i'm nikki battiste. were cheers and gasped in a dallas courtroom after the jury returned a guilty verdict in a police killing that has caught the attention of the nation. amber geyger was convicted of murder in the death of botham jean. he was unarmed in his own apartment when geyger walked in, pulled her service revolver, and shot him dead. geyger claimed she thought she was in her apartment and he was an intruder. the jury didn't buy it. omar villafranca reports. >> we, the jury, unanimously find the defendant, amber guyger, guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. >> reporter: you could hear the gasps and sobs from the gallery. the jury to find amber guyger guilty of fatally shooting her neighbor, 26-year-old botham jean, in his apartment. guyger thought it was her own. [ cheers ] >> reporter: jean's family waited for more than a year for this day, and after the verdict, just two days after botham's 28th birthday, members of the family from st. lucia burst into tears. jean's mother alison stretc

i'm nikki battiste. firestorms continued to rage up and down the spine of california.y have charred wineries north of san francisco and multimillion-dollar homes in the hollywood hills of los angeles. the flames were also lapping at the doorstep of the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley. carter evans is there. >> reporter: some of the fiercest santa ana winds in years blew through california like a blowtorch, taking dead aim at the reagan presidential library in simi valley. >> we're surrounded on all sides by the fire. ion housing air force one as eight air tankers and nine helicopters raced to protect the library and surrounding neighborhoods. you can see the vortex of flames and smoke and wind blowing in our direction. just imagine what it's like for firefighters to approach flames like that. dozens of animals became trapped. siion. >> just grab this one. the whole barn is on fire back there. >> reporter: and several horses, including one that seems to head right back into harm's way, only to then lead another horse and colt to safety, aided by an arm

in tonight's "eye on america," nikki battiste tells us how a woman in austin, texas is fighting back against a system she says has failed her. >> you never lose hold of who you are. >> reporter: emily barchardt's art illustrates how she says she was treated after she reported being raped by a stranger. last year when she was 21, borchardt says she was returning to her austin, texas home when two men abducted her. >> the man behind me grabs my throat, and i go unconscious. >> reporter: she was brought to this motel where she says a third man raped her multiple times over 12 hours. according to borchardt, the man gave her cigarettes and whiskey, and demanded that she shower with him. borchardt managed to escape, call police, and have a rape kit done. this man, who was on parole after serving 20 years for murder first claimed he did not know her, but when his dna came back as a match, he said the sex was consensual. borchardt's lawyers asked us to blur his face for her protection. he was never arrested. the police suggest why in this audio recording. >> taking a shower with him, consumi

from the cbs broadcast cenr in new york city, i'm nikki battiste. captioning funded by cbs >>> it's wednesday, october 2nd, 2019, this is the "cbs morning news." guilty verct. former dallas police officer amber guyger found guilty of murder in the shooting death of her neighbor that she claims was a serious mistake. but will she spend the rest of her life behind bars? >>> migrant controversy. "the new york times" reports president trump suggested opening fire on migrants at the border according to a new book. the other deterrents he allegedly had in mind. >>> and impeachment inquiry showdown. the investigation is intensifying. the urgent meeting expected today. ♪ >>> good morning from the studio nsroom at cbs headquarters here in new york, i'm wendy gillette in for anne-marie green. testimony in the sentencing phase of amber guyger's murder trial resumes today. yesterday guyger, a white ex-police officer in dallas, was convicted of murdering an unarmed black man inside his own apartment. guyger now faces possible life in prison. laura podesta is in

in tonight's "eye on america", nikki battiste tells us how a woman in austin, texas, is fighting backgainst a system she says has failed her. >> you never lose hold of who you are. >> reporter: emily borchardt's art illustrates how she says she was treated after she reported being raped by a stranger. last year, when she was 21, borchardt says she was returning to her austin, texas, home when two men abducted her. >> the man behind me, grabs my throat, and i go unconscious. >> reporter: she was brought to this motel, where she says a third man raped her multiple times over 12 hours. according to borchardt, the man gave her cigarettes and whiskey and demanded that she shower with him. borchardt managed to escape, called police, and have a rape kit done. this man, who was on parole after serving 20 years for murder, first claimed he did not know her. but when his d.n.a. came back as a match, he said the sex was consensual. borchardt's lawyers asked to us blur his face for her prtion he was never arrested. the police suggest why in this audio recording. >> taking a shower with him, consu

here's nikki battiste. >> reporter: a home surveillance camera caught the small plane falling from the just before 11:00 a.m. the crash engulfed one house in flames and turned this central new jersey neighborhood into a chaotic scene. >> i heard a plane that sounded like it was really low. and then i heard this loud house-shaking bang. >> reporter: stephen smith lives on the same street. >> the flames were about 30-40 feet high, and the whole first floor, second floor was on fire. >> reporter: the pilot, the only person on board, died. the cessna crashed through two floors to the basement. >> the pilot was communicating with air traffic control, and was cleared for an approach. and the airplane subsequently lost radar contact. at this point in time, we have no information that there was a distress call made from the pilot. >> reporter: woodbridge, new jersey, mayor john mccormack says, luckily, the family of three, including a five-year-old giwa what's the feeling in this community right now? >> shock, but yet relief that nobody was hurt. >> reporter: the plane was coming from virginia

i'm nikki battiste.t was a crowded stage in ohio where a dozen democratic presidential contenders squared off in their fourth and biggest debate. this is the first democratic debate since the impeachment inquiry was launched into president trump. for joe biden, a big topic was the president's accusations about his son hunter biden and hi ties to ukraine. for bernie sanders, it was his first campaign event since a health scare just two weeks ago when he suffered a heart attack. all this as a new cbs news poll shows elizabeth warren gaining ground in several states. here is some of what the candidates had to say. >> my son did nothing wrong. i did nothing wrong. i carried out the policy of the united states government. in rooting out in, in ukraine. and that's what we should be focusing on. and what i wanted to make a point about, my son's statement speaks for itself. he spoke about it today. my son's statement speaks for itself. what i think is important is we focus on why it's so important to remove this

here is nikki battiste. >> reporter: so far 13 families% have filed a lawsuit against petersen in theompleted legally and ethically. petersen's alleged scheme involved more than 70 adoptions where each family paid up to $40,000 for the process. childr sim evil.zation >>eporter: officials from several states strongly condemn the alleged multimillion-dollar adoption scheme that unravelled this week. prosecutors in utah, arkansas, and arizona charge maricopa assessor paul petersen and his associate lynwood jennet on human smuggling, sale of a child and fraud. >> this scale was unique in that it was large scale adoption scheme. >> reporter: since 2015, the pair allegedly flew as many as 70 expecting mothers over 5,000 miles to the u.s., months or even days before giving birth, and promised them as much as $10,000 for putting their children up for adoption. state officials say the women were crammed into houses, sometimes with little to no prenatal care. >> many of these mothers describe their ordeal as being treated like property. make no mistake, this case is the purist form of human tra

nikki battiste is following that story. etory.> reporter: this alleged scheme spanned at least three states rsd may have involved 75 ayoptions. coming up on "cbs this morning," how prosecutors say families were cruelly manipulated, and the women were treated like property. i work hard and i want my money to work hard too. so i use my freedom unlimited card. even when i'm spending, i'm earning 1.5% cash back on everything i buy. earning on my favorite soup... got it. earning on that eclair. don't touch it. don't touch it yet. let me get the big one. nope. this one? nope. this one? no. let me get them all. i'm gonna get them all. it's just the basics. can you double bag this right here? earn 1.5% cash back on everything you buy with freedom unlimited. can you also tell me what it is? chase. make more of what's yours. breathe freely fast, with vicks sinex. my congestion's gone. i can breathe again! ahhhh! i can breathe again! ughh! vicks sinex. breathe on. in a vast desert completely wdevoid of basset hounds. [ back in baby's arms by

nikki battiste has been covering this story from the beginning. what can we expect today?good morning. jury selection is set to begin and the last a few days. at the center of this trial is krystal lee kenney, a nurse who was allegedly having an affair with patrick frazee. she claims she cleaned up the murder crime scene because she wanted to please frazee and because she feared him. >> this case does live or die on kristal lee. >> reporter: as prosecutors prepare their star witness in the murder trial, legal experts say it may not be a slam-dunk r weapon. >> reporter: the idaho nurse was frazee's secret girlfriend. she told authorities frazee tried to get her to kill kelsey berreth three different times. once with a poisoned starbucks coffee. lee says in the end, it was frazee who murdered the mother of his child at berreth's home on thanksgiving day by beating her with a baseball bat. but male dna found at the crime scene does not match frazee. >> how would you describe the physical evidence so far? >> i would describe the physical evidence that i know of to be pretty we