Bridge Collapse in Washington State; Mistrial in Jodi Arias Penalty Case
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, everyone. Bridge collapse in Washington state, sending cars and people plunging into the icy water.</s>ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Deadlock. Jodi Arias' sentencing declared a mistrial. And now, a new jury takes over.</s>BERMAN: Recovering and rebuilding. This morning, signs of hope in the devastating rubble of Moore, Oklahoma.</s>SAMBOLIN: Good morning to you. Welcome to EARLY START. Nice to have you with us. I'm Zoraida Sambolin.</s>BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It's great to see you. It's 5:00 in the East.</s>SAMBOLIN: Welcome home, by the way.</s>BERMAN: Thank you very much. We begin right back home here with breaking news this morning. A bridge collapse in Washington state, sending cars and people plunging into the frigid Skagit River 40 feet below. CNN has learned that the bridge had been classified as functionally obsolete by state transportation officials before the collapse. Functionally obsolete, we'll tell what you that means. All this unfolding last night in rural Mount Vernon, Washington, some 60 miles north of Seattle. Katharine Barrett is there live. Katherine, what can you tell us about this? What's the latest?</s>KATHARINE BARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can see behind me, there are two vehicles still in the water in the wreckage of this bridge collapse. Remarkably though for a bridge that seize some 70,000 cars pass each day, just two vehicles fell into water. Three victims in those vehicles were rescued by divers, taken to area hospitals, and are all reported to be in stable condition with nonlife threatening injuries. But still, a heart-stopping moment when that roadway gave way.</s>DAN SLIGH, INJURED IN BRIDGE COLLAPSE: When the dust hit, I saw the bridge start to fall at that point. Momentum carried us right over. As you saw the water approaching, there's just one of those, you hold on as tight as you can and just a white flash and cold water. It was definitely cold this time of the year.</s>BARRETT: And again, that survivor feeling -- saying earlier this evening that he feels blessed and fortunate to be alive at this hour. Certainly, the situation could have been much worse.</s>BERMAN: Much worse based on the pictures that we're seeing right now. Katharine, any sense of how this happened?</s>BARRETT: Well, multiple witnesses described an oversized vehicle that passed over this bridge just instance before it collapsed. Washington state's patrol have confirmed that this what they are looking into. And Washington's governor admits at the same time that the state's bridges are aging and in many cases in need of repairs.</s>CHIEF JOHN BATISTE, WASHINGTON STATE PATROL: We have a semi-truck that was southbound on Interstate 5 in what we call lane one, the right lane. The size of the load that he was carrying appeared to create a problem, striking him -- causing him to strike the bridge.</s>GOV. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: We have some work to do on our bridges whether or not this accident happened. We have some discussions in Olympia about making sure that we make investments in bridges to prevent this kind of thing from happening.</s>BARRETT: But, of course, Washington, like so many states, has a very, very tight budget situation. And something has got to give. Investments that need to be made perhaps were not. Back to you.</s>BERMAN: We mention that this bridge was rated functionally obsolete. That is a very specific term that means something specific. Can you explain it to us?</s>BARRETT: That's right, John. It sounds bad, functioning obsolete. But what it does mean that the bridge is structurally deficient, merely that the design is outdated. Perhaps it's narrower than it might be if it were more modern, perhaps a lower clearance that it might have if it were more modern. This bridge is very old. It was built in 1955. Still uncertain at this hour, whether it will be able to be repaired or, in fact, have to be replaced completely. That's the latest from here in Mt. Vernon.</s>BERMAN: All right. Thank you so much, Katharine. Appreciate it. Katherine Barrett, right by that bridge in Mount Vernon, Washington. We want to bring in Richard Dessin right now, who witnessed the bridge collapse. He and a friend were heading back to Seattle when traffic came to a stop. He soon found out his car was only some 500 feet away from driving on that bridge when it collapsed. Richard, tell me what you saw.</s>RICHARD DESSIN, WITNESS (via telephone): Well, we were heading southbound from Bellingham back down to Seattle. The freeway came to a quick abrupt stop. You know, no slow down, just stop. It stood that way for a few minutes. Then, we started seeing people get out. So, we got out of our vehicle and saw that there was no traffic ahead of the bridge. We started moving forward. They were taking us off an over-ramp and then we could immediately see the section of bridge was gone. So then my friend and I went down and parked into the Home Depot parking lot next to this bridge and walked up on the levee. When we got, there they were just taking somebody out of the truck as you see there, they were loading him on to that boat right there underneath the bridge.</s>BERMAN: These picture are terrifying. It's amazing that everyone appears OK. When you first saw it, it must have just seemed awful.</s>DESSIN: Just two hours earlier, we came up northbound on that bridge. We had gone up to Bellingham to see friends and to take some photographs. And then when we started heading south, like I said, just a minute difference of taking a few more photos and then getting back on the freeway and we could have unfortunately been in with that group. So, yes, it's amazing that that little time.</s>BERMAN: You saw this right after it happened as it sort of happening before your very eyes. Was it a chaotic scene or were people being rescued? It looked things were under control.</s>DESSIN: No, very short time that the sheriff department folks were in the water, like I said, it took us a few minutes to get off the freeway. By the time we watched the crowds grow on the levee, the first picture we took as we were getting off the freeway, there was nobody on the levee. And by the time, we got over the overpass, there were a number of people standing on the levee. By the time I got there, maybe 10, 15 minutes after it gone in, you could see the boats responding. And they were very, very quick. I mean the sheriff department, the fire departments, EMS, some of the photos I have with how many fire engines in there that responded was -- they responded very quickly.</s>BERMAN: Richard Dessin, we're so glad you're OK. Thank you for joining us right now. Richard Dessin, a man who was on the scene just minutes -- seconds after this bridge collapse in Washington state.</s>SAMBOLIN: That's really incredible. Had he not stopped to take some pictures, he could have been in the water. Unbelievable. Six minutes past the hour here. And will Jodi Arias live or die? Stay tuned for phase two in the penalty phase of her murder trial. The judge declaring a mistrial after jurors could not agree on life in prison or the death penalty. A retrial on the sentencing issue for Arias who was convicted of murdering her ex-boyfriend is now set for July. Casey Wian is following all of the developments for us. He is live in Phoenix. So, what happens now, Casey?</s>CASEY WIAN, CNN CORREPONDENT: Well, what happens now is a new trial is scheduled to take place in July. That's because after five months of the first trial, jurors deadlocked 8-4 in favor of the death penalty.</s>JUDGE SHERRY STEPHENS, MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ: Ladies and gentlemen, I understand you have reached a verdict.</s>WIAN (voice-over): There was confusion and surprise, even in the voice of the clerk who announced the jury in the Jodi Arias case was hopelessly deadlocked on the death penalty for the murder of former boyfriend Travis Alexander.</s>CHRISTINA MCCAIN, COURT CLERK: We the jury duly impaneled and sworn in above entitled action upon our oath unanimously find having considered all the facts and circumstances that the defendant should be sentenced -- no unanimous agreement.</s>WIAN: Arias sighed as members of Alexander's family began to sob. Jurors who declined to speak with a throng of reporters covering the trial were emotional, and so was Judge Sherry Stephens.</s>STEPHENS: Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the participants in this trial, I wish to thank you for your extraordinary service to this community. This was not your typical trial.</s>WIAN: That it wasn't. It lasted nearly five months during which Arias took the stand for 18 days and later made one last plea for her life. Under Arizona law, jurors were allowed to ask more than 200 questions. Throughout, there were sexually graphic images and recordings. And most difficult to forget, gruesome photographs of Alexander's body with dozens of stab wounds, a bullet hole and his neck slashed nearly ear to ear.</s>STEPHENS: Thank you. Please be seated.</s>WIAN: Judge Stephens set a new trial date for July 18th, only on the question of the death penalty. Prosecutors could be allowed to bring up Arias' recent string of television interviews according to lawyers with knowledge of death penalty prosecutions in Arizona. For example, this statement to a KSAZ reporter minutes after her conviction.</s>JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER: Well, the worst outcome for me would be natural life. I would much rather die sooner than later. I said years ago that I'd rather get death than life and that still is true today.</s>WIAN: Nearly two weeks later, she told the jury a different story.</s>ARIAS: To me, life in prison is the most unappealing outcome I could think of. I thought I'd rather die. But as I stand here now, I can't in good conscience ask you to sentence me to death because of them.</s>WIAN: As Arias gestured to her family, the family of her victim has clearly struggled with the jury's inability to agree. They won't be granting interviews until there is a sentence and according to the county sheriff, neither will Jodi Arias.</s>WIAN: Now one way out of this mess could be a negotiated settlement where prosecutors could agree to take the death penalty off the table in exchange for Jodi Arias accepting a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release and perhaps dropping her appeals. But, Zoraida, no one knows if Jodi Arias will accept that kind of a deal -- Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: And also, how do you find a jury that really is not all caught up in this trial to begin with that doesn't know anything about it? It's such a bizarre -- just one more bizarre aspect of this trial. Casey Wian, thank you very much. We appreciate it.</s>BERMAN: It goes on and on and on and on.</s>SAMBOLIN: Oh, it's unbelievable. All right. Ten minutes past the hour. Coming up, oh, Amanda. Amanda Bynes' erratic behavior landed her in handcuffs.</s>BERMAN: Oy.</s>SAMBOLIN: Really is that it? Oy.