good evening, everyone. tonight they didn't want to answer our questions about the rampant fraud we found in

california's drug rehab program. so today lawmakers grilled them. we were there following up on our year-long investigation that's already shut down a lot of clinics. also a rapist is free tonight after serving just a month for his crime. that's right, a month. his victim was 14 years old and she later killed herself. the judge in the case described the victim as quote older than her chronological age." we begin, though, with breaking news tonight out of kenya. tonight kenyan authorities say they have a man in custody who they believe is one of the terrorists who attacked the nairobi shopping mall. he was caught trying to escape as shoppers were evacuating the mall. authorities were concerned that the terrorists might have tried to flee in the chaos slipping out with the panicked crowds. also tonight, multiple eyewitnesses tell cnn that several young women -- that's right young women -- were among the attackers and one of them was a white woman. now, authorities are much more cautious with the senior kenyan government official saying they know of only one woman for sure and that it was not possible to identify that woman's ethnicity at this point. the bodies of six of the

terrorists are believed to be trapped in the rubble of the collapsed parking garage in the mall. cnn's namil bagir has been covering the story from the beginning. this story about women being attacke attackers told by the eyewitnesses what do you know about this? >> reporter: a number of people we spoke to were very categorical they saw women amongst the attackers, this white woman they say appeared to be giving orders and firing is din crimin indiscriminately into the crowd. authorities are circumspect about this. but they acknowledge there's a growing body of evidence leading them to believe this could indeed be true. but they just say they can't be sure for now, anderson. >> obviously eyewitness reports are always -- you have to take them with a grain of salt. weis see what the forensic evidence shows. but there had been a lot of reports about this british woman, so-called white widow and about her possibly being

involved. what do we know about her? can you just tell us what you know about her? >> reporter: well, today the kenyan authorities requested an interpol report which activates a trip wire which requires police forces around the world if they come across her attempt to arrest her and start putting into motion extradition to kenya. this they say is to do with charges that stem back to 2011 where she was suspected of involvement in a plot to blow up a hotel. also frequented by westerners in the kenyan coastal town of mumbasa. the timing especially among reports of a white woman around attackers raised a few eyebrows to say the least. >> her name is samantha lewthwaite. she was the wife of one of the london bombers? is that right? >> reporter: yes, she was. she was the wife of jermaine lindsay, one of the bombers who killed himself during the 7-7

attack. interestingly she's actually the daughter of a british soldier. she's a convert to islam. and i remember seeing all these interviews after the 7-7 bombing where she was categoric about how she condemned jermaine lindsay's actions. she then disappeared off the radar for awhile and then popped up in 2011 at a house of another suspect that tennian authorities were pursuing. she managed to evade them then but when they came back they found a fake south african passport, an extraordinary amount of weaponry and money. she has been on the run since then. >> we note fbi is on the ground right now. have they gained access to the mall? what are they doing there? >> reporter: well, we understand that they didn't gain access immediately, but that since yesterday morning they have been on the ground, they have been in there. and that mainly what they're doing is they're involved with the forensic investigation. because given the state of that crime scene, we've been seeing pictures of that collapsed parking lot, the fires, the detonations that are happening, the kenyans need all the help they can get.

so the fbi as we understand it is involving itself with the chain of evidence and specifically the forensics in this, anderson. >> looking at the devastation inside that mall, it's incredible the death toll is what it is right now. it seems very likely it will go up as they're able to start to sift through some of that. it looks like several floors collapsed on each other. appreciate the update. in addition to the red alert issued by interpol for this so-called white widow samantha lewthwaite, the u.s. state department has renewed its global terrorism alert. today u.s. attorney general eric holder said there is quote no specific credible evidence that al shabaab is planning anything here in the united states. but as we've said, the fbi is on the ground in nairobi combing through the records at the mall. joining me now is cnn national security analyst peter bergen and fran townsend. steve moore also joins me, a former fbi special agent.

fran, this interpol red note for the white widow samantha lewthwaite, you dealt with these before in the bush administration. what does it mean? >> what it signifies, anderson, is that they found -- interpol will review the charges left yesterday against her by the kenyan government. they believe that there's probable cause so they've made some judgment about the bona fide of the charges. then an international arrest notice. so every time she tries to cross a border, anytime she comes in contact with law enforcement, they will run against the database, and it will show that there is this red notice that allows them to take her into custody until they can contact interpol and then get to the kenyan authorities to file formal charges for extradition. >> peter, you know a lot about how these terror groups operate. would you be surprised if this woman, lewthwaite, was among the attackers or part of the planning of this? >> very surprised, anderson. because typically let's start with the fact that these are a bunch of mysoginists who believe

that women shouldn't be involved in operations that men are doing. we've seen female suicide attackers carry a bomb. but if what nima is describing where a woman was actually firing automatic weapons and playing a leading role in this operation, that would be i think quite unusual. >> the reports though from eyewitnesses of multiple women. but didn't chechnyan terrorists use women in attacks even in i'm thinking back in sri lanka were there a lot of suicide attacks by women as well? >> that's a good point. there was a huge attack on a theater in moscow where women were amongst the operatives. i haven't seen it with al shabaab, the group that's responsible for the kenya attack. i haven't really seen it with groups that are affiliated with al qaeda. they're happy to send women as suicide bombers. but it's very unusual for them to actually be playing an operational role. now, that doesn't mean that they can't be involved in financing

the group or supporting it in some other way. but it is quite -- it would be very unusual. >> steve, you supervised the last investigation into the u.s. embassy attack in nairobi. this team of eight agents on the ground in kenya right now, we're talking to them but we understand their focus right now is solely forensics. exactly what does that entail? is eight agents enough? >> well, eight agents isn't enough. i supervised the attack on the u.s. embassy attack on karachi, pakistan just to be clear. but eight agents is not enough. you saw the size of that hole in the ground. you couldn't excavate it and get the information you need. you would need dozens and dozens of agents to go through that. you're going call out the entire evidence response team. i mean, looking at that crime scene plus the rest of the mall, i'd need over 100 agents to effectively work that. if you want to work that for a year, fine. but you're going to lose a lot of evidence on the way. >> 100 agents. it seems like a lot of the forensic evidence is outside in the parking deck. how big a concern is that in

terms of evidence degrading in those conditions? >> it's not going to be so bad here. because it's not an explosion. when you really want to get in is when you want to get explosive residue off of bodies, off of vehiclesers things like that. that degrades very quickly. this was -- i think we know the cause of the explosion here. in even the bodies as they degrade, you're still going to be able to get the evidence out of them, the dna, the objects as hard as it sounds, the objects within the body that would give an indication of how they died and at whose hands they died. >> what is it particularly that's the most important thing to try to get out of this? you said that they know probably the cause of these explosions. i would assume that's ieds set by these groups. so what are they actually trying to find? the identities of the attackers? >> well, first of all you want to find out if it is an ied set by the group or whether they used some kind of rpg to try and

get the terrorists out. so yeah, you're going try to find that. you are trying to identify who the victims are and who the attackers are. and the way you do that very simply is you find all the missing people reports, you match the bodies with the dna taken off of the family members who reported them missing because frankly fingerprints are useless in third world countries. and then the ones who have nobody missing them are reliably going to be your terrorists. >> peter, in terms of al shabaab, their capabilities, do they have capabilities inside the united states? we know a lot of americans or a few dozen americans have been recruited, mostly from the somali community have been recruited to join al shabaab. could they launch an attack here in the united states? and particularly this kind of attack? i mean, a couple of handfuls of gunmen going into a mall? >> i think it's quite unlikely, anderson. because the people that have gone for all of them it's been a one-way ticket. 15 of the 40 people who have gone over to somalias have

killed, three or four as suicide attackers. subject of intense law enforcement scrutiny. something called operation rhino the justice department and fbi has been doing for years looking into these folks. i think if they came back to the united states they'd be arrested. joining al shabaab is a crime. now, on the other hand there are plenty of american targets in kenya itself. and in other places in africa, whether it's americans going there on safari, whether it's american businesses. and that of course these are often soft targets. so that's the real concern, i think, rather than something happening here in the u.s. >> fran, do you agree with that, that an attack like this in the united states is unlike will i? >> i think it is unlikely. certainly i think it's unlikely by those who have left the united states to go and fight with al shabaab in somalia. what you worry about is more the self-radicalized. a small cell here in the united states, radicalized over the internet. we've seen this happen with al alaki when he was alive, the preacher radicalizing nidal has hasan, the fort hood shooter.

that's what i worry about. truthfully, anderson, soft target attacks, malls, hotels, that sort of an attack has long been the focus of a fbi effort working with the private sector to harden those targets, to make people more aware so they watch for suspicious behavior. so you try to disrupt that. >> fran townsend, peter bergen, steve moore, thanks for being on. there's no official confirmation the british national samantha lewthwaite known as the white widow or called that was involved in the nairobi mall attack but there is growing concern about it. if the notion of a female terrorist sounds strange or unlikely, peter and i were just talking about this. there is precedent as we mentioned for it. they do exist. watch. >> before the white widow, there were the black widows. name given to female islamist chechnyan militants part of the struggle for independence. they were first seen as hostage takers in the moscow theater attack in 2002. the black widows were believed to be seeking revenge for lost husbands in the war.

they dressed all in black and wore so-called martyr's belts which were filled with explosives. they were responsible for a series of suicide bombings. this russian security expert was trying to diffuse a bomb left by a young chechnyan woman outside a moscow restaurant in 2003. he died when the bomb went off. a number of females were involved in terrorist attacks for the irish republican army. rose dougdale was one of the most infamous. she was an heiress who joined the ira in the late 70s and attempted to blow up a police station. she was arrested for crimes relating to the ira and served time in jail. years later she spoke to the irish public broadcasting station about her experiences. >> i was accepting of the recognition that there can come a time when you may or may not want to kill people. >> the long simmering israeli-palestinian conflict also produced a number of female terrorists, including this one, a grandmother who attempted to blow up israeli soldiers in gaza

in 2006. she dieded after detonating explosives in her belt. her family reportedly saying she wanted to become a martyr. but female terrorists haven't only been overseas. patty hearse became radicalizeded after kidnaped by a far left revolutionary group in 1974. she later claimed she was brain washed by the group. more recently colleen la rose, known as jihad jane who tried to recruit other women online to participate in violent jihad. she later pled guilty to supporting terrorism. another example that terrorism knows no boundaries whether they be geographic or gender. let us know what you think. you can follow me on twitter @andersoncooper. just ahead tonight, cnn and the center for investigative reporting uncover massive fraud in the southern california's drug rehab program. today lawmakers did the grilling. i'll tell you if they got answers. also ahead, stacey rambold is a free man tonight.

he served a month for raping a former student just 14 years old. that's him scurrying away from our reporters from our cameras. his victim later killed herself. could he actually go back to jail after serving just 30 days? we'll get the latest from kyung lah ahead. [ male announcer ] this store knows how to handle a saturday crowd.

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keeping them honest. california legislators grilled diplomats from the drug rehab industry. if you note hearings centered on allegations of fraud in california's drug rehab program, a program that receives millions of your taxpayer dollars as well. our investigation found fraud so egregious, so bad that as a result 174 drug rehab locations were suspended with some even shut down. cnn's drew griffin repeatedly a long time tried to ask the people in charge of the program why they weren't doing more to stop the fraud. his reporting uncovered. nearly every turn, however, people just didn't want to answer. watch what happened when he finally tracked down an official named diana dooley who runned the agency that was supposed to oversee the rehab program.

>> drew griffin with cnn. >> how do you do? >> we've been trying to reach you and talk to you about the widespread fraud that's in the medi-cal drug rehab business. but we're told that neither you north program director or anybody in the state of california will talk to us about it. >> in an uncomfortable moment, the secretary at first refused to speak. >> secretary? do you know alex ferdman, a convicted felon, who apparently runs one of these clinics and has been billing the state of california for several years? despite the fact that there have been complaints registered with the department about him? he's convicted of a major insurance fraud in the state of texas but for somehow was able to get certified and has been billing. i'm just wondering if there's anybody in the state of california that's concerned about this fraud. >> then finally answer add question. >> the state of takes fraud very seriously. and there are many investigations that are under way. the allegations, all allegations are given full and fair

consideration. and you've caught me running because i am late for a meeting that i'm chairing. >> there was certainly not a lot of answers in that interview. once we aired that interview which was frankly kind of embarrassing for that official, they sent out another official to actually come on the program, answer questions that drew and i could ask that official live. but frankly, that official didn't have many answers, either. >> you have no idea what happened in the past? you have no idea who's responsible? >> what my focus is on now, anderson, is making sure that i'm rooting out all this fraud that we have all our investigators, we are putting all resources to root out this fraud. >> for a year you've been investigating. have you not shut down any in that year? >> i can't give you the numbers right now. >> you can't name one clinic that's been shut down in the entire year you've allegedly been investigating? >> no. these are open investigations, anderson. can you name one person, one of the felons running one of these

clinics that drew has talked to? can you name one person, one clinic you've actually shut down? or stopped paying? >> i can't. again, anderson, our focus is on rooting out this fraud in this program. >> i feel thad bad -- i appreciate you being on tonight. i know your boss didn't want to talk. i appreciate you being on. but you have one talking point. and you continue to say it. in fact, the fact that you answer every time by saying again just verifies that you're giving the same answer over and over again. >> as you can see, not a lot of answers from that interview. today as i said the next step, lawmakers demanding answers. here's drew's report. >> reporter: after weeks and even months of dodging cnn's questions concerning rampant fraud in california's drug medi-cal system, the head of california's health care services, toby douglas, today went before state legislators confirmed the fraud has been out of control and apologized. >> what we are uncovering in terms of the fraud and the other issues with the drug medi-cal

program is completely unacceptable. and i'm here to tell you that we are sorry. >> reporter: while legislators grilled douglas on why it took a news report to get the agency to act, the state has confirmed it is in fact now acting. >> the system didn't work well, that it was a fractured system, that there was systematic failures within the state. it is true that many of the problems came to light through investigative reporting. >> reporter: 64 criminal cases are being investigated through the state's department of justice. 174 clinic sites have also been suspended, including every single clinic exposed in our rehab racket series. >> sir? wait a minute now. >> did he call back and say he's not coming? >> reporter: this past july, cnn and the center for investigative reporting exposed widespread fraud in the nation's largest medicaid system. we found that in the last two

years, half the nearly $186 million spent on drug medi-cal, about $94 million, went to clinics that have shown questionable billing practices or signs of fraud. >> personally as a physician who cares for children on medi-cal i am outraged to learn people are cheating taxpayers. >> reporter: dr. richard pan, a california assemblyman who chairs the state's health care committee said today as a physician himself he's offended the fraud was allowed to go on. says as of today it must stop. >> the same people in there apologizing, the same people telling us we're now seeing all this systematic failure and fraud throughout the system are the same people now who are telling you we're going to fix the problem. are you satisfied? >> well, there's going to be ongoing work. i am happy to see that they have made progress. but clearly in their testimony there's still unfinished work. they have taken steps to address sort of the immediate problem. but we need to be sure that we have the fundamental changes in

place to prevent this fraud from happening again. >> drew griffin joins me from sacramento. this is a complete turn around by the head of this department, basically admitting everything in our reporting and not trying to defend anything. why the change? >> reporter: well, i think there is no defense. they began looking into it and found what we found and maybe even worse, anderson. look at, the state knew fraud was going on. they ignored the warning signs. they looked the other way. even when they found convicted felons running some of their own clinics, anderson. >> it's incredible to see the kind of results that you were able to get on this reporting, to see that today. no one is getting fired, though. no big changes at the state health department. and the same people who allowed the fraud are now in charge of cleaning it up, right? >> reporter: yeah. the same people, i might add, that you and i interviewed and were trying to defend the program just a month or so ago are now saying that they are going to clean it up, they are going to do something. lawmakers say they're on it now,

they're going to give this department exactly one year to permanently solve the fraud problems or as one lawmaker told me they'll solve it themselves. but anderson, just this year, just this year, 36 million taxpayer dollars have already been sent to these clinics that are now suspended. so we're talking about a lot of wasted money here. >> it was so frustrating when we had that guy on from the program who we're saying, well, he had no idea who previous to him getting to his position was responsible for oversight and who dropped the ball. he's not able to name any names. really frustrating stuff. drew, we'll continue to report on. great reporting, thanks, drew. if you've got a tip for drew and the cnn investigations team go to cnn.com/investigate. up next new fierce tonight that al qaeda's influence among opposition groups in syria is growing. it's pushing the idea of replacing the assad regime with shiria law. and now a later development

in the case of marissa laengs alexander, a florida woman imprisoned for firing a gun in self-defense against her abusive husband. she's getting a new trial. she was originally sentenced to 20 years. we'll tell you why. ietnam in 19. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

republicans appear for shifting tactics in the battle with president obama and senate democrats or over the possible shutdown of the government. secretary john boehner said he doesn't expect the government to close up shop. now they appear to be working on

the debt ceiling limit. so congress hasn't figured out how to avoid next week's government shutdown, but already gearing up for the next showdown with the white house? is that right? >> reporter: it is right, absolutely. house republicans met this morning. they huddled about the kind of package they want to put together that includes raising the debt ceiling. and it does seem odd though it's not that far away. one of the main reasons is because republicans consider these things very much connected. for a couple of reasons, but primarily just in terms of controlling the restive caucus john boehner has. he's learned some lessons about this. he wants to try to tell them, look, hopefully from their perspective they will pass a bill to fund the government. it might not have the spending cuts on it. might not have the other things, obamacare defunding on it. but they shouldn't worry so much because the next fight is just around the corner. and they have a laundry list of

things. one republican congressman, anderson, said to me they're putting on there pretty much everything that the house republicans voted on this entire year. the keystone pipeline, delaying obamacare for a year, tax reform. they're doing it primarily in order to try to calm the republican caucus because they know how hard it is to get consensus in order to get votes. >> at this point, though, do they seem any closer to a deal? is it actually possible the government could shut down tuesday? >> reporter: it is possible. i don't even want to venture a guess as to whether or not that's probable or possible. when it comes to a deal, the issue at this point really seems to be one of timing. it seems inevitable that the senate is going to pass a bill that funds the government. the question is how quickly the house will return that bill and whether they will change it and whether the senate has time to pass something that they can send to the president in time for that monday night deadline. it is a race against the clock right now. >> do members of congress realize how tired people are of this careening from manufactured

crisis to manufactured crisis? >> reporter: absolutely. so many of them do. you can't walk around the hallways here without people saying that their stchts have crisis fatigue. however, particularly when you're talking about the house and republicans, many of whom were elected in 2010 on that tea party wave, frankly they don't care. they believe that they came here to stand for principle, and the main principle is to deal with the country's debt, and there's no place they say they'd rather do it than on the whole concept of raising the debt ceiling, meaning allowing this country to borrow even more money to pay for its debts. so that's why even though it seems a little bit odd since that is more economically catastrophic if we reach the debt ceiling, they believe in terms of principle and philosophy that's the best place to have these negotiations. isha is here with the 360 bulletin. >> anderson, we saw with breaking news the u.s. and russia have an i greed to drop resolution on syria's chemical weapons disarmament and must now

get approval from the full u.n. security council. the push comes after the u.s. says more than 1400 syrians were killed in a gas attack last month. however, a source says the resolution won't authorize automatic use of force if syria violates it. meanwhile, 13 of syria's most powerful opposition groups have announced they've rejected another powerful opposition group that's formed an interim government in exile. a team called on supports to embrace shiria law. the first of its kind in more than 30 years, secretary of state john kerry holds face-to-face talks with his iranian counterpart to talk about tehran's nuclear program. and an amazing discovery where a plane crashed on a glacier in france more than 60 years ago. according to local reports, the climber found rubies, emeralds and sam fires that could be valued at up to $332,000. wow! >> isha, thanks. coming up a form teacher

walks out of jail after serving only a month for raping his 14-year-old student a young girl who later committed suicide. there is a chance this isn't the end of the story for stacey rambold or the judge that imposed the sentence. new hope for marissa alexander a florida woman sentenced for 20 years for firing a warning shot into a wall trying to scare off her abusive husband. no one was hurt. took the jury just 12 minutes to convict her. now she's getting another chance to explain her side of the story. we'll explain straight ahead. and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans.

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crime and punishment segment tonight, a former teacher who admitted to rapes his then 14-year-old student walked out of jail in montana today after serving only one month. stacey rambold here he is entering a probation office in billings. we've been covering the outrage surrounding this case for awhile, not only for the light sentence he received but for the comments the judge made about the victim suggesting she was partly to blame because in his opinion she seemed and i quote, older than her chronological age. she was 14, remember. the judge later apologized, but there are still calls for him to step down. the victim killed herself before the case went her trial. her mom said she is still waiting for justice for her daughter. for now the man who raped her daughter is no long behind bars. kyung lah joins me from billings, montana. you caught up with this guy outside his parole office. did he have anything to say or was he just scurrying away?

>> reporter: scurrying away. other than actually shoving me out of his way he didn't have anything to say to us going in, going out. he wore a ball cap. he actually tried to switch out cars as he was leaving so he didn't tip us off that he was actually going to be exiting out of the parole office. we asked him questions about the sentence, about charisse morales if he had anything to say about this young girl. he had nothing to say. >> do we know where he's going now? does he go home and pick up where he left off a month ago? >> reporter: essentially, yes. he has served his time. he is free on parole. he does have to follow the conditions of parole. there are some 59 things he has to do, cannot do. he can't open a checking account. he can't get on the internet. can't be around kids. he can't even walk into a bar. it's quite restrictive. but he is still home, he is essentially free because he's done his time. >> as far as this appeal with the montana supreme court, it could send him back to jail. what's the latest with that? what's the status?

>> reporter: well, it's stuck. we have seen certainly in this case the wheels of justice move quite slowly. this original little crime happened in 2008. it happened way back then. charisse's mother has often exclaimed how much longer do you have to wait. well when it comes to the state supreme court weighing in it could take anywhere from 6 to 18 months. so the wait will take some time. prosecutors are hoping they can make their arguments before the state supreme court and that they will send him back to jail for the minimum of two years. >> he's not still a teacher, right? >> reporter: no, he is absolutely not teacher now. he has lost his job. the school was actually sued by the mother, and the school had to pay out something. we don't know the conditions of that. but yes, he is absolutely not an educator right now and he can't be around kids as a condition of parole. >> kyung lah appreciate the update. in crime and punishment tonight, a major developments in another controversial case we've been following in florida. marissa alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she

fired a warning shot into a wall trying to scare off her abusive husband. the bullet did not hit him. no one was hurt. still it took a jury less than 15 minutes to convict her, rejecting her defense under florida's stand your ground law. now marissa alexander has been granted a new trial after the appeals court ruled the judge didn't properly handle jury instructions. last year gary tupmann. >> reporter: she walks down the prison hallway in handcuffs. she's been sentenced to 20 years behind bars, convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. she says she was defending herself, standing her ground from a husband who had been arrested before on charges of abuse herg. >> he was arrested for doing what to do? >> he choked me. pushed me forecefully into the tub. he pushed me so hard into the closet that i hit my head against the wall and i kind of passed out for a second. >> reporter: her husband received probation after that

incident. months later, alexander says she was in the bathroom at their home here in jacksonville, florida, when her husband started pounding on the door. she says he was in a jealous rage over text messages on her cell phone. >> he managed to get the door open. that's when he strangled me. he put his hands around my neck. >> reporter: alexander got away from her husband and then made a fate full decision. she could have run out the front door and escaped. instead she ran into the garage but said she did not have her car keys so the garage door was stuck. instead she grabbed her gun she kept in this garage. >> what did you think you were going to do with it? >> i thought they was going to have to protect myself. >> were you thinking you might have to shoot him? >> yeah, i did. if it came to that. he saw my weapon at my side. and when he saw it he was even more upset. and that's when he threatened to kill me. >> but how is he going to kill you if you're the one with the gun? >> i agree. i thought it was crazy, too. >> why didn't you run out the door at that point? >> there was no other way to get out the door.

he was right there threatening to kill me. >> what if you had run around him to get out the door? >> the law states i don't have to. >> reporter: the law she's talking about is the controversial stand your ground law. instead of running she did what she thought was allowed by law. she believed she stood her ground and fired the gun into the wall. nobody was hurt. but it was enough to scare her husband, rico gray, and he left the house with his two young children from a previous relationship. alexander was safe from her husband but not from the law. she was arrested, her stand your ground defense rejected and found guilty by a jury. marissa alexander's husband rico gray agreed to do an on camera interview with us to counter his wife's allegations. a few hours later he made the decision not to do the interview, claiming that going on camera would put his life in danger. later he september us an e-mail saying he would do an interview if he got paid, which cnn does no do. but he has already said quite a bit. during a deposition with the prosecutor from the office of state attorney angela corey, and

a defense attorney for his wife, rico gray acknowledged hitting his wife in the past and said this about the shooting incident quote if my kids weren't there, i knew i probably would have tried to take gun from her. i probably would have put my hand on her. marissa alexander's attorney then asked the husband what he meant about putting his hand on her. rico gray responded "probably hit her. i got five baby mamas and i put my hands on every last one of them except for one." >> i believe when he threateneded to kill me that's what he was going to do. that's exactly what he intended to do. had i not discharged my weapon at that point, i would not be here. >> reporter: but later at a court hearing to determine whether marissa alexander should get immunity based on the stand your ground law, rico gray changed his story, saying he lied repeatedly in the deposition to protect his wife, claiming he did not threaten to kill her and testifying quote i begged and pleaded for my life when she had the gun. the jury deliberated for 12 minutes before convicting her.

the jacksonville naacp wrote a letter to the trial judge saying marissa alexander may not have received justice because of her gender, race or economic status. some african-american news sites are saying much the same thing. that if marissa had been white her stand your ground defense would have been send and she wouldn't be facing 20 years in prison. alexander will not say if she agrees with that possibility. >> i'm going to be honest with you. i'm uncomfortable answering that. >> reporter: for now she remains behind bars. she had a baby girl with rico gray but she only sees her child in photographs. rico gray has custody. he's considered the victim. marissa alexander the criminal. >> this is my life i'm fighting for. this is my life. and it's my life it is not entertainment. it is my life. >> gary tuchman joins me now from atlanta. she's been granted this new trial. but her stand your ground defense is still off the table? >> reporter: right. that's still off the table. the appellate court didn't have a problem with that being ruled

inadmissible. what the appellate court said was during the trial the jury was told that marissa alexander had to prove it was self-defense. they said that was wrong. it was up to the prosecution to prove thought wasn't self-defense. they said that was wrong. so there will be an increased burden on the prosecution in the new trial. there will also be a hearing before the trial, anderson, which marissa alexander could get out of jail on bond until the trial. >> what's interesting, she was prosecuted by angela corey's office, the same office that prosecuted and lost the george zimmerman case. has there been any reaction from them? >> reporter: there has been and they're still being very aggressive about this case. they came out with a statement and it reads "the defendant's conviction was reversed on a legal technicality. the first district court of appeal found that florida's supreme court's jury instructions were wrong. we're gratified that the court affirmed the defendant's stand your ground ruling. this means the defendant will not have another stand your ground hearing. the case will be back in circuit court in the fourth judicial circuit at the appropriate time." one final thing, anderson, she's

come out with a statement, marissa alexander. her lawyers said she's ecstatic, thankful and wants to get back to her family. >> gary appreciate it. coming up human remains discovered among the wreckage at the costa concordia 20 months after that ship hit rocks, capsized killing 32 people. also ahead, scary notion. hundreds of passengers aboard an airliner at 30,000 feet with at least one of the pilots asleep in the cockpit. new details about an incident on an airbus when we continue. we got the ball rolling. in cities across the country,

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when the costa concordia capsized off italy in 2012, 32 people died. some of the victims' bodies were never found. now remains have been found in the wreckage which divers will recover. these remains, what do we know about them? >> reporter: well, these aren't bodies. these are really just bones and fragments of bones that were found in an area that has previously been inaccessible because the ship was lying on its side on these two underwater mountaintops until they righted it last week. the salvage operators have sort of pinpointed the areas which they thought they would have the best success in finding these

remains. and that's where the divers began. they only started yesterday. so within 24 hours they found the remains. what we don't know, though, is if these are the remains of the both of the people, 50-year-old sicilian woman and 30-year-old indian waiter a crew member on the ship. those are the two people they're looking for. there's nothing identifiable at this point. they'll need to use dna in order to determine if these are in fact those two missing victims. >> and the captain of the ship, his trial resumed on monday. he's arguing he's a hero actually who saved 4,000 people, right? >> reporter: that's right. there were 4,229 people on that ship. 32 people died. he says he's not the villain, he's the hero, because so many people lived. but of course, he is also being charged for abandoning ship. he sort of as he says fell into a life boat the night of the accident. he was on ground on the island of gilio before several thousand passengers were on. so it remains to be certain, this is certainly what the prosecutors are trying to prove, that he was not actually

involved in the evacuation of those passengers, therefore he's culpable in the deaths that occurred as a result. >> he's actually saying he fell into a life boat? >> reporter: that's right. he says he fell into a life boat during the chaos of that night. coincidentally he had his laptop computer so it's a little bit arguably about how that dynamic could have played out. then he says he couldn't get back on the ship. there's plenty of conversation that was taped between the port authority and the captain when he was on land. and the port authority saying get back on ship. get back on the ship. and the captain's arguing i can't it's on its side. you can't crawl up the side of a ship when it's in that position. but at the end of the day, he's the captain. he should have been able to convince someone to put him back on the ship. there were plenty of other people getting on the ship trying to save passengers and get them off. the captain was not one of them. >> fell into a life boat with his laptop. never heard of that. thank you very much. appreciate it. there's a lot more fore we're

following tonight. isha is here. autopsy of the navy yard shooter is complete and his body has been released. authorities won't say who retrieved his body or the results of the autopsy. the gunman killed 12 people in a shooting rampage earlier this month. jury deliberations have started in the michael jackson wrongful death trial. the jury must decide if concert promoter aeg live is liable for jackson's 2009 overdose death. its executives hired dr. conrad murray who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the criminal trial. the jackson family is seeking up to $2 billion in damages. the u.k. aviation authorities say pilots snoozed in the cockpit over 300 passenger airliner like this one while cruising at 30,000 feet en route to britain. however, the airline virgin atlantic says it has no evidence both pilots were asleep at the same time. anderson is back next with "the ridiculist." ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪

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. time now for "the ridiculist." tonight i want to introduce you to a man who forever will change the way you think about facial hair. mr. icedibncredibeard posts pic

of his hair. some of him have actually have practical applications as well. take for instance this one called you guessed it beard pong. or how about a beard bowl full of noodles? i personally find this one disgusting. you can also find him on facebook, instagram and thank you, god, youtube. >> this is how you make a bowl of beard ramen. got my chop sticks and ramen. i need something else. what do i put it in? siracha sauce. oh, yeah. >> so disgusting. i don't know why i find that so repulsive. maybe hairy need els with hot sauce are not your thing. it's not my thing. how about fast food? this one has an instructional video as well. >> this is how you eat hand-free fast food.