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CNN Live Today

Gay Bar Attack In Massachusetts; Iran Nuclear Dispute; Andrea Yates Released

Aired February 02, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For you to show you on the left side of your screen, there are live pictures from Capitol Hill. That's where the governors of Louisiana and Mississippi are center stage today. They will be answering to U.S. senators on how their states reacted to Hurricane Katrina before and after the storm hit. And then on the right side of your screen, Iran and the nuclear threat. Critical decisions being made right now in Vienna, Austria. We have live team coverage coming up.
First, though, let's check on other stories happening right "Now in the News."

A woman who has admitted drowning her five children walked out of jail last hour and was transferred to a state mental hospital. The lawyers for Andrea Yates raised the $20,000 needed to bond her out as she awaits retrial. Yates' conviction for the 2001 killings was overturned last year on appeals.

A manhunt is underway south of Boston for a man identified as the suspect in a grisly overnight attack inside of a gay bar. Witnesses say the man walked into a New Bedford nightclub, had a drink, and then took out a hatchet and struck two people. When others tried to intervene, he pulled out a handgun and shot both victims. Their conditions are not being released. The Associated Press says the suspect now being sought is 18-year-old Jacob Robida.

In West Virginia, the governor, Joe Manchin, has asked all mines in his state to be shut down for safety inspections. And the leading industry group says it will comply. Manchin made the request after two more miners died yesterday in separate accidents. That makes 16 mine-related deaths in that state in a single month.

The U.S. military reports that five U.S. troops had been killed in three separate combat incidents. Three soldiers were killed when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb south of the capital. A fourth solider died when his unit came under attack in Southwestern Baghdad. A Marine was also killed by small arms fire near Falluja. Since the start of the war, 2,247 U.S. troops have been killed.

To Baghdad, the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants will be adjourned for almost two weeks. And those empty chairs tell the story. Neither the former Iraqi leader, nor his co-defendants, were in court today when two witnesses testified anonymously from behind a curtain. The cause of the trial's delay has not been explained.

Good morning to you on this Thursday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.

We're going to start this hour in New Bedford, Massachusetts. That is where a vicious and apparently unprovoked attack at a gay bar has left a community reeling. There are reports that an 18-year-old suspect has been identified but not arrested. With us on the phone to explain what happened is the bartender who asked to be identified only as Phillip.

Phillip, hello.

PHILLIP, PUZZLES LOUNGE BARTENDER: Hello.

KAGAN: What can you tell us about what happened last night?

PHILLIP: Last night, just after 11:30 p.m., a young man had walked through the front door to the bar and he was wearing baggy black jeans with patches along the side of them with a black hooded sweatshirt, as well, with the hood over his face. He went to the side of the bar and had approached me and had asked me whether or not this was a gay bar. And I had confirmed that, yes, it was a gay bar. And at that time I was a little nervous as to why he was asking. I don't know if it's because he felt out of place if wasn't gay or if it's because he wanted to actually find out if he was to find out if he was in the right place.

KAGAN: But you already had kind of a bad feeling about him?

PHILLIP: Yes, just because of the appearance of him. The way he was dressed. It was a little unusual. And the look on his face. He had just a stone cold look on his face that was no emotion almost to describe it. It was just emotionless.

KAGAN: And at 18, did he look a little young to be in there?

PHILLIP: Well, what happened was, I did think he looked young. And what I did is I wanted to find out if, in fact, he felt out of place. So I asked him if he wanted a drink. And, in fact, he did. He order a Captain Morgan on the rocks. And when I got the drink ready I said, you know, I haven't seen you in here before, so (INAUDIBLE) I need to see your I.D. He handed me an I.D. that had a date of birth of October 19th of '82, which told me that he was 23.

After that, I gave him the drink. He paid for it in cash. And about five minutes later, he had wanted another drink. So I got him another one of the same kind. He took a little sip from it and moved to the back of the bar where we have a pool table set up.

And two gentlemen in the back of the bar that were playing pool. He then sat at the back of the bar for about five minutes watching them play pool. And nowhere, one of the customers that were playing pool had turned his back to him. He had then pushed him over with his hand and then grabbed out of his pocket of his sweater a hatchet, which appeared to be a small ax in the shape of a hammer.

KAGAN: So did you see that or at this point when you see a scuffle do you think it's just a fight in the back of the bar where you work?

PHILLIP: At first I thought it was a beer bottle because what he did is he took the hatchet and started swinging the hatchet on top of this customer's head. And I thought he was -- I thought it was a bar brawl and I thought it was a beer bottle. At that time, I picked up the phone, I dialed 911 and dropped the phone to the floor so that way he didn't look at me and see me talking to the police and I'm a target at that point.

I moved towards the end of the bar. And another customer had come up with a pool stick to try to intervene when he was smacking them in the head. And he took the pool stick from that customer and attacked him twice with it and went to swing a third time and actually struck me on my left leg.

At that time, another customer had come up and tried to stop him, as well. At this time, I had seen the hatchet. He brought it up. He attacked him once in the face and then, when he turned his back to try to get away from him, he struck him again in the back. And then that customer went down to the ground, as well.

KAGAN: When did he pull out the gun?

PHILLIP: Just after that. It was just a couple moments after this. What had happened is another customer had actually come up and blind-sided him and took him down and the hatchet went off about five or six feet away from him. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun and fires it into the air. And, of course, at that time, anybody that could get away, got away.

He stands up and he just starts firing. He fired one shot down at the first person that he attacked with the hatchet several times in the face. Shot him once in the face. He then turned the gun to the second victim that he attacked with the hatchet and he shot him twice in the head. And it was a customer leaving the bathroom, coming out of the bathroom, who he turned the gun to at that moment and shot him once in the abdomen to his lower chest area, which went through the front and out the back.

KAGAN: Were you still behind the bar at this point?

PHILLIP: I was still behind the bar. This all happened when the gun firing started within about a 30-second period of time. I immediately ran to the other end of the bar away from this, leaped over it and started grabbing as many people as I can and rushing them out of the front door. And at that time I still heard maybe two or three gunshots firing. Not sure where. I just wasn't concerned about that. I was just concerned about getting these people out of here.

KAGAN: Now at a certain point this young man took off because he's still on the run.

PHILLIP: He did. What had happened is they got between 10 to 12 people out of the front door. And at that time I went to turn around to go back towards the bar and he was right in my face probably two to three feet away from me, put the gun to my face and actually pulled the trigger. The gun did not release a bullet. All I heard was a click. Apparently the gun was out of bullets and I somehow managed to luck out, if that's what you want to call it.

KAGAN: And how badly hurt are you today?

PHILLIP: More emotional than anything.

KAGAN: Yes, I can imagine.

PHILLIP: I took a good whack to my leg, but that's nothing compared to what everybody else has gone through tonight. It's mostly just emotional hurt right now that something like this could happen here.

KAGAN: Have you had any word or have you heard how the other victims are doing today?

PHILLIP: As far as I know, one of them was immediately transported to New Bedford Airport where he was lifted by helicopter out to Mass General Hospital in Boston. I was inside with the detectives when a call came through on one of their Nextels that said when they transported from out of the ambulance into the helicopter that he had no pulse. The other two victims were transported to St. Luke's Hospital here in New Bedford and then later flown out to Boston as well.

KAGAN: Phillip, how long have you worked at this bar?

PHILLIP: I've been here a short period of time. Only about three months. Just over three months. And I've been a patron of this bar for about five years now.

KAGAN: So you would have a good feel for it and know like if there was any history of trouble or . . .

PHILLIP: Exactly.

KAGAN: It's just kind of a quiet hang out place?

PHILLIP: It's a very close community of people that come here. It's like everybody knows everybody's name and, you know, you have your few arguments here and there. It's a bar setting, which is typical, but nothing that results in anything like this. Nothing at all. I mean -- the way that I think about it, if I'm going to go out to have a drink somewhere, I'm going to bring with me my money and my I.D. I'm not going to bring along with me a handgun, a hatchet and a machete, which was also recovered as well.

I mean -- and it's quite obvious to me that it's a hate crime because with him carrying those weapons into the bar, the first words leaving his mouth was to confirm with me whether or not it was a gay bar, and just moments after that he starts attacking everybody, it's just quite obvious that this was just an attack because of the hatred of homosexuality.

KAGAN: Well clearly this person had evil intentions when he showed up at this bar last night.

A shocking and very emotional and difficult night for you. And I thank you for taking the time to explain to us what happened on this very harrowing attack.

PHILLIP: Thank you.

KAGAN: Phillip, thank you.

Well, there you heard it. That was the story from the bartender at this bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where this attack took place last night. The suspect is still on the loose. We expect in about an hour and 20 minutes police will hold a news conference. And we'll bring that to you live right here on CNN.

Meanwhile, we move on to international news. The dispute over Iran's nuclear program could reach a crossroads today. Iranian officials are threatening to launch industrial scale enrichment if Iran is reported to the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency board is considering such a recommendation at this hour. CNN's Matthew Chance is at the emergency meeting. We will also hear from our Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth. Our coverage begins with Matthew in Vienna.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, thank you very much.

Well, the scene is certainly set for a diplomatic showdown with Iran over its controversial nuclear program. Here in Vienna, the Austrian capital, the headquarters also of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, an emergency session has convened to try and decide what action the international community should take over that program. Under discussion, a draft resolution that would report Iran to the United Nations Security Council where it could, of course, face eventually punishment by that council.

The words of the resolution were set out very clearly and very carefully by the five permanent members of the security council, including Russia and China who are close allies of Iran. And so it's intended, in the words of Mohamed ElBaradei, as an extremely clear message to Iran for it to fall into compliance with the will of the international community. Iran, for its part though, says if there is any involvement of the security council in the issue of its nuclear program, it would consider that to be an end to all diplomatic efforts to find a solution. It says it will end SNAP (ph) IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities on the ground, which at the moment are voluntary. It also says it would, as you mentioned, restart or fully proceed forward with its uranium enrichment program, exactly the kind of action the international community is trying to prevent.

So these are very crucial moments in this debate. Moments depending on the outcome of this debate which could launch Iran and the international community closer towards some kind of confrontation.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Matthew, from what I've been able to read, Iran is trying to claim, oh, we're just the latest Iraq. We're just the one that's getting picked on. Why is that not washing with the international community?

CHANCE: Well, because there are still a good number of issues regarding Iran's nuclear program that have still not been fully he explained to the international community. For several years now, IAEA inspectors from the director general down to people on the ground in Iran have been looking for various questions to be answered about the nature of Iran's nuclear program which it says, by the way, is for peaceful purposes only. It completely denies any idea of it producing or having a secret nuclear weapons program. But those questions that have been asked of Iran have not yet been fully answered and that has led to a sort of gap in confidence between Iran and the rest of the international community. That crisis now coming to a head with this possible report at the end of this meeting here in Vienna to the United Nations Security Council, which, as I say, could spark a chain of events that would lead to this crisis escalating.

KAGAN: Matthew Chance live from Vienna. Thank you.

So what does happen if this ends up at the security council? Let's go to the U.N. and our Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth for that part of the story.

Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the Russian ambassador yesterday told me, once you get into the security council, it could be a point of no return. Yes, there's unity, as Matthew mentioned, among the big five permanent powers, but the further along you get regarding sanctions or punishing Iran, there may be divisions ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH, (voice over): The flag of Iran barely budges in the winter air along nation's row outside the United Nations on a New York afternoon. But is this just the calm before the Iran nuclear storm inside the building in the security council? Like a slow moving train on the horizon, security council ambassadors have seen the Iran hot potato coming for several years.

AUGUSTINE MAHIGA, TANZANIAN AMB TO U.N.: The timing is not known, the content is not known, but certainly it's going to be one of the interesting multifaceted debate in the council.

ROTH: And entirely unpredictable. One European diplomat said once the Iranian issue arrives at the security council, the machine has started to work. And once it starts, no one knows where it will stop.

Don't expect go to war resolutions, though that option is always there and may depend on what Iran does and does not do down the road. Instead, based on past crisis, the 15 countries would, at the outset, likely unify behind some kind of statement of concern about Iran's behavior towards the U.N. affiliated organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The U.S., France and Britain would propose some sanction if there were continued failure by Iran to stop its nuclear program. But here is where big power unity would face its first test.

JEFF LAURENTI, CENTURY FOUNDATION: It isn't clear that the Russia and Chinese have bought into even sanctions. They are even reluctant on sanctions.

ROTH: Colin Keating is very familiar with the ways of the security council. As New Zealand's ambassador, he happened to be in the council presidents chair in April of 1994 when the Rwanda genocide occurred. The U.N. analyst says the security council can play a valuable role on Iran by, if nothing else, looming as a threat if Tehran doesn't change its ways.

COLIN KEATING, U.N. ANALYST: The council offers a vehicle to accommodate both the desire for more pressure, but also the desire on the part of Russia and China for ongoing window of opportunity for negotiations.

ROTH: During gaps in negotiations on action, look for the U.S. arms expert, now Ambassador John Bolton, to ratchet up the pressure.

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: As I said earlier, a lot of efforts I'm sure by the Iranians to throw sand in our eyes and divert us from the effort.

ROTH: And sifting the sands of time, many say the Iran affair feels like neighboring Iraq three years ago with the U.N. But others point out closer positions now between U.S. and Europe which may avoid bitter political splits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: One thing we do know. That if the matter is referred from Vienna to the security council in New York, it will be until March before the council really is allowed to deal with it under the terms of a deal worked out between the U.S. and China and Russia in London.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Richard, thank you.

Well, Iran's nuclear program is just one national security concern being talked about on Capitol Hill today as we look at live pictures. It's the annual global threat assessment hearing that begins this hour. Among those appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, CIA Director Porter Goss and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Senators are expected to ask about the NSA's domestic eavesdropping program, the Iraqi insurgency and al Qaeda. Our David Ensor is monitoring the hearing and we we'll check in with him in just a bit.

The Pentagon reportedly has a team in place to respond to a nuclear attack on American soil. Today's "New York Times" reveals details of a program that was launched last year. The team would analyze radioactive debris, report on where the device originated and then a decision could be made on striking back. The hope is that terrorists would be less likely to explode a nuclear device if it can be traced.

Be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Happening right now on Capitol Hill, the governor's of Louisiana and Mississippi being questioned by senators about their response to Hurricane Katrina. That as New Orleans gets another dose of bad weather. We'll show you. We'll also check in with Jacqui on the forecast.

Also, fall-out over a cartoon that many of you might have seen in your paper this week. And anger from the Pentagon over this depiction after wounded U.S. soldier and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

And lost and found. Wait until you hear this story. A wallet turns up almost 40 years after it disappeared. The owner reminisces about what's inside ahead on this hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A developing story right now. Andrea Yates has been released from jail in anticipation of what will be her second trial on charges that she drowned her own children. We have with us on the phone right now her attorney, George Parnham.

George, what can you tell us about the proceedings that took place today?

GEORGE PARNHAM, ATTORNEY FOR ANDREA YATES: Hi, Daryn.

Yes, Andrea was released from the custody of the Harris County sheriff and basically into my custody. And we personally are en route to the Rusk State Mental Health Facility in Rusk, Texas. We'll get there probably oh 12:30 or so.

KAGAN: This is something I know you've been working for, for quite some time. Why do you think this is the best place for your client?

PARNHAM: Well, you know, Rusk is the premier state mental health facility that tends to individuals who are indigent and suffer from mental illness. Every person who suffers from mental illness ought to have the very best possible medical attention that the state has at its disposal to care for that individual. Andrea's severely mentally ill. The state has recognized that. The only issue is to whether or not she meets the insanity standard.

But this is the place for her. I have been working very hard to accomplish this. And it sets, you know, a precedent for individuals who are mentally ill in our criminal justice system awaiting the disposition of their charges.

KAGAN: Well, the state has recognized that your client is mentally ill, but they've also recognized that she should go through a second trial. What's the status of that and those charges?

PARNHAM: And the state has recognized that she -- and has acknowledge that she was and is severely mentally ill. The trial is presently set for March the 20th. I will do everything that I possibly can and have been doing everything that I could to in effect resolve this matter short of picking a jury.

But there are some issues that are nonnegotiable. Number one, the physical (ph) security of my client is paramount. If she's in general population, she's going to be at risk. Number two, her mental healthcare has got to be addressed. She's on heavy medication. She's on anti-psychotic medications which brings her to a level of normalcy. And if those two issues can be addressed by way of a resolution short of picking a jury, then I'll jump all over that.

KAGAN: In the first trial, the big issue was, did your client know right from wrong?

PARNHAM: Right.

KAGAN: And this time around it seems like prosecutors also sticking with the point that they're not going for a not guilty by reason of insanity. They won't take negotiations that far.

PARNHAM: Yes, the state will not stipulate to a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict, which is unfortunate, but we still can accomplish a proper disposition of these issues even without a stipulation to not guilty by reason of insanity. We've talked about the possibility of entering a no contest on a case. Giving her credit for her back time and then putting her into a mental institution for as long as is necessary, years or perhaps for the rest of her life. That's what this case dictates. Andrea is going to need mental healthcare for as long as she lives. And it's -- you know, I just -- I hope we can get it resolved.

KAGAN: How would you describe her today, George?

PARNHAM: She's good, Daryn. Thank you. She's -- because of the medication that she has been on for the last four years, she is a state of normalcy that is mind-boggling to me. But, you know, three times in the past she's decompensated while at Skyview to the point that at one point she came within a hair's breath of dying. She was on life support down in Galveston, deeply psychotic, hallucinating about everything that you can possibly imagine about her children. Thinking they were still alive. Just a sad, psychiatric state. But being in Rusk will guarantee that there won't be decompensation. That she will be mentally cared for and it's the right place for her to be.

KAGAN: It is a sad story all the way around for your client and especially for the five children who lost their lives. George Parnham thank you for checking in and giving us the latest on your client.

PARNHAM: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: I know it's a story that fascinates many people around the country. Thank you. George Parnham attorney for Andrea Yates who now has been transferred from a jail to a mental health facility.

We'll take a break and we're back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's check out the latest numbers on Wall Street. The market has been open an hour. You can see the Dow is down 22 points. The Nasdaq in negative territory. It is down a few points as well.

On Capitol Hill at this hour, the Senate Homeland Security Committee is holding another day of hearings into the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Today, the senators hear from Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. The committee is expected to focus on the state response to the disaster and how the governors managed the crisis.

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