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American Morning
Duke Lacrosse Players Free and Clear; Minister's Killing: Wife Goes on Trial
Aired April 12, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Pulling the plug. NBC boots Don Imus from its cable news channel, but what about his syndicated radio show. Today it's CBS that's feeling the heat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
READE SELIGMANN, FORMER DUKE UNIVERSITY LACROSSE PLAYER: This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Innocent but outraged. Next steps for those former Duke lacrosse players cleared of sexual assault charges. This morning, new calls for the district attorney who pressed the case to resign.
S. O'BRIEN: And hard landing. A plane loses its landing gear overnight and careens off a snowy runway in Michigan.
M. O'BRIEN: Plus, farewell to a legend. Word overnight that author Kurt Vonnegut has died. Today we remember a literary icon.
Live from Raleigh, North Carolina, Chicago and New York City on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: And good morning. Welcome, everyone. It's Thursday, April 12th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin again with the outrage over Don Imus' racist remarks still growing. The radio host's 40-year-career is in jeopardy. Here's where we stand this morning. MSNBC announcing last night it will no longer simulcast the Imus radio show. CBS Radio says it's "monitoring the situation closely." So far, though, no decision to canceled the program, which is heard on 70 stations nationwide. Imus begins serving his two-week suspension on Monday.
Reverend Al Sharpton plans a protest today outside of CBS Radio. He says he wants Imus fired and Barack Obama becomes the first presidential candidate to call for Imus' job. The senator says he will not be appearing on Imus' show again.
Allan Chernoff is live for us at the NBC studios in New York.
Good morning to you, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And Imus' comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team were very offensive to plenty of staff members here at the headquarters of NBC News. The spoke last night with the president of NBC News, Steve Capus, and he said there were two factors that really drove his decision to take the Imus show off NBC, off of MSNBC, of course. He said, first of all, there was a series of meetings that he held with staffers here, particularly one where there were 30 to 40 mainly African-American employees who spoke out, and many of them spoke out against Imus. And he said that meeting was "very profound, really powerful."
And then there was the press conference held at Rutgers University. He said that he was very moved by the captain and also by the coach of the Rutgers team. After those two events, Steve Capus said it was very clear that he had no choice to move but to protect the good name of NBC News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE CAPUS, NBC NEWS PRESIDENT: Those voices within NBC were louder than anything else. And we place a tremendous value on the integrity of this organization. At the end of the day, we have nothing but our reputation. And if you sacrifice that, then what have you gained? What's the purpose of going on if you've sacrificed your reputation along the way?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: Of course, the big question now, will Don Imus be able to hold on to his radio job at CBS? At least one board member of CBS is calling for Imus' ouster.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: And, in fact, we're going to be talking to that board member a little bit later this morning.
Allan, let me ask you a question, though. In your conversations with Steve Capus of NBC News, did he talk about how difficult it was to make this decision when, realistically, there's a lot of money at stake, advertising dollars and revenue overall that Imus brings in to MSNBC.
CHERNOFF: Right. Obviously, business is very important and many advertisers yesterday were pulling away. But Capus said the real issue here was the integrity of NBC News and, of course, protecting the staff here, responding to their complaints. He said, number one, if we don't have our reputation, what do we have?
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Allan Chernoff for us this morning in Midtown Manhattan at the NBC studios. Thank you, Allan. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: This morning, for the first time in more than a year, those three former Duke lacrosse players, once accused of sexual assault, are free and clear in the eyes of the law. All charges against them are dropped. North Carolina's attorney general says they are innocent and says the case against them was a tragic rush to accuse by a prosecutor who now faces his own legal problems. Jason Carroll is live in Durum, North Carolina, with the latest.
Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, we heard emotional comments from the players yesterday. Frank comments from the attorney general. The person we're still waiting to hear a comment from is from the man who pursued this case from the very beginning, Durham's District Attorney Michael Nifong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL, (voice over): After more than a year, the three former Duke University lacrosse players finally heard the North Carolina attorney general echo what they had insisted all along.
ROY COOPER, NORTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Based on the significant inconsistencies between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges.
CARROLL: During an emotional news conference, the three players described what it feels like to be publicly vindicated.
DAVE EVANS, FORMER DUKE UNIVERSITY LACROSSE PLAYER: It's been 395 days since this nightmare began, and finally today it's come to a closure.
COLLIN FINNERTY, FORMER DUKE UNIVERSITY LACROSSE PLAYER: Knowing I had the truth on my side was really the most comforting thing of all throughout the past year.
CARROLL: Collin Finnerty, Dave Evans and Reade Seligmann never wavered from their original statements to police, that they had not raped an exotic dancer hired to perform at a team party last spring.
READE SELIGMANN, FORMER DUKE UNIVERSITY LACROSSE PLAYER: This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed.
CARROLL: The rape charges had already been dropped. But in a dramatic news conference, Attorney General Roy Cooper said he was also dismissing the remaining kidnapping and assault charges.
COOPER: We believe that these cases were the result of a tragic rush to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations.
CARROLL: Cooper called Michael Nifong, the Durham district attorney who originally brought the case, a rove prosecutor who had overreached his authority.
COOPER: The Durham district attorney pushed forward unchecked. There were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado. And in the rush to condemn a community and a state, lost the ability to see clearly.
CARROLL: Defense attorneys also criticize how the media initially covered the case.
JIM COONEY, ATTORNEY FOR READE SELIGMANN: If they had done what journalists are supposed to do and spoken truth to power, they could have slowed this train down.
CARROLL: But the harshest criticism was leveled against Nifong, who had publicly criticized the players for months. But then when the allegations began unraveling, asked the attorney general to take over the case. Nifong now faces ethics charges on allegations he mishandled the case and kept exculpatory evidence from the defense. Nifong hasn't responded publicly to those allegations. Reade Seligmann says Nifong didn't do enough to uphold the moral obligations of his office.
SELIGMANN: If police officers and a district attorney can systematically railroad us with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, I can't imagine what they would do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves.
CARROLL: Defense attorneys say the final act of justice should be to remove Nifong from office and have him disbarred.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And late yesterday, Nifong's attorney released a statement basically saying that Nifong had full confidence in the attorney general's decision to drop the charges. However, that attorney did not comment on how Nifong thought the attorney general's harsh criticisms of how he had handled the case.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Jason, what do the attorneys for the young men say about the possibility of taking some kind of civil action against, I guess, Nifong or the state or the county? Is that possible?
CARROLL: It's most definitely possible, Miles. Some of our defense sources are telling us that defense attorneys are likely to pursue a civil suit against Nifong, possibly Duke University. Those same sources telling us, though, that they will probably not seek a civil suit against the accuser.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Jason Carroll, thank you very much.
Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Some crucial evidence may be lost this morning in the case of those eight fired federal prosecutors. According to published reports, the White House says about 50 staffers and officials, including Karl Rove, used a private e-mail system to discuss, among other things, the prosecutors. And now those e-mails may be gone. The law requires all official White House business be done on government computers and saved. The White House says it's trying to recover the lost e-mails. Members of Congress who are investigating the case of the fired prosecutors said they'd like to see those e- mails.
M. O'BRIEN: Military families this morning dealing with a big bombshell from the Pentagon. The one-year tour of duty is no more. Fifteen months in Iraq and Afghanistan will now be the rule. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it's the best way to sustain the troop buildup in Iraq into next year. He says the longer tours will ensure troops get 12 full months at home between those deployments.
This morning in Washington, there's another battle brewing between Democrats in Congress and the president, this time over stem cells. The president poised to veto, once again, a bill that would allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Senate Democrats pushed the bill through yesterday, but not by a veto-proof margin. President Bush opposes federal support of the research because it involves destroying human embryos. Scientists say those stem cells could help fight many now incurable diseases.
S. O'BRIEN: Several weeks after the first of dozens of cats and dogs nationwide began mysteriously dying, and endless confusing pet food recalls, there are still lots and lots of questions about the cause. Today, there are hearings taking place on Capitol Hill to determine why better safeguards are not in place and why the probably wasn't detected sooner. Meanwhile, pet owners and pet food suppliers are anxiously awaiting for answers. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): With so much tainted food taken off the shelves, the Nevada Animal Disease and Food Safety Lab says the worst is over for thousands of pet owners.
DR ANETTE RINK, NEVADA ANIMAL DISEASE AND FOOD SAFETY LAB: If they're not sick yet, they're probably not going to get sick.
LAWRENCE: But just this week, the FDA added 12 new brands of cat food to the recall. And pets like Nisha (ph) are still wasting away.
BERNI HUBER, CAT OWNER: She's got less than two weeks to live.
LAWRENCE: Berni Huber says this cat dropped a third of her body weight and barely moves.
HUBER: Before she ate this nasty stuff, no, she was a playful cat.
LAWRENCE: Huber says the vet discovered damage to her kidneys and liver.
Ultimately, who do you hold responsible? Where does the buck stop?
HUBER: My biggest blame right now is twofold, one with the FDA and Chem Nutra.
LAWRENCE: The FDA discovered the chemical melamine in wheat gluten used to make the pet food. Huber believes they should have caught it sooner. Menu Foods bought the wheat gluten from Chem Nutra, which imported it from China. So we tried to get answers at the suppliers headquarters in Los Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
LAWRENCE: My name's Chris Lawrence from CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
LAWRENCE: I was hoping to speak to someone from Chem Nutra.
A spokesman told me Chem Nutra immediately stopped shipping the wheat gluten when the problem was discovered. They're cooperating with the FDA and conducting their own internal tests. But Doctor Anette Rink doubts melamine is the answer everyone's been looking for.
RINK: We don't really know what the toxic component is in any of the recalled pet food.
LAWRENCE: She says some owners may be attributing natural deaths to the pet food scare. Berni Huber looks at his once healthy cat and can't help but disagree.
HUBER: Yes, it's OK. It's OK.
LAWRENCE: Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: And a twist now in this pet food recall story. The chief financial officer of Menu Foods sold 14,000 shares of his company's stock, worth about $90,000, three weeks before the recall of pet food by his company. Those shares, by the way, now worth about $54,000. Menu Foods says that timing of that sale is coincidental. Well, the company started getting calls at about the same time the stocks was sold. A spokesman says the executive, who name is Mark Wiens, wouldn't have known about it so quickly. The calls didn't start to cause any alarm until about a week later, they say.
M. O'BRIEN: A literary giant has left us this morning. Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who best captured the insanity and uncertainty of war, died yesterday in New York City. He penned about 19 novels, including "Cats Cradle," "Catch 22" and "Slaughterhouse- Five." The latter inspired by his experience as a German P.O.W. during the allied fire bombing of Dresden during World War II. Vonnegut took a fall a few weeks ago at home, suffered brain injuries. He was 84.
S. O'BRIEN: Parts of North Carolina are on alert right now for tornadoes and a massive spring storm leaves the upper Midwest buried in snow this morning. Chad Myers is watching all the extreme weather for us. That's coming up next.
And saving the environment and yourself a lot of money. Going green in the search for a new house. You won't want to miss our series, "Your American Home."
Plus, a would-be robber gets much more than he bargained for at McDonald's. We'll tell you what happened.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning right here on CNN.
Extreme weather is slamming parts of the Midwest. In central Indiana, powerful thunderstorms and possible tornadoes left a trail of damage last night. Several cars and homes in the Indianapolis area hit hard. Countless trees and power lines also knocked down. No reports of injuries.
North now to Chicago. Things back to format at O'Hare International Airport this morning after a snow storm forced hundreds of flights to be canceled yesterday. The storm dumped as much as seven inches of snow. Kids got treated to a springtime snow day, while plow operators picked up a little unexpected overtime.
Quarter past the hour right now. Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center with more on this storm.
And there's one headed our way, right, Chad?
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.
About 30 miles outside of Des Moines, Iowa, a mother and her two children, ages two and six, are dead after their minivan went out of control in a slick road. The van slid sideways, was broadsided by another minivan. It happened on Wednesday morning. Passengers from the other van were taken to the hospital.
About 35 miles south of Seattle, five elementary school students are now recovering from minor injuries after a semi-truck jack knifed and rear-ended their bus. There were 47 children on that bus.
Rap star Snoop Dogg going to avoid a prison sentence for a felony gun and drug charges. The 35-year-old rapper, who's real name is Calvin Broadus, pleaded no contest on Wednesday in a Los Angeles court. He's going to serve five years of probation, has to perform 800 hours of community service, too. Alton, Missouri, now. A quick thinking teenager in a fast food restaurant prevented a robbery. According to police, an 18-year-old worker punched the would-be-robber in the face. Take a look at that. Knocked him to the ground. Then another customer was able to hold the suspect until the cops arrived.
And painful steps at kind of a weird event in Logan, Utah. Have you heard about this one, Miles? Look at these guys. Look at these guys' feet. Yes, they're walking a mile-long course in high heels. That's got to hurt, man. It's the third annual Walk-In-Her-Shoes fund-raiser. It's part of the observance of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. All the money raised goes to rape prevention, education programs. Those men will have blisters for weeks. I know from experience. I've done that.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, they will.
Coming up, it's not your grandfather's green house, and our Greg Hunter is going to prove it.
Greg.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miles.
I'm in an ultra modern house in Brooklyn. But as cool as it is, it's also very easy on the utilities, right down to the radiant heat floor, to the low energy windows. I'll tell you all about that green revolution as AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Time now to focus on "Your American Home." When you think of green houses, plants and flowers and a glass room may come to mind. But these days it's the plants and flowers outside and green house gases that are changing the way we live. AMERICAN MORNING's Greg Hunter live for us at a green house in Brooklyn, New York.
Hello, Greg.
HUNTER: We are at a green house and it's nothing but skylights and windows. During the day, it let's the light in. They use no electricity in terms of lighting their house during the day. Now, this is environmentally friendly. It's green. And it saves you green.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER, (voice over): Les Bluestone builds homes that are environmentally friendly, like this new townhouse in the Bronx. But this house isn't just green, it saves you green, too.
Les, this is a toilet with two buttons. Why?
LES BLUESTONE, DEVELOPER: Greg, these are dual flush toilets. It's a new technology. This button here on the right is for a liquid flush and this button here is on a solid flush. HUNTER: Saving water and money.
Replacing aerators which control the flow of water on faucets and shower heads will, too, from $300 to $500 a year. This energy efficient boiler heats water for all three floors of this building, saving another $300 a year. But you don't have to be in a new house to save money. An easy way to be green is to change your old light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs.
JENNIFER BOGO, SCIENCE EDITOR, "POPULAR MECHANICS": If you replaced every one of those bulbs with a compact fluorescent, you'd save about $180 on your energy bill every year.
HUNTER: And for under $100, a programmable thermostat that will automatically lower the temperature in your home when you're sleeping or at work.
One of the more unusual green and money saving devices, this green roof atop architect Richard Cook's Manhattan office building. The soil and vegetation act like insulation, but there are other benefits.
RICHARD COOK, ARCHITECT: To look out over this prospect of Manhattan and in the foreground see our green roof is basically something that we think is beautiful and makes us feel good, makes a healthier, more productive workplace.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: I was so turned on by this story, I went through my entire house and changed every light bulb. This is a 60 watt light bulb. I got it for about $2 apiece. This is 100 watt lightbulb. I paid about $2.50. They say over the life of these bulbs, they'll last nine or 10 years, I'll save, you know, a couple hundred bucks, maybe, throughout the entire house.
So now more about this green house. Now they have low energy lighting. They used a lot of recycled products. As a matter of fact, this actually was beams from the house. This right here is one solid piece of wood. They recycled this for their stairwell.
Also, you can't see it, but in the floor, they have radiant heat, coming up through the floor in the wintertime. And you saw from upstairs all the beautiful windows that they have in this house. Well, that let's light in.
Also, they don't have to any power for it and these windows are energy efficient. They can open like this. And to let the heat out, they can open like that. Pretty cool, huh?
M. O'BRIEN: I like that window. That's pretty cool.
HUNTER: Back to you, Miles, Soledad.
M. O'BRIEN: Hey, Greg, quick question. How many consumer reporters does it take to change a light bulb? HUNTER: Well, in my case, me and my wife. My wife telling me what to do and me unscrewing the bulb.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. And, really, on a more serious note, can you put them on a rio (ph) stat? I've always wondered that. Do they dim?
HUNTER: You can't. They don't dim.
M. O'BRIEN: That's one thing. They've got to work on that.
HUNTER: It's one of the weaknesses in these lights. You can't -- they don't work on that, that's right. At least not to my knowledge. But they save money.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Greg Hunter, thank you very much.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's the tricky part. It's hard to have those in kids' rooms if you can't sort of dim them.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, it's nice to have the rio stat.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
Home prices -- maybe not that home, because that looked like a pretty nice home in Brooklyn, but home prices generally are dropping and it's the first time it's happened in decades. Twenty-five minutes past the hour and that means it's time for Ali Velshi, who's "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I've been testing this one out on people, and I've got say, a lot of folks are a little surprised that this is news. We've been talking about this housing slump for so long, people think home prices have been dropping for a while. Well, they haven't. What's been going on is that home prices have been increasing for so long that in 40 years you haven't had a year where the medium price of a home in America, that's the price at which half homes sell for more and half of them sell for less, we haven't had a year where the median price is less at the end of the year than it was when it started.
The National Association of Realtors says this will be it. For the first time in 40 years, expect the median price of a home in the United States to be lower at the end of the year than it was in the beginning. Some of that's about the sub-prime mess that we're in. And, in fact, that ties right to interest rates.
Now some of the best reading one gets yesterday was the minutes from the last Fed meeting in March 21st. A good reading, I'm telling you. But what we did find out is that the Fed is concerned that both the economy is slowing on one side and inflation remains a threat on the other. That means that there's some chance that interest rates could go up again. The Fed rate is 5.25 percent. That means the prime rate is 8.25 percent.
And that didn't help stock markets yesterday. The Dow was 90 points lower on that news, on news that we used more gasoline in April than we've ever used in an April before in history. So those gas prices that are up there don't seem to be stopping people from spending. But we use more gas and we spend more money plays into the whole inflation scenario.
So, once again, mixed bag and home prices are actually going down.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Ali.
VELSHI: All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Top stories of the morning coming up, including Imus now unplugged. He's been booted from TV. Could radio be next? We're going to have the latest on that.
And all charges now dropped. Three former Duke lacrosse players are cleared. We're going to talk to some of the people closest to them today.
And today the trial begins for a Tennessee teacher who's accused of murdering her minister husband. We'll preview the dramatic testimony straight ahead.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It's Thursday, April 12th.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
We're glad you're with us.
S. O'BRIEN: We've got several big stories on the radar this morning, including Don Imus, now dumped by NBC. Still has his radio show, though. But a big protest is planned this morning to try to pressure CBS to cancel that, too.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, a look at what is next for those former Duke lacrosse players now cleared of sexual assault. Plus, new pressures this morning on the district attorney who indicted them.
S. O'BRIEN: And it was a crime that surprised the country, a mother confessing to shooting and killing her minister husband. Well, the trial starts today, and some big secrets are expected to be revealed.
M. O'BRIEN: And author Kurt Vonnegut is dead. We'll look back at the man who left an unforgettable imprint on literature. S. O'BRIEN: We begin our half hour, though, with the very latest on this firestorm that surrounds radio host Don Imus. MSNBC says they're no longer going to simulcast the radio show. Imus still has his radio show, but CBS says they're going to monitor the situation closely.
CBS board member and the former president of the NAACP, Bruce Gordon, says the consequences for Don Imus should be more severe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE GORDON, CBS BOARD MEMBER: I believe in a zero tolerance policy in corporations. You've got to have a very firm and strong policy on the respect for diversity in the corporation and in the community that you serve. And when you violate that policy, there can't be tolerance around it. Either you live within the policy and keep your job, or you violate the policy and it can cost you your job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: The Reverend Al Sharpton plans a protest today outside of CBS. He wants Imus fired. He's been calling for that for a while now.
And Barack Obama becomes the first presidential candidate to call for Imus's job, as well. Obama says he will not appear on Imus's show -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: This morning, for the first time in more than a year, those three former Duke lacrosse players once accused of sexuality assault are free and clear in the eyes of the law. All charges against them are now dropped. North Carolina's attorney general says they are innocent.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho is here.
Quite a relief, to say the least, for those young men and their families.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, to say the very least. We're talking about hometown reaction, Miles.
You know, Collin Finnerty is from Garden City, New York, an upscale community with hometown values, especially when it comes to the young man they believe was wrongly accused of rape. Everyone we spoke to, from neighbors, to shop owners, to people on the streets, say they believe Finnerty waited far too long for justice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice over): A year ago, Collin Finnerty was a lanky, 19- year-old teenager, facing rape and kidnapping charges. And it showed.
Now the ordeal is over. The transformation remarkable. Finnerty, now 20, looks and talks like a man who has seen adversity and overcome it. COLLIN FINNERTY, CLEARED OF CHARGES: I now understand in a way that I never did before that family and friends is what matters the most.
CHO: Especially back home, in Garden City, New York, where neighbor and family friend Ahmed Berdary watched the news with his 10- year-old son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe these three individuals are innocent.
AHMED BERDARY, FINNERTY'S NEIGHBOR: Yes! Yes, indeed, finally.
It was always guilty without even knowing the truth. And it's just very painful. And knowing that he's innocent -- and I believed all along he was innocent.
CHO: Finnerty's neighbors, even those who didn't know him, rallied behind the boy next door.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel awful that the family had to go through something like that.
CHO: In the center of the town, lacrosse is part of the culture. Robert Kloepfer is a restaurant owner where the Finnertys are regulars.
ROBERT KLOEPFER, FRIEND OF FAMILY: It's great for them. And they said he was innocent from day one, innocent all the way through, and finally they're vindicated.
CHO: Finnerty attended Chaminade High School. He played lacrosse there, and recently started coaching. The home team, like everyone else around here, is showing support.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Getting back in the game, it seems like that's what he wants. He just wants to forget this and put it behind him.
CHO: Neighbors say this is cause for celebration. When Collin and his family return from North Carolina, Berdary will be waiting.
BERDARY: I'm going to give him a big hug. I can't wait to see him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: So what's next for Finnerty? Well, he said he's looking forward to returning to college full time and playing lacrosse again. The big question is, where will he do that?
Well, Duke University has extended an open invitation for him to return, but there is no indication that Finnerty will accept that offer. And attorneys say officially there's been no decision yet.
So, for now, he's taking classes at Hofstra University on Long Island. He's also volunteering. He's working with children who lost family members on 9/11.
You know, during the news conference yesterday, Miles, one interesting thing he said is he really learned the importance of family and friends, you can imagine, throughout this past year. And one expert said, you know, that is very important. He's going to carry this with him for a long time. Certainly, it has changed all three of their lives.
So hopefully now they can move on.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, you Google his name and there are 92,600 returns. So, there is no getting away from this story. But yet, I guess as time goes on, things will change, won't they?
CHO: That's right. And he said himself many times during this news conference yesterday the importance of family and friends. And you saw the outpouring of support from the community.
Everyone we spoke to there, people who didn't even know him, had heard of him, of course, and the story, and said, you know, "We never wavered. We always thought he was innocent. And finally, there's justice."
M. O'BRIEN: Alina Cho, thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Those poor young men. I mean, they lost a year of their lives. They really did.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: They really did.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about what's happening this morning.
(NEWSBREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: This morning in Tennessee, testimony begins in the case of a teacher who confessed to killing her minister husband as he lay in bed a year ago. Mary Winkler is facing first-degree murder charges.
CNN's Thomas Roberts joins us from Selmer, Tennessee -- Thomas.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning.
A small community was stunned over a year ago here in Selmer when their young, charismatic preacher, Matthew Winkler, was murdered. It gripped national attention after they pulled his wife, Mary Winkler, in and charged her with murder.
Today, though, the details of what was going on behind closed doors in that marriage will come full to light as we hear what happened with Mary Winkler.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS (voice over): Mary Winkler seemed to have it all, a loving husband, three adorable young daughters, a job as a substitute teacher, and a house on a hill provided by the church where her husband, Matthew, was a minister.
BILL SMITH, FAMILY FRIEND: I don't know of a couple who from the very start of their relationship loved each other more, and after 10 years of marriage loved each other more and more, more excited about their life, more excited about their future.
ROBERTS: But that future changed for the Winklers last March when by her own admission, Mary killed her husband with the family's shotgun.
CHIEF ROGER RICKMAN, SELMER POLICE: Mary Winkler has confessed to the murder of her husband, Matthew Winkler, shooting him on March 22, 2006, leaving Selmer with her three daughters.
ROBERTS: The case is ready to go to trial, and a jury of Mary's peers has been seated. Their job, determine why Mary shot her husband in the back and how she should be punished, if at all. Winkler's defense attorneys say they will take a multi-layered approach to her defense. Winkler's family says Matthew Winkler was verbally and possibly physically abusive to his spouse, which led her to snap. But family friends say if that was happening, it was well hidden.
PAM KILLINGSWORTH, FAMILY FRIEND: Never saw any signs of domestic abuse. Mary never -- she never said anything. And as much as I was with the children, nothing was ever said. There were no actions. Usually there will be telltale signs.
ROBERTS: The secrets of the Winklers' seemingly perfect marriage will play out in her first-degree murder trial that her lawyers say will last about five days.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS : Now, the jury was seated last night at 6:00. As it turns out, there are 12 jurors with four alternates. And the break down is that there are 12 women and 4 men.
The ages? A 20-year-old woman, all the way up to a 60-year-old man. And Miles, as it turns out, actually one of the men on the jury is a minister, and also one of the women on the jury is someone who admits that she has been an abused spouse.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting.
Thomas Roberts in Tennessee.
Thank you -- Soledad.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get to a little health news this morning.
Women who can't seem to quit smoking while they're pregnant actually could be dealing with another mental health problem. A Columbia University study of pregnant smokers finds that 45 percent suffer from depression or panic disorders. Researchers say doctors need to know this and should suggest mental health treatments to help pregnant women kick the habit.
The Columbia study appears in the journal "Obstetrics and Gynecology".
Researchers have now identified four genes that team up to help cancer cells spread. When they suppressed those genes in lab mice, the growth of the tumors was nearly eliminated. That's really interesting. Scientists hope that that discovery is going to lead to more effective and maybe even less toxic cancer drugs.
You can read more about this study in the journal "Nature".
And cancer patients who are recovering from surgery might want to get out and get a massage or maybe some acupuncture. A combination of those two therapies helps ease pain and depression better and faster than the standard post-operative care.
That study is published in the journal of "Pain and Symptom Management".
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, a bathroom break backs up the skies, so to speak. We'll tell you about the air traffic controller whose unexpected break caused some headaches in the air.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
We've got some breaking news just in to CNN this morning.
In Baghdad, there's a big explosion to tell you about. It took place in the Iraqi parliament building, apparently in a restaurant that's inside the building.
There are 275 members of parliament, and the word is that many of those parliamentarians were having lunch in that restaurant inside the parliament building when the explosion took place. That's inside the very heavy fortified Green Zone.
Details are just coming into us, and as soon as we get more information, we're going to bring it to you. But it looks as if now there has been a big explosion rocking the Iraqi parliament building. And there is word, according to a witness quoted by Reuters, that there were many casualties.
We're going to try to get some specific numbers for you and details as we get more information -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The options backdating scandal claiming another CEO this morning.
A few minutes before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business".
Hello, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
This has just come across, and we're making some phone calls on it now. Not a lot of details, but the CEO of Monster Worldwide, which is the parent company of monster.com, is stepping down. This is a company that was early on in the options backdating debacle. This company had to restate more than $250 million between 1997 and 2005.
We'll get more information on that, but another CEO stepping down because of options backdating.
A couple of other pieces of news.
Over at Menu Foods in Canada -- this is the company behind the pet food that's all been recalled -- the CFO of Menu Foods apparently sold about half his shares in the company on the very day that the company started getting calls about sick cats. That was three weeks before the recall.
He sold 14,000 shares for $89,000 on February the 26th and 27th. Those shares today are worth about $54,000. He's quoted as calling it a horrible coincidence. And a spokesperson for the company says because of the size of that company, he wouldn't have known about those initial phone calls coming in.
We're getting more on that from the company as well.
And Nestle, the food giant, is buying Gerber, the baby food business, from Novartis. It's a $5.5 billion deal. It gives Switzerland-based Nestle a big presence now in the U.S. baby food market.
It's the world's largest maker of infant nutritional products, but it has no baby food presence in the United States at all. And a very small share of the infant formula market. Gerber is based in Michigan. It's got 80 percent of the U.S. baby food market. It sells a line of powders and oils and toiletries for small people.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: And it's got microwavable meals...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does. Do you need me to do this part of the report for you?
VELSHI: Parents, by the way, don't switch baby foods easily. They'll pay higher prices to stick with the baby foods that they want. That's all I know about baby foods. So I'm going to sign off.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Ali.
And signing off as well is NBC, dumping "Imus in the Morning" from its cable news channel. The reaction just in from Don Imus himself.
Plus, a new push today to pull the plug on his radio show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
READE SELIGMANN, FMR. DUKE LACROSSE PLAYER ACCUSED OF RAPE: This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Innocent and outraged. The next steps for those former Duke lacrosse players cleared of sexual assault charges. Plus, new calls for the D.A. who indicted them to step down.
S. O'BRIEN: It was a hard landing. A plane's nose gear failed in a snowstorm overnight. The plane careens right off a runway.
We'll tell you where more extreme weather could touch down today.
M. O'BRIEN: Plus, remembering a literary icon. Author Kurt Vonnegut dead this morning at the age of 84.
Live from Raleigh, North Carolina; Chicago, and New York on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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