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American Morning

Michael Jackson Trial; Judge's Family Killed; 'House Call'

Aired March 03, 2005 - 09:00   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: At the Michael Jackson trial, going inside Neverland today. The witness on the stand who saw it all during a famous police raid.
Saying good-bye to prison and the lessons learned at Camp Cupcake. Exclusive pictures today of Martha Stewart behind bars.

And those daring men and their flying machines. Pilot Steve Fossett now just hours away from an amazing feat on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Nine o'clock here in New York.

Richard Branson, Sir Richard Branson, is holding a news conference at this hour, talking about the progress of his partner, Steve Fossett, who is right now trying to finish the final leg of the 'round-the-world flight on a single fill-up, one tank of gas. We'll see whether or not he makes it in a few hours, but we will also dip in, in a moment, let you know what we're learning about where he is right now and the progress he's making.

O'BRIEN: And, of course, the big problem is that they lost some 2,600 pounds of fuel. Whether or not he's going to make it, will the tailwinds be enough to sustain him across, all those are big questions this morning.

Also this morning, we'll meet three sisters. They made a decision together. They all got gastric bypass surgery. We're going to talk this morning to them about their experience, find out just how much weight they lost and why they say this is what saved their lives.

HEMMER: Back to Jack Cafferty.

Good morning, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.

An ominous warning yesterday from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. He says this country is headed toward decades of economic stagnation unless something is done about runaway spending and deficits.

Got any ideas? AM@CNN.com. We'll read some mail in a half-hour or so.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.

Let's get right to the headlines with Carol Costello.

Hey, good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning, everyone.

"Now in the News," the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq has now passed another sad milestone. The death toll now just over 1,500 for U.S. troops. And the violence continues there this morning.

Today, at least five Iraqi police officers were killed in attacks in Baghdad, seven others injured. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has extended a state of emergency for that country.

In Fresno, California, Marcus Wesson, the man accused of killing nine of his children, is about to face a jury. A California judge will decide today whether the trial should be moved out of Fresno County. His lawyer says Wesson can't get a fair trial there. If the motion is denied, the jury will be sworn in today and opening statements could begin as soon as tomorrow.

President Bush is not giving up on his Social Security plan just yet. Aides say the president is going on the road beginning tomorrow. He's planning a 60-day, 60-stop campaign blowout. His first stops, Indiana and New Jersey.

And basketball star Kobe Bryant has settled a civil suit with the woman accusing him of sexual assault. No word on the terms of the agreement, but Bryant's attorney says both parties are satisfied. Bryant had absolutely no comment when asked about it last night. In fact, he only wanted to talk about basketball.

HEMMER: Basketball and the game in Boston.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

HEMMER: Thanks, Carol.

O'BRIEN: Pop star Michael Jackson says he is "happy and confident" with the way that his child molestation trial is going so far, despite some potentially damaging testimony from a public relations employee.

CNN's Miguel Marquez live for us in Santa Maria, California, this morning.

Hey, Miguel. Good morning.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you there, Soledad.

Yes, that public relations person was Ann Kite. She was only employed by the Jackson camp for six days. She was a witness for the prosecution. But in the end, it wasn't clear who she helped, the prosecution or the defense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Michael Jackson putting on a confident face after a day of testimony from a P.R. agent who was hired as a crisis manager days after the Martin Bashir documentary aired in February 2003.

RAYMONE BAIN, JACKSON SPOKESWOMAN: Michael feels very confident in his defense team. And he feels very happy about yesterday and today.

MARQUEZ: Ann Marie Kite testified she was fired after six days on the job. In her short time with team Jackson, she said she grew concerned for the safety of the accuser and his family, felt Jackson's former attorney, Mark Geragos, was trying to silence her, and that just days after the Bashir documentary aired, another Jackson attorney, David LeGrand told her not to worry about the accuser's mother because "they had her on tape and were going to make her look like a crack whore."

ANNE BREMNER, LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, that's the best thing that the prosecution brought out, and that was dynamite evidence.

MARQUEZ: But the defense scored points, too. During hours of questioning by Jackson's lawyer, Kite divulged that she felt Jackson's advisers, including several of those who are now named as co- conspirators in the charges against the pop star, were scheming against him for their own financial gain. Kite also testified that she never met Jackson, never visited Neverland and never had a clear idea of who was in charge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now on the stand today will be Albert Lafferty. He's an investigator with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. He took the stand for a short time yesterday afternoon. He's a forensics expert who did videotapes, videography of Neverland Ranch, and will basically expose the jurors and show them Neverland Ranch -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Miguel Marquez. Looking forward to that testimony, of course. Thanks, Miguel. Appreciate it -- Bill.

HEMMER: From Chicago, police have released sketches of two men they want to talk to about the murders of the husband and mother of federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. So far, the police are not calling the men suspects, but instead persons of interests.

Both men are white, on in his mid-20s, seen in a car near the judge's home. And the other in his 50s, wearing dark coveralls and a dark knit cap. Natasha Korecki is a reporter with the "Chicago Sun- Times." She tells us today about the latest in this investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NATASHA KORECKI, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES" REPORTER: Last night police released two composite sketches of two men various witnesses have said they had seen in the neighborhood. We've been hearing reports of this from a couple days ago.

We know that one witness saw two men in a red car just down the block from the Lefkows' home the morning of the murder, about 8:00 a.m. We also know that there's been other witnesses who have seen these two men.

Police aren't specifically tying -- tying the two composite sketches to the men seen in the car, but the descriptions seem similar. And that's what they're looking at right now. It's another lead. Just one of many, but it does seem like they're people of interest.

HEMMER: Your paper talked with Judge Lefkow. In part, she said this: She says, "If someone was angry at me, they should go after me. It's not fair to go after my family."

How is she handling this?

KORECKI: You know, as best she can. She's devastated right now. She's lost her mother and her husband. And from what everyone has described, Michael Lefkow and the judge, they were just very much in love.

Always walking together hand in hand. He moved his office to be near her, to overlook her, walked her into the courtroom building every day, picked her up every day. They would lunch together.

She's absolutely devastated. But she was -- she did say that she was not going to be intimidated and not going to step down from the bench. She would return to the bench. And right now she's foremost thinking about her daughters.

HEMMER: Did she say in that interview whether or not who she thought might be responsible? Did she talk at all about Matthew Hale, this jailed white supremacist leader who has issued threats in years past against her?

KORECKI: She didn't want to specifically get into the Hale case. But she did say generally that she was afraid or she feared that the people who did this did it because of some of her work on the bench. Other than that, she didn't make any more ties to anyone.

HEMMER: One of their daughters apparently is about to get married.

KORECKI: Yes.

HEMMER: And she talked about that as well. In part, she said her husband had gotten himself a tux to wear to that wedding and was so looking forward to walking his daughter down the aisle, and now he will not be able to do that. This was a tight family, as you point out. KORECKI: Yes, very much so. She's -- that was just one of many things that they were thinking about that was a very emotional thing for them.

Their oldest daughter, Helen, I believe, is getting married this summer. And they're all looking very forward to it. And now she won't have her father to walk her down the aisle. It's very sad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Natasha Korecki earlier today, "Chicago Sun-Times" on AMERICAN MORNING.

Police say they're also looking into past cases that Judge Lefkow's husband, Michael Lefkow, had handled -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: We've got a shot to show you of Salina, Kansas. This is where a press conference, a press briefing is going on right there. They're talking about Steve Fossett and the progress that he is making on his potentially historic flight.

Steve Fossett, there he is right there. Just moments ago he was talking remotely from the Global Flyer. He's said that things are going well, he's going to try to land in Salina, Kansas, at 2:20 Eastern Time if all goes well.

Of course the "if all goes well" is the critical part of this, because there have been issues, of course, with the fuel and the tailwinds as well. He's over land.

You're looking at Sir Richard Branson. He's a close friend of Steve Fossett's. He's also the guy who is financing this trip, and he was just talking to Steve Fossett a moment ago and said, "Hey, Steve, I'm looking forward to seeing you at lunchtime."

So hopefully the two of them will be able to make history not too long from now. We're going to obviously keep following that this morning and through the afternoon.

But first, let's get a check of the weather. Chad Myers at the CNN Center. He's got a look at the latest forecast for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Any moment now we are expecting to hear from President Bush. He's going to make some remarks after the new Homeland Security chief is sworn in. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.

HEMMER: Also in a moment here, video games are hotter than ever, but not every game is appropriate for every person, especially kids. We'll tell you about a new tool for parents that's on the market.

O'BRIEN: And three overweight sisters with three pretty amazing success stories. How they lost an incredible 367 pounds combined up next on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It is not a magic bullet for obesity, but gastric bypass surgery has made a dramatic difference for many people who are desperate to lose weight. Three sisters, Lee Ann McAndrew, Cindy Ratzlaff and Pam Marks say it essentially saved their lives. They each had the procedure. They lost a combined total of 367 pounds.

Ladies, good morning. Nice to see you. I mean, those numbers are pretty surprising.

Leeann, you were the first one who got it done. What brought you to that point? Because I imagine you've been on diets and you got to a pretty desperate point.

LEE ANN MCANDREW, HAD GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY: Every diet, yes. Somebody asked me once, "Weren't you afraid you would die?" And I said, "Yes, I was, and that's why I had the surgery." Because I want to live for my 8-year-old son.

I have two grown children as well. But I have this little boy that I wanted to make sure that he had a mom when he grew up.

O'BRIEN: We're looking at a picture of you before. What did you weigh in this picture about?

MCANDREW: I probably weighed about 220 there.

O'BRIEN: How much weight have you lost since had the surgery?

MCANDREW: 115 pounds.

O'BRIEN: And you've been able to keep it off.

MCANDREW: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You had the surgery a couple years ago.

MCANDREW: I had it three years ago.

O'BRIEN: Then, Cindy, you had the surgery. Was it primarily because Lee Ann had such good results?

CINDY RATZLAFF, HAD GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY: You know, I mean, I had been fighting obesity all my life. When I saw my sister lose weight, I definitely considered it. But it took me another two years to really decide to do it because I was afraid.

O'BRIEN: This is your before picture.

RATZLAFF: Yes. When I found that picture, I -- you know, I don't remember myself that way. But obviously I was. I loved that shirt. What was I thinking?

O'BRIEN: Horizontal stripes, no, no, no. That's not a good thing. At the same time, we're joking now, but, Lee Ann, when you see your sister taking on surgery, people die from this surgery. Let's me real about it.

MCANDREW: I know.

O'BRIEN: Were you worried about in a way by being an example you sort of led your sister to...

MCANDREW: I definitely was. And especially after Pam had hers and she had so many complications. At one point we thought she might die. And it was horrifying.

O'BRIEN: Let's, in fact, talk about some of your complications, Pam. You saw two sisters come through with flying colors.

PAM MARKS, HAD GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And you said, well, I've got to get this done, because you had a lot of the same problems and a lot of the same issues. Your situation, your recovery, not the same at all. What happened?

MARKS: No. I ended up -- for the first three months after surgery I basically didn't eat anything. I was throwing up 14 times a day. My gallbladder was bad, and I didn't know it. So that's what caused all the problems for me.

O'BRIEN: We're looking at your before picture. How long before you really got back on the road to sort of healthy...

MARKS: It took me a good six months. I was able to function and do things, and I went back to work. But it did take me a while to fully recover and feel good.

O'BRIEN: How much weight did you lose?

MARKS: I've lost 127 pounds.

O'BRIEN: You are kind of losing -- I mean, literally a person.

MARKS: Oh, exactly.

RATZLAFF: We've lost our own evil twins. That's what we say.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: That's kind of an interesting way to put it. Let's talk about what you can eat now.

Pam, I read that you have two bites of burger, that's it. And Cindy, I read that if you eat two Hershey's Kisses, that's fine, but three, that sends you over the edge and you'll be sick.

RATZLAFF: Yes. Sugar is really hard to take after the surgery for a lot of people for some reason.

O'BRIEN: So what do you eat?

RATZLAFF: I -- you know, I do like chocolate. So I dish it out to myself in those small doses. And I have a little bit of chocolate every day, I have to say. But mostly we eat beans, rice.

O'BRIEN: You have to eat mushy-type food?

RATZLAFF: No. You don't. But just small amounts. And you have to chew it up very well.

O'BRIEN: It looks like you're making salads here. I'm not sure if that's just a photo for a magazine.

RATZLAFF: Yes. No, we actually eat a lot of salad.

O'BRIEN: Really?

RATZLAFF: Yes.

O'BRIEN: How about, you know, meat, chicken, steak?

MCANDREW: Chicken -- Pam and I had a steak last night for dinner. We split a steak.

MARKS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: How has this changed socially how you go out and eat and your lives socially? Are your spouses on board? I know that when people go on diets and successfully lose 20, 30 pounds, which is nowhere in the range of what you lost, a lot of ties they get a lot of resentment from their friends and their family members, too.

MCANDREW: I did have a couple of people say kind of rude things to me.

O'BRIEN: Like what kinds of things?

MCANDREW: Well, I can't really say on air, but...

O'BRIEN: Like unprintable things?

MCANDREW: Yes.

O'BRIEN: These are friends?

MCANDREW: You skinny...

O'BRIEN: XYZ. Wow. Was that hurtful? Or did you sort of understand where they were coming from?

MCANDREW: Actually, no. I said, "Thank you."

MARKS: The same thing happened to me. Somebody called me that, and it was a person who was larger and they were jealous. And because, according to them, I took the easy way out. O'BRIEN: That is actually a fairly, I think, common criticism. Sort of like, oh, so you just had the surgery. What do you make of that?

RATZLAFF: Well, you know, if you were a diabetic, you wouldn't tell somebody they took the easy way out if they took insulin. Or if you had heart disease, you wouldn't tell somebody that they took the easy way out because they had a bypass.

You do what you need to do. This was a medical condition exacerbated by the way we lived our lifestyles.

This was a tool. It helped us lose weight. And we're going to have to work at it to keep the weight off. We have to do right things to keep the weight off and stay healthy. I don't see that that was the easy way.

O'BRIEN: I don't know. Especially now, you have to be very careful about what you eat. None of it sounds easy to me yet, not one part of it.

Pam, I'm curious to know, with all the problems that you had, would you still do it again if someone said -- you know, if the -- if we were brought back to a couple years ago and you were in the same situation, would you say, yes, I'm going to opt for the surgery?

MARKS: Well, within the first six months I did ask the doctor if it could be reversed because I was so sick. But now that I've gotten past that and I have recovered fully, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, even knowing that the same thing could happen again. It's still worth it because I have so much energy right now, it's hard for me to sit still right now on the couch.

O'BRIEN: Feel free to run around if you need to.

MARKS: Yes, I do. I dance -- we dance.

(CROSSTALK)

MARKS: Like when we were at my son's wedding, my brother, my sisters and I, we all danced for five hours straight. We couldn't have done that before. It would have killed us. And we just -- we just have energy galore now.

O'BRIEN: Wow. Well, that's great. Thanks for sharing your remarkable story and some of the realities, too, I think, of the complications. I appreciate it, Lee Ann and Cindy and Pam -- Bill.

HEMMER: They look great. Well done.

Going to get you down to Washington in a moment here. Any minute now we expect to hear from the president speaking after the new secretary of Homeland Security is sworn in. When that happens, you'll see it live here on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in a moment here after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: There is new help for parents trying to monitor the type of video games their kids are playing. The Entertainment Software Rating Board has a new rating. It is called E10-plus. That new category should help fill the gap between games rated E for Everyone and T for Teen, which is sometimes too violent or too mature for some kids.

O'BRIEN: That's good help for parents.

Time to check back in with Jack. He's got the "Question of the Day."

Good morning again.

CAFFERTY: Or you could just pay attention to what kind of stuff your kids are using and pay attention to what they do. That would be another approach.

A dire warning from Fed chairman Alan Greenspan that decades of economic stagnation are facing this country if something isn't done soon about runaway spending and deficits. We're asking what you think ought to be done to repair this nation's economy.

There won't be any Social Security reform it looks like now. Medicare is a bigger problem. Social Security, nobody is talking about doing anything about that. The politicians keep spending like it was found money instead of ours.

Tony writes: "Please relax. The U.S. economy is so large these trade and budget deficits are tiny relative to how quickly they could be eliminated. Before the second Bush term is over, the U.S. government will impose a tariff on imports and, presto, the trade and budget deficits are gone."

Buzz in Beaumont, Texas, "The answer's this: corporate tax rate 1943, 40 percent; 2001, 10 percent. Do you the math, Jack."

Jack in Wisconsin writes: "Follow the money. The nation's financial problems cannot be fixed until we get private money out of the public electoral system. Our politicians are bought and paid for by those who are killing America's economy."

And finally, Kevin in Naples, Florida, writes: "OK, Jack, so the country is screwed for decades. But what I want to know is how will that affect Martha? Will Martha be financially OK through it all?"

"Just tell me that Martha will be fine and I can sleep nights. Even though I am in poverty, just knowing Martha will be financially fine through it all will make it all OK."

HEMMER: Should have bought that stock at $9, huh?

O'BRIEN: Well, I guess Martha's going to be OK.

HEMMER: Yes, I would say.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Thanks.

CAFFERTY: I'm not sure that was the point of his comment.

O'BRIEN: No, I -- yes, sarcasm. Thank you, Jack.

More AMERICAN MORNING right after this short break.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on a special edition of "90-Second Pop"...

MARTHA STEWART, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: Good morning, everybody. And thank you for coming here today on such short notice.

O'BRIEN: It's Martha, Martha, Martha. She's almost out of the slammer. What will the domestic diva-turned-convict do on her first day of freedom? Plus, could her new TV gig hurt her company's bottom line?

That and more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Washington, this is Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, about to administer the oath, swearing in the next Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff. Let's listen now at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)


Aired March 3, 2005 - 09:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: At the Michael Jackson trial, going inside Neverland today. The witness on the stand who saw it all during a famous police raid.
Saying good-bye to prison and the lessons learned at Camp Cupcake. Exclusive pictures today of Martha Stewart behind bars.

And those daring men and their flying machines. Pilot Steve Fossett now just hours away from an amazing feat on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Nine o'clock here in New York.

Richard Branson, Sir Richard Branson, is holding a news conference at this hour, talking about the progress of his partner, Steve Fossett, who is right now trying to finish the final leg of the 'round-the-world flight on a single fill-up, one tank of gas. We'll see whether or not he makes it in a few hours, but we will also dip in, in a moment, let you know what we're learning about where he is right now and the progress he's making.

O'BRIEN: And, of course, the big problem is that they lost some 2,600 pounds of fuel. Whether or not he's going to make it, will the tailwinds be enough to sustain him across, all those are big questions this morning.

Also this morning, we'll meet three sisters. They made a decision together. They all got gastric bypass surgery. We're going to talk this morning to them about their experience, find out just how much weight they lost and why they say this is what saved their lives.

HEMMER: Back to Jack Cafferty.

Good morning, Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.

An ominous warning yesterday from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. He says this country is headed toward decades of economic stagnation unless something is done about runaway spending and deficits.

Got any ideas? AM@CNN.com. We'll read some mail in a half-hour or so.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.

Let's get right to the headlines with Carol Costello.

Hey, good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning, everyone.

"Now in the News," the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq has now passed another sad milestone. The death toll now just over 1,500 for U.S. troops. And the violence continues there this morning.

Today, at least five Iraqi police officers were killed in attacks in Baghdad, seven others injured. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has extended a state of emergency for that country.

In Fresno, California, Marcus Wesson, the man accused of killing nine of his children, is about to face a jury. A California judge will decide today whether the trial should be moved out of Fresno County. His lawyer says Wesson can't get a fair trial there. If the motion is denied, the jury will be sworn in today and opening statements could begin as soon as tomorrow.

President Bush is not giving up on his Social Security plan just yet. Aides say the president is going on the road beginning tomorrow. He's planning a 60-day, 60-stop campaign blowout. His first stops, Indiana and New Jersey.

And basketball star Kobe Bryant has settled a civil suit with the woman accusing him of sexual assault. No word on the terms of the agreement, but Bryant's attorney says both parties are satisfied. Bryant had absolutely no comment when asked about it last night. In fact, he only wanted to talk about basketball.

HEMMER: Basketball and the game in Boston.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

HEMMER: Thanks, Carol.

O'BRIEN: Pop star Michael Jackson says he is "happy and confident" with the way that his child molestation trial is going so far, despite some potentially damaging testimony from a public relations employee.

CNN's Miguel Marquez live for us in Santa Maria, California, this morning.

Hey, Miguel. Good morning.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you there, Soledad.

Yes, that public relations person was Ann Kite. She was only employed by the Jackson camp for six days. She was a witness for the prosecution. But in the end, it wasn't clear who she helped, the prosecution or the defense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Michael Jackson putting on a confident face after a day of testimony from a P.R. agent who was hired as a crisis manager days after the Martin Bashir documentary aired in February 2003.

RAYMONE BAIN, JACKSON SPOKESWOMAN: Michael feels very confident in his defense team. And he feels very happy about yesterday and today.

MARQUEZ: Ann Marie Kite testified she was fired after six days on the job. In her short time with team Jackson, she said she grew concerned for the safety of the accuser and his family, felt Jackson's former attorney, Mark Geragos, was trying to silence her, and that just days after the Bashir documentary aired, another Jackson attorney, David LeGrand told her not to worry about the accuser's mother because "they had her on tape and were going to make her look like a crack whore."

ANNE BREMNER, LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, that's the best thing that the prosecution brought out, and that was dynamite evidence.

MARQUEZ: But the defense scored points, too. During hours of questioning by Jackson's lawyer, Kite divulged that she felt Jackson's advisers, including several of those who are now named as co- conspirators in the charges against the pop star, were scheming against him for their own financial gain. Kite also testified that she never met Jackson, never visited Neverland and never had a clear idea of who was in charge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now on the stand today will be Albert Lafferty. He's an investigator with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. He took the stand for a short time yesterday afternoon. He's a forensics expert who did videotapes, videography of Neverland Ranch, and will basically expose the jurors and show them Neverland Ranch -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Miguel Marquez. Looking forward to that testimony, of course. Thanks, Miguel. Appreciate it -- Bill.

HEMMER: From Chicago, police have released sketches of two men they want to talk to about the murders of the husband and mother of federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow. So far, the police are not calling the men suspects, but instead persons of interests.

Both men are white, on in his mid-20s, seen in a car near the judge's home. And the other in his 50s, wearing dark coveralls and a dark knit cap. Natasha Korecki is a reporter with the "Chicago Sun- Times." She tells us today about the latest in this investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NATASHA KORECKI, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES" REPORTER: Last night police released two composite sketches of two men various witnesses have said they had seen in the neighborhood. We've been hearing reports of this from a couple days ago.

We know that one witness saw two men in a red car just down the block from the Lefkows' home the morning of the murder, about 8:00 a.m. We also know that there's been other witnesses who have seen these two men.

Police aren't specifically tying -- tying the two composite sketches to the men seen in the car, but the descriptions seem similar. And that's what they're looking at right now. It's another lead. Just one of many, but it does seem like they're people of interest.

HEMMER: Your paper talked with Judge Lefkow. In part, she said this: She says, "If someone was angry at me, they should go after me. It's not fair to go after my family."

How is she handling this?

KORECKI: You know, as best she can. She's devastated right now. She's lost her mother and her husband. And from what everyone has described, Michael Lefkow and the judge, they were just very much in love.

Always walking together hand in hand. He moved his office to be near her, to overlook her, walked her into the courtroom building every day, picked her up every day. They would lunch together.

She's absolutely devastated. But she was -- she did say that she was not going to be intimidated and not going to step down from the bench. She would return to the bench. And right now she's foremost thinking about her daughters.

HEMMER: Did she say in that interview whether or not who she thought might be responsible? Did she talk at all about Matthew Hale, this jailed white supremacist leader who has issued threats in years past against her?

KORECKI: She didn't want to specifically get into the Hale case. But she did say generally that she was afraid or she feared that the people who did this did it because of some of her work on the bench. Other than that, she didn't make any more ties to anyone.

HEMMER: One of their daughters apparently is about to get married.

KORECKI: Yes.

HEMMER: And she talked about that as well. In part, she said her husband had gotten himself a tux to wear to that wedding and was so looking forward to walking his daughter down the aisle, and now he will not be able to do that. This was a tight family, as you point out. KORECKI: Yes, very much so. She's -- that was just one of many things that they were thinking about that was a very emotional thing for them.

Their oldest daughter, Helen, I believe, is getting married this summer. And they're all looking very forward to it. And now she won't have her father to walk her down the aisle. It's very sad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Natasha Korecki earlier today, "Chicago Sun-Times" on AMERICAN MORNING.

Police say they're also looking into past cases that Judge Lefkow's husband, Michael Lefkow, had handled -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: We've got a shot to show you of Salina, Kansas. This is where a press conference, a press briefing is going on right there. They're talking about Steve Fossett and the progress that he is making on his potentially historic flight.

Steve Fossett, there he is right there. Just moments ago he was talking remotely from the Global Flyer. He's said that things are going well, he's going to try to land in Salina, Kansas, at 2:20 Eastern Time if all goes well.

Of course the "if all goes well" is the critical part of this, because there have been issues, of course, with the fuel and the tailwinds as well. He's over land.

You're looking at Sir Richard Branson. He's a close friend of Steve Fossett's. He's also the guy who is financing this trip, and he was just talking to Steve Fossett a moment ago and said, "Hey, Steve, I'm looking forward to seeing you at lunchtime."

So hopefully the two of them will be able to make history not too long from now. We're going to obviously keep following that this morning and through the afternoon.

But first, let's get a check of the weather. Chad Myers at the CNN Center. He's got a look at the latest forecast for us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Any moment now we are expecting to hear from President Bush. He's going to make some remarks after the new Homeland Security chief is sworn in. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.

HEMMER: Also in a moment here, video games are hotter than ever, but not every game is appropriate for every person, especially kids. We'll tell you about a new tool for parents that's on the market.

O'BRIEN: And three overweight sisters with three pretty amazing success stories. How they lost an incredible 367 pounds combined up next on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It is not a magic bullet for obesity, but gastric bypass surgery has made a dramatic difference for many people who are desperate to lose weight. Three sisters, Lee Ann McAndrew, Cindy Ratzlaff and Pam Marks say it essentially saved their lives. They each had the procedure. They lost a combined total of 367 pounds.

Ladies, good morning. Nice to see you. I mean, those numbers are pretty surprising.

Leeann, you were the first one who got it done. What brought you to that point? Because I imagine you've been on diets and you got to a pretty desperate point.

LEE ANN MCANDREW, HAD GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY: Every diet, yes. Somebody asked me once, "Weren't you afraid you would die?" And I said, "Yes, I was, and that's why I had the surgery." Because I want to live for my 8-year-old son.

I have two grown children as well. But I have this little boy that I wanted to make sure that he had a mom when he grew up.

O'BRIEN: We're looking at a picture of you before. What did you weigh in this picture about?

MCANDREW: I probably weighed about 220 there.

O'BRIEN: How much weight have you lost since had the surgery?

MCANDREW: 115 pounds.

O'BRIEN: And you've been able to keep it off.

MCANDREW: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You had the surgery a couple years ago.

MCANDREW: I had it three years ago.

O'BRIEN: Then, Cindy, you had the surgery. Was it primarily because Lee Ann had such good results?

CINDY RATZLAFF, HAD GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY: You know, I mean, I had been fighting obesity all my life. When I saw my sister lose weight, I definitely considered it. But it took me another two years to really decide to do it because I was afraid.

O'BRIEN: This is your before picture.

RATZLAFF: Yes. When I found that picture, I -- you know, I don't remember myself that way. But obviously I was. I loved that shirt. What was I thinking?

O'BRIEN: Horizontal stripes, no, no, no. That's not a good thing. At the same time, we're joking now, but, Lee Ann, when you see your sister taking on surgery, people die from this surgery. Let's me real about it.

MCANDREW: I know.

O'BRIEN: Were you worried about in a way by being an example you sort of led your sister to...

MCANDREW: I definitely was. And especially after Pam had hers and she had so many complications. At one point we thought she might die. And it was horrifying.

O'BRIEN: Let's, in fact, talk about some of your complications, Pam. You saw two sisters come through with flying colors.

PAM MARKS, HAD GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And you said, well, I've got to get this done, because you had a lot of the same problems and a lot of the same issues. Your situation, your recovery, not the same at all. What happened?

MARKS: No. I ended up -- for the first three months after surgery I basically didn't eat anything. I was throwing up 14 times a day. My gallbladder was bad, and I didn't know it. So that's what caused all the problems for me.

O'BRIEN: We're looking at your before picture. How long before you really got back on the road to sort of healthy...

MARKS: It took me a good six months. I was able to function and do things, and I went back to work. But it did take me a while to fully recover and feel good.

O'BRIEN: How much weight did you lose?

MARKS: I've lost 127 pounds.

O'BRIEN: You are kind of losing -- I mean, literally a person.

MARKS: Oh, exactly.

RATZLAFF: We've lost our own evil twins. That's what we say.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: That's kind of an interesting way to put it. Let's talk about what you can eat now.

Pam, I read that you have two bites of burger, that's it. And Cindy, I read that if you eat two Hershey's Kisses, that's fine, but three, that sends you over the edge and you'll be sick.

RATZLAFF: Yes. Sugar is really hard to take after the surgery for a lot of people for some reason.

O'BRIEN: So what do you eat?

RATZLAFF: I -- you know, I do like chocolate. So I dish it out to myself in those small doses. And I have a little bit of chocolate every day, I have to say. But mostly we eat beans, rice.

O'BRIEN: You have to eat mushy-type food?

RATZLAFF: No. You don't. But just small amounts. And you have to chew it up very well.

O'BRIEN: It looks like you're making salads here. I'm not sure if that's just a photo for a magazine.

RATZLAFF: Yes. No, we actually eat a lot of salad.

O'BRIEN: Really?

RATZLAFF: Yes.

O'BRIEN: How about, you know, meat, chicken, steak?

MCANDREW: Chicken -- Pam and I had a steak last night for dinner. We split a steak.

MARKS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: How has this changed socially how you go out and eat and your lives socially? Are your spouses on board? I know that when people go on diets and successfully lose 20, 30 pounds, which is nowhere in the range of what you lost, a lot of ties they get a lot of resentment from their friends and their family members, too.

MCANDREW: I did have a couple of people say kind of rude things to me.

O'BRIEN: Like what kinds of things?

MCANDREW: Well, I can't really say on air, but...

O'BRIEN: Like unprintable things?

MCANDREW: Yes.

O'BRIEN: These are friends?

MCANDREW: You skinny...

O'BRIEN: XYZ. Wow. Was that hurtful? Or did you sort of understand where they were coming from?

MCANDREW: Actually, no. I said, "Thank you."

MARKS: The same thing happened to me. Somebody called me that, and it was a person who was larger and they were jealous. And because, according to them, I took the easy way out. O'BRIEN: That is actually a fairly, I think, common criticism. Sort of like, oh, so you just had the surgery. What do you make of that?

RATZLAFF: Well, you know, if you were a diabetic, you wouldn't tell somebody they took the easy way out if they took insulin. Or if you had heart disease, you wouldn't tell somebody that they took the easy way out because they had a bypass.

You do what you need to do. This was a medical condition exacerbated by the way we lived our lifestyles.

This was a tool. It helped us lose weight. And we're going to have to work at it to keep the weight off. We have to do right things to keep the weight off and stay healthy. I don't see that that was the easy way.

O'BRIEN: I don't know. Especially now, you have to be very careful about what you eat. None of it sounds easy to me yet, not one part of it.

Pam, I'm curious to know, with all the problems that you had, would you still do it again if someone said -- you know, if the -- if we were brought back to a couple years ago and you were in the same situation, would you say, yes, I'm going to opt for the surgery?

MARKS: Well, within the first six months I did ask the doctor if it could be reversed because I was so sick. But now that I've gotten past that and I have recovered fully, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, even knowing that the same thing could happen again. It's still worth it because I have so much energy right now, it's hard for me to sit still right now on the couch.

O'BRIEN: Feel free to run around if you need to.

MARKS: Yes, I do. I dance -- we dance.

(CROSSTALK)

MARKS: Like when we were at my son's wedding, my brother, my sisters and I, we all danced for five hours straight. We couldn't have done that before. It would have killed us. And we just -- we just have energy galore now.

O'BRIEN: Wow. Well, that's great. Thanks for sharing your remarkable story and some of the realities, too, I think, of the complications. I appreciate it, Lee Ann and Cindy and Pam -- Bill.

HEMMER: They look great. Well done.

Going to get you down to Washington in a moment here. Any minute now we expect to hear from the president speaking after the new secretary of Homeland Security is sworn in. When that happens, you'll see it live here on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in a moment here after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: There is new help for parents trying to monitor the type of video games their kids are playing. The Entertainment Software Rating Board has a new rating. It is called E10-plus. That new category should help fill the gap between games rated E for Everyone and T for Teen, which is sometimes too violent or too mature for some kids.

O'BRIEN: That's good help for parents.

Time to check back in with Jack. He's got the "Question of the Day."

Good morning again.

CAFFERTY: Or you could just pay attention to what kind of stuff your kids are using and pay attention to what they do. That would be another approach.

A dire warning from Fed chairman Alan Greenspan that decades of economic stagnation are facing this country if something isn't done soon about runaway spending and deficits. We're asking what you think ought to be done to repair this nation's economy.

There won't be any Social Security reform it looks like now. Medicare is a bigger problem. Social Security, nobody is talking about doing anything about that. The politicians keep spending like it was found money instead of ours.

Tony writes: "Please relax. The U.S. economy is so large these trade and budget deficits are tiny relative to how quickly they could be eliminated. Before the second Bush term is over, the U.S. government will impose a tariff on imports and, presto, the trade and budget deficits are gone."

Buzz in Beaumont, Texas, "The answer's this: corporate tax rate 1943, 40 percent; 2001, 10 percent. Do you the math, Jack."

Jack in Wisconsin writes: "Follow the money. The nation's financial problems cannot be fixed until we get private money out of the public electoral system. Our politicians are bought and paid for by those who are killing America's economy."

And finally, Kevin in Naples, Florida, writes: "OK, Jack, so the country is screwed for decades. But what I want to know is how will that affect Martha? Will Martha be financially OK through it all?"

"Just tell me that Martha will be fine and I can sleep nights. Even though I am in poverty, just knowing Martha will be financially fine through it all will make it all OK."

HEMMER: Should have bought that stock at $9, huh?

O'BRIEN: Well, I guess Martha's going to be OK.

HEMMER: Yes, I would say.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Thanks.

CAFFERTY: I'm not sure that was the point of his comment.

O'BRIEN: No, I -- yes, sarcasm. Thank you, Jack.

More AMERICAN MORNING right after this short break.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on a special edition of "90-Second Pop"...

MARTHA STEWART, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: Good morning, everybody. And thank you for coming here today on such short notice.

O'BRIEN: It's Martha, Martha, Martha. She's almost out of the slammer. What will the domestic diva-turned-convict do on her first day of freedom? Plus, could her new TV gig hurt her company's bottom line?

That and more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Washington, this is Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, about to administer the oath, swearing in the next Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff. Let's listen now at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)