Boston Marathon Bombing Trial Reviewed
BANFIELD: Well, a guilty verdict in the Boston Bombing Trial seems pretty much like a forgone conclusion at this point. Never say never. I just say that because of OJ. Defense attorneys for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are vigorously preparing for round two, nonetheless. And round two is the sentencing phase. One of his lawyers, in her opening statement, just went ahead and said it folks. She looked at her client and said, "Yeah, it was him," plain and simple. But the defense, even with just four witnesses in their case -- is managing at least to do something and that is plant seeds of doubt when it comes to the question of why. And the why in their estimation is really a who. It's his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. That's what their case pretty much rests on, and closing arguments are Monday so you can expect they'll be a lot of focus on the name Tameral on Monday, not Dzhokhar. CNN commentator Mel Robbins joins me live now from Boston. So, I -- yeah, foregone conclusion, you can never, ever say that. I've just seen too many wild cards and too many crazy things, but for the sake of this conversation, let's say that the focus is really going to the death phase, and in the death phase, how much does it matter that they sow seeds of doubt in the guilty-innocent phase?</s>MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, good afternoon, Ashleigh. It's a great question. It matters a lot and they started by throwing seeds of doubt when she said, "Keep your hearts and minds open." Sure, she pointed to him and said he was there, he did it. She admitted guilt in the opening statement, Ashleigh. They barely even cross-examined during the 15 days of witnesses. But they've started to kind of quit this case out there already about who is the mastermind. Their case hinges, Ash, not on whether or not he did tit, but the fact tat he is going to be portrayed as a pawn in this whole thing, left holding bag.</s>BAFIELD: OK. I got you. I got you. And you know what? This is a great lawyer, she is remarkable and she has worked miracles before. Let me throw up a list of things that I took out of the Boston Globe. Some terrific reporting from Kevin Cullen, the Globe columnist who's been in that courtroom. These are the things that the defense -- that they were able to do in this courtroom. They were able to establish that that big brother's finger prints were the finger prints all over the tools of destruction. That Dzhokhar's cellphone had him in a totally different location than Tamerlan's location when Tamerla was buying all the elements needed to make those killer bombs. That the Jihadi propaganda had all been transferred from Tamerlan's laptop, that it didn't come from Dzhokhar searching. And that Tamerlan's computer searches shows that he looked for the pistols and the fireworks, but not Dzhokhar, that he didn't do that. And then there were Dzhokhar's web activity. Interestingly enough, it showed him going to Facebook. And then the Russian equivalent of Facebook, and then porn, all the things that the average teen would o. So my question to you, Ms. Robbins, counselor, is can't you see a jury -- a reasonable jury saying, "Your action still were so disgusting, so what?" about all that -- rest of that stuff?</s>ROBBINS: Of course. I mean the prosecution ended their case with these words, Ashleigh. He was only eight-years old. They ended with the gruesome photographs of the blown up apart bodies of three of the victims, and then said, of Martin Richard, he was only eight-years old. And guess what, while Dzhokhar's fingerprints were not at this brother's apartment, they were not on the tools, he didn't buy any of the materials, he still stood behind Martin Richard. He stood there for at least a minute, behind that family, and he put that backpack down, and then he walked away. And the question is whether or not that's going to be enough for this jury to say, "That warrants the death penalty."</s>BANFIELD: And it's the words I just said. The jury might, in their heads, articulate, "So what? So you didn't buy it but you blew it up and you watch those people all around you before you did so." Mel, we'll have a lot to talk about next week, I hope you'll join me then. In the meantime, Happy Easter.</s>ROBBINS: Thank you.</s>BANFIELD: Mel Robbins joining us from Boston. A Tennessee prosecutor fired, and also just accused of forcing women to undergo sterilization surgery in a deal to avoid prison. Wait a minute, what? What year is this? What country are we in? Is that legal?