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American Morning

Scrushy Found Not Guilty; "Paging Dr. Gupta"; Baby Girl Weighs In at Nearly 14 Pounds

Aired June 29, 2005 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Over the last few years, we have seen a -- I think it's fair to say, a pretty steady stream of big name corporate execs go on trial for alleged crimes on the job. And for the first time, we've got a not guilty verdict.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's the case of Scrushy in Birmingham. And his defense was the same, it was like, "I didn't know." But he had a very different tactic of sort of wooing the hometown crowd there. Richard Scrushy, not guilty. Was it religion that got him off? We'll talk to a radio show host in Birmingham about that.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, kind of unusual case there. First, though, let's get a look at the headline this hour. Carol Costello's got those. Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I do. Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," the U.S. military now confirms the U.S. military helicopter was most likely brought down by hostile fire on Afghan-Pakistani border. The Chinook helicopter is similar to the one you're seeing in these pictures. Well, it crashed on Monday, along with 17 service members on board. A rescue effort now underway. The military is looking into claims the chopper was brought down by the Taliban.

A mixed reaction after President Bush's address on Iraq. Not surprising, along partisan lines. Some Democrats criticized the president for not being specific enough on when troops will withdraw from the war zone and say he is playing into terrorist's hands. But Bush supporters disagree, saying the president laid out an excellent scenario for what we face in Iraq.

A CNN "Security Watch" now. The National Academy of Sciences is publishing a controversial study outlining how terrorists can contaminate the U.S. milk supply. That despite complaints from the Health and Human Services Department that the article is, quote, "a road map for terrorists." An editorial accompanying the article claims the same information can be found over the Internet.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Two men indicted for aiding al Qaeda are being held in New York this morning without bail. The two men, one a doctor and the other a jazz musician, pleaded not guilty at their arraignment. The wife of one of the men says she is startled and confused by the arrest and maintains her husband's innocence.

And a Louisiana woman is suing the restaurant chain Applebee's. Are you ready? She claims she found a human fingertip in her salad one year ago. One year ago. The woman says she hasn't been able to eat out since. Of course, that claim is similar to one made against Wendy's about its chili, which turned out to be false. Anna Ayala has been charged with conspiracy to commit to fraud in that case and she is expected to enter a plea today.

M. O'BRIEN: So, one year ago and she's just now getting around to -- let me guess, the statute of limitations, about a year.

COSTELLO: I don't know, but this is what the lawsuit...

S. O'BRIEN: Gets the attorneys involved.

M. O'BRIEN: Maybe.

COSTELLO: Maybe. This is what the lawsuit says. It accuses the restaurant of unsanitary food preparation, improper training of employees, as well as failure to prevent the inclusion of a human fingertip in a salad to go.

S. O'BRIEN: There's always that. The failure to prevent the human finger.

M. O'BRIEN: Lots of law. Now you know.

COSTELLO: We'll keep you posted.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Carol.

M. O'BRIEN: You nailed that one.

All right, the verdict is in. Not guilty for Richard Scrushy, founder of the HealthSouth Corporation. He was the first executive charged under a new corporate accountability law requiring prison terms for those who knowingly sign off on phony financial statements. And the result is a high profile setback for the government.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD SCRUSHY, ACQUITTED OF FRAUD CHARGES: We couldn't have survived it. And it was God. And he gave us the strength, and we thank him for that and we give him all the glory.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy giving thanks after he emerged victorious from the federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama. His long legal ordeal ended Tuesday. After 21 days of deliberating, a jury that at one time seemed deadlocked returned an unequivocal verdict -- not guilty on all 36 counts in a $2.7 billion corporate fraud case involving the company he founded in 1984.

Scrushy was the first top executive charged with violating the Sarbanes-Oxley act, passed in the wake of scandals at Enron and WorldCom. The law requires officers of public companies to swear by the accuracy of their financial statements. Scrushy's defense, in essence, he didn't know his subordinates were cooking the books. One juror said there just wasn't enough evidence there was reasonable doubt.

Scrushy built HealthSouth into the country's largest chain of outpatient rehab hospitals. The charismatic leaders symbolized the superstar CEOs the late 1990s. In March of 2004, while awaiting trial, Scrushy and his wife began hosting a daily religious talk show on a local TV station, and he took to preaching at Birmingham area churches, with largely African-American congregations.

Critics accused Scrushy of using a bully pulpit in an attempt to influence potential jurors. After the verdict came down, Scrushy thanked his loyal supporters.

SCRUSHY: They believed in us, they prayed with us. They know the kind of people we are, and I want to thank them for everything they've done, everything.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Paul Finebaum is a radio talk show host who has followed the Scrushy case from the beginning. He knows the man personally. He joins us now from Birmingham, Alabama. Paul, good to have you with us.

PAUL FINEBAUM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Do you think Scrushy swayed the jury with all that he did?

FINEBAUM: Oh, there's no question. I've searched this town up and down for the last couple of years, and the only 12 people I have found who obviously believe he was not guilty are those people on that jury.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

FINEBAUM: Really.

M. O'BRIEN: So his conversion, you're very skeptical about?

FINEBAUM: Oh, there's no question. And obviously, there were a few more people because he has some followers at a number of these churches. But knowing Richard Scrushy like I have for the last 15 or 20 years, knowing that he was a micromanager, there's simply no way that he didn't know what those five CFOs knew who all pled guilty and all said that Richard Scrushy was part of this $3 billion fraud.

M. O'BRIEN: So, ignorance, in your view, would not be an appropriate defense, based on your knowledge of him. And you've known him for how many years now?

FINEBAUM: 15 or 20 years, Miles. No, Richard Scrushy is not an ignorant man. And I've said before and I'll continue to say, he was very hands-on. He knew what was going on. He knew about the paper clips at HealthSouth. He certainly knew about the fraud.

M. O'BRIEN: The jury took a long time to come up with this decision, even though it was very unequivocal. It took 21 days of deliberations, it appeared as if there was a deadlock. You have any insights as to what was going on?

FINEBAUM: Well, I think the plan all along was for a hung jury. That's one reason why many people believed that they took the approach they did with playing the race and religion card. They hoped that with the hung jury, maybe the next time they could actually get Mr. Scrushy off.

What happened was the judge, after about a week or two of the jury being deadlocked, called them to order and said, listen, we need a verdict. It's called the Allen charge. They were hopelessly deadlocked. Tell me what happened in the last two three weeks. One juror came off and one juror came on. I think the jury said to the judge...

M. O'BRIEN: I'm afraid we lost the signal there. Is he back with us? No. Is he back? Paul, let's wrap it up. Give us a sense of Richard Scrushy, kind of the rock star here. Quite literally, because he is in a rock and roll band.

FINEBAUM: Well, yes, I think he..

M. O'BRIEN; He's got quite a persona, doesn't he?

FINEBAUM: I think he would rather be in Nashville than on a pulpit, but he chose the pulpit because I think that would get him -- that would sway the jury more than singing country music songs. But there's -- I don't know what he's going to do next. People say he'll either run for governor, take over for HealthSouth again, or perhaps succeed Billy Graham as the nations evangelical leader.

M. O'BRIEN: It'll be interesting. He still has some more charges to contend with. We'll be tracking that, as well. I appreciate you being with us. Paul Finebaum, who is in Birmingham, Alabama, this morning -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, it's about 22 minutes before the hour.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, one of the most common injuries in Iraq is something you've probably never heard of. It's something called TBI, and that stands for Traumatic Brain Injury. Helmets do not always protect the troops from it and often, the symptoms surface far away from the battlefield. This morning, we're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta for a little bit more information on this silent injury.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every war has a signature injury. For Sergeant David Emme, this was it. It came on November 19th when his truck set off an explosive device.

SGT. DAVID EMME, BRAIN INJURY PATIENT: Yeah, I didn't see a blast or anything. The next thing I know, is I wake up and my head hurts. I had two teeth that were blown out. I basically didn't have an eardrum in my left ear.

GUPTA: And a brain that had been rattled back and forth in his helmet: A traumatic brain injury.

As things stand today, over two-thirds of the soldiers injured in the blast in Iraq suffer from a traumatic brain injury. Simply, it has become the signature of this war.

DR. DEBORAH WARDEN, DEFENSE & VETERANS BRAIN INJURY CENTER: If I think about my head, if you think about even in a car accident, my head going forward, hitting the ground or the windshield.

GUPTA: Dr. Deborah Warden has seen firsthand the impact, and she knows this war is different.

The Vietnam War became known for spinal cord injuries, limb amputations and Agent Orange poisonings. The first Gulf War inflicted the controversial syndrome of the same name. But this time it is landmines, mortar attacks and rocket-propelled grenades. They create blasts that literally rock the brain, similar to a high-impact car accident. The skull moves forward, impacts a hard surface, and then stops suddenly. The brain goes back and forth, and then begins to swell.

EMME: It bruised my brain. And what ended up happening is, my brain swelled up twice to size of a normal brain. They took a big hunk of my skull out.

GUPTA: The operation saved his life. And he looks pretty normal today, but the signature of a traumatic brain injury may be subtle.

EMME: It was like somebody speaking a foreign language. You know, and they had to keep on repeatedly tell me the same stuff, because, you know, due to the brain injury, I had a hard time comprehending or talking or verbalizing a lot of stuff.

GUPTA: In mild cases, a traumatic brain injury may be a mild headache or occasional dizziness. More severe cases can involve complete memory loss, personality changes, or even persistent vegetative state. Unlike an obviously severed limb, traumatic brain injuries are difficult to diagnose, but make no mistake, they are increasingly common. Doctors at Walter Reed say they have seen more than twice the number of brain injury patients than limb amputees returning from Iraq. And today, all patients returning with a war wound are automatically screened for a traumatized brain.

When Sergeant Emme was screened, his doctors saw clear changes in his personality, such as anger and hostility, leading to violence.

EMME: A lot of times, what they call this is -- they call this the silent wound, or the silent injury. I'm not Sergeant David Emme that I used to be.

GUPTA: A silent signature of war. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Doctors with the Brain Injury Center at Walter Reed say they're analyzing a newly developed helmet that's designed to protect against impact-related injuries.

M. O'BRIEN: Kind of hurts to see that visual in there, doesn't it?

Still to come, Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." He has details on a -- ever go to a stinker movie? You just told me how you went to a stinker movie.

S. O'BRIEN: All the time. I've been to a million bad movies.

M. O'BRIEN: You want your money back, don't you?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I would.

M. O'BRIEN: Doesn't work that way. Well, apparently he's got something in mind. We'll ask Andy about that.

S. O'BRIEN: Plus that cute, big bundle of joy that everybody's talking about. Look at this baby. This is a newborn, 13 pounds, 12 ounces. Her name is Delaney Buzzell. But her daddy has a special nickname for her. He likes to call her the "Big Enchilada." We'll talk to mom and dad, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, her family likes to call her the "Big Enchilada." That's because when baby Delaney Buzzell was born last Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she weighed in at 13 pounds, 12 ounces. She is a big enchilada. That is well above, of course, the average 7.5 pounds for newborns.

Joining us this morning, Yukon, Wisconsin, Baby Delaney, along with her mom and dad, Robin and Paul, and also the Dr. John Waeltz. He delivered Delaney. And also the Buzzells other daughters. Good morning to all of you. Nice to see you. Congratulations to you.

I like that name, the "Big Enchilada."

Hey, Robin, when did you know you were going to have such a big old baby?

ROBIN BUZZELL, MOTHER OF 14-LB. NEWBORN: I didn't -- well, our two older daughters were big as well. I just didn't know how big she was going to be. We were all pretty surprised, including our doctor, when she came out.

Doctor Waeltz, obviously, all joking aside, because we love this nickname for this baby, but an almost 14-pound baby has big medical risks really for the mom, right?

DR. JOHN WAELTZ, DELIVERED 14-LB. NEWBORN: There can be. You know, one of the reasons for large babies is diabetes in the mother. And Robin was screened for that and turned out to be negative. Another reason is post-date pregnancy or prolonged pregnancy. And She, in fact, delivered three weeks early, but she's done did very well, and I really compliment on how wonderfully she's carried this pregnancy, and what she must have endured because of the large size.

S. O'BRIEN: You know so, Robin, it looks like there is no real medical reason why you have such big babies. You mentioned you're other two girls. One was a 10-pounder, one was an 11-pounder, which they looked like teeny, tiny ones compared to this one. Those are the cute little girls right there we're showing. Give me a sense of what it was like to carry that big old baby for the last couple of weeks. Were you miserable?

BUZZELL: I'm better now. I was very, very miserable. Every day was a little harder. At the end it was very, very hard. I really had a hard time even breathing and moving, and I was pretty, you know, much immobile, but very uncomfortable. So we're happy that she came when she did.

PAUL BUZZELL, FATHER OF 14-LB. NEWBORN: And just to add a little color, Robin told me that she felt like her skin was stretching.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, me, too. Wasn't that awful?

R. BUZZELL: Yes, you know the feeling.

S. O'BRIEN: Because my twins combined were, like, 14, 3. But that's two separate babies. That's a whole another thing. Tell me something, Paul, what does she want to eat? What did Robin chow down?

P. BUZZELL: She had kind of a sweet tooth for some hard candy and her favorite ice cream, mint chocolate chip. And I even went and got Dairy Queen Blizzards also for her a few times.

But other than that, she was a very healthy eater outside of that, and was religious about taking her prenatal vitamins. S. O'BRIEN: Besides the candy and the ice cream she was a healthy eater.

P. BUZZELL: A lot of milk.

S. O'BRIEN: How did you come up with the name the "Big Enchilada?"

R. BUZZELL: That's all dad.

P. BUZZELL: Actually we started with our first little girl, who was almost 12 pounds, and I put a note on the door saying "Home of the Whopper" at the hospital, and so when we had the second little girl, who was actually a little bit smaller, almost 11 pounds, she is was Whopper Jr. And so I had to come up with something. And maybe I had Mexican food on the brain, because the "Big Enchilada" just seemed to fit.

S. O'BRIEN: You went a whole different direction.

You realize now, Robin, if you have a fourth, which I would guess, what do you think, 15 pounds, 15, 5 or something? No?

R. BUZZELL: No, no fourth. This is it. We're going out with the big one.

S. O'BRIEN: Going out with the bib bang. Well, congratulations to you guys. That's really wonderful.

R. BUZZELL: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: What size is the baby wearing now? She can't be in newborns.

R. BUZZELL: No, we skip all those first stages; we go right to about three to six months.

P. BUZZELL: We don't have any newborn clothes in the house.

R. BUZZELL: Yes, the hospital. The diapers and the T-shirts really weren't fitting, so we're right to the next stages.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, she's a biggie, but a cutie, as you're others girls as well.

Congratulations to you.

R. BUZZELL: Thank you.

P. BUZZELL: Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, let us know if you decide to go for the fourth, because that I want to see.

R. BUZZELL: We will. We just say we have more to love.

S. O'BRIEN: That's the way to put. Congratulations to you guys. Thanks.

Oh, we want to get back to our quiz question. We asked this question a little bit earlier. A newborn baby's head accounts for how much of its weight? Well, the answer is one-fourth. I was going to say even more than that.

M. O'BRIEN: I was going to guess a little higher. I didn't know the answer to that one. We've got to think of that fourth baby, the big sandwich, the big cornbeef sandwich. They've got to switch cuisines..

S. O'BRIEN: Supersize me. No, she said we are so done.

M. O'BRIEN: She said that with great conviction.

S. O'BRIEN: And look, that baby's not even a week old, and she looks so great.

M. O'BRIEN: She does.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, because the baby's out now. She's done.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow.

S. O'BRIEN: That's done.

M. O'BRIEN: But that feeling of having your skin stretched. That's got to be -- give you the creeps.

S. O'BRIEN: Please. Don't get me started on the nightmare. I'm sure you want to hear that. I'll share on the commercial break.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. A radical idea for your night at the movies is coming up. How would like a money back guarantee?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I would.

M. O'BRIEN: Bring it on. A major theater is offering that with "Cinderella Man." You don't like movie, you get your money back? We'll ask Andy if that's how it goes. Let's hope so.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. One movie theater chain is offering a money back guarantee. Here with some details and a little on preview of the action on Wall Street, too, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

Let's talk about this movie. Is this for any movie?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: No. This is just for "Cinderella Man." And it's just for the AMC movie theater chain. I mean, we all know this business is kind of hurting these days, Soledad, and "Cinderella Man" is not doing that well at the box office. AMC, the movie theater chain, is offering a money back guarantee. If you go see this movie and you don't like it, they're going to give you your money back.

And obviously, this really kind of hurts the movie company rather than the theater company, because most of that money goes to the studio that made the movie rather than the theater, because the theater makes its money on its concessions. So they're not losing any money doing this, you see?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but...

SERWER: It's kind of interesting. I don't know...

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, I've heard it's an OK movie, so...

SERWER: I heard it's an OK movie.

S. O'BRIEN: How about giving money back on the movies that are, like...

SERWER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got a couple that I'd like get my money back on.

SERWER: Yes. There's a couple of other things going on, a couple other promotions in the business as well. Fox is doing a three-for-one for "Star Wars." So if you have a family of four. And also, listen to this one, Disney is offering a free preview for "Herbie" if your name is a derivative of Herbert. Now, this is not that big a deal -- I've checked it out. Herbert is the 973rd most popular name in America. So there's not a whole lot of people who are going to be taking advantage of that.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Right. So not that good a deal.

S. O'BRIEN: That doesn't seem like they're going out on the limb on that one.

SERWER: No, it doesn't. And the last time, by the way, AMC did this was for "Mystic Pizza." They had a money back guarantee in 1988, which actually was a pretty good movie.

S. O'BRIEN: That was a good movie.

SERWER: With Julia Roberts. It was her first movie.

S. O'BRIEN: You know what? The problem is, the prices are just too high.

SERWER: I think that's right.

S. O'BRIEN: I took my kids to the theater the other day, you know, to a movie. $6.50 for the kids. I mean, they're two years -- she's three years old.

SERWER: Well, the other thing is, you have a bunch of kids.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, I have a lot. You know, but, it was like 50 bucks for me and a girlfriend to bring our kids.

SERWER: Oh, and the concessions is just a lot of money.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, a whole lot.

SERWER: Let's talk about Apple a little bit here. They are cutting prices on their iPod. This is all about market share. A lot of the people who bought these iPods originally are tapped out. And so they're looking for sort of the next bunch of customers. For instance, the U2 model has gone down from $349 to $329. So a little bit of a boost there.

S. O'BRIEN: How about a quick market for you?

SERWER: Quick markets. Yesterday was a good day for the markets. GDP came out looking good for the first quarter, so the futures are up a little bit, you can see. Nice green ink there across the board.

S. O'BRIEN: Expect to see more of the good, then, maybe at the end of the day.

SERWER: Hope so.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: This month, we are celebrating 25 years on the air here at CNN. And as part of that celebration, CNN's Ali Velshi looks back at the some of the top business story that have defined the way we live, work, and play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The top business stories of CNN's first 25 years. We asked the editors at "Money" magazine to come up with a list.

Number 15, tax cuts. This business story hit home starting in 1981 with the biggest tax cut in U.S. history.

Number 14, downsizing and the death of manufacturing. In the late 1980s, major corporations announced job cuts to boost bottom lines. More and more jobs are being outsourced to low wage countries.

Number 13, CEO perks, executives in handcuffs. Investors want someone to pay for the wrongdoings of corporate America.

At number 12, CEO perks. From jack Welsh to Bill Gates, CEOs have become household names, earning hefty compensation with a new extra: accountability.

Number 11, merger mania. Is bigger really better?.

RON ESPOSITO, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT, PCI: Most of the mergers have resulted in very significant and massive downsizing.

VELSHI: Stay tuned as we count down to number one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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