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American Morning

NBC Dumps Imus; Iraqi Parliament Explosion; Minister's Wife on Trial; Murder in New Orleans; Duke Lacrosse Players Innocent

Aired April 12, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody, 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 this morning with the outrage over Don Imus's racist remarks. NBC making the decision last night to dump him.

This morning, Imus responded with this on the radio show.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DON IMUS, RADIO HOST: As you all know, MSNBC yielded to enormous pressure, which I do understand, canceled the simulcast of this program. And so we move on.

Somebody was talking to me about the outrageous level of hypocrisy on everybody who knows better, and I said, well, you know, I shouldn't have said it. And then somebody else said, "Well, you got caught in a slow news cycle. And I said, "Sometimes it doesn't snow on Christmas."

(END AUDIO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Allan Chernoff live for us this morning at the NBC studios in New York.

Good morning, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Don Imus's comments were offensive to many people here at NBC. The president of NBC News, Steve Capus, told me last night that he made the decision to pull Imus off after a series of meetings with staffers here, especially one involving several dozen African-American employees that he said was awfully powerful. He discussed his decision last night on MSNBC.

(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 the sacrifice -- if you sacrificed your reputation along the way?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: One other factor, the Rutgers press conference two days ago. Capus said that he was incredibly moved by the comments made by the coach and the captain of the women's basketball team at Rutgers -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Allan Chernoff for us this morning.

Thank you, Allan.

So what's going to be next for Don Imus? We are putting that question to CNN contributors Roland Martin and Howard Kurtz. That's coming up right here -- Miles.

(NEWSBREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: More on that breaking news out of Baghdad. An explosion inside the Iraqi parliament building in the last hour. That building is inside the heavily-fortified Green Zone in the city of Baghdad.

CNN's Kyra Phillips is there.

Kyra, what do we know?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Well, Miles, we are trying to work actually another live picture for you. That's why we were running a little late. I apologize for that. We'll hopefully have it for you in a few minutes, because if you can see the air activity over the Green Zone right now, I haven't seen anything like that, and of course it's due to this attack, something we haven't seen on the Iraqi parliament.

There's about six helicopters airborne right now circling around and dropping warning flares. What I can tell you is that some type of explosion went off inside where the Iraqi parliament was in session. It is in that fortified Green Zone area. It's in the convention center. A lot of live news conferences are also held there.

The explosion actually happened in the cafeteria right next to where they were session. What I can tell you is they had just left. They had gone in there for lunch.

Don't know if the attack happened from the inside, or if it came from outside, in. You'll remember the U.N. secretary-general, when he was here visiting, there was a mortar attack. It shook the whole conference center where he was holding that news conference.

Well, now, I can tell you an explosion inside the cafeteria happened. Still can't confirm though if a bomb was planted there. It looks like that may be what had happened.

We can tell you now our sources telling us that one Sunni lawmaker was killed. Five more injured. We are trying to confirm if anybody else was indeed affected by that explosion.

When it happened, all the members of parliament were sequestered and then emergency crews immediately tried tending to those who were injured. But right now, we are told one Sunni lawmaker killed in that explosion. Still trying to confirm if indeed it was a bomb that was planted inside of there -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Kyra, we're talking about inside the heavily- fortified Green Zone. How would it be possible -- would it be easy to get a bomb through all those checkpoints?

PHILLIPS: Yes, I've got to tell you, this is a part of all the changes going on right here in central Baghdad. I'm actually hearing a couple more helicopters above me coming over.

You can see that the security situation is intensifying right now. But those checkpoints, in order to get into that convention center, I was going through my head trying to remember how many that I had to go through in order to get there. And I went through about three or four.

And they check you. You go through X-rays. You know, they have to feel for any type of explosive that might be planted on you.

I mean, it's an intense process, but it's something that is operated not by U.S. troops anymore. It's been handed over to the Iraqis. Also, a security group that has been hired. They are the ones working those checkpoints right now.

So, is it possible that a bomber got through those checkpoints? Well, anything is possible in Iraq right now, I can tell you that.

And so it has changed dramatically since the U.S. troops and those forces. You might even be able to see one of these helicopters right behind me circling in the air.

So, back to that question about security, Miles, it's very possible, especially after a couple weeks ago when two suicide vests were found inside the Green Zone. We are seeing more attacks and we're seeing more creative-type of attacks.

M. O'BRIEN: Is it possible it was some sort of rocket, some sort of mortar? Or is this an explosion that would be much larger?

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. No, the possibility could go both ways.

It could be a bomb that went off inside the cafeteria, or it could be mortars that were launched from the outside in, because that's what happened with the U.N. secretary-general. Mortars were launched from the outside into the convention center area, hitting right there, close to where he was giving his news conference. The same exactly place where the Iraqi parliament meets, Miles. And also, you may remember, a couple of times we reported within the past three weeks about other mortar attacks that happened near a workout area, near a swimming pool where U.S. troops gather to work out there in the Green Zone. So either one, it's a possibility.

M. O'BRIEN: Kyra Phillips, live from Baghdad.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: This morning, in Tennessee, testimony will begin in the case of a teacher who confessed to killing her minister husband.

CNN's Thomas Roberts joins us from Selmer, Tennessee, this morning.

Hey, Thomas. Good morning.

THOMAS ROBERTS: Soledad, good morning to you. And the jury will get to work in the building behind me coming up here shortly. But the town itself was completely stunned at the shotgun killing of its young and charismatic preacher, Matthew Winkler.

Now, the case grabbed national attention after the alleged killer was caught. And that is the minister's devoted wife. Details of the case have remained very sketchy, but soon we will start to know what was going on behind closed doors in Mary Winkler's marriage.

(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, that is the prediction, five days. But jurors were instructed to pack for two weeks.

And as the jury is broken down, it turns out to be 12 women and four men. We will find out later this morning exactly which 12 are going to be the seated jury.

Soledad, the ages range from 20 to 62. And there's actually a minister on the jury in this case, and also a woman that admitted during questioning that she was the victim of spousal abuse. We will see what happens later today.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. It's going to be an interesting case to watch. CNN's Thomas Roberts for us this morning, thanks Thomas. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, crime in New Orleans. The city's murder rate is spiraling out of control. We will tell you about a mother who was gunned down in her home while her husband and young sons stood by.

Plus Imus unplugged. He's been booted from TV. Should radio be next? We'll take a look. You are watching AMERICAN MORNING, most news in the morning right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Most news in the morning right here on CNN. Breaking news out of Baghdad: the Iraqi Parliament building is in lockdown. An explosion in the cafeteria killed two lawmakers, another ten injured.

In Michigan, a close call for 53 people on a Northwest Airlink jet. The plane's nose gear collapsed landing in a snowstorm over night in Traverse City. Fortunately, no injuries.

About quarter past the hour right now. Chad Myers is at the CNN Weather Center. He's watching the extreme weather for us. Hello, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you very much.

Well, he lost his television show, now the future of his radio program is up in the air. Don Imus appeared on WFAN this morning and he acknowledged that his 40-year career could be over. CNN contributor, Roland Martin is in Chicago this morning. Roland, do you think, in fact, that CBS Radio is going to pull the plug on Imus as well? Good morning.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, how are you doing, Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: I hear myself. I know you are simulcasting with us this morning and we love that and appreciate it.

MARTIN: Yes, we are. I will turn it down, we're good.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, all right. Let me ask you a couple quick questions. I mean, at the end of the day, CBS Radio, MSNBC are really in two different positions when it comes to Imus, both with advertisers, financially, et cetera. So, do you think CBS is going to follow suit?

MARTIN: Well, there's no doubt. I mean, matter of fact, I was just interviewing Bruce Gordon, who is a member of the board of directors. You just had him on CNN. They're going to have to deal with this, they're going to have to confront it. They are now going to be the target of protests. They have to take into account the advertisers.

They're in a different boat, though. CBS accounts for -- the Don Imus' show accounts for a significant amount of the revenue for CBS Radio. Now, they already took a hit with Howard Stern leaving. Now you have a bigger issue here. That's what the problem is.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, Imus has been saying, as we all know, a lot of unpleasant, nasty things to a lot of different people over a very large number of years. Why do you think this particular issue got traction right now?

MARTIN: Well, again, it was coming on the heels of the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, that was one of the things. But also, he is in a different position now. And I have to -- I keep saying this, and we have to repeat it.

NBC "Today Show," ABC "Good Morning America," CBS "The Early Show," CNN AMERICAN MORNING, Fox News Channel, Fox and Friends, MSNBC Don Imus. He is operating on a different platform. But how are you grow up is a different standard. And I'll use this as an example.

Soledad, if I had just made some crazy comment just a year ago, you know what there would have been? Oh, that's Roland Martin, executive editor to the Chicago Defender of the Syndicated Columns. But now if I make some kind of crazy statement, it becomes, no, Roland Martin, CNN Contributor. Now, I am impacting the brand of CNN. And that's what happens. So the higher you go up, the more establishment you become, the more credibility you gain, then the rules change.

And so, Imus wants to have it both ways. We should stop referring to him as a shock jock. He's no longer a shock jock. You don't see a presidential candidate sitting down with Opi and Anthony, Man Calvin (ph), Howard Stern. He is in a different ballpark, a different game. That's why the rules are different.

S. O'BRIEN: One thing Imus pointed out, and he got a lot of flack for it actually, but he pointed it out which is that he is not the only person who uses that word. And what you don't see, lots of other people use that word. Lots of black people use that word, frankly. And you don't see anybody -- maybe these are people who are rappers, and maybe the mainstream community doesn't really know who these people are.

But they have advertisers, they have record companies, they have radio stations who play their music. It's not like there's a march being led by the Reverend Al Sharpton or the Reverend Jesse Jackson saying we find this word demeaning to it. And then they say a lot of stuff in addition to some of the stuff that Don Imus said. Why don't we see that?

MARTIN: And actually, the people who are saying that, they don't know that. The fact of the matter is mainstream media has not consistently covered that. If you talk to hip-hop journalist Davey Dee, I had him on my radio show about this issue about a month ago. There have been protests across the nation around radio stations saying take this music off the air.

When I ran the "Chicago Defender," we ran a front-page headline, and I'm going to say the word, I put the word nigger on the front page and saying black people, it's time to stop using the word. And so you have had people who have called for a change in the language in terms of the ...

S. O'BRIEN: But not a ground swell like you see now, but not a ground swell.

MARTIN: No, no, but again though, this is a difference. This is what happens when mainstream media picks up a story and it becomes broader. There have been people in black media. "Essence" magazine has led a campaign for the last year targeting the lyrics and the degradation of women that has not risen to the level. You haven't seen "Cosmopolitan" and the other women's magazines jump on board with "Essence." That's the difference.

When this becomes a national movement, when it moves beyond grassroots in black America and becomes a national movement, when you see N.O.W., Concerned Women for America, when you see men's organizations, when you see women, when you see folks saying enough is enough, then we're going to see the change. And I think Imus is the tipping point for that.

This is an opportunity, Soledad, to deal with sexism in America, to deal with language in America. And we can't get away from that. So it's a broader discussion. And I will remind folks, the civilized movement simply started with one woman saying enough is enough. I'm not getting up from this seat. We got the Civil Rights Act. We got the Voting Rights Act. We have all kind of different things as a result of that, because one person, and a small group of people said enough is enough.

Hopefully, these organizations will now tackle that issue and not just stop at Don Imus.

S. O'BRIEN: Roland, you know, I got to say enough is enough because we're out of time. It's always nice to talk to you in the morning. Roland Martin, CNN Contributor with us this morning.

MARTIN: I appreciate it. Back to WVON.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, back to your work. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: A crime crisis in New Orleans. We'll show you how one murder is driving people to action, that's next.

And before they were the accused, they were just suburban kids. Coming up, reaction from the hometown of the three -- one of the three vindicated Duke students. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: As if the city didn't have enough problems, New Orleans must also find a way to curb its rising murder rate. Last year, there were 160 murders total. This year there's already been 60. One, though, is particularly troubling to police. It's the murder of Helen Hill.

And Randi Kaye is in New Orleans this morning with a preview of an exclusive interview you're going to see tonight only on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." Hey Randi, good morning.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Helen Hill was a filmmaker, she was married with a little boy named Francis (ph). But for some reason, one morning last January, she was gunned down in her own home. Her husband and her son were also in the house at that time. Her husband called 911 after he had been shot three times himself. This is the first time he's agreed to be interviewed on national television about the final moments of his wife's life. I spoke with him earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL GAILIUNAS, WIFE KILLED BY INTRUDER: I woke to the sound of her voice struggling and screaming don't -- get out. Don't hurt my child. Get away from my child. Get away from my baby. I saw that she was lying next to the front door and there was blood next to her head. And she wasn't moving.

KAYE: So when you got to Helen, were you too late?

GAILIUNAS: I -- as I understand it, she died instantly, within a few seconds. A man walked towards me through the house and I saw him walk through the kitchen holding a gun towards me and he stopped about four feet away or so from me and -- and there were about three gunshots. I had no idea where I was shot but I knew my hand started to hurt, and felt blood pouring on the ground beside us.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KAYE: Helen's husband, Paul, was hiding in the back bathroom with his son, clutching him from the gunfire. Little Francis was not hurt. Paul was hit in the arm, a bullet actually went through his hand and even his face was hit, a bullet skimmed his cheek. The two of them, Soledad, have since left New Orleans and are now living in Canada.

S. O'BRIEN: Not surprised about that. Why did this man come to their house? I mean, it seemed, at least from news reports, just utterly random.

KAYE: It was random, but Paul said he was very surprised because when he called 911, the police came very quickly. And that could be because they were actually investigating an attempted armed robbery around the corner. And the suspect in that case matches the description of the guy who actually killed Helen.

So, it could have been the same guy. They think he slipped in the back door, he might have panicked when Helen resisted him, was possibly on drugs. We don't really have any answers to that because that guy is still on the run.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, what a terrible tragedy, especially for this little boy who is just two-years-old now. Did he talk at all about his son?

KAYE: He did actually. He told me that his son Francis who is turning two-and-a-half this week, he's in some therapy. He does seem to understand that his mom is gone. He thinks she's in heaven although he asks why she's still living in the house in New Orleans. But every night when Paul tucks him in, he shows him pictures of his mom and he told me that Francis kisses the pictures and says goodnight to his mom.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, that just breaks your heart, doesn't it. All right, Randi that looks like a remarkable interview. You can see more of Randi's report tonight on "Anderson Cooper 360" at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Randi, thanks -- Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Just in, the Vonage CEO resigns after a rough ride in court to say the least for the Internet phone company. About 25 minutes past the hour.

Ali Velshi, Minding Your Business. It sort of seems like that company is in real deep trouble now.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, after living under a cloud of suspicion for more than a year, three Duke lacrosse players are cleared of all wrongdoing. It's been no surprise for their friends and neighbors who know them and love them. We're going to hear from those friends coming up next.

And Imus unplugged -- what really caused NBC to give him the boot? Was it money, was it values, was it all the media scrutiny? We'll take a look. Your watching AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning. It's right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome everybody. It is Thursday, April 12th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us this morning. Several stories on the radar for you that we're looking at including breaking news from Baghdad. The death toll climbing after an explosion in the Iraqi parliament building in the green zone.

S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, what's next for those former Duke lacrosse players who are now cleared of assault charges? And what about the new problems for the district attorney who pursued them in the first place?

M. O'BRIEN: Don Imus dumped by MSNBC, still has his radio show, though. But there is new pressure on CBS to cancel that as well.

S. O'BRIEN: We're also going to take a look at the changing American home, new appliances, new ideas for saving big bucks and maybe saving the environment, too. That's all ahead this morning.

We begin though with the breaking news out of Iraq. There's been a large explosion in the Iraqi parliament building right inside of Baghdad's very heavily fortified green zone. The explosion was in a cafeteria just as parliament members were on their way to eat. First reports, early reports say two are dead. Ten people are injured. And one of those killed was a member of parliament. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Imus unplugged and circling the drain. Have years of racist, sexist and ethnic rants finally caught up with the talk show host? He's already lost his TV simulcast. The question this morning will he lose his radio show as well? Joining me now Howard Kurtz, who covers the media for the "Washington Post." He is also the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and he is also been a victim of one of Imus' rants at least. Howard, good to have you with us this morning. Do we have audio? Talk to me one more time.

HOWARD KURTZ, WASHINGTON POST: One more time.

M. O'BRIEN: That's excellent. Good to hear your voice. Nine years ago, he -- he sent an ethnic slur your way. What did he say? Paraphrase it.

KURTZ: He talked about me being a big-nosed beanie-wearing Jew. And he was doing his schtick. I was not terribly offended. I wasn't thrilled and I gave it right back to him. This is what Imus has done over the years. He has mixed interviews with presidential candidates and network anchors with locker room humor that goes up to the edge, sometimes goes over the edge. Last week he obliterated the edge with that awful, terrible, offensive remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. But people liked it except that he was always skating on the edge of disaster.

M. O'BRIEN: It's Howard Stern meets Tim Russert, isn't it? That causes a lot of confusion as to how far he can go and where the boundaries are. Let me ask you this though. You're a victim. You're also obviously a big supporter of the first amendment. If you had your way, would you like to see his voice silenced?

KURTZ: Well, first of all, I don't describe myself as a victim. Nobody forced know go on the show along with a lot of other...

M. O'BRIEN: But...

KURTZ: I wasn't thrilled about that but it's in the service of humor. That doesn't get him off the hook, as I think he would be the first to recognize. If I was running CBS radio, would I pull the plug on a guy who's made a lot of money for my stations over the last 30 years? I don't know. That's a very tough question. Certainly CBS radio is under extraordinary pressure right now in the wake of MSNBC deciding to pull it. But what a fascinating few days. MSNBC first puts out a statement saying Don Imus, we barely know the guy. We're not responsible for the show's content. Then he gets hit with a two- week suspension and remarks about abhorrent behavior. And suddenly last night he becomes so radioactive that they do take him off the air in part because major advertisers starting to bailing out on Imus and in part because of pressure, not just from outsiders, not just from people like Al Sharpton, but NBC employees. Al Roker of "The Today Show" for example adding their voices to the Imus must go chorus.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's listen briefly to Steve Capus, the president of NBC News and hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE CAPUS, NBC NEWS PRESIDENT: Yesterday I found out after the fact, that some of the advertisers had started to pull their money away. Those types of reports don't land on my desk immediately and honestly that's not what is behind this. This is about trust. It's about reputation. It's about doing what's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Should we do take that at face value? This is not about advertising revenue?

KURTZ: I'm sure advertising revenue was a factor but also I think Steve Capus is being sincere in saying that, did he want his brand, NBC and MSNBC associated with a guy who was getting so much criticism? I do think we have to keep this in a little bit of perspective. There's a lot of pollution on the airwaves these days. Not just among other radio hosts who much more in anger than Imus who tries to be a comedian say all kinds of vile things about people, but in the rap world and the hip-hop world. Where does that phrase "hos" come from? It comes from people who make a lot of money selling records with misogynistic lyrics. So the fact that we are having a national conversation about this, now that it's moved just beyond what Imus said I think is a good and healthy thing and it's an overdue conversation for those of us in the media.

M. O'BRIEN: It also can be a slippery slope and we could end up with some sort of thought police at the end of the day.

KURTZ: Right. Do you want to have an atmosphere that is so constricted and so fearful that nobody can ever make a joke for fear of offending anybody? So I do think that some of the criticism has been a little bit over the top. Again, not letting Imus off the hook but he has apologized. He wants to meet with the Rutgers women. It's too bad that a career like his can get blown up over this one, thoughtless, heartless racial comment.

M. O'BRIEN: Words matter.

KURTZ: Words matter. Words wound.

M. O'BRIEN: If it was one off it would be one thing. But it isn't one particular comment. Final thought here. Assuming he is still in business, would you go back on that program?

KURTZ: I would go back on that program if Imus does what he promised to do when the suspension first hit and that is, clean up his act. Stop some of these really racially and gender-based insults and do a little bit more of a high-toned show. I think he's a smart guy, does good interviews, but he's got to clean up his act.

M. O'BRIEN: Howie Kurtz, always a pleasure, thank you. Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: This morning for the first time in more than a year, those three former Duke lacrosse players once accused of sexual assault wake up cleared of all wrong doing. No surprise to the people who taught them and nurtured them and watched them grow up. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho joins us with a look at that this morning. Good morning.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks Soledad. Good morning. We're getting a little hometown reaction. 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 and everyone we spoke to from neighbors to shop owners to people on the street say they believe Finnerty waited far too long for justice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): A year ago, Collin Finnerty was a lank, 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 most.

CHO: Especially back home in tony Garden City, New York where neighbor and family friend Amhed Bendary watched the news with his 10- year-old son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe these three individuals are innocent. AHMED BENDARY, FINNERTY'S NEIGHBOR: Yes! Yes, indeed. Finally. It was always guilty without even knowing the truth and it was just very painful. 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 town, lacrosse is part of the culture. Robert Klepper is a restaurant owner where the Finnerty's are regulars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great for them. Innocent, he was innocent from day one, innocent all the way through and finally they're vindicated.

CHO: Finnerty attended Shamanad (ph) High School. He played lacrosse there and recently started coaching. The home team, like everyone else around here, is showing support.

Getting back in the game, seems like what he wants. He just wants to forget this, put it behind them.

CHO: Neighbors say this is cause for celebration. When Collin and his family return from North Carolina, Bendary will be waiting.

BENDARY: I'm going to give him a big hug. I can't wait to see him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: He is looking forward to it. So what's next for Finnerty? He said he is looking forward to returning to college full time and playing lacrosse again. The big question is where will he do that? Well, Duke University says he has an open invitation to return but there's no indication right now that Finnerty will accept that offer. For now, he is taking classes on Long Island and he's volunteering, too. He's working with children who lost family members on 9/11. And Soledad, you are talking about a guy who could have faced 30 years in prison if he was convicted.

S. O'BRIEN: That is so remarkable for that very reason.

CHO: It really was moving.

S. O'BRIEN: If they hadn't had a phalanx of lawyers, I'm sure all very high-paid lawyers to help them, they could be behind bars.

CHO: Right and one of the students said listen, you know, what about the people who don't have the means to defend themselves like us? And so yes, it was very moving. You can bet this has changed their lives. Hopefully they'll be able to move on now.

S. O'BRIEN: I wonder if any of them will end up with careers in law.

CHO: I think at least one of them will.

S. O'BRIEN: That wouldn't surprise me. That's tough for them. All right, Alina, thank you.

CHO: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: Up next, it's not easy being green but it certainly can be profitable. Our series "Your American Home" takes a look at the growing value of going green.

And just because it comes out of a vending machine, does not mean it has to be an unhealthy snack. Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us the push for food that's both fast and good for you. You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

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M. O'BRIEN: Time now once again to focus on your American home. When you think of green houses, you think of plants and flowers in a glass room, right. Well, these days, it's the plants and flowers outside and the greenhouse gases that are changing the way we live. AMERICAN MORNING's Greg Hunter is live for us at a green house in Brooklyn. Hello Greg.

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Miles. I'm in Jill and John Butaglu's (ph) house. They're a couple of architects who built this place from the ground up. I'm looking down at you from their master bedroom looking into the living room. Now the centerpiece of this house are these sky lights. If you turn around, you can see this big bank of windows. These sky lights and windows are all energy efficient and they let in a lot of light. So during the day, they don't have to burn the lights and that saves them money. It's environmentally friendly. This is nothing more than just part of a green revolution that is sweeping the country. And this green revolution can save you green.

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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.

Less, 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. 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: You replace every one of those bulbs with a compact fluorescent, you would 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, it's basically something that we think is beautiful and makes us feel good. makes a healthier, more productive workplace.

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HUNTER: This place is really cool. You are looking at the master bedroom and this is the stairway going down to the master bedroom. It has great open spaces here, lets the air flow. It's made out of some recycled materials. For example, this big beam that basically holds the stairwell up, the staircase, is one big 24-foot beam that they recycled. They just didn't go to a lumber yard. It was actually near the property and they just put it up and used it for their stairwell.

Also, another thing they did was they have heating in the floor. You can't see it, but it's radiant heating in the floor. Here's another great little feature of these windows. They're great. The owner was telling me, Jill, she says I can take these windows like this and I can take them like that. It lets the heat out or I can take them like this and open them up and have them like that and they're energy efficient and they close really tight. One other thing, these light bulbs, they built this house from the ground up. You're not going to be able to build your house from the ground up.

But one thing you can do that's cheap, I bought four of these 60- watt light bulbs. They were eight bucks. 60 watts is what this equals, 60 watts. The reason why these are inexpensive to operate is because this 60 watt bulb that produces the same amount of lum (ph) as a 60 watt, only takes 14 watts to power. That means it's 25 percent of the power it takes to power a normal 60-watt light bulb and that's why they're so inexpensive, a fourth of the power. So if you put these throughout your entire house, they will more than pay for themselves and save you money year after year. They will last nine to 10 years. That's a tip for you guys if you want to be green and save some money at home.

M. O'BRIEN: Greg, I did find, there are some fluorescents that are dimmable. So apparently you look for those at the store. You can find a few of those. We were talking about that earlier. Also, do you do windows?

HUNTER: Yes, I do.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. Just checking. HUNTER: I do.

M. O'BRIEN: All right Greg.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks. I'm going to smack him for you.

M. O'BRIEN: I love to hear Greg's laugh. Greg Hunter, thank you. I will miss that.

S. O'BRIEN: No, you're not. No, you're not. I can come to your house and do that for you, not so early in the morning, but I can still do it for you.

M. O'BRIEN: I'll call you up.

S. O'BRIEN: Forty seven minutes past the hour. Let's get right to Chad Myers. He's with the CNN weather center watching some stormy weather across the country, which I was able to avoid some of it yesterday on my plane flight.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You were high enough to fly over some of these thunderstorms. Some of the ones that were down through the central and southern plains in places like Indiana and also Alabama had some tornadoes. They were over 50,000 feet tall yesterday, very tall for a storm whether it's in any season for that matter.

Snow across Marquette, Alpina (ph) right on back down to Chicago. Some delays in Chicago this morning, about an hour or now more than that. New York City, very wet this morning, rain coming in. Also rain and thunderstorms down into Florida. Expecting airport delays into Miami rather quickly now, a bunch of lightning strikes Miles. In the past hour here, this is Lake Okeechobee, there's Key West, 1,080 lightning strikes so far just in the past hour there. That weather is moving into Miami, into Miami-Dade and all the down into the keys and (INAUDIBLE) County as well.

M. O'BRIEN: All right that looks pretty nasty there. Thank you Chad.

MYERS: It is.

M. O'BRIEN: CNN NEWSROOM just moments away. Tony Harris at the CNN center. He has a look ahead for us. Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, good morning to you. We have got these stories in the NEWSROOM rundown, an explosion ripping a cafeteria inside Iraq's parliament building. Among the casualties, members of parliament who were having lunch.

Three former Duke University lacrosse players exonerated. Now the D.A. who brought the rape case faces ethics charges and possibly lawsuits.

And this hamburglar no match for a hungry McDonald's customer. The teen punches the suspect faster than you can say Mayor McCheese as I have just demonstrated Miles. I can say that pretty quickly. Join Heidi Collins and me in the NEWSROOM when we get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN. Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Can you do two all beef, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun?

HARRIS: Not if you gave me a week.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, we'll show you the garanimals of snacks. It's color coding to help you better know what you're eating. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

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M. O'BRIEN: Vending machine snacks can be a quick fix at the office, but they can also be an unhealthy trap. The University of Virginia has pioneered a way to encourage some healthy choices however. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more in today's fit nation report. Good morning Sanjay

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know they have a really interesting attitude. They say no matter how much of a hurry you're in, you need to know what it is specifically that you're eating and perhaps depending on what you buy, you need to actually pay more for it as well.

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GUPTA (voice-over): It started with the University of Virginia medical school's vending machines. Dr. Arthur Garson, who's the school's dean, decided to encourage healthy eating everywhere. Using the FDA nutritional guidelines, all vending machine snacks were marked with stickers. You got green for healthy choices, yellow meant fairly nutritious and red for high fat, high-calorie goodies. Red items also carried a 5 cent surcharge. Researchers recorded all the items sold for one year.

DR. ARTHUR GARSON, DEAN, U. OF V.A. MEDICAL SCHOOL: The red items sales went down by 5 percent. The yellow items were up 30 percent, the green items up 15 percent.

GUPTA: The program was so successful Garson expanded it to the hospital cafeteria. Everything was labeled with the colored stickers. Nutritionists say the goal is to make people think about what they're eating before they grab their food and go. But the manufacturers of snack foods say labeling foods could give consumers the wrong message.

LISA KATICK, NUTRITION ADVISER: When you really try to stick a label on a particular food, you're going to get something that falls into a category that perhaps doesn't belong there.

GUPTA: And that fat surcharge is another issue. Although researchers could not determine if the sale of red items went down because of the 5 cent surcharge, the levy did raise $7,000 in nickels. Garson says it is up to the consumer to decide whether they want to pay the extra money. GARSON: Response to the vending machines in fact was great after a little bit of gee, you're limiting me. In fact we didn't. We said eat anything you want. But we will give you choices.

GUPTA: The reaction has been so positive other hospitals are now looking at the UVA system for their own cafeterias. And education officials are thinking of bringing the system into their schools so kids can better understand all of their choices.

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GUPTA: In case you are curious, the hospital has a childhood obesity unit there at the University of Virginia as well and that $7,000, not a lot of money, but some money actually going towards an exercise program for the kid there.

M. O'BRIEN: But there's still a little bit of controversy that surrounds this. People suspect a little bit of kind of big brother social engineering here.

GUPTA: Absolutely. We talked to a lot of people about this. We have been talking about the fat tax idea for some time. Talked to officials at the World Health Organization, other health organizations, they say it's a great idea. Let's do this. But there was a Gallup poll actually done on this as well and I was actually surprised by the results. Only 10 percent of people in this country think it's a good idea to have a fat tax. The University of Virginia wants to actually spread this to other hospitals. As I mentioned, I think it's going to meet with some controversy, more so than I even thought.

M. O'BRIEN: People want to be able to choose what they want to eat.

GUPTA: And I think it's that lack of autonomy and that intervention, increasing the price of something. It's harder than with cigarettes. Cigarettes it was a little bit more discrete. Here it is a food item that you are taxing and that makes it more difficult.

M. O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much.

GUPTA: Thanks a lot guys.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Here's a quick look at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.

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S. O'BRIEN: That's it. We're out of time. That's all the time here for AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com