jean casarez, cnn, new york. >> thank you.l see you back here tomorrow night. a cnn spotlight "the george zimmerman interview" begins right now. >>> the words "stand your ground" are well known, but they tr trigger different reactions in a nation divided about how we punish violent crime in america. tonight, you will hear from the man at the center of it all, george zimmerman and the prosecutor who tried him and now trying to get justice in the trial of michael dunn for the murder of jordan davis. we begin with george zimmerman, an evil man who knew he could get away from with murder or bailed out from a string of bad

jean casarez for us. i want to bring in our legal analysts joey jackson and dan. and and why we continue to repiet -- there is there. you know something, i'm so glad that you're here today, lisa, particularly -- this is a strange nexus to make, but i will make it. >> go ahead. >> the injustice that has come about as some people say in some of these very highly publicized trials and the reporting of those trials sort of reminded me that that is not at all what happened in the courtroom. she did not look at a jury and say pity me i'm an orphan. but if you weren't inside that courtroom or watching responsible news, you would think she was begging a jury to let her off because she's a kennedy who had an assassinated dad. >> i think these profile cases go both ways. certainly we as the media pay more attention. and jurors bepd over backwards to favor a celebrity because many of us have stars in our eyes when it comes to celebrities, or they can go in the "new york post" direction saying she's trying to get away with something because she's a wealthy person and a high p

jean casarez, thank you for that. i want to bring in attorney, and harvard law professor, alan dershowitz. i love speaking to you about these complicated cases. two decades ago, you represented mia farrow. you discussed these charges, these accusations with her personally before it ever got out into the press, take me back and tell me what it was, when things happened and why you don't believe this was part of a custody dispute strategy. >> first of all, the facts as elkans abromowitz stated them this morning are false. the chronology is all wrong and the facts are all ng wrwrong. mia farrow did not initiate the charges. the first charges of abuse were made by a nanny, a nanny who had seen them in an inappropriate setting. that was the beginning of the situation. there was no custody fight when that allegation was made. i know, because mia farrow called me one day and told me about these allegations and asked me to come down to her house in connecticut. i brought my wife with me, who is a ph.d. in neuropsychology. we

our jean casarez is out front. what have you learned for this person in responsible?-in-law, motive, why did he do it? >> that was the bombshell, authorities just finished a press conference and we learned there was a suspect, they arrested him late this afternoon, and then he said it was his son-in-law, the son-in-law of the retired couple. we have just learned some more information tonight that in fact this man you're looking at right here, 49-year-old richard parker, that he lived in the home behind his in-laws, with their daughter. so it appears as though he was still married, but authorities convened a grand jury this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. and that grand jury returned four charges, two counts of premeditated murder, two counts of felony murder. he's being held on $1 million bail tonight. >> and for a while, they were saying, look, we might not know who it was, whether other people could be at risk. so this was a big development. now, what about the bomb itself. and we know there was questions, was it put in the mailbox, was it put on the porch? how did they get

our jean casarez at the white house in white plains. a big courtroom, had to move it just to accommodate all of the press. so apart from the applause in the courtroom, what's been the reaction to the verdict? >> reporter: you know, the reaction to the verdict, i think, overall is that it was expected. but what was unexpected, ashleigh, was that after the jury foreperson said we find the defendant not guilty of this misdemeanor, the jury was thanked for their service, they left. and then just sort of spontaneous eruption of applause. i think thanking the jury, who may have not even heard it for that verdict. but i did see kerry kennedy stand up, walk over to the two prosecutors and shake their hands. after that, i asked her if there had been any change in her life, if this influenced her in any way. the entire experience she told me no. but then she stepped outside and spoke positito the public. let's watch this. >> i want to really thank my extraordinary lawyers. the best -- the best. jerry levcourt, bill aaronwald and faith friedman. a

jean casarez is following that side of the story. what can you tell us?ight there in west virginia. while you have the issue of safety of the water, you have the legal issue. this is bankruptcy court. they filed for bankruptcy shortly after this crisis began and today is just really a preliminary matter. there will be argument on whether freedom industries' counsel can obtain their own consultants just on their own. there but i want to reiterate what elizabeth was saying. when this story was breaking, i was told by scientists and medical doctors that the one million part per standard set by the cdc, anything below that should not cause a health concern was just sort of thrown out there. they had to have a number and they had to have it fast. the fact is, when we did our independent testing there, the chemical was found in the water. yes, it was below that number but the chemical was there. and that is the heart and soul of the issue. i think it's amazing that independent consultants across the country are going to try to find out the truth of what the com

jean casarez is following the story for us. good morning. >> reporter: there's no other way to say it. it happened in the home. this elderly couple retired. they were blown up by this package bomb. the grand jury returns an inditment and it was a shocker. we'll have more right after this. ♪ [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps come back? what if the plane gets delayed? what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisinfo.com to get your complimentary q&a book, with information from experts on your co

jean casarez, cnn, new york. >> thank you. i'm don lemon and i will see you back here tomorrow night. a cnn spotlight "the george zimmerman interview" begins right now. >>> the words "stand your ground" are well known, but they tr trigger different reactions in a nation divided about how we punish violent crime in america. tonight, you will hear from the man at the center of it all, george zimmerman and the prosecutor who tried him and now trying to get justice in the trial of michael dunn for the murder of jordan davis. we begin with george zimmerman, an evil man who knew he could get away from with murder or bailed out from a string of bad choices. and so does george zimmerman take responsibility for killing trayvon martin? it is a simple question, but one that george zimmerman won't let him answer. >> well, the department of justice is investigating a civil rights investigation, and i can't answer. >> reporter: we checked and the department of justice is investigating, but charges are not expected. still, the are reluctance

. >> our legal correspondent jean casarez was inside the courtroom before kennedy's testimony, she's ow. what did you see inside? what was it like, jean? >> it was an amazing dynamic. the courtroom stood still, as it always does, when the defendant was called to the stand. but in this case, as she takes the stand, her character's put at issue and she can talk about all the good things she has done. and she's an advocate for human rights. she's the director of the robert kennedy center of justice and human rights. she really is a jet setter. last week she testified and she turns to the jury and just starts to tell them that she was in france last week, she met with john kerry. she then went to brussels, belgium, and met with the director of parliament and it went on and on. but then as far as the facts of this case because this is a dwi case, not a case about human rights and all the good she has done, she talks about she had both bottles side by side and she now believes that she took the ambien, but she said she just doesn't remember at all when she veered off the road. and the prose

thanks to all of you, ashleigh banfield, jeffrey toobin, jean casarez. we'll be right back.r yourself. and better is so easy with benefiber. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >> after more than 12 years under wrap, thousands of papers were bill clinton's personal library will be released. the clinton library will release 4,000 documents in total, 33 documents. they are looking for anything juicy. i want to ask peter hamby, is there really anything we don't know about the clintons? >> that's a really good point. they have been in the public life for so long. they volunteered on george mcgovern's campaign. there is plenty we don't know about hillary clinton. they have stage managed and carefully crafted a public image. what we try to do as reporters is try to learn more about these people personally, get inside t

jean casarez is live in new york with more on this.aul callon last hour, whether that was possible. a lot of people tweeted me angry that i even asked that question. >> you mean about the false memory. i have covered so many cases where the defense is false memory, that a memory was implanted with what is not true. that's a question of fact that we now know will never go to a jury at this point. what's so interesting about what he said, the attorney representing woody allen this morning is that the state of mind of dylan farrow probably believes that it actually happened, no responsibility he places on dylan farrow at all. all of the responsibility, he places on mia farrow. let's listen to this morning on the "today" show. >> his reaction is one of overwhelming sadness, because of what has happened to dylan. she was a pawn in a huge fight between him and mia farrow years ago. the idea she was molested was implanted in her by her mother. that memory is never going to go away. >> this all stems from a 1992 connecticut state police invest

jean casarez live with that part of the story. >> the student is facing criminal charges.t got off the phone with the kenosha police department. they confirm the student is 16 years old. and i don't think anybody would imagine it was all caught on video but it sure was. watch this. a wisconsin bus driver is out of a job after a violent fight with a passenger on board his bus. the whole thing was caught on tape. the shocking video shot inside a bus packed with high school students. shows the heated moments before a violent altercation between kenosha transit bus driver scotty wells and a teen passenger last month. the video seems to show the testy encounter was not the first time the two had exchanged words. >> i know it's you. i've been waiting to see you. >> that's that for? >> that's for your mouth. >> [ inaudible ]. >> no, when you got off the bus the last time. >> reportedly, wells told authorities he asked for the teen's information after allegedly experiencing issues with him on previous rides. the teen is seen in the video taking a seat. but a few moments later, he

for that my colleague jean casarez is holding down the fort. m guessing, jean, it's nice and warm and try where you are. i'm glad you got that seat. >> while you're experiencing blizzard like conditions and rain on to the snow, but, ashleigh, you're right. a jury of cnn and five women are in day two of deliberations in the so-called loud music murder trial. michael dunn is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old jordan davis at a gas station parking lot. the alleged motive, prosecutors say was davis' loud rap music is what set him off. now, you can hear the gunshots on the surveillance video. this morning the jury went to view additional angles from the 20-minute tape. we will bring you the verdict as soon as we get it in. and the nation's biggest cable television provider may soon get a whole lot bigger. comcast has sealed a deal to buy time warner cable for $45 billion in stock. now, that's time warner cable, not time warner parent company of this network and many others. if regulators approve, the combined compan

the details now from cnn legal correspondent, jean casarez. >> federal and state law enforcement officials announced they have charged this man, 49-year-old richard parker, in the alleged package bomb murders of retired tennessee couple, john and marian setzer. and then a bombshell. parker is their son-in-law. >> after hearing that evidence, they returned a two-count indictment of felony first degree murder. a two-count indictment of premeditated first degree murder. >> reporter: a law enforcement source says parker and the victim's daughter live in a house right behind the setzers. they share a common driveway. parker allegedly placed the package somewhere in front of the main house on monday. another source told cnn, parker left a note. >> it was clearly a functioning, destructive device, and did horrific damage, killing those two people. >> reporter: the bomb exploded after 74-year-old john setzer, a retired civil lawyer, brought it inside. he was killed instantly. his wife, 72-year-old marian, died later. the family pastor said no one could understand why parker would allegedly do this

. >> i want to bring in jean casarez. first of all, what do you think about what the pastor said?his pastor and a pastor who has been on cnn. the family was deeply religious and they have such an insight. i just got off the phone with the tennessee bureau of investigation. the question i have is why. what could be the motive for this. i was told that it's part of the investigation and that's where they are focused to understand the whys. i was told that law enforcement had spoken with richard parker. i asked when, how many times? that corroborates what pastor kevin told us on cnn saying that at the hospital when marion was in critical condition and the family was there, he saw them talk with laura, the daughter and richard the son-in-law. there is a lot we don't know, but we want to see what they have to say about the investigation. >> i'm not going to go into the particulars of the investigation, only to say that obviously the evidence led us to mr. parker. >> we don't want to discuss the make up of the discuss that was a functioning device and killed those two people. >> here ar

. >> jean casarez, our cnn legal cok correspondent. >> here thinks it is because of the drug rates they have been having. he took office last year and the detroit police department confirmed with me today that they had five very large drug raids since he took the raid that involved the swat team and border patrol and the wayne county sheriff's department that resulted in numerous arrests and prosecutions. that's what they believe is the root of this. one of the focuses of this police chief is to really cut out the drug trade and they say there local and national gangs and it's a bigger enterprise. >> beyond the chief of police that we heard from, how are federal, local officials responding to this? >> the fbi is taking it very seriously and confirmed they have an open investigation. they are following all leads beyond that. they are not commenting too much. i spoke with wim workim worthy s detroit. she said as far as charges, this is interesting. in the state of michigan, they don't have a criminal threat statute on the books. they don't have this. they tried to look at the facts and fi

joining me now, jean casarez.in reading about this, police are saying, this was a targeted shooting. shot through the driver side window. tell me what kind of dealings this victim was involved in and who could be out to get him. >> that's the big question, but i think what you're saying is fascinating, because this was a public figure. he actually restored this mansion, this castle, for $30 million. it was in disarray. and it was featured in the movie "citizen cain," very famous people were married there. he was involved and still is, in local politics, holding galas at this mansion. but the fact is, he lives on the property, walked out, apparently got into his car, but from all the facts we know at this point, someone was lying in wait. >> it doesn't appear to be an accidental shooting at this time. preliminary investigation right now does indicate a suspect was wearing a mask. >> now, here's what's interesting, too. just the skull of his head was grazed, so brooke, when he was taken to the hospital by a family m

here's some more on that from jean casarez. >> reporter: in homes across the country the continuing stormse are reporting that their bills this year are two times as high as they were last year. and experts say that's because of the increased usage. now combine that with shortages of propane and natural gas even makes this a more dire situation. bottom line, people can expect a big surprise, millions of americans paying more on their next heating bill and significant costs because of the storms and very cold temperatures. >> thanks to jean. we know it's hitting your household budget. what about the american economy overall. the bitter cold and awful conditions are enough to mess with that as well. christine romans is at the magic wall. >> reporter: this long commend winter is not only dangerous and annoying, it's hurting the economy. your heating bill will be up even if you don't have propane, some of the nation's utility companies says your natural gas heating bill could increase from 11% to 30% if you live in illinois. cold weather hurts the job market. construction is down because of th

jean casarez is here to look more into this case. >> this is really serious, because this young teend have a record from this and the bus driver saying, i need and i want my job back. the devil may be in the details. watch this. >> reporter: a wisconsin bus driver is out of a job after a violent fight with a passenger on board his bus. the whole thing was caught on tape. the shocking video shot inside a bus packed with high school students shows the heated moments before a violent altercation between the bus driver scotty wells and a teen passenger last month. the video seems to show the testy encounter was not the first time the two had exchanged words. >> i know it's you. i've been waiting to see you. that's for your mouth. [ inaudible ]. >> no. when you got off the bus the last time. >> reporter: reported edledly t authorities he asked for their identification. the teen is seen in the video taking a seat, but a few moments later, he approaches the front of the bus, and pulls the first punch. >> when that border goes, that bus pass is no longer any good. [ bleep ] -- >> get the hec