past clients included susan smith, ted kaczynski and jared loughner. all these clients, high-profile, got life sentences instead of the death penalty. >> interesting development there. thank you very much, john. >>> we have a developing story in northern california, where police are look for a suspect in the murder of an 8-year-old girl in her home. the parents of layla fowler did not have to say anything at a news conference last night. the pain on their faces said it all. cnn's paul vercammen live in valley springs, california, with the latest on the hunt for layla's killer. any new developments there? >> well, the autopsy confirmed that young layla died of multiple stab wounds. she was stabbed a number of times. the authorities withholding how many times and where because that's a key point of evidence. also, no suspects composite out here. no prime suspect. and that has residents out here very frustrated. sheriff's deputies on foot and in patrol cars made their presence seen. this is where layla fowler, the 8-year-old girl stabbed to death in her h

. >> reporter: james holmes in colorado, jared loughner in arizona, seung-hui cho at virginia tech, all health problems and all able to buy guns to kill. background checks stop others like them? >> the common ground rests on a simple proposition and that is that criminals and the dangerously mentally ill shouldn't have guns. but it's not simple at all for one thing who's considered dangerously mentally ill? under federal law, it's someone found by a judge to be quote "a mental defective or someone committed to any mental institution." but state standards vary widely and their mental health records often don't make it into the database used to make federal background checks. among the concerns? privacy protection. the senate bill makes it clear that sharing these records won't violate federal law. >> what we need to do is we need to get all the records from the states into the federal system. today over 30 states barely report any records. take tennis maynard, suspected of killing a west virginia sheriff ten months after being released from a mental hospital. he could buy a gun because t

she's represented the unabomber, eric rudolph and tucson shooter jared loughner.e death penalty. joining me for tonight's law and disorder, attorneys gloria allred and thomas meserowe. i can't think of two finer legal minds to discuss what is a complicated issue. start with you, tom, if i may. this whole issue of miranda rights, from where i look at it, he's entitled to the same rights as any other american citizen. whether people like the fact he's an american citizen or not, he is an american citizen. >> well, i agree with that. however, we have to strike a balance between individual liberties and freedoms and national security problems. the fact that we're having so spirited a debate as this shows how great america is because we do protect individuals, we protect their liberty, their freedom, we protect everybody under the law as equal. by the same token, we're at war with terrorism so the question of how you get information without violating someone's civil liberties, not jeopardizing their right to due process and a fair trial is an ongoing debate and it's wh

she has represented ted kaczynski, susan smith and jared loughner. tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the april 15 blast which killed three people and injured more than 260 others. >>> federal and state inspectors say they plan to open a probe into the platinum magic carpet ride. the maryland bus company is facing more scrutiny after an accident in ohio. about a dozen new york city high school students were thrown from their seats when one of the company's charter buses overturned in columbus, ohio while returning from st. louis. fortunately no one suffered a serious injury. the cause of the crash is under investigation. the bus is operated by platinum magic carpet ride in waldorf, maryland. the man behind platinum once ran lydia bus tours which was closed down last year. >> they changed their colors. they're abc trucking company or bus company one day and xyz company the next day. >> the drivers and vehicles of platinum magic carpet ride have never been inspected. >>> jury deliberations are set to get under way in t

she once defended jared loughner, the tucson shooter. joe johns joins me tonight along with nick payton walsh. this female dna found on one of the pressure cookers, what more can you tell us? what might it mean? >> there's no way to tell at this point, quite frankly. what could it mean, we don't know. one law enforcement source said the dna could belong to anyone who came in contact with any of the consumer products that were used to make the bomb. just the same, they want to see if they can track it down and of course, they started with the wife of the widow of tamerlan tsarnaev. >> so joe, you can't assume that it was somebody who helped make the bomb. it could be the hair of a salesperson who sold one of the components, you're saying? >> that's right. it may well not implicate anyone of anything, anderson. they have apparently been trying to get a dna sample from the widow for a couple of days now but all we know at this point, they have dna, we're not even sure whether they mean a hair or what, and apparently, it belongs to a female.

this judith clarke also represented unabomber ted kaczynski and tucson shooter jared loughner.eath penalty getting life sentences, instead. we're now joined by richard barrett. he's the former director of counterterrorism operations for mi-6 and director of the suppan group. let me start by asking you about this dna evidence. investigators say they're finding evidence of female dna on one of the explosive devices. they're looking at the wife of the suspect tamerlan tsarnaev. how many different ways can dna get on a device like this? >> well it could be put there by somebody in the shop from which he bought it, i guess. it could be put by somebody who is handling it in some other way. or even, i guess, it could be put there by a victim of the bomb itself, in that the fragment may have connected with somebody, and left their dna on it. so there are various possibilities as to how it got on there. >> of course one of the things they're trying to look into is if this woman, katherine russell, the wife, what she may have known in the days leading up to or after the attacks. one of t

she most recently represented jared loughner, who pleaded guilty to the tucson shootings that wounded gabby giffords. in exchange the government did not seek the death penalty in that case. brian? >> pete williams starting us off from the d.c. newsroom tonight. pete, thanks. >>> throughout the past decade of deaths and injuries to americans fighting in afghanistan, including a cost to this nation of more than $600 billion, americans have been told our point man there is the popularly elected president hamid karzai, and we have been reassured he has u.s. interests at heart. well, that took a blow today when we woke up to the news that karzai has been receiving bags of cash from the cia among others. that would be u.s. taxpayer money. our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell has been following this story and is also in the d.c. bureau tonight. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. somewhat incredibly hamid karzai today confirmed that the cia has been dropping off bags of cash at his national security office for years. he says it isn't millions. it's only

. >> reporter: james holmes in colorado, jared loughner in arizona, seung-hui cho at virginia tech, allith mental health problems and all able to buy guns to kill. would proposed new background checks stop others like them? >> the common ground rests on a simple proposition and that is that criminals and the dangerously mentally ill shouldn't have guns. >> reporter: but it's not simple at all for one thing who's considered dangerously mentally ill? under federal law, it's someone found by a judge to be quote "a mental defective or someone committed to any mental institution." but state standards vary widely and their mental health records often don't make it into the database used to make federal background checks. among the concerns? privacy protection. the senate bill makes it clear that sharing these records won't violate federal law. >> what we need to do is we need to get all the records from the states into the federal system. >> today over 30 states barely report any records. >> reporter: take tennis maynard, suspected of killing a west virginia sheriff ten months after being rel

i mean, look, jared loughner was a terrorist. timothy mcveigh was a terrorist. adam lanza was a terrorist. they were christians. >> bill o'reilly is using this text to condemn muslims in general. listen. >> it's all about motivation and it is about a specific group. most muslims on this earth are good people. but they are not helping to neutralize the jihad. they are not standing up against it in any numbers. and that includes american muslims. >> first of all, what do you mean they are not standing up? they were the ones that turned in the guys that were just arrested this week in canada. they were the ones that shouted down the older suspect and told him if he kept talking like that, he would not be allowed in the mosque. it's an outright lie. there have been any number of islamic leaders and lay people that have helped and turned in terrorists and congressman, i think we need to be outraged by seeing people just blanketed by people that are irresponsible and just want to take cheap shots for reasons that are beyond me at this time and period in our history. >

she represented nation's most notorious killer, unl that bomber, jared loughner, susan smith, the woman who drowned her children in south carolina. this many could as fox news learns that female dna was found on parts of the bomb that were recovered. fbi was at the family home of tamerlan's widow said to taken away evidence, bags of evidence, including some marked dna samples. phil mudd, former cia counterintelligence analyst out of memphis. good morning it you. >> good morning. bill: a lot we don't know clearly. let's work through this one at a time. is the wife now considered a suspect? how do you handle her? >> i don't think suspect is the word i would use. she is probably a person of interest. you want to know whether she was not only a participant in the plot, but i think the bigger question if she knew something was afoot even if she doesn't know there was conspiracy going on. bill: do you question her? i assume at great length, right? >> absolutely. she will want to have a lawyer there. fairly young person. i'm sure she is a little confused, disoriented. lost her husband. has to

jared loughner had a 33-bullet magazine. he killed seven and injured 12. that's 19.nly, and he was disarmed. putting the second magazine in. had he only had a 10-bullet magazine, the worst he could have done is hit 10, not 19. so nine people might be alive or not critically injured. gabrielle giffords might still be in congress. so don't tell me that it won't be effective. i forget who it was, but someone testified before congress and said, high-capacity magazine ban will take the "mass" out of mass murder. >> that's also a question, wes. now the goal posts have been moved so far -- >> it's ridiculous. >> sort of the nra, but high-capacity magazines aren't on the table. assault weapons ban isn't on the table. what we're talking about the sort of the barest of the bare. i guess the question and the worry for some hoping to see stronger gun safety reform coming outzez this, does that end the debate. if they pass the toomey/manchin deal, is that all there is toe come for the foreseeable future? >> it won't be and it shouldn't be. even if we were able to move on this ca

now fully understands that six people died and 13 were injured because a deranged young man, jared loughnert to assassinate her. she brought him up unsolicited. kelly spoke at his sentencing as giffords sat stoicily staring him down. to sit in the courtroom and look at the man who shot you through the head. what was that like? >> beady eyes. >> well, yeah, he had some interesting expressions on his face. and she did not look away. she stared him -- >> beady eyes. >> did he look back at you? >> oh, yes, yes, yes. >> did you get a sense that there was any kind of remorse? any kind of understanding of what he put you through and what he did to the six people who didn't survive? >> i'm so sad. mentally ill. >> newly released court documents reveal that loughner's parents new anything was wrong and they did not get him help. i'm curious, have you ever heard from his parents? >> no. >> would you want to? >> not really. >> as a parent, you know, you certainly on one level you can e empathize with somebody that the kid did a horrific thing. at the same time, there were indications of his mental ill

you look at jared loughner. i have it here. it's frightening.sychologists said she saw signs of schizophrenia. but we have a classmate of his wrote you will see this guy on the news with an automatic weapon. and then he shoots 19 people. and six died. but this has been ignored because the focus has been on guns. it's politicize. >> it's not -- it's not -- it's all, you know, to said that we're focused -- we shouldn't focus on guns. >> we haven't heard about mental health. >> we have heard a lot about it. >> the average american, 90% of americans want automatic weapons out of people's hands. it's that simple. >> 40% of guns in this country are purchased without a background check. can you imagine 40% of passengers? let me finish. can you imagine 40% of passengers getting only your airplane? >> he passed a background check. that's one thing. >> so to the point, what she's saying is we can't just pass laws to make us feel better if they're not getting to the heart of the probable. i think if the president had run with it, there would have been a lo

the criminal defense attorney who represented the unabomber, olympic park bomber and jared loughner,iffords' shooter, now represents dzhokhar

the most high-profile death penalty cases in recent years, including the arizona mass shooter, jared loughner, atlanta olympic bomber eric rudolph and unabomber, ted kaczynski. all received life in prison instead of the death penalty. joe johns is working this part of the story. you're getting new information. i suspect by judy clarke coming in, that seems to be a signal they're going to do whatever they can to avoid the federal death sentence for this suspect, joe? >> reporter: that would certainly make sense, and obviously in death penalty cases that is generally the way the story goes, wolf. what we can tell you, though, is that we do know preliminary talks have been under way for a while, perhaps the last several days to -- between the justice department and the defense team to try to, at the very least, open up the door so the surviving suspect, dzhokhar tsarnaev, can actually restart conversations with investigators and obviously, as a part of that, wolf, the question would be whether the death penalty could be taken off of the table. quite frankly, at this stage, the justice department

she recently represented jared loughner. >> joining me from boston, nbc news national correspondent michaelthanks for joining me. how important is the new information about the female dna found on at least one of the bombs? >> i don't think we know yet. i think this is a sort of standard investigative technique the fbi would go through, as pete pointed out in the piece, it could have well have come from the employee where the pressure cookers were sold. the larger points is in many respects, the needle moved in this investigation. last week, the general tone you were getting from the fbi is it was these two guys, we found no evidence of any outside accomplices, no indication of ties to international terror groups. the case is moving towards rapid closure. i think now the tone and what you're hearing from investigators is somewhat different and somewhat nuanced. this is an open question. there are some large unanswered questions here, six months in russia, large time particularly in dagestan that ties to this radical mosque. did tamerlan tsarnaev visit that mosque. did he meet with some of t

unabomber ted kaczynski, eric rude ol responsible for the atlanta olympics bombing and most recently jared loughnerrampage in tucson, arizona killing six people and severely wounding congresswoman gabby giffords. all of them escaped the death penalty getting life sentences instead. >> the primary goal that miriam is going to have is saving her client's life. and the first step toward doing that is making a connection with the client, establishing rapport so that he trusts her so that she can get the information that she needs from him and so that ultimately he respects and listens to her legal advice. >> in high profile cases like this the public often delivers a guilty verdict before the trial even starts, but for dzhokhar tsarnaev's lawyers, he is a 19-year-old who is facing the potential end of his life. joining us now cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin. jeffrey, thanks for joining us. the government wants dzhokhar to keep talking. can the defense team use that to avoid the death penalty? >> there are two larger strategies the defense will want to follow here. one is as you suggest trying to figur

fully understands that six people died, and thirteen were injured because a deranged young man, jared loughnerassinate her. in fact, she brought him up unsolicited. >> loughner. >> reporter: kelly spoke at his sentencing as giffords sat st c stoically. to look at the man who shot you through the head, what was that like? >> beady eyes. >> well, yeah. he had -- some interesting expressions on his face. >> yes. >> and she did not look away. she stared him -- >> beady eyes. >> reporter: did he look back at you? >> yes, yes. yes. >> reporter: did you get a sense that there was any kind of remorse, any kind of understanding? of what he put you through and what he did to the six people who didn't survive? >> i'm so sad. mentally ill. >> reporter: newly released court documents reveal that loughner's parents knew something was wrong. that he heard voices and exhibited other alarming behavior and they did not get him help. >> i'm curious. have you ever heard from his parents? >> no. >> no. >> reporter: would you want to? >> mmmm, not really. >> as a parent, you know, you certainly on one level can emp

you may remember she was the lead lawyer in the jared loughner in the other case.o it's certainly looking like a possible option here. >> this attorney who is an expert in capital cases tends to deal, is that right, negotiate? >> well, she's an opponent of the death penalty. and she often views her job as trying to find a way for these defendants to avoid capital punishment. now, this is a death-eligible case here because the charge that the younger tsarnaev is charged with, two counts, both of which carry a maximum sentence of death, and where death results. the government hasn't yet said that it would seek the death penalty. although i think it's a fair safe bet as this goes along, they certainly would. >> is this shaping up in your eye as an all or nothing? in other words, for the lawyer -- the younger son obviously lawyered up with good attorneys. would the position of the defendant be all or nothing? i'm not talking at all. or you're getting it all? >> no, i think that -- well, i guess those are the two options here. you either plead not guilty and go to trial

one was the woman who said she helped take one of the magazines away from jared loughner the man whoa family member of a virginia tech victim. that is the kind of emotion you're seeing still it didn't really seem to get the senators, the ones they needed to get across the aisle. the reason you got a whole bunch of different reasons from some being lobbied. senator heler of nevada said he thinks it is too much paperwork and wouldn't get to the heart of the goal which was to be to curb gun violence. you saw jeff flake from arizona, very close with gabby giffords, they were lobbying him hard and he said this goes too far. some of those kinds of statements. let me tell you the raw politics. that is that there are a number of issues before the senate that some senators are going to have to take tough votes on. immigration reform and maybe not a vote but often times in terms of a position gay marriage. there is a feeling that some of these kind of middle of the roaders on the republican and democratic side decided this issue, this gun issue, there was too much risk and not enough reward to

bomber, the guy who bombed the atlanta olympics, eric rudolph, more recently tucson shooter, jared lee loughner, the one who shot gabriel giffords among others. all of them received life sentences instead of the death penalty, not to message mentionn smith. remember the woman who drowned her children? she got life sentences for all of these folks. what does that mean for dzhokhar tsarnaev. we'll have more on that just ahead. >>> breaking news on the deadly benghazi terror attack. from 9/11 of last year after reports that the administration is blocking some of the survivors of that attack from testifying before congress or even speaking meaningfully with their lawyers. fox news has learned that at least four officials from state and cia have retained lawyers or are in the process of doing so as they prepare to reveal some sensitive information about the attack on our consulate in benghazi to our congress they want to reveal it, but they claim they've been sta stymied d are threatened not to do so. our own ed henry asked the president about it during the news conference this morning. >> people in

. >> reporter: james holmes in colorado, jared loughner, all with mental health problems and all abley guns to kill. would proposed new background checks stop them? >> the common ground rests on a simple proposition that is criminals and the dangerous by mentally ill shouldn't have guns. >> reporter: it's not simple as all. who is considered dangerously mentally ill? under federal law if someone found by a judge to be "a mental defective or someone committed to any mental institution" but state standards vary widely and mental health records often don't make it into the data base used to make federal background checks. among the concerned privacy protection. the senate bill makes it clear sharing these records won't violate federal law. >> what we need to do is get all the records from the states into the federal system. today over 30 states barely report any records. >> reporter: take tennis maynard suspected of killing a sheriff ten months after being released from a mental hospital. he could buy a gun because the state was slow in sending his record. judge deemed cho mentally ill b

helpful that provided netorney judy clarke who most recently represented massachusetts murderer jared loughnerue it wolf? >> thanks very much. let's dig deeper right now withr national security analyst, former fbi assistant director tom fuentes. thanks very much. we did get a statement from the fbi after visiting katherine russell's parents' house in rhode island. she's the widow of tsarnaev. we are there as part of our ongoing investigation, but we aren't permitted to discuss specific'z aspects of our case. how interested do you believe, the fbi is in getting whatever katherine russell knows? >> well i think what they'd be looking for, for sure is if he was practicing with explosives ifwy he went out in some rural area and was working with the explosives then he might have clothes, shoes, jackets, back in the home that have the powder residue that matches the evidence used in the boston marathon bombings. key thing. >> we did see some dna evidence carried out. it was listed as dna taken out of the home today. >> that would be his skin or hair particles on the clothing or other articles that w

she has represented several high-profile defendants in the past, including ted kaczynski and jared loughnerit would be no surprise at all if tsavraev seeks some kind of cooperation deal to avoid the death penalty. charlie, norah. >> bob orr, thank you. with us, john miller, former assistant fbi director. >> good morning. >> the fbi spent several hours at the home of tamerlan's widow yesterday taking dna evidence. do they think she was involved? >> they don't know. but they have female dna on a bomb and a bomb that came from parts of it probably came from the apartment where they lived and this becomes a critical moment, because if that's her dna, their relationship with her may change and then the question what do you do with that? she's already represented by a lawyer, but it certainly become as a circumstantial evidence piece that says she may have handled the device or parts of the device and that opens the door to she may have knownful. >> has she been cooperative thus far with investigators? >> cooperative to the fact that she has been cooperating, but i would think they had a court or

everyone's attention by blaming mental illness, gee, take a look at adam lanza, take a look at jared loughnertake a look at james holmes, take a look at mr. roberts, the man who shot up the mall and murdered two people. and they're crazy and that's the problem, it's not about gender and it's not about race. >> megyn: obviously, there have been, unfortunately, many mass murderers who are not white men. i mean, there's been too many in general and too many people of color and people who are white as well. john alan mohammed, the d.c. sniper, and the man who the shot up virginia tech comes to mind. and the folks expanding on this further, leslie, the wall street journal did an interesting retort to the twins' piece, points out that some of the folks on board with this theory have taken it to another level, suggesting it's white men who commit niece crimes and that it's white men who advocate on behalf of guns in this country because they have another issue, and they cite somebody from buzz flash as saying, and i quote, you won't find anyone willing to dare say much in the media, a good percentag

clark defended the unabomber ted could zin ski, and jared loughner who went on a shooting rampage inelle giffords. >> the primary goal that miriam is going to have is saving her client's life. and the first step towards doing that, is making a connection with the client. establishing a rapport so he trusts her, so that she can get the information that she needs from him. and so that ultimately, he respects and listens to her legal advice. >> legal experts say the strategy right now for tsarnaev's defense attorneys is to slow the process down. the nation is angry right now. they want to slow things down, so that they can work their magic in the coming months when the nation's not paying as much attention. wolf? >> jake, thanks very much. jake tapper in boston. >>> when we come back, for the first time, the nba player jason collins now talking about making history. stand by. r not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now tha

car into a lake, eric rudolph, the olympic park bomber, and most recently, the a name you know, jared loughnerople and including congresswoman gabby giffords. six of those people died. he made sure they did not get death row. lease we'll and doug burns, a former criminal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. everyone wants to see justice in this case. there is lot of emotion that comes up with the names we read, lis. the fact they did not get the death penalty. what do you think her presence means for this case? >> i think it means she will be very much of a pitbull. that is her reputation. she works 80 hours a week. she goes for the technicalities in the law. so weapons of mass destruction, she will look for something in that charge. will look for any kind of technicality she can find. she will be trying to do anything she can do from a legal standpoint to take the death penalty off the table. will she be successful? i hope not, frankly. >> well, apparently what she does, which is her job is to take the most heinous, type of situation and somehow miraculously i'll put it, humanize the per

in arizona jared loughner pass ad background check too. he shot congresswoman gabrielle giffords and 18 other people killing six. national rifle association president david keen says you have to go back to this murder scene in 2007 to show where background checks clearly should have made a difference. >> the one shooter that might have been prevented by background checks and was not was the virginia tech shooter. because he had, in fact, been adjudicated to be potentially violent. >> he had been found mentally ill by a court and should have been denied sale but slipped through the cracks anyway. the state changed its laws to keep it from happening again. advocates of universal checks say it would push more gun sales into the current instant check system weeding out more dangerous buyers. >> this just takes that and carry to it gun shows and internet sales and things like that. so, of course, it will have an effect. >> the critics say the current background check system needs to be fixed before expanding it. >> there's literally tens or hun

we were all outraged and horrified as well we should have been by the murders in tucson by jared lee loughnerng the shooting of gabrielle giffords. that ended in a plea bargain. jared lee loughner pleaded guilty to a crime that carried life in prison rather than the death penalty. time helps the defense and the defense is going to want to kick this can down the road as long as humanly possible. >> all right, jeffrey toobin, sunny hostin and larry mackey, thank you so much. >>> up next, we'll talk to our correspondent, brian todd who has been here. in fact, we are learning new information about this mosque in cambridge. i was in cambridge all day friday and these two young men lived in this apartment on norfolk street just down the road was this mosque. getting some new information about how -- from the emimam, wt was said about whether they attended. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or