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American Morning
Enron Trial Update; New York Murder Mystery
Aired March 09, 2006 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Police now focused on a person of interest in the brutal torture and murder of a New York honor student.
Allegations of insatiable greed in the Enron trial as an aggressive defense attorney turns the tables on the prosecution's star witness.
And could it be a sign of a times? Smoking drops to its lowest level in more than a half century.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Lots to get to this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Let's get to Carol Costello, though, right away, who just ran back down to the newsroom after morning coffee.
Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's good exercise.
Good morning, everyone.
It was a long, hard fight, but today President Bush is getting ready to sign the renewal of the Patriot Act into law. Some of its provisions were set to expire tomorrow. The compromise includes some curbs on law enforcement powers, but critics say it still steps on individual rights.
President Bush was in the Gulf Coast on Wednesday getting another progress report on the situation there
A deadly explosion in eastern Turkey today. At least three people killed, more than a dozen others injured. The explosion taking place near a government office. Authorities are looking into whether it was a suicide attack.
Arson arrests in Alabama. Authorities there have arrested three college students in connection with nine of the 10 fires reported last month. In court papers, the string of fires are described as a joke -- a joke that got out of hand.
The two 19-year-olds and a 20-year-old are facing federal charges. A bond hearing is set for tomorrow.
In the meantime, a massive prairie fire scorching 10,000 acres in Kansas. The governor of that state declaring a disaster emergency. About 100 homes were evacuated because of the fires. A controversial drug that helps patients with Multiple Sclerosis could be back on the market soon. An FDA panel has recommended that Tysabri be sold once again. It was pulled last year after concerns that it was linked to a rare brain disease. At least two people died after taking it.
A judge is now reconsidering a plea deal for Deborah LaFave. You remember her. She's the 25-year-old teacher in Tampa, Florida, accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student -- 14.
Well, the victim has apparently refused to testify in the case. That means LaFave would avoid jail time if the judge accepts the plea deal.
We'll keep you posted.
Back to you, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks, Carol. Appreciate the update.
Let's get right to the Enron trial, where defense attorneys are grilling the government's star witness, former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow.
CNN's Chris Huntington is in Houston with more this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The cross-examination of Andrew Fastow continues today. Dan Petrocelli, lawyer for Jeff Skilling, will pick up where he left off, aggressively grilling Fastow. He scored points yesterday, presenting Fastow as a greedy, lying, self-dealer who enriched himself by tens of millions of dollars cutting secret side deals on the partnerships that he was supposed to be doing for Enron.
Notable, though, in Fastow's response to Petrocelli's aggressive grilling was the fact that he was reluctant to name Skilling directly. After repeatedly being asked by Petrocelli if he thought Skilling was guilty, Fastow finally, somewhat meekly, said, "We committed crimes together."
The cross examination continues, and we should hear from Ken Lay's lawyer, Mike Ramsey, later in the day.
Chris Huntington, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Time for a check on the forecast now. Chad with that.
Hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Chad.
Ahead this morning, a new lead in the brutal killing of a New York City grad student. It took the police to an apartment of a bouncer who has a very murky past.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, the mysterious disappearance of a high school student. We'll tell you why cryptic test messages may hold some clues.
S. O'BRIEN: And we're going to meet a teenager who says that his college dreams were dashed all because of a big mistake by the folks who administer the SATs. He wasn't the only one. We'll tell you what happened.
That's just ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A new lead this morning in the gruesome slaying of a New York City graduate student. According to several reports, police have matched carpet fibers on tape that covered Imette St. Guillen's face to fibers that have been found at a bouncer's apartment.
That man -- his name is Darryl Littlejohn -- worked at the bar where she was last seen. Police have also said that they're awaiting forensic test results that they believe could solve this crime.
CNN's Rick Sanchez has our report this morning. He says these are the same skills that criminology students herself, the victim, was learning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Friday night in New York City, the bars are packed and booze abounds.
And so it was on a recent Friday night, when Imette St. Guillen, a 24-year-old Venezuelan beauty with a promising future, chose to party into the wee hours, even after her friends had called it quits and gone home.
(on camera): It was now 4:00 in the morning here at The Falls, a trendy bar in SoHo, closing time. Imette was asked, reportedly, to leave the bar. In fact, in what may have been somewhat humiliating for her, she was escorted out by the bouncer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was the woman sitting in the middle of the bar, having her drinks. She was -- she didn't finish the second one, and then she left.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): But did the bouncer 41-year-old Darryl Littlejohn, know a lot more than he was letting out to "New York Daily News" reporter Veronica Bellencaye (ph), the only member of the press who has heard his side of the story firsthand? Soon, Littlejohn would become a person of interest in the police investigation into Imette's murder.
(on camera): He never said that he was asked to escort her out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. That never came up.
SANCHEZ: He never said that he may even have had a bit of a tiff with her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No. That certainly wasn't...
SANCHEZ: He didn't say that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): In the days since Imette's murder, police have scoured the building that houses the bar, searching high and low for any piece of evidence that can tell them if something horrible happened here.
But they have also spent days searching Darryl Littlejohn's home in Queens and confiscating evidence, including this van.
Lawrence Kobilinsky is a renowned forensics expert who is connected to the investigation.
DR. LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, FORENSIC SCIENTIST, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: She had to have been moved while still alive from The Falls, that location, to the place where she was raped and sodomized and tortured.
SANCHEZ (on camera): The best evidence may be found on Imette herself. Her body was found dumped here the following night, in this hideaway in Brooklyn. She had been raped and tortured. Her face was wrapped in tape, a sock stuffed down her throat. How did police find her? They were led here by a phone call.
(voice-over): It's not known who made that phone call police have now traced to this pay phone in Brooklyn. And Kobilinsky says another phone call could put Littlejohn near the spot where Imette's body was found.
KOBILINSKY: We also know that the cell phone was again active in Brooklyn fairly near the site where the body was dumped. And we have the timing of that as well. Now, what he was doing in Brooklyn is -- is a good question.
SANCHEZ: Police are now questioning Littlejohn while he's being held for violating his parole by working in a bar and missing his curfew. Littlejohn has spent more than 12 years in prison for drug possession and robbery. But is he capable of murder?
KOBILINSKY: Well, there is a disconnect between the crimes that he has been convicted of, armed robberies, drug possession, holding up a bank. And -- and crimes like that are not in the same -- they're not at the same level as, you know, rape, sodomy and homicide. SANCHEZ (on camera): In the end, the irony of this story is, Imette was an honor student, going to grad school here at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Could she have known enough to leave police some kind of clue, possibly DNA in her fingernails, as to who her killer was?
Kobilinsky and others here at the college say they're convinced of it.
Rick Sanchez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Rick's report first aired last night on "AC 360." You can catch that show weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer, he's got -- he's really 720. I mean, really, twice around the horn he does for business.
Right?
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": I sure do. Yes, I sure do.
A couple stories we're following this morning. What will TiVo do to stay in the picture?
Plus, more on the industry payola scandal. Guess who the record companies are blaming?
We'll tell you coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
S. O'BRIEN (SINGING): My loneliness...
M. O'BRIEN: It kind of pales by comparison.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you so much.
M. O'BRIEN: I mean, you know, nice try, but...
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that's all right. That's all right. There's only one Etta James.
SERWER: I think it was pretty good, actually.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy, you big liar. But thank you anyway.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, you suck-up.
S. O'BRIEN: We're going to get to you in just a moment.
First, let's get to Carol. She's got some of those top stories this morning.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: It sounded beautiful, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: You liar, too. But thanks.
COSTELLO: Good morning, everyone.
The U.S. ports deal, will it sink? A House panel voted overwhelmingly to block a Dubai-based company from taking control of some operations at six ports. But Senate Armed Services chairman John Warner is pushing a compromise that would give the U.S. a greater role in overseeing the Dubai company.
We're expecting Congress to hold hearings on this issue throughout the day. Of course we'll keep you updated.
A child and a humanitarian worker among 10 people killed today in Baghdad attacks. Among the deadliest, a roadside bombing targeting an Iraqi army patrol. Six people killed in that attack alone.
The search is on for a 13-year-old girl who text-messaged her mom saying she was being abducted. Natasha Browne (ph) was last seen Monday morning walking to school in Jersey City, New Jersey. She told her mom in a text message that someone followed her and that she woke up in dark basement. Police are looking into the possibility that the disappearance might be a hoax.
Oh, football fans rejoice. Football, it will not go on strike.
NFL owners have reached a deal with the Players Union. It has to do with that revenue-sharing thing. It adds nearly $1 billion to the players' revenue pool, and it extends the collective labor agreement for six years so football will happen on schedule. And so will the free agency thing.
Cigarette sales are going up in smoke. Sales are at their lowest in more than half a century. The National Association of Attorneys General says about 380 billion cigarettes were sold in the United States last year. That's down more than 20 percent since tobacco companies reached a national settlement with the states in 1998.
And fashion tips from the woman who would be -- who would be queen. Camilla Parker-Bowles, duchess of Cornwall, you know this woman who married Prince Charles. She's been named a fashion icon by the snooty British magazine "Tatler."
Editors say Camilla wowed us in her red engagement dress. Camilla is suddenly stunning suddenly. Camilla is ranked 10th.
The top spot actually goes to this woman, supermodel Kate Moss. Kate Moss, number one; Camilla Parker-Bowles, number 10.
Chad, I don't know if you made the top 10. I'm sorry
MYERS: No, no, no. Bottom 10 probably. Still those ties from 1982 I'm wearing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Chad. Appreciate it.
M. O'BRIEN: TiVo, some not so bad news. What does that mean, some not so bad news? I mean, is it bad news or not, Andy Serwer?
SERWER: Well, I'll tell you.
S. O'BRIEN: It's not so bad.
M. O'BRIEN: It's not so good.
SERWER: It's a toss. We're supposed to lead in and talk about it.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, is that how it works?
SERWER: That's how it works.
TiVo is one of those products that is great to use, but as a business proposition it's been difficult. And now they are changing the way they are charging customers. Completely revamping.
It used to be you could pay $299 up front for a lifetime subscription, as it were, or $13 a month. Now they're going to charge about $20 a month or $224 for one year or $369 for two years or $469 for three years.
So what would you rather pay, $469 for three years or $299 lifetime?
M. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, I should have been taking notes.
SERWER: You should have been taking -- they're raising prices is sort of what it comes down to.
S. O'BRIEN: Lifetime -- yes, you can't do a lifetime charge and expect to make money after a while.
SERWER: Right. And the problem is, Soledad, is that this business has gotten so competitive with cable companies introducing DVRs, and TiVo has lost money ever since it went public in 1999 -- 4.4 million customers. But still, it's very difficult. And you wonder about the future of TiVo.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: You know? Such a great company.
S. O'BRIEN: It's an industry everybody can enter and has.
SERWER: Right. It is. People love it.
Want to talk a little bit about payola and Eliot Spitzer. You know, he's been going after the big record companies. And you know, the way we think of payola is, the record companies pay radio stations to play Avril Lavigne and P. Diddy and all the rest.
Well, now Eliot Spitzer is accusing the radio stations of soliciting payments. Gimme, gimme, gimme.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, so...
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Right. In other words, if you want to have your artist played, you've got to pay.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: And it's specifically going after a company called Intercom (ph), which is the fifth largest radio station company in the United States, 100 stations.
Here's a couple examples.
One, an e-mail message from one of their stations in Buffalo. "Do you need help on Jessica Simpson this week? If you don't need help, I certainly don't need to play it."
In other words, play her songs.
M. O'BRIEN: And who is the...
SERWER: In other words, this would be the radio station asking the record company.
M. O'BRIEN: Who's the smart guy that put that in an e-mail?
SERWER: Yes. There we go.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: His name isn't there.
Another one, a country station in Rochester, New York, WBEE, wanted a $2,500 laptop in exchange to play two songs on its play list.
M. O'BRIEN: Two?
SERWER: And then, of course, they said, oh, it's just promotional. Well, no, it's not. It's payola. Right?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, yes. I mean...
SERWER: I mean, it would be like someone asking us to do a story on -- you know, you can see how we don't do that.
S. O'BRIEN: We're not supposed to do that?
SERWER: Yes. You didn't know.
S. O'BRIEN: It was a joke. Kidding.
SERWER: No. You can see how this stuff would get nasty. But it's difficult. You know, Eliot Spitzer keeps going after these guys.
S. O'BRIEN: And it seems like he's got a trail of e-mails that he's searching through, where...
SERWER: That would certainly get you busted.
M. O'BRIEN: Is anybody safe from Eliot Spitzer? That's just all I want to know. I mean, he's -- he's...
SERWER: Don't -- he might come after us.
M. O'BRIEN: After us, yes. OK. Thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: We've done nothing wrong, and that's our story we're sticking to.
SERWER: Yes. Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.
SERWER: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: We've got a look at our top stories straight ahead this morning. And we're going to make a serious turn, talking about those three college students who are now charged in the Alabama church fires.
Also, defense attorneys grill former Enron executive Andrew Fastow.
And we're going to talk to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the renewed Patriot Act.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld complains about the media coverage of the Iraq war. We'll tell you about that.
And some teenagers blame an SAT snafu for dashing their college dreams.
Those stories are all ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: HBO has produced some of the most talked about shows on television, like "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under." Well, now they are pushing outside the marriage envelope with the latest series they've got. It's called "Big Love."
CNN's Brooke Anderson tells us more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They surprised us with "Sex and the City," shocked us with "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under." Now HBO is doing it again, shaking things up with a show about marriage and family that premieres this Sunday. Not surprisingly, this is no average family.
JEANNE TRIPPLEHORN, ACTRESS, "BIG LOVE": Nicky (ph), the 1st, Margie (ph), the 2nd, Lee (ph) the 3rd, Nicky (ph), the 4th, Margie (ph), the 5th, and so on.
Margie (ph), your birthday is the 21st, which is mine. But I'll give you both tonight (ph).
GINNIFER GOODWIN, ACTRESS, "BIG LOVE": We could trade.
ANDERSON: Meet the Henricksons. Bill, his wife, Barbara, his wife Nicky (ph), his wife Margie (ph), and their seven children. They live in suburban Salt Lake City, Utah, and like most marriages with just one partner, the husband and wives argue and deal with all sorts of complicated issues.
GOODWIN: Nicky (ph) slept with Bill in my bed yesterday.
TRIPPLEHORN: Nicky (ph), is that true?
CHLOE SEVIGNY, ACTRESS, "BIG LOVE": I don't know what she's talking about.
WILL SCHEFFER, CO-CREATOR, "BIG LOVE": We knew that we had a responsibility to show some of the darker sides of polygamy.
ANDERSON: And just to make sure no one confuse this family with reality, a footnote is being added to the end of the first episode that says, "Polygamy was banned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1890."
But the church isn't buying it, saying, "Placing the series in Salt Lake City, the international headquarters of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints, is enough to blur the line between the modern church and the program's subject matter and to reinforce old and long-outdated stereotypes."
Anti-polygamy activists aren't big on "Big Love" either.
VICKY PRUNTY, TAPESTRY AGAINST POLYGAMY: It doesn't portray the real polygamy.
ANDERSON: But regardless of the criticisms, the show's star, Bill Paxton, is hoping viewers can just see it for what it is, entertainment.
BILL PAXTON, ACTOR: Have fun. Watch the show. And don't take it too seriously. ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Well, "Big Love" debuts on Sunday night on HBO right after the season premier of "The Sopranos."
And speaking of "The Sopranos," actor Michael Imperioli is going to join us live tomorrow. He, of course, plays Christopher on that hit HBO show. We're going to ask him what's in store for the show's sixth season. It's been off the air for more than a year, as you well know.
That's coming up tomorrow, that interview, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: We better be nice to him or we'll get -- we'll get whacked. You know what I mean?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. He's actually an incredibly nice guy.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I think he acts that whole thing -- all right.
As we approach the top of the hour, let's check the forecast. Chad Myers...
(WEATHER REPORT)
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