>> more from the moment she was found unconscious in the bathtub. >> ann romney responding to a democratic strategist who said this about her. >> his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. >> the mother of five is fuming over that comment. >> hearing a cry from the morgue? they are calling her the miracle baby. a newborn baby found alive at the morgue 12 hours after being declared stillborn. >> that is a crazy story. stay tuned for that. actually nailed into a coffin. that's incredible. >> just incredible. >> one minute past 5:00 on the east coast. george zimmerman waking up behind bars this morning. the man who shot 17-year-old trayvon martin is now charged with second degree murder. zimmerman turned himself in to police yesterday, his arrest coming after weeks of protest in florida and right across the country, demanding justice for trayvon. a special prosecutor says none of that went into her decision to charge zimmerman. >> let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. we prosecute based on the facts of any given case as well as the laws of the state of florida. >> trayvon martin's parents were in washington when they got the news and his mother expressed her thanks. >> we simply wanted an arrest. we wanted nothing more, nothing less. we just wanted an arrest and we got it. >> as for zimmerman's family, his brother is telling cnn's piers morgan they're upset the prosecutor, quote, threw the book at him. >> obviously, as a family, we're devastated. i will say, we are a strong family and we have been living a somewhat altered reality for quite some time and we have had to prepare ourselves for an outcome such as this. >> george zimmerman's new attorney says his client plans to plead not guilty. he's expected to mack a first appearance in court in just a few hours. cnn's martin savage is live in sanford, florida this morning. we're waking up across the countries to headlines like this in "the new york post," "murder." . i assume the headlines there will be similar. what's the protocol for mr. zimmerman this morning? >> here's what's going to happen. we know he wakes up this morning, charged for the first time with murder, with the murder of 17-year-old trayvon martin. it's the second degree murder that's with a weapon and what that essentially means is that it's a first degree felony. he could get 25 years, that's the minimum, to a possible maximum of life. he is going to have his first court appearance later today. his attorney says he will enter a plea of not guilty and then they'll talk about the issue of bond. right now he has no bond. he was transported here last night in a black suv from jacksonville, a drive of about three hours. he was brought in, photographed, went through a medical as well as mental examination. and essentially what they're doing to do is evaluate whether or not or how he's going to be housed. in other words, are they going to put him into the general population. all of that is still to be worked out. we do expect to see him later today. he's not going to appear in court in appearance. they do it by video link. the family of trayvon martin, of course, believes it's the first step on the long road to justice. for the family of george zimmerman, it was an absolutely crushing blow as robert zimmerman, his older brother, explained to piers morgan last night. >> this is a series of not just physical but psychological issues happening to them. using his entire body weight to cover the broken nose of the person screaming out for their life. now what you have is a situation where you're out of breath and losing consciousness. what puts you in fear of your life is when you carry a gun and someone threatens to disarm you as you're becoming unconscious, you don't know if that person is really going to kill you or not. but if you're wrong about it, you are dead. >> what's interesting there, actually, robert zimmerman told piers he spent time with his brother while he was in hiding, waiting to hear if there would be charges and of course now we know there are. ashleigh? >> martin, obviously this was one of the most mysterious people. we haven't seen hyde nor hair of george zimmerman. what was expected in terms of how they were going to house him? protective custody, solitary? how are they going to handle his existence in a very worrisome circumstance? >> yes, it is. many people had discussed would they in fact how's him here in seminole county because it is epicenter of the whole event here and there was concerns about being mixed in with the general population, could there be a retribution? it has been a serious concern. it continues to be a concern. we believe they were going to isolate him at least for the time being while they do this evaluation. >> martin savage, live in sanford, florida this morning. thank you for that. coming up later on "starting point" we hear from both sides in the trayvon martin case at 7:00 eastern. soledad will talk with george zimmerman's new attorney, mark o'ma o'mara. she then talks. another attorney. the national average price of unleaded is $3.91. we're within the window that north korea says it will launch a new rocket. the launch hasn't happened yet. north korea says it will happen by monday. international leaders are urging north korea to kansing the launch. the united states says it is suspending food aid and japan is threatening to shoot down the rocket. north korea's insisting the operation is for peaceful purposes only. but the u.s. and south korean officials believe it is a cover for a ballistic missile test. confusion, panic and her people being difficult. 911 tapes are out from the night whitney houston died, obtained by tmz. the hotel security guard made the phone call and he says a woman in houston's room was pretty much out of it and wouldn't let him in to try and perform cpr. listen. >> you don't know if she's breathing at all? >> apparently she wasn't breathing. >> she was not breathing? >> yes. >> she is breathing now? >> i don't know. >> okay. >> the person that called me was irate and pretty much out of there. >> does it sound is like the person is still not breathing. >> that's correct. >> okay. is anyone in the room trying to give cpr? >> we're trying to go in now. >> are you in the room to give cpr instruction? >> no, because she kept hanging up on us. >> her assistant and body guard were the only people in the room at the time. turning now to the race for the white house, rick santorum once called mitt romney the worst republican in the country to put up against president obama. at least with regard to obama care he said. now that he's out of the race would mitt romney consider rick santorum for the number two spot? the vp? a voter asked him that very question. >> would you consider him as a vice president candidate? if not, why not? >> everybody's on my list. everybody's on my list. i'm not taking anybody off the list, all right? i actually don't have a list yet. so i can't say someone is on or off my list. the people i've had the privilege of running against would be among those i'd consider. >> he's been pressed on that list a few times. there he said everyone is on my list but i don't have a list, i don't have a list, not yet anyway. >> newt gingrich is still hoping for the number one spot, yes. he says it is still a two-man race only now between him and mitt romney. in "the situation room" he said he is sticking around until romney clinches the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination. >> i want to continue doing what i do best, which is talk about big solutions and big approaches. i want to keep campaigning. and we'll see what happens. you self-admitted, governor romney does not yet have the nomination, despite every effort to get people to concede it. i have every right to continue to campaign until he gets a majority. >> well, this is what he's up against. mitt romney now has 659 delegates, gingrich way behind at 140. it is mathematically impossible for him to pull it out before the convention. >> ann romney is firing back the aa democratic strategist and cnn contributor named hilary rosen. after rosen said this about the 64-year-old mother of five and grandmother of 16. it happened on "ac 360." >> what you have is mitt romney running around the country saying, well, you know, my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues. when i listen to my wife, that's what i'm hearing. guess what? his wife has actually never worked a day in her life. she's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and why do we worry about their future. >> she may not have worked in an office but ann romney used her first tweet ever to respond to that claim, saying, i made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. believe me, it was hard work. but hillary rosen is not backing down. she tweeted ann d. romney please know i admire you but your husband shouldn't say you are his expert on women and the economy. david axelrod, the senior adviser to president obama's re-election bid tried to distance the campaign perfect rosen's comments saying this. the comments were inappropriate and offensive. >> lots of people are weighing in on that one. >> i have two boys. i'm telling you, it's easier to be here. >> yes, it is. most women know that, they understand that. >> they do. >> 11 minutes past the minute here. still ahead, remember this video, take a look, campus police pepper spraying students at pointblank range. that's at uc davis, folks. their hands are in some cases tied behind their back, in front. a new state report is out and it is not kind to the officers or campus leader. also, police on the hunt for a pint-sized terror. a little boy who threatened to kill another child for his ice cream. no kidding. he allegedly tried to rob the victim at knifepoint. there's more to this. you're watching "early start." ♪ why do you whisper, green grass? 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[ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. it is 14 minutes past the hour. time to check the stories making news this morning. here's christine romans. george zimmerman charged and in custody this morning. a special prosecutor filing second degree murder charges against zimmerman in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old trayvon martin back in february. zimmerman's expected in court for the first time today. his new attorney says zimmerman will plead not guilty and base his defense on florida's stand your ground law. for the first time in more than a year, no new major attacks being reported in syria. opposition activists say they now have weak hopes that the syrian government will stick to a u.n.-backed cease-fire plan. that cease-fire deadline passed early this morning. since then, activists say, quote, we've only been hearing the sound of birds. at least 9,000 people have been killed in syria since the government began cracking down on protesters last spring. 9,000. it could mean cheaper-bo, ebooks down the line. the government says apple conspired with these publishers to drive up book prices and basically force amazon's hand which was selling most ebooks for $9.99. apple hasn't responded to the lawsuit yet. a series of earthquakes coming off the baja coast. a 6.9 and 6.2, just minutes apart. no roars of damage. it follows a 7 quake that hit western mexico last night. that one could be felt hundreds of miles away in mexico city. causing tall buildings to sway. and the outcome could have been disastrous after a school bus crashed into a house. can you believe it? this is in florida. police say the driver swerved to avoid a car that ran a spotlight. two children and two adults were on board the bus. they suffer only minor injuries. amazing. police in pasadena, texas, looking for a 6-year-old or 7-year-old boy who allegedly tried to rob another kid at knifepoint. 6 or 7-year-old. the victim's older brother says it was over ice cream. >> my little brother went to the ice cream truck to buy ice cream when the kid came up to him and told him, buy me an ice cream or i'll shank you and i'll kill you right now and he actually opened the knife and pointed it at home in the stomach. >> the victim was 11 years old. his brother says he dropped his ice cream and ran home. the ice cream truck driver follow him home to make sure he got there safely. for an extended look at all of the top stories, head to our blog at cnn.com/earlystart. >> 6 or 7. >> 6 or 7 with a knife, went after an 11-year-old, give me your ice cream or i'm going to, as his brother said, shank you. the kid dropped his ice cream and went high-tailing it home. the ice cream truck driver followed him home to make sure he got there safely. >> if they find the 6-year-old, this will be big. a 12-year-old in florida is facing prosecution under angela corey right now. >> they're getting younger. raging floods, heavy hail, these storms are paralyzing the texas panhandle. take a look at these pictures on your screen. there are reports of people trapped in their cars. they were buried under apparently baseball size chunks of ice. look at that. just remarkable. this is land being chunked away by these raging floodwaters. potter county, texas, is what you're looking at. phenomenal video from kv11. rob marciano in the cnn weather center to tell us more about that. i am always amazed when i see waters like that and how quickly they can become flash floods. >> in that part of the country it doesn't take a whole lot of water. they got maybe an inch of rain. if you get it in less than an hour in an area that's been under a long-term drought, it just runs off, it does not sink into the hard, dry land of west texas. they've seen this now two days in a row. they may see it again today. they're see the threat for flash flooding, large hail and isolated tornadoes and damaging winds across tornado alley. tomorrow and the next day and over the weekend we see a similar threat. that cool air across western parts of the great lakes after nothing but warmth for the past three months, you'll take it, 20s and 30s this morning. frost and freeze watches and warnings in effect. we still have some fire problems as far as weather is concerned. gusts to 20 miles an hour across parts of northern florida today with winds gusting also across parts of western georgia. you'll see breezy conditions across the northeast. there's a little bit of moisture wrapping around what is a low pressure system out here. maybe a spritz or a sprinkle out on long island. in western parts of the u.s., including california, rain through san francisco and maybe snow across -- maybe? it will snow across parts of the sierra, maybe 1 to 2 feet of it. speaking of california, check out this video of stockton, funnel cloud amongst the interstate traffic. there was a tornado warning issued for this and it eventually did touch down. not a whole lot of damage but nonetheless, you see it doing the old rope-a-dope. >> is that an official term, rope-a-dope? >> sure is. >> thank you, rob. i don't think i've seen a funnel cloud snaking like that. >> the last part of the video looks to be sped up. >> that makes more sense. >> they do that when they try to figure out, do i touch down, go back in the included? what to do? >> do i spare everybody below? the person who -- actually, that looks like it might have been a tower cam. i marvel at the people who videotape it. >> you've got to roll. always roll on tape. >> rob marciano, you stop that. >> people like you. people like you. >> thanks, my friend. >> got to be trained to do that. >> 21 minutes past the hour. we're getting an early read on your local news making national headlines this morning. we have papers from california, north carolina and connecticut. we'll start this morning with the "los angeles times" for you. this is a story that everybody has been following. remember the california officials. this was back in november. this report has been a long-time coming. campus police sprayed a group of students, occupy protesters at pointblank range. the incident should and could have been prevented. the police lacked proper cause to spray the students said the report. the police officer said they felt threatened, the mob was encircling them. they felt they had no other choice but -- >> the pictures kind of tell a different story. >> a totally different story. a report says there was little factual basis supporting the belief that they were trapped by the protesters. >> actual basis being video? >> yes. >> and bystanders and witness accounts? >> look at this. >> video is not 360, that's for sure but it is tough to see -- >> they're sitting there and cuffed. >> so this is a good one, too. you may have forgotten. from "the charleston news and observer," jury selection starting in the trial of john edwards. remember john edwards? he's a defendant, facing six felony charges. see the woman on your screen with the little baby? he's accused of using campaign money to support that woman, his former mistress, rielle hunter. the experts say jury selection could be the most important part of this trial, not necessarily the litigation, the choice of who will sit on the panel. it's a hometown jury from the middle district of north carolina. apparently on a lot of the voir dire, there are questions about that. >> and people who want to write books, make money, be in the limelight. that's also an issue. >> 23 minutes past the hour. next, how a cell phone company is trying to get you now. are you thinking of upgrading to a shiny new smartphone? 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