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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Scott Peterson's Mother Pleas for His Life; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is Grilled by Soldier

Aired December 08, 2004 - 19:00   ET

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

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


ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
A mother pleads for her son's life.

360 starts now.

(AUDIO GAP) makes a deal.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Well, Jacqui Peterson found herself today where no mother should ever be. But there she was, the final witness for the defense, begging for her son's life, crying so loudly at times that her words were hard to understand.

She spoke of a very hard life and spent much of her time on the stand talking not about the killer we know, but the child she raised. She admits that Scott Peterson is not perfect, but insists he doesn't deserve to die.

CNN's Rusty Dornin has more on the final day of testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the Scott Peterson his mother, Jacqui, told the jury about, describing a gentle, loving, caring boy. For nearly an hour, she answered questions in a soft voice, weeping often. Jacqui Peterson told the court about her own troubles, how her father was murdered. She was in an orphanage and had to give up two children for adoption.

And she told the court about her eight-year relationship with Laci Peterson. Quote, "I loved Laci like Sharon loved Scott."

But it was when she thought about the possibility of a death sentence Jacqui Peterson broke down. "It would be a whole family wiped off the face of the earth. I beg you," she cried.

Laci Peterson's family showed no emotion, and only one juror wiped her eyes during Jacqui's testimony, not an encouraging sign for the defense, say legal analysts.

DEAN JOHNSON, FORMER PROSECUTOR: This jury was cold. It was stone faced. It was stoical. When is mother is begging for her son's life, to see a jury that cold is very bad sign.

DORNIN: By law, the jury is forbidden to consider impact on the family. But nearly every witness called by the defense described the anguish they believed the Peterson family would suffer.

The other common theme, Scott Peterson is a good guy who deserves to live.

JIM HAMMER, FORMER PROSECUTOR: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know what? This guy is not thoroughly evil. He has a little bit of good left to do on this earth. The jury could decide, based simply on that, to say, I'm going to let him live out the rest of his days in prison.

DORNIN: Peterson's mother told the jury her son was painted as the devil. And when the family left the courtroom Wednesday, Lee Peterson gave a parting shot to the news media.

LEE PETERSON, SCOTT PETERSON'S FATHER: When are you guys going to hold your next lynching?

DORNIN (on camera): The tension mounting. The jury soon will have its bags packed, as it will be sequestered once again for deliberations. The judge told jury members they will likely begin deciding Peterson's sentence late Thursday afternoon.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: In our justice served segment tonight, we look closer at the Peterson case.

In court today, one person to hear Jacqui Peterson's emotional testimony was Gloria Allred, the attorney for Amber Frey. She joins me from Redwood City. And with me here in the studio, defense attorney Mickey Sherman.

Mickey, good to see you. Gloria, thanks for joining us.

Let me start off with you, Gloria. Defense showed pictures of Scott Peterson throughout his childhood today. Was that effective?

GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY FOR AMBER FREY: I don't think it was, and I'll tell you why, because they did show photos of him as a child, being a crossing guard, doing a little gardening, in a toy car at the place of business of his parents. And I, for one, thought this might have been Conner, if Conner had had an opportunity to grow up and hadn't been murdered.

And I don't think it really is a mitigating factor at all. And that's what the defense has to show, Anderson, is mitigating factors, because the prosecution has discussed aggravating factors, the nature and circumstances of the crime that are so horrific. And now the defense has to show mitigating factors, so that the death penalty will not be imposed. I don't think they did that with these photos. And there's a question as to whether they did it with the mother's testimony, the mother crying on the stand. Scott was sitting there. He took tissue, he put it to his face. I don't know whether there were real tears or any tears coming out. He took that tissue before she took the stand.

And it certainly wasn't the same reaction as Sharon Rocha, Laci's mother, got when she testified.

COOPER: Mickey, neither of Peterson's parents apologized for their son's actions. Should they have?

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. I mean, they certainly have empathized, and they've expressed their sadness (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with this tragedy. But I think they've tried to paint it as a mutual tragedy. They can't apologize. Their son has claimed, I didn't do it. I'm not responsible for this. So it would be inappropriate, it would be totally inappropriate for them to say, I'm sorry my son did this. It would be contrary to his whole defense. It would be hypocritical.

I think they've tried to be as respectful as they can and as dignified as they possibly can. But by the same token, conveying to the jury that this is maybe not the nicest guy in the world, but still a valuable human being, and we don't have to snuff out his life in order to somehow (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: Mickey, do you think, do you think the jury has made up their mind already?

SHERMAN: I personally do, OK? I have been out there about three times, and I've seen the jury, but I haven't been there for the penalty phase. But from everything I have seen, it seems as though they are not making eye contact. They seem to have decided, I don't know which way. My guess, life, but it wouldn't shock me at all (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: Gloria, what about you? Do you think this jury has already made up their mind?

ALLRED: It's hard to know. There's been a lot of testimony that was a bit duplicative. I do notice that, for example, today, and every day recently, when the jury has come into the room, and they file past Scott Peterson, none of them, Anderson, look at Scott Peterson, or at anyone else at the defense side of the table. They just go right to the jury box.

So there's been a lot of testimony today, especially by a relative, who was crying, and basically saying they were looking forward to the birth of Conner. On cross-examination, when Dave Harris, the prosecutor, asked one of the few questions he has asked on cross during the death penalty phase, Well, are you aware of Amber Frey? she said no. Are you aware that he told Amber Frey that he didn't need to have a biological child? No. I think that may have hit home with the jury.

COOPER: So you're think they're going to make a decision quickly, Mickey?

SHERMAN: I think they will make a decision quickly, I really do. I think that, again, I think it's life, but I could be so wrong. I think they decided a long while ago, probably, very likely, during the guilt phase of this trial.

COOPER: Interesting. Mickey Sherman, appreciate you joining us, Gloria Allred as well. Thanks.

ALLRED: Thank you.

COOPER: We're not sure how the jury reacted, but we were surprised to hear something of a friend of Scott Peterson said on the stand today. We assume it was just a poor choice of words. Thomas Beardsley (ph) was his name. He met Peterson through business. And he told the jury that he was at ease around other people, Scott Peterson was. He also said he was a worker who had, quote, "plans, he knew what he wanted to do, and he executed them." Poor choice of words.

Another angle now, one you likely haven't heard before. It involved a philandering husband, a pregnant wife, a murder, and a death penalty, all in California. One can only wonder how that happened completely under the radar.

Here is CNN's Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fred Castagna can relate to the life-or-death decision facing jurors in the Scott Peterson murder trial.

FRED CASTAGNA, JURY FOREMAN: What stands out in my mind is actually having to sign the document that condemns the man to death.

ROWLANDS: Castagna was the jury foreman in the case against Todd Garten (ph), who, like Peterson, was seemingly happily married, before being accused of killing his pregnant wife. Garten, a business owner in the Northern California city of Cottonwood, also had a girlfriend, who testified against him.

Carol Garten was eight months pregnant when she was shot five times at close range in her rural California home. She was shot by Norman Daniels, who also testified against Garten. Prosecutors say Garten hired Daniels as part of an elaborate and twisted plot to get rid of his wife and avoid fatherhood.

Gregory Gall, who prosecuted the case, said he focused on the web of lies Garten used to recruit his girlfriend and others to participate in the killing.

GREGORY GALL, SENIOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY: That's the type of evidence we presented to the jury as to his background and how he convinced the co-conspirators to go along with him.

ROWLANDS: The jury found Garten guilty of two counts of first- degree murder and sentenced him to death.

(on camera): Like the Peterson case, there was more than five months of testimony here in Shasta County for the Garden case. And like the Peterson case, it took the jury about six hours to come back with a guilty verdict.

What is different is that Garten put up absolutely no defense during the penalty phase.

(voice-over): Jurors in the Peterson case have heard more than a week of defense testimony his attorneys and family hope will help save his life. Castagna doesn't think friends and family for either side have much effect on jurors who are contemplating death.

CASTAGNA: Yes, he's got friends and family that will stand up for him, and that's good. But really, you have already established the man's a murderer. And so now it's just a matter of whether he's evil and vicious enough...

ROWLANDS: Castagna says if and when Todd Garten is put to death, he won't lose any sleep, because he thinks he made the right decision. But he says sentencing someone to death is a very difficult thing to do, something he'll live with for the rest of his life.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Reading, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, 360 next, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld grilled by U.S. troops on everything from lack of armor to long deployments. We'll tell you what they said.

Plus, arson investigation, 26 homes burned in one Maryland subdivision. Police still want to know who is responsible. They are searching for answers and hoping a new reward will lead someone to come forward with information.

All that ahead. First, your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We're pretty sure that Ernie Pyle or David Halberstam never witnessed anything quite like the scene in Kuwait today, when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a town meeting with U.S. troops there.

Now, the secretary faced some pretty tough questions about topics like stop-loss orders, which prohibit personnel from leaving the service when their tours of duty end, as well, as this question about the quality of equipment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our soldiers have been fighting in Iraq for coming up on three years. A lot of us are getting ready to move north relatively soon. Our vehicles are not armored. We're digging pieces of rusted scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that's already been shot up, dropped, busted, picking the best out of this scrap to put onto our vehicles to take into combat. We do not have proper armament vehicles to carry with us north.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I talked to the general coming out here about the pace at which the vehicles are being armored. They have been brought from all over the world, wherever they're not needed, to a place here where they are needed.

I am told that they are being -- the Army is -- I think it's something like 400 a month are being done. And it's essentially a matter of physics, it isn't a matter of money, it isn't a matter on the part of the Army of desire, it's a matter of production and capability of doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, later in the day, the Pentagon elaborated on the issue, saying the number of armored Humvees being made each month has increased from 15 per month last year to 450 per month. Now, 75 percent of Humvees are now armored, although not all of them are fully armored, some of them are just retrofitted.

Today the Senate passed its version of intelligence reform. Now, the bill is largely based on the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. But if you read the commission report, there are an awful lot of recommendations that have simply not been addressed yet.

Tonight, we begin to look at what some are calling a forgotten war. The U.S. has spent billions of dollars fighting the war on terror, but little attention has been paid to winning the war of ideas, the battle to win over the Muslim world.

Now, let's not kid ourselves, it is not a battle the United States is winning. Take a look at a recent Zogby poll finding that 98 percent of Egyptians, 94 percent of Saudis, 88 percent of Moroccans, and 74 percent of Jordanians have an unfavorable view of the U.S.

Now, let's remember, these are our allies.

Now, you might say, Who cares what other people in other countries think about us? But the Pentagon is arguing, you should care. They've released their own report on how well we're fighting this war of ideas. And their assessment is frightening.

CNN's Gary Tuchman takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of the Iraq war, words like this have been heard before. America has tarnished credibility. America's power to persuade is in a state of crisis. The White House has paid little attention to public diplomacy. But those particular words are not from an enemy or a war critic. They are from an advisory board to the Pentagon. In a 111-page report, the Defense Science Board Task Force declares there's a perception that America is arrogant, hypocritical, and self-indulgent, and says that its lack of strategic communication has contributed to America's negative image in world opinion, which, in turn, is an underlying source of threats to America's national security.

"We call it a war on terrorism," say the authors of the report. "But U.S. policies and actions are increasingly seen by the overwhelming majority of Muslims as a threat to the survival of Islam itself." And, referring to the commonly stated belief that many in Islamic countries are yearning to be free, the government report states, "There is no yearning to be liberated by the U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies, except to be liberated, perhaps, from what they see as apostate tyrannies that the U.S. so determinedly promotes and defends."

So with that harsh assessment, what needs to happen? The task force says, in part, a working channel of communication has to be opened with the Muslim world. And for that to happen, the report adds, the White House and Congress must cooperate.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We'll also try to assess the problem correctly. That's what the report says that's what they have to do.

For the next couple of nights, we're going to be looking at this war of ideas.

Samer Shehata is assistant professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. He joins us live from our Washington bureau.

Samer, good to see you again.

We hear from this administration that in the Muslim world, they hate our freedoms, that that is what they hate about the U.S. This report from this Pentagon advisory board says that's not true. It says they don't hate our freedoms, they hate some of our policies. Do you think that's true?

SAMER SHEHATA, CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARAB STUDIES: You are completely correct, Anderson. That's exactly what the problem is. They don't hate our freedoms, they don't hate Madonna or MTV or Christina Aguillera. They hate specific policies directed at the Middle East that touch their lives.

And we also know, as a result of the polling data, what those policies are. They have to do with our role in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. We're seen as being biased and not a fair broker. They have to do with the Iraq policy, which people in the Arab and Muslim world see as, you know, unprincipled, grab, land grab for oil, possibly, that had nothing to do with the reasons that they were told why the U.S. went to war. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: But that doesn't...

SHEHATA: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but there are plenty of people who say, Well, look, you know, U.S. shouldn't be adjusting their policy to Israel just to convince some people, you know, in the Muslim world who may not agree with it. Is that what you are saying they should do?

SHEHATA: No, that's not what I'm saying that the United States should do. I'm saying that the United States should pursue policies that are principled, that are in the United States's interest, but are also fair, and provide, at the end of the day, security for people in the region, as well as the United States.

What that means is, much more serious reengagement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This administration has not been engaged at all, unlike the previous administration. And I think it would be quite possible to reach some kind of a fair, equitable, just settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that only the United States can bring about, because of our leverage on both parties.

COOPER: You know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

SHEHATA: And so on.

COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the other thing that I thought was interesting about this report is, they sort of criticized the administration for having adopting a simplistic approach to the Muslim world, sort of dividing it between good Muslims and bad Muslims. They're, they even had that chart, you know, Good Muslims, and then there are Bad Muslims who are the terrorists.

In this Pentagon report, what they are saying is that Muslim society is actually much more complex, that there's a spectrum ranging from jihadists to U.S. sympathizers. How can the U.S. target the Muslims who may be sympathetic to the West?

SHEHATA: Well, that's completely correct, Anderson. You know, the overwhelming majority, 99 percent, of people in the Muslim world do not -- are not jihadists, as it were. And the way the United States has to deal with this problem is first and foremost by reassessing our policies.

But then also there are public diplomacy efforts that actually work.

And it's not the propaganda that this administration has been (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know, undertaking with the radio station and the Arabic-language television station, but real old-fashioned public diplomacy. Exchange programs, like the Fulbright program, the Hubert Humphrey program, American cultural centers in the Arab and Muslim world, visitor exchange programs, sending American artists to the region, and bringing artists and intellectuals from the region here.

Now, those aren't going to change...

COOPER: Right.

SHEHATA: ... the figures overnight, by any means.

COOPER: Yes.

SHEHATA: But they are important, and they do have medium- and long-term positive consequences.

COOPER: We're talking about this war of ideas. I mean, it is, it's a long-term thing, it's a generational thing, and it's not something that's easy to cover as, you know, a military campaign. It's something we're going to try to be covering a lot more on this program over the coming weeks and months.

Samer Shehata, appreciate you joining us. Love to talk to you again.

SHEHATA: Thanks, Anderson.

COOPER: Celebration in the streets of Kiev, Ukraine, tops our look at what's going on around the world right now in the uplink.

Fireworks, singing, and applause after Ukraine's parliament approved election changes intended to limit fraud in the December 26 presidential revote.

Meanwhile, in Vienna, Austria, an investigation into whether this man was poisoned, Yuschenko. The director of the hospital where he was treated says a combination of poisons could have caused the pockmarks on the opposition leader's face. They are still running tests for confirmation. The Ukrainian authorities deny poisoning, and say the facial damage is due to herpes. We shall see.

London, England, now, a celebrity nativity scene sparks some outrage. Check out the Madame Tussaud's nativity scene, featuring soccer star, that's David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, former Spice Girl, I think she was Posh Spice, as the parents of Jesus. President Bush is one of the wise men, and actors Hugh Grant and Samuel L. Jackson are the shepherds, and singer Kylie Menove (ph), the angel.

How they made all these choices, I'm not sure. The Vatican and the Anglican church call the tourist attraction unacceptable. Madame Tussaud's says it's sorry if anyone is offended. They say it's all in the spirit of fun. I'm not even sure if it's -- I guess that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

Anyway, that's tonight's uplink.

360 next, arson investigation. Now, the police are asking for your help to find out who burned dozens of homes in one Maryland neighborhood. A strange story, a mystery still out there. We'll try to get to the bottom of it.

Plus, the battle against indecency on TV, the full 360 tonight. Exactly who asked the FCC to take action? You might be surprised.

And today's 360 challenge puts you to the test. How much have you been following about today's events?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Investigators in Maryland are stumped right now. It's been almost three days since an arson fire ripped through a housing development in Indian Head. And the culprit remains at large, or culprits.

Tonight, Maryland authorities are asking for your help. They are offering $82,000 for any information that leads to an arrest. And they want locals to be on the lookout for a blue van that was seen the morning of the fire.

CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena is following the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators are finished collecting evidence from the burned houses, and will next search the ground around them for any clues. Sources tell CNN there are no solid leads, but investigators have reached at least one early conclusion.

FARON TAYLOR, DEPUTY MARYLAND FIRE MARSHALL: We are strongly considering that this act had to have been, at least considering had to have been perpetrated by more than one person.

ARENA: Officials went out of their way to squash reports the arson was racially motivated. Some federal investigators are also privately backing away from the theory this was an act of ecoterrorism, saying the crime doesn't fit the usual M.O. Sources tell CNN the fires did not take a lot of sophistication to set, and that the fluid used was a mixture of commonly available substances.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL, ATF: We go where the evidence takes us. We will look at all theories. We will look at all possibilities.

ARENA: Investigators have declared arson the official cause for damage to 19 homes. Seven others were damaged by exposure. And they say arson was attempted on 11 other homes, leaving evidence for technicians. While it wasn't discussed publicly, sources have told CNN there were containers filled with ignitable fluid found at the site.

TAYLOR: I wouldn't characterize it as promising, but it is certainly in the investigation's favor.

ARENA: Outside experts say the use of ignitable fluids may make this a more complicated case to solve.

STANLEY POOLE, FORMER ARSON INVESTIGATOR: One thing about using flammable liquids is that you can sort of control the size of the fire initially, by setting it, allowing it to grow on its own, which gives you the escape time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: Investigators are also in the process of interviewing anyone who had access to the property who may know something, Anderson.

COOPER: Kelli Arena, thanks very much.

Misdemeanor charges have been filed against some NBA stars. That tops our look at what's happening right now cross-country.

Oakland County, Michigan, basketbrawl fallout. Five players for the Indiana Pacers and five Detroit Pistons fans were charged with assault and battery today in connection with last month's melee at an NBA game in Detroit. The strongest felony, charged to a fan who allegedly threw a chair during the brawl, carries a maximum four-year prison sentence.

Los Angeles, California, now, a mountain crash. Three people were killed, seven hurt when the commuter van they were in tumbled hundreds of feet off a twisting mountain road. The van was en route to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Also in L.A., Dick Clark has had a stroke. The 75-year-old entertainer is recuperating in the hospital from what's described as a mild stroke he suffered this week. Clark says his prognosis is good, and he's hopeful he's still going to be able to celebrate Times Square, New Year's Eve in Times Square. Let's hope so.

That's a look at stories cross-country tonight.

The government cracking down on TV, claiming millions of complaints. But is that the real story? Tonight, behind the headlines, behind the hype, see who is really trying to censor America.

And Martha Stewart makes a deal. NBC gives her millions for a new show, proving you're never too incarcerated for a second chance.

360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, the FCC is under fire again, this time over the way it tally's complaints. The Parent's Television Council this week requested a congressional probe of the government agencies accounting practices, saying the FCC's numbers are inaccurate. The council itself has been accused of sending most of the complaints that have led the FCC to slap indecency fines on television networks.

We're soon going to get all angles of the dispute, but while we've covered the outrage over the fines for quite sometime, we don't often look at the complaints themselves. And you may be surprised by just how many there are and who is sending them. We're giving this the full 360. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): When FCC chairman Michael Powell told Congress how many complaints he'd been getting, the numbers sounded overwhelming.

MICHAEL POWELL, CHAIRMAN OF THE FCC: 240,000 complaints over 357 programs.

COOPER: That was 2003. This year, according to the FCC the watchdog of the air waves, more than 1,068,000 indecency complaints were filed. More than half of them after Janet Jackson's Super Bowl malfunction.

What the FCC didn't say then, but blogger Jeff Jarvis discovered with a freedom of information act filing, is that most of those complaints came from just one conservative group, the Parents Television Council.

According to a new FCC estimate, 99.8 percent of indecency complaints in 2003 came from the PTC, as did 99.9 percent of the complaints made through October of this year not counting the Janet Jackson complaints.

JEFF JARVIS, BUZZMACHINE.COM: After the election we said there's a moral's value Army taking over America. Well, it's not true.

COOPER: The PTC's efforts are organized with pinpoint precision. It's Web site lists what it considers the best and worst programs, vivid descriptions of offensive material and a form letter all set to send off to the FCC with just a few clicks on the computer.

The FCC uses the complaints to level fines, often huge fines against the offending network. The Janet Jackson incident cost CBS more than half a million dollars. The program Married by America which featured strategically obscured strippers cost Fox broadcasting 1.2 million after the FCC said it received 159 complaints about the content.

JARVIS: The FCC admitted there were only 159 there were only 90 and they only came from 23 people, which is even more appalling.

COOPER: Media watchers say these coordinated complains are creating a climate of fear at the networks.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES: Network executives don't care whether 3 or 300 or 300,000 people complain to the FCC. What they are worried about, and what has created this kind of chilling climate right now, is that the government may take action and slap them where it hurts in the wallet.

COOPER: And the PTC, the group says the FCC figures are all wrong, and the agency should care more about program content than the source of the complaints.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: For the full 360 tonight we go to Los Angeles and joined by Lara Mahaney. She is the director of Corporate and Entertainment Affairs for the Parents Television Council. Lara, thanks for being with us.

And in Syracuse, New York, Robert Thompson. He directs the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. Robert, thanks for being with us as well.

Lara, let me start off with you. The FCC says your group filed 99.8 percent of the indecency complaints in 2003. Is it fair that a small organization, any small group, whatever their politics may be, should be able to impact what is on TV like that?

LARA MAHANEY, PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL: Well, actually that's not the truth. The truth is, we only filed like 21 percent of the complaints. That's why we're calling for a congressional investigation into the FCC's accounting practices, because it does make it look as if only a small number of people.

COOPER: Well, how do you know that you only filed 21 percent of the complaints?

MAHANEY: Because we actually track all of our complaints. We know how many we filed. And we know how many the FCC claims. It's pretty simple math. And that's why Congress has to get involved.

COOPER: Why would the FCC cook the books?

MAHANEY: You know what, that's the question for Michael Powell. He's a man of smoke and mirrors. He's done it quite frequently. That's why we want Congress to ask him, why are you saying that they filed 99 percent of the complaints when we didn't?

COOPER: Bob, what about that? A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation asked parents of kids 2 to 17 how concerned are they about inappropriate content on TV? 63 percent of parents very concerned, 26 percent somewhat concerned. That's almost 90 percent in total. Isn't the PTC doing a service for these parents, looking out for their interests?

ROBERT THOMPSON, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Well, a couple of things. You could ask anybody that question. I think it would be very difficult to answer that question no. Of course you are concerned about these things.

COOPER: It's like voting for moral values, everyone says yes?

THOMPSON: Absolutely. I mean, I think where we really see the rubber hit the road is what these families are actually doing. Desperate Housewives is a huge hit, not only in the red states, but in the blue states and everywhere else. Also, all the parents, whatever 63 percent say they are concerned about this, the amount of parents who have bothered to learn the very simple process of learning how to engage the V-chip is tiny, is minuscule.

COOPER: Robert, do you think the FCC is cooking the books? I know you have been critical of them in the past.

THOMPSON: Well, that would be the second thing. I don't know what Michael Powell and his people at the FCC would have to gain here. The FCC I think wants the controversy, wants the power of being able to say, we have half a million complaints. This is not good information for the FCC. This is suddenly saying all these complaints we've been talking about, all this data we have been citing, it is all coming from one single source. This is not good news for the FCC. I don't know why, if they were going to cook the books, they'd cook them in the other direction.

COOPER: Lara, you say you don't condone censorship. But some believe, some of your critics say your organizations actions are already having a chilling effect on broadcasters and lead to self censorship.

MAHANEY: Actually, censorship is not possible. The government cannot censor anybody, because they don't view programming in advance. What we're saying is if the law has been broken, the FCC should enforce the law. That's it. Give people fines.

There's nothing wrong with the networks being mindful of the fact they might break the law just like I am when I'm on the freeway and being mindful of how fast I'm going.

And I have to disagree with Bob, because the V-chip, the networks don't rate shows with a V. NBC doesn't do that. So, it wouldn't pick up violence for anybody on NBC. The only thing that's going to happen is when the broadcasters take responsibility and air content that's not going to be indecent. And also, too, when parents are responsible and they do monitor what their kids watch. But it's not on the parents alone.

COOPER: We should point out we asked the FCC to comment. They said they wouldn't have any comment. There you go. We'll have to see if they end up releasing any more of the numbers.

Lara Mahaney, appreciate you joining us.

And Bob Thompson, thanks very much as well.

THOMPSON: Thanks.

MAHANEY: Thank you.

COOPER: Well, coming up next on 360, we're going to take a look at the FCC and how they are watching what you watch. Politicians are keeping a close eye on you. They have gotten pretty savvy with viewer habits, knowing exactly what shows that potential viewers like and what they don't like.

We're going to take a quick look now at the presidential election showing how the campaigns were perfecting the raw politics of targeting an audience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER (voice-over): If you are a fan of Will and Grace, you might have noticed a lot of ads like this one airing during your favorite show before the elections.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm George W. Bush...

COOPER: A total of 473 of them.

Why did the Bush camp air ads during a sitcom about the friendship between a gay guy and married woman? Well, because it turns out it's the most popular show with Republican women between the ages of 18 and 34. A key demographic for President Bush.

How did they know? For the first time in a presidential election, both camps had access to unprecedented consumer research about the viewing habits of each party's constituency.

KEN GOLDSTEIN, UNIV. OF WISCONSIN: And this data, Nielson on steroids, enables candidates to find those voters, their base voters and swing voters and to find them quickly and to find them efficiently.

COOPER: That's how the Bush camp learned that Republicans tune en masse to shows like NYPD Blue and watch channels like Speed Vision and the Golf Channel. And that's why the Bush camp decided to air a good deal of their ads on small cable stations, niche markets that enable them to reach their core constituency.

What about Democrats? Well, many, according to research, watch Court TV and the Game Show Network. But the Kerry camp chose a broader strategy, airing ads mainly on broadcast networks, because they were told Democrats watch more TV than Republicans.

GOLDSTEIN: These campaigns are trying to get every edge they can. Political marketers are trying to do the same thing as commercial marketers, they're both trying to hunt where the ducks are.

COOPER: Knowing where your ducks are to bet spend your bucks, that's Raw Politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These campaigns are trying to get every edge they can. Political marketers are trying to do the same thing as commercial marketers. They're both trying to hunt where the ducks are.

COOPER: Knowing where your ducks are to better spend your bucks, that's raw politics.

360 next. Somebody call the warden. Martha Stewart is going on TV. Seems she'll be trading in the big house for a big TV deal. That story is next.

Also a wife accused of using a hatchet to kill her husband. She said she had no other choice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In most murder trials the jury is presented with two very difference versions of the accused. In a Michigan courtroom, that's exactly what's happened. In the trial of a woman accused of killing her husband with a hatchet what makes the case different is that the two different versions come from the woman's sons. CNN's Adaora Udoji reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A celebrated fourth grade teacher, Nancy Seaman told a Michigan jury she bludgeoned and stabbed her husband Robert to death in self-defense.

NANCY SEAMAN, DEFENDANT: I never thought about killing. I never thought about hurting him.

I just wanted him to stop hurting me.

UDOJI: The abuse claim has divided her sons. One testifying for her, the other against her. It began, she says, 31 years ago and ended in May. She says her husband attacked with a knife after learning she planned to move out and she fought back.

N. SEAMAN: It was an accident. He was down. He shouldn't be dead.

UDOJI: A handful of fellow teachers and friends testified to seeing bruises. Her younger son said a couple of times he saw his father shove his mom.

GREG SEAMAN, MOTHER ON TRIAL FOR MURDER: I have seen him throw his forearm into her to get her out of the way.

UDOJI: But the prosecution said Seaman is a cold blooded murderer who hit her husband 16 times with a hatchet she just bought at Home Depot and stabbed him 21 times. That she killed him because he planned to leave her.

LISA ORTLIEB, ASST. OAKLAND CO. PROSECUTOR: You didn't go file for a divorce. Never went to a shelter. You called one time 20 years ago but you weren't afraid to take a hatchet to him.

N. SEAMAN: That's not how it was.

UDOJI: Prosecutors say she cleaned the murder scene, repainted and tucked Robert's body into her car. Police found him two days later. Jeff Seaman, her older son said there was no abuse.

JEFFERY SEAMAN, SEAMAN'S SON: I never expected -- there was never any evidence of it. My mom was never an abused wife.

UDOJI: The defense expects to call its last witness this week. Then a jury will decide whether Nancy Seaman was fighting for her life or plotted to take a life. Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: My next two guests know this case better than anyone. Joining me from Farmington Hills, Michigan is Nancy Seaman's defense attorney Larry Kaluzny and from Southfield, Michigan, assistant Oakland County prosecutor Lisa Ortlieb. Let me start off with you. Getting very conflicting reports on exactly who Nancy Seaman is. What she is like. You believe she was a battered wife. Do you have any evidence?

LARRY KALUZNY, SEAMAN'S ATTORNEY: We believe we do. We believe that we showed the jury years and years of abuse just because she didn't tell anybody that doesn't mean she wasn't abused.

COOPER: Lisa, in your opinion was Nancy Seaman a battered woman?

ORTLIEB: The only evidence in this case of domestic violence is on May 9, when she butchered him.

COOPER: So you are saying in their entire marriage there was never any evidence.

ORTLIEB: No credible evidence she was ever abused.

COOPER: Larry, she had her husband's body in the car for two days, she even apparently drove around with it. You claim she wanted to turn herself in. Why didn't she contact the police?

KALUZNY: She didn't want to contact the local police. She had gone to them once for help. She didn't want her husband arrested. She loved him and felt, you know I need some help. She never got that help. She didn't want to go to the local police. She was preparing to turn herself in. She had two and a half days to get rid of that body. She never did.

COOPER: But was that just bad planning? Why did she drive around with the body in the car for two days.

KALUZNY: She didn't drive around for two days. She did have it in there.

COOPER: Just going out for errands or whatever. Why stick the body in the car for that long?

KALUZNY: You have to understand that we tried to show the jury that this was a woman who had been battered for 30 years. And every time he broke something, put his fist through a wall, she fixed it. It was like it never happened. In her mind she thought she could fix this until she realized there's a body. I can't get rid of that.

COOPER: Lisa, two days after the murder, I guess she went back to Home Depot where she purchased the murder weapon, there's a surveillance video shows she shoplifted another hatchet which she then immediately returned. The defense is claiming she did this to pretend to herself the murder never happened. How do you make sense of this? ORTIEB: No. She went back to the store and she shoplifted the hatchet to get it off her credit card receipt so there wouldn't a paper trail. So that eventually when the police discovered that, yes, there is foul play, she can say, what, not me, I didn't buy a hatchet.

COOPER: A fascinating case. We appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.

CNN's in depth reporting continues tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" and "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown. Paula and Aaron join me from their studios with a preview of what they're covering.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson. This Christmas is shaping up to be especially difficult for Christians in Iraq. They are under increasing attack. Churches have been bombed in Baghdad, and more recently in the city of Mosul. Tonight the Reverend Pat Robertson will join us to look at the growing violence against Iraqi Christians and what that can mean for the nation's future. We might also get to talk about taking Christ out of Christmas and the fact that everybody has to say happy holidays at department stores across the country.

COOPER: They've been talking about that a lot on "The 700 Club". Thanks very much, Paula. Aaron?

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Anderson, it's one of the most compelling stories I have seen in a long time. There are almost a quarter of a billion children, talking about kids under ten, who are forced to work around the world to make the soccer balls we use and the clothes we wear and the food we eat. An extraordinary documentary is out on them and there are a lot of complex economic problems that play as well. So we look at forced child labor and more on "NEWSNIGHT" at 10:00 Eastern.

COOPER: Thanks, Aaron. Paula, thanks as well.

360 next. The return of Martha Stewart. She is in prison but in time expect the home diva to return to TV in a very big way. We'll tell you how.

Also tonight, save the birds. Manhattan's most famous flyers are moving out. Take that to the Nth Degree.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, with Martha Stewart doing time in the big house, you know, what the toughs call "Camp Cupcake." The media spent a lot of time guessing on who her TV replacement would be. After all, we do need some tips on how to make a souffle. Well, it seems today we finally have our answer "Inside The Box."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTHA STEWART: I will be back.

COOPER (voice-over): There were some who doubted whether Martha Stewart would be back after her felony conviction last March. Her daily syndicated program "Martha Stewart Living" was put on hiatus. The scandal whipped up media speculation, like her best meringue, over who would be the next domestic diva.

PAULA ZAHN, HOST "PAULA ZAHN NOW": With Martha Stewart poised to step down from her company, what will happen to the brand?

And who could be the next Martha Stewart?

COOPER: There were a slew of lesser knowns hoping to step into her shoes. There was B, of "B. Smith with Style." Katie Brown, all craftsy with her show, "Year Round with Katie Brown." Then there was the bare foot Contesta. Some even thought the next Martha could be a man -- like Alton Brown of "Good Eat," the chef for geeks. But today it was made clear, no matter how you slice and dice and incarcerate it, the next Martha is Martha.

JEFF ZUCKER, PRESIDENT, NBC/UNIVERSAL: At NBC Universal Television, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia are joining together with Mark Burnett Productions to bring Martha Stewart back to daily television next fall.

COOPER: NBC's president along with, Susan Line (ph), the replacement CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and red hot reality producer, Mark Burnett announcing today, Martha will have her own show on NBC's owned station. It will be much like the old "Martha Stewart Living" featuring cooking and gardening and decorating and such, but with a live audience.

We've seen what Mark Burnett, creator of "The Apprentice," did with Donald Trump. So expect him to spice Martha up a bit.

MARK BURNETT, CREATOR "SURVIVOR" AND "THE APPRENTICE": She's a funny, warm, engaging very, very smart woman, who is great television.

COOPER: Stewart is still doing time at Alderson (ph) Federal Prison Camp. She won't be sprung until next March, that's when NBC and Omnimedia will begin Stewart's post prison comeback "Inside the Box."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, 360 next, fair weathered tenants evicted in the Big Apple. Why some birds of prey at (UNINTELLIGIBLE), are now looking for new digs to call home. We'll take their plight to "The Nth Degree."

And the "360 Challenge," here's another look at tonight's question.

No. 1, where was Defense Secretary Rumsfeld peppered with questions after giving a pep talk to U.S. troops.

No. 2, what's the name of the group, which according to the FCC has filed 99.8 percent of the indecency reports.

And three, arson has been declared the official cause of how many house fires in Maryland?

Log on to cnn.com/360, click on the answer link to play.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for the answer to today's "360 Challenge."

No. 1, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld peppered with questions after giving a pep talk to U.S. troops, Kuwait.

No. 2, what's the name of the group according the FCC that filed 99.8 percent of the indecency reports, Parents Television Council.

And no. 3, arson has been declared the official cause of how many house fires in the Maryland, 19.

First person to answer all three correctly will be send a 360 shirt. Tune in tomorrow, find out if you're the winner.

Last night's winner Patty Bates-Ballard of Dallas, Texas. Another "360 Challenge," another chance to win tomorrow.

Tonight taking the whole tough town thing to "The Nth Degree."

All right, so New York doesn't cut it's dissidence much slack. And no, you can't expect to live rent-free forever. A decade, you could say, is already quite long enough to go without paying a penny. But hey, we're talking beloved symbols here. See the red-tailed hawk, known around the world as Pale Male, had been living 12 stories up on the facade of a fancy 5th Avenue building with the mate and their ever increasing brood for 10 years now. Yes, on the cuff it's true, but he's a bird, you know, what's he going to do, pay rent in rats?

Anyways, New Yorkers have taken the hawks to heart. And people from lots of other parts, from all over the world actually, have also some by to hawk gawk. Red-tailed hawks are after all rare, powerful, elegant birds of prey. Elegant and also as of the other day evicted birds of prey. Turned out of their nest presumably by people working for the coop on which they've been perched. Pale and Mrs. Male, and all the Male kids are now officially off the wall. Come to think of it, maybe it wasn't a matter of money, after all we're talking 5th Avenue coop here. It could have been all the unseemly publicity that got Pale Male put out.

I'm Anderson Cooper, thanks for watching 360.

Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired December 8, 2004 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from New York. I'm Anderson Cooper.
A mother pleads for her son's life.

360 starts now.

(AUDIO GAP) makes a deal.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Well, Jacqui Peterson found herself today where no mother should ever be. But there she was, the final witness for the defense, begging for her son's life, crying so loudly at times that her words were hard to understand.

She spoke of a very hard life and spent much of her time on the stand talking not about the killer we know, but the child she raised. She admits that Scott Peterson is not perfect, but insists he doesn't deserve to die.

CNN's Rusty Dornin has more on the final day of testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the Scott Peterson his mother, Jacqui, told the jury about, describing a gentle, loving, caring boy. For nearly an hour, she answered questions in a soft voice, weeping often. Jacqui Peterson told the court about her own troubles, how her father was murdered. She was in an orphanage and had to give up two children for adoption.

And she told the court about her eight-year relationship with Laci Peterson. Quote, "I loved Laci like Sharon loved Scott."

But it was when she thought about the possibility of a death sentence Jacqui Peterson broke down. "It would be a whole family wiped off the face of the earth. I beg you," she cried.

Laci Peterson's family showed no emotion, and only one juror wiped her eyes during Jacqui's testimony, not an encouraging sign for the defense, say legal analysts.

DEAN JOHNSON, FORMER PROSECUTOR: This jury was cold. It was stone faced. It was stoical. When is mother is begging for her son's life, to see a jury that cold is very bad sign.

DORNIN: By law, the jury is forbidden to consider impact on the family. But nearly every witness called by the defense described the anguish they believed the Peterson family would suffer.

The other common theme, Scott Peterson is a good guy who deserves to live.

JIM HAMMER, FORMER PROSECUTOR: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know what? This guy is not thoroughly evil. He has a little bit of good left to do on this earth. The jury could decide, based simply on that, to say, I'm going to let him live out the rest of his days in prison.

DORNIN: Peterson's mother told the jury her son was painted as the devil. And when the family left the courtroom Wednesday, Lee Peterson gave a parting shot to the news media.

LEE PETERSON, SCOTT PETERSON'S FATHER: When are you guys going to hold your next lynching?

DORNIN (on camera): The tension mounting. The jury soon will have its bags packed, as it will be sequestered once again for deliberations. The judge told jury members they will likely begin deciding Peterson's sentence late Thursday afternoon.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: In our justice served segment tonight, we look closer at the Peterson case.

In court today, one person to hear Jacqui Peterson's emotional testimony was Gloria Allred, the attorney for Amber Frey. She joins me from Redwood City. And with me here in the studio, defense attorney Mickey Sherman.

Mickey, good to see you. Gloria, thanks for joining us.

Let me start off with you, Gloria. Defense showed pictures of Scott Peterson throughout his childhood today. Was that effective?

GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY FOR AMBER FREY: I don't think it was, and I'll tell you why, because they did show photos of him as a child, being a crossing guard, doing a little gardening, in a toy car at the place of business of his parents. And I, for one, thought this might have been Conner, if Conner had had an opportunity to grow up and hadn't been murdered.

And I don't think it really is a mitigating factor at all. And that's what the defense has to show, Anderson, is mitigating factors, because the prosecution has discussed aggravating factors, the nature and circumstances of the crime that are so horrific. And now the defense has to show mitigating factors, so that the death penalty will not be imposed. I don't think they did that with these photos. And there's a question as to whether they did it with the mother's testimony, the mother crying on the stand. Scott was sitting there. He took tissue, he put it to his face. I don't know whether there were real tears or any tears coming out. He took that tissue before she took the stand.

And it certainly wasn't the same reaction as Sharon Rocha, Laci's mother, got when she testified.

COOPER: Mickey, neither of Peterson's parents apologized for their son's actions. Should they have?

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. I mean, they certainly have empathized, and they've expressed their sadness (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with this tragedy. But I think they've tried to paint it as a mutual tragedy. They can't apologize. Their son has claimed, I didn't do it. I'm not responsible for this. So it would be inappropriate, it would be totally inappropriate for them to say, I'm sorry my son did this. It would be contrary to his whole defense. It would be hypocritical.

I think they've tried to be as respectful as they can and as dignified as they possibly can. But by the same token, conveying to the jury that this is maybe not the nicest guy in the world, but still a valuable human being, and we don't have to snuff out his life in order to somehow (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: Mickey, do you think, do you think the jury has made up their mind already?

SHERMAN: I personally do, OK? I have been out there about three times, and I've seen the jury, but I haven't been there for the penalty phase. But from everything I have seen, it seems as though they are not making eye contact. They seem to have decided, I don't know which way. My guess, life, but it wouldn't shock me at all (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: Gloria, what about you? Do you think this jury has already made up their mind?

ALLRED: It's hard to know. There's been a lot of testimony that was a bit duplicative. I do notice that, for example, today, and every day recently, when the jury has come into the room, and they file past Scott Peterson, none of them, Anderson, look at Scott Peterson, or at anyone else at the defense side of the table. They just go right to the jury box.

So there's been a lot of testimony today, especially by a relative, who was crying, and basically saying they were looking forward to the birth of Conner. On cross-examination, when Dave Harris, the prosecutor, asked one of the few questions he has asked on cross during the death penalty phase, Well, are you aware of Amber Frey? she said no. Are you aware that he told Amber Frey that he didn't need to have a biological child? No. I think that may have hit home with the jury.

COOPER: So you're think they're going to make a decision quickly, Mickey?

SHERMAN: I think they will make a decision quickly, I really do. I think that, again, I think it's life, but I could be so wrong. I think they decided a long while ago, probably, very likely, during the guilt phase of this trial.

COOPER: Interesting. Mickey Sherman, appreciate you joining us, Gloria Allred as well. Thanks.

ALLRED: Thank you.

COOPER: We're not sure how the jury reacted, but we were surprised to hear something of a friend of Scott Peterson said on the stand today. We assume it was just a poor choice of words. Thomas Beardsley (ph) was his name. He met Peterson through business. And he told the jury that he was at ease around other people, Scott Peterson was. He also said he was a worker who had, quote, "plans, he knew what he wanted to do, and he executed them." Poor choice of words.

Another angle now, one you likely haven't heard before. It involved a philandering husband, a pregnant wife, a murder, and a death penalty, all in California. One can only wonder how that happened completely under the radar.

Here is CNN's Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fred Castagna can relate to the life-or-death decision facing jurors in the Scott Peterson murder trial.

FRED CASTAGNA, JURY FOREMAN: What stands out in my mind is actually having to sign the document that condemns the man to death.

ROWLANDS: Castagna was the jury foreman in the case against Todd Garten (ph), who, like Peterson, was seemingly happily married, before being accused of killing his pregnant wife. Garten, a business owner in the Northern California city of Cottonwood, also had a girlfriend, who testified against him.

Carol Garten was eight months pregnant when she was shot five times at close range in her rural California home. She was shot by Norman Daniels, who also testified against Garten. Prosecutors say Garten hired Daniels as part of an elaborate and twisted plot to get rid of his wife and avoid fatherhood.

Gregory Gall, who prosecuted the case, said he focused on the web of lies Garten used to recruit his girlfriend and others to participate in the killing.

GREGORY GALL, SENIOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY: That's the type of evidence we presented to the jury as to his background and how he convinced the co-conspirators to go along with him.

ROWLANDS: The jury found Garten guilty of two counts of first- degree murder and sentenced him to death.

(on camera): Like the Peterson case, there was more than five months of testimony here in Shasta County for the Garden case. And like the Peterson case, it took the jury about six hours to come back with a guilty verdict.

What is different is that Garten put up absolutely no defense during the penalty phase.

(voice-over): Jurors in the Peterson case have heard more than a week of defense testimony his attorneys and family hope will help save his life. Castagna doesn't think friends and family for either side have much effect on jurors who are contemplating death.

CASTAGNA: Yes, he's got friends and family that will stand up for him, and that's good. But really, you have already established the man's a murderer. And so now it's just a matter of whether he's evil and vicious enough...

ROWLANDS: Castagna says if and when Todd Garten is put to death, he won't lose any sleep, because he thinks he made the right decision. But he says sentencing someone to death is a very difficult thing to do, something he'll live with for the rest of his life.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Reading, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, 360 next, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld grilled by U.S. troops on everything from lack of armor to long deployments. We'll tell you what they said.

Plus, arson investigation, 26 homes burned in one Maryland subdivision. Police still want to know who is responsible. They are searching for answers and hoping a new reward will lead someone to come forward with information.

All that ahead. First, your picks, the most popular stories on CNN.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: We're pretty sure that Ernie Pyle or David Halberstam never witnessed anything quite like the scene in Kuwait today, when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held a town meeting with U.S. troops there.

Now, the secretary faced some pretty tough questions about topics like stop-loss orders, which prohibit personnel from leaving the service when their tours of duty end, as well, as this question about the quality of equipment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our soldiers have been fighting in Iraq for coming up on three years. A lot of us are getting ready to move north relatively soon. Our vehicles are not armored. We're digging pieces of rusted scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that's already been shot up, dropped, busted, picking the best out of this scrap to put onto our vehicles to take into combat. We do not have proper armament vehicles to carry with us north.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I talked to the general coming out here about the pace at which the vehicles are being armored. They have been brought from all over the world, wherever they're not needed, to a place here where they are needed.

I am told that they are being -- the Army is -- I think it's something like 400 a month are being done. And it's essentially a matter of physics, it isn't a matter of money, it isn't a matter on the part of the Army of desire, it's a matter of production and capability of doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, later in the day, the Pentagon elaborated on the issue, saying the number of armored Humvees being made each month has increased from 15 per month last year to 450 per month. Now, 75 percent of Humvees are now armored, although not all of them are fully armored, some of them are just retrofitted.

Today the Senate passed its version of intelligence reform. Now, the bill is largely based on the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. But if you read the commission report, there are an awful lot of recommendations that have simply not been addressed yet.

Tonight, we begin to look at what some are calling a forgotten war. The U.S. has spent billions of dollars fighting the war on terror, but little attention has been paid to winning the war of ideas, the battle to win over the Muslim world.

Now, let's not kid ourselves, it is not a battle the United States is winning. Take a look at a recent Zogby poll finding that 98 percent of Egyptians, 94 percent of Saudis, 88 percent of Moroccans, and 74 percent of Jordanians have an unfavorable view of the U.S.

Now, let's remember, these are our allies.

Now, you might say, Who cares what other people in other countries think about us? But the Pentagon is arguing, you should care. They've released their own report on how well we're fighting this war of ideas. And their assessment is frightening.

CNN's Gary Tuchman takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of the Iraq war, words like this have been heard before. America has tarnished credibility. America's power to persuade is in a state of crisis. The White House has paid little attention to public diplomacy. But those particular words are not from an enemy or a war critic. They are from an advisory board to the Pentagon. In a 111-page report, the Defense Science Board Task Force declares there's a perception that America is arrogant, hypocritical, and self-indulgent, and says that its lack of strategic communication has contributed to America's negative image in world opinion, which, in turn, is an underlying source of threats to America's national security.

"We call it a war on terrorism," say the authors of the report. "But U.S. policies and actions are increasingly seen by the overwhelming majority of Muslims as a threat to the survival of Islam itself." And, referring to the commonly stated belief that many in Islamic countries are yearning to be free, the government report states, "There is no yearning to be liberated by the U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies, except to be liberated, perhaps, from what they see as apostate tyrannies that the U.S. so determinedly promotes and defends."

So with that harsh assessment, what needs to happen? The task force says, in part, a working channel of communication has to be opened with the Muslim world. And for that to happen, the report adds, the White House and Congress must cooperate.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We'll also try to assess the problem correctly. That's what the report says that's what they have to do.

For the next couple of nights, we're going to be looking at this war of ideas.

Samer Shehata is assistant professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. He joins us live from our Washington bureau.

Samer, good to see you again.

We hear from this administration that in the Muslim world, they hate our freedoms, that that is what they hate about the U.S. This report from this Pentagon advisory board says that's not true. It says they don't hate our freedoms, they hate some of our policies. Do you think that's true?

SAMER SHEHATA, CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARAB STUDIES: You are completely correct, Anderson. That's exactly what the problem is. They don't hate our freedoms, they don't hate Madonna or MTV or Christina Aguillera. They hate specific policies directed at the Middle East that touch their lives.

And we also know, as a result of the polling data, what those policies are. They have to do with our role in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. We're seen as being biased and not a fair broker. They have to do with the Iraq policy, which people in the Arab and Muslim world see as, you know, unprincipled, grab, land grab for oil, possibly, that had nothing to do with the reasons that they were told why the U.S. went to war. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: But that doesn't...

SHEHATA: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

COOPER: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but there are plenty of people who say, Well, look, you know, U.S. shouldn't be adjusting their policy to Israel just to convince some people, you know, in the Muslim world who may not agree with it. Is that what you are saying they should do?

SHEHATA: No, that's not what I'm saying that the United States should do. I'm saying that the United States should pursue policies that are principled, that are in the United States's interest, but are also fair, and provide, at the end of the day, security for people in the region, as well as the United States.

What that means is, much more serious reengagement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This administration has not been engaged at all, unlike the previous administration. And I think it would be quite possible to reach some kind of a fair, equitable, just settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that only the United States can bring about, because of our leverage on both parties.

COOPER: You know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

SHEHATA: And so on.

COOPER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the other thing that I thought was interesting about this report is, they sort of criticized the administration for having adopting a simplistic approach to the Muslim world, sort of dividing it between good Muslims and bad Muslims. They're, they even had that chart, you know, Good Muslims, and then there are Bad Muslims who are the terrorists.

In this Pentagon report, what they are saying is that Muslim society is actually much more complex, that there's a spectrum ranging from jihadists to U.S. sympathizers. How can the U.S. target the Muslims who may be sympathetic to the West?

SHEHATA: Well, that's completely correct, Anderson. You know, the overwhelming majority, 99 percent, of people in the Muslim world do not -- are not jihadists, as it were. And the way the United States has to deal with this problem is first and foremost by reassessing our policies.

But then also there are public diplomacy efforts that actually work.

And it's not the propaganda that this administration has been (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know, undertaking with the radio station and the Arabic-language television station, but real old-fashioned public diplomacy. Exchange programs, like the Fulbright program, the Hubert Humphrey program, American cultural centers in the Arab and Muslim world, visitor exchange programs, sending American artists to the region, and bringing artists and intellectuals from the region here.

Now, those aren't going to change...

COOPER: Right.

SHEHATA: ... the figures overnight, by any means.

COOPER: Yes.

SHEHATA: But they are important, and they do have medium- and long-term positive consequences.

COOPER: We're talking about this war of ideas. I mean, it is, it's a long-term thing, it's a generational thing, and it's not something that's easy to cover as, you know, a military campaign. It's something we're going to try to be covering a lot more on this program over the coming weeks and months.

Samer Shehata, appreciate you joining us. Love to talk to you again.

SHEHATA: Thanks, Anderson.

COOPER: Celebration in the streets of Kiev, Ukraine, tops our look at what's going on around the world right now in the uplink.

Fireworks, singing, and applause after Ukraine's parliament approved election changes intended to limit fraud in the December 26 presidential revote.

Meanwhile, in Vienna, Austria, an investigation into whether this man was poisoned, Yuschenko. The director of the hospital where he was treated says a combination of poisons could have caused the pockmarks on the opposition leader's face. They are still running tests for confirmation. The Ukrainian authorities deny poisoning, and say the facial damage is due to herpes. We shall see.

London, England, now, a celebrity nativity scene sparks some outrage. Check out the Madame Tussaud's nativity scene, featuring soccer star, that's David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, former Spice Girl, I think she was Posh Spice, as the parents of Jesus. President Bush is one of the wise men, and actors Hugh Grant and Samuel L. Jackson are the shepherds, and singer Kylie Menove (ph), the angel.

How they made all these choices, I'm not sure. The Vatican and the Anglican church call the tourist attraction unacceptable. Madame Tussaud's says it's sorry if anyone is offended. They say it's all in the spirit of fun. I'm not even sure if it's -- I guess that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

Anyway, that's tonight's uplink.

360 next, arson investigation. Now, the police are asking for your help to find out who burned dozens of homes in one Maryland neighborhood. A strange story, a mystery still out there. We'll try to get to the bottom of it.

Plus, the battle against indecency on TV, the full 360 tonight. Exactly who asked the FCC to take action? You might be surprised.

And today's 360 challenge puts you to the test. How much have you been following about today's events?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Investigators in Maryland are stumped right now. It's been almost three days since an arson fire ripped through a housing development in Indian Head. And the culprit remains at large, or culprits.

Tonight, Maryland authorities are asking for your help. They are offering $82,000 for any information that leads to an arrest. And they want locals to be on the lookout for a blue van that was seen the morning of the fire.

CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena is following the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators are finished collecting evidence from the burned houses, and will next search the ground around them for any clues. Sources tell CNN there are no solid leads, but investigators have reached at least one early conclusion.

FARON TAYLOR, DEPUTY MARYLAND FIRE MARSHALL: We are strongly considering that this act had to have been, at least considering had to have been perpetrated by more than one person.

ARENA: Officials went out of their way to squash reports the arson was racially motivated. Some federal investigators are also privately backing away from the theory this was an act of ecoterrorism, saying the crime doesn't fit the usual M.O. Sources tell CNN the fires did not take a lot of sophistication to set, and that the fluid used was a mixture of commonly available substances.

MICHAEL CAMPBELL, ATF: We go where the evidence takes us. We will look at all theories. We will look at all possibilities.

ARENA: Investigators have declared arson the official cause for damage to 19 homes. Seven others were damaged by exposure. And they say arson was attempted on 11 other homes, leaving evidence for technicians. While it wasn't discussed publicly, sources have told CNN there were containers filled with ignitable fluid found at the site.

TAYLOR: I wouldn't characterize it as promising, but it is certainly in the investigation's favor.

ARENA: Outside experts say the use of ignitable fluids may make this a more complicated case to solve.

STANLEY POOLE, FORMER ARSON INVESTIGATOR: One thing about using flammable liquids is that you can sort of control the size of the fire initially, by setting it, allowing it to grow on its own, which gives you the escape time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: Investigators are also in the process of interviewing anyone who had access to the property who may know something, Anderson.

COOPER: Kelli Arena, thanks very much.

Misdemeanor charges have been filed against some NBA stars. That tops our look at what's happening right now cross-country.

Oakland County, Michigan, basketbrawl fallout. Five players for the Indiana Pacers and five Detroit Pistons fans were charged with assault and battery today in connection with last month's melee at an NBA game in Detroit. The strongest felony, charged to a fan who allegedly threw a chair during the brawl, carries a maximum four-year prison sentence.

Los Angeles, California, now, a mountain crash. Three people were killed, seven hurt when the commuter van they were in tumbled hundreds of feet off a twisting mountain road. The van was en route to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Also in L.A., Dick Clark has had a stroke. The 75-year-old entertainer is recuperating in the hospital from what's described as a mild stroke he suffered this week. Clark says his prognosis is good, and he's hopeful he's still going to be able to celebrate Times Square, New Year's Eve in Times Square. Let's hope so.

That's a look at stories cross-country tonight.

The government cracking down on TV, claiming millions of complaints. But is that the real story? Tonight, behind the headlines, behind the hype, see who is really trying to censor America.

And Martha Stewart makes a deal. NBC gives her millions for a new show, proving you're never too incarcerated for a second chance.

360 continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, the FCC is under fire again, this time over the way it tally's complaints. The Parent's Television Council this week requested a congressional probe of the government agencies accounting practices, saying the FCC's numbers are inaccurate. The council itself has been accused of sending most of the complaints that have led the FCC to slap indecency fines on television networks.

We're soon going to get all angles of the dispute, but while we've covered the outrage over the fines for quite sometime, we don't often look at the complaints themselves. And you may be surprised by just how many there are and who is sending them. We're giving this the full 360. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): When FCC chairman Michael Powell told Congress how many complaints he'd been getting, the numbers sounded overwhelming.

MICHAEL POWELL, CHAIRMAN OF THE FCC: 240,000 complaints over 357 programs.

COOPER: That was 2003. This year, according to the FCC the watchdog of the air waves, more than 1,068,000 indecency complaints were filed. More than half of them after Janet Jackson's Super Bowl malfunction.

What the FCC didn't say then, but blogger Jeff Jarvis discovered with a freedom of information act filing, is that most of those complaints came from just one conservative group, the Parents Television Council.

According to a new FCC estimate, 99.8 percent of indecency complaints in 2003 came from the PTC, as did 99.9 percent of the complaints made through October of this year not counting the Janet Jackson complaints.

JEFF JARVIS, BUZZMACHINE.COM: After the election we said there's a moral's value Army taking over America. Well, it's not true.

COOPER: The PTC's efforts are organized with pinpoint precision. It's Web site lists what it considers the best and worst programs, vivid descriptions of offensive material and a form letter all set to send off to the FCC with just a few clicks on the computer.

The FCC uses the complaints to level fines, often huge fines against the offending network. The Janet Jackson incident cost CBS more than half a million dollars. The program Married by America which featured strategically obscured strippers cost Fox broadcasting 1.2 million after the FCC said it received 159 complaints about the content.

JARVIS: The FCC admitted there were only 159 there were only 90 and they only came from 23 people, which is even more appalling.

COOPER: Media watchers say these coordinated complains are creating a climate of fear at the networks.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES: Network executives don't care whether 3 or 300 or 300,000 people complain to the FCC. What they are worried about, and what has created this kind of chilling climate right now, is that the government may take action and slap them where it hurts in the wallet.

COOPER: And the PTC, the group says the FCC figures are all wrong, and the agency should care more about program content than the source of the complaints.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: For the full 360 tonight we go to Los Angeles and joined by Lara Mahaney. She is the director of Corporate and Entertainment Affairs for the Parents Television Council. Lara, thanks for being with us.

And in Syracuse, New York, Robert Thompson. He directs the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. Robert, thanks for being with us as well.

Lara, let me start off with you. The FCC says your group filed 99.8 percent of the indecency complaints in 2003. Is it fair that a small organization, any small group, whatever their politics may be, should be able to impact what is on TV like that?

LARA MAHANEY, PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL: Well, actually that's not the truth. The truth is, we only filed like 21 percent of the complaints. That's why we're calling for a congressional investigation into the FCC's accounting practices, because it does make it look as if only a small number of people.

COOPER: Well, how do you know that you only filed 21 percent of the complaints?

MAHANEY: Because we actually track all of our complaints. We know how many we filed. And we know how many the FCC claims. It's pretty simple math. And that's why Congress has to get involved.

COOPER: Why would the FCC cook the books?

MAHANEY: You know what, that's the question for Michael Powell. He's a man of smoke and mirrors. He's done it quite frequently. That's why we want Congress to ask him, why are you saying that they filed 99 percent of the complaints when we didn't?

COOPER: Bob, what about that? A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation asked parents of kids 2 to 17 how concerned are they about inappropriate content on TV? 63 percent of parents very concerned, 26 percent somewhat concerned. That's almost 90 percent in total. Isn't the PTC doing a service for these parents, looking out for their interests?

ROBERT THOMPSON, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Well, a couple of things. You could ask anybody that question. I think it would be very difficult to answer that question no. Of course you are concerned about these things.

COOPER: It's like voting for moral values, everyone says yes?

THOMPSON: Absolutely. I mean, I think where we really see the rubber hit the road is what these families are actually doing. Desperate Housewives is a huge hit, not only in the red states, but in the blue states and everywhere else. Also, all the parents, whatever 63 percent say they are concerned about this, the amount of parents who have bothered to learn the very simple process of learning how to engage the V-chip is tiny, is minuscule.

COOPER: Robert, do you think the FCC is cooking the books? I know you have been critical of them in the past.

THOMPSON: Well, that would be the second thing. I don't know what Michael Powell and his people at the FCC would have to gain here. The FCC I think wants the controversy, wants the power of being able to say, we have half a million complaints. This is not good information for the FCC. This is suddenly saying all these complaints we've been talking about, all this data we have been citing, it is all coming from one single source. This is not good news for the FCC. I don't know why, if they were going to cook the books, they'd cook them in the other direction.

COOPER: Lara, you say you don't condone censorship. But some believe, some of your critics say your organizations actions are already having a chilling effect on broadcasters and lead to self censorship.

MAHANEY: Actually, censorship is not possible. The government cannot censor anybody, because they don't view programming in advance. What we're saying is if the law has been broken, the FCC should enforce the law. That's it. Give people fines.

There's nothing wrong with the networks being mindful of the fact they might break the law just like I am when I'm on the freeway and being mindful of how fast I'm going.

And I have to disagree with Bob, because the V-chip, the networks don't rate shows with a V. NBC doesn't do that. So, it wouldn't pick up violence for anybody on NBC. The only thing that's going to happen is when the broadcasters take responsibility and air content that's not going to be indecent. And also, too, when parents are responsible and they do monitor what their kids watch. But it's not on the parents alone.

COOPER: We should point out we asked the FCC to comment. They said they wouldn't have any comment. There you go. We'll have to see if they end up releasing any more of the numbers.

Lara Mahaney, appreciate you joining us.

And Bob Thompson, thanks very much as well.

THOMPSON: Thanks.

MAHANEY: Thank you.

COOPER: Well, coming up next on 360, we're going to take a look at the FCC and how they are watching what you watch. Politicians are keeping a close eye on you. They have gotten pretty savvy with viewer habits, knowing exactly what shows that potential viewers like and what they don't like.

We're going to take a quick look now at the presidential election showing how the campaigns were perfecting the raw politics of targeting an audience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER (voice-over): If you are a fan of Will and Grace, you might have noticed a lot of ads like this one airing during your favorite show before the elections.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm George W. Bush...

COOPER: A total of 473 of them.

Why did the Bush camp air ads during a sitcom about the friendship between a gay guy and married woman? Well, because it turns out it's the most popular show with Republican women between the ages of 18 and 34. A key demographic for President Bush.

How did they know? For the first time in a presidential election, both camps had access to unprecedented consumer research about the viewing habits of each party's constituency.

KEN GOLDSTEIN, UNIV. OF WISCONSIN: And this data, Nielson on steroids, enables candidates to find those voters, their base voters and swing voters and to find them quickly and to find them efficiently.

COOPER: That's how the Bush camp learned that Republicans tune en masse to shows like NYPD Blue and watch channels like Speed Vision and the Golf Channel. And that's why the Bush camp decided to air a good deal of their ads on small cable stations, niche markets that enable them to reach their core constituency.

What about Democrats? Well, many, according to research, watch Court TV and the Game Show Network. But the Kerry camp chose a broader strategy, airing ads mainly on broadcast networks, because they were told Democrats watch more TV than Republicans.

GOLDSTEIN: These campaigns are trying to get every edge they can. Political marketers are trying to do the same thing as commercial marketers, they're both trying to hunt where the ducks are.

COOPER: Knowing where your ducks are to bet spend your bucks, that's Raw Politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These campaigns are trying to get every edge they can. Political marketers are trying to do the same thing as commercial marketers. They're both trying to hunt where the ducks are.

COOPER: Knowing where your ducks are to better spend your bucks, that's raw politics.

360 next. Somebody call the warden. Martha Stewart is going on TV. Seems she'll be trading in the big house for a big TV deal. That story is next.

Also a wife accused of using a hatchet to kill her husband. She said she had no other choice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: In most murder trials the jury is presented with two very difference versions of the accused. In a Michigan courtroom, that's exactly what's happened. In the trial of a woman accused of killing her husband with a hatchet what makes the case different is that the two different versions come from the woman's sons. CNN's Adaora Udoji reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A celebrated fourth grade teacher, Nancy Seaman told a Michigan jury she bludgeoned and stabbed her husband Robert to death in self-defense.

NANCY SEAMAN, DEFENDANT: I never thought about killing. I never thought about hurting him.

I just wanted him to stop hurting me.

UDOJI: The abuse claim has divided her sons. One testifying for her, the other against her. It began, she says, 31 years ago and ended in May. She says her husband attacked with a knife after learning she planned to move out and she fought back.

N. SEAMAN: It was an accident. He was down. He shouldn't be dead.

UDOJI: A handful of fellow teachers and friends testified to seeing bruises. Her younger son said a couple of times he saw his father shove his mom.

GREG SEAMAN, MOTHER ON TRIAL FOR MURDER: I have seen him throw his forearm into her to get her out of the way.

UDOJI: But the prosecution said Seaman is a cold blooded murderer who hit her husband 16 times with a hatchet she just bought at Home Depot and stabbed him 21 times. That she killed him because he planned to leave her.

LISA ORTLIEB, ASST. OAKLAND CO. PROSECUTOR: You didn't go file for a divorce. Never went to a shelter. You called one time 20 years ago but you weren't afraid to take a hatchet to him.

N. SEAMAN: That's not how it was.

UDOJI: Prosecutors say she cleaned the murder scene, repainted and tucked Robert's body into her car. Police found him two days later. Jeff Seaman, her older son said there was no abuse.

JEFFERY SEAMAN, SEAMAN'S SON: I never expected -- there was never any evidence of it. My mom was never an abused wife.

UDOJI: The defense expects to call its last witness this week. Then a jury will decide whether Nancy Seaman was fighting for her life or plotted to take a life. Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: My next two guests know this case better than anyone. Joining me from Farmington Hills, Michigan is Nancy Seaman's defense attorney Larry Kaluzny and from Southfield, Michigan, assistant Oakland County prosecutor Lisa Ortlieb. Let me start off with you. Getting very conflicting reports on exactly who Nancy Seaman is. What she is like. You believe she was a battered wife. Do you have any evidence?

LARRY KALUZNY, SEAMAN'S ATTORNEY: We believe we do. We believe that we showed the jury years and years of abuse just because she didn't tell anybody that doesn't mean she wasn't abused.

COOPER: Lisa, in your opinion was Nancy Seaman a battered woman?

ORTLIEB: The only evidence in this case of domestic violence is on May 9, when she butchered him.

COOPER: So you are saying in their entire marriage there was never any evidence.

ORTLIEB: No credible evidence she was ever abused.

COOPER: Larry, she had her husband's body in the car for two days, she even apparently drove around with it. You claim she wanted to turn herself in. Why didn't she contact the police?

KALUZNY: She didn't want to contact the local police. She had gone to them once for help. She didn't want her husband arrested. She loved him and felt, you know I need some help. She never got that help. She didn't want to go to the local police. She was preparing to turn herself in. She had two and a half days to get rid of that body. She never did.

COOPER: But was that just bad planning? Why did she drive around with the body in the car for two days.

KALUZNY: She didn't drive around for two days. She did have it in there.

COOPER: Just going out for errands or whatever. Why stick the body in the car for that long?

KALUZNY: You have to understand that we tried to show the jury that this was a woman who had been battered for 30 years. And every time he broke something, put his fist through a wall, she fixed it. It was like it never happened. In her mind she thought she could fix this until she realized there's a body. I can't get rid of that.

COOPER: Lisa, two days after the murder, I guess she went back to Home Depot where she purchased the murder weapon, there's a surveillance video shows she shoplifted another hatchet which she then immediately returned. The defense is claiming she did this to pretend to herself the murder never happened. How do you make sense of this? ORTIEB: No. She went back to the store and she shoplifted the hatchet to get it off her credit card receipt so there wouldn't a paper trail. So that eventually when the police discovered that, yes, there is foul play, she can say, what, not me, I didn't buy a hatchet.

COOPER: A fascinating case. We appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.

CNN's in depth reporting continues tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW" and "NEWSNIGHT" with Aaron Brown. Paula and Aaron join me from their studios with a preview of what they're covering.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Anderson. This Christmas is shaping up to be especially difficult for Christians in Iraq. They are under increasing attack. Churches have been bombed in Baghdad, and more recently in the city of Mosul. Tonight the Reverend Pat Robertson will join us to look at the growing violence against Iraqi Christians and what that can mean for the nation's future. We might also get to talk about taking Christ out of Christmas and the fact that everybody has to say happy holidays at department stores across the country.

COOPER: They've been talking about that a lot on "The 700 Club". Thanks very much, Paula. Aaron?

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Anderson, it's one of the most compelling stories I have seen in a long time. There are almost a quarter of a billion children, talking about kids under ten, who are forced to work around the world to make the soccer balls we use and the clothes we wear and the food we eat. An extraordinary documentary is out on them and there are a lot of complex economic problems that play as well. So we look at forced child labor and more on "NEWSNIGHT" at 10:00 Eastern.

COOPER: Thanks, Aaron. Paula, thanks as well.

360 next. The return of Martha Stewart. She is in prison but in time expect the home diva to return to TV in a very big way. We'll tell you how.

Also tonight, save the birds. Manhattan's most famous flyers are moving out. Take that to the Nth Degree.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, with Martha Stewart doing time in the big house, you know, what the toughs call "Camp Cupcake." The media spent a lot of time guessing on who her TV replacement would be. After all, we do need some tips on how to make a souffle. Well, it seems today we finally have our answer "Inside The Box."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTHA STEWART: I will be back.

COOPER (voice-over): There were some who doubted whether Martha Stewart would be back after her felony conviction last March. Her daily syndicated program "Martha Stewart Living" was put on hiatus. The scandal whipped up media speculation, like her best meringue, over who would be the next domestic diva.

PAULA ZAHN, HOST "PAULA ZAHN NOW": With Martha Stewart poised to step down from her company, what will happen to the brand?

And who could be the next Martha Stewart?

COOPER: There were a slew of lesser knowns hoping to step into her shoes. There was B, of "B. Smith with Style." Katie Brown, all craftsy with her show, "Year Round with Katie Brown." Then there was the bare foot Contesta. Some even thought the next Martha could be a man -- like Alton Brown of "Good Eat," the chef for geeks. But today it was made clear, no matter how you slice and dice and incarcerate it, the next Martha is Martha.

JEFF ZUCKER, PRESIDENT, NBC/UNIVERSAL: At NBC Universal Television, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia are joining together with Mark Burnett Productions to bring Martha Stewart back to daily television next fall.

COOPER: NBC's president along with, Susan Line (ph), the replacement CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and red hot reality producer, Mark Burnett announcing today, Martha will have her own show on NBC's owned station. It will be much like the old "Martha Stewart Living" featuring cooking and gardening and decorating and such, but with a live audience.

We've seen what Mark Burnett, creator of "The Apprentice," did with Donald Trump. So expect him to spice Martha up a bit.

MARK BURNETT, CREATOR "SURVIVOR" AND "THE APPRENTICE": She's a funny, warm, engaging very, very smart woman, who is great television.

COOPER: Stewart is still doing time at Alderson (ph) Federal Prison Camp. She won't be sprung until next March, that's when NBC and Omnimedia will begin Stewart's post prison comeback "Inside the Box."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, 360 next, fair weathered tenants evicted in the Big Apple. Why some birds of prey at (UNINTELLIGIBLE), are now looking for new digs to call home. We'll take their plight to "The Nth Degree."

And the "360 Challenge," here's another look at tonight's question.

No. 1, where was Defense Secretary Rumsfeld peppered with questions after giving a pep talk to U.S. troops.

No. 2, what's the name of the group, which according to the FCC has filed 99.8 percent of the indecency reports.

And three, arson has been declared the official cause of how many house fires in Maryland?

Log on to cnn.com/360, click on the answer link to play.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for the answer to today's "360 Challenge."

No. 1, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld peppered with questions after giving a pep talk to U.S. troops, Kuwait.

No. 2, what's the name of the group according the FCC that filed 99.8 percent of the indecency reports, Parents Television Council.

And no. 3, arson has been declared the official cause of how many house fires in the Maryland, 19.

First person to answer all three correctly will be send a 360 shirt. Tune in tomorrow, find out if you're the winner.

Last night's winner Patty Bates-Ballard of Dallas, Texas. Another "360 Challenge," another chance to win tomorrow.

Tonight taking the whole tough town thing to "The Nth Degree."

All right, so New York doesn't cut it's dissidence much slack. And no, you can't expect to live rent-free forever. A decade, you could say, is already quite long enough to go without paying a penny. But hey, we're talking beloved symbols here. See the red-tailed hawk, known around the world as Pale Male, had been living 12 stories up on the facade of a fancy 5th Avenue building with the mate and their ever increasing brood for 10 years now. Yes, on the cuff it's true, but he's a bird, you know, what's he going to do, pay rent in rats?

Anyways, New Yorkers have taken the hawks to heart. And people from lots of other parts, from all over the world actually, have also some by to hawk gawk. Red-tailed hawks are after all rare, powerful, elegant birds of prey. Elegant and also as of the other day evicted birds of prey. Turned out of their nest presumably by people working for the coop on which they've been perched. Pale and Mrs. Male, and all the Male kids are now officially off the wall. Come to think of it, maybe it wasn't a matter of money, after all we're talking 5th Avenue coop here. It could have been all the unseemly publicity that got Pale Male put out.

I'm Anderson Cooper, thanks for watching 360.

Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

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