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Genarlow Wilson Will be Released from Prison; Arson Arrests; Enough Insurance?

Aired October 26, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And top of the hour. Welcome everyone back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

Following breaking news right now in a story that we have been following here for quite some time. That man, Genarlow Wilson, now 21 years old, but he's going to be getting out of prison after the Georgia supreme court upheld a ruling that said his ten-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old when he was 17 was cruel and unusual punishment. So the word is that he will be getting out of prison. We do not know exactly when that will be, but as you have seen here before on the CNN NEWSROOM, his chief counsel B.J. Bernstein has been a guest of ours many times, and we understand that she is working out those details now.

It is possible that it could be a little later today that he will actually walk out of prison. So a lot of different dynamics at play in this story. We've been following it for a while. We know that our Rusty Dornin, who has been on the scene of this story, is going to join us shortly to give us any details that she may have in the midst of all of this.

HARRIS: Let's bring in our Rick Sanchez, who has done terrific work on this story for quite a long time now. Rick, good to talk to you again. Look, as I look at this decision from the Georgia Supreme Court, let's be clear about this. This is very much a split decision, 4-3, which means there are three judges who had a hand in this decision who felt that Genarlow Wilson's time in prison, that this sentence was appropriate, that it was Georgia law at the time, and that he should face the punishment for what those judges felt was a severe crime.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what happens, Tony. There has been, and I know because I have been following this case very closely, there has been on the part of some of the prosecutors in the state of Georgia, some very strong arm twisting both from the legislative level, where you know I've had a couple of good, strong confrontational interviews and debates with some of the legislators who -- one of which was misinformed and said Genarlow Wilson raped this young girl, stood before the senate of Georgia and said so when that was absolutely not the case.

Here is what we can't lose sight of in this case, and I just think it's so important. A 17-year-old boy having what amounts to consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl. It's really -- it doesn't matter who you are or where you are. Anybody in this country who was ever in the backseat of a car and perhaps, you know, for the first time experimenting with sex knows that these things happen. Do we want to talk about them? No. Are they embarrassing? Yes. Are they good? Is it good judgment when a young woman and a young man does something like this? No. We know all that, but let's take all that off the table and ask this question, when a young woman and a young man engage in that type of behavior, and we as parents and me as a parent of a child and a little girl, I get frightened even thinking about this, but when someone does that, should the punishment be ten years in prison with murderers and rapists? And someone accused of being a sexual offender, which means they are a molester. Someone who punishes, someone who goes out and sexually offends or abuses minors. That's what -- because that's what this law is saying. That's why he was in prison. In the state of Georgia the legislature looked at this law. They said that's ridiculous.

HARRIS: Now, Rick ...

SANCHEZ: And when the state of Georgia and the legislature looked at this law they said that's ridiculous. We have to change that law.

HARRIS: Now Rick and here is for many people the bigger, the bigger picture here, and it relates to a lot of the conversations I had in Jena, Louisiana. It is something I have heard a lot here recently, that this is a case that is -- that draws the distinction that what prosecutors are doing time and time again now is overcharging these cases, will not even in the face of the evidence in the face of a strong argument, will not change their course in prosecuting these cases. They want to be perceived as tough on crime so they can win re-election time and time again, and what they do is they allow the courts to take care of it. I overcharged, I got a conviction. All right. And you think it's too much. I'll leave it to the appeals process. It will be straightened out in the appeals process, and at the end of the day, I'm still the tough prosecutor.

SANCHEZ: Well, it's not just that actually. I mean ...

HARRIS: Is that a piece of it? Is that a piece of the discussion though is what I'm getting at?

SANCHEZ: No, and I certainly understand what you're saying. There's a lot to be said about this case, Tony, and I think it's all very important.

You know, there's the issue of race that comes into this case. Let's not pretend it's not there, and there's also the issue of overzealous prosecution, which I think is what you're trying to chip away at here.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: It's not just overzealousness in terms of making their case. Look, you and I have been in this business long enough to know that prosecutors are like a dog with the bone. When they have a good case or something they perceive to be a good case, they're going to fight it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

We have an adversarial system that says one side presents one case, the other one presents the other, and the guy who fights the toughest fight wins. That's fine.

What's bizarre here to me as an observer watching this was what happened when an appeals court finally did turn this thing around. And you'd think at that point that the prosecutors of Douglas County would have walked away and said, you know what? OK. That's fine. We gave it our best shot, but at that point, and I don't want to get too inside baseball here for the viewers, but essentially the people who prosecuted this young man even after they had been told by an appeals court said you were wrong, said no, we were not wrong, continued to lobby, continued to take it to the legislature, appealed the attorney general of the state, had the appeal essentially turned around so that we'd have to come to this day and they'd have to go to the supreme court.

I mean, I believe now they're out of options, but one does wonder what, why were they so fervent about this? And why were they so interested in seeing this thing through and keeping this young man in prison as a hardened criminal, as a sexual abuser, as a molester for ten years with rapists and murders? It's really an interesting question.

HARRIS: I had some more I wanted to say, but I think you covered it. All right. Rick, stand by, if you would, please, and we'll talk to you in just a couple minutes.

COLLINS: As promised, Rusty Dornin has been running around this building and trying to gather more and more information. Rusty, I know you've been following this story for a long time as well, and the news today of Genarlow Wilson actually going to be let out of jail. Not quite sure at what point that will really happen you know technically because we have been here before. Most interesting to me that the crime -- excuse me, the sentence has now been deemed cruel and unusual.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's a constitutional argument, and of course they went to the Supreme Court, and that's the kind of thing -- that would be a reason that they would overturn his conviction.

So the interesting thing is this came as such a surprise because I was just speaking with B.J. Bernstein, his attorney the other night, I said when is the decision going to come down on Genarlow Wilson? And she threw her eyes up and said I don't know. You can't pressure the Supreme Court. I think there's been a lot of appearance in the media that they've been pressured by this case. There may not be a decision until sometime in December.

So I am sure that she was caught by surprise by this. We know that she's trying to figure out when he will be released, of course, from prison. As we've been talking about, he's 21 years old now. She's always been talking about his plans for the future, that he does want to go back to school. His own attorney has even changed her life in relation to this case because she's trying to educate high school kids and college kids about the law.

COLLINS: About their rights and the law.

DORNIN: In southern states there's five different states that have five different ages in terms of sexual consent.

COLLINS: It's interesting when we look at the legal side of this. Many different facets to this story, but the legal side of it now which seems to be what is so complicated in all of this. It seems like for the fact that the high court has had to go and change this, you know, overrule this, that point the finger at them in saying you made a mistake. How often does that happen?

DORNIN: But that's how the law works. That's how it works. They didn't -- the Supreme Court already ruled initially that you couldn't make -- OK, the legislature in 2006 make this is law that makes it not a felony. It's a misdemeanor. You don't become a sex offender. But there was another defendant who was involved that they wanted it overturned for him, and the Supreme Court said you can't make it retroactive. So they couldn't apply this to Genarlow Wilson's case. So B.J. Bernstein had to go down a different road in terms of appealing his case to the Monroe county court, and that's where he said, yes, you're right. We should overturn this, and then once again the roller coaster started.

COLLINS: For the families involved on both sides of all of this, pretty tough for them. But we are all getting a legal lesson in the middle of it.

DORNIN: A confusing one, but a legal lesson.

COLLINS: CNN's Rusty Dornin. Thank you.

HARRIS: All right. We are going to continue to cover developments of the Genarlow Wilson case.

But we certainly don't want to lose sight of our other top story in southern California and the wildfires there and conquering that beast. Most of the state's 23 wildfires now contained. Evacuees are streaming back home. Crews made a lot of progress yesterday as those nasty Santa Ana winds faded and temperatures actually cooled.

The toll, however, is staggering. 765 square miles burned. More than 1,600 homes lost. Six more bodies have been found.

Now investigators turn their attention to the cause of the fires. So far five people have been arrested. Fire officials say arson is to blame for the Santiago fire which burned some 26,000 acres. Let's begin with that arson investigation.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim is in Orange, California.

Good morning to you, Keith.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony. There have been no suspects caught in this case, an important point. Investigators are really trying to use reward money and get information to see if they can get to the bottom of it.

First of all, ATF, FBI, as well as local authorities are working together, and what they have done is they have gone to two sites where they believe that this fire had been set on Sunday night by someone or some people. The fires caused a lot of damage, more than 25,000 acres have burned in the Santiago Canyon fire, and there are more than 1,000 firefighters out on the line trying to save about 3,000 homes. Already 14 homes have burned.

This morning I spoke to Carl Vasilko of the ATF. He talked to me about the importance of people calling in with tips if they know anything.

CARL VASILKO, ATF NATL. RESPONSE TEAM: Many tips have already been called in that we're pursuing. So I would say there may be somebody out there who doesn't think what they know is of value. Don't hesitate. Call the tip line.

OPPENHEIM: There's a huge reward, Tony, right now. It's gone up to a quarter million dollars. Yesterday we were talking about $70,000. It went up in part because a California radio station, KFI, contributed $100,000. The general thinking is if you put that kind of reward money out there, this could be an effective law enforcement tool. They believe someone out there knows something, and if that person steps forward, it could break the case. These cases are not easy to solve.

HARRIS: To think of how horrible this has been for those folks in southern California, and then to think that these fires were actually started on purpose. That is -- Keith Oppenheim for us. Keith, good to see you. Thanks.

COLLINS: Let's take a closer look at the fires and their numbers: 14 people have died, 61 injured, including 28 firefighters. There are now 23 fires, 14 of them are contained. The fires have blackened almost 490,000 acres or 765 square miles. 1,635 homes have been destroyed, and there have been fire arson arrests. Two in San Bernardino County, and two in San Diego County, and one in Los Angeles County. Obviously it's still a moving story.

And if you are moved by what you see, you can certainly take action. You can help the victims in the California wildfires through our impact your world initiative. Just go to CNN.com/impact to see how you might be able to help.

HARRIS: A mom accused of trying a home remedy, but her teething baby just kept crying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apparently didn't work like it did the first time. The baby continued to cry, so she added whiskey to the formula.

HARRIS: OK. So now we're talking about a dangerous mix. The story in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's governor elect. Some call him the Bayou wonder. Not letting age or ethnicity stop him from fulfilling his political dreams. He's joining me now from Baton Rouge. Hopefully I said that correctly with my northern accent.

REP. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA GOVERNOR-ELECT: Absolutely.

COLLINS: Governor Elect Jindal, first of all, I just want to say congratulations to you. I'm going to go through the list here. You're the first nonwhite governor of the state of Louisiana since reconstruction; the youngest governor in the country. I think it's 36. And the first Indian-American governor. So essentially you have made history. How does it feel?

JINDAL: Thank you very much. You know, the people of Louisiana voted on Saturday for change. I'm excited. It's a new day for my home state. We have been at the bottom of too many lists for too long. The people on Saturday said we're tired of corruption. Let's change the climate. We want our children to grow up in Louisiana. We don't want them to leave home to pursue their dreams. We're incredibly grateful but also humbled by the responsibility.

COLLINS: You know, it's hard to talk to you and not mention Katrina obviously. You have said that the storm did not cause all of Louisiana's problems. In fact, that Rita and Katrina revealed Louisiana's problems. It's an interesting way to look at it, but that being said, you have inherited a number of these chronic problems that you were referring to talking about education, health care, economics, crime. What does your agenda look like?

JINDAL: Absolutely. Well, we start off with a focus on corruption. It's the number one thing holding us back when it comes to the economy. My first special session will change the law so that who you know is not more important than what you know.

We have many problems. When you look at the economy, we lose 30,000 people a year. We're a rich state. We're not a poor state. We just have had poor leadership. We have to get rid of taxes on equipment, on debt, on utilities. We need to do a better job of training our people. We have thousands of jobs we can't fill. We're not doing enough on the technical and community college end of the training. We can do more in health care. Too many of our people go to the emergency rooms instead of getting preventative care. We can do more with outpatient based clinics. We can save hundreds of millions of dollars, thousands of lives. My self and my wife graduated from public schools. A lot of things we need to address.

We're going to start with the war on corruption. We're going to start by having the nation's best ethics laws in Baton Rouge.

COLLINS: It gives me the opportunity to read to you -- I'm sure you've heard it before -- one of our favorite quotes here. Listen to this. This is regarding corruption in Louisiana from an agent in the FBI's New Orleans field office. I'm sure you remember it. He said, "It's not unique to Louisiana. It's just brazen down here. Machine politics in the north will skim the cream. Here in Louisiana, they skim the cream, they steal the milk, hijack the bottles and look for the cow." What about your ethics reform? Really going to make a difference?

JINDAL: Absolutely. It will be my first special session as governor. We've detailed a 31-point plan saying legislatures can't do business with the state, have to report their income. Special interest has to disclose every dollar they spend.

The jokes aren't funny in Louisiana jean more. We've done studies. It's the number one thing costing us economic opportunities. Our people are ready for change. Ready to tell their elected leaders serve us, not yourselves. Not government in Louisiana has a lot of political capital. I'm choosing to use mine on a special session devoted especially to ethics.

I want the country to know it's a new day down here. We got elected in the primary on Saturday. That's never happened before in part I think because the voters are ready for that change.

COLLINS: I think the voters are ready to trust someone, especially in your state. Can they trust you?

JINDAL: Absolutely. This is all about my home state. The only reason I got involved in politics is I was born here. My kids were born here. I want my grandchildren to be born here as well. My parents came to Louisiana in pursuit of the American dream. They got it here. I want their grandchildren to be able to get that same dream, work hard, get a great education, get a great job. I want them to be able to do that in Louisiana without having to leave the state.

COLLINS: Yes. Wanting them to be able to do it and actually making those opportunities available is sometimes obviously a daunting task.

In fact, for quite a while now, the state has also gotten a lot of attention regarding the Jena Six case. You are clearly a person of color. Is your state racially divided?

JINDAL: I don't think so. Look, there's racism across the country. The people of Louisiana, what I found them to be, are god- fearing, hard-working, law abiding, freedom-loving people. As a country, of course, we need to condemn injustice and racism. But the people of Louisiana are good-hearted people. They have been kind and gracious to my family. I have traveled every nook and cranny of this state. I have been to every parish many of these towns multiple times. I think the nation gets a wrong impression of our people and our state. We're a good people. We need to all as Americans oppose racism wherever we find it, but Louisiana is a great state. We're a united state; we're not a divided state.

COLLINS: You know what? We need a quick answer on this last one but it's a huge question. As we mentioned you are 36 years old. You've just made history. You've got four years ahead of you as governor. What's your ultimate goal?

JINDAL: Ultimately, I think we measure success by saying our children know they can get the best health care, education, good paying jobs. They don't have to leave Louisiana for Dallas, Austin, or Houston to pursue their dreams. Our goal is that you should be able to pursue your dreams right here in Louisiana the way my parents did.

COLLINS: But forgive the interruption. Your personal goal. Are we going to see you as governor for a while or see you as possibly running for president? What are we going to see?

JINDAL: My only interest is helping to fix my state. My only interest is making this a great state for my children. My focus is here in Louisiana.

COLLINS: All right. Governor Elect Bobby Jindal, again congratulations and thanks for taking time with us today.

JINDAL: Thank you, Heidi.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I'm Gerri Willis. More than half of Americans are under insured. Are you prepared if the worst happens to you? We'll tell you how to get the coverage you need. "Top Tips" is next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: 10:30 Eastern Time. Let's take a look at the big board on this Friday morning. To the positive side, 96 points or so. The Dow is resting at 13,766. Also, NASDAQ up 39 points. We are going to be talking about all those main business stories in just a few moments in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Not enough insurance. Well, that was the number one complaint among Californians after their last massive wildfire in 2003, the Cedar fire. So now is the time to really take stock and take some action.

CNN's personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, is in Rancho Bernardo. Gerri, great to see you. Boy, where should you start if you are impacted by the fires? Where do homeowners begin?

WILLIS: Well you have to get a good estimate on the cost of damage to your house. Now, your agent is going to come up with their own number. You need to do the work to get your own. Have a contractor come and tell you how much it will cost to rebuild. There's a great website called accucoverage.com. For $8 you can find out about a rule of thumb amount that your house is worth. You can also hire an appraiser, get somebody to come and give you an actual dollar and cents value of your house. At the end of the day you are going to be much better off if you come up with your own number.

HARRIS: Well, then let's stay with that theme. What are some of the costs homeowners can sometimes overlook?

WILLIS: Well, I'm telling you, inflation is a big one. In each of the last two years the cost of building materials has gone up six percent. Imagine that, Tony. Really adds on to the value of your house. A lot of folks don't know that you can actually buy a rider that will help you pay for that, an inflation guard, so you don't have to worry about where prices are going. You know how this works. When you see devastation like this, prices go up even faster.

One other point here that you should know, it's more expensive to build a new house on an old foundation than just to build a new house because you have to get rid of all debris and you're building on an existing slab. It's much more expensive. It's these small costs, extra costs that you don't expect that really add up.

HARRIS: Who else might be a little under insured here, Gerri?

WILLIS: Well, if you're one of those serial renovators. I don't know if you are, Tony or not, but it's the folks doing the bathroom, the kitchen. They keep investing in their house, which is a good thing, but if you don't call your agent and let them know you're actually putting more money into your home, you're going to have a problem if this happens to you.

HARRIS: Can you get something additionally, maybe a rider or something, if you are under insured?

WILLIS: Well, for example, one of the things people overlook; if you have jewelry or some kind of art collection, something expensive in your house that might be a little unusual, you can get a rider for that. Pay a bit of little extra money, maybe 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent of the value of those items every year, and they'll be insured. It's a little extra thing to know if you do have those collections. I don't know, what do you have? A baseball card collection, Tony?

HARRIS: What do I have? You know what I have? I have vinyl. I have albums. Who has albums anymore?

WILLIS: There you go.

HARRIS: So hopefully that's of value, if I keep them long enough.

WILLIS: You might want to get a rider for your policy. That way if something terrible happens at least you'll be made whole. It won't make up for the sentimental value, and of course that's what we've been seeing all week here really from the people we've talked to. They can't -- there are things that cannot be replaced, but at least you need to get that house rebuilt and rebuilt comfortably and without a lot of headaches.

HARRIS: So you have a fabulous team I know working with you out there in Rancho Bernardo. Tell us about what I know will be a special "OPEN HOUSE" this weekend.

WILLIS: It will be special. We'll be here, and we'll be talking about insurance. We will be talking to experts in the industry. We'll be talking to homeowners. You will see people who have been through this tragedy and how they're taking the very first steps towards reconstructing their lives. So join us 9:30 a.m. eastern right here on CNN.

HARRIS: What a scene behind you. Gerri Willis, our personal finance editor. Gerri, thank you.

Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins. Breaking news on the case of Genarlow Wilson. He could be getting out of jail very soon. Wilson was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was 17 at the time. So just a short time ago Georgia's highest court ordered his release. The court ruled Wilson's sentence was, quote, "cruel and unusual punishment." Wilson was sent to jail under a now-amended Georgia law that required a mandatory 10-year sentence without parole.

We are waiting to hear from B.J. Bernstein, of course his attorney, in all of this, and we'll bring that to you as soon as we get it. We are also waiting on this.

President Bush will be coming to the podium there shortly, any minute now, to be making some comments on appropriations, and most specifically SCHIP, the children's health care that we have been hearing so much about.

We're going to take a quick break for new. Stick around. We'll hear from the president in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Right now we have been following the story of Genarlow Wilson, the young man that the Georgia Supreme Court has ordered be freed.

His attorney, B.J. Bernstein, is with us on the line. B.J., good to talk to you.

B.J. BERNSTEIN, WILSON'S DEFENSE ATTY.: A great reason to talk to you finally.

HARRIS: Yes. And we talked about this case about a week ago at a Starbucks, and you did not expect this decision to come down, certainly not today.

BERNSTEIN: No, no. I absolutely did not expect it today, but we've been praying for it every day. And the most wonderful phone call I've gotten to make is to call his mother, and she's on her way over to me now. She's just overjoyed, and we're making efforts now to try to get Genarlow released so that he's at home with his mom and his little sister today.

HARRIS: OK, let me get a couple questions in ahead of the president. Tell me about the efforts that you're making to get him released as soon as possible.

BERNSTEIN: I've already been on the phone with the attorney general's office and the judge's office. The judge -- the supreme court is requiring that the judge issue another order, which Judge Wilson, the judge who ruled correctly that Genarlow should be released, that's coming up any moment now. That order will be sent to the attorney general's office and the department of corrections. Once that order is at the department of corrections in Atlanta, then they'll be able to start the process of releasing Genarlow Wilson.

HARRIS: What's the time frame on that do you think?

BERNSTEIN: Sometime today. We're working -- I'm going as fast as I can. That's why I'm not over talking to you now in person, but just getting all the logistics, making sure all the court orders are done correctly because we want him home.

HARRIS: Does Genarlow know of this decision?

BERNSTEIN: I've gotten a call in to the prison. I actually haven't spoken to him directly, but I've spoke ton the warden's office, and he knows what's going on, but I don't have his direct reaction yet.

HARRIS: What does this decision say to folks -- there was a huge effort, as you know, in this town to get him freed. What does this say about what many felt was an overzealous prosecution? I know that that is a case that you made repeatedly.

BERNSTEIN: Well, you know what, in the end it shows this, that the courts can work, the courts do work, and I know there's been a lot of discussion about how this case was handled and what was done and said, but we always went to the courts and we went to the courts to Judge Wilson, and he agreed with us, and now the justices of the Supreme Court do, and it goes to show that the courts can work, and they're a very, very important part of our judicial system, and I'm just -- this is a day -- this is why I went to law school.

HARRIS: There's still a number of people around the country who will look at this case and look at the split decision here, 4-3, and say, you know what? Three of the justices probably felt, and still do feel, that there was a real crime here and a real victim here, and are probably wondering how this has come to pass. What do you think about the pass that we're talking about a split decision here, very close?

BERNSTEIN: Well, I think the split decision -- I anticipated a split decision, because the truth of the matter is not the underlying part of whether this should be a misdemeanor and what we should do with our teenagers, that really wasn't the issue. It was some technical legal issues about how the changed law, when does the law effect, and whether it's cruel and unusual punishment, and that's really why there was a struggle.

I don't think necessarily anybody thinks that -- and I hope they don't, and I'm working with the nonprofit I've formed, (INAUDIBLE).org, to inform young people what the laws are that apply to them. Let them know, because I think all of us realize that we never even educate them to begin with.

HARRIS: And what about people who are sitting at home, saying that this decision by the Georgia Supreme Court is the real miscarriage here? This was a 17-year-old young man who had sex with a minor, 15 years old. That was Georgia law at the time for a good reason, and this is the miscarriage of justice.

BERNSTEIN: Well, because the thing about it is, is it was consensual contact between teenagers who were in school. And, again, we never said that Genarlow was right that night. His mother has never approved of it. It's not conduct I don't think anybody would want to approve of.

But there's a difference between that and what is a crime that deserves 10 years in prison, and our legislature realized it and changed the law, and it's appropriate that Genarlow, the very reason for that law to be changed, is benefiting from that, and, again, everybody can look at it, but when you really know the situation close up and I can just tell you you're never going to see Genarlow Wilson in the courts again. You're going to see him as an ambassador to young people about doing right and wrong. He knows he did some wrong that night, but not the kind of wrong to give you 10 years in prison.

HARRIS: And why do you believe the prosecutor continued on this path of trying to get this sentence upheld and to get this sentence served, even after the judge in Monroe County, Georgia, said, you know what, this is cruel punishment here.

BERNSTEIN: I can never get in anybody's head. They said, well, it's the law and they're forced to uphold the law, and again, that's why we go to courts and that's why there's a supreme court, because sometimes that law that people believe is there is wrong or they've misinterpreted. And fortunately for us we have a Georgia Supreme Court that's fixed the problem.

HARRIS: B.J. Bernstein, the attorney for Genarlow Wilson. Hey, B.J., it's wonderful to talk to you.

BERNSTEIN: It's Wonderful to talk to you, Tony. I'm just overjoyed. And everyone, thank you. We've gotten so much support from everyone. We just appreciate it. There's not enough thanks for all the prayers and well wishes we've had.

HARRIS: I know you're busy with 10 different things, but as soon as you can, get on over here and let's talk.

And thanks for giving us the first interview on this decision.

B.J. Bernstein, the attorney for Genarlow Wilson.

And if you would like to read -- oh, good, you can go to CNN.com. If you would like to read the Georgia Supreme Court's full order on the Genarlow Wilson case, here's what you do -- you go to CNN.com right now. It's available to you.

And still to come, fire on the ground, heroes in the skies. CNN's Kyra Phillips goes airborne.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM, Blackhawk ops. You'll see firsthand how these Army pilots are helping firefighters on the ground save homes and lives in San Diego.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to get to some tape that we have now of President Bush. We were telling you just a few minutes ago he'd be coming out in the Roosevelt Room to talk a little bit about the SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Let's go ahead and get to that sound now and hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This week, the majority in the House passed a new SCHIP bill that cost more over the next five years than the one I vetoed three weeks ago. It still moves millions of American children who now have private health insurance into government-run health care. It raises taxes to pay for it, and it fails to do what needs to be done, to put poor children first.

After I vetoed their last SCHIP bill, I designated members of my administration to work with Congress to find common ground. Congressional leaders never met with them. Instead, the House once again passed a bill that they knew would not become law, and incredibly enough, the Senate will take up the same bill next week, which wastes valuable time.

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COLLINS: CNN's Jessica Yellin is standing by on Capitol Hill to give us a little bit more on this.

Now Jessica, he said several things here that, in fact, the second one now cost more than the first one that he vetoed and also, according to the president, he had formed this special panel that Congress apparently never met with to discuss this. Is that true?

JESSICA YELLIN, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's true, but his characterization could be easily disputed. What we have here is a fierce political standoff, a deadlock over this issue, with each side accusing the other, fundamentally, of being more interested in playing political games than in the specific policy.

What the Democrats did this week is try to answer what they say were the Republican criticisms of the original bill. They say that this panel the president convened never reached out to Democrats, only reached out to Republicans, never tried to meet with Democrats, but in return, the White House says, well, they never called us. Each side is pretending nobody picked up the phone to call me, so why would I talk to them? It's a little absurd.

COLLINS: Yes.

YELLIN: And then, as for the claim that this one costs more, well, it does. It costs negligibly more in the hash mark area. Tiny, tiny bit more and because -- it costs more because the bill attempted to address some of the concerns Republicans had raised. So, they raised the total cost to assauge some Republicans.

Bottom line, neither side has really sat down and had face-to- face negotiations on this issue. What they're doing is they are trying to highlight their own political priorities. Here, the president is saying, I want to be fiscally responsible, I want to show that I will not overspend, so he's cracking down on his end. Democrats say, well, we want to spend on the American people and the people who need it.

And Harry Reid says this to CNN in response to what the president just said. He says that, "It's the height of irresponsibility for the president to make these kinds of claims when he is now asking for another $200 billion for the war without providing a way to pay for it."

So you see, it's just a real firm political fight over priorities.

COLLINS: Yes, so just to be clear, this is now -- this particular bill, SCHIP, higher than $35 billion?

YELLIN: It still rounds out to $35 billion.

COLLINS: OK.

YELLIN: The old version was $38.9 -- $34.9, and now it's $35.4.

COLLINS: OK, want to be accurate. All right, CNN's Jessica Yellin from Capitol Hill this morning. Jessica, thank you.

HARRIS: And keeping an eye on the California wildfires and relief from the heavens. Crews taking to the skies and gaining the upper hands.

CNN's Kyra Phillips went along on a mission. Kyra, where are you and I'm sorry, I have a note here that says that you actually got a bird's-eye view of the firefighting effort?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: I sure did, Tony. It helps when you grow up in this area and you happen to grow up with the battalion chief. It makes a big difference ...

HARRIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ...when you have that type of connection, but let me give you a feel. We're at Gillespie Air Field in El Cajon. It's just about 10 minutes from where I grew up, actually. And we're right here on the fight line and they're getting ready for the water drops today, Tony. And behind me, you have a number of helicopters that are already here. You've got San Diego sheriff's department. You have Cal Fire. You also have private contractors that are here, and the Blackhawk squadron is getting ready to fly in.

The California Air National Guard has been helping with those water drops, and that's who we connected with yesterday to kind of give you an inside look at how they are helping firefighters stop this fire, contain this fire, saving structures, homes, and, of course, firefighters' lives. Here's a look.

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SCOTT WATSON (ph), CAL FIRE BATTALION CHIEF: We'll start looking for Woodson Mountain, which is the one that'll have all the repeaters on it. It's one of the priorities on the fire.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Cal Fire battalion chief Scott Watson knows what it takes to fight fires, a battle plan.

WATSON: I'm going to immediately try to roll over and request permission to come on in into the Mount -- Lake Poway area.

PHILLIPS: And it takes soldiers like Lieutenant Colonel Myles Williams and Lieutenant Michael Fish to execute it. These Blackhawk helicopters have a weapon that every firefighter wants, a bucket fully loaded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This frequency, advise on initial contact.

PHILLIPS: We're airborne and over the fire lines with the California National Guard.

(on camera): These Blackhawk buckets hold about 670 gallons of water. And right now, they're scooping the water out of Lake Poway and within two hours, they'll make about 20 drops on the Harris and Witch fires right here in San Diego.

(voice-over): And it happens fast: low-level flying with unpredictable wind force, constant communications with ground and air crews. Buckets fill up, and pilots make their drops, all in less than a minute.

LT. MICHAEL FISH, CALF. NATIONAL GUARD: So, with the radios talking as much as they are and how many aircrafts are coming into a small, confined area, normally the drop site, you really doing a mental gymnastics on who's where, what we have to do, and what we have to accomplish.

PHILLIPS (on camera): We're about 250 feet above the wildfire, and the smoke is intense. You can even smell the burning brush. But we're also seeing firsthand how these water drops are helping firefighters on the ground fight these flames.

(voice-over): These drops help slow down the fires, sometimes even extinguishing them. Just one more tool in a firefighters' arsenal, and one more reason to keep pilots, Lieutenant Colonel Myles Williams coming back.

(on camera): When you actually see that water drop and you know it's making it right there on the flames, does your heart start beating? LT. COL. MYLES WILLIAMS, CALF. NATIONAL GUARD: It's when the ground crews say, hey, that's a good drop. Then, you know, hey, we're doing the right thing. We've got our right headings and that's what we're following in, and you know, let's keep doing it again because you're really there for them.

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PHILLIPS: And, Tony, the briefing is actually going on right behind me right now, but you know what, Jonathan, let's get a shot here, two of the helicopters taking off, getting ready to go -- head over to Lake Poway and dip in, fill up their baskets and actually make drops on the wildfires. The Harris fire specifically is where they're headed to right now.

Behind me, this is the brief that's going on. Bob Alvarez (ph) is talking about what the fire did overnight, where the hotspots are, and where the operations are going to go today specifically.

I'm going to step over to battalion chief John Winder (ph) right now and have him take us over to the aviation map real quickly.

Hey, John.

JOHN WINDER, CHIEF BATTALION, CAL FIRE: I'm going to cover the ...

PHILLIPS: Real quickly, I know you're about to give a brief. Do you mind real quickly showing you us on the map where the priorities are today. Bob, thanks so much.

WINDER: Today, our priorities, guys, are going to be in -- on the east end of the incident in Branch 3. We're going to be working divisions Y, Yankee -- or Zulu and Alpha. Keep the fire south of Highway 76. They worked it pretty good last night, so it's in pretty good shape, but there's going to the need for bucket work tomorrow.

Also, want to remind everybody TFR has been changed to 117000. That means anything on the west end of the incident no longer has a TFR on it. So, if you're over there doing a recon, it's by visual. Make sure you're heads up over there.

PHILLIPS: How is the containment to this point? Could you just give us a quick brief on that? How is it looking?

WINDER: It's looking really good. We had a lot of good work was done last night because of the rise in the humidities and the cooler temperatures. We made a lot of progress. We're looking pretty good.

PHILLIPS: Good, I'll let you continue. Thanks a lot. OK, guys, thanks so much.

Tony, I just wanted to give you a little feel because they just began when our live shot began. I didn't want to completely interrupt ... HARRIS: Yes, yes.

PHILLIPS: ...but it was great, because John had to give a quick brief there on the aviation map. But throughout the day, we're going to show you how these water drops are continuing ...

HARRIS: Oh, that's great.

PHILLIPS: ...where the spots are that they're hitting. And you know, they say they're making a tremendous progress because the weather's helped them a lot the past couple days.

HARRIS: And for a moment, let's talk about Kyra Phillips. You changed the choreography of the briefing there. This is really a home game for you. Well done, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I think I might have thrown them off a little bit there, but hey, we got the real deal, right?

HARRIS: Yes, you got the information. Great to see you, Kyra, thanks.

PHILLIPS: All right, thanks, Tony.

COLLINS: Baby up all night crying. Police say mom whips up some whiskey and infant formula and feeds it to her infant. The arrest, ahead.

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HARRIS: And our top stories, sentenced to 10 years for teen sex. Today freed by Georgia's highest court. An update on the breaking news. The Genarlow Wilson case, straight ahead.

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HARRIS: So this is the story of -- where is this? Indiana. The story of a mother arrested for allegedly feeding her baby whiskey. Indiana police say Mary Skaggs (ph) poured alcohol in her 4-month- old's bottle and fed it to the little girl. The baby later passed out, and Skaggs called for a ambulance. Authorities say the baby had a blood alcohol level of 0.048, the equivalent of having 2.5 ounces of whiskey. The baby's grandmother insists the mom was simply trying to soothe the little girl who was teething and had been up crying all night.

COLLINS: A violin instrumental in saving a little boy. Meet the kid who may have cheated death thanks to his music in just a moment.

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