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CNN Live At Daybreak

The Schiavo Case; Singing for Jesus; Picking Winners; Deceptive Memories

Aired March 25, 2005 - 05:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

A federal judge in Tampa is expected to rule any time now on yet another appeal by Terri Schiavo's parents to keep their daughter alive. Schiavo's feeding tube was removed a week ago. The U.S. Supreme Court once again has refused to hear the case, upholding a series of court rulings filed since Monday. If you want specifics, 22 decisions now against the Schindlers.

Christians around the world will attend Good Friday services, but for the first time, an ailing Pope John Paul II will attend only through a video connection. The 84-year-old pope has been hospitalized twice this year.

The U.N. Security Council has voted to send nearly 11,000 peacekeepers to southern Sudan. They'll try to enforce an agreement to end a 21-year-old civil war that has taken 180,000 lives.

In the NCAA basketball tournament, Arizona beat Oklahoma State, Louisville beat Washington and West Virginia beat Texas Tech and Bobby Knight.

Hello -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You forgot Illinois -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sorry.

MYERS: They won, as well, of course, but they were the No. 1 seed and they were expected to win.

Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Terri Schiavo's parents are running out of legal options in the fight to keep their daughter alive. Right now they're waiting for a ruling from a federal judge in Tampa. Yes, the case has now gone back to Florida.

Let's head live there now to Jason Lanning of our affiliate Bay News 9.

Morning, Jason, explain this to our viewers because it's rather confusing now.

JASON LANNING, BAY NEWS 9: It is, Carol, and really the past three or four days, a lot of legal issues have been very confusing. Here's what we can tell you.

Judge James Whittemore is hearing this appeal from the Schindler's attorney, David Gibbs, and it is much the same appeal that was filed Tuesday in federal court in the middle district court in front of Judge Whittemore. It concerns due process rights violations of Terri Schiavo. We're told attorney David Gibbs has somehow uncovered some type of new evidence that could help them in this appeal.

Interestingly enough, this all happened and the arguments began at 6:00 p.m. yesterday. They went for around an hour or two. And for the entire night, Judge James Whittemore and his entire legal staff have been burning the midnight oil, so to speak, working on this.

But again, as you said, Carol, we are waiting for word really at any moment on his decision to this latest appeal.

COSTELLO: Governor's role, Governor Jeb Bush, you know we see those protesters around you every day there at that hospice. They're threatening now. They're threatening. They say Jeb Bush should ignore the Constitution, they should send police into the hospice and retrieve Terri Schiavo.

LANNING: That has been talked about for the past three days. And even some spiritual leaders demanding Governor Bush take that type of action. But we actually talked to some legal analysts yesterday afternoon and determined that it is completely a strict violation of separation of powers if Governor Bush ever did anything like that. It would obviously create quite an outcry and an outrage here on the scene. That is something that has been expected. But as you know, Governor Bush had planned to visit Tampa yesterday afternoon, and he actually canceled his trip and is not expected to be in this area anytime soon.

COSTELLO: Randall Terry, Operation Rescue, who's sort of the Schindler's spokesperson right now, said if Terri Schiavo dies, there would be hell to pay. You can bet that there will be people that might just lose their jobs when this is over. To what is he referring?

LANNING: Well we've heard from many protesters here on the scene concerning politicians. They say they have been taking names down, finding the ones that have been voting against legislation that could have helped Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be removed. And this is more on the state level, not the federal level, concerning state legislators here in Florida, because two days ago the state legislature debated this issue for several hours and an overwhelming majority said no that this legislation could not pass through.

But keep in mind this is the same situation that happened back in 2003 when Governor Bush managed to pass Terri's law. That was later found unconstitutional, mainly one of the reasons why many legislators were very apprehensive this time around.

COSTELLO: All right, I'm going to ask you this question, because you know we've asked it so many times before in the past several days, is this it? Is the federal court in Tampa the last stop for the Schindlers?

LANNING: It possibly could be. There is a chance if this motion does not go through that this family could appeal to the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. It would follow mainly the same process as the appeals did Tuesday into Wednesday. But, obviously, as every appeal is filed and continues to be denied, the people here are losing hope.

And we can tell you even yesterday there was the highest number of demonstrators on hand. And when the U.S. Supreme Court decision came down and later the decision by Judge Greer to not allow a Department of Children and Families intervention, there was a feeling and emotion of resignation that we just haven't seen. Spiritual leaders turning away hope and just urging people to pray over this Easter holiday.

COSTELLO: Jason Lanning of our affiliate Bay News 9 in Florida this morning. Thank you for that excellent information.

Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings know time is running out for their daughter. She's been without food and water for a full week now.

CNN's John Zarrella talked with Schiavo's brother and sister about what they're enduring. Here's what they have to say "Beyond the Soundbite."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: Having to watch my parents go through, you know, simply wanting to care for their child and not being able to, I mean 15 years now, particularly these last 13 years, they just simply want to bring their child home and take care of her, make her part of the family again. And they're being told that they can't. And it's something that I think a lot of people just can't understand. And that's been the difficult part, not only seeing Terri being abandoned and warehoused this period of time, but also having to see my parents go through this struggle just to take care of their child.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, I know you once said that what was one of the really tough things for you was that she wasn't at your wedding. SUZANNE VITADAMO, TERRI SCHIAVO'S SISTER: Yes, that was very difficult. But you know you say that we've been without Terri. We really haven't been without Terri. I mean Terri is a part of me and my life and she always will be. So I don't feel like I've ever been without her.

And it's just awful. It's awful to have to sit back and watch this process happen to anybody. I mean we live in America. And you know I'm sitting here, I can't even believe I'm sitting here discussing this. This is sick. So it's horrible.

SCHINDLER: You know I'm in a room with my sister. I was just in the room with her a little while ago, and you know part of me wants to be there and the other part of me just wants to get out of the room as fast as I can. You know like as my sister said, it's just, you know, you're watching your sister being slowly dehydrated to death in front of your eyes and it's absolutely horrific to know someone is being starved to death, especially a family member. And I can't imagine what my parents are feeling during this process. It's just horrible.

ZARRELLA: The last couple of quick questions. You had said, Suzanne, and you just said that you know you can't imagine that you're even sitting here tonight. Can you in your wildest imagination believe that in two years you've gone through this now twice? I mean the toll that it's taken on you guys emotionally has to have been tremendous.

VITADAMO: Gosh, it's been a roller-coaster. I mean it's just been up and down and you know all over the place. So it's a huge toll. And I've watched my parents age incredibly, in a sad way, over the past several years. So sure it has. But you know what, I'd do it all over again. I would do whatever I could to fight for her. She can't do it herself and we're all that she has and we love her. So I wouldn't think twice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The Schindler family says Schiavo is beginning to show signs of dehydration.

Want to get right to our e-mail segment right now because we're getting so many e-mails in this morning.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And we're asking you this question. We could put the graphic up right now. Is it always better to err on the side of life? Because you heard so many politicians and so many others say that this is a life issue. Others say it's a constitutional issue. We wanted to know what you think.

So allow me to read the first e-mail from Larry (ph). He says evangelicals are famously touting the fabulous hereafter with streets of gold and angels playing, welcoming him to the pearly gates, yet they are the ones who most vigilantly fight death, even for those whose lives on earth are hell. I don't get it. Larry is from Palm Springs, California.

Are you getting black and white answers -- Chad?

MYERS: I'm getting some, Carol, but they fixed my weather office when I was gone and now I can't print anything out. So the thing that I was noticing was that the number of people that are actually e- mailing in with yes, right to life, we want her to live, but is she really -- is there any quality of life there, you know, and what would she really want to do? It's that did she express I wouldn't want to be like this to her husband or not?

COSTELLO: Well of course that's at the heart of this issue.

MYERS: And he has no proof and there's nothing in paper, and that's the first thing I'm going to do next week.

COSTELLO: This is from Chris (ph) from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We seem to be forgetting another extremely important right, the right to die. Let Terri die in peace.

This is from Terri (ph) from Yuma, Arizona. Is it always better to err on the side of life? This is about the sanctity of life. If not, who will be next? Will we begin refusing treatment for the elderly, the disabled, those injured in accidents? Every life counts.

John (ph) from Sacramento, California, I can't understand why America is so attached or afraid of death. People die. That's the way it is. This is not an issue for Congress. This is an issue of human nature.

One more from David (ph) in Los Angeles, we should err on the side of common sense. Would Terri have wanted to have been in this near vegetative state for 15 years? I don't know anyone who would. She's now being punished by her family for failing to have a living will.

Keep the e-mails coming this morning. We're always interested in your responses, and we'll post some of your questions this morning to the anti-abortion activists who are now protesting what's happening to Terri Schiavo in Florida in Pinellas Park.

Is it always better to err on the side of life? E-mail us, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is Good Friday. It's the day Christians believe Jesus was crucified. On Sunday, Easter, that's the day they believe he rose from the dead.

Jesus, of course, is a beloved figure, and he's suddenly become a star. By that I mean in blockbuster Hollywood movies, like "The Passion of the Christ," and in song. Rappers like Kanye West have always suspected young people want something more in their music and he delivered with "Jesus Walks." And as a result, the mainstream record industry has discovered Jesus sells.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): "Jesus Walks" and Kanye West talks. He mentions the "J" word unabashedly, performed his Grammy winning song "At Angel Wing." It's in-your-face spirituality and it's selling.

REVEREND RUN, RUN DMC: He's a genius. He knew that his heart was strong enough and understood that this is a hit. I'm going to shock the heck out of people with this "Jesus Walks" thing. Listen to it, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, a bump. What? "Jesus Walks."

COSTELLO: And Jesus rocks. The MTV crowd loves the music and the message. Shaheem Reid is the hip-hop editor for MTV News.

(on camera): So is Jesus cool now, I mean?

SHAHEEM REID, HIP-HOP EDITOR, MTV NEWS: Jesus has always been cool in my book.

COSTELLO (voice-over): But never as cool as right now. In an era when a lot of mainstream music is becoming known for its political, violent and sexist statements, Jesus is parting the mainstream waters.

REID: If you can be vocal about making songs about killing people or you can be vocal about songs about sex, nothing is really taboo nowadays, so why not go and make a song about the Lord if that's what you're feeling.

COSTELLO: But there are tricks to the trade. Christian music doesn't sell in the mainstream world, but music that includes Christ does. Hip-hoppers talk spirituality in a world where the devil still lives. In "Jesus Walks," West writes, "My momma used to say only Jesus can save us. Well, momma, I know I act a fool, but I'll be gone until November, I got packs to move."

Packs, as in illegal drugs.

Perhaps no one can explain why this works better than Reverend Run, the rap pioneer of Run DMC, who now uses his mike to minister.

RUN: The day I went to church, the first day, I wasn't in the best condition. I had a bag of weed in my pocket. Isn't that hypocritical, you got a bag of weed in your pocket and you're looking for God? No, that's obvious, I should be looking for God because I drank two 40 ounces of beer on the way here.

COSTELLO: The hell and redemption sell is such a winning formula, LL Cool J is starting an all-gospel rap label. R. Kelly, an artist famously accused of videotaping kinky sex with teenaged girls, is now working on a CD full of inspirational material. Just the thing some say for young, hip teens searching for Jesus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Those records are selling like hotcakes.

Consider this, though, the Reverend Al Sharpton says he's also upset about the level of violence in popular music, and he's asking the FCC to deny airtime on radio or TV to any musicians involved in violent acts. He's also urging the agency to review the licenses of radio stations that encourage violent confrontations. One of the artists he is talking about is 50 Cent. 50 Cent was involved in a shooting outside of a New York radio station just a few weeks back. He's also putting out a CD full of inspirational music.

You know your memory can play tricks on you, but maybe you can trust it more than you think. Just ahead, we're going to meet a woman who can dig through the clutter in your head to get to the truth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now that's the kind of music I like in the morning. You get out of bed, everyone.

Hey, Chad, I bet that you have filled out one of those NCAA tournament brackets.

MYERS: Of course, more than one.

COSTELLO: Of course. More than one.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: It's a good thing, because it's been a weird March Madness kind of thing.

MYERS: It certainly has.

COSTELLO: It's been nearly impossible to predict, until now. We're going to talk to Allen Lynch of Mercer University now to talk about his system for accurately picking the winners. And I'm going to have Chad join in on this because you have come up with a complicated mathematical-statistical scheme to figure out who is going to win the tourney.

ALLEN LYNCH, MERCER UNIVERSITY: Yes, I have. A colleague of mine, Jay Coleman from the University of North Florida, and I have developed a couple of statistical models that deal with the NCAA tournament. The first is designed to predict who gets into the tournament and the second is designed to predict who might win individual games.

COSTELLO: So tell us, in a simple way, what formula you've come up with to be able to do that.

LYNCH: It actually is kind of simple. And statistics can sometimes be a little bit intimidating. But what we do is look at historical data, and using software developed by a company called Sass in North Carolina, we determine which variables, based on historical data, seem to matter in predicting which teams enter the tournament and which teams win. And the software will actually produce a little equation for us. And we could plug some data into the equation going forward and it will spit out a number for us. And the bigger the number, the more likely you're either going to get into the tournament or win individual games.

COSTELLO: So did it predict that Oklahoma would lose?

LYNCH: It actually predicted -- last night it did predict that Oklahoma State would be upset by Arizona. That was one of our better picks.

MYERS: How about the old Dominion game? Where did that come from?

LYNCH: The old Dominion game.

MYERS: Wow, you guys pulled that one. I don't know where you pulled that one from.

LYNCH: Well you know it's kind of nuts how all this stuff works out. And we're accurately predicting three out of four of these tournament games. And the problem is we don't know which three of four we're going to get right going forward, and that's why I think they call it March Madness.

COSTELLO: OK, so do you use this special thing to participate in office pools yourself?

LYNCH: I actually will kind of look at this when I make out my office pool. My co-author, Jay Coleman, actually followed his to the letter. I am a big Syracuse Orange man, so I erroneously strayed from the model and said that Syracuse would do real well this year. And I was disappointed rather early on.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: I do have to ask you a question about Kansas, because that was your No. 1 ranked team. What happened to Kansas?

LYNCH: Well, Chad, I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up. Yes, Chad, Kansas was ranked -- was our strongest team...

MYERS: That's the one (ph).

LYNCH: ... of the field of 65 when the tournament began. And a little school called Bucknell...

MYERS: Yes.

LYNCH: ... beat them in the first round. So we like to focus on other outcomes.

COSTELLO: I'll bet you do.

MYERS: Kind of like the "Farmer's Almanac." COSTELLO: How do people tap into this, before I have to let you go -- Allen?

LYNCH: I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: How do people tap into this? How can they get a hold of your...

LYNCH: My co-author developed a Web site called www.dancecard.unf.edu and we have information there on how these models are developed. And, actually, game-by-game results, and about everything you want to know about the models can be found there.

COSTELLO: Allen Lynch, thank you for joining us this morning.

MYERS: Thanks, bye.

LYNCH: Thanks for having me on.

COSTELLO: We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Eyewitness testimony, the words have an authoritative ring of truth, but just how reliable is the memory of an eyewitness? Turns out they can often be mistaken. In fact, many prisoners convicted on the testimony of an eyewitness have been freed because DNA proved they were not guilty after all.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how one woman helped solved crimes by coaxing the right memories to the surface.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeanne Boylan makes a living by mining the very details of memory. A top ranked freelance artist, she sketches thousands of subjects for the FBI and police departments around the country. From the Unibomber, to the Oklahoma City Bombing, to the Polly Klaas kidnapping, she's worked the biggest cases around.

In 1987, a bomb badly wounded the owner of a computer store in Salt Lake City, Utah. Minutes earlier, a worker there had caught a glimpse, just a two-second glimpse, of the man leaving the suspicious package. Seven long years later, Boylan was called in to meet the lone eyewitness. The result was this famous sketch, the hooded Unibomber. A good likeness, judge for yourself.

JEANNE BOYLAN, ARTIST/CRIMINAL PROFILER: Your memory may have been distorted in the interim, but the odds of that original memory being there are extremely good.

GUPTA: At most police departments, a witness to a crime either looks through mug shots or picks and chooses from a menu of facial feature until an artist or computer creates a composite. But researchers have found that these techniques actually impair memory. As the witness concentrates on each new image, the original memory is blurred.

BOYLAN: I hate those mug books. An imprint into memory is not unlike a fingerprint on a murder weapon. So when police show witnesses, you know, eyes and lips and noses in books full of facial features and expect that memory to be static, what they're doing is overlaying the imprinted memory with all these new additional prints, just as they would be overlaying fingerprints on a murder weapon if they handed it to bare handed people.

GUPTA: Boylan's method is different. Her interviews are long, about 12 hours. But most of the talking has nothing to do with the crime. She relaxes the witness and lets memories come to the surface. She's careful not to suggest details, which is tougher than you might think.

(on camera): The contamination of an eyewitness. So -- I mean, how subtle can it be? You just said, if the investigator says were his eyes brown, is that contamination?

BOYLAN: That's absolutely contamination, yes.

GUPTA (voice-over): When it comes to memory, we often can't trust our own eyes.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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Aired March 25, 2005 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

A federal judge in Tampa is expected to rule any time now on yet another appeal by Terri Schiavo's parents to keep their daughter alive. Schiavo's feeding tube was removed a week ago. The U.S. Supreme Court once again has refused to hear the case, upholding a series of court rulings filed since Monday. If you want specifics, 22 decisions now against the Schindlers.

Christians around the world will attend Good Friday services, but for the first time, an ailing Pope John Paul II will attend only through a video connection. The 84-year-old pope has been hospitalized twice this year.

The U.N. Security Council has voted to send nearly 11,000 peacekeepers to southern Sudan. They'll try to enforce an agreement to end a 21-year-old civil war that has taken 180,000 lives.

In the NCAA basketball tournament, Arizona beat Oklahoma State, Louisville beat Washington and West Virginia beat Texas Tech and Bobby Knight.

Hello -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You forgot Illinois -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sorry.

MYERS: They won, as well, of course, but they were the No. 1 seed and they were expected to win.

Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Terri Schiavo's parents are running out of legal options in the fight to keep their daughter alive. Right now they're waiting for a ruling from a federal judge in Tampa. Yes, the case has now gone back to Florida.

Let's head live there now to Jason Lanning of our affiliate Bay News 9.

Morning, Jason, explain this to our viewers because it's rather confusing now.

JASON LANNING, BAY NEWS 9: It is, Carol, and really the past three or four days, a lot of legal issues have been very confusing. Here's what we can tell you.

Judge James Whittemore is hearing this appeal from the Schindler's attorney, David Gibbs, and it is much the same appeal that was filed Tuesday in federal court in the middle district court in front of Judge Whittemore. It concerns due process rights violations of Terri Schiavo. We're told attorney David Gibbs has somehow uncovered some type of new evidence that could help them in this appeal.

Interestingly enough, this all happened and the arguments began at 6:00 p.m. yesterday. They went for around an hour or two. And for the entire night, Judge James Whittemore and his entire legal staff have been burning the midnight oil, so to speak, working on this.

But again, as you said, Carol, we are waiting for word really at any moment on his decision to this latest appeal.

COSTELLO: Governor's role, Governor Jeb Bush, you know we see those protesters around you every day there at that hospice. They're threatening now. They're threatening. They say Jeb Bush should ignore the Constitution, they should send police into the hospice and retrieve Terri Schiavo.

LANNING: That has been talked about for the past three days. And even some spiritual leaders demanding Governor Bush take that type of action. But we actually talked to some legal analysts yesterday afternoon and determined that it is completely a strict violation of separation of powers if Governor Bush ever did anything like that. It would obviously create quite an outcry and an outrage here on the scene. That is something that has been expected. But as you know, Governor Bush had planned to visit Tampa yesterday afternoon, and he actually canceled his trip and is not expected to be in this area anytime soon.

COSTELLO: Randall Terry, Operation Rescue, who's sort of the Schindler's spokesperson right now, said if Terri Schiavo dies, there would be hell to pay. You can bet that there will be people that might just lose their jobs when this is over. To what is he referring?

LANNING: Well we've heard from many protesters here on the scene concerning politicians. They say they have been taking names down, finding the ones that have been voting against legislation that could have helped Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be removed. And this is more on the state level, not the federal level, concerning state legislators here in Florida, because two days ago the state legislature debated this issue for several hours and an overwhelming majority said no that this legislation could not pass through.

But keep in mind this is the same situation that happened back in 2003 when Governor Bush managed to pass Terri's law. That was later found unconstitutional, mainly one of the reasons why many legislators were very apprehensive this time around.

COSTELLO: All right, I'm going to ask you this question, because you know we've asked it so many times before in the past several days, is this it? Is the federal court in Tampa the last stop for the Schindlers?

LANNING: It possibly could be. There is a chance if this motion does not go through that this family could appeal to the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. It would follow mainly the same process as the appeals did Tuesday into Wednesday. But, obviously, as every appeal is filed and continues to be denied, the people here are losing hope.

And we can tell you even yesterday there was the highest number of demonstrators on hand. And when the U.S. Supreme Court decision came down and later the decision by Judge Greer to not allow a Department of Children and Families intervention, there was a feeling and emotion of resignation that we just haven't seen. Spiritual leaders turning away hope and just urging people to pray over this Easter holiday.

COSTELLO: Jason Lanning of our affiliate Bay News 9 in Florida this morning. Thank you for that excellent information.

Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings know time is running out for their daughter. She's been without food and water for a full week now.

CNN's John Zarrella talked with Schiavo's brother and sister about what they're enduring. Here's what they have to say "Beyond the Soundbite."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: Having to watch my parents go through, you know, simply wanting to care for their child and not being able to, I mean 15 years now, particularly these last 13 years, they just simply want to bring their child home and take care of her, make her part of the family again. And they're being told that they can't. And it's something that I think a lot of people just can't understand. And that's been the difficult part, not only seeing Terri being abandoned and warehoused this period of time, but also having to see my parents go through this struggle just to take care of their child.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, I know you once said that what was one of the really tough things for you was that she wasn't at your wedding. SUZANNE VITADAMO, TERRI SCHIAVO'S SISTER: Yes, that was very difficult. But you know you say that we've been without Terri. We really haven't been without Terri. I mean Terri is a part of me and my life and she always will be. So I don't feel like I've ever been without her.

And it's just awful. It's awful to have to sit back and watch this process happen to anybody. I mean we live in America. And you know I'm sitting here, I can't even believe I'm sitting here discussing this. This is sick. So it's horrible.

SCHINDLER: You know I'm in a room with my sister. I was just in the room with her a little while ago, and you know part of me wants to be there and the other part of me just wants to get out of the room as fast as I can. You know like as my sister said, it's just, you know, you're watching your sister being slowly dehydrated to death in front of your eyes and it's absolutely horrific to know someone is being starved to death, especially a family member. And I can't imagine what my parents are feeling during this process. It's just horrible.

ZARRELLA: The last couple of quick questions. You had said, Suzanne, and you just said that you know you can't imagine that you're even sitting here tonight. Can you in your wildest imagination believe that in two years you've gone through this now twice? I mean the toll that it's taken on you guys emotionally has to have been tremendous.

VITADAMO: Gosh, it's been a roller-coaster. I mean it's just been up and down and you know all over the place. So it's a huge toll. And I've watched my parents age incredibly, in a sad way, over the past several years. So sure it has. But you know what, I'd do it all over again. I would do whatever I could to fight for her. She can't do it herself and we're all that she has and we love her. So I wouldn't think twice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The Schindler family says Schiavo is beginning to show signs of dehydration.

Want to get right to our e-mail segment right now because we're getting so many e-mails in this morning.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And we're asking you this question. We could put the graphic up right now. Is it always better to err on the side of life? Because you heard so many politicians and so many others say that this is a life issue. Others say it's a constitutional issue. We wanted to know what you think.

So allow me to read the first e-mail from Larry (ph). He says evangelicals are famously touting the fabulous hereafter with streets of gold and angels playing, welcoming him to the pearly gates, yet they are the ones who most vigilantly fight death, even for those whose lives on earth are hell. I don't get it. Larry is from Palm Springs, California.

Are you getting black and white answers -- Chad?

MYERS: I'm getting some, Carol, but they fixed my weather office when I was gone and now I can't print anything out. So the thing that I was noticing was that the number of people that are actually e- mailing in with yes, right to life, we want her to live, but is she really -- is there any quality of life there, you know, and what would she really want to do? It's that did she express I wouldn't want to be like this to her husband or not?

COSTELLO: Well of course that's at the heart of this issue.

MYERS: And he has no proof and there's nothing in paper, and that's the first thing I'm going to do next week.

COSTELLO: This is from Chris (ph) from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We seem to be forgetting another extremely important right, the right to die. Let Terri die in peace.

This is from Terri (ph) from Yuma, Arizona. Is it always better to err on the side of life? This is about the sanctity of life. If not, who will be next? Will we begin refusing treatment for the elderly, the disabled, those injured in accidents? Every life counts.

John (ph) from Sacramento, California, I can't understand why America is so attached or afraid of death. People die. That's the way it is. This is not an issue for Congress. This is an issue of human nature.

One more from David (ph) in Los Angeles, we should err on the side of common sense. Would Terri have wanted to have been in this near vegetative state for 15 years? I don't know anyone who would. She's now being punished by her family for failing to have a living will.

Keep the e-mails coming this morning. We're always interested in your responses, and we'll post some of your questions this morning to the anti-abortion activists who are now protesting what's happening to Terri Schiavo in Florida in Pinellas Park.

Is it always better to err on the side of life? E-mail us, DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is Good Friday. It's the day Christians believe Jesus was crucified. On Sunday, Easter, that's the day they believe he rose from the dead.

Jesus, of course, is a beloved figure, and he's suddenly become a star. By that I mean in blockbuster Hollywood movies, like "The Passion of the Christ," and in song. Rappers like Kanye West have always suspected young people want something more in their music and he delivered with "Jesus Walks." And as a result, the mainstream record industry has discovered Jesus sells.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): "Jesus Walks" and Kanye West talks. He mentions the "J" word unabashedly, performed his Grammy winning song "At Angel Wing." It's in-your-face spirituality and it's selling.

REVEREND RUN, RUN DMC: He's a genius. He knew that his heart was strong enough and understood that this is a hit. I'm going to shock the heck out of people with this "Jesus Walks" thing. Listen to it, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, a bump. What? "Jesus Walks."

COSTELLO: And Jesus rocks. The MTV crowd loves the music and the message. Shaheem Reid is the hip-hop editor for MTV News.

(on camera): So is Jesus cool now, I mean?

SHAHEEM REID, HIP-HOP EDITOR, MTV NEWS: Jesus has always been cool in my book.

COSTELLO (voice-over): But never as cool as right now. In an era when a lot of mainstream music is becoming known for its political, violent and sexist statements, Jesus is parting the mainstream waters.

REID: If you can be vocal about making songs about killing people or you can be vocal about songs about sex, nothing is really taboo nowadays, so why not go and make a song about the Lord if that's what you're feeling.

COSTELLO: But there are tricks to the trade. Christian music doesn't sell in the mainstream world, but music that includes Christ does. Hip-hoppers talk spirituality in a world where the devil still lives. In "Jesus Walks," West writes, "My momma used to say only Jesus can save us. Well, momma, I know I act a fool, but I'll be gone until November, I got packs to move."

Packs, as in illegal drugs.

Perhaps no one can explain why this works better than Reverend Run, the rap pioneer of Run DMC, who now uses his mike to minister.

RUN: The day I went to church, the first day, I wasn't in the best condition. I had a bag of weed in my pocket. Isn't that hypocritical, you got a bag of weed in your pocket and you're looking for God? No, that's obvious, I should be looking for God because I drank two 40 ounces of beer on the way here.

COSTELLO: The hell and redemption sell is such a winning formula, LL Cool J is starting an all-gospel rap label. R. Kelly, an artist famously accused of videotaping kinky sex with teenaged girls, is now working on a CD full of inspirational material. Just the thing some say for young, hip teens searching for Jesus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Those records are selling like hotcakes.

Consider this, though, the Reverend Al Sharpton says he's also upset about the level of violence in popular music, and he's asking the FCC to deny airtime on radio or TV to any musicians involved in violent acts. He's also urging the agency to review the licenses of radio stations that encourage violent confrontations. One of the artists he is talking about is 50 Cent. 50 Cent was involved in a shooting outside of a New York radio station just a few weeks back. He's also putting out a CD full of inspirational music.

You know your memory can play tricks on you, but maybe you can trust it more than you think. Just ahead, we're going to meet a woman who can dig through the clutter in your head to get to the truth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now that's the kind of music I like in the morning. You get out of bed, everyone.

Hey, Chad, I bet that you have filled out one of those NCAA tournament brackets.

MYERS: Of course, more than one.

COSTELLO: Of course. More than one.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: It's a good thing, because it's been a weird March Madness kind of thing.

MYERS: It certainly has.

COSTELLO: It's been nearly impossible to predict, until now. We're going to talk to Allen Lynch of Mercer University now to talk about his system for accurately picking the winners. And I'm going to have Chad join in on this because you have come up with a complicated mathematical-statistical scheme to figure out who is going to win the tourney.

ALLEN LYNCH, MERCER UNIVERSITY: Yes, I have. A colleague of mine, Jay Coleman from the University of North Florida, and I have developed a couple of statistical models that deal with the NCAA tournament. The first is designed to predict who gets into the tournament and the second is designed to predict who might win individual games.

COSTELLO: So tell us, in a simple way, what formula you've come up with to be able to do that.

LYNCH: It actually is kind of simple. And statistics can sometimes be a little bit intimidating. But what we do is look at historical data, and using software developed by a company called Sass in North Carolina, we determine which variables, based on historical data, seem to matter in predicting which teams enter the tournament and which teams win. And the software will actually produce a little equation for us. And we could plug some data into the equation going forward and it will spit out a number for us. And the bigger the number, the more likely you're either going to get into the tournament or win individual games.

COSTELLO: So did it predict that Oklahoma would lose?

LYNCH: It actually predicted -- last night it did predict that Oklahoma State would be upset by Arizona. That was one of our better picks.

MYERS: How about the old Dominion game? Where did that come from?

LYNCH: The old Dominion game.

MYERS: Wow, you guys pulled that one. I don't know where you pulled that one from.

LYNCH: Well you know it's kind of nuts how all this stuff works out. And we're accurately predicting three out of four of these tournament games. And the problem is we don't know which three of four we're going to get right going forward, and that's why I think they call it March Madness.

COSTELLO: OK, so do you use this special thing to participate in office pools yourself?

LYNCH: I actually will kind of look at this when I make out my office pool. My co-author, Jay Coleman, actually followed his to the letter. I am a big Syracuse Orange man, so I erroneously strayed from the model and said that Syracuse would do real well this year. And I was disappointed rather early on.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: I do have to ask you a question about Kansas, because that was your No. 1 ranked team. What happened to Kansas?

LYNCH: Well, Chad, I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up. Yes, Chad, Kansas was ranked -- was our strongest team...

MYERS: That's the one (ph).

LYNCH: ... of the field of 65 when the tournament began. And a little school called Bucknell...

MYERS: Yes.

LYNCH: ... beat them in the first round. So we like to focus on other outcomes.

COSTELLO: I'll bet you do.

MYERS: Kind of like the "Farmer's Almanac." COSTELLO: How do people tap into this, before I have to let you go -- Allen?

LYNCH: I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: How do people tap into this? How can they get a hold of your...

LYNCH: My co-author developed a Web site called www.dancecard.unf.edu and we have information there on how these models are developed. And, actually, game-by-game results, and about everything you want to know about the models can be found there.

COSTELLO: Allen Lynch, thank you for joining us this morning.

MYERS: Thanks, bye.

LYNCH: Thanks for having me on.

COSTELLO: We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Eyewitness testimony, the words have an authoritative ring of truth, but just how reliable is the memory of an eyewitness? Turns out they can often be mistaken. In fact, many prisoners convicted on the testimony of an eyewitness have been freed because DNA proved they were not guilty after all.

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how one woman helped solved crimes by coaxing the right memories to the surface.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jeanne Boylan makes a living by mining the very details of memory. A top ranked freelance artist, she sketches thousands of subjects for the FBI and police departments around the country. From the Unibomber, to the Oklahoma City Bombing, to the Polly Klaas kidnapping, she's worked the biggest cases around.

In 1987, a bomb badly wounded the owner of a computer store in Salt Lake City, Utah. Minutes earlier, a worker there had caught a glimpse, just a two-second glimpse, of the man leaving the suspicious package. Seven long years later, Boylan was called in to meet the lone eyewitness. The result was this famous sketch, the hooded Unibomber. A good likeness, judge for yourself.

JEANNE BOYLAN, ARTIST/CRIMINAL PROFILER: Your memory may have been distorted in the interim, but the odds of that original memory being there are extremely good.

GUPTA: At most police departments, a witness to a crime either looks through mug shots or picks and chooses from a menu of facial feature until an artist or computer creates a composite. But researchers have found that these techniques actually impair memory. As the witness concentrates on each new image, the original memory is blurred.

BOYLAN: I hate those mug books. An imprint into memory is not unlike a fingerprint on a murder weapon. So when police show witnesses, you know, eyes and lips and noses in books full of facial features and expect that memory to be static, what they're doing is overlaying the imprinted memory with all these new additional prints, just as they would be overlaying fingerprints on a murder weapon if they handed it to bare handed people.

GUPTA: Boylan's method is different. Her interviews are long, about 12 hours. But most of the talking has nothing to do with the crime. She relaxes the witness and lets memories come to the surface. She's careful not to suggest details, which is tougher than you might think.

(on camera): The contamination of an eyewitness. So -- I mean, how subtle can it be? You just said, if the investigator says were his eyes brown, is that contamination?

BOYLAN: That's absolutely contamination, yes.

GUPTA (voice-over): When it comes to memory, we often can't trust our own eyes.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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