Yesterday, dennis tito appeared on this show. He was the worlds first space tourist. He spent eight days in space, and space, you dont age, maybe thats why you want to go. Now he plans to send two other people to space, all the way to mars, well, near mars. The mission for america is a 501 day that will send a married couple within 200 miles of mars. When i spoke to dennis yesterday, i told him i wanted to quo. And based on the results of our online poll, you to, doo. 67 said you would be willing to spend that many days in a cramped capsule with your spouse. Anderson cooper starts now. Thanks. Good evening, everyone. What has not happened in nearly six centuries has happened today. Well take you inside Pope Benedicts departure and reveal details about what his like is going to be life after retiring from a job almost no one has retired from. The lawmaker who took on the lawmakers. A police chief who said theres a simple way to eliminate gun violence. He joins us tonight. We begin with crime and punishment. Probably the most dramatic moments yet in a kritrial that off the charts when it came to crime, deception, and dirty secrets. Jody arias has broken down on the stand. Shes been on the stand for 13 days now. The whole time, until today, calmly and coolly talking about the most intimate details about her relationship with a man named Travis Alexander, a man she admits killing in 2008. So much of her testimony has been about phone sex and textt messages, but today, it focussed on the day she actually killed alexander. Shot him, stabbed him 29 times, slit his throat from ear to ear. The prosecution is trying to show she intended to kill him all along. She said it was in self defense, but remember, she changed her st story twice before, saying she wasnt near his house, and then tellingon anyone who would listen that masked intruders were to blame. After all that tawdry preamble, after 13 days, the prosecutor grilled arias today about the killing itself. Thats when her unflappable demeanor finally cracked. We warn you, the story contains Graphic Photos and testimony. Tears from jodi arias. She broke down on the stand as the first photo of Travis Alexanders body was displaced in court. It showed him twisted and crumpled on the shower floor. Man, were you crying when you were shooting him . I dont remember. Were you crying when you were stabbing him . I dont remember. How about when you cut his throat . Were you crying then . I dont know. With her face in her hands, the prosecutor dared her to look. Take a look, youre the one who did this, right . Yes. And youre the same individual that lied about all this, right . Yes. So then take a look at it. From the stand, arias did her best to convince the jury she acted in self defense. She says alexander attacked her after she dropped his camera. He body slammed me. He body slammed you down, right . Yes. In a very forceful way. Where did he body slam you down . Right in the same area, on the tile. Even if it was self defense, how did it lead to this . Nearly 30 stab wound, his throat cut, and a single gunshot to the head. And prosecutor s specifically retrace the steps leading up to that point, starting with the moment she says she shot him. He just was running at me as i turned around. Arias alleged alexander had charged her like a linebacker. Show me the linebacker pose. He got down. Show me the linebacker pose. Thats what im asking for you to do. Okay, he went like that and turned his head. Thats when she said the gun went off. I think i screamed stop when i pointed the gun at him. Then what do you do . I dont really remember. I just remember i dont remember anything at that point, so i would be speculating. Later, the prosecutor displayed several gruesome photos from the crime scene. According to your versions of events, you would acknowledge that stabbing was after the shooting, koog according to you right . I dont yes, i dont remember. Im not asking you if you remember, maam. Im asking if you acknowledge that it would be you that did it, correct . Yes. No matter what she said on the stand, the state isnt buying her story, and heres why. Investigators believe she killed alexander in the shower. Inside court, prosecutors show a clip of her interview detectiveering an attempt to prove she lured alexander to the shower just hours after they had sex. I asked him if i could do pictures of him in the shower, and he was like, no. I was like, i just had an idea, a couple ideas, and i saw something in a calvin klein ad once that looks very good. Youre right. He wasnt very comfortable at first. Shes standing there and hes all, i feel gay. She snapped naked photos of alexander, including this one shown in court. Investigators say its time stamped 5 30 p. M. Just two minutes before arias stabbed him in the heart. You were the person who was directing him on where to be and how to sit, right . Yes. Directing him, perhaps, to his own death. Do you remember that were talking about Travis Alexander . Lets start with that. Yes, i remember that. Thats why were here, because you killed him, right . Yes. Randi kaye joins mephoenix. You were in the court room today. What struck you . How was it received in the court room . I think a lot of people were surprised to see her break down, anderson. It was really remarkable to watch after shes been so stoic and so calm all these weeks, to see her break down in tears over and over again, then to watch her transformation, all of a sudden, she would become so she would just stare at the jury with this blank face. Almost like she was in a trance or something. But then Something Else that they did in court, the prosecutor, very effective. He kept a picture of Travis Alexanders body up on one of the giant screens in the courtroom, so jodi arias had to stare at it. So she wouldnt answer to him. She would stare at the jury instead for her answers because she couldnt bear to look at the monitor, but it gave the jury some time to absorb that. The final surprise came near the end of the day, when the prosecutor got jodi arias to admit she was the one who put the digital camera with all of the naked photos of them in the washing machine. So the prosecutor said that shows she knew she had done something wrong. She was trying to get rid of evidence, and this had nothing to do with self defense. I want to bring in Jeffrey Toobin and mark geragos. Coauthor of mistrial, how the criminal Justice System works and sometimes doesnt. I find it so incredible and want to put up the pictures again that were taken just minutes before Travis Alexander was k l killed by his thengirlfriend. Two minutes just before she kills him. Its so eerie to me and bizarre to me. Its just one of many bizarre things. Today is the day that mark geragos apologizeds for criticizing the prosecutor so much. So rudely this was an amazing day of crossexamination. Where did this guy come from . She said, where did this prosecutor come from . Badgering, all that is gone. He finally just got his, i dont know, his legs about him. He was so much better. And she didnt know how to deal with him. There was a moment that i actually thought was what prompted her to break down, and theres so much to talk about. She didnt talk about this part. Three days after she kills him, she writes an email to him saying im going to come see you. Just like chatty, long email. I mean, its so perverse. Its so crazy. Shes killed him. Yet shes writing these emails basically just to cover her tracks, as if she didnt know he was dead. We have that sound. I want to play that from the court today that jeff is talking about. I havent heard back from you. Hey you, i havent heard back from you. I hope youre not still upset that i didnt come to see you. I just didnt have enough time off. Its okay, sweetie, youre going to be here in less than two weeks. Were going to see the sights. She broke down then. Well, yeah, because what are you going to do . At that point, thats exactly what he should have been doing day one. I will give him, as i said or jeff said, ill give him his props. He was infinitely better. This is what he should have done, but get out. Shes done. Shes toast. If theyre going to get anywhere with her, this is it. And just notice how that email was written. Right. Basically to try to establish that she was not present in arizona. The first line is right there, hey, i havent heard back from you. I hope youre still not upset that i didnt come to see you. I wasnt there, where wasnt there, i wasnt there. So sinister. Will she get the Death Penalty . I dont know. You never know what goes through a jurors mind. Thats such an instincttual reaction. You want a prediction . Predictions arent so good. Ill make a bold prediction. Im going to say no. I think as much as they have you know, what did i call it, the tsunami of evidence they have got against her, they have overtried the hell out of this. Enough is enough. Do you buy the tears . Do you buy that no, at this point, i think today was the most effective the prosecut prosecution has been with her because it looks like every time shes caught in a gotcha moment, then she reduces herself to tears. The problem is that shes spent 10, 12 hours on the stands before now, and shes kind of established a little bit of a bond. I know everybody will say, no, shes diabolical, shes this, that. Thats probably all true, but the jury has to make a decision. Do we really want to drop the pillow on her, do we really want to kill her . I dont think youre going to find 12 people who will. Sometimes tears can look like remorse or sadness for the death. This, to me, anyway, looked like she was so caught. She was just so caught with her own today as opposed to before. Before, she was up sset becae the prosecutor was yelling at her. This is just, my story has fallen apart so completely. Busted. Exactly. Those tears i dont think will generate much sympathy. Redirect by the defense starts monday. Boy, i dont know how you start with this. If im the defense on this, again, get in, get out. This is like one hour. Talk about a couple things, hit the high points, and get out. Enough. The whole idea of what theyre trying to do here is just get somebody to say im equivocal. I have a little bit of doubt as far as putting her to death, and be done with it. The defense is in. They have all the material, the defense does, to argue whatever it is theyre going to argue. More time on the stand with her, which, of course, will then allow more crossexamination, i dont see what benefit that would have. Its a riveting day, incredible stuff. Jeff toobin, mark geragos, thank you very much. Tune in tomorrow night for an ac 360 special, sex, lies, and audiotape, the jodi arias trial. What did you think of todays testimony . Did you buy any of the tears or do you think it was basically she was cornered and that was her only way out . Next up, im going to talk to the police chief who took on a senator yesterday over guns. We make gun cases. We make 2,000 gun cases a year, senator. Thats our priority. Were not in a paper chase. Just a day after that testimony, gun violence erupts in his city, Milwaukee Police chief edward flynn joins us, and what does the papal retirement look like . The fascinating details of pope benedi benedicts departure and is he going to be a force behind the scenes in the vatican, next. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. Executor of efficiency. You can spot an amateur from a mile away. While going shoeless and metalfree in seconds. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. 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[ whirring ] [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. But they can also hold you back. Unless you ask, whats next . [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the next level of performance. The next level of innovation. The next rx. The f sport. This is the pursuit of perfection. Raw politics tonight, preventing another gun massacre. President obama, most democrats and many republicans have made expanding background checks the centerpiece of it. The reasoning goes like this, if you have to get checked out before making a purchase at a gun shop, why doesnt the same apply at a gun show or private sales where millions of fire arms are sold. Critics say theres no point to more background checks if peel who fail arent being prosecuted now anyway. Supporters say thats missing the entire point, which is not to prosecutor wouldbe buyers with bad backgrounds. Its to stop them plain and simple from buying guns. Lindsay graham and Milwaukee Police chief edward flynn. Why arent we prosecuting people who fail a background check and there are 15 questions there. Theyre not hard to understand if youre filling out the form. Im a bit frustrated that we say one thing, how important it is, but in the real world, we absolutely do nothing to enforce the laws on the books. Now, lets talk you know, just for the record, from my point of view, senator, the purpose how many cases have you . It doesnt matter. I want to stop i want to finish the answer. No i want to stop 76,000 people from buying guns illegally. Thats what a background check does. If you think were going to do paperwork prosecutions, youre wrong. Just today in chief flynns city, the day after the testimony, a man opened fire with an Assault Rifle on a crowd of ten people, wounding two of them. The suspect has a long criminal history. Chief edward flynn joins us now. I appreciate you being with us. What do we know about the type of weapon used in that shooting today . It was an ar15 knockoff made in china. A 30round clip, semiautomatic rifle, able to get a lot of rounds off, which the individual did. If Congress Approved the current legislation to ban socalled assault weapons, is this the type of weapon that would be banned . Yes, it would. We saw the Heated Exchange you got in with senator graham. Opponents of stricter gun laws dont understand why you and other law personnel and prosecutors arent going after the people who are stopped by the background check system. On its face, people wonder why you wouldnt go after a criminal who lies, turns out to be a felon, and tried to get a gun . Well, i can understand some people being misled lie that, but when somebody of the senators stature, its a total red herring, not filling out the form truthally is an offense, yes, youre right, it is, and certainly, we would welcome additional funding from the United States congress to pay for 80,000 extra prosecutions a year, but thats not the point. The point is, as you just pointed out, that we are using background checks to prevent the wrong people from getting fi firearms. The background check system works because it prevents people from getting firearms legally that shouldnt. Thats the purpose of it. Yes, its a technical violation. But no one who works in the criminal Justice System at any level thinks for a moment that any judge is going to entertain a large number of prosecutions for that violation crowding a docket full of drug prosecutions, you know, firearms prosecutions, homicide prosecutions and so on. So its total sophistry. Its a pretend important statistic that is irrelevant to the functioning of government. Also, this is the thing i dont understand. I interviewed the nra and asked them, it doesnt seem to be an either or thing. Its not as if you cannot extend private background checks through private sales or gun shows and not also increase the prosecution of people who lie on background checks. It would seem you could do both of those things. It might seem so. But i mean, is it a practical matter . I think you know this, anderson. We live in a government of finite resources. As a matter of fact, there are some in government who would like them even more finite, perhaps no resources at all, but the criminal Justice System works at Maximum Capacity now. The feds are prosecuting organized crime cases and a wide variety of criminal offenses, were filling up the dockets with aggravated assaults, car thefts, domestic violence, and so on. Yes, in a perfect world, people would get prosecuted for lying on their background, but dont get misled. The most important function that background form fulfills is it enables us to do investigations to disqualify people from buying firearms. Thats their purpose. They serve that purpose admirably, and its a complete phony issue to raise the specter of insufficient prosecutions for not filling it out proper. One of the things the nra says, and the logic i dont kwient understand, is that further background checks at gun shows or private sales would prevent legitimate citizens, be an inconvenient for them and not prevent criminals. How do you know its not preventing criminals if youre not doing background checks buying at gun shows . How do you know unless you actually check . Any working cop can tell you a lot of upstanding citizens are a firsttime offenders with a firearm, so thats no guarantee, either. The more important issue is this, we want to make it hard. We dont live in a perfect world. We cannot make ourselves invincible from threat. I want to give you an example. I had a privilege of being a member of the Arlington CountyPolice Department responding to 9 11. We determined that we are never going to allow airplanes to be used as weapons of mass murder. We have made a societal wide commitment, and we have inconvenienced the lives of millions of travelers in their laudable, social compact that were going to protect ourselves from airliners being weapons of mass murder. Why on earth can we not generate that same will when it comes to high capacity assault weapons and magazines. Its our homicide sta