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CNN Live Today
Horrendous Hurricanes; Michael Jackson Case
Aired September 17, 2004 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
Up first this hour on CNN, the horrendous hurricane season of 2004. The once powerful Hurricane Ivan is now a tropical depression, but the danger is not over. The remnants of Ivan causing flooding in the already soggy Southeast.
Three to six inches of rain fell across Georgia, with as much as nine inches in some areas. The cleanup is just beginning along coastal areas of Alabama and Florida, where Ivan flooded towns, demolished buildings and washed away bridges. Early damage estimates range anywhere from $10 -- from $2 billion to $10 billion in insured losses. And the storms just keep coming.
Now we're watching Jeanne, looming in the Atlantic. It's expected to head toward the Bahamas later today. Jeanne could regain hurricane status and reach the southeastern U.S. early next week.
But let's go back to Ivan and take a closer look at that storm's aftermath. Check out these pictures. Coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle bore the brunt of the destruction. At least 13 deaths are blamed directly on the storm.
Ivan slammed ashore in Gulf Shores, Alabama, water front homes and condos were ravaged by the wind and the waves. Residents, business owners and city officials are still surveying the damage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR DAVID BODENHAMER, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA: A lot of damage, a lot of roof damage, a lot of beach erosion. A lot of structures appear to be up but not having the time to do a building-by-building assessment, we don't know to the extent that they are damaged.
OWEN GRAY, OWNER, BIG O'S SEAFOOD GRILL: I'm on the lagoon side, which is across from the Gulf. And the two waters met. I heard about several businesses that totally got submerged under water across the street from the Gulf.
Several houses got washed out to the Gulf. And I'm sure West Beach is a disaster area, just like the rest of Orange Beach and the Panhandle of Florida.
MARTHA HOWARD, GULF SHORES RESIDENT: I'm anxious because I don't know what's there. I think there's a house. But I don't know that for sure. And I don't know how much damage, how much water, what I'll find when I get back.
GRAY: We've tried to keep the emotions in check for my house. When you compare my business and my home, we -- when we left the island we succumbed to the fact that the house may be gone. But I wanted to save my business. That's my livelihood.
BODENHAMER: We will try to get in there later today and do a little more extensive assessment. We hope that we're going to do a fly-over today to see the entire beachfront area from the air also. It will give us a little better idea of what we're dealing with.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Florida Governor Jeb Bush is visiting areas of the Panhandle hit hard by Ivan. His first stop was Pensacola. The downtown area is littered with sheet metal and bricks from buildings demolished by the storm. Four Pensacola hospitals were also damaged.
The Florida National Guard is dispatching nearly 2,800 troops to the area. We'll have a live report from Pensacola at the bottom of the hour.
Meanwhile, we're trying to stay ahead of Ivan and Jeanne. Chad Myers doing that for us -- Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: The toll and property losses from Ivan is expected to be huge, but people are also coming to grips with the emotional toll of lives lost in the storm. Our David Mattingly reports from a small panhandle community where four people were killed by tornadoes.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In pitch darkness, the unmistakable roar of wind told Nikki Dawsey something terrible had happened. Just down the road, the double wide mobile home of her aunt and uncle, Melvin and Frances Terry (ph) of Calhoun County, Florida, was caught in the path of an Ivan spawned tornado.
NIKKI DAWSEY, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Oh, they were good people. They were good people. They would help anybody in this world, no matter who they were or how bad they were. They were good people.
MATTINGLY: Dawsey's uncle died at the scene, as did her cousin Donna. Her aunt and two other cousins were badly injured. Their home was utterly shattered. Finding something to salvage was almost impossible.
(on camera): These cement posts are all that's left of the couple's home. According to family members, they have been through storms before and this time they thought they'd be OK. But when the tornado hit, it picked up their home and threw it over there into the neighbor's house.
(voice-over): The neighbors, who also decided to stay, survived. In all, four people were killed in this tiny Panhandle community near Blountstown, a place where choosing to stay or go proved for some to be a life or death decision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a worry wart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did she say to you when she called?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are crazy to stay in the house. You need to get out and come up here. You're not safe.
MATTINGLY: Chris Ammans (ph) and Santana Sullivan believe they are alive because of a nervous phone call from her mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His soon to be mother-in-law called them and told them that they needed to get to the motel. And she meant they wanted them at the motel.
MATTINGLY: The couple is due to be married next month and don't intend to let Ivan change their plans. Their wedding rings were lost somewhere inside the rubble of their demolish home. Fortunately, the future they have planned together was not.
David Mattingly, CNN, Blountstown, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KAGAN: You can track the latest tropical weather on our Web site. You'll also find details on hurricanes in history, the deadliest, the costliest and the most intense. Log on to cnn.com/hurricanes.
Authorities in Gulf Shores, Alabama, have more than storm damage to worry about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is about 12 feet and weighs anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: We're talking about Chuckie. Chuckie is still at large. And as you can tell, Chuckie is a very large alligator, possibly lurking somewhere near what is left of the zoo there. More on that just ahead.
Michael Jackson expected to make another court appearance as we watch a live picture from Santa Maria, California. He is expected at that courthouse any minute. Today he will face the mother of his accuser. We will be there live.
And another bloody day in Baghdad. We'll have a live reporter there as well.
This is CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Face-off in court. The accuser's mother is due on the stand this morning in the Michael Jackson child molestation case. Our Miguel Marquez covering the hearing from Santa Maria, California. It's supposed to get started in about 15 minutes.
Miguel, any sign of Michael Jackson yet?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not yet. But we do expect him any moment now, because his lawyers just showed up, his phalanx of lawyers, led by Thomas Mesereau Jr., showed up a short time ago. And you would think that lawyers wouldn't get a round of applause, but in this case they do from the fans that are here, gathered already in the tens of numbers, not the hundreds of numbers that we saw earlier. Lots of fans wearing white.
This may be the -- this is supposed to be the last day of the suppression of evidence hearing, and probably the most dramatic one as well, with the mother of the accuser taking the stand, and Jackson and much of his family expected to be here. The whole point of today's hearing is evidence.
And Jackson's lawyers attempt to get it thrown out. Evidence taken from Bradley Miller's office. He's a Beverly Hills private investigator.
They say that since he was working for Mark Geragos it should be covered under attorney-client privilege, investigators should have known that, and they searched it anyway. And all that evidence they want tossed out.
Also, lots of evidence from Neverland Ranch. They want that tossed out because they say the search itself has exceeded the scope of the warrant.
The judge yesterday, because of the mountainous mounts of evidence that have -- that have -- are being taken in this case, and the paperwork that it is all producing, expressed some concern about this thing being started by the 31st of January, as it's supposed to. The defense calling the prosecution at one point to say they were engaged in misconduct because they had not been turning over discovery fast enough. The prosecution saying the defense is building a case on nothing more than name calling, and if they want to run that race, they better have their horses because they're going to -- to take it seriously next time.
Tom Mesereau Jr., Mr. Jackson's attorney, is expected to make comments today after this proceeding. And then by the -- by the end of this, we should have some idea as to what sort of evidence will be heard in the Michael Jackson case -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. Miguel, we're going to have you stand by because we expect Michael Jackson to show up any minute. We'll be back to you as he does show up at the courthouse in Santa Maria.
MARQUEZ: Right.
KAGAN: Let's talk strategy, meanwhile, in the Michael Jackson case. Harvey Levin, the executive producer of "Celebrity Justice," joining us from New York City this morning.
Harvey, good morning.
HARVEY LEVIN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Hi, Daryn.
KAGAN: I've got to say, I've seen a lot of things in this case I've never seen before. They're putting the mother of the accuser on the stand so Michael Jackson's attorneys can question her. Help me here.
LEVIN: Well, you want the legal reason or the real reason?
KAGAN: I think Miguel covered the legal reason. So let's get to the real stuff.
LEVIN: OK. The real reason is that this is going to be a face- off and they want to show weakness in the prosecution's case. And the mother is probably the most vulnerable of all the family members.
They -- in fact, the prosecution has even filed papers fearing that what they're going to try and do is go into her past, go into her messy divorce to try to attack her credibility, to try to dirty her up a little bit over this JCPenney incident that a lot of people have talked about earlier.
What they want to do is put her off guard and make it clear that they're going to be aggressive. And anybody who dares come forward in support of this boy is in for some trouble on the stand.
Remember, there was a secret grand jury. So the defense never had an opportunity to cross-examine this woman or anybody else in the grand jury. This is their chance to show peril for anybody who steps forward for the boy.
KAGAN: So if you're going to pick one word, intimidation.
LEVIN: Sure, that's what it is. I mean, you know, there is a legal reason, too, Daryn. I mean, I'm not suggesting that this is just a cold bully.
Tom Mesereau's a really good lawyer, and he has a legitimate legal reason to bring her up in terms of this private investigator. But it goes beyond that.
The more important issue really is that Tom Mesereau can send a message and, you know, business is business. And he's sending a message that -- that nobody is going to get a free pass when they get up on the witness stand. KAGAN: All right. Well, we're hoping you're going to stand by with us. We do -- we're getting word that Michael Jackson should be at this courthouse in just a couple minutes. When he does arrive, we'll bring you back in, we'll talk to Miguel Marquez, and we'll do that in just a bit from Santa Maria, California.
LEVIN: Sounds good.
KAGAN: Meanwhile, there's other news to get to, including a car bombing in Baghdad. Several dead and dozens wounded. We'll have a live report from there.
And residents say they have never ever seen anything like this. We're going to show you what is left of Pensacola, Florida, in just a few minutes.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: A live picture from Santa Maria, California. See for yourself. Michael Jackson once again dressed in white, surrounded by family members arriving at the courthouse for a pretrial hearing today, a hearing where his lawyers will be able to question the mother of his accuser.
Our Miguel Marquez is standing by in Santa Maria -- Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Yes, he's just walked into the courthouse a few feet away here. You know he's showing up here because the security gets very tight suddenly. The fans go insane. He barricades them up.
Michael Jackson now going through metal detectors, which he does every time, just like everybody else goes -- that goes into that courtroom. Typically what happens is his security guards will try to block the camera shot we have there, and the deputies there will ask them to move out of the way. And you can see Michael Jackson go through security. His entire family goes through the security regimen there.
The family, again, wearing white. There was some discussion and rumor that they may have worn white just because some of the sisters like the idea of wearing white, they thought it looked good. But it's clear that they are sending a message by wearing white to these hearings.
Tom Mesereau Jr. today, Mr. Jackson's attorney, greeting Michael Jackson. And he is expected to make a statement after -- after the proceedings today. The judge clearing that because, of all the information that's leaked out to the press, both NBC's "Dateline" and to "The Insider" in recent weeks, Mesereau saying that he's wanted to make a statement for some days now, but has held his fire because he wants to -- to have everything out there, so that when he come out today he make the -- his announcement.
Tom Sneddon, the district attorney for Santa Barbara, the man that is heading up this case against Michael Jackson, in the courtroom now. He is defending all of this against Michael Jackson -- Michael Jackson's lawyers, who want to have evidence that Tom Sneddon got in this case tossed out, evidence from a Beverly Hills private investigator's office and from Neverland Ranch.
We've seen several tapes now of the search of Neverland Ranch, and the investigators going through there. And the central core of the concern is that the search warrant was too narrowly written and the search too broad.
Janet Jackson going through the security gate now as well. It's not clear how many of the family members are here.
It looked like just about everybody was here, Michael, Randy, Janet, Latoya. Not sure if Jackie was here today. The only ones we haven't really seen are I think one of the -- one of the brothers and one of the sisters at this point.
I didn't see the parents either come in today. Typically, Joe Jackson has been here almost every time -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes, I didn't spot his mother or his -- his father either. But the brothers there, as you're pointing out, and Latoya and Janet Jackson.
Let's bring in Harvey Levin from "Celebrity Justice," who's been watching this.
Harvey, a very similar scene, as Miguel was pointing out, of just a couple weeks ago, when a district attorney in another strange twist of this pretrial hearing, when Tom Sneddon was put on the witness stand himself. And then the family members all showed up dressed in white.
LEVIN: Yes. Daryn, here's what's really going on here: you realize there's no jury here. So it's not as if this is going to have an impact on a jury. They haven't been select yet. Months from it.
So here's what this is really about: if Tom Sneddon had taken the stand and Michael Jackson wasn't there, it would have been a news story, but not a huge news story. Whenever Michael Jackson shows and his family shows, it elevates it. It becomes a much bigger news story that everybody covers.
So by Jackson being there with Sneddon, and Jackson being in court today with his family, it ensures that everybody, CNN, "Celebrity Justice," everybody is going to cover it big time. They want to make this a big news story today.
They want to make it clear that Tom Mesereau, Jackson's lawyer, can be very tough on the witnesses for the boy. And the mother is one of the key witnesses. And this is a great opportunity. It ensures front-page news when Jackson shows, and that's what this is all about today.
KAGAN: OK. A couple questions for you. There's Michael Jackson going through the metal detectors right now. First of all, when you're talking about sending a message, Harvey, is this ultimately the message of what this young boy fill face, if and when he gets up on the witness stand, this kind of intimidation?
LEVIN: Well, you know, it's always trickier when you have a boy on the stand, because it can then backfire. But certainly the supporting witnesses, the mother, the stepfather and all of the other people, this is going to be an elaborate presentation on the part of the prosecution.
Nobody knows yet whether Tom Mesereau is really going to be tough on the others, and who else might step forward. And I think today the stage is set for Tom Mesereau to give a preview of what's in store for anybody who gets on that stand.
I mean, this is, you know -- when you -- to be a little bit crass, it's good layering. I mean, Tom Mesereau wants his shot at making clear what these people are in for.
KAGAN: Big-time layering, if nothing else. Harvey Levin, "Celebrity Justice," thank you.
LEVIN: My pleasure.
KAGAN: Oh, look, I think -- just for a second there, I think there was Mrs. Jackson. We were talking about the parents being there or not being there. It appears that his mother, at least, is there today. She went in right before.
OK. Thank you for that.
We're going to switch back to our hurricane coverage. A gator is loose in the battered town of Gulf Shores, 12 feet long.
Officials are trying to recapture the alligator very, very carefully. The gator has a name, Chuckie. Chuckie is not happy when Chuckie is not fed. We're going to hear from gator expert -- from animal expert, Jack Hannah, on how you capture somebody like Chuckie right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening "Now in the News." This is Friday, the 17th of September.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says today he's preparing to take preemptive strikes at terrorists. His remarks come as a Chechen terrorist leader claims responsibility for a series of recent attacks, including that horrific school siege in the town of Beslan.
Democrat John Kerry is on the campaign trail in New Mexico. A live picture from Albuquerque. He holds a town hall meeting there at this hour.
We're going to listen in, in just a minute. Senator Kerry is launching a new ad campaign that criticizes the Bush admission for its no-bid contract with Halliburton. It accuses the administration of ignoring waste by the company Vice President Dick Cheney once ran.
Michael Jackson is in court this hour for a pretrial hearing in the child molestation case. His accuser's mother will take the stand, discussing a search at a private investigator's office. The defense says the investigator worked for them and that any evidence from the search should be excluded at the trial.
And close to two million customers are without power across the South today due to Ivan. The storm is bringing flooding and rains to the southern Appalachian today.
Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 17, 2004 - 10:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.
Up first this hour on CNN, the horrendous hurricane season of 2004. The once powerful Hurricane Ivan is now a tropical depression, but the danger is not over. The remnants of Ivan causing flooding in the already soggy Southeast.
Three to six inches of rain fell across Georgia, with as much as nine inches in some areas. The cleanup is just beginning along coastal areas of Alabama and Florida, where Ivan flooded towns, demolished buildings and washed away bridges. Early damage estimates range anywhere from $10 -- from $2 billion to $10 billion in insured losses. And the storms just keep coming.
Now we're watching Jeanne, looming in the Atlantic. It's expected to head toward the Bahamas later today. Jeanne could regain hurricane status and reach the southeastern U.S. early next week.
But let's go back to Ivan and take a closer look at that storm's aftermath. Check out these pictures. Coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle bore the brunt of the destruction. At least 13 deaths are blamed directly on the storm.
Ivan slammed ashore in Gulf Shores, Alabama, water front homes and condos were ravaged by the wind and the waves. Residents, business owners and city officials are still surveying the damage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR DAVID BODENHAMER, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA: A lot of damage, a lot of roof damage, a lot of beach erosion. A lot of structures appear to be up but not having the time to do a building-by-building assessment, we don't know to the extent that they are damaged.
OWEN GRAY, OWNER, BIG O'S SEAFOOD GRILL: I'm on the lagoon side, which is across from the Gulf. And the two waters met. I heard about several businesses that totally got submerged under water across the street from the Gulf.
Several houses got washed out to the Gulf. And I'm sure West Beach is a disaster area, just like the rest of Orange Beach and the Panhandle of Florida.
MARTHA HOWARD, GULF SHORES RESIDENT: I'm anxious because I don't know what's there. I think there's a house. But I don't know that for sure. And I don't know how much damage, how much water, what I'll find when I get back.
GRAY: We've tried to keep the emotions in check for my house. When you compare my business and my home, we -- when we left the island we succumbed to the fact that the house may be gone. But I wanted to save my business. That's my livelihood.
BODENHAMER: We will try to get in there later today and do a little more extensive assessment. We hope that we're going to do a fly-over today to see the entire beachfront area from the air also. It will give us a little better idea of what we're dealing with.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Florida Governor Jeb Bush is visiting areas of the Panhandle hit hard by Ivan. His first stop was Pensacola. The downtown area is littered with sheet metal and bricks from buildings demolished by the storm. Four Pensacola hospitals were also damaged.
The Florida National Guard is dispatching nearly 2,800 troops to the area. We'll have a live report from Pensacola at the bottom of the hour.
Meanwhile, we're trying to stay ahead of Ivan and Jeanne. Chad Myers doing that for us -- Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: The toll and property losses from Ivan is expected to be huge, but people are also coming to grips with the emotional toll of lives lost in the storm. Our David Mattingly reports from a small panhandle community where four people were killed by tornadoes.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In pitch darkness, the unmistakable roar of wind told Nikki Dawsey something terrible had happened. Just down the road, the double wide mobile home of her aunt and uncle, Melvin and Frances Terry (ph) of Calhoun County, Florida, was caught in the path of an Ivan spawned tornado.
NIKKI DAWSEY, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Oh, they were good people. They were good people. They would help anybody in this world, no matter who they were or how bad they were. They were good people.
MATTINGLY: Dawsey's uncle died at the scene, as did her cousin Donna. Her aunt and two other cousins were badly injured. Their home was utterly shattered. Finding something to salvage was almost impossible.
(on camera): These cement posts are all that's left of the couple's home. According to family members, they have been through storms before and this time they thought they'd be OK. But when the tornado hit, it picked up their home and threw it over there into the neighbor's house.
(voice-over): The neighbors, who also decided to stay, survived. In all, four people were killed in this tiny Panhandle community near Blountstown, a place where choosing to stay or go proved for some to be a life or death decision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a worry wart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did she say to you when she called?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are crazy to stay in the house. You need to get out and come up here. You're not safe.
MATTINGLY: Chris Ammans (ph) and Santana Sullivan believe they are alive because of a nervous phone call from her mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His soon to be mother-in-law called them and told them that they needed to get to the motel. And she meant they wanted them at the motel.
MATTINGLY: The couple is due to be married next month and don't intend to let Ivan change their plans. Their wedding rings were lost somewhere inside the rubble of their demolish home. Fortunately, the future they have planned together was not.
David Mattingly, CNN, Blountstown, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KAGAN: You can track the latest tropical weather on our Web site. You'll also find details on hurricanes in history, the deadliest, the costliest and the most intense. Log on to cnn.com/hurricanes.
Authorities in Gulf Shores, Alabama, have more than storm damage to worry about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is about 12 feet and weighs anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: We're talking about Chuckie. Chuckie is still at large. And as you can tell, Chuckie is a very large alligator, possibly lurking somewhere near what is left of the zoo there. More on that just ahead.
Michael Jackson expected to make another court appearance as we watch a live picture from Santa Maria, California. He is expected at that courthouse any minute. Today he will face the mother of his accuser. We will be there live.
And another bloody day in Baghdad. We'll have a live reporter there as well.
This is CNN LIVE TODAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Face-off in court. The accuser's mother is due on the stand this morning in the Michael Jackson child molestation case. Our Miguel Marquez covering the hearing from Santa Maria, California. It's supposed to get started in about 15 minutes.
Miguel, any sign of Michael Jackson yet?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not yet. But we do expect him any moment now, because his lawyers just showed up, his phalanx of lawyers, led by Thomas Mesereau Jr., showed up a short time ago. And you would think that lawyers wouldn't get a round of applause, but in this case they do from the fans that are here, gathered already in the tens of numbers, not the hundreds of numbers that we saw earlier. Lots of fans wearing white.
This may be the -- this is supposed to be the last day of the suppression of evidence hearing, and probably the most dramatic one as well, with the mother of the accuser taking the stand, and Jackson and much of his family expected to be here. The whole point of today's hearing is evidence.
And Jackson's lawyers attempt to get it thrown out. Evidence taken from Bradley Miller's office. He's a Beverly Hills private investigator.
They say that since he was working for Mark Geragos it should be covered under attorney-client privilege, investigators should have known that, and they searched it anyway. And all that evidence they want tossed out.
Also, lots of evidence from Neverland Ranch. They want that tossed out because they say the search itself has exceeded the scope of the warrant.
The judge yesterday, because of the mountainous mounts of evidence that have -- that have -- are being taken in this case, and the paperwork that it is all producing, expressed some concern about this thing being started by the 31st of January, as it's supposed to. The defense calling the prosecution at one point to say they were engaged in misconduct because they had not been turning over discovery fast enough. The prosecution saying the defense is building a case on nothing more than name calling, and if they want to run that race, they better have their horses because they're going to -- to take it seriously next time.
Tom Mesereau Jr., Mr. Jackson's attorney, is expected to make comments today after this proceeding. And then by the -- by the end of this, we should have some idea as to what sort of evidence will be heard in the Michael Jackson case -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. Miguel, we're going to have you stand by because we expect Michael Jackson to show up any minute. We'll be back to you as he does show up at the courthouse in Santa Maria.
MARQUEZ: Right.
KAGAN: Let's talk strategy, meanwhile, in the Michael Jackson case. Harvey Levin, the executive producer of "Celebrity Justice," joining us from New York City this morning.
Harvey, good morning.
HARVEY LEVIN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Hi, Daryn.
KAGAN: I've got to say, I've seen a lot of things in this case I've never seen before. They're putting the mother of the accuser on the stand so Michael Jackson's attorneys can question her. Help me here.
LEVIN: Well, you want the legal reason or the real reason?
KAGAN: I think Miguel covered the legal reason. So let's get to the real stuff.
LEVIN: OK. The real reason is that this is going to be a face- off and they want to show weakness in the prosecution's case. And the mother is probably the most vulnerable of all the family members.
They -- in fact, the prosecution has even filed papers fearing that what they're going to try and do is go into her past, go into her messy divorce to try to attack her credibility, to try to dirty her up a little bit over this JCPenney incident that a lot of people have talked about earlier.
What they want to do is put her off guard and make it clear that they're going to be aggressive. And anybody who dares come forward in support of this boy is in for some trouble on the stand.
Remember, there was a secret grand jury. So the defense never had an opportunity to cross-examine this woman or anybody else in the grand jury. This is their chance to show peril for anybody who steps forward for the boy.
KAGAN: So if you're going to pick one word, intimidation.
LEVIN: Sure, that's what it is. I mean, you know, there is a legal reason, too, Daryn. I mean, I'm not suggesting that this is just a cold bully.
Tom Mesereau's a really good lawyer, and he has a legitimate legal reason to bring her up in terms of this private investigator. But it goes beyond that.
The more important issue really is that Tom Mesereau can send a message and, you know, business is business. And he's sending a message that -- that nobody is going to get a free pass when they get up on the witness stand. KAGAN: All right. Well, we're hoping you're going to stand by with us. We do -- we're getting word that Michael Jackson should be at this courthouse in just a couple minutes. When he does arrive, we'll bring you back in, we'll talk to Miguel Marquez, and we'll do that in just a bit from Santa Maria, California.
LEVIN: Sounds good.
KAGAN: Meanwhile, there's other news to get to, including a car bombing in Baghdad. Several dead and dozens wounded. We'll have a live report from there.
And residents say they have never ever seen anything like this. We're going to show you what is left of Pensacola, Florida, in just a few minutes.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: A live picture from Santa Maria, California. See for yourself. Michael Jackson once again dressed in white, surrounded by family members arriving at the courthouse for a pretrial hearing today, a hearing where his lawyers will be able to question the mother of his accuser.
Our Miguel Marquez is standing by in Santa Maria -- Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Yes, he's just walked into the courthouse a few feet away here. You know he's showing up here because the security gets very tight suddenly. The fans go insane. He barricades them up.
Michael Jackson now going through metal detectors, which he does every time, just like everybody else goes -- that goes into that courtroom. Typically what happens is his security guards will try to block the camera shot we have there, and the deputies there will ask them to move out of the way. And you can see Michael Jackson go through security. His entire family goes through the security regimen there.
The family, again, wearing white. There was some discussion and rumor that they may have worn white just because some of the sisters like the idea of wearing white, they thought it looked good. But it's clear that they are sending a message by wearing white to these hearings.
Tom Mesereau Jr. today, Mr. Jackson's attorney, greeting Michael Jackson. And he is expected to make a statement after -- after the proceedings today. The judge clearing that because, of all the information that's leaked out to the press, both NBC's "Dateline" and to "The Insider" in recent weeks, Mesereau saying that he's wanted to make a statement for some days now, but has held his fire because he wants to -- to have everything out there, so that when he come out today he make the -- his announcement.
Tom Sneddon, the district attorney for Santa Barbara, the man that is heading up this case against Michael Jackson, in the courtroom now. He is defending all of this against Michael Jackson -- Michael Jackson's lawyers, who want to have evidence that Tom Sneddon got in this case tossed out, evidence from a Beverly Hills private investigator's office and from Neverland Ranch.
We've seen several tapes now of the search of Neverland Ranch, and the investigators going through there. And the central core of the concern is that the search warrant was too narrowly written and the search too broad.
Janet Jackson going through the security gate now as well. It's not clear how many of the family members are here.
It looked like just about everybody was here, Michael, Randy, Janet, Latoya. Not sure if Jackie was here today. The only ones we haven't really seen are I think one of the -- one of the brothers and one of the sisters at this point.
I didn't see the parents either come in today. Typically, Joe Jackson has been here almost every time -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes, I didn't spot his mother or his -- his father either. But the brothers there, as you're pointing out, and Latoya and Janet Jackson.
Let's bring in Harvey Levin from "Celebrity Justice," who's been watching this.
Harvey, a very similar scene, as Miguel was pointing out, of just a couple weeks ago, when a district attorney in another strange twist of this pretrial hearing, when Tom Sneddon was put on the witness stand himself. And then the family members all showed up dressed in white.
LEVIN: Yes. Daryn, here's what's really going on here: you realize there's no jury here. So it's not as if this is going to have an impact on a jury. They haven't been select yet. Months from it.
So here's what this is really about: if Tom Sneddon had taken the stand and Michael Jackson wasn't there, it would have been a news story, but not a huge news story. Whenever Michael Jackson shows and his family shows, it elevates it. It becomes a much bigger news story that everybody covers.
So by Jackson being there with Sneddon, and Jackson being in court today with his family, it ensures that everybody, CNN, "Celebrity Justice," everybody is going to cover it big time. They want to make this a big news story today.
They want to make it clear that Tom Mesereau, Jackson's lawyer, can be very tough on the witnesses for the boy. And the mother is one of the key witnesses. And this is a great opportunity. It ensures front-page news when Jackson shows, and that's what this is all about today.
KAGAN: OK. A couple questions for you. There's Michael Jackson going through the metal detectors right now. First of all, when you're talking about sending a message, Harvey, is this ultimately the message of what this young boy fill face, if and when he gets up on the witness stand, this kind of intimidation?
LEVIN: Well, you know, it's always trickier when you have a boy on the stand, because it can then backfire. But certainly the supporting witnesses, the mother, the stepfather and all of the other people, this is going to be an elaborate presentation on the part of the prosecution.
Nobody knows yet whether Tom Mesereau is really going to be tough on the others, and who else might step forward. And I think today the stage is set for Tom Mesereau to give a preview of what's in store for anybody who gets on that stand.
I mean, this is, you know -- when you -- to be a little bit crass, it's good layering. I mean, Tom Mesereau wants his shot at making clear what these people are in for.
KAGAN: Big-time layering, if nothing else. Harvey Levin, "Celebrity Justice," thank you.
LEVIN: My pleasure.
KAGAN: Oh, look, I think -- just for a second there, I think there was Mrs. Jackson. We were talking about the parents being there or not being there. It appears that his mother, at least, is there today. She went in right before.
OK. Thank you for that.
We're going to switch back to our hurricane coverage. A gator is loose in the battered town of Gulf Shores, 12 feet long.
Officials are trying to recapture the alligator very, very carefully. The gator has a name, Chuckie. Chuckie is not happy when Chuckie is not fed. We're going to hear from gator expert -- from animal expert, Jack Hannah, on how you capture somebody like Chuckie right after this.
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KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening "Now in the News." This is Friday, the 17th of September.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says today he's preparing to take preemptive strikes at terrorists. His remarks come as a Chechen terrorist leader claims responsibility for a series of recent attacks, including that horrific school siege in the town of Beslan.
Democrat John Kerry is on the campaign trail in New Mexico. A live picture from Albuquerque. He holds a town hall meeting there at this hour.
We're going to listen in, in just a minute. Senator Kerry is launching a new ad campaign that criticizes the Bush admission for its no-bid contract with Halliburton. It accuses the administration of ignoring waste by the company Vice President Dick Cheney once ran.
Michael Jackson is in court this hour for a pretrial hearing in the child molestation case. His accuser's mother will take the stand, discussing a search at a private investigator's office. The defense says the investigator worked for them and that any evidence from the search should be excluded at the trial.
And close to two million customers are without power across the South today due to Ivan. The storm is bringing flooding and rains to the southern Appalachian today.
Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.
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