he was to be represented in court by attorney elliott peters. >> reporter: elliott peters was in the midst of wading through discovery documents when he first heard his client had hanged himself with a belt. thank you for being with us this morning. with john schwarz of "usa today," lauren sidle of npr. how did you get this case? why did you become his lawyer? >> i got a phone call from mark lemley, law professor at stanford. and he was familiar with aaron and the case. and then aaron -- i got a call from aaron a couple of days later. aaron had other lawyers before me, but i went to new york a few days later. i was actually visiting my mom in new york. and i went to see aaron, and we got together and sat down and talked for several hours. and he's a fascinating guy. then i met his dad a few weeks later. and they had a very good lawyer in boston named marty weinberg. but they decided to make a change and go with me and my firm. >> and there you are, as i said, wading through discovery documents. you feel you got a little late on top of it. you get i think an e-mail from his dad saying

. >>> and later on "good morning america," robin roberts and josh elliott will broadcast live from st. peter'sey'll join thousands of folks attending the general audiences, as millions of catholics, worldwide, prepare for christmas next week. >> and we'd like to know what you're thankful for this christmas. so, tweet us and let us know, using the hash tag grateful. >>> "the pulse." breaking hearts across the globe. the biebs makes an unexpected announcement about his future. i'm all choked up. >>> and spreading christmas cheer. a kind gesture by a football team is a must-see "play of the these day iving with a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. at first, i took warfarin, but i wondered, "could i up my game?" my doctor told me about eliquis. and three important reasons to take eliquis instead. one, in a clinical trial, eliquis was proven to reduce the risk of stroke better than warfarin. two, eliquis had less major bleeding than warfarin. and three... unlike warfarin, there's no routine blood testing. [ male announcer ] don't s

. >>> and later "good morning america," robin roberts and josh elliott will broadcast live from st. petersgeneral audience and millions of catholics worldwide who are preparing for christmas. and we'd like to know what you are thankful for this christmas. so tweet us and let us know using the #gratefulthischristmas. >> this pope is something else. the people talk about the common touch. this man lives it. lives it. inspiring. gay rights publication. people talk about the common touch. this man lives it. >> yes, he does. >> fundamentally lives it. >> he's brought a completely different era into the vatican, which is nice. >> absolutely. we know what a blind man in new york is grateful for this season, his guide dog who saved his life literally. the 60-year-old fell on to the tracks in a subway station. >> his brave black labrador orlando leapt right down there after him barking and getting everyone's attention. they both survived by laying in the trench between the rails. >> wow. >> witnesses said it all happened so fast, there was almost no time to prevent williams from falling. >> i saw a

affairs andrea mitchell, also eugene robinson, robin wright, elliott abrams, former policy adviser to presidents reagan and george w. bush, and dr. petertarns, first time on the program. he's here because i spent more than a month with you listening to your great courses on the brief history of the world. it made me sound very smart in front of my kids, even though they weren't as interested. welcome. welcome, all of you. eugene robinson, as we think about the u.s. and the state of the world, it's still my big question. what is the big story in the u.s., about the u.s., that dominates 2014? >> well, number one, this continuing conflict between two visions of government which paralyzes our government, and in turn, paralyzes the world in that the u.s. is the center of the world economy and the world political system. more government, less government, big government, small government. this whole approach is -- this conflict is going to continue. that's one thing. other big stories, we saw, of course, our domestic surveillance, the snowden story, you've covered that in the last segment. and one story, huge story in 2013 that we kind of don