Jodi Arias Trial; American Catholics React to Change
HENDRICKS: Eighteen days -- that is how long murder defendant Jodi Arias testified on the stand in her own defense. So how did she do as a witness and did she save her own life by testifying? Earlier I asked HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell about it.</s>JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: A lot of people said, look, she had to take the stand, because first she lied, said she wasn't there, and then she said two ninjas did it, and then she finally said, oh, yes, I killed him but it was self-defense. Well, there is no corroboration for that self- defense except her telling it. But she was so elaborate with some of her -- well, I think we have all concluded -- lies, that she may have created so many inconsistencies that it was an opportunity for the prosecutor to really show beyond a reasonable doubt that she is a liar.</s>HENDRICKS: Speaking of the prosecutor, Juan Martinez, he has really gone after her full force on the stand.</s>JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: Ma'am, were you crying when you were shooting him?</s>JODI ARIAS, DEFENDANT: I don't remember.</s>MARTINEZ: Were you crying when you were stabbing him?</s>ARIAS: I don't remember.</s>MARTINEZ: How about when you cut his throat, were you crying then?</s>ARIAS: I don't know.</s>HENDRICKS: Did you think at all that his style may be turning off the jury?</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it's very, very aggressive. But I have to say, when you are dealing with a pathological liar -- and I do believe she is a pathological liar -- you have to be aggressive because you can't nail them down. She is constantly using phrases like "I guess", asking him to define his terms, "well, if you say so, it's possible". So she slides, she slides out of everything she tries to pin her on. So it's frustrating. I think sometimes he's let his frustrations show. But as far as aggressive, you have got to really hone in on a pathological liar and rattle them to shake them off her story. That's how I think he got her to say, oh, there was a holster, which was totally bad news for her, because now she has to take the gun out of the holster, then she says, well, maybe the holster was not there. So it showed the inconsistencies in her story even more. So I think he is a little over the top but he's got to do something.</s>HENDRICKS: And I think we really got a look into what the jury may be feeling and thinking, with their questions, 200-plus questions. Do you think that rattled Jodi Arias on the stand?</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, I think it had do. I think she would be back in her he cell rocking in a fetal position over that break where she is, the questions, echoing in her mind. Why should we believe you now when you have lied so many times before? How can you remember intimate details of sexual encounters but you can't remember stabbing somebody 29 times? These questions were hostile. They were sarcastic. They were almost rhetorical. And certainly they gave us an insight into the soul of these jurors. They are not buying her act.</s>HENDRICKS: They were sarcastic, and I remember a couple of them being snide. It does not seem like they like her at all. The next phase in this is the experts. Do you think they will save Jodi's life?</s>VELEZ-MITCHELL: Her life is riding on these experts. Clearly the jurors through their questions did not believe the fog. Well, they are going to bring this psychologist on who is going to argue ferociously that yes, this fog does exist. And we've heard battles about this already, that he is saying, well, look, police officers even go into this fog when they shoot somebody, and they are trained to shoot somebody. So if he can prove that this so-called fog, which the prosecutor was so sarcastic about, which the jurors were so sarcastic about it, is real, then maybe, maybe that's the only chance for Jodi Arias not to get the needle.</s>HENDRICKS: Stay up to speed on the Jodi Arias trial with Jane Velez- Mitchell. You can catch her on our sister network HLN weeknights at 7:00 Eastern. A Maryland man is dead after he contracted rabies. We're going to tell you the strange way he got the deadly virus. And later, a CNN investigation into whether one rural Mississippi County is ignoring hate crimes. But first, Latin Americans make up a fast-growing segment in the American Catholic church. That means changes involving more than just language. Tom Foreman shows us how the selection of a pope from Argentina could have a big impact on this "American Journey".</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The appearance of the Spanish-speaking pope from across the Atlantic electrified the crowd in Italy and lit up U.S. shores, too.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does it feel?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Full of joy. And happy, very happy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we say in Latin America, Vivo il Papa.</s>FOREMAN: Over the past few decades, American Catholic churches like this one in D.C. have undergone a profound transformation. The number of Hispanic members has been soaring, pushed so fast by immigration and births that they now account for one out of every three Catholics here.</s>GREG SMITH, PEW RESEARCH CENTER: And it's a number that's likely to continue to rise because Latino Catholics tend to be younger than Catholics as a whole. Fully one half of all Catholics under the age of 40 today are Hispanics.</s>FOREMAN: While many white Catholics have been slipping away from the church amid sexual abuse scandals, debates over abortion rights and the role of women, Hispanic arrivals have more than made up for the losses. So much so that Catholics still comprise about a quarter of the country, just as they have for decades. (on camera): Mind you, that shift in demographics has dramatically changed the religious map. Once a largely northeastern and Midwestern faith, Catholicism is now growing fast in the south and the west. (voice-over): The new pope has a ready audience coast to coast in this country.</s>ANJALAI SHAHANI, CATHOLIC: So the fact that he can speak our language is very significant. I think he can get the message to us more effectively.</s>FOREMAN: And what they share maybe more than Spanish is the language of change. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.