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Accused Rapists Found Guilty; Pope Francis Gives First Noon Blessing; Mississippi Hit-and-Run Deaths; Helicopter Used in Prison Break
Aired March 17, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, Don Lemon here, top of the hour. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM -- up to speed on the stories making headlines this hour.
Just in to the CNN NEWSROOM, a small jet has crashed into a South Bend, Indiana neighborhood. The plane hit at least three homes injuring at least three people and rupturing a gas line. Police are now evacuating this neighborhood as they work to shut off the gas in the area.
We're also told children lived in one of the homes. No words yet if they are among the injured.
We'll bring you more on this story as it develops.
Also, this story developing as well: two inmates escaped from a provincial jail outside Montreal. According to police, they flew to freedom in a helicopter. A manhunt is on for them. Police later found the copter and the pilot who's now being questioned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had no intentions to do anything like that. And I'm sorry to put you guys through this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The verdict is guilty. A juvenile court judge finds two teenagers in Steubenville, Ohio guilty of raping a drunken classmate and one of them guilty of sending out a nude of picture of the victim.
Stay right there. We're live in Steubenville, Ohio in just a moment here on CNN.
Pope Francis gave his first noon blessing today before a cheering crowd of more than 200,000 people in St. Peter's Square.
Forgiveness was a key theme in the Pope's address. He also sent out a message on his Twitter account asking for people to continue to pray for him. We'll talk more about the new pope's down to earth style later this hour with religion professor Brent Strawn.
The NCAA tournament, the bracket is set. Louisville, Kansas, Indiana and Gonzaga are the number one seeds; a few surprises though and some disappointments when the bracket was announced last hour. We'll break it down for you in about 30 minutes here on CNN.
It's our top story this hour. A high profile rape trial in a small Ohio town -- two high school football players, they were charged with sexually assaulting another high schooler during a night of drunken parties. Well tonight, there is a verdict. That verdict is guilty. And there is a sentence. 17-year-old Trent Mays and 16-year- old Malik Richmond will do time in juvenile detention possibly several years.
Live to Steubenville, Ohio right now and our Poppy Harlow has been following every development in this trial. Poppy -- no jury here, just a judge -- what was the ruling?
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Guilty on all counts, Don -- visiting Judge Thomas Lipps handing down that sentence today in a courtroom that was extraordinarily emotional. I want to bring our viewers inside the courtroom because as you said, the two teenagers Trent Mays, Malik Richmond found guilty of raping this 16-year-old girl while she was drunk, over a series of late-night parties back in August. Trent Mays also found guilty of taking and disseminating a nude photo of this girl on that night. Let our viewers listen to the sound from the judge. Here's part of his verdict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE THOMAS LIPPS, PRESIDING JUDGE: I closely examined all the evidence and I re-read all the text messages that were rooted in this case. Many of the things that we learned during this trial, that our children were saying and doing, were profane, were ugly, with alcohol consumption shown as a particular danger to our teenage youth. Throughout the trial, the court is able to view the demeanor of the witnesses, judge their credibility and weigh the evidence presented to the court.
The court has done so in this case and it is the court's decision that both of the defendants are hereby adjudicated delinquent beyond a reasonable doubt on all three counts as charged. For those of you who are not familiar with adjudications of delinquency in juvenile law, it's similar to finding of guilty in the adult court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All families, families of both co-defendants, the family of the victim in court, present for this ruling. And the two teenage boys who are now convicted rapists broke down when that verdict was read and then later, before they were sentenced, they both got up to apologize to the victim's family.
LEMON: And Poppy, we understand the mom of the victim also had something to say in court?
HARLOW: The mom spoke after court got out, Don. This is very significant. This is the first time that we have publicly heard from the victim's mother. She gave an audio statement. And I want to let our viewers listen to that audio statement in full. Here it is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It did not matter what school you went to, what city you lived in or what sports you've played. Human compassion is not taught by a teacher, a coach or a parent. It is a God-given gift instilled in all of us.
You displayed not only a lack of this compassion, but a lack of any moral code. Your decisions that night affected countless lives including those most dear to you. You were your own accuser through the social media that you chose to publish your criminal conduct on.
This does not define who my daughter is. She will persevere, grow and move on. I have pity for you both. I hope you fear the Lord, repent for your actions and pray hard for his forgiveness.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LEMON: And that was the mother of the victim in this case. Poppy, also the two boys spoke out as well in court. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALIK RICHMOND, CONVICTED OF RAPING DRUNK CLASSMATE: I'd like to apologize to you people. I had no intentions to do anything like this. And I'm sorry to put you guys through this.
TRENT MAYS, CONVICTED OF RAPING DRUNK CLASSMATE: I'd like to apologize to (NAME BLANKED OUT), your family and my family, AND my community. Those pictures shouldn't have been put around let alone taken --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So Poppy, they're guilty. What happens next to them? Where are they going and for how long?
HARLOW: Well, they're going to a juvenile detention center, basically jail for teens their age. They have already been taken into custody. They were taken into custody right after that sentencing. Malik Richmond will serve a minimum sentence of a year because he was found guilty on that one felony charge of rape. If he has good behavior, after he serves that minimum sentence, it's really up to the juvenile justice system to decide if he has to serve any longer. The maximum sentence was until these boys were 21 years old. Trent Mays, though, will serve two consecutive years. Because not only is he guilty of rape, but also of disseminating that nude photo of the victim.
Now, the boys have served about two months already, so they will get credit for that time. But after they are released, Don, they will have to register as juvenile sex offenders. So this will be with them for a very long time.
LEMON: Poppy Harlow, thank you very much, Steubenville, Ohio.
And just a few moments ago I talked with Anne Bremner about this verdict in Steubenville today. She's a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor. Anne told me a lot of factors set this case apart from a cut and dry rape case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: These cases have always been he said/she said kind of cases. But when there's intoxication in a lot of ways you don't have a victim that can't remember. And if there's no other witnesses, you don't have a case.
But with social media, with texts, video, photographs, e-mails, it's just amazing what kind of a case you can build. And indeed, they did build a case against these two young men who are going to serve some time now for rape. And she's going to serve time, of course, as being identified through all of that really so to speak, as a victim of a rape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Anne Bremner speaking there. And that trial lasted four days. It was a juvenile court trial with just a judge and no jury.
Straight ahead here: two hit-and-run cases, both victims African- American and a small Mississippi county. One of the cases was closed until CNN started asking questions.
Also, he wants to be a pope of the people -- the new pontiff breaking with traditions. What he's going to do next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Police in Turkey today arrested a man suspected of killing American tourist Sarai Sierra. The suspect was captured today in the southern part of Turkey where he has family. The victim was a 33-year-old -- a 33-year-old mother and photographer from Staten Island, New York. Her body was found last month near ancient stone walls in Istanbul. Police suspect she was killed at a different location.
China's new leader spoke out today as they closed a meeting of the National People's Congress. The new premier says common interests between the U.S. and China outweigh differences. He also said China's new government will seek to curb its own power.
And Pakistan's former president says he is coming back and getting back into politics. Pervez Musharraf resigned as president five years ago and put himself into exile. He says he intends to lead his party in elections scheduled for May. It's not clearly known how the Pakistani people will welcome back their former president.
Well Pope Francis doesn't -- Francis doesn't want the limo or the fancy red shoes. He wants contact with real people. In a rare move for a pope, Francis left the Vatican property and kissed babies and greeted well-wishers in the crowd today after his first Sunday blessing. What is he, running for president or something?
Let's bring in our religious professor Brent Strawn, of Emory University. So he doesn't seem to be a stickler for papal traditions. What does this signal to you about how he maybe possibly shaking up the Catholic Church?
PROF. BRENT STRAWN, CENTER SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Yes well it's important to note about the red shoes but they are symbolic of the blood of the martyrs on which the church stands, so. But they are flashy.
LEMON: Right.
STRAWN: And of course there -- he hasn't wanted those. And any -- lots of the other accoutrements of power and whatnot. I think it's -- the name says it all, right? He chose Pope Francis after Francis of Assisi the great saint who identified with the poor, cared for the poor. Pope Francis says he wants a church of the poor, a poor church for the poor. And that could have wide scale ramifications for changes in the Church, though.
But right now he's left all the -- the Vatican administration in place while he prays for changes, about changes.
LEMON: So would you say he's a rebel or a maverick? Or what would you say if he's defying all these traditions or at least it appears to be (inaudible) for now?
STRAWN: Yes I don't think a maverick. I think he's conservative and will fit within the papacy of Benedict. But -- but he's clearly bringing back some of these ancient virtues of poverty, humility and then he's adding this dash of informality and the charm.
LEMON: Yes so how much does this have to do with him being a Jesuit? Because he -- you know why and why did the cardinals pick a Jesuit?
STRAWN: Well, the Jesuit order is a religious order found in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola. It's sort of known for its spiritual practices, its spreading of the gospel message but also its deep learning. So Pope Francis was trained in chemistry, he taught psychology and literature. But I -- I don't think his order was why they picked him. I think it depends on him as a person and his ministry.
LEMON: And also he's very conservative, it's not surprising that he opposes abortion, right? But also same-sex marriage and I think it was believed among many Catholics especially in the Americas that there would be someone who's a little bit more progressive maybe to move the Catholic Church forward a bit. That didn't happen.
STRAWN: Yes the modernization question asked a lot about Pope Francis' appointment. Yes sometimes about his age. He's 76 but you know the elector cardinals, the average age of them was only 72. I mean, you weren't going to get much younger than that -- so. But I think with the Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole, the key question -- as important as modernization is -- the key question is not what's now, but what's ancient and true. And that means the church moves slowly. It cares about tradition. It relies on the wisdom of the ages.
It doesn't mean change won't happen. I mean change can happen. It does happen. I think it will happen. But just it happens very slowly, carefully and prayerfully. And I'd add, you know, everything old is new again -- right? I mean his style and his emphasis on poverty and humility, these are ancient virtues, well-tested throughout the Christian tradition.
LEMON: Do you think that, though, will trump, you know, his conservatism and win over younger, more progressive people that he, you know, appears he doesn't want the trappings of?
STRAWN: Yes, I think it very well could. Because the -- it has -- a kind of social progressiveness about it in many ways.
LEMON: All right Brent. Thank you. Appreciate you joining us. Good to see you.
STRAWN: My pleasure. Good to see you.
LEMON: Up next here on CNN, a CNN investigation. Is a rural Mississippi county ignoring hate crime?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: An NFL player and his girlfriend who were severely burned in a hot air balloon accident are reported in stable condition tonight. Donte Stallworth, wide receiver for the New England Patriots last season, is recovering in the burn center at a Miami hospital. Police say the balloon hit some power lines as it landed in Homestead, Florida, yesterday. Stallworth said in a Twitter post, I feel lucky to be alive.
In Ohio, a university of Dayton St. Paddy's Day celebration featured not a leprechaun with a pot of gold, but police with riot gear. They responded early today to reports of rowdy students and broken glass. Officers ushered more than 1,000 students back into their homes. One person who wasn't a student was arrested. 11 cars including a police cruiser were damaged.
Seven men shot in the front yard of a California home as they were leaving a family gathering. Police in Gulf, California, believe the drive-by shooting last night was gang-related. All seven victims are expected to survive, with non life-threatening injuries. Relatives of the victims returned home this morning to hose down the blood-covered driveway. Police are searching for four men believed involved in that shooting.
Two hit-and-run cases in rural Mississippi are raising questions about hate crime investigations there -- one last summer and one in 2009. They both happened in Panola County. The victims were African- American men. One is under investigation. But the earlier one wasn't being investigated.
That is, until our Drew Griffin started asking some questions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cross is so far off the road, you might never notice it unless you were looking for it.
Ruby Burdette never misses it. She put it here three and a half years ago to mark the spot her son died and a mystery began.
(on camera): But they know he was hit by a car?
RUBY BURDETTE, MOTHER OF GARRICK BURDETTE: Yes, that's what they say.
GRIFFIN: Did they ever find who drove that car?
BURDETTE: No.
GRIFFIN: Do you feel that they did an adequate investigation to find who did that?
BURDETTE: I don't really -- I can't say because they say they still investigating. I don't know. No one relates to me anything.
GRIFFIN: They are still investigating?
BURDETTE: Yes.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Garrick Burdette was 41. He walked wherever he went. In rural Panola County that can be dangerous, especially if you are black.
In November of 2009, Burdette's body was found on this site, the autopsy revealed multiple injuries consistent with being hit by a vehicle. For three years, there's been nothing more than this simple one-page incident report about what happened. No one in the Panola County Sheriff's Department ever bothered to do anything else.
(on camera): Did they come up and down these streets, handing out fliers, knocking on doors, asking people if they had seen anything?
BURDETTE: No, not over this way.
GRIFFIN: You know of any activity that way?
BURDETTE: No, no one said anything.
GRIFFIN: So, how do you know they are investigating?
BURDETTE: Well, they had put it on the paper, you know, when they found him dead and then they had put on there, and then they wrote it in the newspaper, they said there was a -- it was still being investigated.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Ruby Burdette's hope rests in this one small news article from three years ago that says police are still investigating.
CNN has learned they never really have.
JOHN CHAMPION, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, PANOLA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: Never had a case turned into us.
GRIFFIN: In January, we asked the district attorney who covers Panola County to search his records to find out if anyone from the sheriff's office had contacted him regarding Garrick Burdette's killing. There was nothing.
CHAMPION: Which means one of two things: either it ended up being an accident, which we would not have had or they never found the person that did it.
GRIFFIN: What blacks in this rural Mississippi county believe is that law enforcement treat crimes and investigations differently, depending on the color of the victim's skin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: This isn't the only case without an investigation. Coming up Drew Griffin looks into other similar cases and an investigation that got him threats from the local sheriff. The details -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Before the break we brought you the story of Garrett Burdette. He was killed in a hit-and-run accident that wasn't investigated until our Drew Griffin started asking questions about it. Drew discovered the case while looking into a similar case from last summer. Both victims were African-American; both in Panola County, Mississippi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Last summer in rural Panola County, Johnny Lee Butts, a 61-year-old black man, walking far off the shoulder of this road, was deliberately run over and killed by a car carrying three white teens. The driver told police he thought he hit a deer. His two passengers both say the 18-year-old driver steered straight for him.
The driver's charged with murder. The D.A. though says there's no evidence to suggest a racial motive. Johnny Butts' brother says the white local law enforcement simply don't want to know the truth.
(on camera): Do you believe that the sheriff and the district attorney either don't want to or are afraid to know the truth?
FRED BUTTS, BROTHER OF JOHNNY BUTTS: I think they don't want to. They don't want to push that issue.
GRIFFIN: They don't want to push race?
BUTTS: Yes. I actually believe that; that they don't want to push that issue.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): That belief was confirmed to Fred Butts just days after his brother's death and literally, just around the corner. These four boys walking on the side of the road say they watched as a white jeep with two white men barrelled over the top of the hill, increased speed and aimed right at them.
(on camera): And they were laughing when they passed by?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
GRIFFIN: And just kept going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
GRIFFIN: Scared you, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Parents reported it to the police. No follow-up ever took place. When we tried to reach sheriff Dennis Darby in January about the boys' claims, the sheriff told us not to quote "stir up trouble in his county", adding "you do something with this and I'll be coming after you."
(on camera): The Panola County sheriff's department refuses to talk to us about this case as well. But we can tell you three and a half years later, the hit-and-run death of Garrick Burdette remains unsolved. And as far as we can tell, for three and a half years, the sheriff's department has done very little to find out what happened.
Has anybody from the sheriff's office investigators, D.A.'s office, been in contact with you?
BURDETTE: No.
GRIFFIN: Never?
BURDETTE: Never. Never.
GRIFFIN: Never came to ask if your son had any enemies, any problems with anybody?
BURDETTE: No. Nothing.
GRIFFIN: How can you say they are still investigating?
BURDETTE: I'm just going by what the paper -- what the papers say.
GRIFFIN: Last month, CNN again tried to ask the Panola County Sheriff's Department about the unsolved hit and run death of Ruby's son. This time, we advised the sheriff's department CNN would be airing this report. And again, we got no response. But hours later, Ruby Burdette did.
BURDETTE: He came in. He said he was an investigator. He introduced himself. We sit at the dining room table and he started talking. He -- he told me he apologized for no one coming out before now. And he told me that the first investigator they had didn't do anything. He said he was the one that he hoped, you know, to see this thing come to an end. He said he would, you know, if anything -- if anyone could be found, he was going to find them.
GRIFFIN (on camera): She doesn't know why now, why it took so long and why for three and a half years, no one in the sheriff's department seemed to care that a black man was run over and killed. But all that time, this grieving mother has held onto a newspaper article hoping one day, its story would be true.
BURDETTE: I just want it to be over. I just want to know. It's just like eating away with me, just eating away with me. But being a mother, I want -- I want the truth to come out.
GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin, CNN, Panola County, Mississippi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Half past the hour --- time to check your headlines here on CNN.
Two stories we're working on right now.
There's a manhunt under away cross the border after a bold escape today from a maximum security prison outside Montreal, Canada. According to Canadian police, two gunman posing as tourists hijacked a helicopter and ordered the pilot to fly to a prison. The rope was lowered. Two inmates climbed aboard and escaped. Police later found the copter and the pilot is being questioned right now.
And this is developing in Indiana, a small jet has crashed into a South Bend neighborhood. The plane hit at least three homes injuring at least three people and rupturing a gas line. Police are now evacuating this neighborhood as they work to shut off the gas in the area. We're also told several children in one of the homes was hurt, no word on if they were among the injured. We'll bring you more on this story as we get it. It's still developing in Indiana.
Amtrak has resumed high speed rail service between two major East Coast hubs, Boston and New York. It was interrupted by a freight train derailment near New Haven, Connecticut, early this morning. Crews have since cleared it away. Travelers affected by the disruption are being offered refunds or vouchers for future train travel.
I want you to listen up, drivers. If you haven't noticed, AAA says gas prices are trending lower finally. In fact, since hitting an all-time high of $4.11 a gallon last July, the average price is down to $3.68 a gallon today. Hawaii pays the most, though, $4.39 a gallon. The cheapest, Wyoming, $3.32.
I guess nobody paid attention when they said "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." "Oz: The Great and Powerful." "The Wizard of Oz," the prequel. Well, it raked in $42 million on this second weekend. Second place, Halle Berry's "The Call," took in $17 million after debuting Friday. Also the new Steve Carell movie, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" not so incredible $10 million for third place.
The NCAA tournament is set. Who you've got winning it all? Let me know. Because I need to do my bracket. We're talking number one seed surprises. The disappointments. Even the bracket busters. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Double feature. We call it double sports feature tonight. Terence Moore is back, sports contributor to cnn.com. OK. We're ready to talk NCAA bracket tournament now. The bracket was finalized just last hour. Here it is. Louisville is the top overall seed. Right? Kansas, Indiana, Gonzaga are the other number ones. What's your reaction when you look at the top seeds?
TERENCE MOORE, CNN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: There is no way that Louisville should be the number one overall seed. It's got to be Indiana. And, Don, this is a huge deal because if Indiana's the number one seed, they're in the midwest. They start out in Dayton. Then they go to Indianapolis. Bloomington is, less than an hour away. A home game, basically two home series for them. They're here in Atlanta for the final four.
Here's the other thing. Louisville had a three-game losing streak in the middle of the season. Indiana had no such thing. Five of their six losses, Indiana, were to big 10 teams. That's best conference in the country. And their other loss was to Butler which is no disgrace.
LEMON: Yes, so you know all this stuff. Here's the thing. Here's what I like about it. I love it every year because I like beer and the chicken wings and screaming at the TV. I don't even know anything about it. I say it's going to be Kansas and Gonzaga. Everybody says Gonzaga is going to do it for some reason I don't know. I think it's going to be Kansas. My first (INAUDIBLE) is Gonzaga but I think Kansas is going to do it.
MOORE: To me the surprise team, let's go back to the future. The surprise team, Butler, again. People are going to say, well, they were in the final two of the last three years. The difference this time is Butler is a number six seed in the east regional. They struggle down the stretch, but in the finals of the east, they play Indiana again. The beautiful four (INAUDIBLE).
LEMON: Is that your Cinderella team? Because every year we see an underdog, the Cinderella team that comes from behind. Is that Butler? Is that - who do you think? MOORE: I think it's butler because they're the number six seen. But the other one, St. Louis. St. Louis is an amazing story here. They had the legendary coach, Rick (INAUDIBLE), died this year. They personally have been unbeatable for the entire year. So watch out for St. Louis also.
LEMON: Are you intrigued by any early matchups?
MOORE: No question about that. You got this potential matchup between Kansas, your Kansas team and North Carolina.
LEMON: I don't know anything about it. I just pick.
MOORE: If both those teams play in the first round, they're playing each other. What's big about that, Don, is that Roy Williams, coach at North Carolina, used to coach at Kansas before he was at North Carolina. There could be some bad blood there.
LEMON: I already gave my pick, right? You have a pick for national champ?
MOORE: I'm going to go with Indiana. My folks are out there and you know, Hoosiers. They were the best team all year. So I got to go with the Hoosiers.
LEMON: All right. Good stuff. Thank you, Terence. Appreciate it.
All right. Coming up on CNN, so here's your chance. Not even coming up, here's your chance, to test your skills against me and other CNN anchors in the official NCAA March madness bracket challenge. Just go to cnn.com/bracket. Join the CNN group to see if you can pick the tournament better than me. You're going to help me out, right?
MOORE: Do I get stuff out of this?
LEMON: Yes, cnn.com. I'll buy you wings. Cnn.com/bracket. Thank you, sir.
MOORE: Thank you.
LEMON: One family says after the system broke them up, they fought hard to put it back together. And they finally succeed. A mother and son. Now newly adopted at the age of 32. Their incredible story is next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally going to get it done, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: In Pennsylvania this evening there will be a memorial service on the campus of Seton Hill University. University community is remembering lacrosse coach Christina Quigley, a 30-year-old pregnant coach and her unborn son were killed when the team bus crashed on the way to the game yesterday. The driver of the bus was also killed. Two others on the bus remain in the hospital.
Take a look at this. I-95 near Daytona Beach, Florida, where fog and smoke from two wildfires closed the interstate for several hours. This affected traffic near Daytona Beach, a heavily traveled section where tourists going to Disney World and other attractions. Several accidents were reported before the interstate was closed. Now been re-opened.
The latest misadventure for Carnival Cruise lines ended early when the legend returned to port in Tampa, Florida. Engine problems reduced its speed and forced the ship to abandon one scheduled stop, Grand Cayman. But Carnival says the "Legend" is problem free now and will head back out to sea right away. Three other Carnival Cruises ended badly in the last month with unhappy passengers.
Here's an amazing story of patience, perseverance, also of love. A woman finally adopts a son she thought the system had swallowed up nearly two decades ago. Here's CNN's Paul Vercammen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations to you both.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's official. Lisa Godbold adopted 32-year-old Maurice Griffin, the foster son she once lost.
MAURICE GRIFFIN: All I can say is finally.
VERCAMMEN: They walked out mother and son as ruled by a judge in San Diego juvenile court.
LISA GODBOLD, MAURICE'S MOTHER: He's so happy. Just a little bit bittersweet. You know, it's been a long time coming. It's a little bit bittersweet. I'm so overjoyed.
MAURICE GRIFFIN, LISA'S SON: For me it's great. Best day of my life. I fought for all - you know, 10 years, you know, and finally the day came. And I wouldn't say I ever lost hope, but I didn't know if it was ever going to happen.
VERCAMMEN: Maurice was 13 years old when he says the system destroyed his then family apart because of a complex dispute over spanking. Authorities took Griffin from Lisa, her husband, Charles Harris, and their two biological boys.
GRIFFIN: I just felt like I was abducted. I was abducted and then plucked somewhere else and told to deal with it. GODBOLD: It's probably one of the saddest days of my life. I mean, we were heartbroken.
VERCAMMEN: Maurice landed in boot camp for troubled teens. Charles died. Lisa eventually remarried, moved away, changed her last name. Contact with Maurice was severed.
GODBOLD: I always thought about him, but truthfully the odds were he was probably going to wind up in prison or he would die.
VERCAMMEN: But they still looked for each other. Six years ago, a key stroke of lady luck, Lisa found Maurice on Myspace. They renewed the adoption quest.
GRIFFIN: I love you.
VERCAMMEN: Lisa and Maurice say the adoption is an international symbol of hope for orphans.
GODBOLD: Anyone who has considered being a foster parent, it's the hardest job you will ever love, and it pays off a thousandfold.
VERCAMMEN (on camera): Thinking back on that road, what you know now -
GRIFFIN: I win.
GODBOLD: You win. You do win.
GRIFFIN: I mean, I fought tooth and nail, and it all meant something at this point. The first thing - the only thing I want to say is I win.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Paul Vercammen, CNN, San Diego.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Very nice.
So when we think about the technology of the future, it's mind blowing, like printing up replacement body parts or tattoos that let us move things with our mind. But what if I told you some of that is already here? That's next.
And here's a reminder for you to watch CNN's new show "The Lead with Jake Tapper." That's tomorrow afternoon, 4:00 Eastern, here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It's kind of mind blowing. Stuff that was dreamed up by science fiction, we're starting to see really happen now.
We'll we have cars that drive themselves, replacing worn out body parts with new ones. What about telekinesis. Dan Ackerman, senior editor at CNET.com. Dan is here to talk about the latest, right? This is like the next big thing.
Jumping off point for the latest smart phone everyone is going on and on about. What sort of future tech are we seeing today in this Samsung Galaxy S4.
DAN ACKERMAN, SENIOR EDITOR, CNET.COM: That's the Galaxy S4. It's the latest hot phone that everybody is freaking out about. It's going to come out very shortly. You know, it looks like a lot of other phones, there's only so much you can do with a big slab of glass and plastic and metal. But I think they've worked a lot of really cool features into it particularly using the camera inside the phone to do I-tracking that lets you really do a lot of cool interactions, like if you're watching a video and you look away, it knows you're not watching so it pauses the video. Or it can tell that you're watching by looking at your eyes and let you just scroll up text by tilting your hand and again, if you're not looking it turns that motion sensor off and I think that's how you make it more organic. And that's kind of a leap over earlier phones.
LEMON: OK. So do you like it better than the iPhone?
ACKERMAN: You know, I'm starting to get a little bit of big screen envy. My iPhone only has a small 3 1/2 inch screen. The newer iPhone has a slightly bigger screen. But these big five inch phones seem almost like mini tablets.
LEMON: When you pick it up, I have a friend who has the Galaxy 4, right? I don't know, it feels - I don't know -
(CROSSTALK)
ACKERMAN: Yes, a lot of them has a kind of plastic box instead of metal, so even though they cost the same as the iPhone, they maybe they don't feel as fancy, and I think to be a high-end product, you got to go with the industrial design.
LEMON: OK. Let's look to future tech right now. We've seen this Google self-driving cars. But will cars like this be on the road soon? Is it a good thing?
ACKERMAN: I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but there are a few on the road right now for testing purposes in a couple of states, particularly California and I think Nevada, have made them legal to drive, you know, to test, but you have to have somebody sitting there behind the wheel to take over just in case. They say that the technology might be ready for consumers in maybe four, five years, but I think maybe the legal stuff will take even longer than that. Because how do you insure a car like this? Who is responsible? You have to sit there? Can you take a nap in the backseat? I think that's going to take a lot longer to figure out.
LEMON: Oh, yes. OK. So this sounds a little crazy, but do you think we're soon going to be able - this is fascinating to me, all these like printers, you know, these things, you should be able to print, like you can print gun parts, even body parts. I mean, are we actually going to be able to do that, you think? ACKERMAN: I don't think anything has surprised me more in the last year or so, than how fast 3D printing has taken off. You can get for a few hundred dollars right now a printer in your house that prints basically using a plastic or resin material, and people print iPhone cases, and chess pieces, and in the labs they're starting with biomaterials.
So if you can have a printer that uses this biomaterials, and maybe ties into your DNA, you can print something, you could even print a cartilage for a knee, I mean, or your doctor probably would or they can make you an organ that your body won't reject. So it's sort of taking something that's kind of available now, and adding a very medical science twist to it. You know, again, this is years off, but people could be able to print stuff, you know, regular stuff in their homes pretty much now.
LEMON: What will they think of next? Maybe something like this. What about telekinesis, moving stuff with our minds or even communicating with our minds, is something like this really beginning to happen?
ACKERMAN: This is another example of something that is based on technology we have now that really feels very primitive. The brain wave detection technology. You can get kind of gimmicky toy things where you put on a head sensor and it detects your brain waves and you can basically move a ball from point a to point b, by concentrating on are relaxing your mind.
The next step is obviously taking these sensors and making them very thin, almost like they become tattoos, they're really kind of tiny stickers with circuitry in them, and again, you can think left, think right or concentrate or relax. And they can't quite do a lot of things yet. They're very binary. But I think in the future they'll be able to get them to do a bunch of different things. And maybe you can sit in the back of your Google driverless car and just steer it that way.
LEMON: OK. So something we haven't talked about, the next big thing, what do you think?
ACKERMAN: You know, I think wearable tech is something that people are interested in. People talk about the Google glass, that's the eyeglasses with the screen built in that gives you a lot of personalized info. People use a lot of the health stuff right now with the fit bits and the Nike fuel band, and even that Samsung phone is going to have its own wireless health accessories. I think the health stuff that really works for the Google (INAUDIBLE). It's a kind of a little goofy, it may just be more people showing off. I can't imagine we're going to walk down the streets with TV screen glasses on.
LEMON: We already have enough distractions. Thank you, Dan Ackerman. Appreciate it.
ACKERMAN: Thank you. LEMON: All right. We are a fan of adorable creatures doing, well, anything. Catching our eye today is this guy. He isn't the only pup trying to catch a free ride. Jeanne Moos is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: And adorable sea creature hitches a ride on a kayak. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rick Coleman is not afraid to go diving at night off the California coast. But look what does scare him.
RICK COLEMAN, DIVER: Oh, my god, you scared me. Hello, little guy.
You can hear my reaction and then immediately he kind of melts my heart.
What are you doing on my kayak?
MOOS: Not only was the sea lion a stowaway. He wouldn't go away.
COLEMAN: You can't stay up here.
MOOS: So what do you do? Rick called his wife on his cell phone in a dry bag.
COLEMAN: I'm sitting on my kayak, and on my bow is a baby sea lion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No way.
COLEMAN: And it won't get off.
MOOS: Even when he nudged it with his paddle.
COLEMAN: Go, go, go. You got to get off.
MOOS: With less than 10 seconds later, this time he stays. The pup had a scuff mark on him.
COLEMAN: Maybe a shark was after him. There was a shark bite on his behind.
MOOS: Animal rescue experts say it's more likely the pup was just cold.
(on camera): The sea lion wasn't the only pup trying to climb aboard. In this case a windsurfboard 1,000 miles or so up the coast near Seattle, Washington. This seal pup couldn't make it. When he did make it, flip off the other side or got a hostile reception from the others. The windsurfboard's owner Ethan Johnson (ph) had mounted a go pro camera that caught the action. The pup finally ended up nose to butt with the unfriendly pup.
Back at the kayak, the sea lion stayed aboard for the entire 20 minute paddle to shore and then sat on a rock and finally swam away. At least he didn't scream bloody murder. Seals yelling like humans have now replaced goats yelling like humans. As the yell heard around the internet, this is the second video Rick posted that became famous. The last one was a blue whale encounter a year and a half ago.
COLEMAN: My son said I'm an animal magnet.
MOOS (voice-over): And then jumped in and shot a video of the whale under water.
(on camera): Comparisons are being made between the life of Rick and the life of Pi.
(voice-over): One stuck in a boat with a sea lion pup. The other stuck with a tiger. By the way, they say a sea lion's bite can be 10 times worse than a pitbull. No bull, we're not lying.
Jeanne Moos, CNN.
COLEMAN: Oh, my god, you scared me.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Oh, very cute. They say don't follow animals and babies? Madonna, you should know better. Madonna took a few jabs at the boy scouts last night and praise CNN's Anderson Cooper, the pop star wore a scout costume when she gave Anderson a media award on the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defiance. Madonna slammed the boy scouts' ban on gays saying the scouts should change their rules. She used a few profanity to make her point and then she game Cooper his award for promoting equality for the gay and lesbian community.
Coming up at 10:00 tonight, more on this developing story. A manhunt under way across the border after a bold escape today from a maximum security prison outside Montreal. According to Canadian police, two gunmen posing as tourist, hijacked a helicopters and ordered the pilot to fly to the prison. A rope was lowered, two inmates climbed aboard. Police later found the copter and the pilot who is not being questioned. Investigators say after the helicopter landed, the two inmates climbed and board an escape. Police later found the copter and the pilot who is now being questioned. Investigators say after the helicopter landed, the escapees left in a car.
Police are still searching for them. We're going to have a live report from Quebec, tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 10:00 Eastern.
