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Spotlight on the South: Democrats on the Trail in South Carolina; 'Murderer' Exonerated
Aired January 21, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: A brutal murder leads to a flawed conviction and a life sentence. And now the man serving it is ready to start a new life.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Black and white, rich and poor, young and old, the faces of the civil rights movement. We'll talk to the man who immortalized them on this MLK Day -- I should say Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
LONG: And I'm Melissa Long, in today for Kyra Phillips, who is on assignment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LONG: For many, of course, they have the day off. But it is not a day off, it is a day on. That's a message from presidents, preachers, everyday people on this national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
There were songs of praise at King's church in Atlanta, where speakers, including former President Bill Clinton, urged people to act on his legacy. At the King library in Washington, the current president echoed those words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Martin Luther King is a towering figure in the history of our country. And it is fitting that we honor his service and his courage and his vision. And today, we're witnessing people doing just that by volunteering their time.
So we're honored to be with you. Proud to be with you on this -- on this important national holiday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: King was assassinated nearly 40 years ago in Memphis. He would have turned 79 this month. And on this day honoring Dr. King, the Democratic presidential candidates are paying their respects to the late civil rights leader and his legacy as they are busy campaigning in South Carolina. They will take to the stage tonight to debate.
And CNN's Jessica Yellin reports from Columbia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Today the Democratic candidates are honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. All three began their day with a march and rally here at the South Carolina state capitol in King's honor. And all three candidates arguing that in various ways, their campaigns are continuations of King's legacy, of giving voice to the voiceless and fighting for those who have had to fight against the power structure.
It seems a very fitting way for all three to begin their campaigns here in South Carolina, as they seek to appeal to African- American voters. This is the first primary in which African-Americans could make up 50 to even 60 percent of the vote. And they are vying to get that support in various ways.
Enormous challenges ahead for each campaign. Senator Barack Obama has the advantage here, with polls show him leading in this state. But a new challenge for him is to show that he can appeal to African-Americans and still claim his message of transcending race. That's the message he's been running on from the beginning, a message of unity.
For John Edwards, a different challenge. He was born in this state and wants to show he can be competitive here after a very weak showing in Nevada.
And then for Senator Hillary Clinton, she's looking for a strong finish as well after winning the popular vote in Nevada, but being locked in a very hotly-contested battle with Senator Obama. The two of them arguing over everything from Bill Clinton's role in this campaign, to what they're claiming were dirty tricks by the other side in the Nevada vote.
So, a very fierce contest in South Carolina. Expect race and all these issues to come up in the CNN debate tonight.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Columbia, South Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Jessica.
And topping our Political Ticker today, South Carolina's leading African-American politician is weighing in on the dustup between the Clinton and Obama campaigns over civil rights issues. Congressman James Clyburn, the House majority whip, says it's time to move beyond that controversy, and he's offering this advice to former President Bill Clinton... (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think he really, as they would say in (INAUDIBLE) country, he needs to chill a little bit. And I hope he understands what that means.
You get excited in these campaigns. I can understand him wanting to defend his wife's honor and his own record, and that is to be expected. But you can do that in a way that won't engender the kind of feelings that seem to be bubbling up as a result of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, former President Bill Clinton helped to ignite the controversy earlier this month when he called Obama's claims about his Iraq war opposition a "fairy tale."
A close encounter between the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama camps. Chelsea Clinton and Michelle Obama -- there they are right there -- they attended the same church service yesterday in Columbia, South Carolina.
The former first daughter and potential first lady received warm welcomes from worshipers. They both sat on opposite sides of the church, and they were cordial greeting each other when they bumped into each other.
Senator John McCain is taking a hit over his age. Actor Chuck Norris raised the issue on the campaign trail over the weekend. Norris, who supports McCain's Republican rival, Mike Huckabee, said he believes serving as president speeds up the aging process three to one, and he suggested the 71-year-old McCain night not even last a single term.
Well, Huckabee didn't offer his opinion on whether McCain's age is an issue, joking, "Only John McCain and his hairdresser know for sure."
And if you'd like to watch any of the candidates today, just go to cnn.com/live to watch their rallies and their events streamed live.
And tonight, South Carolina, the Democratic candidates will take part in the Congressional Black Caucus debate in Myrtle Beach. See it live only on CNN. That's at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
CNN is your home for politics.
LEMON: A man caught with an arsenal of weapons in his New York apartment is being arraigned today. Police found eight pipe bombs, three guns and a crossbow in the home of Ivaylo Ivanov yesterday. They made the discovery after he apparently shot himself in the hand. Ivanov initially claimed someone else shot him.
Neighbors were evacuated while the bomb squad searched the area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They rang the doorbells and said, "You have five minutes. And would you go?" And, "We can offer you a bus that's heated."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's astounding. That's all I can say. Unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: According to "The New York Daily News," Ivanov is a native of Bulgaria, and police are checking to see if he has ties to the Russian Mafia.
LEMON: Wrongly convicted but on the verge of freedom after nine and a half years in prison. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, a story of justice delayed.
LONG: And also a front-row seat to the civil rights movement. A man who saw it all and captured it all on his camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there's still issues in this country that are difficult and are going to take a long time to reach his full dream that he saw with everybody. So, yes, we made great progress, but there's still a long way to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
LEMON: Can you imagine not doing something and then you spend a decade behind bars? After nearly a decade behind bars on a murder rap, Tim Masters is set to be freed. Not paroled, but exonerated in a case that's followed him since he was 15 years old.
Masters' conviction for killing a woman named Peggy Hettrick is expected to be overturned at a hearing tomorrow. And CNN's Drew Griffin has a look at this startling case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When she heard that after 12 years Tim Masters had finally been charged with murder, the former lead investigator, Linda Holloway, was thrilled, until she saw the new evidence that broke the case.
LINDA WHEELER-HOLLOWAY, FMR. FORT COLLINS POLICE DET.: I kept thinking, there's no way he's going to get convicted. They don't have any evidence against him.
GRIFFIN (on camera): But what prosecutors did have were these -- Tim Masters' own drawings. One of them a body, bleeding, being dragged across a field. Another showing what could be a stabbing, a wound, a diagram of the field, the spot where the body was placed.
(voice over): A forensic psychologist hired by prosecutors told the jury these all add up. Whoever drew them was the killer, and, worse, could kill again.
That psychologist, Dr. Reed Malloy (ph), wouldn't talk to CNN for this report, and, by the way, never interviewed Tim Masters. And remember this, 12 years had passed. Tim Masters was no longer 15 years old and skinny. He was a grown man.
ERIK FISCHER, ATTORNEY: The basic gist what we understood from the jurors was, again, what I said before, they were afraid to let him go.
GRIFFIN: But the testimony on the drawings wasn't the only damaging testimony. Linda Holloway was also called to the stand.
She was asked by Erik Fischer point blank, "You don't believe Tim Masters is guilty, do you?" Holloway froze, afraid her answer would throw away years of detective work. She said nothing. Masters was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.
(on camera): So doesn't it bother you that when you were there and had the chance to defend an innocent man, you didn't?
WHEELER-HOLLOWAY: By answering that one question, yes.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Now Holloway is back on the case. This time on the side of the defense.
The defense says new DNA testing they conducted proves Masters never even touched Peggy Hettrick, let alone stab her to death and drag her into a field. And keeping them honest, we found a special state prosecutor assigned to review the case says the original prosecutors and police failed to disclose four significant pieces of evidence that pointed away from Tim Masters, including, the surveillance of Masters produced "nothing suspicious." But an FBI profiler hired by police told them Masters' "sketches prove nothing." And a plastic surgeon hired by police who said it would be difficult for a 15-year-old boy to make such "skillful incisions" to the woman's body.
(on camera): Significant pieces of evidence.
DON QUICK, SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: Yes. How significant is something that still needs to be determined.
GRIFFIN: You're a prosecutor, right? Would it be significant in a case you were prosecuting?
QUICK: I think that they -- I mean, that's what we stipulated.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Late Friday night in a stunning development, special prosecutor Don Quick went beyond just stipulating withheld evidence. He announced new evidence, DNA tests pointing to a new suspect, not Masters, as the more likely killer. QUICK: The results of this comparison was to confirm the presence of DNA consistent with the alternate suspect and inconsistent with Tim Masters. It is our belief as special prosecutors in this case that this new evidence meets the constitutional requirements of Rule 35C that requires a vacation of the original conviction and sentence and entitles Mr. Masters to a new trial.
GRIFFIN: Tim Masters' next court appearance is Tuesday, when it is expected he will be freed from prison.
The alternative suspect, Masters' attorney tells CNN, is an old boyfriend of Peggy Hettrick whom Ft. Collins police only briefly suspected 21 years ago.
Drew Griffin, Ft. Collins, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: How must Tim Masters feel? An innocent man locked up for a big chunk of his adult life, really his youth gone.
Just ahead, Masters in his own words a day after he learned he'd be going free.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: DNA, quite possibly Tim Masters' three favorite letters. DNA is what's freeing him, what's getting his murder conviction overturned. It's what will return him to the arms of his family and a shot at a normal life.
Masters sat down with reporter Paula Woodward of our affiliate KUSA one day after finding out his ordeal was coming to an end.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA WOODWARD, REPORTER, KUSA (voice over): Saturday afternoon, a different Tim Masters. He is in the zone between being free and not. Pretty sure he's going to get out on Tuesday, but not quite trusting it.
(on camera): Have you had a chance to make any plans?
TIM MASTERS, WRONGFULLY CONVICTED OF MURDER: No. I haven't made any plans yet.
WOODWARD: Do you know what's going to happen on Tuesday when you walk out the door?
MASTERS: I imagine we'll get together with my family, all of us -- we'll all get together and probably have a little party.
WOODWARD: Who will you stay with?
MASTERS: I don't know yet.
WOODWARD (voice over): He's a self-described hopeful pessimist.
MASTERS: Well, I've always had hope. Just I've been pessimistic at the same time, though. Hope for the best, expect the worst. But -- what was the other part of the question? Two hours of sleep.
WOODWARD: Imagine, if you can, being in prison for nine and a half years -- nine and a half years, and you've killed no one. How do you survive? How did he survive?
MASTERS: My family, my support system out there. I couldn't have done it if I didn't have such a supportive family out there. They -- they kept me going, through all the dark days.
WOODWARD: Think about that time.
MASTERS: I've been locked up for 10 years, so the world is bound to have moved on in the last 10 years. So, I have to re-acclimate myself to the world out there.
WOODWARD (on camera): Like cell phones?
MASTERS: Like cell phones, yes. What's the job market like right now?
I was locked up before 9/11, so what -- what's it like to travel now? I don't know. What kind of a -- how hard is it to get a driver's license this day and age?
How hard is it going to be to make a living? I mean, when I got locked up, gas was $1.10 a gallon. Now it's $3-something a gallon.
WOODWARD (voice over): He admits he was teary last night over thoughts of seeing his family and says, yes, he has emotional baggage from prison.
MASTERS: Just feelings of anger and resentment over all the time I've lost. My life's been -- 10 years of my life spent in here. I mean, yes, I expect that.
WOODWARD: About those that prosecuted him in 1999...
MASTERS: Some big egos involved. Once they made up their mind, nothing could convince them that they were wrong.
WOODWARD: Maria Lew (ph), one of his two attorneys, will say it more strongly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was convicted because he was framed. He was -- he was -- he was framed.
WOODWARD: Tim Masters, the hopeful pessimist, says he knows he'll be free, quite frankly, when the following happens...
MASTERS: It will completely sink in when -- like I've been saying, when the door hits me in the butt for the final time on the way out. (END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: The man expected to be freed tomorrow after nearly 10 years. A footnote, a touching footnote to this story. Masters' family says prison workers threw him a party Friday night after the big DNA announcement came down.
LEMON: And this story that's coming up -- and you don't want to miss it. It's the civil rights era reflected in children's faces. Just one of the many iconic images captured by world renowned photographer Bob Adelman. Now, he'll join us with for more on this unforgettable album.
You've got to see this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look at my parents. They came from Haiti, and they gave us an opportunity to go to school and get our education, and they had eight children. All eight of us were able to obtain our college education. So I look at that and I look at the opportunity. Had not King marched for those rights in the civil rights movement back then, only god knows where I would be today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Hello, once again, bottom of the hour right now.
Two southern states are in the political spotlight on this day honoring Martin Luther King Jr. South Carolina and Florida the next stop on the road to the White House.
Democrats in South Carolina hold their primary Saturday. And then three days later, the focus will be on Florida's Republican primary.
The Democratic primary will also be held in Florida, but no delegates are at stake. The Democratic front-runners are boycotting the contest because Florida moved its primary up which violated party rules.
And looking ahead to Super Tuesday, top Democrats are already battling in the streets of Harlem.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The honorable Hillary Clinton.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a roll after her victory in Nevada, Hillary Clinton didn't fly to South Carolina, where the next Democratic primary is less than a week away. She campaigned in Harlem to defend her home turf. SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This election is about the future, and it's particularly about the future of the young people growing up right here in this community.
ACOSTA: Harlem is fast becoming a key battleground in the race to win the New York primary on Super Tuesday. Over the weekend, Barack Obama opened up a campaign office in the historic African-American neighborhood. He has his own version of show time at the Apollo.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I need you standing with me so our children and our grandchildren have the same hopes and opportunities that somebody gave me.
ACOSTA: After Bill Clinton left the White House, he chose Harlem as the site of his post-presidential office, but he's not running; she is, says state Senator Bill Perkins, an Obama supporter. You're not being very neighborly supporting this guy from Illinois. You're not being very neighborly, supporting this guy from Illinois.
BILL PERKINS, NEW YORK STATE SENATE: Well, the definition of neighborly is not the way you are suggesting. He's my neighbor; we welcome him as a neighbor. But we're talking about something more important than being the neighbor. We're talking about the future of this country.
ACOSTA: But Harlem's legendary congressional leader Charles Rangel is backing Clinton despite Obama's pioneering candidacy.
REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D) NEW YORK: It's a sense of pride, but in terms of governing the country, I think it's safe to say, we really know Hillary Clinton better.
ACOSTA: These days campaigning in Harlem isn't so easy for Clinton. She's careful to congratulate Obama on his historic run for the presidency while at the same time arguing she's a better fit for the job. Jim Acosta, CNN, Harlem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: And tonight again in South Carolina, it's a live picture from just outside the Palace Theater where that debate will take place. The Democratic candidates will take part in the Congressional Black Caucus debate in Myrtle Beach. You can see it live on CNN television, 8:00 p.m. Eastern and don't forget, you can see it online cnn.com/live with special coverage as well on our website.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Absolutely. Now we're going to talk about different races, different ages, different walks of life, but they all came together for one common cause and they were immortalized by one man's camera lens. On this holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we're joined by Bob Adelman, author of "Mine Eyes Have Seen," bearing witness to the civil rights struggle. This works, well it's on display at the New York's Westwood gallery. I have to thank you for joining us today. I've got this book. I've got to tell you. It is a beautiful book. I'm going to hold it up so everyone can see it with just some amazing pictures in here, pictures from the civil rights movement that I have never seen before and I've seen a lot of them, 40 years for you to put this together.
BOB ADELMAN, PHOTOGRAPHER: Let me tell you, you have great taste in literature.
LEMON: I can't keep the book on my desk. I've been looking at it and researching and every time someone walks by, I have to tell you, they grab it off my desk and they're looking at it. So again, but this is 40 years in the making, seriously.
ADELMAN: Yes, the material, it's so powerful, it was very hard to come to terms with it. At the Westwood gallery show, I met innumerable people with tears in their eyes. It's very hard to take material that's so powerful and weave it together in some way that makes sense.
LEMON: Yeah.
ADELMAN: So that's what I've been doing.
LEMON: I'm going to ask you why this was different than other picture books or books about the civil rights movement and just looking at the book and looking at the photographs, you get a sense of why this is different. They're really personal and really intimate. I want to talk to you about some of the pictures there because you have one of Dr. King during the "I have a dream" speech, which is just an amazing photograph. Talk to me about that picture and how you captured it and about that day.
ADELMAN: Well, of course, anyone who was in the movement knew that Dr. King was the greatest speaker we'd all ever heard. And, so, I spent most of the day with the young militants who were so, you know -- it was so much enthusiasm, excitement and idealism. But when the speeches started, I inched my way up the Lincoln Memorial. I didn't -- I was just a volunteer. I didn't have any press credentials. But I got, you know, right up to be near him. You can't ever get too close. And when he threw his speech away, and just spoke from his heart, it was one of the most extraordinary moments, I guess, in American history.
LEMON: Yeah.
ADELMAN: And then it was unbelievably memorable. And in front of Lincoln, we -- we knew his truth was marching on.
LEMON: Yeah, and that's the picture right there. And as I thumbed through some of these pictures, take a shot of this so we can see here on the desk just all these beautiful pictures coming in here. I want to ask you this, because I wonder if it offered you a different perspective or if you got more up close and personal. What was your perspective as a white person covering the civil rights movement and photographing mostly African-Americans during this?
ADELMAN: Well, it -- first of all, I didn't take any jobs away from any brother. It was so dangerous to take the pictures. I had to make a commitment that I was risking my life and it was for something worth such a risk. And I -- I found people were very welcoming. They understood everyone I dealt with understood that it was not only important for blacks to change but for all Americans.
LEMON: Yeah.
ADELMAN: Anybody who is an American is part black. Our music, our culture is so influenced by African Americans.
LEMON: And you had a very special story about an eight-year-old boy that you met while you were taking these pictures. Can you share with our viewers that story?
ADELMAN: Well, Jaime Holman (ph) was a young fellow who, I did a story with Senator Moynihan, for "Life Without Father" and he grew up in a three-room, five-story walkup in the hardest circumstances in Harlem. And fortunately, he had some aspirations. He wrote letters to various schools and he got accepted, Maine Central Institute on a basketball scholarship and went on to graduate from Boston College and is a very productive citizen today.
LEMON: Yeah, and we're showing -- we're showing the picture of him. It's on page 80 and then page 81 in the book, and it's Eartha Holman, a single mother on welfare, lived with her eight children in a three-room fifth-floor walkup in Harlem. And then you've got Jaime who you talked about right here in this picture.
ADELMAN: Playing Batman.
LEMON: Yeah, playing Batman on the board here. You have kept in touch with some of these people from throughout the 40 years that you've been doing this. Tell us why you kept in touch and what you've learned.
ADELMAN: Well, they enormously enriched my life. And it's wonderful to see them grow and develop. The Geez (ph) Bend quilters, I met them in 1965 and in the 1990s, they were, you know, at major museums, in the Corcoran and the Whitney here. It was just so wonderful. And it wasn't just that they were so gifted, but they were indicators of the enormous creative potential that was -- that made the music -- the movement possible and the music possible, too.
LEMON: Yeah. And, you know, I got to tell you, thank you -- I'm going to thank you for joining us today. But just real quickly, because we're short on time here, final thoughts about this book, about Dr. King and the civil rights legacy and what we're celebrating today, if you can give that to us.
ADELMAN: Well, you know, Dr. King had a wonderful sense of humor, but he -- I mean, he joked with me about my -- my -- I had five cameras. And he was always joking with me about whether I sold any of them. But he - what we must remember is how much he suffered. He was always exhausted from his travels. He was stabbed. He was arrested 12 or 13 times. Crosses were burned. He lived under constant threat. And somehow he accomplished at least a major part of his mission, an extraordinary, extraordinary human being. And, you know, of course, when we honor him, we honor the whole movement and all the citizens' army, of black and white people, who came together to take this curse off our nation.
LEMON: Yeah. Words to end on. Thank you, sir.
ADELMAN: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: The movie is terrifying. The monster opening weekend for the monster movie, "Cloverfield" taking in $41 million bucks. It's a box office record for a January debut. The plot and even the title had been kept hush-hush until recently with an online viral marketing campaign drumming up interest. Paramount says it actually spent more on marketing "Cloverfield" than it spent on making it, (INAUDIBLE). Debuted at number two over the weekend, "27 Dresses" starring "Gray's Anatomy's" Katherine Heigl and then at number three, the Morgan Freeman/Jack Nicholson film "The Bucket List."
LEMON: Oh, man, it is quite a production this week in Park City, Utah. It would be nice to be there, headquarters of the annual Sundance film festival. Entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson, man, has got a tough assignment, huh? She's watching the movies, talking to the stars. And you know what, I want some of that Sundance swag, can you bring some back for us?
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll do my best, Don. Hop on a plane, come on out. I'll share the love with you. It's a good gig. I'm a lucky gal.
LEMON: I'll use your American Express card and do it.
ANDERSON: You can't do that. Don't do that. But, yeah, you're right the Sundance film festival is in full swing here at Park City, Utah. I'm at the Treasure Mountain Inn. The movie premiers, the parties, the concerts are all under way. Celebrities are rubbing elbows on the street behind me and also on the ski slopes. And actor Jack Black stopped by to tout his new movie, "Be Kind, Rewind." In it, he plays a guy who becomes magnetized, erases all the tapes in a video store and then has to react film scenes in order to get tapes onto store shelves. His wardrobe is pretty wacky at time and Jack Black told me the crazier the costume, the better. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK BLACK, ACTOR, "BE KIND, REWIND": You want to blow people's minds. You don't want to just do something that's been seen before. So I encouraged the costume designers to go nutso, crazo. And Michelle did a lot of the designs of the costumes in "Be Kind, Rewind." They are all super-homemade junkie versions of the original movies. Like, I did "Robocop ""and I was "Robocop." And he just made it look like spare parts from a Volkswagen and a toaster oven and a blow dryer.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON: He is so silly. "Be Kind, Rewind" will be in theaters February 22nd. Also Dennis Quaid, Sara Jessica Parker and Thomas Hayden Church are in town to promote their film "Smart People." Dennis Quaid actually told me he was frightened, he was scared, about taking on this role.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS QUAID, ACTOR, "SMART PEOPLE": I love the script. It's a completely different kind of character than I ever played before. In fact, I couldn't figure out why they wanted me to do it. And I just -- I couldn't, because I didn't see myself in the character. I was really kind of afraid to do the part so in a way that's why I decided to do it, I guess.
ANDERSON: You were afraid?
QUAID: Well, it's just -- I didn't see how am I going to do this. I don't understand -- it's a -- it's a college professor. He's sort of a, you know, he has lost his passion for life and it's very kind of off the track of what I usually am known to play. And it's -- it's an interesting story. It's called "Smart People," but it's about emotional numskulls who don't have an idea of how to connect with the people, especially with those that they are closest to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And Dennis also opened up to me about his two-month-old twins are doing. This is his first TV interview since his children were given overdoses of the blood thinner heparin when they were just 10 days old. It was a life-threatening situation. Listen to what he said about how they're doing now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUAID: The kids are at home. And they had a -- you know, a -- they're doing just great. That is the bottom line. And it's something we're really grateful for and a lot of people prayed for them and for us. And we felt that, too. And really, want to thank everybody who had prayers and thoughts for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Happy to hear that his twins are doing well. It's been an awful and frustrating ordeal for Dennis and his wife. And, Don, his movie, "Smart People" will be hitting theaters on April 11th.
LEMON: "Smart People" I think I can go see that, hopefully. But, you know, you have to admire his work and I'm glad his twins are doing well. His movie and the movie you talked about with Jack Black, these two movies have distributors, but most films, they aren't so lucky when it comes to Sundance, right?
ANDERSON: No, they're not. Many of them are here frantically trying to find a buyer. I will say this, acquisitions have been slow thus far. We're in day five of the festival. Many had predicted that the studio executives, the buyers would be quick to make that deal, due to the writers' strike and the halt in Hollywood production. But I will say the documentary division of HBO has been busy picking up a documentary about film maker Roman Polanski and also the movie "The Blacklist" from former "New York Times" movie critic Elvis Mitchell. Don, it has been slow but there are six more days left in the festival, so plenty of time for movies to debut here and try to get the attention they need from those buyers.
LEMON: A long time. You've been out there what, a week already, a two-week festival.
ANDERSON: Since Thursday. It's an 11-day festival.
LEMON: Eleven day festival, yeah, what a night. Melissa is sitting here, we're jealous, by the way.
ANDERSON: I'm not complaining. It's fun.
LEMON: We're not complaining, but bring us some swag, seriously. Mail it to the CNN center. You know the address, I'm sure.
ANDERSON: You know we can't do that.
LEMON: I'm just joking with you. Brooke Anderson, enjoy. Thank you.
ANDERSON: Thanks.
Some other Hollywood news now. Actor Kiefer Sutherland is out of jail today after doing Hollywood's version of hard time. He served 48 days for a drunken driving charge for violating probation from an earlier DUI. According to police, the model prisoner passed his time on laundry and garbage duty. He must serve five years of probation and complete an alcohol program and six months of weekly therapy sessions.
LEMON: Just a quick look and you get the idea, don't mess with Margo. One guy allegedly did and probably wishes he didn't.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: The next story has people jumping from one building to the next, people fleeing into the bitter cold and all this in the middle of the night. An ambulance crew driving through downtown Lawrence, Massachusetts, first spotted the flames. The freezing winds helped to spread the flames through 14 buildings, most of them apartments, also a home for the mentally disabled. Now, it appears, incredibly, everyone in those buildings made it out alive. Only one person was reportedly injured. The fire marshal says the fire started in a nightclub that was under renovation.
Crews in southern California plan to peel open the twisted wreckage of this plane to see if there are any more victims inside. At least five people died when the small plane collided with another Cessna, about a mile from the Corona airport on Sunday. Debris rained down on several automobile dealerships and one person on the ground was killed.
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JEFF HARDIN, CRASH WITNESS: It looks like maybe he just didn't see him or something, I don't know, but they just -- he ran right into the side of him. And the smaller aircraft, this one here, just disintegrated in pieces, maybe 50 pieces coming down. The other aircraft pretty much stayed intact and starting spiraling down and came down right behind the Nissan dealer.
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LONG: Investigators are still trying to figure this out, piecing together the information about where the planes were heading and whether either pilot issued a distress call.
LEMON: Well, we've all heard stories about the bad guy who picks the wrong home to rob. He's another one of those with an interesting twist to it. It's from Broward County, Florida. The reporter Vanessa Ruiz of CNN affiliate WSVN.
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JUDGE: Gregory St. Jermaine (ph)?
GREGORY ST. JERMAINE: Yes, sir.
JUDGE: You're charged with burglary, assault or battery, grand theft and possession of stolen property.
VANESSA RUIZ, WSVN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-four-year old Gregory St. Jermaine appearing before a Broward County judge Saturday after messing with the wrong woman.
MARGO FOSTER, FOUGHT, CHASED SUSPECTED BURGLAR: I walked in. As soon as I got here, I heard the noise in the back bedroom and that's when I immediately took off running.
RUIZ: Fifty-three-year-old Margo Foster had just arrived at her Lighthouse Point home Friday morning and the noise she was actually hearing was St. Jermaine who had broken in. Foster didn't think twice about chasing him.
FOSTER: And as he ran through, instead of going towards the street, he ran the opposite direction and ran to the back corner of my fence.
RUIZ: Foster, a black belt in martial arts and a marathon runner, tackled St. Jermaine.
FOSTER: Yeah, he was afraid. I jerked him off of the fence really hard and threw him down on the ground and landed on top of him and tried to punch him a couple of times. And he was wiggling away from me. I was telling him he had my backpack with my things in it. I ripped his shirt off of him trying to get the backpack off. RUIZ: The young man managed to get away but didn't go far. Margo chased him seven blocks from her home to this bridge. There she caught up with him, holding him until the cops arrived. Her husband, who wasn't there, says he isn't surprised.
TOM FOSTER, MARGO'S HUSBAND: Anyone that knows Margo, knows -- is not surprised that this is what her reaction would be. She's the kind of person that really values a person's right to live in their home without fear.
M. FOSTER: It felt very good and especially they called me last night and said that he confessed to the burglaries and several -- and several other burglaries around the neighborhood. So, yeah, I feel pretty good about solving a little crime. They asked me if I wanted a job.
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LEMON: I'm sure she can probably handle it. That story is our Vanessa Ruiz of CNN affiliate WSVN. She's feisty. I'm sure a cop would say don't do that, but...
LONG: She is a trained black belt.
LEMON: She is a trained black belt. I'm sure she can be a police officer.
LONG: I'm sure her teachers are quite impressed that she was able to put the skills to the test. All right, great story.
Our next story has all roads leading to Davos where some of the world's movers and shakers are heading as well and so is CNN's own Richard Quest.
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LONG: World leaders, CEOs, journalists as well, they are in Davos, Switzerland, to talk about the state of the world's economy. But there is so much more to it than just that. CNN's Richard Quest figured that out right off the bat.
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's 6:00 in the morning and my journey Davos is starting early. It takes quite some time to get to Switzerland and up that mountain.
Now the journey gets difficult. I have to get from the airport to the main station, to Lancart (ph), then to Davos, yes, two changes of trains. Davos, where you stay, is who you are. I'm lucky, I'm at the Rinaldi, which is a stone's throw away from the Congress Center. I'm under no illusion. The only reason I'm staying there is because, well, I've got to be close when it comes to broadcasting. Let's go and see where the real movers and shakers stay.
Is Mr. Gates here yet? No Mr. Gates yet, but he will be here. He will be here! I will have made it to the Davos elite, when the organizers allocate me a room here, at the Belvedere. This is where the most important delegates and the biggest parties are held. This is the ultimate Davos agony, because while the delegates are committed to improving the state of the world, this lot are up on the mountain committed to improving their skiing. Old-timers come to Davos and moan that there's too many people and the forum's not what it used to be. This year, they could be wrong. With so many serious issues of recession swirling around, Davos 2008 will take on new importance.
Richard Quest, CNN, Davos.
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