Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Georgia Parole Board to Reconsider Execution; Rapist Nabbed after CNN Feature; Water on Mars and What It Means; Trevor Noah's "Daily Show" Debut. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 29, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The Georgia parole board meets in about 90 minutes to reconsider the fate of condemned murderer Kelly Gissendaner. Unless there's a last minute stay of execution, Gissendaner will become the first woman put to death in Georgia in 70 years. She's been on death row since she was convicted in the stabbing death of her husband 18 years ago. Gissendaner's boyfriend at the time was the actual killer. He kidnapped Doug Gissendaner, took him to a remote place where he stabbed him to death. Kelly Gissendaner spent the night at a bar but showed up at the murder scene as her husband died. The boyfriend, Gregory Owen, pleaded guilty and testified against her. He did not get the death penalty.

Let's talk more about the legal issues with criminal defense attorney Page Pate.

Good morning, Page.

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So there is a hearing at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. What will that entail?

PATE: Well, the board of pardons and paroles in Georgia is the only group that can offer clemency or a pardon to someone in a situation like Ms. Gissendaner. The governor in Georgia can't do it. So the parole board is going to listen to witnesses, victims, Douglas Gissendaner's family, also going to listen to the children of Ms. Gissendaner. They're also going to listen, I believe, to inmates who served time with Kelly Gissendaner who will talk about how much she did for them while they were serving time. She kept many people who were inmates at the time from killing themselves. She really reached out to the -- to the people that she was serving time with. So the board is going hear from those people. They will also likely hear from law enforcement witnesses to basically set up the offense and then consider whether or not Ms. Gissendaner deserves clemency in this case.

COSTELLO: Is there a good chance she'll get it based on what her children might say at that hearing?

PATE: Carol, I think so. Her children have reconciled with her. Obviously they lost her father some 20 years ago. It was very difficult for them to go through the last 20 years with their mother in custody and their father dead, but they have since reconciled. The board, for the first time today, will hear from her son, who I believe will join in with her other children and ask that she be spared from the death penalty. So I believe that she has the support of her children.

Now, her ex-husband, or her former husband's family, they still support the death penalty here. They oppose any clemency. So the board will hear from both sides on that issue.

COSTELLO: All right, Page Pate, thanks so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

PATE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, on the run for 24 years. Now after an appearance on CNN's the hunt, this fugitive is heading to jail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:37:00] COSTELLO: An accused kidnapper and rapist is now off the streets thanks in part to CNN. Police captured Paul Jackson in Mexico. His latest mug shot is on the left. On the right, that's Jackson back in 1990 when he was indicted in Oregon but fled after he was released on bond. The U.S. Marshal Service is now praising John Walsh and "The Hunt" for playing what it calls a significant role in capturing the fugitive. Here's a clip from the show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "THE HUNT": I'm saddened, angry and very surprised that Paul Jackson's been able to stay out there 23 years, because he's still doing exactly what he did. Leopards don't change their spots, these type of guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Jackson is still out there victimizing other women. And I don't think he's going to let any of them live to testify against him this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well he's not a free man anymore. Boris Sanchez joins me now to tell us more.

Good morning.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

This is at least the fifth fugitive featured on "The Hunt" that's been captured. John Walsh doing great work.

Paul Jackson essentially disappeared in 1991 after he was let out on bond, accused of kidnapping, rape, sodomy, among many other charges. He was actually arrested with his brother Vance and at the time they both got away before they could face trial. Vance was on the run until 2005. He actually turned himself into police. He faced an 108 year sentence and still didn't provide officers with any information as to the whereabouts of his brother.

Well, the U.S. Marshal's office tells CNN that soon after that episode of "The Hunt" aired, a substantial tip came in from a viewer and they traced Paul Jackson to Guadalajara, Mexico, and he was arrested as he was walking to work yesterday. You can imagine, this is welcome news for a lot of the women that had accused him of doing these awful things to them.

One of those women was featured on "The Hunt." She's actually part of the reason these brothers were initially arrested. She was apparently held captive in this house of horrors that they had and she broke free. Listen to how she describes being in that home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, PAUL JACKSON'S ALLEGED VICTIM: They kept me chained to the bed. My hands, handcuffed, you know, like on each corner and my feet on each corner. And they had -- they had guns laying around. They had rifles. They had bars on all the -- insides of all the windows and they kept telling me that if I screamed nobody would hear me because there was no houses around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Paul Jackson is expected to be extradited back to the United States. It is likely he will hear testimony in court from women like that one accusing him of doing awful things to her.

COSTELLO: Good for her. Good for her. Do you know what he was doing in Mexico? What was he doing?

SANCHEZ: It's not clear. We're still working to find out. It's not clear how long he's been there, either. It's possible that he may have been in other places and then gone there.

COSTELLO: Well, he certainly didn't both to change his look much, right?

SANCHEZ: At all. Hardly at all. His brother, before he was caught, told officers that he had been hiding under bridges in Portland. Officers don't say they necessarily believe him, but it's possible that Paul Jackson may have been hiding in plain sight.

COSTELLO: Boris Sanchez, many thanks.

Checking some top stories for you at 39 minutes past, two people are dead and three others injured, including an 11 month old baby, following a multiple shooting in Chicago. The family of five was shot on Monday night. The first officer to arrive wasted no time rushing the infant to the hospital in his patrol car. The baby, who was shot in the stomach, is expected to be OK. The child's mother and grandmother, though, both died. Police do not have a suspect in custody. [09:40:21] Incredibly tense moments overnight at New York's JFK

International Airport after an Air Lingus flight was forced to turn around and make an emergency landing 15 minutes after taking off for Ireland last night. The pilot reported hydraulic failure on the Boeing 757. The jet liner's brakes overheated and caught fire after landing, but firefighters quickly put out the flames. No one was hurt.

Brown University is now the third school to revoke an honorary degree awarded to Bill Cosby years ago. The school says his conduct does not fit with its values. It's the latest setback for Cosby since multiple women came forward with sexual assault allegations. Fordham University in New York and Marquette University pulled their degrees last week.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, mars is hotter than ever. Matt Damon is stranded on the red planet in the new movie "The Martian." And now an incredible find gives new hope that there might be life on mars. We'll talk about it all, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:46] COSTELLO: Water on Mars. An amazing find, sure to further fuel America's obsessions with the Red Planet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAT DAMON, ACTOR: This will come as quite a shock to my crewmates. And to NASA. And to the entire world. But I'm still alive. Surprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh yes. Matt Damon stars in the new film, "The Martian". It opens on Friday. And the long-awaited trailer for "The X-Files" also premiered last night on Fox. And guess what's happening on Capitol Hill? And this is real life. This is really happening on Capitol HOll. A full committee hearing will meet, and that committee hearing is titled "Astrobiology and the search for life beyond earth in the next decade."

I know it's crazy, right? But take a look at the Red Planet, the real Red Planet. This is a crater on Mars. Isn't that awesome? You're going to see -- you see those brown streaks? Scientists say those brown streaks are evidence of melting water flowing down hills on Mars.

Some of the pictures on NASA's website are absolutely gorgeous. You are going to have to go check -- there is the animation actually that NASA made up. It shows a fly around of this crater. It's 78 miles long. Each of those streaks that you see -- I don't know if you can see that. -- are roughly the length of a football field. Many believe where there is water, there is life.

So let the jokes begin. I'm telling you, lots of comedians were joking last night. And we did have some sound but we lost it. So let's go to Lujendra Ojha. He joins me now. He actually helped discover this a few years back as an undergrad at the University of Arizona. Welcome.

LUJENDRA OJHA, PH.D. CANDIDATE, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: So when you saw proof, how did you feel?

OJHA: You know, I mean, I went through the typical scientific skepticism at first and we did some more tests and we -- you know, but I mean, very surprised, very ecstatic. Just something I didn't really expect but nevertheless I was very happy when we found the evidence.

COSTELLO: OK, so tell us about your work leading up to this discovery and how it helped NASA scientists.

OJHA: Yes, I've been actually doing research in this particular feature since 2010. I accidentally discovered them when I was an undergrad, and I went to graduate school to do more research. And, you know, the paper that came out yesterday is further corroborating this liquid water hypothesis. And we're actually observing chemical liquid water on the surface. I would say it's great.

And like you mentioned, where we see water here on earth, we see life. That may not necessarily be true for Mars, but nevertheless it provides, you know, places for us to look for habitability both in terms of Martian life and also humans if we ever go there, like Matt Damon in the new movie.

COSTELLO: Exactly. So let me ask you this question, because it is really hard to wrap your mind around. Does the presence of water signify that there was life on Mars? Or life is yet to be?

OJHA: I mean, it's a bit of a stretch at this point to say anything regarding present or past life. What it actually just means is that, you know, there are some reasons on Mars where we have looked at water which may harbor present life. So not past life but present life, if it exists on Mars, may be using this water for survival. That's all we can say. But, you know, we need to go and figure out more stuff about these guys before we can make that statement.

COSTELLO: So I'm just thinking about the conditions on Mars. So it is -- sometimes it's 70 degrees and that would be Mars summer. And then it can get as cold as minus 195 degrees?

OJHA: Right. Yes. It's -- the fluctuation in the temperature is quite big. But when we see these features forming in Mars, this narrow streaks that you were pointing to, they form only in the summer. So they only form when the temperature is just ideal for liquid water to exist on the surface of Mars, so they love high temperature.

[09:50:06] COSTELLO: Got you. So, you know, I want to ask you, like, when will we know if there's life on Mars? But I guess we can only send a rover up there, we can't send actual people quite yet. But maybe that's coming?

OJHA: Yes, and there's a whole policy behind that, there's this idea of saying planet protection, we can go these special places on Mars where we have water because we might contaminate that with terrestrial life as we know it. So we need to take a lot of precaution and we need to be methodic about it. So maybe the next decade or so we will actually go to some of these sites and characterize them. So far, there is no plan to go to some of these narrow brine streak places and do anything, but maybe in the next decade we'll be able to do something to figure out more.

COSTELLO: I hope so. Lujendra Ojha, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Trevor Noah has some big shoes to fill. How did Jon Stewart's successor do as the first night as host of "The Daily Show"?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:20] COSTELLO: All right, let's check some more top stores at 55 minutes past.

The State of the Washington has ordered Ride the Ducks in Seattle to stay off the roads pending an investigation into last week's fatal crash with a tour bus. Five people died, dozens more injured. A federal investigator says a recommended axle repair on the amphibious vehicle was never made. The cause of the accident not known.

An extreme athlete is killed in a skydiving accident in California. Erik Roner died when he slammed into a tree while trying to land during a golf tournament. He was well known to viewers of MTV's "Nitro Circus" for daredevil stunts on snowskis.

In Major League Baseball, Cardinals' outfielder Steven Piscotty is -- oh gosh, that's hard to watch -- anyays, Steven Piscotty is expected to make a full recovery after colliding with a teammate in last night's game against the Pirates. A nasty bruise, tests show Piscotty suffered no serious head injury. Piscotty's hot bat has been a big boost to the Cardinals since he was called up to the Majors in July. Oh man, he was knocked out cold.

"The Daily Show" is back. Trevor Noah getting right to work on his premiere episode last night. And what better way to start off than poking fun at the big shoes he's filling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Now, Jon Stewart was more than just a late night host. He was often our voice, our refuge, and in many ways our political dad. And it's weird because Dad has left. And now -- and now it feels like the family has a new stepdad. And he's black.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That was really funny. Oh, Brian Stelter is here. Did you watch? Of course you watched the show; what did you think? BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I sure did. And I think the consensus from TV critics is that it was a smooth start. Trevor Noah different in many ways from Jon Stewart, also so much younger, he's 31 years old. Awfully young to be hosting a late night show, especially an icon, an institution like "The Daily Show". But he didn't have any big missteps. He seemedto come on the show and say, hey, I know you all miss Jon Stewart. I'm going to try to live up to his legacy. But he's also going to evolve the show in his own way.

Here are a few of his favorite jokes; some of the best jokes from last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOAH: We wanted to start it off with something a little lighter. So here we go. Syria. Just kidding. It's the pope. Yes!

Finally, Popemojis for when you want to inject just the right amount of confusion into your late night sexting.

Yes, hates inequality and climate change, loves immigrants. He's like a young Bernie Sanders.

No. Why leave now? I just got here. I got a fancy suit and a new set and I learned how to pronounce your name. Boehner.

Why didn't they get an American to host? And again Comedy Central tried. And those people also declined. And so once more a job Americans rejected is now being done by an immigrant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: Pretty great stuff. He showed that he can deliver those lines. He still has Jon Stewart's writers and producers so he has a lot of support behind the scenes, but he showed that he has the ability to deliver the punch lines. He also -- he looks very handsome. A lot of female viewers on Twitter were very excited to see him behind the desk.

COSTELLOS: And I think that matters, Brian Stelter.

STELTER: You know, I got to say, a lot of people like the dimples. But the real test is tonight and tomorrow and Thursday and next week, because he's had five months to prepare for this first premiere. A lot of those jokes were written days and weeks ago, especially his opening monologue. Now he's got to settle into the chair and see if he can really live up to Jon Stewart's legacy. He does have Chris Christie this week, also Ryan Adams. So he'll be making it his show gradually. I asked him last week, why are you going to have more musicians? He said, I like music. So over time he's going to make the show more of his own while still trying to hold on to Jon Stewart's fans.

COSTELLO: I did think it was interesting in his opening monologue, it was interesting he said they offered my job to women and no one wanted the job, right, so here I am. So he's sort of like, I'm here because everybody else -- I just thought that was interesting.

STELTER: Well it is true there were some bigger stars that turned down "The Daily Show" so Comedy Central went in a different direction. They went with this relative unknown that they believe can grow into the job. But we think about his youthfulness. He's got the CEO of dating app start-up on the show tonight. Probably the kind of person Jon Stewart not necessarily would have booked, but Trevor Noah's a young guy, a single guy, he would probably use a dating app. So you're going to see different kinds of bookings from him.

COSTELLO: I don't think he would need to use a dating app.

STELTER: Also more corespondents -- well ,maybe not anymore. As of last night, big star in America.

[10:00:02] COSTELLO: That's right. People like his dimples.

Brian Stelter, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.