kelly phelps, outside the courtroom where pistorius will arrive a short time from now.ppreciate it. thank you. >> he should be there in a half-hour, as soon as his begins, we will bring it you to. >>> first, we return to our top story, if and when key parts of the missing airliner are retrieved, american experts may step up their involvement into the investigation. that's in addition to the u.s. vessel already joining the hunt. that story coming up. >>> also, we'll hear from the parents of one of the flight's passengers who remain hopeful he is still alive. why relocating manufacturingpany to upstate new york? i tell people it's for the climate. the conditions in new york state are great for business. new york is ranked #2 in the nation for new private sector job creation. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york - dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. you'll get a warm welcome in the new new york. see if your business qualifies at startupny.com

cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is at the courthouse in pretoria. kelly, pistorius has spent more time on the stand than any other witness in this trial. this, though, is going to wrap up pretty soon, right? >> reporter: yes. we expect -- we heard this morning, mr. nel asked for a postponement, essentially, after pistorius has concluded his testimony, and he indicated that he should be finished with cross examination today. and then all that's left after that with regards to mr. pistorius's testimony is the opportunity for his legal counsel to re-examine him, which should be significantly shorter than cross examination. >> the prosecutor also asked for a two-week postponement, a two-week recess, i guess. tell us about that. >> reporter: well, really, it appears to be more practical and personal reasons. in south africa, we have a speight of public holidays coming up, so over that two-week period, there would really only be a few active court days. and nel, with the agreement of barry roux, has requested that the trial should be put on hold over those

kelly phelps in pretoria. anks, kelly. >>> also breaking news in the search for missing malaysia flight 370. crews detected new signals in the indian ocean. new audio signals that could be from the black boxes. now, account wreckage be found before the batteries run out? and could we finally learn why this plane vanished midair without a trace? investigators have a very good hope that they're narrowing in on this jet. we're live next. he conversation. she didn't tell him that her college expenses were going up. or that she maxed out her card during spring break. when the satellite provider checked his credit, he found out his daughter didn't pay her bills. but he's not worried. now he checks his credit report and score at experian.com, allowing him to keep track of his credit and take a break of his own. experian. live credit confident. female announcer: it's sleep train's interest free for 3 event. get three years interest-free financing on beautyrest black, stearns & foster, serta icomfort; even tempur-pedic.

cnn legal analyst kelly phelps at the courthouse in pretorius for us right now. lly, walk us through what prosecutors are trying to prove here and what the prosecutor's asking him specifically about shooting reeva steenkamp. really compelling testimony happening at this moment. >> reporter: what the prosecutor's trying to do is he's trying to now hone in to specific details about pistorius's version of events, and one by one, try to illustrate that they are so improbable, there is such a lack of a reasonable explanation for why he would have behaved in that way, that the only reasonable inference or deduction that the judge can make from that is that he must, in fact, not be telling the truth, he must be lying. >> fascinating. when you listen to this talk, all of this conversation about the security in his house, why he didn't call, or why he doesn't know who he called after he was shot at. are they trying to prove that he's made this big story about being afraid, which is really the premise of shooting reeva steenkamp, is that he was very afraid that someone was

cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is live at the courthouse in pretoria. kelly, it seems like this prosecutor is trying to find inconsistency in his testimony. how is pistorius holding up, his believability holding up here? >> reporter: well, he certainly faced a grueling day of searing questioning about all small, finite details to do with his version of events and probabilities around that. so far, he's managed to maintain his composure and he's answering back. but in a sense, that composure and the answers he's giving back is almost guiding gerrie nel on more, to become more aggressive with him. so, we're certainly a battle of the worlds in court going on this morning. >> talk a little bit about this autopsy evidence about when reeva steenkamp ate or did not eat, and really, what is the point here the prosecutor's trying to make, that oscar pistorius has just lied about his version of events? what is the point of all that line of questioning? >> reporter: absolutely. with that particular piece of evidence, gerrie nel has clearly suggested that it is proo

. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is at the courthouse in pretoria. lly, talk a little bit about what pretorius said. despite all the consistencies, his story about handling reeva's body seems to match what he said earlier. what do you make of it? >> reporter: absolutely. and in fact, the state tried to use that to the advantage of the strategy they've been employing. so, we saw nel questioning him for far shorter period over that portion of the evening's events and then put to the court and to mr. pistorius that the reason they don't disagree on any of this is because this is the part of the story that both sides say the same thing. but with regard to the crucial part of the story, that being the moments that he shot her and what he was thinking in those moments, the reason now so many discrepancies there, and therefore, cause for cross examination, is because mr. nel asserts he is not telling the truth. so, clearly, he was trying to tie up this very long process of cross examination by emphasizing the core contention that he has been maintaining the

. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps live for us this morning at the courthouse in pretoria. lly, this prosecutor really hammering oscar pistorius. has he been effective so far, do you think, in poking holes in oscar pistorius's defense, that this was all along an accident? >> reporter: well, he's certainly been effective in terms of pointing out some key inconsistencies in his version of events and also omissions in terms of pieces of information, for example, that the l.e.d. light was blue, that he hasn't mentioned the bail that he's now mentioned in cross examination. but of course, one has to remember that the burden of proof that the prosecutor has to meet in terms of what he's trying to achieve with these inconsistencies is very high indeed, and that's why he is spending so much time and so many days, in fact, on cross examining pistorius in this manner, because he will be keenly aware that just a few inconsistencies is not going to meet the bar for the judge of beyond a reasonable doubt, because pistorius doesn't have to prove his version of events. the state has to pro

cnn legal analyst kelly phelps live outside the courthouse for us in pretoria this morning. t do you make of these messages? i mean, on the one hand, you know, he's reading reeva steenkamp's words, saying she was afraid of him, she was scared of him. on the other hand, there are a lot of other messages that are quite loving and show that they had, you know, gotten over these tiffs. >> reporter: absolutely, and i think that's what the state is clearly trying to achieve through this testimony this morning. they're saying that, yes, those fights happened, i acknowledge that, i take responsibility for that, but one needs to put them in the context of the normal ups and downs of any relationship. and if we put on the record all of the positive relationships, they so far outweigh the negative ones, which had been resolved and moved on from, that they can barely be considered relevant as to what he was or wasn't thinking on that night in question. >> hear his voice cracking. i mean, obviously, this is difficult for him, you know. he isn't on camera, though, while testifying. we can

kelly phelps, thanks so much for that. i know you want to get back to watching the testimony that's happening right now in that courtroom. thanks. >>> also happening right now, ukraine warning pro-russian protesters to stand down or else, as russian troops gather at the border. is an invasion coming? we are live with the latest developments next. bulldog: [yawning] i can't wait to get to mattress discounters good and early for the tempur-pedic bonus event. choose $300 in free gifts, and, get up to 48 months interest-free financing with any tempur-pedic mattress. ♪ mattress discounters >>> happening now in eastern ukraine, protesters showing no sign of backing down, days after barricading themselves inside government offices and demanding their right to secede from ukraine and join russia. this as russian troops mass along the border. nato says there are some 40,000 soldiers there now with some equipment and no indication that they might pull back. phil black live in rostov-on-don in russia. that's right along the border. p

cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is at the courthouse in pretoria. elly, explain what prosecutors are trying to do here. is it trying to establish -- the watches aside -- trying to establish that pistorius maybe didn't or shouldn't have had the extreme fear he claims he had about intruders or crime at his house? >> reporter: well, they're not suggesting necessarily that he shouldn't have had it, because that's what goes to reasonableness, which would be the lesser culpable homicide charge. what they're trying to do is establish the objective surrounding fact, that there was objectively no reason for him to fear crime, in order to suggest to the judge that the only reasonable deduction she can make from that is that, as a matter of fact, he was not afraid of crime. so, in other words, they're using it as a basis on which to suggest that pistorius is lying about his version of events. >> kelly, it seems to me up until this point, really until now, the prosecutor's been circling around, circling around, close in and closing in on pistorius, but he hasn't

. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is live in pretoria in south africa for us. kelly, some very compelling questions, very compelling testimony this morning. the prosecution really going into oscar pistorius, asking him very specific questions, justifications for many of these text messages that went back and forth between oscar pistorius and reeva steenkamp. what's he trying to establish with the nature of their relationship? >> reporter: well, i mean, absolutely. he's essentially going for the jugular with character assassination this whole court session so far. and what he's trying to do is build on the narrative that he's been implying throughout the trial, that nel has been implying throughout the trial, that oscar pistorius is a hot-headed and self-obsessed, violent temperament who was prone, who had a likelihood towards behavior that would lead to the murder of his girlfriend. so, it's an inference that he's essentially setting up for the judge to draw. but it's therefore very important to remember the legal rules around evidence in south africa, because t

cnn legal analyst kelly phelps joins us live from pretoria in south africa this morning. good morning, kelly. >> reporter: morning. >> give us the latest from the courtroom. tell us about this pathologist who's testifying. >> reporter: well, the pathologist who is the defense's expert witness is an incredibly experienced pathologist. he's been the state pathologist on three separate occasions. he's conducted over 25,000 autopsies within his career. so, he's certainly a reliable expert witness for the court. and so far, he has pointed to two key inconsistencies with the state's pathology evidence. the first relates to the gastric evidence, which the state's relied on in order to suggest an inconsistency with pistorius's version of events, that they had gone to bed at 10:00, suggesting that reeva steenkamp had eaten at about 1:00 in the morning. the second issue that he's been focusing on is what's called wound ballistics. essentially, what he's doing with this evidence is striking doubt into the state's version of events that the gunshots would have been fired in a more slo

. >> kelly phelps joins us live from pretoria, south africa.th these text messages, because the prosecution is using them in a very interesting way. he's asking pistorius to explain what reeva steenkamp meant in some of these messages, why she was scared, why she felt teased, why she was disgruntled. >> reporter: he's clearly trying -- well, he was clearly trying to back pistorius against a wall and essentially force him to blame the victim for the fight. this is never a good position for an accused person to be in, and i think he was fairly successful at doing that. but it is important to place this evidence in its legal context. in south africa, character evidence is generally not admissible, and it's only been admissible in this case because the accused himself raised evidence of his good character. so, the judge will be very keenly aware of that and the limited persuasive value that character evidence can have in terms of her overall determination. >> state of mind. they're trying to establish what his state of mind might have been before,

. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is live in pretoria, south africa. some really, really compelling testimony again here this morning, and this time, i mean, this prosecutor is really hammering oscar pistorius, kelly. >> reporter: he absolutely is. i mean, he's going for the jugular in terms of character evidence. but from a legal perspective, i think it's important to place that into context, because this is all character evidence. and we have to remember that had pistorius, in terms of the rules of evidence in south africa, had pistorius not raised evidence of his good character, gerrie nel would never have been allowed to raise any evidence of his bad character. so, while it is very compelling, it's also somewhat surprising that quite so much time and so much of his case in cross examination is being spent on a portion of evidence that he may never have been allowed to raise in the first place. >> how is the demeanor of oscar pistorius now? we know just a couple days ago, the judge adjourned for the day very early, at 2:00 in the afternoon your time,

. >> kelly phelps. she's been giving fantastic context this entire time. we'll bring you the cross-examination as soon as it gets underway. if you're watching in the united states, "early start" and "new day" will also have special coverage throughout the morning. >>> first, what goes up must come down. u.s. markets plunged thursday, just a day after making decent gains, as well. >> yeah. indeed. the tech-heavy nasdaq led the losses down more than 3%, and the dow suffered its third worst pointses loss of the year. >> let's show what it looks like. this is the dow's performance the last five days. we've seen a spectacular slide since friday's highs. it's now down, what is that, 2.5% for the year. alison kosik wraps up the rough day on the street. >> reporter: the sell-off intensified with big names like google, microsoft, and priceline tumbling. analysts said investors wanted to get out of expensive stocks and move to cheaper ones, especially at the start of first quarter earnings season. the dow plunged 266 points to 16,170, its third biggest sell-off of t

. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is live outside the courthouse in pretoria. let's talk about this testimony. you know, it's surprising to hear the defense bringing up their relationship, surprising and probably important to hear oscar pistorius himself reading these words where she says, sometimes i'm afraid of you, i'm scared of you. >> reporter: i think it's very important to hear him reading out those text messages, because in a sense, it's reflective of him taking responsibility for his own issues in that relationship, but what has been very important for the defense's case, and they've spent quite some time on it in court, is putting those text message into context. so, they've read out many of the text messages that the state chose not to read out that suggested that those fights that were eluded to in those four messages had, in fact, been resolved and they had been moved on from. and also, equally, some text messages from reeva steenkamp in contrast to the one where she said she was afraid of him, where she actually said that he makes her feel safe. a

senior citizen legal analyst kelly phelps has been following the trial since day one.ns us from outside the courtroom. kelly, how do you read his emotional state? it it show him as someone -- does it show him as someone who can't control his emotions, or does it give an open window over how tormented he is over what he was an accident? >> reporter: i think in terms of his testimony in chief, it's unlikely to have any impact on the judge's determination. i think it's clearly linked to his trauma in the aftermath of the event, rather than being seen as an indication of what he was actually thinking when he fired the gun. it certainly can be damaging to him if he cannot put a coherence and clear count of his version of event on the record because, of course, the record is all the judge can rely on to make her decision. where emotions will become potentially much more problematic is during cross-examination. and particular ly there the emotion of anger. it's to unnerve him and get him angry and aggressive, that could certain be a negative determination in her trial. she's

. >> kelly phelps is outside the courthouse in pretoria. kelly, that was quite an exchange.e prosecution trying to do here? >> the prosecution is definitely trying to go after him with aggression, unnerve him and through unnerving him trip him up. they'll try and trip him up on two grounds. they'll first three try to get him to reveal a more aggressive side of his personality which is always the portrait of him they've painted. that he's this very volatile and aggressive personality. and they'll try to get him to demonstrate that for them on the stand. the second thing they'll try to trip him up on is if there's any inconsistencies in his statement. the hope is by going in aggressively, he loses his train of thought and lets something slip that he was trying to hold back when he was more composed. >> on the facts themselves right now, where we sit as he testifies to the prosecution this morning, what kind of factual case did oscar pistorius lay out yesterday and factually speaking, sdwhat the prosecution need to do to undermine that? >> well, we always have to remember that,

stay with us. >>> kelly phelps standing by in pretoria for what we can expect later today as the oscar pistorius trial gets under way. kelly, as we look at this last day, what do you think will happen before they go on that almost three-week-long adjournment? >> reporter: well, we expect them to conclude with mr. dixon's testimony. and it's probably unlikely that they'll bring a new witness onto the stand because they won't want that witness to be impeached from having contact with the legal team until the postponement ends. and so it will be more today of what we saw yesterday, focusing away from the emotion of the trial back to the pivotal facts of the case. and trying to allow her wounds and the other physical evidence in the trial to tell the story that they can tell and see if that story supports the defense version of events or the state's version of events. so much more detailed, searing cross-examination. and very factually oriented. >> okay, kelly, we appreciate that. thank you for being with us. obviously, yet another big day to come before they take that long break. and if y

well, as we wait for court to start, let's go to cnn legal analyst kelly phelps.nd she joins us live from the courthouse in pretoria. let's look at what we can expect out of court proceedings today. >> reporter: well, we can certainly expect gerrie nel to continue with his aggressive strategy to try to trip oscar pistorius up. and essentially, what he's doing with the strategy is trying to set up a track record that impugns pistorius' credibility. the burden he needs to meet is very high. so he needs to set up a scenario with the only reasonable inference that the judge can draw. because with the whole track record with inconsistencies and omissions is that pistorius cannot be telling the truth. >> so when you look at what the prosecutor is trying to do, tell us how successful he has been so far. >> reporter: well, it's very difficult to tell at this stage, because of judge takes all of the evidence in the balance of the whole trial when she makes her determination. he certainly has managed to point out some key arias of improbability. so for example -- >>> i beli

robyn curnow wraps up the testimony with our cnn legal analyst, kelly phelps. >> reporter: this week'sd testimony by oscar pistorius, how did he do? >> at times he seemed to muddy the water of his own defense and was caught in some inconsistencies. just how damaging that ends up being for his case, you can only tell when the defense has presented the rest of their evidence. and we have a con decks against which it e-- context against which to evaluate. it. >> reporter: there was a shift from pistorius' testimony in cross-examination to more expert-led evidence. and this expert that the defense put on was grilled by nel, the state prosecutor. >> yes, we saw questions of the reliability of his evidence, credibility, and reliability of the tests he performed. one needs to put this in context. essentially what nel is trying to do is get the status of his evidence downgraded from official expert evidence because official expert evidence has a higher persuasive value for the court. it's not all about saying he doesn't know everything he's speaking of -- of course he does, he's a world-recogn

. >> kelly phelps, stand by there. we have development. >> we want to go live to pretoria's high court where oscar pistorius is resuming his testimony. let's listen. >> thank you. mr. pistorius, yesterday the last part of your evidence was with you entering the toilet. can you start there? if it's possible to speak up, mr. pistorius, and maybe lean a bit forward. >> my lady, after i entered the toilet, i leaned over reeva. she was sitting -- with her weight on top of the toilet b l bowl. i checked to see if she was breathing, and she wasn't. i put my arms underneath her shoulders, and i pulled her weight on to me. i sat there crying for some t e time. i had her head on my left shoulder, and i could feel the blood was running down on me. at some point, i heard her breathing. so i immediately put her weight on top of me, and i swivelled around. i sat back with my -- with my bum against the floor and my back up against the wall where the door is on the left-hand side of door, and i pulled her weight on me and turned so i

cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is live at the courthouse in pretoria. s through what's happening in the court right now. the prosecutor seems to be doing all he can to go after this defense witness. >> reporter: absolutely. it's unsurprising that the prosecutor is paying so much attention to tearing into this particular witness, because the evidence that this witness is covering is really crucial to the state's case. so, for example, he's been covering and has spent a lot of time today in particular covering the entry points of the bullet wounds and what story that tells about where she would have been standing, in what position, how she would have fallen. and the importance of that to the state's case is that his evidence suggests, or rather, supports the theory that the bullets were fired in quick succession. the state have always used the argument that, in fact, the bullets were fired more slowly, that there was a pause in the firing of the bullets to support their inference of intention, that he knew who he was killing and he meant to kill her. so, t

our legal analyst kelly phelps is outside of the courthouse in pretoria. we are going to crossover to mist pistorius' testimony as soon as it begins. as we wait, explain how emotional yesterday was and why you expect today to be more so. >> reporter: well, it was very emotional when he was giving his apology to the steenkamp family. as he began his testimony in chief, he calmed down and found some composure again. it has always been since the beginning of the trial when the discussion has turned to the actual events of the night in question that he has found the most difficult emotionally to deal with that and maintain his composure. we expect today that is what his testimony will largely focus on. he still needs to address the gun charges. other than that, all that is left -- >> we are going to jump in. we understand that oscar pistorius has begun his testimony. let's listen in to what he says. >> that afternoon i went back to my friend's place and i was getting ready for sports awards, african sports awards function and i said to him that i completely fo

. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is outside the courthouse in pretoria. it's just sad and emotional. yesterday, the judge had to sort of adjourn for the day, he was so emotional on the stand. does it surprise you at all just how emotional he is in recounting this horrific scene? >> reporter: no, it doesn't surprise me, really. i think it's very common when a person's been involved in a very gruesome and traumatic event that they would have certain elements of post traumaic stress, be very emotional about it. you do see that in cases that involve particularly gory details. i think it's important to remember, though, that that doesn't tell us anything about his potential guilt or innocence. because the only thing that it shows is that he's been traumatized by the events of that evening. it doesn't speak to what his state of mind was when he actually fired the shots. >> the late reeva steenkamp, that's one thing, people say this is such a -- he's getting emotional support from people who say he's been broken up from this. but only one person walked away from

. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is live outside the courthouse in pretoria. nd kelly, some really key moments today. pistorius reading back some of these controversial text messages sent by reeva steenkamp to him, where she says she's scared of him. >> reporter: yes, absolutely. this is a key moment in his testimony, because it was a very important part of the state's case. without these text messages, essentially, the state had not managed to put on record any plausible explanation for why he would have wanted to intentionally kill sceteenkamp, and they used these text messages to lay a foundation for that, to suggest that they had troubles in their relationship, that he was impulsive and hot-headed. and today, the defense are tackling those head on. and what they spent time doing so far is trying to suggest that those text messages had been taken out of context and that the state showed the fight, but what they had not shown was the resolution to the fight. so, barry rue has been getting pistorius to read through subsequent text messages after those fights,

our legal analyst kelly phelps giving us great context from outside the courthouse in pretoria and joinsive. kelly, prosecutor, was very aggressive yesterday. talk us through what he accomplished, as far as what his strategy was? well he certainly accomplished getting under pistorius's skin, unnerving him, unsettling him. he was less composed, less eloquent when he was answering questions. the strategy behind that is clearly to try and trip him up if he is lying. so that he essentially talks himself around circles and then it is easier to expose inconsistencies and perhaps mistruths within his testimony. >> speaking of that. able to get pistorius to admit what he wroten his affidavit last year was different than what he has been testifying this week as it relates to the fans orphan on the balcony went outside to bring it in or not. what's key about that? we don't know if that is key evidence or not. we know what he is trying to do. the beginning of a very important strategy of trying to place on the record a track record of inconsistencies between his various versions of events. at diffe

kelly phelps has been following the trial since day one. a look at what to expect today.and of course, those first two days of testimony coming from oscar pistorius, emotionally charged. as a matter of fact, precedings had to be halted because of that. so what can we expect from this third day of testimony? >> well, today they have to get through crucial testimony. he stopped yesterday, obviously at this very emotionally charged point where she was lying bleeding in his arms. and he needs to continue today and speak about when he walked her down the stair, when she died, and the very important evidence to counterthe state's case about who he phoned when and what was said during those calls. we also saw him yesterday for a very brief period in court take his prost thetic legs off. we can perhaps expect to see that again today. there's still some evidence that needs to be coveraged about his height with regard to the door and his ability to balance. so he will need to have composed hymn overnight to still go through those immediate minutes after the killings occurred, which

kelly phelps is in south africa. sounds believable, but some believe, the prosecution, that he shot reeva steenkamp on purpose. is it possible that there was no way he could know where reeva steenkamp was? he was in the same bed as she was. surely he would have noticed she wasn't there. >> well, if we break his version of events down, it becomes easier to understand why on his version of events he wouldn't have known where she was. so according to his version of events, he woke up in the bed because he was very hot and at that point she woke up, as well, spoke with him briefly and he got out of bed, got the fan from outside and it would have been at this stage on his version that steenkamp while he wasn't in the room had gone to the toilet. when he comes back in, he hears the noise, whispers to her to be careful, screams to her to phone the police and then keeps quiet when he's in the bathroom. at the point that he screams on his version of events, that's when he hears the bathroom door slam shut. so in other words,

kelly phelps is in pretoria. where does the defense stand now, especially after the gruelling cross-examination? >> reporter: the extent of the damage that was done by the cross-examination. so, we can safely assess areas that were damaging. until the rest of the defense's case is placed on as a matter of record and we have a context which to understand the testimony that mr. pistorius gave, one isn't in the position to understand the extent of the damage he's done. one expects there to be some damage when an accused person testifies. no one will give a flawless performance. the crucial issue is how damaging any of the concessions may have been. >> getting to the end of the trial, the judge made the decision on that request to postpone the trial for some time. what was that decision? >> she agreed to the postponement. we'll go into the end of the week, a two-week postponement. this was a very pragmatic decision. there are state holidays coming up in south africa. the court would have been disturbed anyway. she em

i spoke to kelly phelps about the testimony on wednesday. >> reporter: oscar pistorius no longer on thea very clear shift from that to expert testimony. this is a crucial part of the trial for the defense, they now get their opportunity to put all their evidence on the record, provide a context in which to consider mr. pistorius' performance and bring the attention of the court back to the key contentions that they claim did not occur. now, the prosecutor still continuing with the very aggressive style. he spent a lot of time and is spending a lot of time on this one forensic witness. >> absolutely, that is how you can tell how important the evidence of that witness is. and that witness has raised central points of the state's case and is trying to cast doubts on the case. so for example, we heard as sound evidence with the cricket bat being hit against the door. and that was to try to put doubt in the neighbor's testimony for the state that what they had heard was the gunshots and therefore reeva steencamp screaming. the defense claiming no, they're mistaken, it was the cricket bat tha

we wrap up the week's testimony with the cnn legal analyst, kelly phelps. >> this started off with oscaristorius finishing his testimony. how do the fair? >> there were undoubtably areas that were damaging to his case. for example appointee seemed to muddy the waters of his defense and he was caught out in some inconsistencies. to stop damaging that ends up being for his case you can only tell and the defense has presented the rest of the evidence and we have a context against which to evaluate it. >> the shift from his testimony and cross-examination to more expert evidence and he was grilled by the state prosecutor. >> we saw allegations against his credibility and reliability as evidence and the validity of the test he had performed. one needs to put this into context. essentially what he was trying to do is get the state's evidence downgraded from official expert evidence because that has a higher persuasive value for the court. is not all about saying he does not know anything he is speaking about. of course, he does. he is a recognized expert witness. he has testified in many cases

let's go to kelly phelps. the judge adjourned for the day because the defendant on the witness stand was too emotional. in a u.s. courtroom, that is not the type of thing we would be likely to see. this south africa with no jury where it's really all about the judge, is this uncommon? >> reporter: no, it's not uncommon here. and it's same treatment she would have afforded to any other witness on the stand who was struggling so badly with their emotions that they were exceptionally breaking down. if you consider all of the emphasis that is placed on the judge alone when you don't have a jury, all she has to base her eventual decision off is the evidence entered threw testimony. and if a witness is so broken down that they are no longer able to give a coherent account of their evidence, in a sense she has no choice but to give adjournment until they can regain their composure and give the clear version of events that is required for her to then consider when making her determination. >> and she has to put aside

. >> kelly phelps is outside the courtroom for us.s has been an unrelenting cross-examination by the prosecution. how much longer is this expected to continue? >> reporter: well, it's very difficult to tell. it's not surprising that it is t has been an unrelenting prosecution or unrelenting cross-examination because that is gerrie nel's tactic. he's known for keeping accused persons on the stand for a long period of time. he is nearing the end of that night in question now. but there's still quite a bit of ground to cover. he still needs to cover the immediate aftermath when he carried her down the stairs, who he phoned, what he said it those people, when they arrived on the scene. we expect him to be on the stand for another day if not longer. >> the strategy seems to be to portray pistorius as a liar who deliberately set out to kill his girlfriend. is the strategy working for the prosecution? is there a danger it could backfire? >> reporter: well, it's very difficult to tell at this stage whether it's working because the judge will

. >>> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps can offer more perspective on the trial.oins us now live from outside the courthouse in pretoria. probably the worst day in the stand for oscar pistorius. how damning was this? >> reporter: it's not so much that it was necessarily his worst day in the stand because he'll be taking many different things into account in terms of gauging how he's done. and he won't necessarily even be aware of the legal discourse that's happening constantly between the lines when he is speaking in a colloquial manner. it was certainly the state's strongest day in terms of establishing the legal basis of their case. up until now they've spent a lot of time, the states, talking around more peripheral issues, more background issues, things like his character which really will only have limited persuasive value on the judge. finally yesterday, they spent the bulk of the court day speaking about the heart of the legal issues. so for example, establishing testimony from him to go toward establishing legal intention that they need to establish to meet

. >> kelly phelps for us live in pretoria. thanks so much. "early start" continues right "early start" continues right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> breaking news this morning. searching for survivors after a ferry capsizes off the coast of south korea. right now, nine people are dead, but hundreds are still missing. we are live with the very latest. >>> breaking news this morning. malaysian officials giving new information on the search for missing flight 370, this as the bluefin submarine prepares for its next trip under water. what could it find? we're live with that. >>> crisis in ukraine. bloody fights in the street as troops try to take down pro-russian protesters. world leaders blaming russia for the chaos, but this morning, vladimir putin is firing back. we are live with the war of words and whether it will be more than that. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it's thursday, april 17th, 5:00 a.m. on the nose in the east. let's begin this morning in south korea,

the court will adjourn. [ sobbing ] >> let's bring in cnn legal analyst kelly phelps in south africa we know about this judge in terms of her predisposition to sympathy? she called that adjournment. later defense counsel said oscar pistorius' shirt is soaking wet. he cannot go on. prosecutors don't object and the jump said, fine, we'll adjourn court early and resume tomorrow. unusual for her? >> reporter: i don't think it's unusual, actually. it's in the court's interest that a witness can give a clear and sober account of their version of events because it is that court record that the judge has to rely on so squarely in determining the outcome of the case. so if any witness were visibly in such an emotional state, that they can no longer properly engage with their testimony it is predictable and fitting that the judge would call for an adjournment. i'd certainly thing it would cause her it sympathize with him on a human level, because it's a judge-led system, it's very unlikely that that will actually sway her determination of the matter. it may sway how she dealt with this court s