Morgan and Jeantel, you decide.
For one, I can't understand the "laughter", "applause" or the fact that portions are inaudible. This woman wonders why she isn't credible, seriously? Consider her failure with the English language, inability to read cursive writing and back-pedaling lying (not to mention the ease at which she name calls) capped by her generalized lack of knowledge. Honestly, the prosecution should have never put her on the stand:
MORGAN: She's here live in my studio.
Plus the interview you've got to see. What George Zimmerman's brother told me just after the verdict was announced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN JR., GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S BROTHER: They have seen what Trayvon Martin did to my brother, and it's time -- it's high time that they accept that the jury system that we have in this country is a system that we should respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Also, my exclusive with the man who defended Casey Anthony. Why he says this is not a case about racial profiling.
Plus, my legal eagles, Judge Glenda Hatchett, Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, Jeffrey Toobin and Jayne Weintraub. I'll ask all of them, was this case more about the law than the color of anybody's skin? And was the prosecution simply outfoxed by the defense?
This is PIERS MORGAN LIVE.
I want to begin with the young woman who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin moments before he died. This is Rachel Jeantel's first interview since she testified in the trial and she joins me now exclusively along with her attorney, Rod Vereen.
Rachel, welcome to you.
JEANTEL: Hi, how are you?
MORGAN: You're very famous now. Everybody watched your testimony. Everybody saw somebody who looked like you didn't really want to be there, but also suffering from the fact that you lost your great friend Trayvon.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: Tell me, first of all, your reaction to the fact that George Zimmerman was acquitted.
JEANTEL: Disappointed, upset, angry, question and mad.
MORGAN: The jury decided after a long deliberation that the prosecution hadn't proved its case. They believed that it was Trayvon on top of George Zimmerman, that it was George Zimmerman's voice on the tape crying out for help. And that therefore they concluded he acted in self-defense. What do you say to that?
JEANTEL: Yes. Just yes.
MORGAN: In your heart, what do you believe happened?
JEANTEL: He was trying to get home, and he was, and that's a fact.
MORGAN: And you know that because you were talking to him?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
MORGAN: One thing we didn't get in this trial, Rachel, was a real sense of what Trayvon Martin was really like. Nobody knew him better than you. How often would you talk to Trayvon?
JEANTEL: All day.
MORGAN: All day long?
JEANTEL: Yes, all day.
MORGAN: You were telling me earlier, you had phone records that were produced where that it was literally all day.
JEANTEL: They showed me phone records. I had to say wow.
MORGAN: All day long.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: You want your Bluetooth. Just talking to Trayvon.
JEANTEL: Bluetooth. I have (INAUDIBLE). MORGAN: What kind of guy was he?
JEANTEL: He was a calm, chill, loving person. Loved his family, definitely his mother. And a good friend.
MORGAN: What would you talk about?
JEANTEL: Really, what we were going to be in life. How life's going to happen, what's going on currently around that time. And mind you around that time, it was both of our birthdays had passed. So we were talking about what happened, and that --
MORGAN: He was a good friend to you?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: A kind friend?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: Was he ever aggressive?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Did you ever see him aggressive?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Did he ever lose his temper?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: He really was a calm guy.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: So when people have tried to paint a picture of a young thug because he was in a hoodie and was walking home.
JEANTEL: First of all, Trayvon is not a thug. They need to know a definition of a thug, to be judging a person -- well, a teenager, mind you a teenager, could post anything, even I post anything to just brag. Just to brag.
MORGAN: You mean the stuff on social media?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: The Facebook and so on.
JEANTEL: That's just brag, it's not true.
MORGAN: Again, they tried to paint a picture of somebody interested in guns, took a lot of drugs. Let's get to the truth about that. Did he ever talk to you about guns?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Did you ever see him with a gun?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: What about drugs?
JEANTEL: Drugs. OK, weed, marijuana. In my area, we say weed. My area, we -- for Trayvon, I can explain one thing, we don't do make him go crazy, it just make him go hungry.
MORGAN: But he did --
(LAUGHTER)
JEANTEL: Like it's the best thing I can say. It made him hungry.
MORGAN: Did he take a lot of weed?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: How much would you say?
JEANTEL: Like twice a week.
MORGAN: Twice a week?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: Is that normal for teenagers in your community?
JEANTEL: Yes. Real normal.
MORGAN: You would do the same?
JEANTEL: No, because I --
(LAUGHTER)
No.
MORGAN: You don't take it.
JEANTEL: No, no.
MORGAN: You knew Trayvon did, he would tell you that. We know that there was some evidence of that in his blood.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: What the defense again tried to paint a picture of is somebody who -- because of the drug use, that would make him more violent.
JEANTEL: No. Like I said, that's B.S., that's just their opinions. That's the problem in this case, that was their opinion.
MORGAN: Do you think they understood the world that you and Trayvon come from?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Don West gave you a very hard time, the defense attorney?
JEANTEL: Don West.
MORGAN: What is your --
(LAUGHTER)
What is your view of him?
JEANTEL: I'm going to have to say, he -- like I'm a Christian.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: I want to clear up one thing before we come up to Don West. A lot of people have mocked you or they called you all sorts of things, you know that, on Twitter. I came to your defense at one stage. I found it so disgusting. They called you stupid. They were very racist to you, the people I saw on Twitter. A lot of people were very racist to you. But they also mocked you for the way that you spoke.
JEANTEL: OK.
MORGAN: Now explain to me the background to that.
JEANTEL: The way I speak? People -- a lot of people have the same issue I have right now. OK, how I can say this? I have this situation since kindergarten to figure out how to speak. I have an underbite. For me --
MORGAN: Which is a dental condition for your teeth?
JEANTEL: No, a bone.
MORGAN: A bone.
JEANTEL: They got to push back. And --
MORGAN: You had to have surgery for it?
JEANTEL: Yes, I had to have surgery to push it back, and right now I don't want to do it, because it will take a year to heal. And a lot of people have that situation. Words I can say, it can't come out right. But --
MORGAN: Have you been bullied for that before?
JEANTEL: Look at me, no. No. (LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: So you seem to me a very different character tonight to the one we saw in court. You looked like you didn't want to be there. Is that how you felt?
JEANTEL: It's not that I didn't want to be there, it's a lot of stress. I was dealing with a lot of stress for 16 months, I think?
MORGAN: And you were grieving a friend.
JEANTEL: I was grieving. And I had to deal with around February, my birthday, his birthday. My mother's birthday. There's a lot of birthdays up in there. So death creep me out. I don't -- I don't do death at all. I have been told my parents, I'm not going to their funeral. I'm not doing none of that, I don't like funerals.
MORGAN: For those who just don't know, what effect did it have on you, Trayvon's death? Particularly the shocking fact that you were the last person he was talking to?
JEANTEL: Shock. Just shock. Just like wow. You can't believe -- like you can't believe what just happened. You were just on the phone with the person. And he sounded normal. And then a situation happened, and then I'm finding out two days later he's dead. And then I had to be -- by a friend telling me, oh, do you know he died at 7:17? And I had to look at my phone. My phone says 7:16.
And people got the nerve to tell me, oh, why didn't you come to the funeral? I didn't put Trayvon at the funeral. I didn't put Trayvon in the casket. That's what people need to understand. I did not plan for that week to be at a funeral. That day I was so shaken, like wow, it's really happening, he's really dead?
MORGAN: Do you miss him?
JEANTEL: Well, yes. He was a funny person. And the area that I raised was no. The area I currently stay at, no. That's where he hang out. That's his friends, all that, we -- you know, they have their grief.
MORGAN: The juror who was interviewed tonight by Anderson Cooper for CNN said that she felt sorry for you. But she also -- but she also said this, let's watch the clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, CNN'S AC 360: I want to ask you about some of the different witnesses. Rachel Jeantel, the woman who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin at the start of the incident. What did you make of her testimony?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't think it was very credible. But I felt very sorry for her. She didn't ask to be in this place, she didn't ask -- she wanted to go. She wanted to leave, she didn't want to be any part of this jury. I think she felt inadequate toward everyone because of her education and her communication skills. I just felt sadness for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: You're uneducated. You have no communication skills. What do you feel about what that juror said about you?
JEANTEL: Angry. Upset. And then the closing -- when the state closed they're trying to explain what kind of person I am. You can see the kind of person I am. Out of the whole stand I never cussed out Don. Even during -- since march I've been dealing with don west --
You actually saw him here? In the CNN show -- he was here to do Anderson's show.
JEANTEL: Yes, yes, yes.
MORGAN: What did that make you feel just seeing him?
JEANTEL: I'm holding back. The only reason I have not said nothing to Don West, because my parents taught me better. That's as an adult, you don't have the right to disrespect an adult. Don't curse. OK. I did give attitude, but you know, that's --
MORGAN: I like your attitude. When we come back, I want to talk to you about, there's a particular moment, and it was discussed again with Anderson with the jury tonight, that the moment when we had this reference to creepy ass cracker, because that became a very famous phrase. And I want to get from you exactly what it means.
MORGAN: She's here live in my studio.
Plus the interview you've got to see. What George Zimmerman's brother told me just after the verdict was announced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN JR., GEORGE ZIMMERMAN'S BROTHER: They have seen what Trayvon Martin did to my brother, and it's time -- it's high time that they accept that the jury system that we have in this country is a system that we should respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Also, my exclusive with the man who defended Casey Anthony. Why he says this is not a case about racial profiling.
Plus, my legal eagles, Judge Glenda Hatchett, Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, Jeffrey Toobin and Jayne Weintraub. I'll ask all of them, was this case more about the law than the color of anybody's skin? And was the prosecution simply outfoxed by the defense?
This is PIERS MORGAN LIVE.
I want to begin with the young woman who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin moments before he died. This is Rachel Jeantel's first interview since she testified in the trial and she joins me now exclusively along with her attorney, Rod Vereen.
Rachel, welcome to you.
JEANTEL: Hi, how are you?
MORGAN: You're very famous now. Everybody watched your testimony. Everybody saw somebody who looked like you didn't really want to be there, but also suffering from the fact that you lost your great friend Trayvon.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: Tell me, first of all, your reaction to the fact that George Zimmerman was acquitted.
JEANTEL: Disappointed, upset, angry, question and mad.
MORGAN: The jury decided after a long deliberation that the prosecution hadn't proved its case. They believed that it was Trayvon on top of George Zimmerman, that it was George Zimmerman's voice on the tape crying out for help. And that therefore they concluded he acted in self-defense. What do you say to that?
JEANTEL: Yes. Just yes.
MORGAN: In your heart, what do you believe happened?
JEANTEL: He was trying to get home, and he was, and that's a fact.
MORGAN: And you know that because you were talking to him?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
MORGAN: One thing we didn't get in this trial, Rachel, was a real sense of what Trayvon Martin was really like. Nobody knew him better than you. How often would you talk to Trayvon?
JEANTEL: All day.
MORGAN: All day long?
JEANTEL: Yes, all day.
MORGAN: You were telling me earlier, you had phone records that were produced where that it was literally all day.
JEANTEL: They showed me phone records. I had to say wow.
MORGAN: All day long.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: You want your Bluetooth. Just talking to Trayvon.
JEANTEL: Bluetooth. I have (INAUDIBLE). MORGAN: What kind of guy was he?
JEANTEL: He was a calm, chill, loving person. Loved his family, definitely his mother. And a good friend.
MORGAN: What would you talk about?
JEANTEL: Really, what we were going to be in life. How life's going to happen, what's going on currently around that time. And mind you around that time, it was both of our birthdays had passed. So we were talking about what happened, and that --
MORGAN: He was a good friend to you?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: A kind friend?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: Was he ever aggressive?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Did you ever see him aggressive?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Did he ever lose his temper?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: He really was a calm guy.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: So when people have tried to paint a picture of a young thug because he was in a hoodie and was walking home.
JEANTEL: First of all, Trayvon is not a thug. They need to know a definition of a thug, to be judging a person -- well, a teenager, mind you a teenager, could post anything, even I post anything to just brag. Just to brag.
MORGAN: You mean the stuff on social media?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: The Facebook and so on.
JEANTEL: That's just brag, it's not true.
MORGAN: Again, they tried to paint a picture of somebody interested in guns, took a lot of drugs. Let's get to the truth about that. Did he ever talk to you about guns?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Did you ever see him with a gun?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: What about drugs?
JEANTEL: Drugs. OK, weed, marijuana. In my area, we say weed. My area, we -- for Trayvon, I can explain one thing, we don't do make him go crazy, it just make him go hungry.
MORGAN: But he did --
(LAUGHTER)
JEANTEL: Like it's the best thing I can say. It made him hungry.
MORGAN: Did he take a lot of weed?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: How much would you say?
JEANTEL: Like twice a week.
MORGAN: Twice a week?
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: Is that normal for teenagers in your community?
JEANTEL: Yes. Real normal.
MORGAN: You would do the same?
JEANTEL: No, because I --
(LAUGHTER)
No.
MORGAN: You don't take it.
JEANTEL: No, no.
MORGAN: You knew Trayvon did, he would tell you that. We know that there was some evidence of that in his blood.
JEANTEL: Yes.
MORGAN: What the defense again tried to paint a picture of is somebody who -- because of the drug use, that would make him more violent.
JEANTEL: No. Like I said, that's B.S., that's just their opinions. That's the problem in this case, that was their opinion.
MORGAN: Do you think they understood the world that you and Trayvon come from?
JEANTEL: No.
MORGAN: Don West gave you a very hard time, the defense attorney?
JEANTEL: Don West.
MORGAN: What is your --
(LAUGHTER)
What is your view of him?
JEANTEL: I'm going to have to say, he -- like I'm a Christian.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: I want to clear up one thing before we come up to Don West. A lot of people have mocked you or they called you all sorts of things, you know that, on Twitter. I came to your defense at one stage. I found it so disgusting. They called you stupid. They were very racist to you, the people I saw on Twitter. A lot of people were very racist to you. But they also mocked you for the way that you spoke.
JEANTEL: OK.
MORGAN: Now explain to me the background to that.
JEANTEL: The way I speak? People -- a lot of people have the same issue I have right now. OK, how I can say this? I have this situation since kindergarten to figure out how to speak. I have an underbite. For me --
MORGAN: Which is a dental condition for your teeth?
JEANTEL: No, a bone.
MORGAN: A bone.
JEANTEL: They got to push back. And --
MORGAN: You had to have surgery for it?
JEANTEL: Yes, I had to have surgery to push it back, and right now I don't want to do it, because it will take a year to heal. And a lot of people have that situation. Words I can say, it can't come out right. But --
MORGAN: Have you been bullied for that before?
JEANTEL: Look at me, no. No. (LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: So you seem to me a very different character tonight to the one we saw in court. You looked like you didn't want to be there. Is that how you felt?
JEANTEL: It's not that I didn't want to be there, it's a lot of stress. I was dealing with a lot of stress for 16 months, I think?
MORGAN: And you were grieving a friend.
JEANTEL: I was grieving. And I had to deal with around February, my birthday, his birthday. My mother's birthday. There's a lot of birthdays up in there. So death creep me out. I don't -- I don't do death at all. I have been told my parents, I'm not going to their funeral. I'm not doing none of that, I don't like funerals.
MORGAN: For those who just don't know, what effect did it have on you, Trayvon's death? Particularly the shocking fact that you were the last person he was talking to?
JEANTEL: Shock. Just shock. Just like wow. You can't believe -- like you can't believe what just happened. You were just on the phone with the person. And he sounded normal. And then a situation happened, and then I'm finding out two days later he's dead. And then I had to be -- by a friend telling me, oh, do you know he died at 7:17? And I had to look at my phone. My phone says 7:16.
And people got the nerve to tell me, oh, why didn't you come to the funeral? I didn't put Trayvon at the funeral. I didn't put Trayvon in the casket. That's what people need to understand. I did not plan for that week to be at a funeral. That day I was so shaken, like wow, it's really happening, he's really dead?
MORGAN: Do you miss him?
JEANTEL: Well, yes. He was a funny person. And the area that I raised was no. The area I currently stay at, no. That's where he hang out. That's his friends, all that, we -- you know, they have their grief.
MORGAN: The juror who was interviewed tonight by Anderson Cooper for CNN said that she felt sorry for you. But she also -- but she also said this, let's watch the clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, CNN'S AC 360: I want to ask you about some of the different witnesses. Rachel Jeantel, the woman who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin at the start of the incident. What did you make of her testimony?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't think it was very credible. But I felt very sorry for her. She didn't ask to be in this place, she didn't ask -- she wanted to go. She wanted to leave, she didn't want to be any part of this jury. I think she felt inadequate toward everyone because of her education and her communication skills. I just felt sadness for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: You're uneducated. You have no communication skills. What do you feel about what that juror said about you?
JEANTEL: Angry. Upset. And then the closing -- when the state closed they're trying to explain what kind of person I am. You can see the kind of person I am. Out of the whole stand I never cussed out Don. Even during -- since march I've been dealing with don west --
You actually saw him here? In the CNN show -- he was here to do Anderson's show.
JEANTEL: Yes, yes, yes.
MORGAN: What did that make you feel just seeing him?
JEANTEL: I'm holding back. The only reason I have not said nothing to Don West, because my parents taught me better. That's as an adult, you don't have the right to disrespect an adult. Don't curse. OK. I did give attitude, but you know, that's --
MORGAN: I like your attitude. When we come back, I want to talk to you about, there's a particular moment, and it was discussed again with Anderson with the jury tonight, that the moment when we had this reference to creepy ass cracker, because that became a very famous phrase. And I want to get from you exactly what it means.
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