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American Morning

Tuesday Shooting Latest in String of Courthouse Crimes; Hillary 2008?; The War on Cancer; Union Urges Wal-Mart boycott; Baseball Hyjinx

Aired August 10, 2005 - 08:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Charles McCoy, Jr., has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for a series of highway shootings in Ohio which left one woman dead. McCoy pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter and several other charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. His first trial ended with a deadlocked jury in May. McCoy had been diagnosed with paranoia schizophrenia and says the shootings were a sequence of -- a consequence, rather, of him not taking his medication.
White House aides are reportedly delaying the release of tens of thousands of documents in connection with Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. According to "The Washington Post," aides are screening the files for any possible surprises before turning them over to the Democrats. Confirmation hearings are set to begin next month.

And Jennifer Wilbanks, the so-called runaway bride, is doing her time for lying. Wilbanks spent Tuesday morning mowing the lawn as part of her 120-hour community service. She has already completed 24 hours by scrubbing toilets, picking up trash and washing cars. Wilbanks wore a baseball cap, as you could see right there, and the slogan on it said, "Life is Good." Carol?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Fredricka.

A man hunt is on for a Tennessee couple this morning. George and Jennifer Hyatte are suspected of the deadly shooting of a corrections officer during an escape. The shooting, outside of a courthouse in Tennessee on Tuesday, is the latest in a string of courthouse shootings. Four people, including a judge, were killed last March during a rampage in Atlanta. And a gunman opened fire outside of a courthouse in Tyler, Texas, back in February. Two civilians killed there.

Former FBI agent Bill Daly is a security consultant. He joins us live today.

BILL DALY, FMR. FBI AGENT: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So how did this happen? I mean, he's in shackles, this prisoner. His hands are handcuffed. His feet are shackled. He has a chain across his chest. Two armed guards with him outside of this courthouse. And then this SUV just drives up, the woman opens fire, and he escapes.

DALY: Yes, certainly, Carol, something almost sounds almost like more of a screenplay than real life. And, in fact, what we've seen over the past year that we've had these incidents that appear to be something right out of the movies or TV, where we have a judge's family killed in Chicago. We have this incident in Tyler, Texas. And also, just last month, someone shows up at a courthouse in Seattle with a hand grenade. Turns out to be an inert hand grenade, but nonetheless, a person is shot.

You know, Carol, we see now a number of these incidents. And they seem to be coming more and more -- as we said before -- more boldened, you know, more brazen. And the question is what really can be done to secure these courthouses?

COSTELLO: Well, I was just going to ask you that, because even officials in Tennessee said this was exactly like Bonnie and Clyde. This was so brazen that perhaps there wasn't anything they could do. All of the security procedures were being followed, apparently.

DALY: Well, I think there are a couple things. You know, first of all, you know, some of these courts, which usually don't get a lot of high profile-type cases, tend not to look at security the same way we might in a major city, which gets a lot of noteworthy cases, a lot of, you know, criminals who really require close security. And so some of the procedures in places -- and I'm not suggesting in this location. I've never...

COSTELLO: Well, it was a small town in Tennessee.

DALY: May require some tightening, where, you know, people who are taken on/off buses or transit are within caged areas, and so a vehicle can't get too close. And we've also seen, for instance, down in Atlanta, where we had the terrible tragedy down there -- is that the findings, the result of the commission was that -- commission looking into this -- found that there was a lackadaisical attitude taken. That after a while, the people handling these prisoners, the people in the courts, the deputies, weren't following all the procedures properly. They were there, the procedures, but they weren't following them. And perhaps that led to the incident actually having been able to occur.

COSTELLO: Well, in Atlanta -- you can sort of see how it unfolded in Atlanta because a video cameras was supposed to be pointed at a room where this Nichols guy was changing his clothes to go into court that day. If someone had been manning those video cameras and if had actually been on, they would have seen the whole thing go down, and lives would have been saved. So there you have something you can point to and say that went wrong.

In Tennessee, what can you point to that went wrong? Two security guards, both of them armed. They knew this guy had tried to escape twice before. They knew that. They had him shackled.

DALY: It's very difficult when -- you know, we break these incidents down into those that are opportunistic. Perhaps the one in Atlanta was opportunistic. You know, he took -- seized the moment, whereas this was premeditated and planned. The premeditated and planned incidents, much like when we talk about security -- terrorist incidents and security, are much more difficult to prevent or even protect against. Because it may have been, as this bus went further down the road, the same thing could have happened. The car could have, you know, cut them off, you know, could have had guns blazing.

You know, I think, Carol, a couple of very positive things that have come out of this is, though, is that after the incident down in Tyler, Texas, is that a bill was presented in Congress to give funding, up to $20 million, to local courts, to municipal courts and state courts, to improve security. And I think those are the things that are going to help, because in the court system, we...

COSTELLO: Those things won't cure the lackadaisical attitudes, though.

DALY: No, they may not cure the lackadaisical attitudes, but there could be programs and training and awareness and other things to become part of what this money might bring that could keep people more attuned to what's going on. You know, in the federal court system, we have the U.S. Marshal Service that overlooks and can provide kind of a systematic protocol for dealing with security. In municipal and state courts, the states have their own state rights. They can do what they want. Local courts sometimes are limited by funds. So I think with some money coming in, it can certainly help.

COSTELLO: OK. A final question. How long do you think it will take before they catch these two people, the Hyattes? Husband and wife who escaped in Tennessee.

DALY: Well, I think, first of all, it appears to be one of them. Perhaps she has been injured as a result of the initial gun fire. It certainly makes traveling more difficult and certainly would alert anyone, if there's any medical attention needed. I believe we're talking about -- I hate to predict these things -- but we're probably talking in a short period of time.

COSTELLO: We hope you're right.

DALY: And I think with everyone who's out there looking, federal, state, local police and other jurisdictions in and around Tennessee and throughout the country, we'll bring this to closure.

COSTELLO: Bill Daly, thanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate it -- Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Political news now. Senator Hillary Clinton has not said if she's going to run for president in 2008, but a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows that she is well ahead of her potential competitors for the Democrat nomination. And people in both major parties see Clinton as a strong leader. 57 percent of those polled say as president she would deal effectively with terrorism. The same poll, though, showing that 51 percent say Senator Clinton does not share their values. 53 percent say she would not unite the country.

Democratic consultant Victor Kamber in Washington this morning. Republican strategist Joe Watkins in Philadelphia. Good morning, gentleman. Nice to you.

VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.

JOE WATKINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

KAMBER: Good morning, Joe.

O'BRIEN: Welcome, welcome. Vic, let's start with you. 51 percent say -- rather, I guess the question is, which is more important? The 57 percent that say, hey, she's going to deal with terror effectively, or the 51 percent that say, hey, she doesn't share my values.

KAMBER: Well, they're both important. I don't want to minimize them. First, let me say the great thing about this poll says that we may have, as a country, finally transcended the whole idea that a woman, period, could serve as president of the United States. I think both parties are blessed with talented women. Hillary after -- Senator Clinton after five years of service, I think, is no longer just viewed as a first lady or as a spouse as a former president. She's viewed as a leader in her own right.

And while many people believe she is a lightning rod on some issues, clearly on the terrorism issue, on military strength, she has transcended some of that. And I think, frankly, I'd be very excited about her as my president.

O'BRIEN: Joe, what do you think of Hillary Clinton's chances, not only for the nomination, but to win the presidency? And believe me, I get your bias in these things.

WATKINS: Well, Soledad, there's no doubt. Vic is right. She's somebody who really has earned the respect of Americans. She now is seen as a U.S. senator, as somebody who is in her own right an American leader. And that's a good thing, I think. I think that's a good thing for America. It's great that America is able to consider the fact that a woman, that anybody, and certainly a woman, could lead this country going forward.

I think Hillary is a frontrunner right now because she's got the most name I.D. of any of the Democrats, and certainly she's built the most excitement up. I think the challenge that she faces going forward is the values issue. And as this poll shows, a slight majority of Americans right now don't feel that Hillary shares their values. She has the same challenge, I think, going forward that the Democratic party has with regards to identifying where they stand on the issues that Americans care about from a value standpoint.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about another woman, Katherine Harris. She now is campaigning for the Senate. She's a Florida congresswoman now. The good news for her was that she really got a lot of fame from the 2000 Florida recount because it brought a lot of attention to her and her role. The bad news is that out of that same event, people thought maybe she was too divisive. Vic, what do you think of her run, potentially?

KAMBER: Well, I'm a Democrat, and I'm delighted she's running.

O'BRIEN: Uh oh. That's always a scary thing. Explain. I never like it when one of you guys is delighted by what the other side is doing. I know that's a red flag.

KAMBER: It's clearly payback time. This is a chance for the Floridians to say to Miss Harris, thank you for what you did to us. You changed the election of -- you changed American history. You changed the election, and we're going to send you back to retirement, Miss Harris. I think you're going to see an outpour of Democrats and independents like we've not seen before. I think this probably reensures Nelson's -- Senator Nelson's election. Nothing's a sure bet, but I couldn't think of a better candidate to run against Nelson than Harris.

O'BRIEN: Joe, are you as pleased?

WATKINS: Well, I'm pleased she's running. I think that she'll be a very strong candidate in this Senate race in Florida. I don't think that 2000 is going to be the center stage issue. It will be something that will be discussed and mentioned from time to time, but ultimately, I think the race is going to boil down to the issues that affect people in Florida. And she has already built a strong record as a member of Congress. She's going to do fine. She'll be very, very competitive in the Senate race going forward.

O'BRIEN: So he's also pleased. Huh, you guys agree, kind of, sort of, in a way. Let's talk about the presidential poll numbers. 51 percent say they disapprove of how President Bush is doing his job. 54 percent say it was a mistake to send the troops into Iraq. Joe, what do you make of these numbers?

WATKINS: Well, clearly, Americans are never going to be happy when they see these instances of the insurgents killing our good people in Iraq. And that certainly hurts these poll numbers. But, ultimately, U.S. presidents can't run their policy based on polls. They've got to finish the course, stay the course. That's what this president is going to do. He's going to stay the course, complete the mission. And even the commanders on the ground who are not political people are saying, we've got to stay the course and complete the mission. And I think they're going to do that. You'll see a smooth transition to Iraqi control probably in the next year.

O'BRIEN: Victor Kamber, you have about ten seconds to agree or disagree.

KAMBER: Well, I disagree. I think the bombing in London was another revelation to the American public that we're not safer today. Terrorism hasn't disappeared. The war in Iraq is not eradicating terrorism. And we have no plan as to how to exit Iraq in a way that's going to be favorable to the Iraqis or to the American public.

O'BRIEN: Victor Kamber in D.C., Joe Watkins in Philadelphia. Thanks, guys, appreciate it.

WATKINS: Thanks, Soledad. O'BRIEN: Carol?

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a boy caught at Wal-Mart -- guess who's pushing it? School teachers. Andy's going to tell us why, "Minding Your Business" just ahead.

COSTELLO: And next, we're "Paging Dr. Gupta" for his special series, "The War on Cancer." Today, how the battle with the disease can become a family affair. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All this week, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is taking an up close and very personal look in the war on cancer this morning. In the third part of his special series, a mother whose battle with breast cancer is a family affair.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENISE HAZEN, BREAST CANCER PATIENT: No, actually, I did OK.

SANJAY GUPTA, SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Denise Hazen was just 39 when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.

HAZEN: Let me see if my balance is off.

GUPTA: Her battle plan, keep going, stay alive.

HAZEN: I just want to be there to experience those birthdays, the graduation, the weddings. You know, you just -- I just want to be here.

Come here, Nicholas.

GUPTA: Cancer is not the first challenge in Denise's life.

HAZEN: Take that. Go put that in the sink.

GUPTA: Her son Nicholas has autism.

HAZEN: Nicholas is our little angel child, we call him. He's eight years old.

Go to the table and get the glasses for mommy.

He does have to struggle and things are harder for him sometimes, but we're all better because of it. And that's how I approach the cancer.

What a day.

Catherine (ph) has been so terrific during this time, but yesterday was the first day that she broke down a little bit. Because she does have more responsibility. And she said, you know, this is hard on me too, mommy. And I said, you know what, Catherine, you're right because I don't just have cancer. We all do. It affects the whole family.

GUPTA: And Catherine is especially at risk.

HAZEN: I have a feeling we might find some sand dollars out there.

You know, it's frightening because my mother-in-law was diagnosed, you know, three months after I was with breast cancer. So she has it on both sides now. She'll be very closely watched.

GUPTA: Watched very closely, because no cancer screenings are perfect. A tumor the size of a pea has a billion cancer cells in it. By the time doctors spotted Denise's, it was the size a peach, and it spread to lymph node. If breast cancer is caught early before it spreads, the five-year survival rate is 98 percent. That one infected lymph node drops Denise's chances to 80 percent. Today, the family wants the latest on a new cancer therapy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A friend of mine mentioned a drug called Herceptin. What is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Herceptin is more of a biological agent.

GUPTA: Dr. Rivera (ph) says no. Denise can't take Herceptin. This new targeted drug shrinks tumors, prolonging life, but it only works with a small percentage of patients, those with a certain genetic glitch in their tumor. That leaves traditional therapy: chemo, surgery, radiation. And for now, it's working.

HAZEN: Thank you, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See you later.

HAZEN: OK. I appreciate everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no problem.

GUPTA: Denise holds on to her family and to survival.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my baby sister. I mean -- I didn't cry a whole lot. I don't know. I guess I was just holding it in. But I just had to have faith that she was going to be OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the hard part.

HAZEN: It's so surreal. They're putting this poison in my body to kill the cancer. And you could feel it. It's cold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Tomorrow's part four of Dr. Gupta's series. A cancer doctor becomes a cancer patient. Sanjay's week-long series is leading up to his Sunday night special. It's called "CNN PRESENTS," "Taming the Beast: Inside the War on Cancer." That's Sunday night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come, it's teachers versus Wal-Mart, and a back-to-school battle. Andy explains in "Minding Your Business." That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A back-to-school boycott might be in the work for Wal-mart. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." I think the big surprise is, who's behind this boycott?

ANDY SERWER, CNN ANCHOR: The teachers. A couple teachers unions are supporting this boycott, Soledad. It's started by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. This is the union that's been battling Wal-mart for years now. So, not a surprise.

They have a "Send Wal-mart back to school" boycott campaign, trying to urge shoppers not to buy their school supplies from Wal- mart. And they've actually gotten the American Federation of Teachers and the NEA, the National Education Association, to support the boycott.

Well, we'll see how that goes. And, of course, with the splintering of the AFL-CIO, it could be interesting to see if this is part of a new activist campaign by some of these unions. So, interesting stuff there.

S. O'BRIEN: And to see if that actually works too.

SERWER: Yes. And like I said, UFCW have been trying everything for a long time now.

Video game mania. Madden Football '06 was rolled out yesterday. And this is really great. This is with a twist. Of course, this is one of the most popular sports video game of all time. And it just keeps on keeping on. Yesterday, Governor Jeb Bush was at a launch party for the game. The game was actually made down in Florida.

COSTELLO: I love this.

SERWER: And they had a surprise for the gov. He and his brother in the game. The president. Okay, here's Jeb as a wide receiver for the Dolphins catching a pass here. There he goes. Nice catch, Gov. And the who's trying to stop him? Oh, the president. And he rolls right over his brother. Goes into the endzone and scores a touchdown for the Fish.

The governor was thrilled, apparently, by this. And he said the first thing we're going to do is get a film of this and send it out to Crawford for my brother to check out, because he flattens his brother.

COSTELLO: It's cool they made President Bush a Cowboy.

SERWER: Yes. They made him a Cowboy and him a Dolphin. And it's not in the game, I should point out.

S. O'BRIEN: The physical likeness with the governor is shocking, the way they've been able to do that with technology, I thought.

SERWER: Right. They're getting better and better. If you want to see this thing, you can go to EA Sports Web site to check it out. It's kind of fun.

S. O'BRIEN: Very cool.

COSTELLO: Very cool. Want to talk a little baseball?

S. O'BRIEN: Sure.

COSTELLO: Some amazing catches. Amazing catches. Here's one for the baseball record books. You're up five runs in the ninth inning, and your closer is on the mound. What can go wrong? Okay, this is not a great catch. How about everything? Kansas City Royals were three outs away from a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians when this happened.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh!

COSTELLO: Would have won the game.

S. O'BRIEN: I could have caught that.

COSTELLO: I know.

SERWER: Soledad could have caught that. Soledad could have caught that.

COSTELLO: The worst thing is, this is just one of two routine flyballs that were dropped as the Indians came back.

SERWER: Soledad could have caught that one again.

S. O'BRIEN: And I can't play baseball.

SERWER: And you can't...

COSTELLO: You can too.

SERWER: Sign her up. She can play for the Royals.

COSTELLO: Stop that. Well, yes, anybody can at this point.

S. O'BRIEN: Apparently.

COSTELLO: Anyway, the Indians came back with an 11-run rally and won the game.

SERWER: Wow.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow.

COSTELLO: In the meantime, let's go to the good stuff. In San Diego, the Padres beat the Mets 8-3. But the San Diego fans gave New York's third baseman David Wright a standing ovation for this catch. Look at that!

S. O'BRIEN: Wow.

COSTELLO: Couldn't reach it with the glove, so he reaches out with his bare hand.

SERWER: Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: Couldn't have done that.

COSTELLO: Look at that.

SERWER: Oh, that's amazing. Yes.

COSTELLO: And he caught it. This is in the seventh inning.

SERWER: That is amazing.

COSTELLO: And you know, watching this, you'd never believe Wright is tied for the most errors by a third baseman in the National League.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, maybe it's a new day.

COSTELLO: I hope so, for his sake.

SERWER: Yes, a fresh start.

S. O'BRIEN: We've had the bad, obviously. We had the good and the very good. And now we have the...

COSTELLO: Weird.

S. O'BRIEN: ...just out-and-out maybe stupid.

COSTELLO: Yeah, that's a better adjective

S. O'BRIEN: Did you see this as Yankee Stadium?

SERWER: Yes, I did. I saw it live, actually. I was watching the game.

S. O'BRIEN: Okay, that kid right there, a New York teenager.

SERWER: This guys, yes. And it wasn't an accident.

S. O'BRIEN: It was not?

SERWER: It was not an accident.

COSTELLO: Andy, yes, it was.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, there was some indication either he fell or he jumped or he was dared, apparently.

SERWER: Dared, I hear. Right. S. O'BRIEN: By his friends. From the upper deck. And thank God for big old net behind home plate, because it's what caught him. The police are saying that, in fact, the teenager had been dared by his friends. He's 18 years old. Could face charges now. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner called it the most exciting part of the game, in keeping with George Steinbrenner and the sensitive things he always said, because the Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox 2-1.

SERWER: He said that? That's great. Unbelievable.

S. O'BRIEN: In all seriousness, the kid would have died if the net hadn't been there.

COSTELLO: Do you think beer was involved at all?

SERWER: And the camera rattled. When they were showing the shot, the camera shook because the net was with the camera, and it was just...

COSTELLO: I like how they hauled his butt over the railing and you know he went...

SERWER: Yes, I saw them grab him. It was dramatic.

COSTELLO: Those big, old security guards.

S. O'BRIEN: Fair to say, lucky to be alive today.

A little bit later on AMERICAN MORNING, "90 Second Pops," a screamer. Why are Hollywood's hottest actresses now taking on horror. A look at that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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