deal in weapons and explosives n. germany security officials reveal today that their suspicion that 100 or more trained islamic militants are living in germany right now posing a real threat. officials there are not comment ing on the five german men believed to have killed -- been killed in a u.s. missile strike in pakistan yesterday. australia has joined the u.s., uk, sweden and japan telling its citizens to be vigilant traveling in europe. and here in the u.s. the man who tried to blow up a car in new york's times square will spend the rest of his life in prison. faisal shahzad saidest trained by the taliban in pakistan. stephanie, give me the latest on the investigation in europe. >> reporter: contessa, in france today early morning there were two separate operations where three men were arrested and the second operation nine men were arrested. our producer on the ground in paris spoke to the former head of the anti-terrorist unit in france and he told her some

interesting details. he said that the three that were arrested were linked to a 28-year-old algerian that was actually arrested in naples earlier in the week, that he was found with with some kind of kit to make explosives and amongst his possessions they found the names of these three suspects that they arrested this morning. none of them have been charged. the other nine are apparently not directly linked to the three but are, according to this former head of the anti-t anti-terrorist unit, they appear to be cells, some type of terrorist cells coordinated together at some point in the future. they are suspected, these nine, of trafficking in arms and explosives. now there's been no direct link to these arrests and the terror alert but this is the continuing drumbeat of arrests and also what we've been hearing out of pakistan those five germans or more that were killed in a drone strike yesterday. a lot of coincidences obviously. u.s. officials linking that particular area of pakistan, the

tribal area there, to the information that they've been getting about possible attacks in europe. so it seems as if a lot of these things are linked although we have no real confirmation at this point. >> stephanie, thank you. in manhattan it's sentencing day for the man behind the failed terror plot in the heart of times square. the fbi says this is what could have happened. it didn't quite go off like that in times square. now bombmaker faisal shahzad will spend the rest of his life in prison. ron allen is outside the federal courthouse in lower manhattan now. tell us what happened in court. >> reporter: it was a very dramatic and interesting session. there was a lot of back and forth between the judge and shahz shahzad. she let him talk 15 minutes or so. basically he was saying since 9/11 and the invasions of afghanistan and the attacks in iraq that the muslim world has

been at war with the united states and he sees him seven as a soldier in the war. the judge challenged him on a number of points he made and at the end of it she sort of summed it up by saying you'll have a lot of time in jail to think about whether the koran instructs you to kill a lot of people. obviously she does not think it does. he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences in prison which he will serve with no possibility of parole or ever getting out. and the chilling part of this whole case was to look at him in court and to realize what could have happened, that explosion you just showed, but also the fact that he is a 30-year-old man who by all appearances was a typical suburban father of two who worked as a financial analyst for a reputable company in suburban connecticut until all of this happened. he apparently decided to go on this particular court after he became a u.s. citizen some time in the spring of 2009. that's when he left the united states, went to pakistan for training, prosecutors say, and he admits he pleaded guilty to

all of this, and came back and since then has been at war with america. again, six consecutive life sentences in prison. he will never be released. and the judge tried to make an example of him basically saying this could not be tolerated. this had to be done to keep america safe. >> and the judge saying shahzad showed a total lack of remorse. he said in court we will defeat you, the infidels. thank you for bringing us up to date. not just voters who are angry heading into next month's election, politicians are angry, too. candidate for governor carl paladino said he will take a baseball bat to the state capitol if elected. this morning the "today" show's matt lauer asked if anger is what voters want. >> i don't think it's anger. i think it's people that are very frustrated and i'm just the reflection of that frustration. my baseball bat is the people. >> so my big question today, can anger be a good strategy for governing?

i'd like to hear your thoughts. you can get me on twitter, facebook, my e-mail address is contessa@msnbc.com. relief in fresno, california. police found a little girl who was kidnapped playing in her front yard. surveillance video showed the vehicle, helped police locate the suspect. 11 hours after she was abducted the 8-year-old is back with with her family safe and sound and the suspected kidnapper is in custody. jurors are still weighing the in evidence a murder case that could have the defendant facing the death penalty. steep hayes and a friend are accused of terrorizing a family for eight hours inside their suburban home and then setting it on fire. jennifer was raped and strangled to death. her daughters died of smoke inhalation after william petite survived the attack. jeff, people who closely watch the trial had expected a quick verdict. this is day two. what are you hearing? >> reporter: i think on the outside it it seems pretty black and white, guilt or innocent

and, in fact, the defense attorney in this case said my client committed these crimes but it was a robbery that got out of control. when you really look at it, it's more complex than that. there are 17 counts here, six of them are capital felonies and so what happens is the jury had a 46-page instruction street reading back to the jurors so a very narrow legal definition for each of those counts that the jury has to weigh. did the state prove that steven hayes did, in fact, start the fire? one of the notes that came back yesterday from the jury, just to show you what kind of fine toothed comb they're using here, came back and said, okay, if the state and the prosecution prove that steven hayes poured gasoline on the victims and on the house, does that mean technically and legally that he started the fire? so they came back into the courtroom and the judge told them, no, that doesn't mean that. just pouring gasoline on something isn't the actual act of starting a fire. so it's those kinds of details, contessa, they're going over. it's been fairly quiet this morning. they've been deliberating for

about two hours now. they sent one note back so far about a half hour ago and the note simply said, we need a break. so they took a break for a few minutes. now they're back in there deliberating. a verdict could come at any time. six capital felonies on the docket. if even just one of them comes back, steven hayes could face the death penalty. >> jeff, thank you for keeping staps on that as we wait for the jury deliberations to end. the u.s. services sector up last month, growing faster than economists expected. it was the ninth straight month for expansion and they gave analysts hope the economy is improving. before there was beshy madoff there was this guy. here he is. rogue french trader jerome, nearly destroyed societe generale by making risky deals in one of the biggest trading scams in history. today a french court sentenced him to three years in jail, ordered him to pay back the $6.8 billion the bank spent repaying

his trades which his current sally -- at his current salary could take him 177,000 years. dow jones, we're way up on the day, up 163 points. the s&p up 20 and the nasdaq following suit up 47 1/3. keeping an eye on the white house where president obama is about to speak at joe biden's community college summit. we'll bring that to you live. and then a daredevil's unbelievable adventure. you're going to hear from the man who has done what no one else has accomplished in an explosive fire pit. each seat is provided with a seat belt. >> no longer with the boring airplane safety demonstrations. i like it. time to spice it up, people. simply ageless with olay regenerist serum costs less and it won't glob up in lines and wrinkles. you'll look amazing and happy too. simply ageless, from olay and easy breezy beautiful covergirl.

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all right. let's take you to the east room of the white house now where you can seep the crowd has gathered waiting for president obama and the vice president's wife, dr. jill biden, talking about community colleges today, their porps importance in education. she taught college the past 17 years and is particularly interested in the role they play in higher learning here in the united states. so we will be watching for this. when we see it, we will bring it to you. as we wait, let's go to the white house and richard wolffe. yesterday we talked a little bit about community colleges. we were talking about this idea that you should pair them up with businesses to find 0 out what kind of skills they should be teaching so that businesses have qualified employees. >> reporter: that's what the economic need is and the administration, to be fair, has been doing lots of big things on community colleges but there is

legislation dealing with much bigger subjects so it's easily overlooked. this summit draws attention to the fact the administration has committed $3.5 billion to pell grants, will fund students at community colleges, $2 billion to improve graduation rates. that was part of the health care fix package. another billion dollars. in terms of getting ready for people with clean energy jobs. so lots of money but easily overlooked because we're talking about other things like health care or the bigger economy and here you have jill biden who has a personal attachment trying to bring it together. >> and this is something that they've been talking about a lot because the community colleges are complaining in turn they're receiving high school graduates who need a lot of remedial help, that their reading skills are not where they need to be, their writing skills, their math skills are all very poor and very basic. and there's been a lot of focus on how do community colleges get qualified students in the door. is that something both parties can get behind? how do you get qualified

students into community colleges and then churn them out as qualified employees? >> reporter: right. you're definitely seeing this kind of policy, i think, as a template for where the administration may go forward no matter what happens in the midterms. it's the kind of policies both parties can get behind. it has an economic side to it. but these community colleges are not really graduating enough people and we're seeing some private initiatives from the gates foundation, from the aspen institute to improve performance for students coming in and for the colleges themselves. so if washington can can do anything in this environment po post-november, i suspect it's this kind of initiative they'll find common ground on. >> and i wanted to ask you while i have you here, richard, they ask if the house elections were held today who would you vote for? and you had 49% responding republican, 43% democrat. that was among likely voters. those most likely to show up in the midterms.

registered voters this story is different. you had 47% responding democrats as to who they would vote for. does this go back to that enthusiasm gap and the fact that democrats right now don't have as many likely voters as they need? >> reporter: right. it's the whole story of this election. that's the whole story of what the white house, the democrats in general, and the republicans are trying to deal with here. they have to get people out to vote. the numbers are narrowing. democrats feel they have some momentum. they're getting people organized. people are paying attention. but those gaps, those numbers, are still big enough to suggest a really big result for republicans in november. >> all right. richard, good to see you. >> reporter: thank you. >> the los angeles ysuburb of belle canceled a city council meeting because only one member showed up. one is in jail. another is facing charges, resigned early in the day. the mayor and vice mayor called in sick, all of them charged with stealing money to the tune of $5.5 million.

200 residents did show up to the city council meeting last night. dozens wanted to speak their mind. the one who is not accused of wrongdoing and showed up to the meeting said, okay, these folks get to have their say. later this afternoon a rally scheduled to spotlight the case of asher brown, the eighth grader killed himself last month after his parents say he endured two years of bullying at school. the demonstration will be held across the street from brown's middle school. the school sent out a note informing parents that all after school activities would be canceled. the asher brown case, another teen suicide, focusing national attention on the issue of bullying. rutgers university student tyler clement jumped off a bridge to his death after two other students allegedly use add webcam to record him during a sexual encounter with another man. then they posted it online. last night in las vegas hundreds of people attend add rally trying to to reach out to victims who feel they have nowhere to turn.

knsv has the details. you shouldn't have to dread going to school in the morning. you shouldn't have to run home from school in the afternoon and you shouldn't have to cry yourself to sleep every night. >> reporter: the message was a rally cry and a cry for help. gay teens and other young people who don't fit into gender norms have long suffered ridicule and bullying but after recent news of suicides, texas and new york, many are standing up. in las vegas, they're even recruiting help from local politicians. >> there's just been too much news lately, too many deaths, too much discrimination, too much harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. we just have to stop it. we cannot tolerate it. >> reporter: a congresswoman to speak at a gathering of gay and lesbian activists. she says she'll pass three pieces of legislation.

>> up next, a jet ski adventure ends in tragedy for a married couple. you'll hear from the woman forced to make the toughest decision of her life, she says, to leave her dying husband behind. caught on the web, we're watching the most viewed stories on msnbc.com, a bible college student has been shot and killed in his dorm room. police say the person who admitted shooting jonathan shipper surrendered to police. he was a sophomore at mid-atlantic christian university. police believe the shooting was sparked by a personal matter between the two students. a federal judge accused of buying drugs from a stripper. u.s. district judge jack camp jr. was arrested outside atlanta on drug and weapons charges. a viper reportedly told investigators he used marijuana and cocaine with her. judge camp is out on $50 million bo bond. i am not making this up. here is the headline. man denies crack in but tocks i

his. they say they pulled over raymond roberts for speeding. they smelled marijuana, they say. then they found a bag of weed crammed between his buttocks and then a bag containing 27 pieces of rocco ta rock cocaine. bottom line, that's sad, right, an arrest for drug possession. ron owns the 137-year-old stokes farm in new jersey. he's benefiting from the new customer emphasis on buying locally grown produce at farmers markets. because of that demand, he now grows more than 74 items. copd makes it hard for me to breathe.

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a new vehicle safety rating system today. the new system raises the safety bar standards higher than they've been. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: contessa, a good day from miami. most of us are familiar with the government's crash test rating system, the five stars awarded to cars depending on how well they do. so many cars are doing well the government is changing the system and demanding even better results. for 30 years the government has been crash testing cars and awarding stars. five stars are the best rated cars. one star puts a car at the bottom of the list. but getting five stars just got tougher. the government is now adding side full crash tests, evaluating the latest crash prevention technologies and, for the first time, using female crash test dummies in its evaluations. >> we owe it to them to give them the idea that when they buy a car, they're going to be as safe as males. >> reporter: in recent years

many vehicles have earned five-star ratings. now cars and trucks must utilize high-tech crash avoidance systems like electronic stability control, systems that warn you when you're departing your lane or are about to collide with another vehicle. and with the new standards a new total overall score ranging from one to five. of the 55 models tested for 2011, only two earned a five, the bmw and the hyundai sonata. 29 cars earned a four, two cars earned a three and one car earned a two, the nissan versa. the government is raising the bar after years of big safety improvements on america's roads. >> stand by. >> reporter: colorado state trooper says cars today almost cocoon passengers in an accident. >> the driver doesn't take the energy of the crash anymore. it is dispersed through many parts of the vehicle. >> reporter: in 2009 traffic deaths fell to their lowest level since 1950. a total of 33,808 people died

last year, nearly 10% fewer deaths than 2008 when more than 37,000 people died. and 9:00 fewer deaths than in 2005. >> technology has played an incredible role in improving our accident fatality rates. >> reporter: and seat belts today, 85% of drivers buckle up. we mentioned the nissan versa only got two stars. nissan sent a comment and said because testing guidelines are stricter for 2011 model ratings they are not comparable to previous model years. nissan says it will look at the results and make adjustments as necessary. air marshals may have to get used to flying coach instead of first class. after 9/11 many more were deployed on flights, usually in first class to protect the cockpit. experts believe the main threat is in coach where bombers could pose a bigger threat by targeting a seat next to the

vital wing area. the air marshal service has been discussing possible adjustments in the placement of the marshals. you're on a plane, buckling in, and then the safety speech. okay. so i know how this goes for me. i've heard it all before. but if i were to hear lady gaga -- >> ladies and gentlemen, please direct your attention to the cabin crew who will demonstrate the safety features on this aircraft. >> wasn't there a song called the safety dance? remember that? so this one is basically a safety dance. it's on the pacific airlines viral now, almost 5 million hits on youtube since it was posted last week although not everyone's amused. a flight attendants association where that airline is based called it a throwback to the hot pants and mini skirts era of stewardesses. at least at the got their attention. youtube, the most incredible

footage ever. and then look as the daredevil goes into the heart of an active volcano with red-hot lava and toxic gases and hot rocks falling all around. >> the views and comments have gone completely insane. it was around about 700 females this morning that i woke up to and about half of them went to the point of abuse and saying that it's a complete fake and one guy even suggested that i also faked the moon landings. >> well, that expedition took tenniers to plan and the final trip cost about $13,000 but i would say that qualifies as a hotshot. still ahead, donald trump weighing in on a potential presidential run in 2012. just yesterday we said, oh, no, it wasn't even possible. he wasn't going to do it. but wait until you hear what he says today. i'm not a witch.

i'm nothing you've heard. >> a campaign ad like you have never seen before, plus we're taking a look at the anger in the gop and whether politicians can turn that outrage into some good governance. to the white house right now and speaking of an idea that both parties can get behind, here's the president talking about the importance of community colleges and what might be in store for them. a community college professor for 17 years, i want it on the record jill is not playing hooky today. the only reason she is here is because her college president gave her permission to miss class. this morning between appearing on the "today" show and hosting the summit she was actually grading papers in her white house office. so i think it's clear why i asked jill to travel the country visiting community colleges because she knows personally these colleges are the unsung

heroes of america's education system. they may not get the credit they deserve, the same resources as other schools, but they provide a gateway to millions of americans to good jobs and a t better life. these are places where young people can continue their education without taking on a lot of debt. these are places where workers can gain new skills to move up in their careers. these are places where anyone with a desire to learn and to grow can can take a chance on a bright brighter future for themselves and their families whether that's a single mom or a returning soldier or an aspiring entrepreneur. and community colleges aren't just the key to the future of their students, they're also one of the keys to the future of our country. we are in a global competition to lead in the growth industries of the 21st century. and that leadership depends on a well educated, highly skilled workforce.

we know, for example, that in the coming years jobs requiring at least an associate's degree are going to grow twice as fast as jobs that don't require college. we will not fill those jobs or keep those jobs on our shores without community colleges. so it was no surprise when one of the main recommendations of my economic advisory board, who i met with yesterday, was to expand education and job traini training. these are executives from some of america's top companies. their businesses need a steady supply of people who can can step into jobs involving a lot of technical knowledge and skill. they understand the importance of making sure we're preparing folks for jobs of the future. throughout our history whenever we faced economic challenges we've responded by seeking new ways to harness the talents of our people and that's one of the

primary reasons we have prospered. in the 19th century we built public schools. transforming not just education but our entire economy. in the 20th century we passed the dw i bill and invested in math and science, hemming to unleash a wave of innovation that helped to forge the great american middle class. but in recent years we failed to live up to this legacy especially in higher education. in just a decade we've fallen from first to ninth in the proportion of young people with college degrees. that not only represents a huge waste of potential in the global marketplace it represents a threat to our position as the world's leading economy. as far as i'm concerned, america does not play for second place and we certainly don't play for ninth. so i've set a goal. by 2020 america will once again lead the world in producing

college graduates. and i believe community colleges will play -- >> and there you're hearing it, a promise from president obama about the improvement for community colleges. they've been facing a lot of challenges. number one, they've seen a lot of enrollments here because of a tough economy, people are going back to school. they want to improve their skills. two is they have high dropout rates and, three, there are large numbers of students who go to community college needing a lot of remedial help but they don't have the proper reading, writing, math skills to do well in community colleges, some of the challenges those very important institutes of higher learning are facing. there you're seeing the president partnering with dr. jill biden to create a path for real success for community colleges. we'll keep our eye on it. a new senate ad is taking aim at president obama. challenging the governor joe

manc manchion for that seat. >> joe is not bad as governor. when he's with obama -- >> he turns into washington joe. we'd better keep joe here in west virginia. >> away from washington. >> it's the only way we're going to stop obama. >> polls show he is now running neck and neck with racy. coming up we'll talk about anger among voters be a whether politicians who campaign angry can can govern angry. that's why having the right real estate agent is more important than ever. at remax.com, you can find experts in short sales or bank-owned properties or commercial real estate, agents who can help speed up the process, no matter how intricate. and that's good news, whether you're trying to sell or hoping to buy. because the only sign you really want to see is "sold." nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. your rates don't have to go up just because of an accident. not if you get allstate accident forgiveness. it starts the day you sign up. dollar for dollar,

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welcome back. i'm contessa brewer. something you probably never heard in a campaign ad. >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us. i'll go to washington and do what you'd do. i'm christine o'donnell and i approve this message. i'm you. >> already the bloggers are buzzing, the anti-tea partiers are writing she's not me.

but delaware republican senate candidate christine o'donnell was getting a lot of attention for admitting she dabbled in witchcraft as a young person and felt she needed to let people know she is done with all that. john, christine o'donnell, i mean, delaware poll of likely voters has her really trailing chris coons. an ad she says i'm not a witch going to help her? >> contessa, that's a great question. i don't know. i think christine o'donnell is putting the spotlight on that comment of hers, on that talk show with bill maher is probably not where she should have the focus for her campaign. her campaign should be on chris coons and his record of raising taxes and spending and leading his county to bankruptcy almost. that would be a better message for her. she needs to pivot off this i'm not a witch message into chris coons is a tax raiser and she'll be better off.

>> you have carl paladino running to be governor of new york. he has made some very controversial comments before, outrageous claims about himself and his opponent. he was on the "today" show with matt lauer for an exclusive. let me play it. >> and you know what happens, those candidates get elected if they're lucky enough and they go to state houses or the white house and they run into the system. and all of a sudden they realize they need not to crack heads. they need to build bridges. for some reason i look at you, i'm not sure you're a bridge builder. tell me i'm wrong. >> i bring my own sandbox. we've been conditioned to think government in albany is the way government should be. i've been speaking to people for the last few months. that's why we are there, we had that huge plurality in the republican primary and why we're going to have this mandate coming to us from the entire electorate. it's the people. >> chris, do you think voters are thinking about how angry politicians might govern? >> i think this is why you're

seeing the generic budget tightening. what you see amongst republicans is this crop of angry, radical extreme candidates. christine o'donnell, carl paladino, john racy in west virginia. these are candidates that want to abolish the minimum wage, want to privatize social security, want to get rid of public school funding. what the voters clearly want is washington to work not washington to become more dysfunctional. they want it to work. they want the problems to be addressed. and what you are seeing from these radical republicans is they're flamethrowers. that's not going to solve the country's problems. >> chris, thank you for joining me. jo john. sorry to cut it short. we have breaking news from connecticut, new haven, where it is day two of the jury deliberations and we have just learned there is a verdict in the case. this is a trial of steven hayes for the 2007 invasion. this man right here, of the

petit family that ended in three deaths, the wife and two daughters died and the house burned down. steven hayes could face the death penalty in the case. we have just learned, again, after basically a day of jury deliberations there is a verdict in the case. jeff rossen has been following this closely and joins us now from connecticut. jeff, set the scene for me now in connecticut. what happens next? >> reporter: the jury will come out and we have to wait for steven hayes to be brought from the courthouse lockup back into the courtroom. the prosecutors are all milling around. it's around lunch time. they have to bring everybody back into the courtroom. reporters are all gathered inside the courtroom along with our nbc producer who is providing us these up to the minute updates about what's happening. you can see on your screen all of the different counts that steven hayes is facing, 17 felonies in all, six of them, contessa, are capital felonies

which means that if he's convicted on any one of those, at least one, this jury is sending a message he is up for the death penalty and the same jury will come back and decide his fate. they will decide sentencing in another hearing to immediately follow this. so the same jury that will decide guilt or innocence will decide whether he should be put to death or not. we have a sheet with all the different counts on it. as this is read i'll be going through it to figure out what's the regular murder charge versus the capital murder charge and we'll get a quick read about whether he faces the death penalty or not, contessa. i'm seeing more and more security guards coming to the courtroom now so we believe this is getting close. >> so you were explaining to me earlier in this process and, again, we were talking about whether this was considered a quick decision or a slow decision and a lot of watchers thought the jury would be in and out because there was a lot of evidence in this particular case but what are some of the questions the jurors wanted

answered in order to -- wait, wait, wait. we're getting it in. count one guilty. >> reporter: i'm going to grab my blackberry. >> good idea. we're just getting this in. the verdict is in now in this murder trial from connecticut. and count one, the first one is a murder of jennifer petit. >> reporter: contessa, let me just jump in here and count number five is guilty as well. that's the first capital felony which means he is definitely facing the death penalty now. >> okay. and you said the jurors in this case will actually be involved in the sentencing. they're going to go through and they've already heard the evidence in the case. they're going to let the families come in and give victim impact statements, is typically what happens in the sentencing case and we're just getting through -- this is coming through as we're talking to you. >> reporter: so far we're up to count number seven, and he's guilty on counts one through seven. >> all seven of them? is that what you're seeing? >> reporter: there are 17 in

all. so far we're up to number seven and he is guilty on all so far. count number eight guilty as well. i'm getting these on my blackberry literally as i speak with you. for counts one through eight he is guilty and one of those already is a capital felony so steven hayes 100% will face the death penalty now regardless of what happens from here on out. >> and, by the way, the two politicians running to be senator of connecticut, the attorney general and linda mcmahon, form erly of the wwe, were in this political debate last night, both of them said, both of them said they support the death penalty in this case. again, this is the connecticut man who has been convicted now of home invasion killings of jennifer petit and their two daughters. this happened in 2007. that he went in and beat up dr. petit, tied him up in the basement, then tied up the daughters. there was a 17-year-old haley, a little 11-year-old makayla, tied

them to their beds along with another man, and he -- >> reporter: joshua, yes. >> so then he basically forced the mom, jennifer petit, to go to the bank, to take out a lot of money and then raped and strangled her and set the house on fire. we actually -- here is the picture at the bank. >> reporter: can i jump in? i have these e-mails. we're up to count number 12 of 17 and he is guilty on all counts so far. so counts one through 12 guilty so far and i'm still getting the updates here on my blackberry. in fact i just got another one. count 13 guilty as well. and so he is already guilty of several capital felonies. >> and this was a particularly horrifying case. you were hearing testimony in the trial from fire investigators who said they thought these little girls, again, 11 years old and 17 years old, were alive when the house was ignited, when the fire

actually started. and you have this dad, dr. petit, who was in court every day, was there, was part of the drama unfolding in his home when his wife and his daughters were killed and to say nothing -- >> reporter: contessa, he testified, he testified he heard all this. he told the jury and it was just compelling testimony, it's hard to imagine a juror hearing that and not feeling for this man. william petit said he heard the moaning and the thumps. he's helpless, tied to a pole, beaten with a baseball bat as his family is being tortured upstairs and he can hear all of it. he was able to get out of the house and run to a neighbor's house for help and that neighbor called 911 but by then it was too late. within a minute or two the home was up in flames with his family still inside. and so this man has been through so much. by the way, we're up to count number -- by the way, count number 16 not guilty. figure out what that is. count number 16 is arson in the first degree.

he's not guilty of that. and count number 17 guilty. so he is guilty on 16 of the 17 counts that includes all six capital felonies. the only count he is not guilty on is number 16 which is starting the fire. and you'll remember, con it tess a, i was telling you early this morning that one of the juror's questions was to the judge if the state proved that steven hayes poured gasoline all over the victims and all over the house, does that by a legal definition mean that he started the fire? and the answer to that question was no. so now we see they are grappling with 16. >> hold on. let me bring in an attorney who is a former prosecutor and when you're looking at this, if the jurors have asked a question saying who set the fire, if he spread gasoline all over, it's obvious he was intending to burn things. but if he didn't light the match, did he set the fire.

>> right, no. and the judge answered that. in this case that has no bearing. >> that not guilty verdict in that one count is not going to affect the sentencing? >> not at all. that's not going to save his life. >> what do you think? you live in connecticut. this is a story that has gripped people. >> yes. >> it is a jaw droppingly horrifying story. do you predict they will come back and send this guy to his execution? >> well, connecticut's not a state that often executes people. it has a very, very low death penalty rate. but, as you said, contessa, this case has gripped its citizens and shocked and horrified its citizens like few others have and it's a behiheinous, heinous case. death penalty cases in connecticut are weighed up. there is a balancing scale. there's mitigating factors and aggravating factors and the mitigators are going to have to outweigh the aggravators. >> when you have every count coming back guilty except for the one, every felony count as jeff was pointing out with the

death penalty attached to it, came back guilty. >> it's still apples and oranges. just because you're guilty doesn't then mean your punishment is death. your punishment could equally be life imprisonment. it will have to be the mitigators outweigh the aggravators in order to save his life. the aggravators are the heinousness of the crime. the jurors will hear the testimony again of dr. petit. this time not in the constraints of direct exam and cross exam. >> he can say what he wants to say. >> his victim impact statement, he will get to talk to this jury and they're going to feel him and hear him now. >> we have more to come. we're following the fact that the verdict has now come in and that this man you're seeing on your screen is now guilty of multiple felony counts of murder, killing jennifer petit and her two daughters. ♪

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the verdict is in for a

burglar and the verdict is guilty of multiple counts of murder and sexual assault. let's go to jeff rossen who has been following the trial of steven hayes. jeff, bring us up to date. >> reporter: hi, contessa. yes, this just came in a couple of moments ago. steven hayes was charged with 17 felonies. he's been convicted and that verdict delivered just a moment ago of 16 of the 17 which means he was convicted on all of the capital felonies. this jury came back and sent a very clear message. so steven hayes now faces the death penalty six times over. and so what will happen now, contessa, and by the way the only charge they did not convict him on is setting fire to the house, arson in the first degree. guilty on everything else. so what happens now is steven hayes is taken back into custody, of course, and now the jury goes home for a day or two, a day or two off after this horrific trial, then this same jury comes back for the sentencing phase. and so the same jurors who decided whether he was guilty or

innocence, and clearly they decided he was guilty 16 times over, will decide whether, in fact, he should be put to death. that could be a power to six week hearing, believe it or not, even after all the evidence presented -- represented in a different way. his defense lawyer said, look, my client committed these crimes. no question about it. but it was a robbery that got out of control and sort of tried to shift the blame of the mastermind to his accomplice, joshua. in a very bizarre situation here they tried them separately. he hasn't even been to trying yet. he's the man on the right side of your screen, the younger man. steven hayes, a clear message to joshua's lawyers about what's to come for him perhaps as well because steven hayes' lawyers tried to convince the jury it was the other guy that sort of had this grand plan. this was just supposed to be a robbery that got out of control.

>> and tried to put the blame on police saying they had been alerted and they should have stopped it and it was partly their fault these people died. >> reporter: right. >> if police had acted there wouldn't have been murders committed. >> reporter: you can imagine how we've been talking about the emotion of the petit and the hawk family. william petit we're told was crying in the courtroom when this was delivered. you can imagine the emotion for this man who has endured so much over the past three years but especially in the past three weeks, contessa. i cannot even begin to skra to you the gruesome photos that the jury had to see and that william petit had to see, talking burned clothing of his little girls and his wife and we're talking about just very chilling evidence about the sexual assault and things i don't even want to get into. he had to endure all of this and william petit came to court every single day and wouldn't miss it no matter how hard it was just for this moment and he just got that moment. >> jeff rossen, good work

covering this trial from the get-go. thank you very much. we'll continue to keep our eye on it as it moves forward. we have some other breaking news out of los angeles where the bomb squad is at the scene on olympic and main street of a suspicious package. they think it's a potential bomb threat. it was a suspicious looking back pack discovered near the corner of olympic and main in downtown los angeles. this is the fashion district now and you can see some of the investigators now out at the scene. so they shut down about three to four city blocks, evacuated them because of the threat. they sent in lapd bomb robots. it may not be something serious but in an abundance of caution they take it and look at it and we're getting a note that the l.a. fire department is there and here's the note that i have. have dispatched it out so they're waiting on the scene, waiting for the all clear for this suspicious package in downtown los angeles. thank you so much for spending

the hour with me. see you back here tomorrow at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. out west. up next, "andrea mitchell reports." she is talking to bob woodward about his explosive new book that goes behind the scenes at the white house. at remax.com, you can find the experts you need, whether you're trying to sell of hoping to buy. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. ready to try something new? campbell's has made changes. adding lower sodium sea salt to more soups. plus five dollars in coupons to get you started. campbell's condensed soup. pass it on. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ but the financial landscape is still full of uncertainty. in times like these, you need an experienced partner to look out for you.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports" a new york judge slams the door shut on the times square bomber sentencing him to life in prison. our special guest today, bob woodward, author of the bestseller "obama's wars." and a month from today who will turn out to vote? the latest polls and the outlook for hispanic voters. and can the candidates remake their images? >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. >> this campaign is not about my family. it's not about divorces or