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Paula Zahn Now
Canadian Officials Foil Alleged Terror Plot; Gay Marriage Debate Heats Up; Deadly Insurance Scam?; Man Sentenced for Setting Ex- Wife on Fire
Aired June 05, 2006 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to a brand-new week here. Good evening, everyone.
Here is what happening at this moment. Police are searching for suspects in a school shooting in Venice, California. Police report a 14 -- or 15-year-old boy was shot in a school parking lot. He is reported in grave condition.
Jet fighters scramble over Washington, D.C. F-16 jets responded to reports that a Cessna airplane had violated restricted airspace near Washington. Just moments ago, we learned that officials declared that that plane was not a security threat after all.
And, finally, another deadly day in Iraq -- gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped as many as 50 at bus stations in Baghdad today. At least 17 people were killed in Iraq today, including an Italian soldier.
On to our "Security Watch" tonight -- the terror scare just across our border and the U.S. connection. We are only hours away from the first bail hearing for some of the 17 Muslim men and boys arrested in Canada on Saturday. Twelve of them, we have just learned, now face terror charges. Canadian authorities say the group is suspected of plotting to bomb major buildings in the Toronto area, and more arrests may come this week.
Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has been working this story all day long and has just filed this report for us tonight with the very latest information.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is basically their (INAUDIBLE). This is where they were camped underneath here. You can see, they got these branches here. They pulled this maple over. And this here was just a tent over the top of here.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the remote Ramara Township, 90 miles north of Toronto, Mike Cotay (ph) says he came across a group of men in what he calls Sikh camouflage.
The men told him they were doing extreme camping, but he suspected they were up to something more dangerous, and alerted the police, who told him they already had the group under surveillance. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just hear about what's going on in the rest of the world, and, you know, that you do put two and two together. It's not -- you know, I guess it's stereotyping in its own way.
MESERVE: Canadian officials allege, the men Cotay (ph) saw were part of an al Qaeda-inspired group training to blow up targets in Canada with three tons of ammonium nitrate, the fertilizer that, fashioned into a bomb, devastated the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Police seized ammonium nitrate in raids over the weekend, along with what appeared to be a detonator.
MIKE MCDONNELL, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: This group posed a real and serious threat. It had the capacity and intent to carry out these acts.
MESERVE: Of the 17 being held in the probe, 12 men face terror- related charges. The charges against five juveniles have not been released. Canadian authorities say the arrests capped a two-year investigation, and officials said today, more arrests are possible.
MCDONNELL: We're following every investigative lead that we have right now. And anybody that was involved in aiding, facilitating or participating in this terrorist threat will be arrested.
MESERVE: Family members and attorneys for the suspects dispute the charges.
ROCCO GALATI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There's no criminal past whatsoever.
MESERVE: Two of the men now charged with terrorism were already in custody for allegedly trying to import firearms and ammunition into Canada from the U.S. And a U.S. counterterrorism official says, two of the Canadian suspects had e-mail communications with two U.S. citizens arrested this spring on terrorism charges.
Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee had allegedly videotaped locations, including the U.S. Capitol, and a fuel tank farm. CNN was unable to reach their lawyers.
U.S. officials say some of the Canadians also had contact with British terrorism suspects arrested last fall and with Islamic militants in Bangladesh, Bosnia, Denmark, and Sweden. The arrests have further heightened concerns about local terror groups working independent of al Qaeda. Officials say they are much harder to detect and stop.
JOHN MILLER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: It's a real challenge. If you look at the old model, where you focused on the camps, the base, the leadership, and thought, if we look at this right, we will see the threads of whatever comes out of there coming toward us, the new model is much more disparate. MESERVE (on camera): Officials say Customs and Border Protection has increased scrutiny of people and vehicles coming into the U.S. from Canada, out of an abundance of caution.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And I'm going to turn now to a terrorism expert who has warned for years that Muslim terrorists operate under cover of mainstream Islam and that extremist Muslim terror cells are operating here in north America. He is the author of "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us."
Steven Emerson joins me now.
Always good to see you. Welcome.
We're beginning to learn a little bit more about the suspects, mostly young Muslim men who have lived in Canada for a long time. What else do we need to know about them?
STEVE EMERSON, NBC TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, they're -- they're -- as you pointed out, they're second generation.
Some of them were unemployed, but most of them were employed. Some of them were drivers, teachers, middle-class. And they all attend -- half of them attended a certain mosque that was known for its radical point of view. But almost all of them participated in the virtual jihad, that is, using Internet and chat rooms to discuss and plan operations to be carried out against the Canadian regime.
ZAHN: So, would you describe them as a different breed from al Qaeda, or just a group of terrorists that have gotten their inspiration from al Qaeda?
EMERSON: Sort of al Qaeda 2.0 or 3.0. It's -- it's not your father's al Qaeda.
These are people that hate the Canadian government, hate the West, and are basically motivated by their hatred to carry out violence, but not -- but are not tethered to any type of external direction.
ZAHN: What is their hatred rooted in? What are they so mad about?
EMERSON: If every day, they hear and see pictures of Muslims getting assaulted, which is the way Al-Jazeera sometimes plays it up, and their imams tell them that there's a war against Islam, they get fed into this frenzy of believing that somehow there's a war against Islam, there's not a war against terrorism, and, therefore, they have to avenge that. That's not that much different from the message that bin Laden says.
ZAHN: How worried should we be about this sweep here in the United States?
EMERSON: If you look at trends from the last -- in the last five years, you will see a major blip in the last year of domestic terror cells in the United States that are not tethered abroad, but, rather, are instigated from homegrown jihadist mentalities.
And, therefore, we are now seeing emergence of these different cells around the United States. We're going to see more arrests connected to the Canadian cells in the United States in the next few months, I believe, because of the fact that there were collaborators south of the border from Georgia.
ZAHN: Given that they're so -- appear to be so diluted, how concerned are you that -- that we will, in fact, be able to stop them?
EMERSON: So far, the FBI's done a great job. And so has the Department of Justice.
But the bottom line is, they only have to be successful once. And they're going to get through. They're going to get under the radar screen one of these days. And maybe they won't kill 3,000 people. Maybe they will only kill 15. Maybe it will just be a single jihadist, like the UNC student, who plowed his jeep into a bunch of students, in an effort to avenge the crimes against Islam.
ZAHN: Very quickly, in closing, there's no doubt in your mind, then, that they will exceed at some point in time -- succeed?
EMERSON: It's -- it's just a matter of time, unfortunately.
ZAHN: Steven Emerson, thanks for dropping by. Appreciate your perspective.
EMERSON: Sure.
ZAHN: Toronto, of course, is about 80 miles from the U.S. border. So, if the arrests there have you wondering about security along the border with Canada, maybe you should. It stretches more than about 4,000 miles, with the vast majority of it unguarded. In fact, there are actually places where you can drive into Canada and not even realize you have left the U.S.
Mary Snow takes us "Beyond the Headlines" tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With 17 terror suspects arrested in Toronto, some are questioning, just how secure is the U.S.-Canadian border?
MICHAEL CUTLER, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: This attack was not aimed at the United States. It was aimed at Canada. So, they have got their own problem, and their problem could easily spill over the border.
SNOW: Along that border, Buffalo is the busiest crossing, with over seven million cars and trucks passing from Canada to the U.S. Lawmakers are debating the need to require passports at checkpoints, but some are concerned, terrorists could slip in through a less obvious place, by water.
CHRIS ROMOSZ, U.S. COAST GUARD: People have the right to go back and forth, but, you know, I think it's -- it makes it a little difficult up here to figure out who's doing what.
SNOW: This Coast Guard unit stationed in Buffalo is assisted by the U.S. Border Patrol, watching by camera spots not all boats can see.
(on camera): One of the key concerns about border security here outside New York State is just how close the Canadian border is. It's right behind us. And here on the Niagara River, there's less than a mile in some spots between Canada and the United States.
ROMOSZ: They will take small boats. Some of them will float across in their own life jackets to have a lower profile in the water. Sometimes, they will go at night.
SNOW (voice-over): Sealing the 600 miles of shoreline this unit patrols, which include the Great Lakes, is impossible.
LT. CHRIS SWEENEY, U.S. COAST GUARD: It's wide open. It's a huge, vast area, and it's tough to enforce.
SNOW: A former immigration agent says the terrain, coupled with Canada's laws, should be an area for concern.
CUTLER: What we also know is that Canada has a very liberal policy towards political asylum.
SNOW: Not true, says Canada's ambassador to the United States.
MICHAEL WILSON, CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES: I think that our immigration laws, as they are implemented, are very close in the outcomes as the United States' immigration laws.
Mary Snow, CNN, Buffalo, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Got one more thing to add tonight. Republican Congressman Peter King of New York, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, says, Americans, particularly those of us living in border states, like New York and Michigan, should be concerned about a terrorist threat to Canada.
We move on now to our countdown of the top 10 most popular stories on CNN.com, a pretty popular site today, 17 million of you logging on today.
At number 10 -- Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn's -- Vaughniston is what they were calling it in one newspaper. Their new film, "The Break-Up," had a stronger debut than expected. It was the top weekend movie, edging out "X-Men: The Last Stand," which came in second.
Number nine -- a new study just out today says super-strict parenting, especially from mom -- of course, what do you expect -- It's always us, right? -- well, that it may lead to overweight kids. Researchers say homes with lots of rules may push some kids to turn to food as an escape. I suspect that nothing else had to with that either, huh? (ph) See, when that study really is finished, what we find out -- numbers eight and seven just ahead.
But, also, instead of talking about the war on terrorism today, President Bush put one of the most divisive issues in the country onto the political front burner. But why is he doing it now?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Restarted: the debate over banning gay marriage. Is it smart politics or merely a stunt? Does the Constitution really need to be changed?
"Outside the Law" -- these women got friendly with homeless men, who died sudden, violent deaths. Are the women criminals or angels of mercy who just happened to collect millions of dollars in life insurance?
All that and more just ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: When you're at work, is your boss spying on what you do on your computer? We are going to have the eye-opening results of a brand-new survey in just a little bit.
Now, here's what's happening at this moment.
Affirmative action is back on the agenda for the Supreme Court. The court agreed to hear arguments on what role race can play in deciding what public school kids attend. It could lead to a landmark ruling.
They call them mafia cops. Now they can call them lifers. A New York judge sentences two decorated former New York City detectives to life in prison. They were convicted of moonlighting as mafia hitmen, killing eight people.
In the Middle East, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will call a referendum on Palestinian statehood. The move for a referendum puts Abbas in direct conflict with Hamas, which controls the Palestinian parliament and refuses to recognize Israel.
Tonight, President Bush's Republican allies are pushing all out for something that has outraged some people, but others are saying, it's about time. The latest priority doesn't involve Iraq and the war on terror, illegal immigration, or sky-high gas prices. It happens to be a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. And, as we speak, the subject and the timing are sparking some very pointed questions.
White House correspondent Ed Henry has the very latest on what the president told a group of conservative and religious supporters a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush gave restless conservatives the red meat they've been craving.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization, and it should not be redefined by activist judges.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: You are here because you strongly support a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman. And I am proud to stand with you.
HENRY: Conservatives are frustrated that people close to the president have been lashing out at the proposed ban on gay marriage...
MARY CHENEY, AUTHOR, "NOW IT'S MY TURN": Basically, writing discrimination into the Constitution of the United States is fundamentally wrong.
HENRY: ... while the president has been keeping his powder dry on an issue that helped deliver his reelection.
TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Well, there has been some concern that this was an issue that was important enough to campaign on in the 2004 election cycle by Republicans in general, but it's not been important enough to act upon yet.
HENRY: Liberals see a president down in the polls, suddenly turning to a wedge issue that can drive conservatives to the polls in the midterms.
REV. ROBERT HARDIES, ALL SOULS CHURCH: Let's be honest with ourselves. There isn't anyone here who is naive enough to believe that the introduction of this legislation now in two consecutive election cycles is anything but a politically motivated effort to win votes by demonizing a class of citizens.
HENRY: The president insisted he's not lashing out at anyone.
BUSH: Every American deserves to be treated with tolerance and respect and dignity.
(APPLAUSE)
HENRY: But he responded sharply to critics, including his own vice president, who say defining marriage should be left to the states.
BUSH: The fact is, state legislatures are trying to address this issue. But...
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: But, across the country, they are being thwarted by activist judges, who are overturning the expressed will of their people. And these court decisions could have an impact on our whole nation.
HENRY (on camera): A leading conservative, Dr. James Dobson, told me he thought the president hit all the right notes, saying -- quote -- "I don't think he could have said it any stronger."
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: The talk of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage gets people to the boiling point very quickly, as you're about to see. My next guests have drastically opposing views.
Gary Glenn of the American Family Association supports the amendment. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State is against it.
Welcome to both of you.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Gary, I'm going to start with you tonight.
Since same-sex marriage was made legal in Massachusetts, you have had some 8,000 couples married. What kind of a threat do you think they pose to the rest of America?
GARY GLENN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION: Well, Paula, the president's speech today, I think, did make all the right points, and that is that the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that, regardless of what's happened in Massachusetts, that marriage is and should remain only between one man and one woman.
Every time it's been put to a vote of the people -- and that's happened now in 19 states -- it's gotten an average of 70 percent in favor of retaining the definition of marriage being between a man and a woman.
From the low end -- the lowest percentage was 57 percent in Oregon, and all the way up to 86 percent in Mississippi.
ZAHN: All right. But...
GLENN: It was almost 60 percent here in Michigan.
ZAHN: But, if you're saying, then, that it's had limited impact on the rest of the country, what -- what do you think has been the impact, period, of allowing those marriages to go forward? Does it -- do you really believe it corrodes the idea of what marriage is?
GLENN: Well, I think, if we're going to be fair, Paula, if we redefine the institution of one-man/one-woman marriage once to meet the demands of a particular special interest group clamoring for that definition today, that re-definition, then how do you fairly and consistently refuse to change marriage two or three or more times to accommodate the chosen lifestyles of other special interest groups, like people who want to practice polygamy?
ZAHN: All right.
GLENN: It's a matter of common sense for the overwhelming majority of Americans. Marriage is between a man and a woman.
ZAHN: Reverend...
GLENN: And the only way to stop the federal judiciary from overturning the will of the people at the state level is with a marriage protection amendment to the United States Constitution.
ZAHN: All right.
Let's ask Reverend Lynn about that.
In the absence of a constitutional amendment, would you end up with what Gary was just talking about, 50 different definitions of what marriage should be, potentially?
BARRY LYNN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: I don't think so, although we did have the experience back in the '40s and '50s of 50 different definitions of the relationship between marriage and race.
For example, many states said black Americans could not marry white Americans in their state. Well, through the course of activity by the courts and by legislatures, people decided that was unfair. And that, of course, restriction no longer exists. Now we're having the same fight. And many of us have reached the conclusion that it makes no sense to define marriage as between only one man and one woman of a particular gender.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Why doesn't it make sense to you?
LYNN: Well, this makes sense to me.
And what doesn't make sense to me is the arguments that Gary has used. For example, just because we make one change in the marriage laws doesn't mean we have to open the definition to six people constitute a marriage or change the age restrictions for marriage. That's completely illogical.
And, in response to your first question, what has happened in Massachusetts, or maybe in Vermont with civil unions, Gary didn't have an answer, because nothing bad happened. Just good and decent Americans had an opportunity to accept rights, responsibilities, and stability in their relationship. Who in the world can be against that, except people really on the radical fringes of the country?
ZAHN: Gary, please be honest with us tonight. We have heard even Republican analysts say today this thing has no shot of passing in the Senate, that the only reason it's being brought up now is to shore up the support of President Bush among his conservative base.
GLENN: Well, Paula, if the president is serious about passing a marriage-protection amendment, he ought to make that speech in two or three dozen cities across America, like he did for Social Security reform, and he could start...
ZAHN: But that isn't what I asked you.
What about the timing of this?
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: This thing -- this thing doesn't -- isn't going to pass in the Senate, is it?
GLENN: Well, we want the Senate and we want the House of Representatives on record voting either with the people, in favor of protecting one-man/one-woman marriage, or in favor of the activist judges who want to overturn the will of the people. Our concern is that the federal court system will force a single definition of marriage or any plethora of definitions of marriage from the federal judiciary on the states, in opposition to what the people of this country want, which clearly is between a man and woman.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Barry Lynn, Barry, you get the last word. You have got about 10...
(CROSSTALK)
LYNN: Yes, Gary...
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Let Barry finish.
You have 12 seconds. And then I have got to move on.
LYNN: Gary, I think all -- what this is all about is, you want votes, so that you can identify people in the next election who you say are anti-God and anti-marriage.
The marriage of two gay men is not going to affect my marriage or your marriage. I have been married for 36 years tomorrow. And if the two men up the street who are gay get the permission to marry, it's not going to do one blessed thing to my relationship. And that's simply a falsehood that keeps being repeated throughout this debate.
ZAHN: All right, gentlemen, we have got to leave it there.
Barry Lynn, Gary Glenn, thank you...
LYNN: Thank you.
GLENN: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: ... both of you, for joining us tonight.
Got to move on now to another issue -- two very unusual defendants walked into a California courtroom today. They are in their 70s. Check them out. They have recently collected millions of dollars. But why are some of their newest acquaintances dead?
First, number eight on our CNN.com countdown -- a man on Virginia's death row is just days away from execution tonight. Percy Walton's attorneys say he's insane and mentally retarded and shouldn't be executed. The issue is now before the Supreme Court, which still must decide whether to hear Walton's case.
Number seven, Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy is out of drug rehab. Today, he made his first public appearance since being released from the Mayo Clinic on Friday. He checked in last month, after a car crash near the U.S. Capitol.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Welcome back.
In tonight's "Outside the Law": Two old ladies take out life insurance policies on homeless men, then kill them and cash in. It sounds like the plot of some dark, twisted movie. , Yet prosecutors in Los Angeles suspect that's the story they have on their hands tonight.
Today, two women in their 70s appeared in court for the first time, where they were arraigned on fraud charges, and murder charges may be in their future as well.
Peter Viles has tonight's "Outside the Law."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The two elderly ladies pleaded not guilty to fraud, 75-year-old Helen Golay, in the glasses and the bouffant, and 73-year-old Olga Rutterschmidt, allegedly behind a scheme so twisted, it shocked even the cops.
DETECTIVE DENNIS KILCOYNE, LAPD: I will tell you, I'm in my 30th year, probably 21 years in homicide. And this is -- this is pretty evil.
VILES: Death number one, a homeless man named Paul Vados, killed by a hit-and-run driver in this alleyway in 1989. No suspect was apprehended.
Death number two, a year ago another alley, another hit-and-run, another dead homeless man, Kenneth McDavid, again, no suspect. There was something weird about the McDavid case, though. Two old ladies kept bugging the investigating detective for information.
LT. LYLE PRIDEAUX, LAPD: He was suspicious, in that these two women with no apparent interest in this person were making all these inquiries and wanted copies of reports and things like that.
VILES: The women were Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt. It just so happened they had taken out nine life insurance policies on McDavid, the homeless victim. When another detective heard that, he said, wait a minute, I remember those two from a cold case.
KILCOYNE: The cobwebs were cleared out. The file was located. And there's a -- the Paul Vados 1989 incident. And, sure enough, the same two little old ladies, Olga and Helen, were doing the same thing then.
VILES: What emerged was chilling, women who allegedly befriended homeless men, took out insurance policies on them, and then collected more than $2 million when the men died violent deaths.
COMMANDER HARLAN WARD, LAPD: We had to refocus the death investigations of these two men on these two women.
VILES: They were arrested last month, Golay near the beach in Santa Monica, where she owns property, Rutterschmidt in a modest Hollywood apartment complex. For now, they're charged only with lying when they took out the insurance policies.
KIM SAVO, PUBLIC DEFENDER: They're charged with mail fraud, mail fraud. It's a very boring federal offense.
ROGER DIAMOND, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There's just no evidence of any murder. If they had evidence, they would have filed charges.
VILES: But police believe there were two murders and that the women are the prime suspects.
KILCOYNE: Probably anyone in this room would think that this is probably not something that -- even though they're -- they're gaining financial gain for this, that they would -- would leave the actual dirty work to someone else or hire someone. We're not so sure about that anymore.
VILES: When they showed up in April for a free lunch at this church, the pastor assumed they were like many other older women, down on their luck.
PASTOR CHARLES SUHAYDA, HOLLYWOOD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: Many of them, as you know, live on very small Social Security incomes. And many of them are in poverty here.
VILES: Then he learned they had cashed in when two homeless men who took their meals here were killed.
SUHAYDA: And to think that, you know, people would be victimized in such a way was, you know, very sad for me.
VILES (on camera): Now police are still investigating and they're asking the public in Los Angeles for some help. The question, are there other homeless men who have suffered the same fate? Peter Viles for CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And there's this. Police say they had the women under surveillance for several weeks and decided to arrest them because of growing concerns that more elderly men were at risk.
A woman told a judge her husband was dangerous, but the judge wouldn't listen. Then her husband set her on fire. Next, is she satisfied with what has just happened to her ex-husband? And what does she want to happen to the judge who recommended that she needed marital counseling?
Plus, the latest is an unbelievable and shocking case of mistaken identity. How could authorities have gotten it so wrong? And is your boss snooping at your e-mail? Pretty good chances he or she is. Wait until you hear the results of a brand new survey tonight.
Before that, No. 6 on our CNN.com countdown. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says 12 countries, including Iran, have failed to do enough to stop human trafficking. The State Department estimates there are 800,000 trafficking victims worldwide.
No. 5, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt decide they will sell pictures of their newborn daughter with all of the profits going to charity. Right now there's no word on how much the photos will be sold for, when they will be distributed, or even which charity will benefit, but I heard one number bandied about, in the $3 million range. We'll see. No. 4 on our list just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Welcome back, here's what's happening at this moment. CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier, who was severely wounded in Iraq, may be coming home to the U.S. as soon as tomorrow. She, however, remains in critical condition at a U.S. military hospital in Germany.
The Duke University men's lacrosse team is now expected to return to action when school opens this fall. The lacrosse team had been suspended when three team members were charged with rape after an off- campus party.
And our crude awakenings. The daily look at gas prices all over the country. The states with today's highest prices are in red. The lowest in green. The average today for unleaded regular, $2.88. And our graph shows the trend over the last month or so.
A man in Maryland tonight is just starting to serve a life sentence for a crime that shocked all of us. Barely a year ago, Roger Hargrave set his estranged wife on fire at the store where she worked. I want to let you know that some of the pictures you're about to see are very difficult to watch. The crime was horrific. But what happened just weeks before was equally shocking. A Maryland judge ignored Yvette Cade's pleas and lifted an order designed to protect her from Hargrave. Yvette Cade faced her ex-husband in court as he was sentenced, but the story doesn't end there. Here's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Yvette Cade tries to eat or do just about anything, the pain of the tight unhealed skin on her arms is a constant reminder to be careful. Relief comes only in sleep.
YVETTE CADE, BURN VICTIM: By the time I get up moving around, I'm surely remembering the fact that he set me on fire.
CARROLL: He is her ex-husband, Roger Hargrave. Last October, Hargrave went into this T-Mobile store in a Washington, D.C. suburb, where Cade had been working and made good on a threat.
(on camera): Do you remember him walking in, saying anything at all to you?
CADE: I turned, and he says, I love you. and he began dumping liquid over my head. I had no idea that it was gasoline.
CARROLL (voice-over): The horrific chain of events, caught on the store's security camera. That's Cade trying to escape.
CADE: I felt my back arching because I heard -- I thought it was a lighter.
CARROLL: Cade ran through the store, engulfed in flames.
CADE: I know for a fact that I felt the flames. And it was just like so hot. I felt the flesh dripping.
CARROLL: Doctors weren't sure Cade would survive. She has endured dozens of painful surgeries over several months, wanting to live to see the man who did this to her brought to justice.
CADE: Looking forward to it so my family and I, we can put this in the past.
CARROLL: The day finally came last Friday, Hargrave's sentencing. Hargrave asked the court for mercy saying, quote, "What I did was insane." But he never told Cade he was sorry.
CADE: I wanted to hear what he had to say and he still didn't say it. No remorse.
CARROLL: Cade didn't speak directly to Hargrave in court. The words come to her only after it was over.
CADE: You still did not steal my joy. As hard as you tried, you failed.
CARROLL: Maryland circuit court judge William Missouri sentenced Hargrave to life in prison. But it doesn't quite end there. Cade says there's another man who should be brought to justice, a Prince George's County judge, who might have prevented the attack altogether.
CADE: Judge Palumbo knows in his heart that he treated me unfairly and that's putting it nicely.
CARROLL: One month before the violent attack, Judge Richard Palumbo dismissed a restraining order Cade had against Hargrave. Cade says Palumbo actually insulted her during the court proceeding. The following is an audio excerpt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CADE: He's still contacting me. He's intimidating my daughter. And he's vandalizing other people's properties. I want an immediate and absolute divorce.
RICHARD PALUMBO, JUDGE: I'd like to be six-foot-five, but that's not what we do here. You have to go to divorce court for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Palumbo is under judicial review for misconduct in Cade's case and other domestic abuse cases involving protective orders.
(on camera): Judge Palumbo declined our repeated request for an interview. He did defend the comments he made to Yvette Cade in court papers filed last week.
(voice-over): Palumbo said the removal of the restraining order was a clerical error and his comments were, quote, "homespun, not meant to be disparaging."
CADE: I deserve respect. I'm a woman. And I don't deserve to be treated like that by him.
CARROLL: Cade says Palumbo should step down or be removed from the bench. As painful as it is for her, Cade says she'll attend his conduct hearing this August, hoping the legal system won't fail her again. Jason Carroll, CNN, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And we are told that Cade is reasonably satisfied that Maryland's commission on judicial disabilities will hold a hearing on Judge Palumbo's conduct on August 28th. He could be reprimanded or removed from the bench altogether.
Tonight thousands of people are coming to terms with a shocking loss. For weeks they thought one of their friends was alive and someone else was dead. But it turned out it was a gross case of mistaken identity. How could it have gone on for so long? And a little bit later on, is your boss spying on you? We've got the results of a brand new survey. Chances are he or she is. You'll see.
Right now No. 4 on our CNN.com countdown. We covered it a short time ago. The president renews his support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. The Senate votes on the proposal later this week. It's not expected to pass.
No. 3 when our countdown continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Tonight, a 19 year old college student is able to sit up and talk more than a month after a devastating car crash that nearly killed her. And for weeks everyone thought Whitney Cerak had died in the crash because of a heartbreaking identification mix-up.
It's a story we first told you about last week, just days after the mix-up was discovered. And yesterday it was a scene of grief delayed as a community said good-bye to the young woman on the other side of that tragic I.D. mistake. And Carol Costello joins me now with the details.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to believe this could actually happen.
ZAHN: And to go on for as long as it did.
COSTELLO: For weeks and weeks. But let's talk about the memorial service because it was something else. Nineteen hundred people packed the memorial service, trying to make sense of this. Some not quite believing yet that Whitney survived and Laura VanRyn died.
Laura's boyfriend talked about sitting by what he thought was Laura's bedside day after day after day. Today he says he's mad at God, saying it was the worst trick he ever played on him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Nearly 2,000 people attended a memorial service Sunday in Kentwood, Michigan for Laura VanRyn, the 22 year old Taylor University student was mistakenly thought to have survived an April highway crash in which four students from the Indiana school and a school employee were killed.
For weeks everyone thought Laura was alive and that her classmate, 19 year old Whitney Cerak, had died in the crash. VanRyn's boyfriend was a constant visitor to the rehab facility where the patient he thought was Laura lay in a coma.
ARYN LINENGER, LAURA VANRYN'S BOYFRIEND: I saw her, her hands, her feet, her complexion, and I couldn't believe that it wasn't her.
COSTELLO: Last week as the woman emerged from her coma Laura's family and her boyfriend realized it wasn't Laura in the hospital bed but Whitney.
LINENGER: Many of you today are probably wondering how a man could date a girl and love a girl for three years and not know that it was her. I ask myself that same question.
COSTELLO: The Indiana coroner's office says Laura and Whitney were misidentified at the scene of the accident. He later apologized for the tragic mistake. The VanRyn family has received permission to exhume Laura's body and have her buried closer to their home.
As for Sunday's memorial service it was about more than just mistaken identity. It was about the life of Laura Vanryn and how she touched the lives of others.
KRISTA GORDON, LAURA VANRYN'S COUSIN: It was interesting to me how someone you love so much can change your perspective on everything. (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: As for Laura's parents, they've heard some people telling them to file a lawsuit, but according to "USA TODAY" they will not because Jesus taught forgiveness. In the meantime, as you heard, Laura's body is being exhumed from a grave marked with Whitney's name. She will be buried closer to home.
ZAHN: The amazing thing about these families is how open they have been about their in one case newfound sense of joy and the other case the grief.
COSTELLO: There was this blog site set up by Whitney's parents, and now it's been taken over by Laura's parents because they want the word to get out there and they want everybody to know that they're handling this and it's going to be OK.
You know, the interesting thing about the boyfriend, Laura's boyfriend, is at one point he noticed that her eyes were bluer than he remembered. But it didn't really trigger in his mind that he was looking at a different person.
ZAHN: Sure. Given all the stresses of what he was up against in the hospital. Good to see you. Hey, why don't you go home and get some sleep before you do "AMERICAN MORNING?" 3:15 tomorrow morning. Bye, Carol.
Still ahead, is your boss reading your e-mail? Could what you're spending get you into big trouble? How about what you're reading? We'll look at an eye-opening new survey in just a minute, right after we take a quick biz break.
The Dow dropped 199 points. The Nasdaq plunged 49. The S&P fell 12. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the Fed need to remain vigilant to make sure inflation remains under control. Bernanke was speaking at the International Monetary Conference and his words helped send stocks tumbling. In case you were wondering about those bad numbers today. Another reason -- oil supply fears. That cry (ph) came as the supreme leader of Iran warned that the oil flow from the Persian gulf could be endangered if Washington makes what he called a wrong move over Iran. Oil jumped up to over $73 a barrel.
What would you do on your computer when you're alone at work? Are you really, really all alone or could you be putting your job at risk? Find out what your boss may be doing but not telling you. Hey, guess what? about 44 percent of you out there have had your stuff read. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Stay tuned for more.
First, at number three on our CNN.com countdown, a pilot's incredible heroism saves three lives. Utah authorities say he was flying a single engine Cessna near Brigham City when he suffered a heart attack and had to make an emergency landing on a road. The passengers escaped unharmed, but the pilot died later at the hospital.
Number two when we com back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: All right, "Big Brother" may or may not be watching, but a brand new survey today shows the big boss is almost certainly reading your e-mail. Forty-four percent of major U.S. companies are hiring people to read the e-mail employees write. That's right, and they are serious. Nearly one in three U.S. companies have fired someone for writing the wrong thing in company e-mail. Here's Rusty Dornin with tonight's "Eye Opener."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When nurse Jamie Ray sends an e-mail from her computer at the DeKalb Medical Center where she works to the outside world, she knows her bosses are looking over her shoulder, electronically speaking. If her message contains any company no-no's, the hospital now has software to catch it.
(on camera): You don't mind the idea...
JAMIE RAY, DEKALB MEDICAL CENTER: No.
DORNIN: ... That they can see what you're typing out if it triggers something?
RAY: Exactly, yes. And not a problem at all, because this is a hospital. It is a secure network.
DORNIN (voice-over): Hospital officials say they don't care about most personal e-mails about dinner plans, et cetera, but they do worry about confidential information: patient history, Social Security numbers, and the like. Since last year Sharon Finney has been tasked with keeping up with those questionable e-mails.
(on camera): How many things pop up for you in a day that you have to take a look at?
SHARON FINNEY, DEKALB MEDICAL CENTER: Probably, I would say, probably 200 plus.
DORNIN (voice-over): No one has been fired yet for violations, but a few have been counseled, says Finney.
(on camera): Do people still feel like they're being spied upon?
FINNEY: I think that they're -- I think employees do have some concern when they find out that we're monitoring.
DORNIN (voice-over): So while the software alerts on confidential information, it also alerts on other things that are forbidden. Harassment, for one. So we did a test. Finney sent me an e-mail saying "if you don't respond immediately, I will be forced to take physical action against you." Sounds like a threat to me.
(on camera): Let's see, what time is it now? Let's see what time it is.
FINNEY: It's about 10:30 now.
DORNIN (voice-over): Her e-mail reached me right away.
(on camera): I just received your e-mail.
DORNIN (voice-over): Then it doesn't take long for the red flags to pop up.
FINNEY: And so it's about -- it's probably about 10:40 now. So it took about 10 minutes.
DORNIN (on camera): Right.
FINNEY: And then I get a page on my e-mail or on my BlackBerry that basically comes up and I can see that a -- what it says here, and I've got an e-mail that says I can see regarding account on here. And so I know that that is a secure message that has left the facility.
DORNIN (voice-over): Back in her office, Finney can check the exact wording of the message. Then...
FINNEY: At that point what I would do is I would notify human resources that we had an employee that sent a potentially harassing e- mail.
DORNIN: According to the proof-point survey funded by the company that makes security software, more than 40 percent of major U.S. companies have hired people to do what Finney does, read questionable e-mail. But it's tough to get most companies to discuss this publicly.
(on camera): At CNN's request, ePolicy Institute asked 8,000 companies to be interviewed on their e-mail security. Only three were willing to talk about it. So we asked our parent company, Turner Broadcasting. It would neither confirm nor deny that it monitors our outgoing e-mails. So you might say if "Big Brother" is watching, he's not talking about it. Rusty Dornin, CNN, Atlanta. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Coming up on "LARRY KING LIVE," they became lovers years ago when he was in sixth grade and she was his teacher. This is a couple children later now. Before that, No. 2 on our CNN.com countdown. Near Tampa, Florida, the bodies of two college students found inside a deflated helium balloon. Police say they appear to have suffocated when they crawled inside. Coming up next, the No. 1 story on CNN.com. It involves a newborn baby and an urgent mystery. Can you help solve a crime?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: In Lubbock, Texas, tonight, police say alive a missing 5- day-old baby girl. They say she was abducted by a woman who had befriended her mother. That's some good news. Thanks so much for joining us, have a great night.
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