0 [ male announcer ] engine light on? come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. the thing about comedy is you get a pass for poking fun at sensitive topics, and that's exactly how "saturday night live" opened its show. here's host justin timberlake's ode to the late hugo chavez ♪ good-bye, hugo, c ♪ you were a man of the people, and a lie to wear a sash ♪ ♪ you called george bush the devil when you spoke at the u.n. ♪ ♪ you said it smelled like sulfur, and you called him mr. danger ♪ ♪ and it seems to me, you lived your life like a candle in the wind ♪ ♪ if a candle could pull out two pistols at a press conference ♪ ♪ and you said the u.s. called earthquakes and you outlawed coke zero, and on your shoulders stood your parrot with the matching red beret ♪ >> thanks for starting your morning with us. we've got much more ahead on cnn's sunday morning which cnn's sunday morning which starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning, everyone. i'm brianna keilar in for randy kay. we start with a wild story about jennifer capriati. she's accused of assaulting and stalking an ex-boyfriend. brandon says capriati punched him several times. her reps called the accusations over exaggeration. cnn's legal contributor, paul callan joining me by phone. paul, how serious are these charges of stalking and assault in florida? they are kind of serious, right? >> reporter: well, they can be, brianna, because florida has one of the strictest stalking laws in the country. most places it's a misdemeanor charge, a minor charge where you face probation or community service. in florida they have a felony provision where you actually can be sentenced to state's prison in a particularly serious case. now we don't know what is involved in this case, whether it would rise to that level or, indeed, if charges will ever be formally brought, but it's in the a good place to be charged with stalking. >> no. paul, apparently her ex-boyfriend is alleging at least half a dozen incidents of stalking. if, say, his lawyers are able to establish a pattern here, will that be damaging? >> yes, that will be highly damaging to him. there are claims being made by the boyfriend that there have been seven prior reports of stalking-like behavior, phone calls, text messages. there's also a claim that this wound up in front of a florida judge once before when apparently the boyfriend sought a restraining order, so there appears to be a long history here of things going on between these two people so we have to see what they announce. of course, also, bear in mind you kind of laugh usually about a guy bringing criminal charges because a girl punched him in the chest, no offense, brianna, but when the girl happens to be a former olympian, you know, with a great search, she probably throws a pretty good punch to the chest so maybe in her case we could understand why charges might be brought if in fact she assaulted her ex-boyfriend. >> their history, does it tend to be her reporting any incidents involving him or is it really just him reporting incidents involving her? >> reporter: well, most of the incidents that i'm picking up in my research about their history seems to be him making complaints about her as opposed to the other way around. now i have seen a report that her attorney has vehemently denied this and said that she's really the victim here and she is not a stalker and adamantly denies being a stalker. so, you know, a judge will have to sort this out, and prosecutors will have to sort this out. these sorts of domestic claims, you know, sometimes it's called domestic abuse if married people are involved, get sorted out by prosecutors and sometimes there's merit to them and sometimes there's not. >> and sometimes it's a he said she said thing and we'll have to wait and see how it plays out. paul callan. thank you. >> reporter: nice being with you, brianna. a winter storm has dumped more than a foot of snow in colorado. it's making driving pretty dangerous on interstates, canceled more than 400 flights in denver and along the continental divide crews had to shoot artillery shells into the side of a mountain to spark a controlled avalanche. demolitions are along the massachusetts coast. the storm left 1 dozen homes on plumb island uninhabitable. residents have long fought coastal erosion. they said the federal jetty system is making the problem worse. a federal jury has granted one of the largest civil rights verdicts to an ohio man who spent 11 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. david ayers was awarded $13.2 million. he was freed in 2011 after dna tests cleared him in the killing of a 76-year-old woman at the public housing complex where she worked. the city attorney in cleveland, which is on the hook to pay, says officials are, quote, disappointed and considering their options. it is a day of rest at the vatican before one of the biggest weeks for the roman catholic faithful. starting on tuesday, 115 cardinal electors will begin the process of voting for a new pope, but there is also controversy as a cardinal in the conclave is accused of covering up child abuse by a priest. cnn's senior international correspondent dan rivers joins us now from rome. he is just down the street from the vatican. dan, the cardinals begin voting on tuesday. what is the likelihood that they'll pick a new pope right away, that it may take a day or two, or will it take longer, do you think? >> reporter: the honest answer is, no one knows. back in '92 it took five days. subsequent conclaves where they've voted for a pope are shorter. some three days. no one knows. i think it's highly unlikely given that there's no obvious front-runner that the new pope will be chosen on tuesday. i'm guessing it will be wednesday, thursday, friday. no one knows for sure. today is the last day when the cardinals who are potentially going to be the vote or vote for the pope will be out giving mass in their various churches that they're affiliated to in rome. this church behind me, beautiful church just down the road from vatican is santa maria dell marco is affiliated with marc ouellet. he's not here right now. we understand he will be here later this evening. >> so, dan, these cardinal electors are essentially choosing from amongst themselves. are there any front-runners that are standing out at this point? is it too soon to tell? >> reporter: it is too soon to tell. i mean, you know, there are favorites depending on who you ask. the italians, obviously, are hoping that angelo, scerla, the bishop from milan. they have 11 voting cardinals, hoping for someone like that. shawn o'malley or tim dolan from new york, the new york archbishop, pretty unlikely, but it's possible. a reforming, a radical pope might be able to come in and tackle the sex abuse scandal which is one of the big things they're going to have to deal with. perhaps the austrian archbishop, brianna, he's taken a top line on this. but there are about ten different cardinals, argentine in a, brazil, peter turkson from africa, from ghana, so it's a wide open field. it's interesting because you need a super majority, 2/3. 77 votes. so it's going to be someone who is a compromise candidate probably. someone who appeals to various different sections of the cardinals, not someone who is an outright favorite. i think someone who's a compromise candidate. that leaves it wide open. >> they certainly have their work cut out for them as this abuse case is raising questions at the vatican. dan rivers for us in rome. thank you for that. former south african president nelson mandela is back in the hospital. officials say it's just for a routine checkup though. the 94-year-old civil rights icon was hospitalized back in december for a lung infection and surgery to remove gallstones. since then he has been recovering at home. a retired fbi agent missing overseas. he disappeared one day after arriving in iran. next we'll hear from his wife making a plea for his safe return. 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