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Rick Warren's Youngest Son Commits Suicide At 27; Marijuana Getting Legal In The U.S.? Michael Jackson's Mother, Children Sue AEG Promotion; Louisville Beats Wichita State; North Korea Poses Ever- Increasing Threat

Aired April 06, 2013 - 22:00   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. I'm Don Lemon. The stories you are talking about in just a moment, but first, want to get up on today's headlines.

Tragedy in a mega church. The son of well-known evangelist, Rick Warren, has taken his own life. 27-year-old Matthew Warren was found death in his home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A live report just ahead on CNN.

The U.S. is postponing a missile test to avoid aggravating the situation in North Korea. A senior defense official told CNN the test had been planned for a while and had nothing to do with the Korean crisis. But the Pentagon didn't want to give the perception that it was related to that situation.

In Afghanistan today, six American citizens died in two separate insurgent attacks. The deadliness happened here in the southern province near Kandahar. A suicide bomber blew up a car filled with explosives next to a military convoy. Three American troops and two U.S. government civilians died. They were delivering books at an Afghan school.

Fifteen people including nine children were killed today when Syria's government dropped a bomb on the city of Aleppo. This amateur video shows a panic scene with burning buildings. CNN cannot verify this video. Gunshots rang out across town. One opposition group says a total of 116 people were killed across Syria today.

Shock and sadness in one of the biggest mega churches in the country. Pastor Rick Warren revealed today that his youngest son, Matthew, killed himself after a lifelong struggle with depression. The latest information is that he died yesterday at his home in Mission Viejo of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after spending the evening before with his parents. His mother hinted at his problems in this 2012 ABC interview with Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAY WARREN, RICK WARREN'S WIFE: Our daughter-in-law had a brain tumor 3 1/2 years ago and she nearly died and was in the hospital for five weeks. Her son, her 7-week-old baby was born prematurely and nearly died. We have close family with some mental illness. For us, it's been challenging and that it has been difficult for us. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The saddleback church has issued a statement and here's what it reads. At 27 years of age, Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many. Unfortunately, he also suffered from mental illness resulting in deep depression and suicidal thought. Despite the best health care available, this was an illness that was never fully controlled and the emotional pain resulted in his decision to take his life.

Want to bring in now CNN's Eric Marrapodi, the editor of CNN's Belief Blog.

Eric, thank you so much for coming in this evening. This is truly heartbreaking. What do you know about this young man? Was he involved in his father's ministry at all?

ERIC MARRAPODI, EDITOR, CNN BELIEF BLOG: Yes, he was, Don. Matthew Warren was just 27 years old and been a member of the church, Saddleback Church, for his entire life. And really, as Rick Warren was growing in prominence, he was just growing up as a kid. That book that Rick Warren wrote, "the purpose driven life" was written ten years ago when he was just 17 and that's what propelled the Warrens into the national spotlight and international spotlight.

Matthew worked in the church's resource warehouse helping distribute things like books and DVDs. And that was a relatively recent job and that was something that he enjoyed doing. And that's where he worked until obviously last night.

LEMON: Eric, how does a congregation cope with this kind of tragedy?

MARRAPODI: You know, these things are almost impossible to believe when this happens in anyone's family, particularly in a congregation as large as this one. Twenty thousand folks who go to this church on a regular basis, they met tonight for the first time this afternoon, at 4:30 pacific time.

Listen to what Tom Holladay told them. He is the teaching pastor at Saddleback and he is also the uncle of Matthew. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOLLADAY, TEACHING PASTOR, SADDLEBACK CHURCH: Rick and Kay and their family are having to face the news this week of the death of their youngest son, Matthew. And we're facing it together as a family. And that's what we're going to do this weekend. We are going to pray together and we are going to worship together and we are going to look at God's hope together and we are going to be real together about who he is. And that we are going to be real together about our hurts and we are going to be real together about only the thing he can give us, hope in the face of anything and everything.

So, before we worship some more together, would you pray with me? Let's pray.

Father, thank you for these people, this family, that love you so deeply. And thank you that we can come together as a family, open our hearts to you and tell everything that's on our hearts and we do it right now. We pray for our pastor Rick, for his wife, Kay. We pray for their family, their closest friends. As they are facing this, lord, we pray that your Grace would be poured upon their lives right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Certainly the entire country is praying, anyone who knew this man, anyone who's a Christian is praying for this family.

MARRAPODI: Yes, absolutely. And one of the things that was interesting, today before the news really had trickled out all the way, Rick Warren sent a tweet out to his followers on twitter. And he referenced the Lord's Prayer and particularly the part where it says, we pray "Thy will be done." That's something that is important for Christian to understand when they try to deal with things that are certainly beyond their control, they can look and trust and say this was part of God's plan. That God allowed this to happen. And they may not understand it and they may not be pleased with what has happened but they know that it's part of his will and one of the things that's really important for Christians to believe is that they say that God is with them through all these difficult and impossibly difficult times like the one the Warren family is dealing with tonight, Don.

LEMON: Eric, thank you. Appreciate it.

We have a lot more planned for you this Saturday night. Here's what else we're working on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Is pot about to go legit across the U.S.? For the first time ever, more Americans think it should be legal than those who don't. One of the architects of Colorado's recent legislation weighs in.

What if North Korea actually did launch a missile? Is the U.S. ready for that? The high-tech on how America might fend off a nuclear attack.

And Mike Tyson talks about righting a wrong from America's past.

And Mia Angelo waxes poetic about introducing a prowler to the business end of her handgun.

That and more, coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We are going to begin with this story. Michael Jackson, as you just saw, in my one-hour documentary, his death is back on the front pages nearly four years after his fatal overdose. This time, it's Michael Jackson's mother and his children holding the concert promoters responsible for his untimely death.

I want to continue this with Jim Moret in Los Angeles. He is an attorney and chief correspondent for "Inside Edition." We also him in that documentary, and then our legal contributor, Paul Callan in New York.

Welcome to both of you.

So listen, Conrad Murray, does it matter if he does or does not testify? First to you, Paul.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think it makes an enormous difference in the case. I mean, obviously, he's a central figure in the case. But the jury is going to know that Conrad Murray has been convicted, essentially, of causing the death of Michael Jackson. And, frankly, I don't know how much he would add, even if he did come in to testify. There are lots of other sources of information about how he was hired and who hired him. So I don't think it will make that much of a difference.

LEMON: Hey Jim, let's talk about the money here. Is this case all about the money? We're talking about millions, possibly billions for the Jacksons if AEG loses this case. Is this really -- Conrad Murray seems to believe this is all about the money. AEG says it's all about the money because they are not suing Doctor Conrad Murray. Is that what it's about?

JIM MORET, CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, INSIDE EDITION: It feels like that, Don. It really does. I mean, you know, it's funny, when you talk about the money and you talk about $40 billion being the number we've heard bandied about. My 15-year-old son said, Matthew, to me, dad, he didn't make $40 billion in his lifetime, did he? I said, no, not even close to that. He is worth maybe $600 million be state today and he was broke when he died.

And you know, Most of Michael Jackson's wealth at this point, the estate is, in the publishing rights. And if you look at what AEG was going to pay him over the year and assume he would work for ten years more, I don't know where you're going to get $40 billion.

But yes, I think it is about the money because you know who's responsible legally for the death and that is Doctor Murray. And Doctor Murray doesn't have any assets. Who, then, to go to? AEG, because you have to go under the assumption that he was working for AEG.

And I agree with Paul. I don't think it makes a lot of difference if Doctor Murray testifies because Doctor Murray may say AEG was my boss but AEG, as you said in that special, didn't pay him a dime, didn't have an executed contract and didn't act in accordance with an employer at that time. It wouldn't have kicked in until the tour. So yes, bottom line, I do think it's about the money. LEMON: Yes. And you bring up a very good point when you talk about the billions of dollars, $40 billion. That's a lot of money. Here's what they contend, though, Jim. They're saying he would have made money from these concerts, probably would have had hit records, then, he would have gone on to Vegas to have a very lucrative career in Las Vegas and possibly, I don't know, get -- I don't think he would have gotten close to $40 billion. But he certainly could have made into the billions.

But Michael Jackson was a big spender. I mean, his estate, as you know, Jim, is in the black now. Certainly was not in the black when he was alive. It's in the black bauds he's not here to spend that money.

MORET: Well, not only that, Don. When we covered the molestation trial some years ago, you know, it would not have surprised me if he didn't show up one day because actually he was late one day. He came in his pajamas. We remember that. He was so frail at that time that I don't think anyone would have been surprised in his life has come to an end then.

So, to say his life came to an end now isn't tremendous surprising. When you look at the show that AEG was putting on and look at the physicality of that show, certainly Michael Jackson couldn't have continued at that pace for the next ten years. So, it would be a different kind of a show. So, you know, I think it's a very difficult argument for the family to make.

LEMON: I want to bring in Paul.

Paul, I want to ask you because, you know, Jim brought up the contract, only Doctor Conrad Murray had signed the contract. Michael Jackson hadn't signed it. AEG hadn't signed that contract. And the crux of this is whether Doctor Conrad Murray worked for Michael Jackson or that he worked for AEG. He could certainly end up helping both sides of the case. He would probably plead the fifth here. But do you think it's -- what does it say -- what's the significance of that contract? Does that contract show that AEG is responsible here for Doctor Conrad Murray's actions?

CALLAN: The contract is important. I mean, if the jury decides or the judge decides ultimately that there was no oral agreement to hire Conrad Murray by AEG, they are out of the case. So, the existence of the contract is important as, you know, supporting the Jackson theory.

But in the end, I think the case is fatally flawed for two reasons. First, you have a situation where you have a sophisticated performer with a lifetime of experience, capability of hiring lawyers, agents to help him in negotiations. And he goes to AEG and says, listen, I want Conrad Murray, my personal physician, to be available on the tour. This is a condition precedent for me going on the tour. So they say, OK. He is your doctor. We will agree to hire him. And then of course Conrad Murray goes on to kill him by administering propofol. Now, to think a jury would blame AEG for doing exactly what Michael Jackson asked them to do is a bit farfetched. But, the second thing that I think is very important is this, if you assume that he fired Conrad Murray, that AEG fired him that day, the day he was killed, does anyone believe that Michael Jackson wouldn't have just hired him himself to administer the propofol? So, there was no way Jackson survives on either scenario. So there are no damages in the case.

LEMON: AEG is also contending that they were, as you say, paying him up front, much as a credit card company does for you if you go out -- they didn't hire him. They were just paying him for the upcoming concerts up front for Michael Jackson.

Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

CALLAN: OK.

LEMON: And coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Is pot about to go legit across the U.S.? For the first time ever, more Americans think it should be legal than those what don't. One of the architects of the Colorado's recent legislation weighs in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: I've never seen anybody act like that on pot ever. How many times - I mean, how times have changed.

In the late 1930s, films like (INAUDIBLE) has portrayed marijuana users as psychos, helping enforce a strict prohibition that still exists now. Seventy five years later, a majority of Americans now favor legalization. That's never happened before.

The latest poll by Pew research shows 52 percent of those surveyed support the idea. It's most evident in this map, 17 states and the District of Columbia now allow medical marijuana. Washington and Colorado permit recreational use. And marijuana's been decriminalized in six other states.

Prohibition is also expensive. A 2005 Harvard study found state and local governments spend $5.3 billion a year to enforce marijuana laws. Federal government spends another $2.4 billion for a total of $7.7 billion each year. That is a whole lot of money.

Want to bring back our legal analyst here at CNN, Mister Paul Callan. Leonard Frieling, the executive director of Normal Colorado. Did I say your last name properly?

LEONARD FRIELING, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORMAL COLORADO: Yes, sir.

LEMON: OK. I have to tell you, when we started talking about this story, I said, this feels so five years ago. This feels like an old story except that, I guess, the polls are just now showing it.

I mean, Leonard -- Lenny, does this surprise you? It doesn't surprise most people, especially younger people that most people say, hey, go ahead and decriminalize it or legalize it or regulate it at least.

FRIELING: The genie is out of the bottle. The genie is not going back in the bottle. We have declared peace. This war is over. Our job now is to minimize the casualties. Now that we have peace because there still will be more casualties and we have the opportunity for 50 different states to have 50 different experiments in the spirit of the great experiment that is our United States. And as part of the education mission of Colorado normal, of normal and of LEAP and OF many other organizations, part of the education mission is to see that those experiments happen responsibly.

LEMON: So, what has change, Lenny? What has changed in the last 25 years?

FRIELING: I was thinking about that. And I think the real question might be, why during the last 100 years are we messing around with marijuana as opposed to the previous 5,000 years where the last 25 is more or less insignificant in the big picture?

Now, the answer to your question is, for all those years and the years before it scientifically the pro-marijuana people were generally correct. That didn't win the peace. What won the peace was the economics. People realized that in triaging our economics, in prioritizing, marijuana was, whether people liked it, disliked it, whatever it was, they knew it wasn't so bad that it took priority, say, over feeding people. They realized that it would take --

LEMON: OK. I understand where you're going. I want to bring Paul in.

Because Paul, Lenny lives in a state that has made pot legal. And that may be a window to what it would look like if pot were legal nationwide. States like that, how do you think that will serve to either have marijuana legalized nationwide or not? How do you think it will work?

CALLAN: Well, I have to agree with Lenny. Federalism will allow the states to experiment with this. We can see how it works out. But I do have to say on the issue of why we are where we are today, think Woodstock, you know. The Woodstock generation is now ruling this country. Actually people my age who were, you know, not me, of course, but other people in college were smoking the stuff back in the '70s. And they're now running the government. So it doesn't surprise me that we're being a little bit friendlier to it.

But, let's look at the rest of the world before we jump into this. I was looking today at the statistics about how many countries have legalized marijuana. One of the things that really shocked me is that one of about five countries that have absolute legalization, North Korea which may explain a lot about what's going on over there right now with Kim Jong-Un, I don't really know, but they are one of five countries that actually have legalized marijuana.

And it also says, of course, we don't have a big track record worldwide about what happens when you legalize it. I understand that at least on the surface it looks like it's not as harmful and alcohol. And alcohol's been horribly destructive. But on the other hand, we've got no big track record as to what happens. People start smoking it who wouldn't have smoked it normally, you know. Do people in their 50s and 60s who probably haven't used in it a lot of years say, do they say well, let me get out of the 7-eleven and pick up a bag of weed and come home and start smoking? And are they less productive at work? Is that going to cost the government money? I mean, there are a lot of imponderables here. Do they go on television and sound like they're out of it when they're answering questions. I mean, I could change the movie.

LEMON: I think - Leonard, are you talking about Leonard here?

CALLAN: I'm not talking about Leonard. I would never say such a thing.

LEMON: I'm just kidding. Listen. Nearly, one in two now say that they have smoked pot, even though who don't like it say enforcing the laws is not worth the cost and legalization is the answer.

And listen, neither of us is a medical doctor here. There are people who say it's a gateway drug. And then there, on the other side, there are people who say it is not a gateway drug and it's actually good for you and it's for cancer and glaucoma and all of those things and it eases pain. But why do you think that most people say, hey, I've tried it and you know what, legalization is -- the cost of fighting against or enforcing laws, it's not worth it. You should just legalize it, Paul.

CALLAN: Well, I think, you know, you're dealing not so much with an issue that we're going to find hard science on. You're dealing with a moral issue. A lot of people think, you know, you just shouldn't give access to everybody to easy use of drugs like marijuana. We have enough problems with alcohol. Do we really need to make it easy for kids, for instance, for adolescents to get involved in smoking marijuana and using the drug? Will they be less productive in the long run as a result of it? \

I think a lot of people have that hesitation about really going that last step and legalizing as Colorado has done. It will be very interesting to see what happens in Colorado. I was out there snowboarding recently and I thought I was in danger on a couple of the slopes because of the -- I don't know if people are smoking while they ski now, which could be dangerous, Lenny, in Colorado, I'm sure.

LEMON: Well Lenny, I'm going to ask you that question. Since, you know, now it's legal there, has your state gone to pot? What's happened? FRIELING: Interestingly, my wife who is a complete nonsmoker and I were discussing whether either of us could think of -- this is anecdotal, I understand -- whether either of us could think of a single individual who, since we legalized, the governor signed off on the election January 4th of this year, a single person who has, as far as we know, tried marijuana now that it is legal. Neither of us could think of a single person.

You keep focusing on the last 25 or the last 100 years and lack of experience. And while that's, of course, true, and while frankly the last thing I want to do is to get into a debate with Mr. Callan. I'm far too wise to that and he's far too good.

But we do have 5,000 years' experience, not just the 50 or 100 where it's been an issue in the United States. We have countries from Israel to Spain looking at the medical aspects. And as far as hard science, right now, pub med, I believe we are up to 23,000 studies, including double-blind placebo experiments. Do we know enough? No. Do we know a lot?

LEMON: Yes. We will be learning a lot more, I'm sure, as this continues to progress.

Paul, Lenny, thank you. See, no arguing. We are not debating here. We are just talking.

FRIELING: Thank you.

CALLAN: We are not debating. We're having a very mellow discussion and, Lenny, it's always a pleasure getting to talk to you.

LEMON: See that.

FRIELING: A true honor, thank you.

LEMON: See what marijuana does. It mellows everybody out. Just keep talking about it.

OK. On to other news now. High-profile ambush killings of law enforcement officials -- Colorado, Texas, West Virginia. Are these random acts? Is there some link?

I'm going to ask our law enforcement expert next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Law enforcement officials scrambling for answers right now following four high-profile ambush killings. Colorado prison chief Tom Clements, Texas prosecutor mike McLelland and another Texas prosecutor Mark Hasse and West Virginia sheriff Eugene Crumb. Is there a link between them? Are these random acts or are law enforcement officials being targeted as part of a larger conspiracy?

The officer down memorial page Web site reports law enforcements fatalities are up 29 percent this year. The most recent was detective Eric Smith of Jackson, Mississippi who was shot and killed this week while interviewing a murder suspect. They consider this FBI figures, ambush is the single biggest threat to law enforcement. Fifteen police officers were killed in ambushes each year from 2009 to 2011. It's already up to 15 for this year.

Of the 543 law enforcement officials killed in the line of duty from 2002 to 2011, more than 23 percent were ambushed.

I want to bring now attorney Alex Manning, who is also a former police officer.

What do you think this is, random or is it a conspiracy?

ALEX MANNING, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: It's hard to say. I think it's the quiet before the storm, believe it or not. I think it may be some type of transgression from the prison gangs they get out, they're institutionalized. They're in these gangs and they come out and are acting the exact same way. But we can't lose sight of the whole picture. It could be a distraction for other things.

LEMON: We have been hearing about drug, you know, cartels. We have been hearing about white supremacists. People are wondering if it's open season on cops and court officials now. Hard to tell.

MANNING: It's always hard to tell and you should always, you know, be cautious. Prosecutors I used to works with are extremely cautious. And defense attorneys, family law attorneys, they have some of the highest risk of getting hurt. You just don't know.

But they should always be on guard. They should let the local enforcement work on that they need to and focus there. Maybe help the bureau of prisons, communicate with all the different gangs to really share some intelligence to see what's going on. But it could be some sort of a distraction for something else.

LEMON: What do you mean? They're trying to cover up something else by doing this?

MANNING: I don't know. But, if you keep them busy over here, you go do something else.

LEMON: Right.

MANNING: So, if they are busy looking for the people who did these killings, maybe they are going to do something else on the side. You don't know.

LEMON: Yes. You know, I asked before, you know, you during the break, you often wonder because you saw, it was just in the last couple of weeks, there have been a number of them. That's why we're reporting on this now.

But you wonder if it just the media pays more attention because what happens and other happened, officers sadly were people - all the time, as I said, you know, it happens all the time especially like in jail if someone is being booked, they ambush a police officer. MANNING: Absolutely. Anything short of walking in with somebody with a gun in their hand is an ambush. I have several of my friends were killed in the line of duty. You walk up, you don't know what you're stopping a car for. And they shoot on officer. I mean, that's pretty much an ambush.

LEMON: Were you ever worried, you know, in your private life when you were in law enforcement about something, similar happening to you, were you vigilant as you said?

MANNING: At times, when I worked on (INAUDIBLE) and then my fellow agent, we were -- you took a different route to get home and you were cognizant of what was going on around you.

I think everybody needs to be very vigilant right now. There's something that's brewed and I don't know. But, this one D.A., you know, he was on a task force that looked into the Aryan nation, you know, the white supremacist groups. So, you know, you need to be really cognizant of what is going on around us. But also focus on other thing. Is it a shell game? Are they distracting things over here and planning something else? I mean, you don't know.

MARRAPODI: Something to think about. And sadly, we'll probably be talking about this in the future.

Thank you very much, Alex Manning.

MANNING: Thank you.

LEMON: I appreciate it.

You know, with their missiles locked and loaded, we go live to our reporter in Seoul, South Korea for the latest on the North Korean crisis.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: What if North Korea actually did launch a missile? Is the U.S. ready for that? The high-tech on how America might fend off a nuclear attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Right now, spy satellites and radar are focused on North Korea's east coast, waiting for a missile launch that might never happen. If it does, the U.S. military will be ready.

CNN's Tom Foreman breaks down the plan.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don. All eyes remain on the east coast of North Korea and these mobile missile launchers carrying the musadan missiles because if one of these things takes off, everything change. General, step over here. Let's bring in the map and talk about this. If a missile takes off and heads you have, blasting into the atmosphere and arcing over to attack, what happens with this satellite up above?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, RETIRED U.S. ARMY: Well, I need to tell you, Tom, what that satellite does is it will immediately pick up the IR signature, the infrared signature, of that missile coming off the mobile launcher. And it will immediately tell systems on the ground, systems at sea and systems at air that are all integrated what the telemetry data web site where it is going.

FOREMAN: So, the radar and all these inserts sweeping over the same meshing together and measuring its speed which is quite a job because the speed is traveling thousands of miles an hour at its top speed. This is nothing like an airplane coming in to bomb someone?

MARKS: No, no. Not at all and this is technology we've practiced with and refined over the course of years. This stuff works.

FOREMAN: So, if we see it headed towards something that matters to us, what happens?

MARKS: Something that matter. U.S., U.S. resource or an allied resource, we are going to take that thing out with a high-altitude area defense system which is a missile striking another missile to take it out.

FOREMAN: And all control by computers, there is no human link from the launch to the end of it, however it is. But then, the humans do get involved. They have a tough decision to make, don't they?

MARKS: Absolutely correct. The man in the loop has to decide what's the next step. The United Nations command in South Korea's mission is to maintain the armistice. What that means is there's a North Korea and there's a South Korea. We've signed up to that. There's nothing in the playbook that says, we are going to reunify this peninsula.

FOREMAN: And yet, Don, in the process of handling a launch like that and the potential outflow, there could be a lot of nervous moments as we try to maintain essentially the status quo -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Tom. Thank you, general Marks.

All right, earlier tonight I spoke with Gordon Chang, columnist for forbes.com and author of "nuclear showdown, North Korea takes on the world." He says he doesn't think this will end well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON CHANG, COLUMNIST, FORBES.COM: Well, because I think he has painted himself into the corner. The legitimacy in this regime is based upon taking over South Korea, killing foreigners. And so for him to maintain his position, now that he's said all these things, I think that he has to go forward and do something.

I don't think he's going to do it soon because North Korea never strikes when we have a high degree of readiness. But they will strike when we're not looking. And these military exercises that I talked about, they end at the end of this month when our readiness returns and falls back to normal and when we're not looking, then the North Koreans probably will strike.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right, CNN is keeping a close eye on developments on the Korean peninsula.

And now, I want to bring in Kyung Lah as promised. We said we go live there and here she is. She's in Seoul, just miles from the border with the north.

Kyung, Gordon thought it was only a matter of time before North Korea does something. Do South Koreans feel the same way about that?

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the short term, they actually do feel that there will probably be a missile test. The emphasis being that, a test. We have seen it here in this region before. Around this time of the year, North Korea has launched missile tests. These short-range intermediate range missiles. So it's not something new.

What is different, though, is the level of rhetoric. It's quite a bit higher. Tensions are much higher. And whether South Korea actually feels. And remember, this is a place about an hour south of the DMZ, a place that has the largest bull's-eye on it in the entire region.

If it feels it will be the target of a missile attack, that's something most people here in the capital do not think will happen. Part of it, Don, though, is because they're just numb to it. They are told every other week from North Korea that they are going to be melted down into a sea of fire. They can't possibly live this close to their neighbors to the north and be able to cope and hear all of this and actually think they're going to come under attack.

LEMON: Well Kyung, is anything different about this time versus previous threats?

LAH: It is different. And part of it is that these threats are going directly to the United States and at a rapid fire pace. So, that's what's really alarming here because it's not just going to South Korea. It's going to the international community, the biggest fish out there being the United States. Then you toss in that we have two new leaders.

In South Korea, a female president, the very first in this country's history, untested in a male-dominated society. She has something to prove. The guy to the north, young, he is 28, 29 years old. You look at video of him. He looks awkward. He is like an overgrown kid. That is the impression the outside world has, certainly South Korea has. His own people have it. And so he has something to prove.

You put all this together in a caldron and it is an extremely hot situation. That's why we're starting to see the United States try to turn a corner, trying to cool things here on the peninsula.

LEMON: Thank you, Kyung. Appreciate it.

How did one handshake help change America, one simple moment and its ripple effects felt even 60 years later? That's next.

And coming up, boxing legend Mike Tyson who has had legal troubles of his own, asking the president to overturn the conviction of another fighter, that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Wichita state's Cinderella story, over. And Louisville is just one game from the school's first NCAA basketball title in 27 years. The cardinals hung around all game and eventually knocked off the Shockers, 72-68 tonight. It was a great game. CNN's Joe Carter is at the Georgia Dome, which is rocking during the second game of the final four. I'm so jealous. I watched it here, but you were there.

Joe, Wichita state led for a lot of the game. But then, they just couldn't put away Louisville, could they?

JOE CARTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Don. They have to be kicking themselves as they travel back.

But also, you know, you have to be proud they made it this far. Going into this game, the Louisville Wichita state, the feeling was it was a mismatch, that it was Louisville, the dominant team, against the Cinderella of sorts. But you have to keep in mind that Wichita state really earned the right to be here by beating number one seeded Gonzaga, then beating seconds in Ohio State. And, that really showed in the first half, as well as part of the second half, because they were up by as many as 12 points. But then Louisville's defense sort of tightened up and their offense kicked up. They rallied back, they outscored them by 16 points in the final 13 minutes and ended up winning the game by four. And as you will hear from Rick Pitino, they played a tough Wichita team. They are lucky to get out with a win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK PITINO, LOUISVILLE COACH: I just kept telling our guys, look guys, this is a dogfight tonight. It's not an offensive game like duke where you're going to get a lot of -- it's a dogfight. And you have to win the fight. It's as simple as that.

GREG MARSHALL, WICHITA STATE COACH: This may be the most important basketball game that I'll ever coach. It is definitely most important to the date and it's probably the most important that Wichita state's ever played in. So it's tough.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CARTER: Got to be real tough for Wichita state. Obviously, great hustle. Great heart by them. But Don, a great comeback by Louisville. And now, they are back in the final game on Monday night for the first time since 1986 - Don.

CARTER: Joe Carter, best job of the night.

Thank you, Joe. Appreciate it.

You know, this year's tournament is the 50th anniversary of an historic handshake at the NCAA tournament. One that changed the country. It was this moment in 1963, just before tip-off between Loyola university-Chicago and Mississippi State, two players with a simple pregame handshake who bridged a huge racial divide. You see Loyola had four African-American starters. The team from Mississippi was all white. And the state's politicians did their best to stop them from going to the game. But the Mississippi state players stood by them, sneaking off to play Loyola and they lost 61-51. While Loyola went on to win the championship. Afterwards, one Loyola said player said all he remembered was that handshake calling it the proudest moment of this life.

In the final Loyola and Cincinnati started seven black players and the very first time in NCAA history, that is a majority of black players, that a majority of black players on the court were black. That was 50 years ago.

Boxing legend Mike Tyson who had legal troubles of his own is asking the president to overturn the conviction of another fighter who died almost 70 years ago.

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LEMON: Boxing legend Jack Johnson shuttered the status quo by becoming the first African-American heavyweight champion in 1908. He was also troubled. He troubled the status quo when Johnson broke one of the segregated Jim Crow laws. Johnson's crime, dating a white woman and eventually marrying one. Convicted in 1913. That crime tarnished Johnson's name and legacy.

There is an effort under way to win the presidential pardon for him. Former heavy weight champ is part of.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE TYSON, RETIRED BOXER (via phone): Hwy, I'm just a great fan of Jack Johnson and yet, I understand the circumstances in which Jack Johnson was convicted under and the circumstances on which (INAUDIBLE) as a human being. And Jack Johnson broke all the barriers. He was the first guy, black guy in Galveston with a car when he was champion. He was the Ali before Ali.

LEMON: Ali even looked up to him as well. Listen, I think that you probably looked up to him as well. I should mention you're in the motor city right now on tour starring in your one-man show called "undisputed truth." And that is really what Jack Johnson. He tried to live that truth. Do you think that he has a chance?

TYSON: Hey man, I believe God is great and I believe good can be vindicated. I believe in these circumstances and at the time of the circumstance it happened that it was all done with ill, you know, ill will. And I think Mister Johnson will get pardoned. I really believe that because I'm pushing a petition. I have over three million followers and I'm sure we can get -- with the Grace of God, we can get 100,000 votes.

LEMON: Yes. We're looking at the petition now. The petition is on a Web site. It is a Web site change.org. You are trying to get a lot of people to help you out. Some big political heavy-hitters in your corner. Tell us about who they are and what they're doing to help you?

TYSON: Listen, I have Senator John McCain and Senator Harry Reid. I had a brief meeting with senator Reid and he's all for it. And I'm just so happy that somebody with the clientele and the prestige of senator McCain and Senator Reid would even think a cheerful man -- 114 years ago this happened. And think that people are stood by them and I think posthumously it's a wonderful thing.

LEMON: Obviously you have to be able to relate to this man in some way.

TYSON: I'm not even a little bit. Jack Johnson was by himself. I had the NAACP. I had so many black organizations. I had white organizations. I had white, powerful lawyers taking care of me. I'm a multi-multimillionaire when I'm going through my problem.

Jack Johnson is by himself. He had a few preachers. But Jack Johnson was totally against black power movement and all that stuff. He was about getting it for ourselves because he was never question to blacks people sticking together, you know. All anticipation to the history of black-American that blast with another strongest stick together so, you never trusted each other. He did it by himself.

He didn't have a congregation. He didn't have marketing lobby. He did have no groups or anything. He was by himself. And that shows the greatest courage. Now listen, Don. He's in the ring, Don, and there's 50,000 white, Don, people saying, I'm going to kill you after the ring up to 200 meter bully. And he's in the ring beating a guy, torturing the guy and laughing at the people while he's doing that. And if you believe, come by you, I need (bleep).

Excuse me, Don. But you know, he's in there fighting when these people are saying this. He has been having a good day. And talking to them while he's beating this guy up and they're threatening his life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: My thanks to Mike Tyson.

Hey, Maya Angelou recently admitted to using more than words to stop a prowler. That's story is next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ESTELLA PYFROM, CNN HERO: I grew up in the segregated south. I actually started picking beans at age six. But my father, I used to hear him say, if you get a good education, you can get a good job. So we knew that education was important.

In today's time, many of our children don't have computers at home. And no-income families don't have transportation to get to where the computers are. Kids who don't have access to computers after school will be left t behind.

My name is Estella Pyfrom and a 71. I took my retirement savings to create a classroom to bring high-tech learning to communities in need.

Let's get on board. The sun is beautiful. Estella Pyfrom bus is a mobile learning center.

Are you ready to get on the computers?

CHILDREN: Yes.

PYFROM: We want to do what we can do to and make things better for all. Adults as well.

I see the bus as being able to bridge that gap between technology and the lack of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She helps me by having one-on-one attention. And if I don't get it, she'll help me with it. I look forward to it a lot.

PYFROM: How are we doing here?

It's not just a bus. It's a movement. And we're going to go from neighborhood to neighborhood and keep making a difference.

CHILDREN: Bye-bye!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Maya Angelou had to use more than words to stop a prowler. She pulled out our gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYA ANGELOU, POET: I heard somebody, the rhythm of someone walking on the leaves. And they came to my door. And somebody actually turned the knob. So I said, stand back, stand four feet back because I'm going to shoot now. Boom! Boom!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: And then you heard --

ANGELOU: That's exactly what I heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Don't mess with Maya Angelou.

From the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Don Lemon.

Good night.