"Person Of Interest" in Texas DA Murder; Rutgers Univ. Coach Under Fire for Player Abuse; NRA: Expansion of Background Checks on Table
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So could it be the break that cops are looking for? A person of interest identified in the murder of two Texas prosecutors.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Out of bounds and maybe out of a job. A college hoops coach called out nasty behavior on the court all caught on camera.</s>BERMAN: You can call him the comeback kid. South Carolina's former governor, Mark Sanford, takes a big step towards putting his scandalous past behind him. Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.</s>ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans in for Zoraida today. It's Wednesday, April 3rd. We're about 30 minutes past the hour. A new development this morning in the case of two murdered prosecutors in Kaufman, Texas. Investigators are now focusing on a person of interest, they say, a former justice of the peace named Eric Williams (ph) who was fired in a corruption probe and prosecuted by the two men who are now dead. CNN's George Howell live from Kaufman, Texas, this morning. George, tell us about this person of interest.</s>GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, good morning. So CNN spoke with his attorney, David Sergi, and we learned that investigators, they met at a local Denny's here to take swab samples from Williams' hand to test for gun residue. At this point, CNN does not know what the results of those samples revealed to investigators, but Sergi, David Sergi tells us that his client did cooperate voluntarily because he has nothing to hide. But it's important to put all of this in perspective. Williams may be one of several people of interest that investigators are looking into that these two men, that Hasse and McLelland, may have prosecuted over their careers, and also, there are several other theories that are still out there, the possibility of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas may be being connected, the possibility of a drug cartel or was this an inside job? We just don't know because, again, no suspect is in custody. But, Christine, fair to say that these investigators have a lot of angles that they can look into.</s>ROMANS: I'll say. So George, what sort of differences are you seeing as the investigation moves forward?</s>HOWELL: You know, just yesterday, this was very, very apparent, but you see these public officials being flanked by law enforcement as they enter the courthouse, as they exit. And we spoke with one district attorney in nearby Anderson County who told us about the mood, what it's like to do his job in this environment. I want you to take a listen to this.</s>DOUG LOWE, ANDERSON CO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I feel like Mike was murdered for what he did, and so it makes it kind of -- it's a little scary to people like me, but it's not going to change the way I do business. And I'm not going to walk in fear. I'm not going to not prosecute the people I prosecute. But you've got to be careful.</s>HOWELL: So Christine, the person that is filling Mike McLelland's position now, Randi Fernandez, she will be filling that position for 21 days until Governor Rick Perry here appoints a new district attorney for this county, but we understand that Fernandez is being flanked also by security, 24-hour a day security.</s>ROMANS: All right. George Howell for us in Texas this morning. Thanks, George.</s>BERMAN: So we're following developments this morning in the story that is just shocked and surprised so many people that has to do with Rutgers University and the video surfacing about its basketball coach, Mike Rice. This video shows Rice screaming at players, grabbing them. He kicks them, throws balls at them, including their heads throwing them from point blank range during practice, and if that's not enough, he uses some gay slurs to reprimand them. Now, Rutgers officials have known about this disturbing video since last fall. So a lot of people are asking why does the coach still have his job? This is how the school's athletic director explains it.</s>TIM PERNETTI, RUTGERS DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS: The moment that we became aware of the video in November, when it was presented to us by Eric and his lawyers, we immediately commenced an independent investigation into the matter. We talked to everybody in the program. We evaluated the situation, and we suspended Mike in a more significant way than coaches have been suspended in recent memory.</s>BERMAN: So that punishment, just three games had some people pretty angry right now. So now, the pressure is growing on Rutgers to fire the coach.</s>ROMANS: Wow. I mean, it's just -- you hear tales of tough coaches who use real hard language, but that's a bully -- that's not leadership. It's like bully territory.</s>BERMAN: Look, I've been to a lot of practices and I've seen a lot of sports action, you know, up close. I've never seen anything quite like that. And there've been tweets. They've been talking about this, about players like Lebron James, Ray Allen, people around the league. They're all shocked by this also. It's not like this is something that everyone sees all the time.</s>ROMANS: And some players actually said they have moved schools. They left the program because of this.</s>BERMAN: There were transfers who are now saying that was part of the reason they left.</s>ROMANS: All right. We'll continue to follow that all morning only on CNN. The NRA's Asa Hutchinson telling our Wolf Blitzer the expansion of background checks is on the table. Hutchinson is a former congressman who's heading up the NRA's national school shield task force, while his new position on background checks appears to be a concession. It comes with a giant, giant caveat.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm open to expanding background checks. You can do it in a way that does not infringe upon an individual and make it hard for an individual to transfer to a friend or a neighbor, somebody that, if you're in Montana and have a casual sale, we don't want to infringe upon those rights either.</s>ROMANS: Hutchinson's loophole for so-called casual gun sales amounts to a rejection of Democratic senator, Chuck Schumer's, bill that would require universal background checks for all gun sales.</s>BERMAN: A grisly scene on a busy Brazilian highway. A passenger bus plunging 30 feet from a via duct in Rio De Janeiro onto its roof. At least seven people were killed, six others injured. Rush hour traffic at a standstill yesterday as the victims were removed from the bus. A witness told Brazilian TV station the driver had a dispute with the passenger right before the crash.</s>ROMANS: All right. Day 40 -- day 40 -- 40 days now of the Jodi Arias murder trial. Plenty of drama continues here. The judge denying a defense request for a mistrial, but a juror was thrown off the case and left the courthouse sobbing. Arias' defense had argued juror number five, a female in her 30s, jeopardized this case by gossiping and exhibiting bias in front of other jurors. That juror is now gone.</s>BERMAN: Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford continues his somewhat improbable political comeback. Sanford beat Charleston City councilman Curtis Bostic last night in a Republican Congressional runoff. He will now face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a May 7th special election. As we all know now, she is the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert. Here's what Sanford told supporters last night.</s>MARK SANFORD (R), S.C. CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I'm incredibly humbled, incredibly gratified, incredibly thankful for this night, for what it means at many different levels, and I just want to thank everyone of you for your part in making it possible. Thank you very much.</s>BERMAN: Sanford's career and personal life sort of left in shambles after he disappeared from office and lied about an extramarital affair back in 2009.</s>ROMANS: The president and first lady are getting ready to welcome one of their favorite singers to the White House, part of a star-studded concert next week that will pay tribute to Memphis soul music.</s>ROMANS: Justin Timberlake will be there along with Cyndi Lauper. They're going to be joined by soul legend, Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, Mavis Staples, and guitarist Steve Cropper, and the legendary Al Green will be there, seen here performing for a Capitol Records concert, which means President Obama could face pressure to get on stage. He might just be Al Green's number one fan.</s>ROMANS: The concert will be recorded and broadcast later this month on</s>PBS. BERMAN: Not bad, but I do prefer the Al Green version --</s>ROMANS: Neither of them should quit their day job.</s>BERMAN: So 37 minutes after the hour. His gruesome injury stunned sports fans all over the country. Coming up, Louisville's Kevin Ware takes a big step towards recovery. Good for him.