works in colorado in this particular phase of the sentencing, the jury has to decide unanimously that aggravating factors, the heinousness of the crime outweigh the mitt greating factors like john holmes' mental illness, in order for the case to move forward in the next phase, the death penalty. if a single juror descents, it ends here and now. it took a total of 2 1/2 hours of deliberations. they deliberated on thursday and took a long weekend and came back today and relatively quickly announced this verdict, which we'll get about 90 minutes from now. >> scott cohen reporting for us from centennial. joining me here in los angeles is attorney paul henderson. paul, this decision has come back as we're hearing from the deliberations, pretty quickly. an hour on thursday the remainder of their time devoted to it today. 2 1/2 hours. what does that say to you? >> it says to me this jury has already heard a lot of this information. and right now they are moving very quickly because they've already decided a lot of these issues. so as we're moving through these separate phases which they have in colorado, the qualityfication and then the information, they're finally up to this final phase where they make the ultimate decision as to whether or not they're going to hold him with the ultimate price which is death penalty in this case. either way, he's never going to see the light of day again with this jury. >> and again, these are the same people that have been tasked with listening to the witness testimony, to hearing everything that got them to a conviction portion. and now they have to decide unanimously, correct? >> that is correct. and they're hearing the evidence in a little bit of different manner so during the trial while they were listening to the evidence and while they were listening to the testimony it was measured an balanced against other evidence that was being presented to them but they're hearing horrific stories right now. they're hearing information from all of the victims that survived and all of the impact statement from the families. so that's going to be really weighing on their mind as they hear the rest of the insanity defense. >> let me go back to you quickly. correct me if i'm wrong, there were five different alternates that were moved in through the process. correct? >> right. the current jury is nine women, three men. and, again, we'll see whether that has anything to do with -- with what their decision is. there are alternates on standby just in case. this is the same jury that found him gullity on all counts in the trial. the guilt phase. and also found aggravateing aaggregateing factors in the first phase of the sentencing and now they move on. we have pretty much consistency in the jury for now for white a while. >> msnbc's scott cohn reporting to us in centennial. paul anderson, stick around for more analysis as we await for finding out whether or not he will be sentenced to death or life in prison. gentlemen, thank you very much. so we also have "the new york times" reporting that vice president joe biden is said to be considering challenging hillary clinton for the democratic nomination. "times" columnist maureen dodd announced a biden run would fulfill a death bed wish from his son beau. he tried to make his father promise to run orring that the white house should not revert to the clintons. they would be better off with the biden values. later write, joe knows what beau wants. some are doubtful of a biden run and that includes former obama campaign chief strategist david axelrod. he's uncertain that a request from beau is enough to make the vice president join this race. >> he's run twice. he knows what it takes. and i think that discussion has to be had, the emotion is powerful but it's not enough to make a decision to run for president. >> nbc's barry bacon joins me live from washington, d.c. perry, there has long been this draft biden movement out there. is this news sending them into hyper drive and also the reaction, if there has been one, from the clinton camp? >> the draft biden folks are very excited. the clinton people have been -- not given much comment so far. they've said look we're pretty confident. we don't think joe biden is going to run and we think hillary clinton is still in a strong position. i would say, i spent a lot of people talking to democrats around the country the last day and a half. i'm finding very little support for joe biden. people are very -- i talked to even democrats who don't like clinton are very respectful of biden. he's a great vice president, a great senator, but there's no real hunger at least from what i've heard so far, to see a biden presidential campaign. a lot of democrats like hillary clinton. the rest of them want a more populous style figure like bernie sanders, elizabeth warren. their view of biden is a centrist democrat like hillary clinton and they're not looking for another version of her. >> plus who is left to staff a campaign for biden at this point? >> i think the big question is who is left to raise money for a biden campaign. there are enough staffers probably out there, people used to work for him in the past probably could find staffers. the big question is hillary clinton raised $45 million already and biden in his 2008 campaign really struggled to raise money. that would be the core question is can you raise the money to compete with such a big front-runner like hillary clinton. >> okay. perry bacon, great to see you. sam stein is the political editor for the huffington post and he joins me now. talking about money, i know that the hillary clinton campaign authorized a $2 million ad buy in new hampshire and iowa. her favorables not so hot. garn, back to the question of trust. so based on that do you think that's a calculation for a joe biden, people like his authenticity, people seem to really resonate to the fact that he's one of us a regular guy. is it too late for him to really seriously jump in? >> well, historically no. but we are in a hyper aggressive campaign system right now where you have to jump in early, you have to raise a lot of money early, staff up offices. so he is a bit behind the current schedule. that said, you know all it takes is one really wealthy super pac donor to propel your campaign. i'm assuming biden could find one or two maybe in his pocket. but back to the ads, thomas this is the vulnerability that allows the door to open for biden which is relatibility likability. this whole e-mail saga resurfaced problems. and if biden has one strebtd foreclinton, it's not a institution or political strengths, it's the character strengths. that's her weakness. that's his entry in that. certainly it's enough that the clintons feel spooked that they spent $2 million on a biographical ad. >> going all in trying to make sure to lock down new hampshire and iowa. as we look at the right, sam, and talk about the republicans, we've got new polls out in advance of thursday's debate. one from nbc news and the "wall street journal," another from man man manmouth university. the main difference is that rick perry makes the top ten cutoff in the nbc poll while john kasich from ohio makes the cutoff in the momouth poll. are they going to keep it at fox to the ten primaries or is there a chance that there could be the margin of error where they have to have the 10th and 11th person on that stage? >> i have no idea. this whole thing is so arbitrary if you think about it. you know just happens to be a new poll comes out and it could change the fate of one campaign or another. it's very bizarre. i guess that's what happens when you have 75 different people running for president on the republican side. you've got to cut it off. >> 17 not 75. >> not 75 i keep losing track. i keep thinking they should do the hollywood squares layout where like you have you know just four on four on four and then you can buzz in and try to create the tic tac toe thing or whatever it is. >> we need paul lynn. >> yes. >> let's talk about the tone of this debate. donald trump told our chuck todd on "meesemeet the press." >> rick perry, i always thought he was a nice guy so he started hitting me hard so i hit him harder. i don't know what they're going to be doing. i'm reading so many -- >> if they don't attack you, you're not going to attack them? >> i think it's highly unlikely. >> if they attack you -- >> i've always counter punched. you have top counterpunch. >> what is the strategy, sam, there for debates, especially if they go after one another and donald trump going after people, it's going to force more legitimate candidates to take him toe to toe. >> well, the strategy may very well be that there is no strategy that it's all impromptu and ad hoc. for trump, if you attack him, you will hit back. you know to be fair to donald trump, i think that's totally within his right. keep in mind from donald trump's perspective, these past four or five years basically everyone in this field has sucked up to him. they went to get his endorsement in 2011. of course every politician of every ideological strength tried to hit him up for money over the past decade. he now looks -- >> and he's given it. >> yeah for the past ten years you all have wanted my support and now you're hitting on me. he's got a point there. with respect to trump i imagine there will be a couple of candidates maybe the entire field, who tries to use this debate opportunity to pitch themselves against trump to go after him for one of these comments and to basically make the headline trump versus this person. >> right. but his tongue is the sharpest. that's for sure. that we will see. >> that's true. >> -- on that debate stage. "huffington post," sam stein. this brings us to our bing pulse question of the day. should vice president joe biden run for president? the pull pulse is live. let us no we what you think about this. my colleagues francis rivera tracking the results and we're going to look at the pulse coming up. that's all ahead this hour. breaking news. we just learned that former u.s. president july my carter underwent an elective procedure at emory university hospital today to remove a small mass in his liver. we're told the surgery went well and that there were no serious issues. the former president is expected to make a full recovery. want to return to the developing news right here in california. cooler wetter weather is helping fire crews begin to get the upper hand against a massive wildfire. thousands of firefighters has spent the last several days battling the rocky fire that has burned 60 acre across northern california. it's only 12% contained and one of 21 large fires currently burning across the state, forcing 12,000 people to leave their homes. >> this is alarming. it's a little surreal and just kind of keeps you on your toes. >> nbc's joe fryer has the latest from lake port california. joe? >> thomas we've been speaking with firefighters and time and time again we keep hearing the same thing, veterans who have been out here 10 20, 30 years, they say they haven't seen a fire behave like this one. they call it unpress debted and unpredictable. largely because the winds keep blowing it in directions that are not expected. right now the fire has slowed down a little bit. it's still growing. it has burned 60,000 acres. the good news for firefighters is that it is now 12% contained. that's up from 5% which is where it was at over the course of the weekend. firefighters is making progress. right now the flames are largely burning in a more remode area away from homes. more than 13,000 people are evacuated as a precaution. as the day gets going and wind kicks up it could blow the flames back toward many of the home neighborhoods, and cities that surround this devastating fire. so far two dozen homes have been destroyed. hundreds more have been evacuated as a precaution. so far no firefighters have been injured in this one. more than 20 large wildfires are burning across drought-stricken california right now. the governor declared a state of emergency which allows them to bring in more resources, especially air tankers and helicopters to attack from above. across the state right now, 9,000 firefighters are on the ground. they are hoping that slightly milder temperatures today will help them continue to get ahead and stop the rocky fire's progress. thomas? >> mother nature will be a big help. nbc's joe fryer reporting from california. the fight over planned parenthood. the senate voting today on a bill to defund it but is there enough support? also ahead, tragedy on the field. a bat boy dies after being struck by a player's practice swing. and 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step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you. ♪ whoa what are you doing? putting on a movie. i'm trying to watch the game here. look i need this right now ok? come on i don't want to watch that. too bad this is happening. fine, what if i just put up the x1 sports app right here. ah jeez it's so close. he just loves her so much. do it. come on. do it. come on! yes! awww, yes! that is what i'm talking about. baby. call and upgrade to get x1 today. ♪ welcome back. a second american is accuse of hunting and killing a lion in africa. zimbabwe official says the pennsylvania cancer doctor jan ser ski illegally killed a lion in a hunt in april. his local dwooguide has been arrested for hunting without a quota or permit. that guide tells the associated press that seski did not break any law during the april hunt. nbc news has not been able to reach seski for comment. zimbabwe is still seeking extradition of dr. palmer who killed cecil. palmer has been in hiding since that news made worldwide headlines. he stated that everybody about his trip was legal and properly handled and conducted. developing news right now in memphis, tennessee. police are on the lookout for a suspect in the fatal shooting of a memphis police officer, 29-year-old tremaine wilbourne is wanted for shooting officer shawn bolten on saturday night. it happened during a traffic stop apparently after bolten interrupted a drug deal. he was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead due to multiple gunshot wounds. so far this year 70 officers have been killed in this country in the line of duty. msnbc's adam riess is live for news memphis, tennessee. adam, bring us up to speed, the latest on the manhunt. >> thomas police and u.s. marshals looking for wilbourne. charged with first degree murder. out of jail after serving ten years of bank robbery charge. he comes across an illegally parked car shines his light not realizing he's interrupting a drug deal. wilbourne, according to police gets out, confronts him. there's a struggle and wilbourne shoots him. the two of them will borch and the driver leave him on the ground dying. two people tried to call 911 and couldn't get through. finally someone comes up and uses his two-way radio to call police for help. all of this police officials say for less than two sgrams sgrams of pot. >> when you look at this individual, you'ring looking at a coward. to show you how senseless this is, we're talking about less than two grams of marijuana, misdemeanor citation. >> reporter: police say that this is exactly why these traffic stops are so dangerous. police officers don't know who they're going to confront when they approach the driver. they don't know if they're armed or not. there are no dash cams here in memphis and no body cams. bolten was 33 years old. served in iraq for four years as marine. he served here on the police force for almost five years. he's the third officer, thomas to die in the last four years in the line of duty. >> msnbc's adam riess reporting from memphis. thanks so much. we turn to the other big story, planned parenthood at the center of a partisan showdown all happening today on capitol hill. the senate is holding a procedural vote later this afternoon on a proposal to cut funding for the women's reproductive rights group. democrats are expected to block it. the republican effort comes after the release of four heavily edited undercover videos by the center for medical progress, which is an anti-abortion group. the head of planned parenthood says today's vote is all about politics. >> it's really important to understand that all of this is about denying women access to health care in this country and the vote tonight will actually be about denying women access to birth control, cancer screenings testing and treatment, for many women where planned parenthood is their only doctor. >> msnbc's erin has been following the story for us. so explain how much of an impact have these undercover videos really had on this republican proposal and reminding people what planned parenthood does. we heard from cecile richards there and what they do. >> the $528 million in federal funding that's at issue in the senate vote today, none of it goes to abortion. it goes to testing for sexually transmitted diseases it goes to pap smear, pelvic exam counseling and services. currently planned parenthood is a primary health care provider for women across the country whether they're seeking abortion or not. again, there's a law that prevents federal funding from going to abortions, except in cases of rape and insist. as to the influence the videos have had, they're drawn attention and almost every republican presidential hopeful elected official has weighed in on them and condemned them defunding inging planned parenthood preexisted. what they found in the end is that in 2012 president obama and other democrats successfully ran on the popularity of planned parenthood. what they're hoping is that these videos will change more people's minds and make the organization less popular and it remains to be seen whether that will work. >> well, we'll wait to see whether or not the republicans actually have the votes to do this or not. thank you. >> thank you thomas. coming up next very sad story out of kansas. a bat boy dies after he is accidentally struck by a player's practice swing. and honestly ineffective? a popular brand of sunscreen is getting some big backlash from consumers who say it failed to protect them and their kids. ♪ ♪ no student's ever been the king of the campus on day one. but you're armed with a roomy new jansport backpack, a powerful new dell 2-in-1 laptop and durable new stellar notebooks, so you're walking the halls with varsity level swagger. that's what we call that new gear feeling. you left this on the bus... get it at the place with the experts to get you the right gear. office depot 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