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Court Frees Genarlow Wilson; Arson in California?; Suspected Staph Death

Aired October 26, 2007 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning again, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments, as usual, keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Friday, October 26th.

Here's what's on the rundown now.

Happening at this moment, a young man sentenced for sex as a teen will get out of prison. The court ruling is in, and we'll have a reaction.

HARRIS: Searching for fire starters. Some southern California wildfires linked to arson. A $250,000 reward offered.

COLLINS: And a seventh grader's death possibly linked to staph. What you should know about the bacterial infection, in the NEWSROOM.

Up first this hour on the case of Genarlow Wilson, 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. And just a short time ago, Georgia's highest court ordered his release.

The court ruled Wilson's sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. Wilson was sent to jail under a now amended Georgia law that required a mandatory 10-year sentence without parole.

Joining us here now in the NEWSROOM, CNN's Rusty Dornin. She of course has been following this case pretty closely and seriously, literally, running around trying to do that in our newsroom.

OK. So we were wondering because we have seen her on camera before, most specifically we saw her sort of the last time this happened when we thought Genarlow was getting out, but his mother, Juanessa Bennett.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's on her way to, of course, his attorney's office, B.J. Bernstein. They're trying to figure out exactly when he might get out of prison. The prison is located about an hour south of Atlanta. She's hoping to get in the car by noon this afternoon and be able to bring him back home, bring him, you know, with his younger sister and his mother and have him spend his first free night at home.

COLLINS: Well, that would be a good thing for them, obviously. And this is that video we were talking about way back on June 11th, when that fax came in that said he was going to be let out. And then -- and then...

DORNIN: So many times their hopes were up and down, up and down. This has been a roller-coaster the whole way. And I think a lot of people have been wondering, you know, why is it after that Monroe County judge overturned it initially, why was it appealed?

COLLINS: Right.

DORNIN: Well it...

COLLINS: By the prosecution.

DORNIN: By the prosecution. Well, it' snot just the prosecution. I mean, the attorney general of Georgia stepped in and just -- and really said that the first judge overstepped his authority, that he didn't have the legal authority to do this.

So they weren't really arguing about whether they thought this was fair or whether Genarlow Wilson should get out of jail. It was strictly a matter of the law.

COLLINS: By the books.

DORNIN: By the book. And they felt, you know, they had to appeal this. I mean, they didn't have any choice. Of course, they received a lot of criticism for it all on sides. There's been controversy all along with this.

COLLINS: Yes, which is also an interesting facet of all of this. You know, it is by law that they are supposed to sort of keep all that in the back of their minds and never let it affect any of their decisions, but I was reading some things here, and, you know, got to remember judges are human, too.

DORNIN: Right. And it's very difficult not to.

I mean, and also right now we're trying to get some reaction from Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia, having a press conference as we speak. Hopefully he's going to be saying a few words about all of this.

And we've been trying to get a hold of the district attorney in the county where it w was first overturned to see what his reaction is in all of this, because he told -- initially told our CNN's Rick Sanchez that he still felt that Genarlow Wilson was a rapist. So it's interesting -- it will be very interesting to see what he has to say now. COLLINS: Yes, very much. I'm sure the calls are in.

DORNIN: They are.

COLLINS: All right.

CNN's Rusty Dornin.

Rusty, thank you.

HARRIS: And you know, just minutes ago, I talked with Genarlow Wilson's attorney, B.J. Bernstein. And she said she was working at that moment to get him released.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

B.J. BERNSTEIN, GENARLOW WILSON'S ATTORNEY: No, no, I absolutely did not expect it today, but we've been praying for it every day, and it's 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 just ahead of the president. Tell me about the efforts that you're making to get him released as soon as possible, today.

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 out 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 have gotten a call in to the prison. I actually haven't spoken to him directly, but I've spoken to 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Wow. B.J. Bernstein, Genarlow Wilson's attorney, a short time ago speaking to us first.

And in just a few minutes we will drill down on this story a little deeper with another attorney. Stay tuned right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

But in the meantime, if you would like to read the Georgia Supreme Court's full order on Genarlow Wilson, just check out CNN.com. You can do it right now.

COLLINS: In southern California, conquering the beast. Most of the state's 23 wildfires are now contained. Evacuees are streaming back home.

Crews did make a lot of progress yesterday as dreaded Santa Ana winds faded and temperatures turned quite a bit more mild. The toll though is staggering. Seven hundred sixty-five square miles burned, more than 1,600 homes lost, and six more bodies have been found.

Now investigators are turning 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.

Want to begin with the arson investigation now. CNN's Keith Oppenheim is in Orange County, California, telling us a little more about that specific facet to all of this.

Keith, good morning to you once again.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi, again.

And you know, there are no suspects that have been apprehended so far in this case. It's an intense investigation with the ATF, the FBI, and local authorities working together.

What they're telling us is that on Sunday evening, they pinpointed two outdoor locations where they determined this fire was set, and it got going very quickly. A thousand firefighters are now on the line trying to protect another 3,000 homes. Fourteen homes already were burned and destroyed by the Santiago Canyon Fire already.

Now, earlier I talked to Carl Vasilco of the ATF and I asked him about why someone would ever commit a crime like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL VASILKO, ATF NATIONAL RESPONSE TEAM: Irregardless of what their motive was, it's just a despicable act to set a fire. You don't know where that fire is going to go. And under the conditions you all had here, the way those fires were going to travel, to set this intentionally, at the very least, if nobody was hurt, you know, to pull those fire suppression resources away from other efforts to fight another fire, you know, that alone is despicable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: There's a $250,000 reward that is being offered for anyone who has information that would lead to an arrest in this case, and there's an arson tip line to call. Let me give you the number. It's 1-800-540-8282.

Heidi, the general thinking here is that perhaps the best or maybe only significant law enforcement tool that they have is to lure someone out there who has information, someone who knows somebody or knows something about how these fires were set, to have that person come forward.

Back to you.

COLLINS: Yes, Keith, because it's pretty incredible, at least some of the reports I have seen, people talking about how they actually saw some of these people starting these fires in other areas, of course, from where you are. But pretty incredible stuff.

All right. CNN's Keith Oppenheim.

Thanks, Keith.

HARRIS: So let's take a bit of a step back and take a closer look now at the fires and just these ridiculous numbers associated with them.

Fourteen people died in the fires. Sixty-one injured, including 28 firefighters. There are now 23 fires, 14 of them contained.

The fires have blackened almost 490,000 acres or 765 square miles. One thousand six hundred thirty-five homes have been destroyed.

There have been five arson arrests, two in San Bernardino County, two in San Diego County, and one in Los Angeles County.

Have you been moved by what you have watched over the last five, six days? You know, there is a way for you to take action. You can help the victims of the California wildfires through our Impact Your World initiative.

If you want to learn more, just go to CNN.com/impact. There you can find out how you can help. (WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: A deadly super bug to tell you more about. It is suspected in another death. This time a young boy in Brooklyn. Parents and students now on alert.

The details for you, coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Look, if you're a parent watching us this morning, you need to really hear this. There's been another suspected death from a drug-resistant form of staph infection, this time in New York and a 12-year-old boy.

CNN's Jim Acosta joins us live from New York.

Jim, good to see you. What can you tell us?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, as you mentioned, yes, this is not the kind of news that parents want to get, but parents here in Brooklyn, here in New York City, got a letter from the city of New York yesterday and it is not the kind of letter you want to have your child hand to you after they come home from school.

It begins, sadly, "A student at is IS211 has died." And what this letter basically says is that this young man at this school, a 12-year-old, seventh grader, middle school student named Omar Rivera, died from that superbug, that drug-resistant staph infection back on October 14th.

Health officials in New York are not sure whether Omar contracted MRSA -- that is the name of this staph infection -- here at the school or elsewhere, but for the time being the school is open after custodians cleansed this school thoroughly. They went through the hallways and classrooms, doing the best that they can to clean this place up. And students at the school are being urged to wash their hands and practice good hygiene.

It is not clear what the school knew and when they knew it, but other students here, Omar's classmates, knew their friend was very sick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was at lunch and he had told me something about something that was on his leg. And he had like a whole bunch of stuff on his back. So then I didn't know what to do, so I just sent him to the nurse. And from then I never saw him again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, COMM., NYC DEPT. OF HEALTH: There's often no way to any how an individual person got the infection, but resistant staph is becoming increasingly common, especially in hospitals, but increasingly in the community. But an infection like this in a child is extremely rare. Fatal infections in children on the order of one in a million. It's a terrible tragedy, and our hearts go out to the family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And that was the New York health commissioner, who has been trying pretty much for the last 24 hours to keep people from really panicking about this, stressing and cautioning parents that while this is very serious and should be taken very seriously, the superbug is extremely rare in terms of cases that lead to an actual death. But in the meantime here at the school, parents are planning to hold a meeting with school officials tomorrow morning. There will obviously be a lot of questions, a lot of concerned parents there, and in the meantime there's a sign out in front of the building here -- this is the electronic sign that students see every day on their way in to this -- into this junior school...

HARRIS: Yes.

ACOSTA: ... and it says today, "Our hearts go out to our young angel."

Tony.

HARRIS: Boy. I bet there are a lot of concerned parents at this time.

Jim Acosta for us in New York City.

Jim, thank you.

Why don't we take a closer look now at staph infections and the drug-resistant form known as MRSA. Staph is short for staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria commonly found on the skin and in the noses of healthy people. MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond, sadly, to penicillin or related antibiotics. It can be treated with some other drugs, however.

The infection can spread through skin-to-skin contact or through sharing an item with an infected person. That could include items like towels or sports equipment found in gyms and in locker rooms.

COLLINS: Home is where the heartbreak is, unfortunately. Evacuees return, but for many of them home disappears in the ashes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Well, the news doesn't stop on Friday. CNN has coverage all the way throughout the weekend.

Want to give you a preview now of "CNN SATURDAY".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: This weekend we are live on the fire lines in southern California, and we're tracking an arsonist. Investigators sifting through the ashes for clues. See how they can find the crime scene when thousands of acres have already burned.

We're going to take you inside the hunt for the person or persons responsible for these horrible fires.

Also, war over water. We're not talking about a third world country. The battle is right here in the U.S. Three states fighting over one thing that we all need to survive. How this southern showdown could impact your drinking supply.

Plus, shocking allegations of abuse at the South African school Oprah Winfrey started. How the talk show host is dealing with the threat to her school for girls.

We've got that story.

So join me and T.J. Holmes this weekend. "CNN SATURDAY & SUNDAY MORNING" beginning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to go ahead and get you back to another story that we have been following this morning in the case of Genarlow Wilson. He was 17 years old and was convicted of having oral sex with a 15- year-old girl. He had a 10-year mandatory sentence.

There he is now. You see him from inside the jail there, where he still is today.

However, we have learned today, just within the last couple hours here, that the Georgia Supreme Court has upheld a ruling now that says his 10-year prison sentence, obviously, as we just said, having oral sex, consensual oral sex, which is important here, that that sentence is cruel and unusual, and they have ordered him to be released from the prison. Not exactly sure when that is going to happen, but in the face of all of it we want to take a moment now to speak with Senator Emanuel Jones about all of this.

Senator, does this comes as a surprise to you today?

EMANUEL JONES (D), GEORGIA STATE SENATE: Oh, absolutely. It's a very big surprise. I am just overwhelmed right now and just filled with tears of joy.

COLLINS: Tell me what role you had in all of this. I know that there's some legislation that you were trying to get through.

JONES: That's correct. The law that we changed in '06 did not make -- was not a retroactive law, so I sought in this past legislative cycle to make that law that we changed in '06 retroactive to cases like Genarlow. And I fought in the Senate and in the general assembly to get that done.

COLLINS: And how successful were you?

JONES: Well, my bill did not pass this year. There were some powerful forces that were lined up against it, and it was just unfortunate, but we run on a two-year cycle. And thank god we do have a chance in this upcoming cycle to get it through.

COLLINS: How are you going to get it through this time?

JONES: Well, we have just gotten some wonderful news from our Supreme Court, who said it was cruel and unusual in cases like this to keep these kids behind bars. There are other cases in the state of Georgia like Genarlow.

Genarlow has been that cause, if you will, that everyone in the community has rallied around. And because of Genarlow, he's brought these types of crimes to the forefront, these type mandatory sentences to the forefront. And because of the courageousness of this one kid, there will be others that's going to benefit from his veracity and his tenacity and his courage to stand forward and say, I'm not a child molester.

COLLINS: Well, let me ask you this. When writing that legislation, you know, and when we look at different cases all across the country no matter if they are in the same sort of realm as this one or completely unrelated, there will be people who will say, I don't know how you write sweeping legislation like that. Doesn't each specific case need to be looked at individually?

JONES: Well, I agree, but we -- in Georgia, we have passed these mandatory sentences. And because of these mandatory sentences, we and the judges did not have any discretion in the sentencing of Genarlow. And I am vehemently opposed to mandatory sentences, particularly in cases like this.

COLLINS: OK. Quickly, how will it read exactly? Will this only make reference to consensual sex as a minor?

JONES: Well, yes. The law that we changed in '06, we inserted a Romeo and Juliet provision. And it involved consensual acts of this nature. Not any kind of force. That was not even considered even in the legislation in '06, nor was it considered in my legislation.

COLLINS: So then I imagine both sides will have to come and talk either publicly or make some type of statement that says, yes, indeed -- I mean, this would be the first step anyway, I imagine -- yes, indeed, this was consensual sex? Don't you have to start there?

JONES: Well, that's correct. But in Genarlow's case, that was never in any -- in doubt. The victim came forward and from her statement...

COLLINS: Right.

JONES: ... she made statements that it was consensual. COLLINS: Yes. Just trying to look forward here as this law will cover everyone if, in fact, it does go ahead and get passage.

So we certainly appreciate you helping us to understand more of the legal side behind this.

Senator Emanuel Jones, thanks for your time.

JONES: You're so very welcome. Thank you.

HARRIS: OK. A bit more on the legal side of this now with some legal insight, criminal defense attorney Pamela Hayes.

Pamela, always good to talk to you. Good to see you, lady.

PAMELA HAYES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good to be here.

HARRIS: Well, let me sort of broaden this out a little bit, and then we can sort of delve into it a little deeper.

Why did the -- in your opinion, why did the Georgia Supreme Court uphold the lower court decision here? The prosecutor who tried this case looked at the facts, looked at the tape, said, look, what I'm dealing with here is a case of rape. And some will absolutely say that since prosecutors are our advocates, that this decision by the Supreme Court sends a terrible message.

HAYES: Absolutely not, Tony. What happened here is that the punishment was cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment.

The court decided that they could not let this injustice stand, and it doesn't -- it trumps the prosecutorial discretion which citizens put in our elected and appointed officials to handle these cases. I mean, sometimes the prosecution is wrong. Sometimes the defense are wrong.

Sometimes lower courts are wrong, right, and they have higher courts to change it. And what is important here is that the Supreme Court of Georgia, the highest court in that state, said, hey, this is a mistake. We should have followed what the lower court said when they decided to not reverse, but change this sentence.

HARRIS: Sure. Yes.

HAYES: Exactly. So I think it sends a good message out to the public.

HARRIS: But the law, the new law, doesn't have a retroactive feature. It just -- it doesn't. Doesn't this open the Pandora's Box that if it has a retroactive feature for Genarlow Wilson, anyone else who was convicted of the old law, aggravated child molestation, now gets to have a review under the Wilson ruling?

HAYES: Well, you know, what's wrong with that if we find out that there's a glitch, that there is a problem? We want our legislatures, our courts -- these are the people of last resort -- we want them to come around and say, you know, maybe we should have done it differently.

HARRIS: It's an adversarial system. You tried your case, I tried my case, the law is the law -- you lost.

HAYES: No, that's not it. There is always a court of last resort. That is what the Georgia Supreme Court says, and that's where we are, and you can't be rigid when, you know, something offends the sensibilities of the Constitution of the United States.

We are talking about people who have been wronged. If we decide that it is, in fact, a wrong, we want them to have an opportunity. Why would we want to keep people in who have been wronged just because it's the law? That's not how it should work.

HARRIS: So on the other hand, have we gotten to a place now if we feel like we have an overzealous prosecution that we have to go down this road where you're in prison for years while you work this thing through the appeals process? It looks to a lot of folks that what prosecutors are saying, in order to get their credentials for being tough on crime, that they are prosecuting these cases overzealously and waiting for the appeals process to work it out.

HARRIS: Well, no, you don't want that to happen because it just takes too much time, and too many energy and too much effect on the person who's wronged, for lack of a better word. The key here is, you know, discretion is discretion. Sometimes the court has to step in and say, hey, you know, you did the wrong thing. This is not the right thing. This is not the intent of the law or the intent of the legislature. And you just have to go from there. You know, just giving their credentials and stuff like that, that's not the key. The key is justice. You know, the prosecution never loses. When it's a right, it's a right. When it's a wrong, it's a wrong. It's not about them and their personal agendas.

HARRIS: Good to see you, Pamela, as always. Thanks for your time.

HAYES: Good to be here. OK.

HARRIS: OK, just past the bottom of the hour. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. The International Space Station getting larger. Live pictures now that we'd like to bring you from space. We have been following the story all morning and have learned that just moments ago a robotic arm moved the Harmony Module from the shuttle to a temporary place on the space station. The living compartment is about the size of a school bus. That's pretty good. We're told today's The spacewalk will wrap up about 12:30 Eastern. It is the first of five scheduled spacewalks for this very complicated shuttle mission.

HARRIS: Boy, talk about getting out in the nick of time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I opened up this front door with my baby in my arms, and...

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Your daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter, and it just looked like lava flowing in the air, and the wind was howling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A family's narrow escape and the new fire-response tool that saved their lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Relief from the heavens, and, boy, does it sound good to the people of California. Crews are taking to the skies now and gaining the upper hand on some of the wildfires we have been showing you for the past several days. CNN's Kyra Phillips went along for our mission. Today she's in El Cajon at Gillespie Field.

Kyra, good morning to you.

Tell us a little bit about what's happening on the flight line today.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's a joint task force for sure, Heidi. All the air operations are coming out of the field right here, loading up, getting their brief, and heading over to Lake Poway, scooping up water in the baskets and making the drops on the wildfires, and the Marines actually just landed. You can see some of the pilots coming in right here. They are using Chinooks and also Sea Stallions. You can't see that, but he landed sort of in the back of the airstrip. They're actually coming in to get their briefings right now.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to take you over to where the aviation map is. And Tom Humane (ph), who is with Cal Fire, they're helping coordinate with the military on these airdrops, is giving a briefing to the pilots right now. I'm just going to pop in for a second and take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we talked about the communications plan. What I'd like to do right now is do a quick review of the fire traffic area. We'll run over that. I know some of you saw that yesterday, but for the benefit of everybody and to make sure we're on the same sheet of music, we'll talk about it for a minute.

The fire traffic area is set up much like a tower-controlled air space and the guy in charge or the tower controller is that air attack. He'll be up top. He's going to be in the OB-10, and he'll go by the call sign of which air attack. We talked about what frequency he can reach.

PHILLIPS: You can see Tom is briefing those pilots with the white knights. They're the Marine pilots that will be taking the aircraft out in just a second, Heidi. And what they'll be doing is rotations all throughout the day. The helicopters -- you got about two hours of gas on a number of these aircraft. They can make about 20 drops on the wildfires.

And yesterday we actually got a chance to take you inside with the Blackhawks and my pilot, Myles Williams, was telling me about the challenges yesterday when we were doing that. The visibility was really tough, the winds were picking up a little bit, but they were able to make those drops. Here's a little bit of what he told me after our flight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Do you get stressed out flying like that?

LT. COL. MYLES WILLIAMS, CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD: You get a little bit -- your heart rate goes up a little bit, because it's not so much the flying, it's there's so much radio traffic because you're talking to your sister aircraft on one radio. You're talking to the ground crews on another radio. You're talking to the helicopter coordinator on another radio. That's the nerve-racking part because you've to got to try to keep track of who's saying what and what do they want me to do. And then you've got to fly the aircraft and manage the crew.

And then you have the internal communications going on inside the aircraft. So it's challenging. You saw me up there.

PHILLIPS: I did. I saw a little sweat.

HAYES: A little sweat coming out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And it was definitely tough because we were hovering about 200 feet above that wildfire, and you could actually see the firefighters working the blaze, Heidi, and just trying to listen to my pilot and see the flying that he was doing. There was times when the smoke was all around the aircraft and you couldn't even see in front of you, so you can imagine what that's like for a pilot.

I mean, your husband was a military pilot. You know how tough it is when you've got so many different kinds of communications going on in your ear when you're trying to do a mission.

So anyway, we're going to follow the missions today and bring you updates throughout the afternoon. We're waiting for the California National Guard to come in with the Blackhawks. They're going to join the Marines, Cal Fire, the private contractors, and even San Diego Sheriff's Department, all of them launching today and dropping water on those wildfires.

COLLINS: Yes, and I know how hard they're working out there. It's truly remarkable work. But Matt flew low, but he flew real fast, no helicopters. So a different type of flying.

All right, Kyra, thank you.

HARRIS: CNN's Rick Sanchez is covering these fires. He filled in for Larry King last night and spoke with a man who escaped one of the fast-moving fires just in time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: This is Richard Joseph.

What an amazing story that you've been sharing with me.

So you fall asleep thinking that you're probably going to be all right. You're tired of waiting. Take us through what happens after that.

This is what, Sunday night?

RICHARD JOSEPH, HOME DESTROYED BY FIRE: Sunday night. I had been watching the shows all night long about the fires and so I was up all night long and fell asleep roughly about 3:30 right on my couch -- what used to be my couch. And since I had been up all night, I went down hard. And so some time after 4:00, I heard that two phone ring and...

SANCHEZ: That's that reverse 911 call that they're talking about.

JOSEPH: Which I hadn't heard about ever until that night.

SANCHEZ: So that phone call wakes you up?

JOSEPH: And that is what woke me up, because I was just completely out of it. So I got up. As soon as I heard it, I knew what it was. I didn't even have to answer the phone. And...

SANCHEZ: And you went to the back, right?

JOSEPH: I did.

SANCHEZ: You were telling me that you were over here when this happened. You go to the back of the house...

JOSEPH: Sure.

SANCHEZ: ...and you realize the fire is basically on your back porch.

JOSEPH: The first thing I did was yell for my wife and my daughter Cicely (ph) to get up. And knew I that I only had two minutes to get out of there. But when I walked back and opened the curtain up, it was already on fire. The whole thing was ablaze. And I...

SANCHEZ: You wake...

JOSEPH: ...thought it was actually too late.

SANCHEZ: You wake up in the middle of the night and your house is on fire?

JOSEPH: Completely. I -- and the whole back is flaming. And at that point, I thought it was too late. I thought the whole house was engulfed. So we did a textbook evacuation. I got like...

SANCHEZ: Which is like, everybody, let's go now, right?

JOSEPH: Without anything, with -- these are the only jeans that I own (INAUDIBLE).

SANCHEZ: This is -- that's the back -- this is what's left of your house.

JOSEPH: Yes.

SANCHEZ: That's the back over there. Just walk over here and we'll try and get as close as we can. That's the back of your house over there. So this is the front.

JOSEPH: There was (INAUDIBLE).

SANCHEZ: This is where you -- so you roust your daughter and your wife out of bed.

JOSEPH: Right here.

SANCHEZ: Right here. And you take off.

That's your car?

JOSEPH: That was my beloved Boxster. But I had another car right outside in the driveway, luckily. And I wasn't ready to go for the fire.

SANCHEZ: Wow!

JOSEPH: And as soon as I opened it up, I knew there was an inferno. I opened up this front door with my baby in my arms and it looked...

SANCHEZ: Your daughter?

JOSEPH: My daughter.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

JOSEPH: And it just looked like lava flowing in the air and the wind was howling.

SANCHEZ: So you literally -- you literally got out in the nick of time?

JOSEPH: That was it. Without that call, you wouldn't be talking to me right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Man! Boy, our coverage of the devastating California wildfires really has been, let's tell the truth about this, has been powered by you, our CNN i-Reporters. Jim Mumaw of Lancaster, California captured this, kind of an air super-scooper dropping water on a blaze near Magic Mountain. That's in Valenzia (ph), California. A super scooper dropping water on a blaze near magic mountain. Mumaw is an amateur photographer. He also shot this amazing image -- man, take a look at this -- of a Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter getting water for a drop.

Now if you live in Southern California, or anywhere for that matter, share your pictures of what's happening wherever you are. Send in a CNN i-Report. There are a couple ways you can do this. On your computer go to CNN.com and click on i-Report, or you can type in ireport@CNN.com into your cell phone. And by all means, share your photos or video with us, and of course we always remind you to be absolutely careful and stay out of harm's way.

COLLINS: Candidates party.

Elvis Costello is an attraction at Hillary Clinton's 60th birthday bash. We'll tell you who else was there, coming up after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Who knew you could be voted off a Mafia hitlist? We will tell you who wanted to whack Rudy Giuliani and what he's saying about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani went after the mob when he was a federal prosecutor back in the 1980s. Now it appears the mob wanted to go after him.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happened some 20 years ago, mafia boss John Gotti trying to convince his fellow crime bosses to put out on a hit on a young, ambitious federal prosecutor now running for president who at the time was making life difficult for the crime syndicate.

The vote by the five capos turned out 3-2 against whacking Rudy Giuliani. Here is how he described it this morning on a syndicated radio talk show.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That was one vote I won, I guess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thankfully. I mean, that's a vote you want to win. (END AUDIO CLIP)

FEYERICK: The claim that New York City's five mafia bosses, known as La Cosa Nostra, talked about sanctioning a hit on Giuliani came to light Wednesday during the Brooklyn trial of a former FBI supervisor.

Lindley DeVecchio is accused of helping arrange four gangland murders by leaking information to a mob informant. According to the informant's file -- quote -- "John Gotti and Carmine Persico were in favor of the hit. The bosses of the Luchese and Bonnano and Genovese families rejected the idea, despite strong efforts to convince them otherwise by Gotti and Persico."

Giuliani, who says the FBI told him about the hit years ago, has told a similar story before.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GIULIANI: The one that really embarrassed me, Mike, was, when I was first U.S. attorney, they put out a contract to kill me for $800,000. After five-and-a-half years of being U.S. attorney, they put out another contract to kill me, another group, for only $400,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's all you're worth? Come on.

GIULIANI: So, I thought, my goodness, my value -- if I were a company, my market cap would have been cut in half.

(LAUGHTER)

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK, let's see how this looks. Candidates party. I thought we'd get some dancing or something. Elvis Costello is an attraction at Hillary Clinton's 60th birthday bash. We will tell you who else was there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And some breaking news into CNN now out of New York City. Sounds like a pretty active scene we're describing here. Police and bomb squad units have been called to the Mexican consulate in the Murray Hill Section of Manhattan. Some kind of a hand grenade has been found. We understand from some sources that it may be incapable of exploding, may be in fact a dud, but all due caution is being taken right now, and the area has been cordoned off. We will continue to update this story for you throughout the afternoon here in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: We usually have so much going on here that we kind of sometimes can't get through it all. In fact, we promised you a couple of stories, that of Hillary Clinton's birthday bash, and the story of a young boy saved when he was hit by a car by his violin case. A great story. Unfortunately due to that breaking news we were unable to bring those to you.

HARRIS: So, just stay with us. You can still see them in the CNN NEWSROOM daily podcast, or, you know, just give it about an hour or so and then log on to CNN.com/podcast and watch those stories and others, this afternoon, over the next 24 hours.

In the meantime, CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins. Have a great weekend, everybody.

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