. if you argue about a bad call, the idea is maybe later on he'll
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cut you a break and i don't know if that's true or not with judges but feels true. i have so much sympathy for don west when he felt he had to object to the judge asking questions. we've all had judges ask questions and i think that's devastating to my case, but the decision to object or question a judge's decision like that is a tough thing to do. >> sunny -- >> danny, i've actually had cases where i've objected to the judge's questions, and they have actually sustained the objection. so there is an upside and downside. >> sunny, she certainly seems to move, you know, be very conscious of wanting to move this case along. >> yeah, and i think jeff is right on this. it's because the jury is sequestered and she's their advocate and almost their lawyer. she wants to make sure they are comfortable but they are not kept waiting and waiting and waiting while they are away from families. i got to tell you, i think the reason that this case has moved so quickly is because of this judge. another judge perhaps we would
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be here for weeks and weeks and weeks so i think she was certainly the right judge for this case, and she's really just done a terrific job of keeping everyone in line. >> is there any -- i mean, at this point did anybody see any reasons for appeal or grounds for appeal, if in fact, there is a conviction? >> absolutely. there are absolutely -- >> what? >> many grounds for appeal in this case. >> name one. >> what? >> oh, name one? i can give you a -- >> start with one. >> the prosecution discovery, i'll start with one. i'll start with the prosecution's late breaking discovery. the constantly dumping upon the defense of discovery that should have been given before. >> jeff -- >> violations -- >> no conviction. murder conviction will be overturned because of late discovery. >> jeff, do you buy -- >> jeff, jeff, aren't you in washington? >> the defense is saying the prosecution has lied, that they
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have been incredibly late giving over evidence. do you buy that? >> look, i have seen many criminal trials where there are a lot of fights about discovery. about long as the defense gets it eventually, no conviction will be overturned. if it turns out that there is ex -- >> are you kidding me -- >> can i finish? if there evidence with held that the defense never saw, that can be overturned -- >> leave it there. mark clearly disagrees. i sense we'll have more time to talk about this, maybe in an hour and ten minutes from now. stick around everybody. thank you jeff, danny and mark. we'll see you at 10:00 eastern. "ac 360 self-defense or murder," in about an hour and ten minutes. people plead with 911 operators for help. we got the calls. remarkable and will play them ahead. why massachusetts investigators are close to declaring the killer in the last boston strangling case. welcome back. developments in the asiana crash. horrifying look into the lodge,
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welcome back. developments in the asiana crash. horrifying look into the lodge, the interior gutted by fire. look at these pictures. it's amazing that 305 people survived the crash. the crew called for a go around and aborted landing twice in the final seconds before impact. the pilot in control told investigators he saw a flash of bright lights moments before the disaster. tonight, 91 1 calls for help made in the immediate aftermath by people near the airport who witnessed the crash and by passengers themselves. the latest now from dan simon. >> reporter: two minutes after the boeing 777 crashed, fire trucks raced to the scene but a newly released 911 call. >> we just got in a plane crash and there are a bunch of people that need help and there is not enough medics out here. >> reporter: passengers are heard begging for more ambulances. >> 911 emergency, what are you reporting.
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>> there is a crash, people injured on the tar mark. no ambulances. >> ma'am, ma'am, we have reports of it. we're aware of the situation. >> there are no ambulances here. we've been on the ground 20 minutes. critical injuries. hello? >> yes, i'm still here. were you on the plane, ma'am? >> yes, i was on the plane. we've been on the ground, i don't know, 20 minutes, a half hour. there are people laying on the tarmac with critical injuries. we're trying to keep her alive. >> reporter: another badly injured passenger desperate for help. >> there is a woman out here on the street, on the runway who is pretty much burned very severely on the head and we don't know what to do. >> okay. we have help started that way. you said they are there but there is not enough people, correct? >> she is really burned. she will probably die soon. >> i'm getting additional ambulances to you. >> reporter: the san francisco tire department explained the
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response protocol saying in a mass casualty event, ambulances wouldn't race to the runway. instead the procedure is for paramedics to triage and transport to the hospital. >> so it was like we were bouncing all over the place. i just remember there being dust everywhere and i was freaking out, and then it just stopped. >> reporter: by all accounts, the medical response was successful as all but two passengers survived. the families of the two girls who died visited the scene last night. investigators have mostly finished the inspection of the aircraft and have to literally cut it up to haul it away. >> they will be cutting through
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the wings to remove sections of the wings and then cutting through the fuse l lodge. that work will begin this evening and go on until it completed. >> reporter: ntsb chairman debra hersman said no faulty equipment is detected which fuels more speculation the pilots made a mistake. >> dan, one of the pilots said he saw a bright flash. any indication what that might have been? >> reporter: that's something that came up yesterday where the pilot reported seeing a bright light and led to speculation he was temporary blinded. hersman wanted to set the record straight and said he was not blinded and this may have been a reflection from the sun. he could see the controls quite clearly and this appears to be a non-issue. >> appreciate. thanks. randy is here with the "360 bulletin". venezuela is waiting for an answer from edward snowden. venezuela is yet to receive a response on the offer of asylum made last week. the last killing by the boston strange ler may soon be solved. investigators got dna from a nephew of albert desalvo.
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families, the fate of george zimmerman is almost in the hands of a jury, a jury that heard passionate closing arguments from the prosecution. >> trayvon martin, he was staying, he was there legally. he hadn't broken in or trespassed. he was there legally. he bought skittles and water mel lean or iced tea or whatever. that was his crime. six women, five mothers will decide if zimmerman murdered trayvon martin or acted in