Ship Stranded in Antarctica; Hate Crime Charged Over Knockout Game
PHILLIPS: Well, the U.S. Justice Department isn't playing around when it comes to this game. I'm talking about a disturbing and sometimes deadly trend known as the knockout game. You're looking at an example of one of those incidents. Typically, strangers randomly just sucker-punch people on the street. They film it, and then they post the whole event online. The goal here, to knock your victim unconscious with a single blow. Now, that brings us to this man, Conrad Alvin Barrett of Texas, the first to be arrested over this knockout game. He's also been charged with a hate crime. And his undoing may have been what he said in a video of the attack that was posted online. CNN's Margaret Conley joining me now, learning more about this. So, Margaret Conley, before we get to the video, what exactly is Barrett accused of doing to his victim exactly?</s>MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, knocking him out cold. There's a hearing happening right now in Houston, Texas; 27-year-old Conrad Barrett, he has been charged with a knockout hate crime, assaulting a 79-year-old man. This is a federal charge and the first federal charge we have seen for these knockout assaults. I have spoken with attorneys on both sides today. They're getting ready for the hearing, the attorney for Barrett and the victim's attorney. The attorney for the defense, George Parnham, he says he's going to argue that this is not a federal case. He says that it's unconstitutional for it to be federal and it should go to the state. He's also going to say that his client has been diagnosed as bipolar and that he was off his meds the day the assault happened on November 24. He says his client is extremely depressed right now. That's the defense. The victim's attorney -- and the victim does not want to be identified -- the victim's attorney says the victim's recovering, but he's having trouble communicating. O'Neil Williams told me that the victim, who is also a great- grandfather, is suffering physically from a loss of teeth and fractures in his jaw. He actually said there was a dislocation in his jaw when he was hit by Barrett, but the harder part will be recovering emotionally. His said his client is having a really hard time with that, that he's scared and frightened -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Yes, there's a lot involved here, right, the race issue, the fact that this is a federal case, all the details surrounding what happened and also this Barrett guy.</s>CONLEY: That's right. It's very complex, Kyra. Barrett is a 27- year-old Caucasian male. The victim is a 79-year-old African-American male. Race is on the table because, according to the federal complaint, Barrett attacked because of the man's race and color. There's also apparently video of the attack with Barrett saying that the plan "is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?" We have seen a lot of those so-called knockout cases in the past year or so. They have been reported in states like Illinois, Washington, and right here in New York. The Justice Department says there have been knockout incidents as far back as 1992, but this is the first time we're seeing a federal charge, at least in the latest string of knockouts. And the defense is going to argue against that. They want it to go to state. But if this does go through, Barrett could face a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. If this does go through, that hearing is going on right now, we can expect to see that it will go to grand jury in a couple weeks.</s>PHILLIPS: Yes. Anybody involved in this game should be held accountable. Margaret Conley, appreciate it. Thanks. Well, right now, in Antarctica, a paralyzed vessel is wedged in an ice floe, and the rescue operation to free the passengers on board has encountered a problem, a blizzard. A Chinese icebreaking ship says it may take just a little longer to get to that vessel that became stuck on Christmas morning. The crew on board the research expedition actually tweeted out this picture saying their savior boat was just in sight.</s>CHRIS TURNEY, EXPEDITION LEADER: Moral is remarkably high. We had a great Christmas. We have just been incredibly unfortunate, incredibly unfortunate. We're deeply frustrated not getting out to the open ocean. We can see the continent. And we just can't break out. A change in wind direction to a more westerly direction, which isn't that common, would help enormously.</s>PHILLIPS: That's the leader, by the way, of the expedition. Right now, the rescue ship, the icebreaker, is just about 12 miles away. And that may seem close, but the conditions on the harshest place on Earth, well, they're always unpredictable. It was actually a decade ago that I traveled all the way to the bottom of the Earth, the South Pole, cutting through six-to-eight-foot thick sheets of ice. It's fascinating to watch. And as you're about to see in part of my documentary "Harsh Continent," you're going to get a sense of what lies ahead for the rescue team. Meet the U.S. Coast Guard's icebreaker crew of 2002.</s>PHILLIPS (voice-over): Life at McMurdo Station relies on the constant flow of supplies to its open harbor, a big challenge in a place where the ocean can freeze almost instantly. Pack ice like this kept explorers away from Antarctica for centuries. Wooden ships were crushed by the relentless moving ice. Today, the U.S. Coast Guard breaks pack ice every season in specialized ships like the Polo Sea. This is breaking the ice, cutting a 56-mile channel for supply ships to bring in fuel and food, two of the most crucial supplies for winter survival. Commander Steve Wheeler is executive officer of the Polo Sea.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is called</s>PHILLIPS (on camera): How thick is this ice, Commander?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About six foot out here. You know every once in a while, you get an eight-foot chunk.</s>PHILLIPS: I remember he made it look and sound so easy. But trust me, it's not. We will continue to follow that Chinese vessel that's coming through to try to rescue those scientists, who, by the way, say they're still working on their research. Well, up next, violence in Egypt has turned deadly as police battle supporters of a newly designated terror organization in the streets. And Google, Apple, Samsung just a few of the big names in tech this year. So who are the winners and losers? Our tech experts weigh in.