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American Morning

Puppy Problems; Outside the Law?

Aired May 11, 2006 - 07:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking the top stories for you this morning -- USA Today reporting the National Security Agency probably knows who you've been calling. The paper says NSA is keeping a massive database of calls made within the nation's borders, not just international calls.
A Justice Department investigation into the administration's domestic wiretap program ends. A lawmaker says Justice investigators were denied security clearances by the NSA.

The Senate is expected today to follow the House and approve the $70 billion tax cut legislation being sought by the Bush administration.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us this morning. In Toledo, the jury weighing the fate of a priest accused of murdering a nun, will get back to deliberating in just a few hours. Closing arguments in this unprecedented case took a lot of time yesterday. Jurors met in deliberations for about four hours. Keith Oppenheim is outside the courthouse for us this morning.

Good morning, Keith.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

During those four hours of deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men made just one request from the court. They wanted a witness list.

It was just the beginning of a process that came after closing arguments that focused on evidence, a priest, a nun, and the Bible.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In a murder trial, it's unusual for a prosecutor to quote scripture to show holy figures are not infallible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three times Saint Peter lied to keep himself out of trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: But in this Toledo courtroom, the question before a jury is whether one servant of the church killed another. Father Gerald Robinson is believed to be the only priest ever in the United States to have been charged in the murder of a nun, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. Closing arguments portray two very different versions of what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father Robinson is not guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: It was in 1980 that the body of the 71-year-old nun was found in the chapel of Toledo's Mercy Hospital. She had been strangled and stabbed. Prosecutors said the murder appeared to be a ritual killing, and claimed Father Robinson made some of the stab wounds in the shape of an inverted cross.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To degrade her, to mock her, humiliate her, to bring her down to the lowest point he possibly could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: At the time, Father Robinson was a hospital chaplain. Because of a lack of evidence, the case went cold for 24 years. It was reopened when investigators believe they found a match between a blood stain at the crime scene and a dagger-shaped letter opener belonging to Father Robinson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This case is about perhaps the most common scenario there is for a homicide -- a man got very angry at a woman and the woman died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: Prosecutors weren't required to provide a motive, but they said the priest and nun were at odds, and suggested he was tired of being pushed around.

The defense argued the case against the priest was based on a false presumption: that his letter opener was used to kill the nun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing does not fit all the way in. This, ladies and gentlemen is not the murder weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: And they charged that not one strand of DNA found at the crime scene links the defendant to the victim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's DNA, excludes this man and points somewhere else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM (on camera): The jury has not been sequestered in the case, Miles, but depending on how things go, the jurors may have to put in some long hours. The judge has decided to keep deliberations going to 8:00 p.m. each night, if necessary, as well as into the weekends if that's required. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Keith Oppenheim in Toledo, thank you very much.

Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: A new push to shut down the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and it's coming from the United States' strongest ally in the war on terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORD PETER GOLDSMITH, BRITISH ATTORNEY GENERAL: Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantanamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also help to remove what has become a symbol to many -- right or wrong -- of injustice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That's word from Britain, considered the administration's biggest supporter on Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us live with more on this this morning.

Hey, Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

That statement by Lord Goldsmith, the British attorney general, is being noticed here to a very great extent. Of course, the British government now going far beyond any of its previous statements about its desire to see Guantanamo Bay shut down. Of course, nine British citizens had been held at Guantanamo Bay, now returned to Britain, of course.

Here in Washington, President Bush -- the Bush administration -- very much realizing the growing international pressure to shut down Guantanamo Bay. In fact, just a few days ago, before Lord Goldsmith's statement, President Bush, in an interview on German television, acknowledged the controversy about Guantanamo Bay, saying, "Obviously the Guantanamo issue is sensitive for people. I very much would like to end Guantanamo," the president said. "I very much would like to get people to a court." And of course, Soledad, that is the issue at hand. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in the weeks ahead about the legality of the commissions, the tribunals -- essentially the trial system that the U.S. military has set up for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. And until the Supreme Court rules on this entire legal process, things are in abeyance, and the 500-or-so detainees at Guantanamo certainly aren't expected to go anywhere anytime soon.

Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: It's the `anytime soon' part of that sentence, I think, Barbara, that is frustrating a lot of people.

Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us this morning. Barbara, thanks.

Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America, President Bush heads back to the Gulf Coast this afternoon, headed to Biloxi to address graduates at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Hurricane Katrina caused millions of dollars of damage to the college's the eight campuses. Enrollment dropped by a third.

Home demolition beginning in Saint Bernard Parish, right next to New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina spared very few buildings there. Demolition work expected to take until the end of the year.

A noted journalist has passed away: A.M. Rosenthal died. Rosenthal, commonly known as Abe, was executive editor of the "New York Times" for nine years, beginning in 1977. He started at the paper back in 1943. A.M. Rosenthal was 84 years old.

Here is a follow up on a story we told you about yesterday. The prom will go on for six seniors in Massachusetts whose prom dates were originally denied during some criminal background checks. Officials from the Dennis Yarma (ph) Regional School say they can't finish their investigations before Saturday's prom, so they have decided to reverse course and allow the dates to attend.

And coming soon to the Grand Canyon -- oh, baby. Don't look down -- well, you are supposed to look down -- but don't look down. A new way to see the canyon -- not for the faint of heart. It's a horseshoe-shaped ten-foot-wide plexiglass bridge. That's all plexiglass all around. It juts out about 50 yards from the rim, with a 4000-foot --

S. O'BRIEN: It doesn't look like it's stuck on very well.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm telling you right now --

S. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry, but it just doesn't look strong.

M. O'BRIEN: It has disaster movie written all over. The day they open it, everybody goes out there, and suddenly it cracks.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Like the tram in New York City.

M. O'BRIEN: Work will be finished by the end of the year. You can book your space right now. As I say, it shouldn't be a "U" -- it should be a "V" for vertigo, because people will be, just `Woof!'. What do they do when people get out there and panic?

SERWER: They'll have to come up with a plan for that.

S. O'BRIEN: You are like the naysayer.

S. O'BRIEN: Chad Myers, are you going out on that thing?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You are overthinking it.

S. O'BRIEN: For a why who guy who flies a plane --.

M. O'BRIEN: It is kind of strange.

MYERS: My dad drove from Orlando to Vegas with my mom for their 50th wedding anniversary -- met them out there. He stopped at the Grand Canyon. And when I got to Vegas, I said, "What did you think?" He said, "I could barely see the river. It wasn't very impressive."

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Andy is "Minding Our Business," coming up. What are you looking at?

SERWER: Soledad, oil prices are up again on a couple of small pieces of news. It shows just how jittery these markets are, and why we're paying more at the pump.

Stay tuned; coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Did you get your pooch from the local pet shop, or on the Internet? More people are turning to the Internet. It's certainly conventient, but it can be risky, too. CNN consumer correspodnent Greg Hunter has been looking into some problems.

Good morning.

GREG HUNTER, CNN CONSUMER CORRESPODENT: Good morning.

Well, that old song goes, how much is that doggie in the window? Well, that window has opened up on the internet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTER (voice-over): What do the Osbournes, known for their hit MTV show, have in common with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt and singer John Secada? They all bought dogs from the same company, the Wizard of Claws, also known as Celebrity Kennels. It's owned by this couple, Jim and Gilda Anderson. They offer what they describe as top of the line teacup and toy-sized dogs on the Internet, and claim annual sales of up to $5 million. They also claim to be the nation's premiere supplier of puppies to the stars. Look at all the celebrities featured on their Web site who bought their dogs.

(on camera): You would think with a list like that, the dogs would come from a really posh, exotic location.

In actuality, they come from this store, located in a strip mall just outside of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Now don't get me wrong, the dogs they sell are really cute. But some have real problems.

JENNIFER PURA, DOG OWNER: Parasites, toxicida (ph), geriatia (ph), vomiting, diarrhea.

HUNTER: Jennifer Piro of California wasn't prepared for the sick dog she got from the company, a shitzu (ph) named Tucker. He cost $3500, and an extra $5,000 in vet bills in just a year.

PURA: They overwhelmed us. I mean, we are still in debt from those bills.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTER: We talked to the owner, Jim Anderson, and he says did does not sell sick dogs. He said shipping, usually on an airplane, causes a lot of stress. And out of 9,000 dogs he's sold in the last five years, only about 8 percent have generated complaints. That's still hundreds of complaints.

We talk about this growing phenomenon about buying dogs on the Internet, and what you should look out for tonight.

S. O'BRIEN: A couple of questions for you. First of all, if you're buying it on the Internet, it's just harder to resolve the problems, because suddenly you're not really dealing with the guy in the strip mall; you're dealing with somebody you're e-mailing back and forth. And are there relaly different problems over the Internet, verus -- you could buy a sick dog at the local pet store, too?

HUNTER: Here's the problem. For example, in our story tonight, the lady that bought the dog. She's in California.

S. O'BRIEN: The sick dog, yes.

HUNTER: That's right, the sick dog. This store is in Florida. Experts tell us that just the sheer distance is going to be a hassle. It may not be practical. It will be very expensive to get your money back, although some people are trying to get their back by suiing, their money back for dogs, and in some cases thousands of dollars in vet bills. He denies all that. The other thing is you don't know where your dogs are coming from. Experts tell us that many times these new Internet sales are coming from puppy mills. It's not a magical place where they put little hats on them, and, oh, it's beautiful. They come from a place where they mass produce dogs in many cases. And the conditions are nasty and wire, rusty cages and nasty water. S. O'BRIEN: So you're supporting a business you never would support if you knew what it was doing.

HUNTER: If you walked in and looked at it, you'd go, ooh, I'm not buying a dog here. And the other thing, you don't know who you are dealing with. The guy on the Internet, this guy here, we're feating him to show the whole Internet thing. He' not just the only person doing this, but he is a six-time convicted drug felon. You would like to know that if you put your credit card down on the Internet, right? Well, we talk about that tonight. We even buy a dog from him store. I know, peopel are thinking, you bought a dog, what happened to it? We got a home for it? But is the dog sick? Is it well? Did we get the right dog? We tell you tonight on "PAULA ZAHN."

S. O'BRIEN: I guess we'll find out. I was going to say, 8:00 p.m. on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." All right, Greg Hunter, thanks. An interesting story.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

M. O'BRIEN: Thursday is Miles-cam day, as you well know.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, it is. I do.

M. O'BRIEN: And the location to send us questions for the Miles cam is AM@CNN.com. You see it right below me there. The place to hear the answers is at CNN.com/pipeline, 10:30 Eastern Time, half hour after this broadcast concludes.

You've been watching it, haven't you?

SERWER: Yes, I have. It's must-watch Internet.

M. O'BRIEN: It's must-watch Internet. We invite you to be a part of that.

And check out Pipeline regardless. It's a great service.

Still to coming on our program, our health series for folks in their 30s, 40s, 50s. Today, a look at the damage alcohol can create. We're going to give you a little quiz and you honestly if maybe you might think you have a drinking problem.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A manhunt is still under way for the fugitive leader of a polygamist group. The FBI says they've gotten plenty of tips ever since they put Warren Jeffs on the most wanted list. He's wanted for a range of charges involving underage girls.

Well, this morning, CNN's Randi Kaye has a rare look inside his secretive community.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His followers, an estimated 10,000 people, believe he is their prophet.

To the FBI, he's one of their top 10 criminals. The prophet, Warren Jeffs, is considered one of the most sinister polygamists of his time, a coldhearted, abusive leader, the head of a secret society where men have dozens of wives and small armies of children, where women as young as 13 are forced to marry and start families. Listen to how the fugitive prophet speaks to first-time brides. This is a rare audio recording of his teachings recorded by a disgruntled member and obtained by "KSL Radio."

WARREN JEFFS, POLYGAMIST LEADER: Many young men, when they receive their first wife, they're just so untrained. And the woman, if she's not careful, will be overbearing and always ask permission for what she wants. And ladies, build up your husband by being submissive. That's how you will give your children the success. You will want your children to be obedient and submissive to righteous living.

KAYE: In Jeffs' fundamentalist world, men are kings.

JEFFS: Dear wives, realizing happiness is only being a part and a strength to your husband. Get close to him. Confide in him. Don't let your former family be your total confidence. It should be your new husband. Turn to him with a full heart and give him the opportunity to lead you right.

KAYE: For the documentary, "Colorado City and the Underground Railroad," Filmmaker Michael Watkiss visited the Colorado city compound dozens of times.

MICHAEL WATKISS, FILMMAKER: He has this sort of preacher-like nice deep voice, and this sort of -- or this numbing sort of presentation. But it's just this over and over sort of rout communication to these young people. This is what you do. And everything else is sinful. The little girls, from the moment they're born, are deprived of any meaningful education, any sort of opportunities or outlook for opportunities. They are told that their one and only role in life is to be the obedient wife of a polygamist man.

KAYE: And like most cults, there is an us versus them mentality. Jeffs controls his followers by steering them away from the outside, what he calls a wicked and immoral world.

JEFFS: You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, or rude and filthy, uncomely, disagreeable, and low in their habits, wild and seemingly deprived of nearly all of the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.

KAYE: Watkiss says Jeffs, and his father before him, controls the followers from cradle to grave.

WATKISS: You see this guy preaching this doctrine of complete obedience. And letting the young women know that their only role in life is to do what he says. And he clearly is sort of a Svengali, charismatic figure. People disparage him, you know, and -- but the bottom line is, I think the guy has a lot of power and needs to be taken very seriously. And I listen to these sermons, and they scare me.

KAYE: Watkiss says it's no coincidence the compound is one of the most isolated areas of the country, chosen, he says, for that very reason.

WATKISS: They went there very intentionally because they have long understood that the light of day is not their friend. If they're going to practice this stuff, they need to be in secret and in hiding.

KAYE: Watkiss calls the emphasis on selecting wives and baby making assembly-line polygamy with no end in sight. Even with Jeffs on the run, he says, the faithful remain behind him.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Randi's report first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." You can catch that weeknights, of couse, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In a moment, our top stories, including the Senate is expected to approve a $70 billion tax cut today. Today new details on a federal program to secretly collect phone call records. We'll have more on that.

A British report finds intelligence sources may have missed a chance to stop those london terror bombings over last summer.

A British man accused of hacking into the Pentagon computers one step closer to trial in the U.S.

And a nighttime curfew is in effect in Texas as people begin the daunting task of cleaning up from deadly tornadoes.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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