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Commissioner Arrested in Slain Baby Case; Memories of a Music Legend; Fighting Foreclosure

Aired March 29, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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


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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again everyone. Good morning I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Carol Costello. Checking our top stories.

At least one more home is at risk of falling in to a landslide on Whidbey Island in Washington state. The landslide has already damaged one home and cut off access to 17 others. Experts say the slide is a one in 100 or 200 year event and it would take 40,000 dump trucks to move all of that the dirt.

North Korea claims it now has rockets aimed at U.S. military bases in Hawaii, Guam, South Korea and even the U.S. mainland. Pyongyang says the escalation is a response to the U.S. flying bomber planes over South Korea as part of an annual joint military exercise. The Pentagon says it's taking these threats seriously.

A couple hours from now, Pope Francis will celebrate his first Good Friday service as leader of the Catholic Church. Yesterday as part of Holy Thursday mass, he washed the feet of juveniles at a youth detention center. The move mirrored Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet and it is in keeping with this pope's emphasis on humility.

While there is no court in the Jodi Arias murder trial until Tuesday, yesterday saw some big surprises. The defense called "In Session" correspondent Jean Casarez to the stand. She testified about a report that prosecutor Juan Martinez was signing autographs. The court was concerned jurors may have seen that incident. Martinez says what he does outside the court isn't relevant to this case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking news.

WHITFIELD: All right breaking news now. There is a shocking new development in another horrifying crime -- last week's fatal shooting of a baby in South Georgia. The acting mayor of Brunswick is in jail charged with hindering that investigation. James Henry Brooks who you see in red is accused of influencing a witness and obstructing law enforcement.

Let's get the latest now from reporter Erica Rakow of CNN's Jacksonville affiliate WJXT.

So Erica, what more specifically do we know about what he's accused of, the mayor? ERICA RAKOW, WJKT TV: Well the -- good morning Fredricka. Just moments before we went on air, I had the chance to speak with the attorney representing Commissioner James Brook. His name is Alan Tucker. He's a local attorney and he handed me a copy of James Brook's bond order and a written apology from the Commissioner.

He is being held on $8,000 bond for the two counts he's charged with, obstruction of law enforcement and influencing a witness. He will be released from jail within the hour according to his attorney.

Now, we understand James Brooks turned himself into the detention center last night. We understand his wife drove him there. On these two charges, his attorney says he turned himself in because it's always better to bring yourself in than have police come to your house and arrest you.

Check out this video that we shot here at the courthouse Monday afternoon. His attorney says that this could have led to the charges that he is now facing. This is Monday as 17-year-old De'Marquise Elkins' family walked out of court here. They were leaving Elkins' first appearance where a judge told him he's charged with felony murder for the toddler's death. Walking with the teen's mother is City Commissioner James Brooks.

And at one point in our video you can see James Brooks' attorney -- James Brooks put his arm around the mother. Now, this teen's family has also been arrested on charges connected to the death of 13-year- old Antonio Santiago which happened here Glenn County last week. His mother Karimah police say and his sister Katrina Elkins lied to them about the case. And just yesterday, Katrina Elkins his sister was arrested accused of helping to hide the murder weapon.

Now, as I mentioned, his attorney James Brooks' attorney says he will be out of jail here within the hour. He -- that's on the condition that he turns himself into Camden County by 12:00 on Monday. He's facing characters there for racketeering.

So his attorney says he has the weekend free and will turn himself in Monday. That's one county south of here. For now we're live in Glenn County.

Erica Rakow, Channel 4 the local station.

WHITFIELD: All right, Erica, thank you so much for the latest developments involving that case of a 13 month old that was killed in the stroller just a couple of weeks ago.

All right next in the CNN NEWSROOM, a music legend looking back on an incredible career. My conversation with Clive Davis next.

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WHITFIELD: All right welcome back in the NEWSROOM. This is a very unique and special moment. If you like music, and who doesn't, you are certainly going to be intrigued by this next guest. He is hailed for his work with some of the most iconic names in music. Among them the "Grateful Dead," Bob Dylan, Annie Lennox, the list could go on. It's a career that has spanned the five decades.

Now you see his face, and you know the name, Clive Davis he is the chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment and author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Soundtrack of My Life", what a fitting title. And he's joining me now from New York. Mr. Davis, good to see you. Good morning.

CLIVE DAVIS, AUTHOR, "THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE": Well it's so nice to be here today.

WHITFIELD: So the artists that you've worked with range from Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix to Bruce Springsteen and Whitney Houston, yet early on, you had no interest in the music business. How did you turn your Harvard law education doing contracts et cetera to becoming the man whose name is synonymous with the music industry?

DAVIS: Just to correct the record, I had nothing to do with Jimi Hendrix. They claim to Springsteen and Joplin. You know my parents died when I was a late teenager. I had no money to ride aboard the station. I studied law to become a lawyer. The faiths were good, luck was in my way and the firm that I went to work for represented Columbia Records. I became their general counsel for five years and then overnight I was made the head of the company.

So I was thrust into it. And never knowing that I either had a natural ear and gift for music or that it would become the passion of my life.

WHITFIELD: So this natural ear for music and this real knack for, you know, discovering talent or recognizing talent, what do you suppose that quality is? And what is it that you look for when you tap into those kinds of, you know, keen interests that you have?

DAVIS: Well, my first signing really showed -- you know, you hear about the tingle that goes up your spine. I saw the first artist, Janis Joplin, Big Brother and The Holding Company at the Monterey Pop Festival. It changed my life.

If the word "epiphany" has any meaning, that's what happened and I knew I had to step forward and make my first creative musical signing move. So that's what I did. And I signed Big Brother.

She was so charismatic. She was the white soul sister that I had never seen, I don't think anybody had ever seen the likes of her before you know. And I trusted my ears after that as we launched Janis. And I was to sign Blood Sweat and Tears, and Santana, or Bruce Springsteen.

And after a while, you know you're looking for the headliner, you're looking for someone who can take an audience out of its seat. And if it's a singer/songwriter like Springsteen who has become with Bob Dylan the musical poet laureates of America, you're looking for that incredible lyric, intense depth imagery to distinguish them. And so it's a combination and it depends on the artist that you're really appraising. WHITFIELD: So it was one thing, you know a very big thing, to have that knack to be able to identify that musician, that artist has that it thing. And it's another for that artist to entrust their career in you. What was it that you either promised or what could you exude to those artists that they said, you know, what yes, sign me up, I want to be with you Clive Davis.

DAVIS: Well, it was the first one that you have to cross that bridge. There I had a connection with Joplin, whether it was trust, whether it was integrity. We had an instant connection. But then when you start building that track record and when you find that each of the artists as I said Blood Sweat and Tears, and Santana and Springsteen, when they start becoming successful, you start building your track record, you start building your expertise.

And I do want to emphasize I take none of this ever for granted to this day. So that I keep my ear fresh. I'm afraid of going over the hill. So I make sure peers of mine did go over the hill. I made sure that currently I listen to every new record as it hits the chart so that it takes vigilance and you build an expertise that the artist feels trust with you to give you the opportunity to work with them in their career.

WHITFIELD: So another artist is very proud to attach her name to you, Aretha Franklin, you didn't necessarily discover her, she was already Aretha when your relationship began. But she did come to you because she felt like and you write this in your book. She felt like she needed her career to be revived. What is it that you were able to do that you know, you can be credited as helping Aretha?

DAVIS: Well with Aretha, she's the greatest natural singing resource, you know, we've ever had in history. We always say put Aretha in one -- in one side. But artists need songs. If they don't write, the importance of signature songs to be a part of their career.