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Boston Remembers; Searching for Answers in Boston; New Ricin Suspect's First Court Visit; Michael Jackson Wrongful Death Trial; Miranda Rights for Boston Suspect

Aired April 29, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Could this be a glimpse at the latest in the investigation into the Boston bombing suspects? You are looking at pictures of a raid from Russian Special Forces in Dagestan -- the area that the Boston bombers are known to have visited and been associated with. It is an attack, an assault on a group connected to a suspected terrorist named Abu Dujan. His name is important why because the now dead suspect of the Boston bombings posted a video of his when he came back from his extended trip to Russia.

So how is this all connected? We're following it this morning in CNN's continuing coverage of the attacks at the Boston marathon. We'll be following up on that.

Also this man known as "Misha", he has been located. He had been suggested by family members as a potential link to radicalization of the now dead suspect. Is that true? He's speaking for himself, we spoke to a journalist who did an interview with him, we'll give you the latest on that.

Now of course the intensity of this investigation is to keep us safe going forward in America but also to vindicate the victims of what happened at the Boston marathon. And we take you to Boston now because there is a memorial there. We call it makeshift but it is much more than that it's growing, it's to honor the victims of the bombing.

Carol Costello is there. She has some of the stories surrounding how it was made and who's going there to see it. Good morning -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Volunteers they donated their time. And you're right Chris we call this makeshift, but it's much more than that. I think some of it might become permanent although we don't know. The city hasn't decided yet.

But take a look. I mean there are flowers, there are teddy bears, there are -- they're moving messages. This is just an outpouring of love, not only for the survivors and for those who died but for the City of Boston too. And just another illustration of how generous people have been with their love and their giving they're also giving financially.

The city set up and the state set up something called The One Fund. And people are donating money to that fund and that money will go to help the survivors. That fund is now up to $27 million.

I talked with the co-owner of the Boston Celtics yesterday or actually it was Saturday. He told me at the time The One Fund consisted of $25 million just over the weekend. They added $2 million so it's now up to $27 million.

I want to introduce you to Kathleen. Kathleen, you're from Boston, right?

KATHLEEN, BOSTON RESIDENT: Yes I am.

COSTELLO: Yes and you came down here and I noticed you signed the poster board. What did you write?

KATHLEEN: I just put down prayers for all -- gained a family from Boston, we live in Boston.

COSTELLO: It's just so many wonderful messages. When you look around and you see all of these tributes to those who lost their lives and those who are still recovering, what goes through your mind as a Bostonian?

KATHLEEN: I just think that there's a lot of love coming through. Everybody reaches out to everybody in their desperate hours. And it just was a whole community thing. It happened to people. If you don't know them or anything it just doesn't matter it's just a community.

COSTELLO: Yes and I noticed most of the messages had a saying, we're praying for you, we love you Boston. But many messages say Boston Strong. We will overcome. So you know when I look at this, it's not a shrine shrouded in sorrow. It's more one shrouded in strength.

KATHLEEN: Oh definitely. Yes the Boston community does come together on anything that happens to them, it's like you don't mess with them.

COSTELLO: I know. Somebody told me yesterday that Bostonians don't often express their feelings of community, but they're certainly changing that.

KATHLEEN: Oh definitely yes, yes.

COSTELLO: What have you learned from your neighbors?

KATHLEEN: Just the support. Everybody is just -- I live in Dorchester where little Martin was from so you know it's like it's a nice community there. But we pull together. You might not see it every day, but when there's a need, it's there, it's definitely there.

COSTELLO: Thank you Kathleen.

KATHLEEN: Well thank you.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much we appreciate it.

KATHLEEN: All right. COSTELLO: And Chris there's so many stories like that from people. They just want to get together, share a sense of community, and try to get back to I guess a new normal, but a normal that's still filled with strength.

CUOMO: That's absolutely right Carol and of course part of that process will be the knowledge that the investigation is moving forward full blast to find out why this happened, what could have been the coordinated response. Those are the questions that we're asking and trying to find some answers.

Let's bring in CNN's law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI. Thanks for being back with me Tom. So we saw the pictures of what's happening in the Russia. What's the best and latest information of what was going on there and what it could mean?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well it means Chris that the Russians have continued to maintain coverage of the group of Abu Dujan who was head of that cell was tracked last year and then killed by the Russians in December. But they continue to track the cell and now over this weekend have killed his successor so they maintained coverage of that group and the remnants of the group after the December 2012 raid.

CUOMO: Now we don't know what's going on obviously, but do you have any sources that tell you that the U.S. government is now red in that they are moving kind of step-for-step with the Russians in this investigation?

FUENTES: Well, not necessarily step-by-step, but you know, to a much greater extent the Russians are revealing more information, you know, about what they've done. Again the -- you know -- the thought here is that the Russians wanted Tamerlan investigated in the U.S. because they thought he might come there and attack them, that he might join that Abu Dujan cell or another similar militant group in the caucuses and wage an attack against the Russians.

When they hear that the FBI has checked him out here, he's not been in contact with anybody else that can be that they can tell in the U.S. He is not fund raising to support that group here and that the only international calls they track him having are with his own mother and father, when that's relayed back to the Russians they don't -- two requests come in from them to supply more information and they don't give any more information which makes you think they were satisfied that he wasn't doing something here in support of attacks there.

And then you would expect that they would have had coverage of him when he actually goes there. They're monitoring his mother. They should have been able to hear the conversations that he's going to come visit.

CUOMO: It seems like this was each side hoping the other one would tell them what they needed to know, right?

FUENTES: Right. CUOMO: And neither side did. Is that would ultimately you know to the extent that we have to look backwards to move forwards at the end of the day was this both sides kind of looking at the other one from the direction and neither one being able to provide it?

FUENTES: Well the Russians had the key information. They're the ones that asked for Tamerlan to be investigated, they're the ones conducting a wiretap but they don't give the context or the degree of information that they have. Which -- you know which might have changed, it might but it might have changed the way the investigation went here.

But gain, what was Tamerlan doing in the United States at the time, they investigate as thoroughly as they can. They did just do a brief look at him and move on. They investigated thoroughly and including an interview with him and his closest friends, neighbors and relatives and then asked the Russians twice please give us more. And no more actually comes until this week actually.

CUOMO: All right, so we're still developing our understanding there and hopefully we'll get some information out about what these attacks mean and it's better coordinated effort going forward. Tom thank you very much for the perspective as always, I appreciate it.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

CUOMO: All right moving on now, a suspect in the ricin attacks just left the federal courtroom. Our reporter was at the hearing. When we come back, we will have a live report. Have they finally found the right man in that case?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The new suspect accused of sending ricin laced letters to President Obama and two others just left the federal courtroom in Mississippi. Police arrested martial arts instructor James Dutschke Saturday just days after prosecutors dropped charges against another man.

CNN's Alina Machado was in court. Alina, what went down?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Chris as we expected, this was a very brief court appearance. Dutschke walked into this courtroom. He was wearing an orange jump suit. His feet were shackled. His hands were cuffed at his waist. And he seemed very calm. He answered all of the questions that the judge asked him with confidence.

He -- we learned has a court appointed attorney. That appointment was made over the weekend and that attorney's name is George Lucas. We learned in the courtroom that he has met with Dutschke a couple of times, very brief meetings. He has not had a chance to discuss in detail the complaint that has been filed against him.

And of course these are very serious charges that Dutschke is facing. In fact Lucas told us when we asked him that he would talk to us after the hearing that he quote, "Knows nothing. And that he has only has this complaint in his possession for about 15 minutes."

So, one can assume that he's going to be looking over this complaint and discussing it with Dutschke in the coming hours and days. And so what's next Thursday morning at 9:00 in the morning, there will be a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing. And hopefully we'll learn much more about this case in those hearings -- Chris.

CUOMO: Right. And obviously prosecutors have to move forward now. They have to panel a grand jury and get themselves an indictment; all these things are going to happen as they strengthen the charges.

But that's the key point here right. Because of all the intrigue in this story with the last suspect and Mr. Dutschke's attorney maybe saying this is new to him. But Mr. Dutschke is not new to this story right? The last suspect blamed Dutschke he said that this was part of conspiracy that this has always been going on. Any window of insight today into why Dutschke is connected to this at all?

MACHADO: Yes there's really very little details about why -- why Dutschke is connected and how he's connected. We know his name has surfaced as you mentioned in relation to that initial suspect, Kevin Curtis. Those charges that were filed against Curtis as well all know have now been drooped has since been dropped. But hopefully we'll learn more in an affidavit that has been filed. That affidavit right now is under seal. But we're told that that could be unsealed as early as later today -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, thank you very much, Alina. I appreciate the reporting. And you know for those who are out there who have been following this story go to our Web site and take a look at the interview we did with the last suspect in this who had been detained and interrogated and he had plenty to say about Mr. Dutschke. It is bizarre and worth to watch.

All right, so nearly four years after Michael Jackson's death, jurors are about to begin hearing the wrongful death suit filed by his family against his concert promoter. We're going to take you live to L.A. for the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: In just about two hours from now, jurors in an L.A. Courtroom will hear opening statements in the Michael Jackson wrongful death lawsuit. Jackson's mother and children are seeking billions from the promoter of his ill-fated comeback tour. The issue is whether AEG Live hired or supervised the doctor convicted of killing the pop icon.

CNN's Casey Wian has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Michael Jackson was in the last weeks of rehearsal for what was to be his grand comeback.

The exhausted 50 year-old insomniac died in 2009 from an overdose of sedatives and the surgical anaesthetic Propofol. Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson the fatal dose in an effort to help him sleep. He's in prison.

Now the company that promoted the comeback tour, AEG Live, is fighting legal claims by Jackson's mother and children that it shares responsibility for the singer's death because it hired and supervised Murray.

PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR: What do you think as his mother caused his death?

KATHERINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S MOTHER: I don't know. All I know is they used Propofol and they shouldn't have used it and they use it in the wrong setting. That's all I know and that's what caused his death.

PROF. JODY ARMOUR, USC LAW SCHOOL: The gist of the playing a claim against AEG is that you controlled Dr. Murray and you used your control over Dr. Murray to pressure him into taking unnecessary and excessive risks with his patient Michael Jackson leading to Michael Jackson's death.

WIAN: AEG Live's attorney says there was never a signed contract with Murray and that Jackson was the only one who controlled him.

MARVIN PUTNAM, AEG COMPANY: He was chosen by Michael Jackson, he'd be there at Michael Jackson's behalf. He would be Michael Jackson's doctor alone. But this was only being done because Michael Jackson asked for it. Michael Jackson was the only person who could get rid of him as well.

WIAN: Potential witnesses include Jackson's teenage children, Prince Michael and Paris. Producer Quincy Jones could testify about the billions of dollars Michael Jackson would have earned if he had lived, money his heirs now want from AEG a multi-billion dollar sports entertainment and real estate conglomerate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: Now, opening statements are expected to begin in a little more than two hours. Already you can see behind me photographers are beginning to line up outside the courtroom. That's because this is expected to be a very star-studded trial.

In addition to Michael Jackson's siblings who are expected to be here, on the witness list includes celebrities including Diana Ross, Prince, Spike Lee -- they'll all be part of this case potentially which could have billions of dollars at stake --

CUOMO: A lot of stars and a lot of money. Casey, thank you very much.

When we come back, we're going to go back to Boston. The youngest bombing suspect was read his Miranda rights three days after his arrest. Some lawmakers, they say that was too soon. Interrogation was needed. We'll tell you why and balance it out after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: Miranda rights, the Miranda warning, you know it. It's an extension of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution and basically it gives someone the right to remain silent, to not use their own words against them, access to an attorney, the knowledge that you can have one provided to you if you can't afford one yourself. These are rights fundamental to citizenship.

The surviving Boston bombing suspect is allowed these rights under our constitution. However, some lawmakers think he got those rights too soon. That he should have been treated perhaps as a combatant or as a terrorist. And that they should have been going on and on.

However, he was given his Miranda rights and he did stop talking afterwards. So CNN's Athena Jones takes us up to date on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Attorney General Eric Holder under fire from Republicans for agreeing to a judge's decision to read the Boston bombing suspect his Miranda rights. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has since mostly clammed up and Republicans say Holder let potentially valuable information get out of reach.

Speaking to CNN, Holder answered that criticism for the first time at the White House Correspondents' dinner.

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The decision to Mirandize him was one that the magistrate made and that was totally consistent with the laws that we have. We had a two-day period that we were able to question him under the public safety exception, so I think everything was done appropriately and we got good leads.

JONES: Republican Peter King is shooting back saying investigators may never find out whether others were involved and how the brothers became radicalized.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: The fact is, the FBI was only 16 hours into an interrogation. They had already gotten some significant information, but so much more was still not there. And Eric Holder now is -- said he approved that interrogation being stopped. It's absolutely disgraceful because that interrogation could have ended up saving many American lives. We don't know what the full consequences are going to be.

JONES: King and other Republicans say Holder could have pushed to extend what's called the public safety exception to keep interviewing the suspect before reading him his rights.

Not so says Democrat Adam Schiff.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: The FBI is always going to want to interview as long as they possibly can to get into what happened overseas and the full nature of the plot. But the public safety exception only goes really to protecting the public. And once they have gotten the information they need to do that, that's really the full length and dimension of that exception. JONES: Now, this debate is sure to continue here in Washington. House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers has demanded more answers from the Justice Department on how the decision was made to read the suspect his rights.

Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: "Boston Strong" -- It is an expression, it is a hash tag and it is a reality. You see those words everywhere up there you're just looking at the memorial and the words remind us that we all stand with Boston as the entire city works to heal.

Carol Costello has been at the memorial site in Boston all morning. Caro, the words "Boston Strong", powerful everywhere, but especially where you are.

COSTELLO: Especially where I am. You know, you asked me Chris a couple of minutes ago how this makeshift memorial sprung up. Well, there were tiny memorial sites all over the city and city leaders thought they should just get everything together and put it in one place. And that's what you see right here.

And you see all the people coming through here looking for closure, looking to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. My favorite part of the memorial since of course, I'm a runner I expect this would be my favorite is all those shoes. Some of them have to be from those who ran in the Boston marathon because you can see this one it says Boston. All of these messages on this paper chain, "God bless you Boston." Here it is Chris, "Boston Strong".

Interestingly enough, the finish line where the bomb went off is just about a block and a half away down that block after that white building you see. At the finish line itself, where there were so many entries and so much carnage, it is just paved over. There's new cement there. The buildings are for the most part repaired although some of the buildings still have the windows blown out and they're boarded up.

But it looks pretty much like normal. Pretty much like nothing extraordinary or tragic happened there. And I think that's the way the mayor of Boston wanted it. He wanted commerce to return to this area. He wants Boston to return to normal.

You asked me before about a permanent memorial site, we know that the mayor's office is talking about that. But as far as we know, there have been no decisions made. We're going to check again later this afternoon to see if they have any new thoughts on it.

But I suspect, if there is a permanent memorial, it will be right here because this makeshift memorial has come to mean so much to so many. And as you can see, even on a workday Monday, people are coming down here to pay their respects, to pray, and of course to say "Boston Strong" -- Chris.

CUOMO: "Boston Strong". And I hope something remains because it is important not just to remember the bad part, but that so much was done to overcome that day. So many lives saved. So much greatness in the face of disaster.

Thanks Carol.

And thanks to all of you for joining us. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield. Good morning Ashleigh.