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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Ed Smart Shares Child Safety Tips; 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Denies Reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's Feeding Tube
Aired March 23, 2005 - 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.
Rampage at Red Lake High: new details of what happened inside that school. And in a moment, the shooter's aunt talks about what kind of boy Jeff Weise really was.
360 starts now.
Rampage at Red Lake High: a community in shock and mourning after a bloody school killing spree. Tonight, the sister of one of the victims speaks out. What drove a young boy to kill? And how can it be prevented from happening again?
Michael Schiavo, getting death threats, hires bodyguards for protection. Tonight, has he become a wanted man for trying to end his wife's life?
John Couey charged with killing little Jessica Lunsford. Tonight, his tape-recorded confession to another crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN COUEY: I did take her hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Was there something more police could have done to keep track of this sexual predator?
Elizabeth Smart, kidnapped by a deranged man wanting to make her his wife. Tonight, a 360 interview with Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart -- the lessons he's learned and his advice to keep your child out of the hands of a predator.
And caught on tape, a father grief-stricken at the news his son had been killed in combat sets himself ablaze inside a van. Tonight, how this distraught father is trying to triumph over tragedy.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is a special two-hour edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening.
A special two-hour edition, because there are a lot of developments to tell you about, not only in the Terri Schiavo case but also in the school shooting case in Minnesota.
We begin tonight, however, with the latest in the Terri Schiavo situation.
We have just heard that the state judge who ordered her feeding tube disconnected will now hear new evidence that she may not be in a vegetative state.
There are a lot of fine points to talk about. Let's get the very latest.
Joining us live outside the hospice in Florida is CNN's John Zarrella. John, try to bring us up to date.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, yes, it was a fast- moving today, both in the courts and at the Florida legislative level and with Governor Bush.
First of all, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals turned down the family's request for intervention, meaning that on the federal level, the next stop and last stop would be the United States Supreme Court.
The Florida Senate, in a 21 to 18 vote late this afternoon, turned down, voted no, on a bill that might have allowed for Terri Schiavo's feeding tube to be put back in, to be reinserted. So legislative action in the state of Florida at this point now not going anywhere, and it is dead.
But then, about the same time, Governor Jeb Bush took to the podium in Tallahassee and said there was compelling new evidence, and he was going to order the Department of Children and Families here in Florida, DCF, to intervene in the case. He cited that there were documents, and a review of the documents and videotape by a neurologist in Jacksonville. It said that Terri Schiavo might not be in a persistent vegetative state at all.
Now, what that means is that the DCF has gone to court, seeking to get this heard in court. And that is what is before Judge Greer, who is the trial court judge, who has been in this case for about seven years. And he is expected to rule on that tomorrow night at about, about -- well, tomorrow afternoon about noon, Anderson.
COOPER: Press conference that Florida Governor Jeb Bush had, I mean, it, there'll, you got to kind of look at the fine points, as you have. The doctor he quoted didn't actually physically examine Terri Schiavo, is that correct?
ZARRELLA: That's right. He said that she was in a minimal -- he believed now she was in a minimally conscious state. He did not examine her. All he did was look at videotapes that he was provided of her, and he said that he observed her, and he also looked at all of the medical records. And he is saying now that she is in a minimally conscious state, but that she is not, in his opinion, PVS.
Of course, you know, as many neurologists as you hear, one side or the other, maybe just as many who would say she is PVS. But this is what the governor has instructed Department of Children and Families to do, to go to court, which they have. And Judge Greer, again, the trial court judge, is expected to rule on that tomorrow. If he turns them down, likely they would continue action through the state level up to the Florida Supreme Court on that, Anderson.
COOPER: OK, and the likelihood of the U.S. Supreme Court, I mean, the legal experts we've been talking to say it's not all that likely that they would probably take up this case, but you never know.
ZARRELLA: No, you never know. But given the swift action by the 11th Circuit Court this afternoon, the full court saying no, it is likely that the federal courts, the Supreme Court certainly is -- would assume that they would side on the behalf of the federal courts, and not want to get involved in this case.
And, you know, that has been the over -- the Supreme Court in the past has ruled on this case, and said, no, they would not hear the case. So it's not the first time the Florida -- the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to get involved in this case. And in the past, one other time, they said no.
COOPER: All right, John Zarrella, fast-moving story, difficult one. Appreciate you bringing us up to date. Thanks, John.
We're going to have a lot more on the Terri Schiavo case, not only in this hour, but also in the, coming up in the 8:00 hour. We're really going to focus in on the latest developments on that case.
Some new developments, however, in the Minnesota school shootings.
Now, we have seen young men and boys kill their classmates before. And every time it happens, we always search for answers. Why did they do it? Were there any warning signs? Could the murders have been prevented?
The family of Jeff Weise is certainly searching for answers as well right now.
We're joined now in Minneapolis by Kim Desjarlait. She is Jeff Weise's aunt.
Kim, thank you very much for being with us. I'm sorry for all that your family is going through and your community.
Did this just come out of -- was this just a complete surprise for you?
KIM DESJARLAIT, JEFF WEISE'S AUNT: It was. It was a complete surprise to me, his dad, all of us in the Minneapolis area. It's not the Jeff that we knew.
COOPER: Now, you haven't seen Jeff for a couple years -- I think since 2001. His parents got divorced. You're the sister of his stepdad. What kind of a kid was he -- I mean, when you knew him? DESJARLAIT: Jeff was a good kid. He was, as far as I knew, a very respectable kid. He was very good with manners. He was a very happy kid. He never, as far as I knew, had any problems in school or with any kids outside of school. He had a...
COOPER: So the, so, I mean, there have been...
DESJARLAIT: ... lot of friends.
COOPER: ... reports some of bullying. You don't know, you haven't heard those, you're not, you don't, can't confirm those.
DESJARLAIT: Whatever happened in the Red Lake area, I have no clue. What I know of Jeff here in the Minneapolis area was that he was not a bully. He was never bullied, and he had friends here. He had a lot of friends here.
COOPER: There's no denying that he was a boy who lived through an awful lot of tragedy. His father committed suicide. His mother was in a nursing home. She'd been in a bad accident. He lived with his grandfather. What was his home life like?
DESJARLAIT: In the Minneapolis area, it was a normal type of life. Every weekend he went to the movies. He would have parties at the Chuck E. Cheese's. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: And his relationship with his mom? I mean, I understand there were some issues with her previous to her accident.
DESJARLAIT: They had, as far as I knew, a good relationship. Him, his stepdad, they all had a good relationship. He called my brother Dad. And he called me Auntie.
COOPER: How is your brother doing in all this? I mean, he was Jeff's stepdad.
DESJARLAIT: My brother was really devastated by it. This is something that he would have never seen or expected that would have came out of Jeff. The Jeff that we all knew was a very good kid. He, as any kid, you know, would have issues about making a bed, you know, and he's told do something, he always did it. You might get some aggression out of it, but he was your typical kid at that time. He was a very good kid.
COOPER: When something like this happens, I mean, imagine you and probably everyone who knew him just plays every encounter you had with him in your mind over and over, kind of looking for any kind of sign. And as you've done that, have any signs popped up?
DESJARLAIT: No. Not at all, not when he lived here. He, again, like I say, was a great kid. And when he got to Red Lake, you start hearing of all of these things that happened to him and that people started seeing, and I don't understand...
COOPER: Well, someone with his, someone with his name, you know, was writing messages to a neo-Nazi Web site. DESJARLAIT: That's surprising to us, because that's not Jeff. I mean, Jeff, when he lived here, he was in a interracial school. He had, you know, African-American friends, he had Caucasian friends, he had Hispanic friends. He never was where he segregated his self just to his race. He had a variety of friends.
COOPER: Well, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), clearly a lot was going on in this young man's mind. Kim Desjarlait, appreciate you being with us to talk about what you know of your nephew. Thank you very much.
DESJARLAIT: Thank you.
COOPER: We wanted to take you back now to the scene of the shooting in Red Lake, where 10 people, including Jeff Weise, died. Much shock and many unanswered questions there, as you might imagine.
David Mattingly is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On and off the Red Lake Reservation, people grieve two days after the worst school shooting since Columbine. And with each passing day, there are more questions.
Victoria Brun is the sister of the slain security guard, Derrick Brun, one of nine people killed by teenager Jeff Weise.
VICTORIA BRUN, SISTER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: Should he have been allowed to be walking on our streets? I mean, had anybody ever addressed the family situation? The -- was there, you know, was there more to cause his -- It had to be a mental illness for him to go walk in there and shoot my brother with a gun right in his heart.
MATTINGLY: Many believe the answers remain sequestered within this isolated and guarded Native American community, while authorities continue to investigate the life of the 16-year-old Weise. Those familiar with his upbringing described to CNN years of social and academic problems, a young boy who was frequently picked on, they say, and was not given the attention he badly needed.
LEE COOK, WEISE FAMILY MEMBER: And who was he going to talk to? His mother was incapacitated. His father was dead. And probably nobody else that he found around him understood what he was going through, or asked, for that matter.
MATTINGLY: Lee Cook is part of Weise's extended family, an executive director of a state Indian resource center. He tells us how, in recent years, Weise's father committed suicide during a standoff with police, and how his mother suffered severe brain injuries in a traffic accident, leaving her in a nursing home.
Weise wound up in the care of relatives, most recently, the home of his grandmother on the Red Lake Reservation.
COOK: If you're not in an environment or used to an environment where somebody's going to come along and say, You know, maybe it would be appropriate for him to have some kind of counseling, or maybe somebody ought to be talking to the son, or to the family about the trauma that he's been through. And I think a lot of times, we just assume people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a lot of things.
MATTINGLY: Instead, Weise grew angry, until his rage took the lives of nine people before he took his own life, like his father, in conflict with police.
Cook says the family was unaware, until approached by investigators, of Weise's apparent fascination with a neo-Nazi Web site.
COOK: You can make some conjecture. You think, obviously, something at school was rubbing him wrong, and he didn't know how to deal with it. And as kids do in many instances across the country, when they sort of reach the limit of what they can tolerate emotionally and psychologically, they act out. And some just do it more violently than others. And in this case, in his mind, he did, I suppose, what he thought he needed to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: Tribal leaders say next for the Red Lake Reservation will be an extended period, a wake period, for the grieving families. This is a traditional event, normally lasting two full days and nights. And everyone has been told in no uncertain terms that these will be very private events, Anderson.
COOPER: David Mattingly, thanks very much.
360 next, this young man had called himself a Native Nazi on these Web sites. Going to take a closer look at his alleged involvement with racist Web sites. Covering all the angles.
Also ahead tonight, a life-or-death decision. Exhausting all the appeals, and there were some arrests today as well to tell you about. A president, a governor, a high court, and a state senate try to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo. We'll bring you up to date with the latest maneuvers.
And a little later, remember the story of a father who lost his son in Iraq and set a Marine vehicle and himself on fire? We're going to find out what has happened to him now.
All that ahead. First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: President Bush is turning his gaze south of the border. With that and other stories making news right now, let's check in with Erica Hill of Headline News. Hey, Erica.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hey, Anderson, good to see you. Yes, President Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico announced plans today to strengthen economic and security ties among the countries. Setting aside some of their regional differences, they met in Texas to adopt agreements aimed at making North American markets more competitive, and they vowed to work more closely to fight terrorism in a rapidly changing world.
A deadly explosion today at a B.P. Oil refinery in Texas City, Texas. TV stations in Houston reported four people were killed in the blast, as many as 100 others hurt. The cause of the explosion isn't yet known.
Federal investigators say last month's plane crash in New Jersey's Teeterboro Airport was caused by improper loading, not icing. The National Transportation Safety Board says the plane's center of gravity was well forward of the allowable limit. Twelve people were hurt when the plane ran off the runway as it attempted to take off for Chicago.
And this one you just got to see. Two alligators eventually wrestled out of a community lake near the Florida Everglades after neighbors complained to authorities -- seemed they were going after the pets. Dozens of residents watched from a nearby street. An animal control expert went into the water, lassoed the 'gators, taped their mouths shut. The larger one was 11 feet long. Officials say there were rumors it was eying a neighborhood poodle before help arrived. Get all the cats and dogs inside, Anderson.
COOPER: Yikes. You know what that 'gator was doing? It was cowboying.
HILL: Cowboying, I knew it. Exactly.
COOPER: All right, Erica, thanks very much. We'll see you in 30 minutes.
HILL: Thanks.
COOPER: Back to the incident in the Minnesota school. We may never know what drove this young boy, Jeff Weise, to do what he did. I mean, he was 16 years old. Police are searching for a motive, but they're looking through his entire background, including what he may have said in cyberspace.
Using the screen name Todesengel, which is German for Angel of Death, someone identifying himself as Jeff Weise left dozens of postings on the Web site Nazi.org.
Here are two of those. From March 19, 2004, quote, "I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals and his courage to take on larger nations." Here's a posting from last April. "By the way, I'm being blamed for a threat on the school I attend because someone said they were going to shoot up the school on 4/20, Hitler's birthday, and just because I claim being a National Socialist, guess whom they've pinned?" Well, shocking as it may seem, a lot of young Americans also identify with Hitler. They embrace a culture of hate, and they're doing it with music.
CNN's Rick Sanchez goes beyond the headlines for the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Minnesota, 2005, not Munich in the 1930s. It's a new generation, an American generation, worshiping the ideals of the Nazis to a heavy-metal beat.
It's hate, Hitler, and heavy metal, as the man behind the music proudly looks on.
BYRON CALVERT, MUSIC ENTREPRENEUR (on phone): Do you know how many labels I could start with a quarter of a million?
SANCHEZ: From his home in South St. Paul, Minnesota, ex-con Byron Calvert -- real name, Brian Cecchini -- has made it his mission and business to market hate rock. He calls it white power music.
CALVERT: Well, we sell the survival, dude, survival. The (expletive deleted) sells itself.
SANCHEZ: And what Calvert sells, he seems to believe. It's in his music, in his books, and on his on his body.
(on camera): Are you a devotee of Adolf Hitler?
CALVERT: There's a lot of things that he did that was spot on.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): The label is called Panzerfaust in tribute to the Nazis. The lyrics glorify violence against Blacks, against Hispanics but with a special emphasis on Jews.
(on camera): Let me read to you some of the songs. Now the Jew must pay the bill, now it is crystal night once more. Your race once again burns. It sounds pretty violent, sounds pretty hateful.
CALVERT: Hey, hey, hey, hey nobody ever said -- I'm not trying to convince everybody that I'm a pussy, we're not a bunch of pacifists. There are angry white kids writing this music, there are angry white kids listening to it, there is no doubt about that.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Kids that Calvert wants to convert with his music and his Web site.
(on camera): Let me read something from your Web site. We don't entertain racist kids, you write, we create them.
CALVERT: Now I obviously -- see, you asked me that like, but aren't you concerned that you will make these kids be -- I am a racist. I obviously think that the world would be a better place if there was a lot more racist people.
SANCHEZ: This is where the mood goes from someone's belief, no matter how hateful, to something most would consider much worse. In fact, they call it Project School Yard. They are targeting kids, maybe your kids, by trying to get them hooked on their music.
(voice-over): Students across the country, Calvert says -- tens of thousands of them -- are receiving this CD with music from bands like Hate Machine and the Bully Boys.
CALVERT: It's an outreach effort. And it's not really any different than any other company that gives samples of its product to people. For example, if I have a coffee company and I want to give people samples of my coffee, I'm not going to give it to my own customers.
SANCHEZ: Coffee doesn't come with a message of hate.
CALVERT: Who gives a damn? The purpose of that example was -- as a marketing example.
SANCHEZ: The principal of this West Virginian town gave a damn when two people tried to distribute the CDs to his students.
JEFF NELSON, MADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL: We certainly don't appreciate unwanted people coming and trying take advantage of 10 to 14-year-olds with hateful propaganda.
SANCHEZ: But that's exactly what Calvert and Panderfaust are trying to do. And when the principal tried to stop it, he got this phone call from Calvert, who then recorded it and put it on his Web site.
CALVERT: I suggest you mind your own (EXPLETIVE DELETED) business and stop stealing CDs from your students but get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of you.
SANCHEZ: Byron, they're children. Would you like it if your kid went to a school and somebody came and gave him this message.
CALVERT: If I have to make room for homosexuals and Hottentots and name it, you're going to make room for white kids with rebel flags and white power CDs. And if you don't like it, tough (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SANCHEZ: For all of the music CDs that Project School Yard has distributed, it's not clear how many new Nazis Panzerfaust has created. Meantime, Calvert is now in a business dispute with his partner.
(on camera): You're having problems with Panzerfaust in particular. Will that mean the demise of the movement?
CALVERT: Of course not. No. One monkey don't stop no show.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): The monkey slur is aimed at Calvert's partner. Calvert now wants to cut ties with him, because he's part Hispanic, not pure enough, nor white enough for him and the other angry young men who gather in basements like this one surrounded by the sounds and the images of a hateful time -- a time they want to bring back. Rick Sanchez, CNN, in South St. Paul, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, since Rick first reported that story, Brian Calvert's Web site has been shut down. Anyone trying to find it will be redirect to another hate-filled site, we are told.
Coming up next on 360, exhausting all of the appeals: the mom and dad of Terri Schiavo running out of option, but still the legal appeals continue maybe all the way to the Supreme Court. We'll talk about that ahead.
Also the president and his brother weighing in. Should the governor be involved in life-and-death decisions? Would do you think? We're getting a lot of e-mail on this. We'd love to hear from you. A closer look at their personal and political connections to this case. We're talking about the president and Governor Bush.
Also tonight, a grieving father set himself and a Marine vehicle on fire. Remember that story? We'll find out what has happened to him since. It was all caught on tape. Part of our week-long special series.
And later, dealing with memories that just will not go away. Our 360 M.D., Sanjay Gupta on coping with post-traumatic stress. And do you have some memories that you want to get rid of that you can't? Interesting look at how the brain really works. We're covering all the angles. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JEB BUSH, (R) FLORIDA: I'm doing everything within my power to make sure Terri is afforded at least the same rights that criminals convicted of the most heinous crimes take for granted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was Florida Governor Jeb Bush today making a startling announcement, making his position very clear. He also said that a new neurologist has examined the case, examined Terri Schiavo, and determined that he she is not in a vegetative state. And in fact, he said he would like the state to take custody of her if they could.
Now as we told you at the top of the show, a state judge has agreed to consider new evidence, and will decide tomorrow whether to reinsert the feeding tube based on this new neurologist's report. The parents are waiting for an answer. Two very powerful men named Bush come to their side.
Here is CNN's senior White House correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Late morning, Waco, Texas, President Bush making it clear if the federal courts don't intervene to save Terri Schiavo, he sees no way he can do more.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll watch the courts make its decisions. But we look at all options from the executive branch perspective.
KING: Oh, and by the way.
G. BUSH: I have not discussed the next steps from the brother -- my brother who is the governor of Florida.
KING: Two-and-a-half hours later, Tallahassee, Florida, Governor Jeb Bush saying he now believes he has executive authority to at least temporarily restore Schiavo's feeding tube.
J. BUSH: We're exhausting all executive options.
KING: The role of the brothers Bush is a remarkable subplot to the legal and political battle over Schiavo and the broader debates over the right to life and the right to die.
KEITH APPEL, CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIST: The Congress, the president, the legislature, the governor in Florida, have all bent over backwards. They've all gone to remarkable lengths -- certainly unprecedented lengths in my lifetime and the lifetimes of most people -- to try to save the life of this one woman.
KING: For years, this was Jeb Bush's fight in the Florida legislature and in the state courts. President Bush stepped in when it appeared his brother's options at the state levels were exhausted, supporting, and then rushing back from Texas, to sign extraordinary legislation shipping the Schiavo fight to the federal courts.
Very different in political style. The president acknowledges he tends to be blunt. His brother is more soft spoken. President Bush is a devote Christian, his brother the government, a convert to Catholic.
Both outspoken in their support for what they call a culture of life -- opposition to abortion and cloning, strict limits on stem cell research. And now extraordinary executive efforts in the Schiavo case, that won praised from social conservatives, but run contrary to majority opinion in the United States. And critics say, contrary to years of legal precedent.
KATHERINE TUCKER, LEGAL ANALYST: It has been an act that is such a gross overreaching of the bounds of federal authority.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Two brothers, one the chief executive of Florida, the other the chief executive of the United States. Yet their considerable powers, perhaps not enough to win a fight they insist is motivated by deep moral beliefs not as some critics say, Anderson, of politics.
COOPER: Well, John, that's what's remarkable. On camera, all these politicians say, politics has nothing to do with this. But I mean, these are politicians. Don't politics always have something to do with this?
KING: Well, certainly if the motivation itself is not politics, there are ramifications in politics. And many say that both the president and his brother, the governor, perhaps going an extra step or at least seeing if they can go an extra step to keep at least keep their political bases happy. Again, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) both men insist if that happens, it is secondary, and it's accidental -- if you will, coincidental. They say they are motivated by their moral beliefs. But of course, anytime you have a case so controversial, so emotional, there is a legal fight and there is a very loud political fight.
COOPER: John King, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Michael Schiavo getting death threats, hires bodyguards for protection. Tonight, has he become a wanted man for trying to end his wife's life?
And "Caught on Tape," a father, grief-stricken at the news his son had been killed in combat, sets himself ablaze inside a van. Tonight, how this distraught father is trying to triumph over tragedy. This special two-hour edition of 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Not just a burning van, a father's dreams going up in flames. A moment we can't forget. It happened when a Florida man blind with rage and disbelief, attacked a military van after he learned his son, a U.S. Marine had died in Iraq. All this week, we're bringing you up to date to what happened to the people involved in moments like that. Moments we all remember. Moments that were caught on tape.
Tonight John Zarrella on the father whose grief overwhelmed him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With great care, Carlos Arredondo, shovels the snow from his son's grave. More than six months have passed since day Carlos' son Alex died. Twenty-year- old Marine Lance Corporal Alex Arredondo was killed during combat in Najaf, Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexander's mother choose this place, and it's wonderful.
ZARRELLA: The serenity of this snow-covered cemetery outside Boston is a long way in miles and emotion from that sweltering August day in Hollywood, Florida.
CARLOS ARREDONDO, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: Accidentally pressed the button, because that's when the van blew up. And the next thing I know, it threw me out to the street and I was on fire.
ZARRELLA: Cameras captured a U.S. Marine Corps van burning, firefighters spraying water on the flames. Nearby, Carlos Arredondo lay with burns over 25 percent of his body. Carlos remembers everything that happened, but not why. He was in his front yard when the three blue uniformed Marines showed up.
ARREDONDO: And I say, are you guys here to recruit some kids, because you guys are in the wrong house. The kids are next door. And they -- they responded by saying, we are not here to recruit anyone.
ZARRELLA: His son had been killed, they told him, but the words could not be real, he remembers thinking, as he ran to the backyard.
ARREDONDO: Perhaps it's a nightmare. I need to wake up from this nightmare.
ZARRELLA: Then he ran to the garage, first for a hammer, then for gasoline.
ARREDONDO: I grabbed a torch. I grabbed the gas.
ZARRELLA: He went to the Marine van out front and began smashing it, then picked up the can of gasoline.
ARREDONDO: I grabbed the gasoline and I start pouring gasoline everywhere inside the van.
ZARRELLA: His mother, who was at the house that day tried pulling him away. That's when Carlos says he slipped and pushed the igniter on the torch.
ARREDONDO: Inside the van blew up, in which threw me out of the van.
ZARRELLA: That was August 25. The ambulance ride to the hospital was not the only one he would take. On September 4, Carlos attended his son Alex's funeral in Boston from a stretcher in an ambulance.
ARREDONDO: The burns are healing much better.
ZARRELLA: The emotional healing will take much longer.
ARREDONDO: He was so proud. He -- in every move he did, he can show people how proud he was about being a U.S. Marine. And he was my American dream.
ZARRELLA: Nearly every room in the Arredondo home in Hollywood became a shrine to Alex.
ARREDONDO: We have here the Purple Heart.
ZARRELLA: Carlos did apologize to the three Marines. No charges were filed. Now he and his wife, Melida, Alex's stepmother, have moved from Florida and gone back to Boston far away from the reminders of August, closer to the memory of Alex.
MELIDA ARREDONDO, ALEXANDER'S STEPMOTHER: A lot of times it's really hard to just go on (UNINTELLIGIBLE), because we can't believe he's gone. But we're doing better. And I know that's what you would have wanted.
ZARRELLA: Melida is working to pay off Carlos' $50,000 in medical bills. Carlos is in counseling finding peace, he says, a little at a time.
ARREDONDO: Rest in peace. Rest in peace.
ZARRELLA: John Zarrella, CNN, Hollywood, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The parents' grief. Tomorrow, "Caught on Tape," the fiery crash landing of a crippled DC-10 airliner in Sioux City, Iowa. Do you remember that? The hero pilot who saved live -- lives against incredible odds. We're going to take a look at how the crash has changed his life.
Coming up next on 360 however, how your mind works when something traumatic happens to you, and how to help those who've seen the worst of times find relief.
Also tonight, fast-moving developments in the Terri Schiavo case. Kids in handcuffs, a children's crusade for Terri Schiavo, as the protests are getting more emotional and very, very personal.
Also later tonight, the suspect in Jessica Lunsford murder: was a plea for help missed years ago? We've got the interrogation tapes that tell the tale coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Images from fighting in Falluja -- the shock, the fear, the violence of war, it is literally unforgettable for so many Americans coming home from Iraq.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Some events our brains simply cannot forget. As we continue our series "Refresh Your Memory," 360 MD Sanjay Gupta shows us how horrible memories can actually change the brain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ESTEBAN LORA, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: There are a lot of things they see every day to day that remind me Iraq. Like for the New Years, you had to walk outside your door and you see all of these things flying around and you hear the firecrackers popping. It's like -- for a second you're like, whoa.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Esteban Lora is 22 years old, a college student in Miami, and a war veteran with a Purple Heart. He battled insurgents in a notorious Sunni Triangle. In the fall of 2003, he was wounded by a roadside bomb, and sent home. The scars on his hand and foot have healed over. But mentally...
LORA: I was angry. Very emotional. Very emotional.
GUPTA: A doctor at the Miami V.A. hospital diagnosed with him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
PTSD encompasses a wide range of symptoms. Nightmares and flashbacks are common. A signature complaint is that the smallest stimulus like a noise triggers a flood of painful, overwhelming memories. It leads to jumpiness, anger, and depression.
Psychiatrist Douglas Bremner is at the forefront of scientific research on people with PTSD. With advanced imaging technology, he and others have been able to pinpoint actual changes in the brain. Perhaps the biggest difference is in the hippocampus, that area so central to memory. In people with PTSD, it is significantly smaller than in healthy people.
Researcher Robert Osturer (ph) put me through a brain scan, an MRI, testing the function of my hippocampus. My healthy brain could remember exactly where to go in the water mains, but PTSD patients have trouble with this. In real life, they can have trouble recalling directions, or what to buy at the store.
Here's my brain during the task. The area's lighting up so brightly are the two sides of the hippocampus. But on a PTSD patient, the hippocampus isn't lighting up at all. There's no focus of activity.
A damaged hippocampus leads to other problems, too -- severe absentmindedness and intrusive, fearful memories. Today, standard treatments for PTSD are anti-depressants, and group and individual therapy.
Lora's doctors say that by seeking and receiving treatment early on, his chance of recovery is excellent. Research also backs up what several doctors and patients told us: social support tends to help as much as anything.
LORA: Relief came when you're sitting around with the same guys you were with in Iraq and saying hey, man, I'm having these problems. And you know, you open up to them and they're like dude, let's get help, let's go. The most painful thing for me is to sit in a room or go to drill and know that you're among heroes. That's my thing. It's not painful. It's just painful because so joyful. I know people who are heroes -- real-life heroes and they're my friends.
GUPTA: With a wedding planned for June and two years left to a political science degree, this hero is putting his life back together. He's one of the lucky ones.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: He certainly is.
Are there certain kinds of memories that are harder for us to forget than others?
GUPTA: Yes, Yes. The sense of smell, really very interesting, Anderson. You'd think that the most powerful memories would be visual but in fact the smell -- something goes through your nose and goes almost directly to that area of the brain that's so central for memory.
So smell can be hard, also sounds. A lot of veterans say the smell of diesel and the sound of helicopters are unforgettable. So, those two things, even more than visual, are hard to forget.
COOPER: If you know a smell or sound can trigger bad memory, can you change it? Can you associate it with someone or something else?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, we looked pretty hard into this, the whole notion of replacing a bad memory. Sort of like, if you have a memory of a song that keeps playing over and over again in your head, a song that you don't like, you can replace that with another song, for example, or something else if you would like to try to get that one memory out of your mind. But it really takes a conscience effort to be able to do it, but it's possible.
COOPER: I have the "Macarena" song eternally going in my head.
Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much.
Our series on memory continues tomorrow with deceptive memories: how two people can see the same thing and remember it completely differently. We see this in the courtroom all of the time.
U.S. troops on the offensive in Iraq, just one of the stories making news at a quarter until the hour. Erica Hill from "Headline News" joins us for an update -- Erica.
HILL: Hi, Anderson.
Intelligence tips from Iraqi citizens have resulted now in the deaths of dozens of insurgents. U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 85 militants at a suspected training camp in central Iraq yesterday. They reportedly included Iraqis, Filipinos, Algerians, Moroccans, Afghanis, and Arabs from neighboring countries. The raids also turned up booby-trapped cars, suicide bomber vests, and weapons and training documents.
A federal jury in Texas has convicted a truck driver of transporting illegal immigrants in the nation's deadliest smuggling attempt. The judge declared a mistrial, however, on the most serious charges after jurors were deadlocked and that means no death penalty. Nineteen people died after being crammed inside of the hot tractor trailer in 2003.
One of Michael Jackson's attorneys was taken from the courthouse on a gurney today. Brian Oxman was seen leaning over the defense table at the end of testimony during the pop star's trial on child molestation charges. No word on what his ailment is or his condition. Meantime, a victory for Jackson today. The judge ruled the prosecution cannot show the jury adult material found on Michael Jackson's computer.
And that's the latest from "Headline News." Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Man, they're dropping like flies in that courtroom.
HILL: Must be something in the water.
COOPER: I know. What's going on?
Erica, thanks very much. See you back in 30 minutes.
360 next, time running out for Terri Schiavo as protests continue and appeals are running their course. We're going to hear from both sides of her family, coming up.
Plus, chilling interrogation tapes of suspect in Jessica Lunsford murder -- tapes from 14 years ago: a confession, a plea for help, and possibly -- and we say possibly -- a missed opportunity. We'll show you the tapes.
Also, 35,000 fishermen armed with nets and not much else. You have never seen pictures like this. We're going take you to Africa for a fishing contest you've got to see to believe. The World in 360, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You've never seen anything like this next story.
There's so much happening in the world, so much good and so much bad. Each night we like to take you on a journey, spend a few minutes in a land far away. WE call it the "World in 360." And tonight, we want to take you to Africa, to the most popular fishing hole on the planet. It's in northern Nigeria, where this week, thousands of fishermen went searching through swamp and mud for the catch of the year.
CNN International's Hala Gorani joins us from Atlanta with the story -- hey Hala.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, the U.S. has the Super Bowl, England has Wimbledon, but nothing may match the sheer spectacle of Argungu. CNN's Jeff Koinange was there to capture it.
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JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now in it's 71st year, the annual Argungu Fishing Festival in northern Nigeria pits thousands of prospective fishermen and the chance to display their bare-handed skills in bagging the big fish. In keeping with tradition, a musket is fired signaling the start of the event. A 100-meter dash, as the competitors rush headlong into a muddy river in the pursuit of Nile perch and catfish.
They carry the archaic tackles used by their ancestors -- giant butterfly nets and equally giant gourds used for both rotation and as vessels to store their catches.
(on camera): Now the basic principle behind this competition is pretty straightforward. You rush in, you cast your net, you look for the biggest fish and the biggest fish wins.
Oh, there is one more thing -- the water in the River Argungu at its deepest point is about seven to eight feet.
(voice-over): Thousands of bobbing heads dip into the muddy waters, while other contestants float about on their giant calabashes. And lifeguard patrol the river in canoes just in case someone needs help. In the suddenly frothing waters of the Argungu, it's a picture of chaos and confusion.
Exactly an hour after the starting gun and it's all over. The prize catches are tagged and laid out for all to see. And then, the moment of truth. A whopping 165-pound Nile perch caught by local hero Timothy Olu, so large, two men struggle to hold it up.
To the winner, the spoils. With his shiny trophy and $1,000 in cash, Olu walks away, or rather drives a way, in this brand new minibus which is also now his. But perhaps most importantly, he carries off bragging rights as Nigeria's number one fisherman.
Jeff Koinange, in Northern Nigeria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, Anderson, as well as that minivan and the bragging rights, a big fish also means big money for the winner, more than $7,000 to be exact. And it's a country where people live on less than $1 a day. So that's 22 years of cash with one big catch -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, how would you like to be a catfish just sitting in Argangugu (sic) waiting for those guys to come?
GORANI: You don't have a chance, I tell you.
COOPER: I believe you. All right Hala, thanks very much.
360 next, the latest developments in the Terri Schiavo battle, including a doctor's claim tonight that she is not in a vegetative state and it has big political implications. We'll tell you about that.
Also later, the chilling confession of the man who now stands accused of killing a child.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. BUSH: This is an extraordinary and sad case. And I believe that in a case such as this, the legislative branch, the executive branch, ought to err on the side of life, which we have. And now we'll watch the courts make its decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Welcome back to this special two-hour edition of 360. We're focusing in depth tonight on the Terri Schiavo case -- events moving very fast indeed, all day long and even right now.
Here is where things stand right now. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today denied an emergency appeal by Ms. Schiavo's parents to reconsider their daughter's case. So that avenue is closed.
Today, too, the Florida State Senate failed to pass a specially crafted bill that would have resulted in Terri Schiavo's feeding tube being reinserted, another avenue closed.
But then, late today, Florida Governor Jeb Bush announced that he is looking for some other way for his state to intervene, citing what he called new evidence that the brain-damaged 41-year-old woman may have been misdiagnosed, that she is, in fact, not in a persistent vegetative state, this according to a new neurologist on the case that he had on the case -- a neurologist who has not actually physically examined Terri Schiavo.
So, two doors seemingly slammed shut, another, though, suddenly opened a crack late today, a ruling. A judge said that tomorrow -- Judge Greer, who has been on this case for years now said that tomorrow he will rule on that allegedly new evidence referred to by Governor Jeb Bush.
So, what should have been the most private of all decisions involving a woman who's been marooned on a hospital bed for years has now, today, become a debate in the courts and the houses of legislature and, out on the streets, something more passionate even than that.
John Zarrella has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Even children attempting to bring water to Terri Schiavo were put into handcuffs outside her hospice. The protest was peaceful and coordinated with police, so there would be no violence. But it underscores the religious fervor of the people here.
CROWD: This day our daily bread.
ZARRELLA: Their passionate about their religion and the right- to-life cause. The scene playing out at the hospice is, they say, not just Michael Schiavo's doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to point fingers as to who's to specifically to blame, but we definitely need a conversion of hearts here in this country to once again uphold the culture of life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do believe that we are in a culture of death, that we glorify death in this country.
ZARRELLA: Fingers were pointed toward at least one of the judges involved in the Schiavo case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a wicked man, a wicked judge.
ZARRELLA: Against this backdrop, police presence is everywhere and in numbers. For several weeks, Michael Schiavo has been under police guard. People close to him say he has received death threats. Protesters have even staged rallies at Schiavo's house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Schiavo, can we talk to you, please?
ZARRELLA: Given the level of religious zealotry evident in the debate over Schiavo, there is reason for concern. Governor Bush today implored people to keep it peaceful.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Those who value life need to act accordingly.
Even though we may disagree with the courts, there is no justification for violent acts.
ZARRELLA: Florida has seen it's share of violence by extremists. In 1993, Michael Griffin murdered an abortion doctor in front of a Pensacola clinic. He's serving a life sentence.
Paul Hill, one of Griffin's supporters, took the life of an abortion doctor and his escort the following year. He was executed for his crime. One of Hill's supporters was caught by the FBI at Miami Beach. He was sentenced last year for plotting to blow up abortion clinics. A security analyst and former Broward Sheriff Nick Navarro says high emotions can lead people to overreact.
NICK NAVARRO, FORMER BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFF: They could react in a manner that it could be a violent situation at hand. So I hope that this security continues for the time being now and maybe even after she expires.
ZARRELLA: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says it is monitoring the situation in Pinellas Park, and, in its words -- quote -- "collecting intelligence."
While supporters don't agree with the law as it pertains to Terri, they are being careful not to break it.
John Zarrella, CNN, Pinellas Park, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, on 360, we don't take sides. We like to present all the angles. In a moment, you're going to hear from an adviser to Terri Schiavo's parents, but first Brian Schiavo, the brother of Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, who is spearheading the effort to let his wife die.
I talked with him earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Brian, I want to play you something that Governor Bush said earlier today and have you respond to it. Let's take a look.
BRIAN SCHIAVO, BROTHER OF MICHAEL SCHIAVO: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The neurologist's review indicates that Terri may have been misdiagnosed and it is more likely that she is in a state of minimal consciousness rather than in a persistent vegetative state. This new information raises serious concerns and warrants immediate action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The governor's saying she's in a minimal conscious state, rather than a persistent vegetative state. True?
B. SCHIAVO: That's what he believes, but, you know, he was asked to come in and take a good look at all of the information, the medical information, and he wouldn't have had to do this at the last minute, to throw this in there and to try to create a problem at the last minute. He was asked to look at this before. I don't believe that's true. I've been to see her.
She's very peaceful and she's not conscious. She -- unfortunately, this particular condition, it looks like somebody's awake. They have wake and sleep cycles. And it looks like they're awake, but Terri doesn't recognize anybody. She doesn't recognize where she is. So, I don't agree with that at all.
COOPER: So, in your opinion, she's not aware of any of this whirlwind around her right now?
B. SCHIAVO: Not at all. Not at all.
COOPER: What is it like in that hospital room? I mean, I know your brother has been there around the clock, except when the feeding tube was removed. I mean, what is the atmosphere like?
B. SCHIAVO: Well, unfortunately, it's -- you know, it's -- when you walk in, I'm a little I'm a little concerned for -- you know, there's other people there that have loved ones that are dying. And I'm not sure -- I don't think that there is a problem, but I would imagine -- I can only imagine if it was me being made to -- to be privy to all that commotion, it wouldn't be a pleasant thing. But getting into, you know, exactly in the room itself, it's very peaceful. I mean, she is just very peaceful there. I don't know why people think she -- you know, this -- quote, unquote -- "starving to death" is so terrible. She is very, very peaceful.
COOPER: The people who say the feeding tube should be put back in say that people don't treat animals like this. They don't allow animals to starve to death. Your response to that.
B. SCHIAVO: No, but Terri's not an animal, first of all, and this is her wish. She didn't want to be this way. She expressed that not only to my brother. Many people think it's just communication that she expressed to my brother during their marriage, but there are other people involved that she had conversations with about this.
You know, I can't equate it to an animal. Terri's not an animal. She's not an object. So, you know, everybody says, give her over to her parents. Well, she's not an object. Unfortunately, she's become a political object, but she's not an object just to be turned over to somebody. And her wishes, right now, her constitutional rights are being violated. I don't care how Mr. Bush or anybody else in Congress, whether it be in the United States Congress or Senate, you know, some of their irrational decision-making is very troublesome.
And people of this country, they need to be very, very concerned about the people that we put in a position, such as Tom DeLay has. His behavior is just irrational. And next time you go and pull your levers, just make sure who we're putting in these positions.
COOPER: Brian Schiavo, I appreciate you being with us. Thank you, Brian.
B. SCHIAVO: No problem at all. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, for another angle, we go to Brother Paul O'Donnell, who has been a spiritual adviser to Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. I spoke with him earlier as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Brother O'Donnell, based on these latest decisions today, where do you go from here?
PAUL O'DONNELL, SCHINDLER FAMILY ADVISER: Well, I think we're very hopeful that the Department of Children and Families has had a physician examine Terri, and it has been determined that she is not in a persistent vegetative state.
COOPER: Well, let me just interrupt you for a second, because they didn't have a physician actually examine her. They had a physician who look at her and then looked at videotapes.
O'DONNELL: Right.
COOPER: He made it very clear that he didn't examine Terri Schiavo, but go ahead.
O'DONNELL: Right. But he did go -- he did go into her room and was at her side and did also physically observe her. And so we now believe that the Department of Children and Families can pursue taking Terri Schiavo into protective custody. At least that's what we're hoping for.
COOPER: Under what jurisdiction, under what right do you think that they should be allowed to take physical custody of her, as judge after judge has ruled that Michael Schiavo is within his rights?
O'DONNELL: Well, it's only Judge Greer that has refused primarily that the DCF should not get involved.
But the Department of Children and Families, it's a state organization that investigates people who are being abused -- vulnerable adults, children. And they do have the authority, by Florida state law, if someone is being physically abused -- and there is evidence that Terri Schiavo is not in a persistent vegetative state, and, therefore, what is being done to her now and what the department has found constitutes her being into protective custody.
COOPER: There are -- hundreds of protesters have come forward, of course, on behalf of the Schindlers. Some of them have been arrested. Are you in any way encouraging this kind of very active protest?
O'DONNELL: Well, let me say I understand their frustration.
This is the United States of America. And we're on day six where a human being is being deprived of food and hydration. And here in Miami, I'm told that someone is going to prison for five years for starving animals. It's insanity, what's happening here in Florida.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But aren't people taken off feeding tubes all the time?
O'DONNELL: Well, when they're dying, but Terri is not dying of any terminal illness. She could live another 20, 30, 40 years. She is the only person in the United States that has been court-ordered to die. In other words, Judge Greer didn't say the guardian may remove the feeding tube. Judge Greer said, the guardian shall. And that's a very dangerous precedent in the United States.
COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Brother Paul O'Donnell, appreciate you being with us. Thank you.
O'DONNELL: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, as I point out, we don't take sides in this program, but we are a stickler for facts. We looked into the association of Brother O'Donnell's that Terri Schiavo is legally unique because a court ordered not that her feeding tube could be removed, but that it had to be removed.
We found that Brother O'Donnell is incorrect in this case. In at least once case, the case of woman a named Nancy Beth Cruzan, a court did order that a feeding tube had to be removed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): John Couey charged with killing Jessica Lunsford. Tonight, his tape-recorded confession to another crime.
JOHN EVANDER COUEY, DEFENDANT: I asked her if she wanted to play hide-and-go-seek.
COOPER: Was there something more police could have done to keep track of this sexual predator?
Elizabeth Smart kidnapped by a deranged man wanting to make her his wife. Tonight, a 360 interview with Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart: the lesson he's learned and his advice to keep your kids out of the hands of a predator.
360 continues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY SCHINDLER, MOTHER OF TERRI SCHIAVO: When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is Terri's face in front of me dying, starving to death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was a statement from Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother. She's begging for her daughter's life.
After several setbacks today, Schiavo's parents are expected to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and keep her alive.
Congressional correspondent Joe Johns is outside the court, joins us now.
Hey, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson.
We've been basically waiting all day for this appeal to the United States Supreme Court. Heard about it early this morning, but it hasn't gotten here. Just a little while ago, got some information about perhaps why. The attorney for the Schiavo parents has been busy in Tampa on other issues related to this case and only this evening started working on the Supreme Court appeal.
Meanwhile, some others here in Washington, D.C., have also been working on this appeal, even though it hasn't gotten here yet. Among them, some key House Republicans, including the speaker of the House himself, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. They put together an amicus brief -- in other words, a friend of the court brief -- as well as a letter of intent to the court to be delivered with the appeal when it is filed.
They make several points. Probably key among them -- we have a graphic -- is that the court, "The court below failed to properly assess the legislative history of the acts that was passed over the weekend and signed by the president in the Terri Schiavo case. They say the legislation they passed requires the reinsertion of the feeding tube, also that the plain meaning and legislative history require that a temporary restraining order be issued. This is required to ensure that desperately needed nutritional support is provided to keep Terri Schiavo alive during the pendency of her claim.
Now, whenever that application for appeal gets here, whenever the appeal itself gets here, of course, it is expected to go first to Justice Anthony Kennedy. He has the option of entering a temporary restraining order on his own or bumping this issue up to the high court in its whole, in its entirety. That is what is expected to happen -- Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: All right, Joe, live at the Supreme Court -- thanks, Joe.
Regardless of what happens at the Supreme Court, Judge Greer, who's the judge who has been following this case and ruling on it for years, said late today he'll review the so-called new medical evidence that Governor Bush spoke about earlier today, evidence the governor says indicates Terri Schiavo is not in a vegetative state.
There are so many legal angles on the story, it's very easy to get confused. Want to try to clear things up right now with where everyone stands with attorney Avery Friedman.
Avery, good to see you. Thanks for being on the program.
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Nice to see you, Anderson.
COOPER: Florida Judge George Greer has agreed to consider new evidence on what Terri Schiavo is in fact in a persistent vegetative state. Is this the best hope right now for Schiavo's parents to get that feeding tube back in?
FRIEDMAN: It's a pretty remote one, Anderson.
What the judge is doing -- and, remember, this is the same judge that found by clear and convincing evidence that Terri Schiavo didn't want the feeding tube -- now is reconsidering new evidence, or will consider new evidence based on the Department of Family and Children under an abuse or neglect statute.
But I think that Judge Greer is going to be very careful as he has been throughout this case, before making a ruling which would reverse the precedent which has been established. I think it's very, very unlikely we're going to see a change.
COOPER: And, basically, you know, we're calling it new evidence, but, in fact, when you look at the details, this is one neurologist hired by the state to look at the case.
FRIEDMAN: Right.
COOPER: To examine videotapes, and to stand in the room with Terri Schiavo, not to even physically examine her. So to call it even new evidence, you know, it's a fine line.
FRIEDMAN: Well, it's evidence. The question is what weight Judge Greer is going to give to it.
And you nailed the point. The point is that this new doctor has not examined the patient. Maybe it would be different. But, in any event, what Judge Greer is going to consider is whatever weight he's going to assign to this new medical evidence. And you know what? It's the sign of a good judge. Judge Greer is doing the right thing. This issue is so important, this case is so remarkable that Judge Greer is doing the right thing. I don't think, again, it's going to make a whole lot of difference, but it really is the last major hook that the Schindlers have in this case.
COOPER: Well, what about the U.S. Supreme Court? What are the chances there?
FRIEDMAN: Well, remember, Joe just gave his report in front of the Supreme Court. I think the Schindlers' lawyer wasted a lot of time today by trying to convene the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. It was, I think, a waste of time. And I will tell you why, Anderson.
The opinion that was issued at 2:15 this morning -- and I was waiting -- I got it off the wires -- basically was very analytical and dealt with the issue of congressional intent -- what Senator Frist had to say, what Senator Levin had to say -- very well-written. And so we knew that it was a powerful opinion. Instead of going to the Supreme Court, which, if the Schindlers were represented by me, that's exactly where I would have gone, tried to get U.S. Associate Justice Kennedy to take the case -- they wasted literally an entire day.
COOPER: All right, we'll see what happens there at the Supreme Court tonight and tomorrow. Avery Friedman, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.
FRIEDMAN: Nice to be with you.
COOPER: We're going to take a look at the medical angle on this story. And there are so many developments on this story, moving very fast. We're trying to keep you up to date. We're going to take a look at the medical angle. Really, is this new evidence? What does it really mean?
That in a moment.
But, first, let's take a look at the other headlines making news right now.
Erica Hill from Headline News joins us for that.
Hey, Erica.
HILL: Hi, Anderson.
The Army secretary is hoping that by putting an emphasis on patriotism, that will inspire parents to get their kids to join up. The Army is revamping its sales pitch to try to counter sagging recruiting numbers. With long deployments overseas, the numbers are steadily dropping. Officials expect they won't meet recruitment goals this month or the next.
The government is investigating whether millions of Ford pickup trucks and SUVs may have a potential fire hazard. Now, the probe covers 3.7 million Ford F-150 pickups, Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators. The model years date from the late '90s to early 2000. Ford has received 218 complaints of engine fires caused by the cruise control switch.
Pop singer Whitney Houston has checked into rehab again. No other details are available at this point. Houston last checked herself into a rehabilitation center a year ago, this after denying she used drugs for years. She admitted using cocaine, marijuana and pills in a TV interview in 2002. Houston said she was using the power of prayer now to help her get over her addiction.
And that's the latest from Headline News -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Erica, thanks. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes for another update.
Right next -- coming up next on 360, what about this new medical evidence? Is Terri Schiavo not in a vegetative state? 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta weighs in next.
And a little later tonight, the man accused of killing little Jessica Lunsford confessed to another crime in the past. We have the tapes. We're going to play it. It raises some alarming questions.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. BUSH: The neurologist's review indicates that Terri may have been misdiagnosed and it is more likely that she is in a state of minimal consciousness rather than in a persistent vegetative state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, with that announcement, Florida Governor Jeb Bush said the state has filed another request to intervene to keep Terri Schiavo alive. He's basically saying she's been misdiagnosed. Now a state judge who ordered the feeding tube removed says he's going to rule on that case by noon tomorrow.
360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta joins me now for a look at this.
Is that possible? I mean, what's the difference between a state of minimal consciousness and a persistent vegetative state?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are several differences actually between the two. And it can be difficult for anybody, even a neurologist, to sometimes distinguish a couple of things. A persistent vegetative state, as we've seen so many times now, a person can have sleep/wake cycles. They actually open their eyes and close their eyes. They sometimes do not consciously process pain. Their eyes can open spontaneously. They don't have any evidence of the following, perception of surroundings, ability to communicate, or any intended movements. Everything is more reflex.
Compare that to a minimally conscious state. The biggest, most cardinal difference between the two is that they can actually follow some sort of commands. Their eyes open spontaneously. They have the sleep/wake cycles. Those are all the same. They can feel pain, but they demonstrate some awareness of their environment.
The biggest thing, though -- and I have not see any evidence of this in the videotapes -- is that, if you told them to do a simple thing like hold up two fingers or wiggle your thumb or turn your head to the right, they would actually hear you and follow a command. You know, obviously, from the videotape that we see, it's hard to get a sense of that, but those are sort of the big differences between the two.
COOPER: That's fascinating. So they would follow a simple command. They would give yes-or-no responses. They would verbalize.
The doctor who made that diagnosis that the governor is basing all this on, he's a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. He wasn't -- he didn't personally examine Terri Schiavo. He looked at videotapes, which we've all seen. He reviewed her medical records. He stood in the room and saw her, but he didn't touch her. Is that important? Does that matter?
GUPTA: Stood in the room. He met her, but didn't examine her.
Yes, it is important. I think that this is the type of situation where you need to have a thorough exam to be able to tell. I think it's really impossible to tell based on the videotapes alone. I mean, I think that that's pretty clear. A lot of people are making a lot of comments about these videotapes. We're seeing, you know, just a few minutes out of 15 years that a person has been in this state.
If someone is saying that she's, in fact, in a minimally conscious state, it would be great to see a videotape of her actually following a command. That is so crucially important, Anderson. Obviously, she's opening her eyes, closing her eyes, maybe even having some reflexes in terms of smiling, grimacing, things like that. But if she actually follows a command, it says that she can hear, she can understand, and she can act upon that information. Critical information, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. And this has been in the court for seven years now. The judge who's been ruling on this all along is going to rule on this very matter tomorrow, so we'll be watching that very closely, by noon tomorrow, we're told.
Sanjay Gupta, thanks. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thank you. Yes.
COOPER: We're going to continue to follow this story. If anything happens in the next half-hour, we'll let you know.
But we want to bring you up to date on the case of little Jessica Lunsford -- in particular, the man accused of killing her. In a moment, you're going to hear confession tapes from the alleged killer confessing to another crime years ago. The question is, was there something more police or prison officials or somebody could have done? We're going to take a look at the tapes.
And what can you do to protect your kids? A 360 interview with Ed Smart, whose daughter Elizabeth there was kidnapped and found alive. We'll also update you on her case.
And, later, the long search for a fugitive is over. After 20 years on the lam, the law finally got their man.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: New details are emerging about John Couey. He's the man accused of abducting, sexually assaulting, and killing Jessica Lunsford. She was a 9-year-old girl who disappeared exactly one month ago. Her body was found last Saturday. Now, Couey has a very long rap sheet. Back in 1991 he was arrested for molesting a child, and back then he confessed to police. CNN has obtained a copy of the tape of Couey's 1991 confession. It raises some pretty alarming questions about whether something more could have been done to stop this guy. Heidi Collins takes us "Beyond the Headlines."
Hey, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson.
You know, if we could only turn the clock back to 1991 when John Couey made it clear he had a problem that prison could not cure.
Listen now to his confession to police 14 years ago, about what he did to a 5-year-old girl in her back yard on this audiotape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN COUEY, CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER: She was riding across and I went over there and she offered to go into the back yard to jump on the trampoline, and I said OK. So we went back there and she was jumping on there, and I asked if she wanted to play hide-and-go-seek, and she said yes, so we did. COLLINS (voice-over): It gets worse. Couey acknowledges to the officer that he exposed himself, that the girl then sat on his lap, voluntarily, he claims, and then he put the girl's hand on him. There's more. We'll spare you the details.
COUEY: Then her mother come out and yelled for her and I took off. I feel that prison ain't going to help. Well, I'd got out in three years, I got a ten-year sentence. And it doesn't really help. I feel that I need help for myself and that's why I'm confessing, you know, to my crime that I committed, tonight, because I want help for myself, so I will never have to do this again. I feel bad about it, really I do. I don't want to go to prison, I just want to get help for myself. So that's what I need. I want help for myself.
COLLINS: Couey was given the maximum sentence for attempted molestation, five years, and was out on parole in two. He was honest enough with himself and with police at the time to admit that his effort to molest a young girl was not a one-time event.
A written report by the officer who took the taped confession says, quote, "Couey admitted that this was not the first child he had ever touched, however, this is the first time he was caught." The officer continues, "Couey admitted to molesting his wife's daughter, however, she agreed not to report the incident if he left the house and gave her a divorce, which he did. Couey knows he has a problem, however, he has never sought medical assistance to help him control his sexual attraction for young children."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: We should also let you know that we tried unsuccessfully to locate Couey's former wife for comment on this. So, 14 years after John Couey's plea for help, 14 years after he was caught attempting to molest a child, and at least seven arrests later, John Couey now stands accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. If convicted, any help he may now get is obviously too late for him and too late for Jessica Lunsford.
COOPER: Certainly is. Heidi Collins, thanks very much.
Trying to understand what exactly goes on inside the mind of a molester. It's a hard thing to do, but we think it's important, not only for police, but for parents. Earlier, I spoke to James Goldenflame who did five years in prison for molesting his own daughter in the 1980s. He's not re-offended, he says, since that time, and has written a book called "Overcoming Sexual Terrorism." I started by asking him if prison can actually do any help to reform sex offenders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES GOLDENFLAME, AUTHOR "OVERCOMING SEXUAL TERRORISM": Yes, it can. To begin with, and we must not overlook this -- the first thing is does is help keep the community safe while the person is inside prison, obviously. But there's a second, additional help that imprisonment gives us. When the crime of the kind that's occurred here, involving this little child, takes place, the community has a right to express its wrath, and prison is the way we do it in our system. We say, we are so angry at you, we're putting you in a place of punishment, so it helps there.
As far as the inmate is concerned, it gives him a place where, if he uses his time productively and wisely, and if he's in the right kind of state system where it's available, he can get help while he's there. That's what happened to me.
I was sent to prison on a 10-year sentence, and while I was there, I sought and I was fortunate to be able to receive help, so that during the entire time that I was there -- and I served slightly over half my sentence before being released -- I had help, and counseling, and therapy throughout, and it prepared me to come out and be able to have a re-offense-free life all of these years since.
COOPER: But there is no cure, as you have...
GOLDENFLAME: No, no. But you know, Anderson, it's like this: there's no cure for a lot of mental problems. There's no cure for schizophrenia or manic-depressiveness or bipolar, and again and again, what we get instead is, no, there's no cure, but you can manage these so you don't become a schizophrenic or a bipolar...
COOPER: So, you manage it, and yet -- I mean, we see people doing this over again. They say they're not going to. I know the figures maybe aren't as high as some people think, the recidivism rates, but they are alarmingly high, and in a lot of these cases we never find out about -- are people just manipulating the system? Are sexual predators -- I mean, a lot of times -- do they know what the therapist wants them to say and they're repeating it?
GOLDENFLAME: It won't work anymore, Anderson. There's a new technological device out now called the plethysmograph; another variation of it was pioneered by Dr. Gene Able in Atlanta, and in both cases, it's like a sexual lie defector that is used on us that we can't fake out. It'll show whether there's any active deviancy left or not. It'll actually track it and graph it, and they can see what's going on in your brain.
COOPER: But, I mean, in order to molest kids, you have to be a master manipulator.
GOLDENFLAME: Yes, this is true, and as a result, when conventional psychotherapy was tried years ago, it didn't work. We came in, we conned the system, we conned, sometimes the therapists, and we as a result we remained no better than we were before, except maybe we learned a little about psychology.
COOPER: What changes do we need to make?
GOLDENFLAME: We need to make sure that everybody who goes to prison for a sex offense has treatment made available to them from day one, and they're not let out until their treatment team says, yes, we can see he's safe for supervised release. We need to have them in on a life sentence, so if they get out on a supervised release, and they even begin to look funny, they can go right back in for the rest of their life sentence.
COOPER: Just, finally, for parents, advice for how to keep their kids safe.
GOLDENFLAME: Look up and see who the sex offenders are, if there are any in your neighborhood. Use Megan's Law for a start, and secondly, if you put your child in a youth organization, make absolutely certain the organization has a standing rule that no child is left -- never left alone with a single adult, there's always two adults or more present. That way your child has a chance of being safe.
COOPER: Jake Goldenflame, appreciate you being with us.
Thanks, Jake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (on camera): Coming up, a man who helps parents cope with a nightmare he knows all too well. Elizabeth Smart was abducted in 2002 -- she was found alive. Her father, Ed, talks about the ordeal and what lessons parents can learn from it.
Also ahead, his neighbor says he was a regular guy, a church- goer, a poet -- he was also a criminal on the run.
And a little later, the latest on the Schiavo case, and your e- mails: go to CNN.com/360, click on the instant feedback link. We'd love to hear from you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Every parent, of course, wants to know what they can do to protect their child from illness, from accidents, and from sexual predators.
Ed Smart's daughter Elizabeth was abducted in June of 2002. She remained missing for nearly a year. She was found alive, returned home in March of 2003. He, Ed Smart, has learned so much about sexual predators and what parents can do to protect their kids. I spoke with him earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Were you -- you really had your eyes opened. Were you stunned at -- once you started looking into this, at how common it was?
ED SMART, DAUGHTER WAS KIDNAPPED: I was. The thing that I was so overcome with was I never thought this could happen to me. I never thought it would happen to our family. And we never pictured ourselves being in that position. And when that happened that morning of June 5, I just -- I thought, you know, my gosh, you know, what is it these families go through, and what kind of pain and residual issues did they deal with?
COOPER: Are these kind of kidnappings like we just saw in Florida, are they preventable?
SMART: Well, I think that legislatively we can do a lot. I mean, right now the national sex offender registry is in very poor shape. It's very ineffective. About 46 to 48 out of the 50 states consider non-registration of the sex offender to be a misdemeanor versus a felony.
COOPER: And if you do find out that there is a sexual predator living in your neighborhood, or several, I mean, we've again getting e-mails from several people that said, you know, "I went online last night and found out there are 10 people in my neighborhood." What can you do about it?
SMART: You can decide where your children are going to go. They don't need to go near that home. They can go out of their way. I think that you can, you know, say, you know -- you just can't go out there by yourself.
I think the statistics are that there is one within every square mile throughout the United States. So there is -- there's an issue there that we need to face as a nation that, one, they've always been there.
I mean, maybe it's more predominant now, but they've always been there, but we have never known that they were. And now it's coming online so that you can find out where they are. And I think that you can protect your children by knowing where -- where the predator is. But it's being aware of it.
COOPER: It's a tough conversation to have with your child.
SMART: There's no question about it. But I think the important thing is, I mean, with all of the awareness that's come up about kidnappings, it's an easy way to get your children scared. And the way to get rid of that, you know, scared type of being is, basically, by preparing them.
There's a program that I've been working with called Rad Kids, that is an empowerment tool that, you know, in grade schools in Salt Lake, they've -- well, in Provo, they've started to implement it into the school P.E. program, where they actually teach the children, you know, starting with 911, you know, they talk about who you can trust out there.
They actually go through the motions of not just telling, but teaching. They'll go through, you know, use your elbow, do this, take three giant steps back. And it's an eight-hour course that they actually go through during the year. And I believe that it empowers them. It gives them options.
COOPER: Ed Smart, thanks for being with us.
SMART: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, a blast in an oil refinery claims more than a dozen lives. Erica Hill from Headline News has an update right now.
Hey, Erica.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Yes, and still a lot of questions surrounding this one, Anderson. A deadly explosion today at a BP Oil refinery in Texas, Texas City, Texas, that is. At least 14 people were killed in the blast, as many as 70 others hurt. It blew out windows miles away, but the cause still not known.
President Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico today announced plans to strengthen economic and security ties among the countries, setting aside some of their regional differences. They met in Texas to adopt agreements aimed at making North American markets more competitive, and they vowed to work more closely to fight terrorism in a rapidly changing world.
It is not exactly an Amber Alert, but more of a burnt orange alert in the Houston area. The bi-colored Hummer presented to Roger Clemens by the Yankees has been stolen. There's a statewide APB out for it.
Clemens' son, Kody, left the Humvee unlocked in his high school parking lot. That's where it was stolen. The vehicle was a gift to the Rocket for his 300th win. He got it from the Yankees. He's offering a $10,000 reward for its safe return.
And you know, something similar happened to me in high school and my Humvee was stolen, Anderson. And it was such a bummer.
COOPER: Yes, I bet. I bet it was a bummer there, Erica. All right, thanks very much.
360 next: caught after 20 years. It makes you wonder how well you know your neighbors. The story of how high-tech led cops to a fugitive on the lam for 20 years.
Also tonight, viewers sounding off on the Terri Schiavo battle. We're going to read some of your emotional e-mails: CNN.com/360. Click on the instant feedback link.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Doc, we're looking for a prisoner from that bus/train wreck a couple hours ago. Might be hurt.
HARRISON FORD, ACTOR: What does he look like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 6'1", 180, brown hair, brown eyes, a beard. Seen anyone like that around?
FORD: Every time I look in the mirror, pal, except for the beard, of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That scene was from the movie "The Fugitive," a man on the run from the law. Tonight we've got the real deal, a most-wanted killer who lived a secret life on the lam for 20 years after his escape from prison. He's finally caught.
It's one of the most viewed stories on CNN.com all day. Three- sixty's Rudi Bakhtiar joins us. She looks into these Web sites, and brings you angles you won't see anywhere else.
What did you find out about the guy?
RUDY BAKHTIAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this one was a very interesting one. We found enough to make anybody wonder, Anderson, how well do you really know the people you work with or socialize with, for that matter? Well, thanks to a lot of persistence by police and some important high-tech help, one man's past has just caught up with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR (voice-over): In Chicago, the people at this Unitarian church thought they knew J.J. Jameson well enough. He was a poet, an antiwar protester -- but under a different name, he was also an escaped double murderer.
DET. LT. KEVIN HORTON, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE: Don't let anyone kid you, he's a cold-blooded Killer.
BAKHTIAR: J.J. Jameson is actually Norman Porter, who had done 26 years of a life sentence in Massachusetts before escaping in 1985.
QUESTION: Had you ever given up?
HORTON: Yes. No, no. I mean, did we work on it every day? No. But did we ever forget about the case? No.
BAKHTIAR: Porter was captured on Tuesday, thanks to computers. The FBI's fingerprint database matched Porter's prints to prints taken when Jameson was arrested in Chicago back in 1993. But wait a minute. That was 12 years ago. So why did it take so long?
HORTON: It could have been misread. If it was misread, they don't catch it. In the old days, it was all hand done. People did it. It's all automated now.
My guess is, it was -- it wasn't done correctly at first. Then with the new automation, they ran everything again, and it popped up that way. That's my guess.
BAKHTIAR: It's another success story for the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, IAFIS for short. It's the largest biometric database in the world, containing the fingerprints and corresponding criminal records of more than 47 million people.
But believe it or not, this high-tech tool for catching criminals has only been operational since 1999.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR: And even more surprising is that in this age of terrorism, U.S. Border Patrol is still working on getting all U.S. ports of entry hooked up to the fingerprint databases, and they're hoping to do that by the end of this year.
COOPER: So what happened to the guy today? He's in custody?
BAKHTIAR: Yes. He went to court. He waived extradition. He's going to be taken back to Massachusetts, and he said, when his captors caught him, that it's been a good 20 years.
COOPER: No doubt. All right. Rudi Bakhtiar, thanks for that.
Even more surprising, we have a lot more ahead of you -- ahead of us. We have about eight minutes until LARRY KING. Coming up next, we've got a lot of viewer e-mail to tell you about on the Terri Schiavo case. We're going to read some of them ahead. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MAE JEMISON, ASTRONAUT: You know when you're growing up you have lots of things you want to do. I always assumed I would go into space.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and liftoff.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST, "LIVE FROM" (voice-over): On September 12, 1992, at the age of 35, Dr. Mae Jemison boldly went where no African-American woman had gone before.
JEMISON: It was really after we got on orbit that I had a sensation that I belonged anywhere in this universe.
O'BRIEN: Jemison makes it her life mission to explore the universe in every way she can. This high achiever is also a chemical engineer, Peace Corps veteran, physician, author, and teacher.
In 1994 Jemison started an international science camp for teens called The Earth We Share.
These days, Jemison is the founder and president of the BioSentient Corporation, where she is working on a device that provides mobile monitoring of people's nervous systems. JEMISON: We think that there are real applications in the future for trying to identify certain diseases that can also help people monitor how effective drugs are.
O'BRIEN: In addition to her work in the sciences, Jemison says she one day may explore the field of politics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Been getting a lot of e-mails on the Terri Schiavo case. Time to check on some of those e-mails. A lot of them on this Terri Schiavo story. Here are just a couple for you.
John in Texas writes, "Even if a person wishes to die, a person allowing such a wish to happen is committing murder. We save mentally ill people from committing suicide. Why should Terri be allowed to die through the most painful procedure of starvation and dehydration."
Another angle from Kathy in Patrick Springs, Virginia. She says, "I'm a conservative but now I feel like the Republicans have betrayed the most fundamental of human rights all for some Culture of Life tangent they have all become zeroed in on. Come on, would any of these guys want to live like Terri Schiavo?"
We don't take sides, but we like to hear your angles on stories. Send us an e-mail. Just log onto CNN.com/360, click on the instant feedback link.
And finally tonight, taking answered prayers to "The Nth Degree."
There was a time people didn't have to make the kind of terrible decisions those around Terri Schiavo are currently being forced to make. That is not because things were better then; it's because things were worse, much worse.
For most of human history, someone too ill or too injured to eat would die. It was as simple as that.
As for Terri Schiavo's heart and lungs, they're functioning on their own, but if they weren't, there are machines now that could pump blood and breathe for her. Here, too, for most of human history, a ruined heart or ruined lungs always before simply meant the end. No choice about it.
But now there are choices. So many choices, so many things that were death sentences once now aren't. That is great and enormous, and that is progress.
Only it comes with the terrible complication: the creation sometimes of a state that is between life and death. A mysterious fog-bound condition that is not fully the former, but not really the latter either. That is a kind of hovering.
As we say, things were not better when people didn't have to make such awful decisions, not by a long shot. Nonetheless, the decisions still are agonizing. Thanks very much for watching this special edition of 360. Paula Zahn continues on vacation. We'll be back tomorrow with another two- hour version of 360. I'm Anderson Cooper. CNN's prime time lineup continues right now with "LARRY KING LIVE."
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Aired March 23, 2005 - 19:00 Â 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.
Rampage at Red Lake High: new details of what happened inside that school. And in a moment, the shooter's aunt talks about what kind of boy Jeff Weise really was.
360 starts now.
Rampage at Red Lake High: a community in shock and mourning after a bloody school killing spree. Tonight, the sister of one of the victims speaks out. What drove a young boy to kill? And how can it be prevented from happening again?
Michael Schiavo, getting death threats, hires bodyguards for protection. Tonight, has he become a wanted man for trying to end his wife's life?
John Couey charged with killing little Jessica Lunsford. Tonight, his tape-recorded confession to another crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN COUEY: I did take her hand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Was there something more police could have done to keep track of this sexual predator?
Elizabeth Smart, kidnapped by a deranged man wanting to make her his wife. Tonight, a 360 interview with Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart -- the lessons he's learned and his advice to keep your child out of the hands of a predator.
And caught on tape, a father grief-stricken at the news his son had been killed in combat sets himself ablaze inside a van. Tonight, how this distraught father is trying to triumph over tragedy.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is a special two-hour edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: Good evening.
A special two-hour edition, because there are a lot of developments to tell you about, not only in the Terri Schiavo case but also in the school shooting case in Minnesota.
We begin tonight, however, with the latest in the Terri Schiavo situation.
We have just heard that the state judge who ordered her feeding tube disconnected will now hear new evidence that she may not be in a vegetative state.
There are a lot of fine points to talk about. Let's get the very latest.
Joining us live outside the hospice in Florida is CNN's John Zarrella. John, try to bring us up to date.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, yes, it was a fast- moving today, both in the courts and at the Florida legislative level and with Governor Bush.
First of all, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals turned down the family's request for intervention, meaning that on the federal level, the next stop and last stop would be the United States Supreme Court.
The Florida Senate, in a 21 to 18 vote late this afternoon, turned down, voted no, on a bill that might have allowed for Terri Schiavo's feeding tube to be put back in, to be reinserted. So legislative action in the state of Florida at this point now not going anywhere, and it is dead.
But then, about the same time, Governor Jeb Bush took to the podium in Tallahassee and said there was compelling new evidence, and he was going to order the Department of Children and Families here in Florida, DCF, to intervene in the case. He cited that there were documents, and a review of the documents and videotape by a neurologist in Jacksonville. It said that Terri Schiavo might not be in a persistent vegetative state at all.
Now, what that means is that the DCF has gone to court, seeking to get this heard in court. And that is what is before Judge Greer, who is the trial court judge, who has been in this case for about seven years. And he is expected to rule on that tomorrow night at about, about -- well, tomorrow afternoon about noon, Anderson.
COOPER: Press conference that Florida Governor Jeb Bush had, I mean, it, there'll, you got to kind of look at the fine points, as you have. The doctor he quoted didn't actually physically examine Terri Schiavo, is that correct?
ZARRELLA: That's right. He said that she was in a minimal -- he believed now she was in a minimally conscious state. He did not examine her. All he did was look at videotapes that he was provided of her, and he said that he observed her, and he also looked at all of the medical records. And he is saying now that she is in a minimally conscious state, but that she is not, in his opinion, PVS.
Of course, you know, as many neurologists as you hear, one side or the other, maybe just as many who would say she is PVS. But this is what the governor has instructed Department of Children and Families to do, to go to court, which they have. And Judge Greer, again, the trial court judge, is expected to rule on that tomorrow. If he turns them down, likely they would continue action through the state level up to the Florida Supreme Court on that, Anderson.
COOPER: OK, and the likelihood of the U.S. Supreme Court, I mean, the legal experts we've been talking to say it's not all that likely that they would probably take up this case, but you never know.
ZARRELLA: No, you never know. But given the swift action by the 11th Circuit Court this afternoon, the full court saying no, it is likely that the federal courts, the Supreme Court certainly is -- would assume that they would side on the behalf of the federal courts, and not want to get involved in this case.
And, you know, that has been the over -- the Supreme Court in the past has ruled on this case, and said, no, they would not hear the case. So it's not the first time the Florida -- the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to get involved in this case. And in the past, one other time, they said no.
COOPER: All right, John Zarrella, fast-moving story, difficult one. Appreciate you bringing us up to date. Thanks, John.
We're going to have a lot more on the Terri Schiavo case, not only in this hour, but also in the, coming up in the 8:00 hour. We're really going to focus in on the latest developments on that case.
Some new developments, however, in the Minnesota school shootings.
Now, we have seen young men and boys kill their classmates before. And every time it happens, we always search for answers. Why did they do it? Were there any warning signs? Could the murders have been prevented?
The family of Jeff Weise is certainly searching for answers as well right now.
We're joined now in Minneapolis by Kim Desjarlait. She is Jeff Weise's aunt.
Kim, thank you very much for being with us. I'm sorry for all that your family is going through and your community.
Did this just come out of -- was this just a complete surprise for you?
KIM DESJARLAIT, JEFF WEISE'S AUNT: It was. It was a complete surprise to me, his dad, all of us in the Minneapolis area. It's not the Jeff that we knew.
COOPER: Now, you haven't seen Jeff for a couple years -- I think since 2001. His parents got divorced. You're the sister of his stepdad. What kind of a kid was he -- I mean, when you knew him? DESJARLAIT: Jeff was a good kid. He was, as far as I knew, a very respectable kid. He was very good with manners. He was a very happy kid. He never, as far as I knew, had any problems in school or with any kids outside of school. He had a...
COOPER: So the, so, I mean, there have been...
DESJARLAIT: ... lot of friends.
COOPER: ... reports some of bullying. You don't know, you haven't heard those, you're not, you don't, can't confirm those.
DESJARLAIT: Whatever happened in the Red Lake area, I have no clue. What I know of Jeff here in the Minneapolis area was that he was not a bully. He was never bullied, and he had friends here. He had a lot of friends here.
COOPER: There's no denying that he was a boy who lived through an awful lot of tragedy. His father committed suicide. His mother was in a nursing home. She'd been in a bad accident. He lived with his grandfather. What was his home life like?
DESJARLAIT: In the Minneapolis area, it was a normal type of life. Every weekend he went to the movies. He would have parties at the Chuck E. Cheese's. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: And his relationship with his mom? I mean, I understand there were some issues with her previous to her accident.
DESJARLAIT: They had, as far as I knew, a good relationship. Him, his stepdad, they all had a good relationship. He called my brother Dad. And he called me Auntie.
COOPER: How is your brother doing in all this? I mean, he was Jeff's stepdad.
DESJARLAIT: My brother was really devastated by it. This is something that he would have never seen or expected that would have came out of Jeff. The Jeff that we all knew was a very good kid. He, as any kid, you know, would have issues about making a bed, you know, and he's told do something, he always did it. You might get some aggression out of it, but he was your typical kid at that time. He was a very good kid.
COOPER: When something like this happens, I mean, imagine you and probably everyone who knew him just plays every encounter you had with him in your mind over and over, kind of looking for any kind of sign. And as you've done that, have any signs popped up?
DESJARLAIT: No. Not at all, not when he lived here. He, again, like I say, was a great kid. And when he got to Red Lake, you start hearing of all of these things that happened to him and that people started seeing, and I don't understand...
COOPER: Well, someone with his, someone with his name, you know, was writing messages to a neo-Nazi Web site. DESJARLAIT: That's surprising to us, because that's not Jeff. I mean, Jeff, when he lived here, he was in a interracial school. He had, you know, African-American friends, he had Caucasian friends, he had Hispanic friends. He never was where he segregated his self just to his race. He had a variety of friends.
COOPER: Well, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), clearly a lot was going on in this young man's mind. Kim Desjarlait, appreciate you being with us to talk about what you know of your nephew. Thank you very much.
DESJARLAIT: Thank you.
COOPER: We wanted to take you back now to the scene of the shooting in Red Lake, where 10 people, including Jeff Weise, died. Much shock and many unanswered questions there, as you might imagine.
David Mattingly is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On and off the Red Lake Reservation, people grieve two days after the worst school shooting since Columbine. And with each passing day, there are more questions.
Victoria Brun is the sister of the slain security guard, Derrick Brun, one of nine people killed by teenager Jeff Weise.
VICTORIA BRUN, SISTER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: Should he have been allowed to be walking on our streets? I mean, had anybody ever addressed the family situation? The -- was there, you know, was there more to cause his -- It had to be a mental illness for him to go walk in there and shoot my brother with a gun right in his heart.
MATTINGLY: Many believe the answers remain sequestered within this isolated and guarded Native American community, while authorities continue to investigate the life of the 16-year-old Weise. Those familiar with his upbringing described to CNN years of social and academic problems, a young boy who was frequently picked on, they say, and was not given the attention he badly needed.
LEE COOK, WEISE FAMILY MEMBER: And who was he going to talk to? His mother was incapacitated. His father was dead. And probably nobody else that he found around him understood what he was going through, or asked, for that matter.
MATTINGLY: Lee Cook is part of Weise's extended family, an executive director of a state Indian resource center. He tells us how, in recent years, Weise's father committed suicide during a standoff with police, and how his mother suffered severe brain injuries in a traffic accident, leaving her in a nursing home.
Weise wound up in the care of relatives, most recently, the home of his grandmother on the Red Lake Reservation.
COOK: If you're not in an environment or used to an environment where somebody's going to come along and say, You know, maybe it would be appropriate for him to have some kind of counseling, or maybe somebody ought to be talking to the son, or to the family about the trauma that he's been through. And I think a lot of times, we just assume people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) a lot of things.
MATTINGLY: Instead, Weise grew angry, until his rage took the lives of nine people before he took his own life, like his father, in conflict with police.
Cook says the family was unaware, until approached by investigators, of Weise's apparent fascination with a neo-Nazi Web site.
COOK: You can make some conjecture. You think, obviously, something at school was rubbing him wrong, and he didn't know how to deal with it. And as kids do in many instances across the country, when they sort of reach the limit of what they can tolerate emotionally and psychologically, they act out. And some just do it more violently than others. And in this case, in his mind, he did, I suppose, what he thought he needed to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: Tribal leaders say next for the Red Lake Reservation will be an extended period, a wake period, for the grieving families. This is a traditional event, normally lasting two full days and nights. And everyone has been told in no uncertain terms that these will be very private events, Anderson.
COOPER: David Mattingly, thanks very much.
360 next, this young man had called himself a Native Nazi on these Web sites. Going to take a closer look at his alleged involvement with racist Web sites. Covering all the angles.
Also ahead tonight, a life-or-death decision. Exhausting all the appeals, and there were some arrests today as well to tell you about. A president, a governor, a high court, and a state senate try to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo. We'll bring you up to date with the latest maneuvers.
And a little later, remember the story of a father who lost his son in Iraq and set a Marine vehicle and himself on fire? We're going to find out what has happened to him now.
All that ahead. First, let's take a look at your picks, the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: President Bush is turning his gaze south of the border. With that and other stories making news right now, let's check in with Erica Hill of Headline News. Hey, Erica.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hey, Anderson, good to see you. Yes, President Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico announced plans today to strengthen economic and security ties among the countries. Setting aside some of their regional differences, they met in Texas to adopt agreements aimed at making North American markets more competitive, and they vowed to work more closely to fight terrorism in a rapidly changing world.
A deadly explosion today at a B.P. Oil refinery in Texas City, Texas. TV stations in Houston reported four people were killed in the blast, as many as 100 others hurt. The cause of the explosion isn't yet known.
Federal investigators say last month's plane crash in New Jersey's Teeterboro Airport was caused by improper loading, not icing. The National Transportation Safety Board says the plane's center of gravity was well forward of the allowable limit. Twelve people were hurt when the plane ran off the runway as it attempted to take off for Chicago.
And this one you just got to see. Two alligators eventually wrestled out of a community lake near the Florida Everglades after neighbors complained to authorities -- seemed they were going after the pets. Dozens of residents watched from a nearby street. An animal control expert went into the water, lassoed the 'gators, taped their mouths shut. The larger one was 11 feet long. Officials say there were rumors it was eying a neighborhood poodle before help arrived. Get all the cats and dogs inside, Anderson.
COOPER: Yikes. You know what that 'gator was doing? It was cowboying.
HILL: Cowboying, I knew it. Exactly.
COOPER: All right, Erica, thanks very much. We'll see you in 30 minutes.
HILL: Thanks.
COOPER: Back to the incident in the Minnesota school. We may never know what drove this young boy, Jeff Weise, to do what he did. I mean, he was 16 years old. Police are searching for a motive, but they're looking through his entire background, including what he may have said in cyberspace.
Using the screen name Todesengel, which is German for Angel of Death, someone identifying himself as Jeff Weise left dozens of postings on the Web site Nazi.org.
Here are two of those. From March 19, 2004, quote, "I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals and his courage to take on larger nations." Here's a posting from last April. "By the way, I'm being blamed for a threat on the school I attend because someone said they were going to shoot up the school on 4/20, Hitler's birthday, and just because I claim being a National Socialist, guess whom they've pinned?" Well, shocking as it may seem, a lot of young Americans also identify with Hitler. They embrace a culture of hate, and they're doing it with music.
CNN's Rick Sanchez goes beyond the headlines for the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Minnesota, 2005, not Munich in the 1930s. It's a new generation, an American generation, worshiping the ideals of the Nazis to a heavy-metal beat.
It's hate, Hitler, and heavy metal, as the man behind the music proudly looks on.
BYRON CALVERT, MUSIC ENTREPRENEUR (on phone): Do you know how many labels I could start with a quarter of a million?
SANCHEZ: From his home in South St. Paul, Minnesota, ex-con Byron Calvert -- real name, Brian Cecchini -- has made it his mission and business to market hate rock. He calls it white power music.
CALVERT: Well, we sell the survival, dude, survival. The (expletive deleted) sells itself.
SANCHEZ: And what Calvert sells, he seems to believe. It's in his music, in his books, and on his on his body.
(on camera): Are you a devotee of Adolf Hitler?
CALVERT: There's a lot of things that he did that was spot on.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): The label is called Panzerfaust in tribute to the Nazis. The lyrics glorify violence against Blacks, against Hispanics but with a special emphasis on Jews.
(on camera): Let me read to you some of the songs. Now the Jew must pay the bill, now it is crystal night once more. Your race once again burns. It sounds pretty violent, sounds pretty hateful.
CALVERT: Hey, hey, hey, hey nobody ever said -- I'm not trying to convince everybody that I'm a pussy, we're not a bunch of pacifists. There are angry white kids writing this music, there are angry white kids listening to it, there is no doubt about that.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Kids that Calvert wants to convert with his music and his Web site.
(on camera): Let me read something from your Web site. We don't entertain racist kids, you write, we create them.
CALVERT: Now I obviously -- see, you asked me that like, but aren't you concerned that you will make these kids be -- I am a racist. I obviously think that the world would be a better place if there was a lot more racist people.
SANCHEZ: This is where the mood goes from someone's belief, no matter how hateful, to something most would consider much worse. In fact, they call it Project School Yard. They are targeting kids, maybe your kids, by trying to get them hooked on their music.
(voice-over): Students across the country, Calvert says -- tens of thousands of them -- are receiving this CD with music from bands like Hate Machine and the Bully Boys.
CALVERT: It's an outreach effort. And it's not really any different than any other company that gives samples of its product to people. For example, if I have a coffee company and I want to give people samples of my coffee, I'm not going to give it to my own customers.
SANCHEZ: Coffee doesn't come with a message of hate.
CALVERT: Who gives a damn? The purpose of that example was -- as a marketing example.
SANCHEZ: The principal of this West Virginian town gave a damn when two people tried to distribute the CDs to his students.
JEFF NELSON, MADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL: We certainly don't appreciate unwanted people coming and trying take advantage of 10 to 14-year-olds with hateful propaganda.
SANCHEZ: But that's exactly what Calvert and Panderfaust are trying to do. And when the principal tried to stop it, he got this phone call from Calvert, who then recorded it and put it on his Web site.
CALVERT: I suggest you mind your own (EXPLETIVE DELETED) business and stop stealing CDs from your students but get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of you.
SANCHEZ: Byron, they're children. Would you like it if your kid went to a school and somebody came and gave him this message.
CALVERT: If I have to make room for homosexuals and Hottentots and name it, you're going to make room for white kids with rebel flags and white power CDs. And if you don't like it, tough (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SANCHEZ: For all of the music CDs that Project School Yard has distributed, it's not clear how many new Nazis Panzerfaust has created. Meantime, Calvert is now in a business dispute with his partner.
(on camera): You're having problems with Panzerfaust in particular. Will that mean the demise of the movement?
CALVERT: Of course not. No. One monkey don't stop no show.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): The monkey slur is aimed at Calvert's partner. Calvert now wants to cut ties with him, because he's part Hispanic, not pure enough, nor white enough for him and the other angry young men who gather in basements like this one surrounded by the sounds and the images of a hateful time -- a time they want to bring back. Rick Sanchez, CNN, in South St. Paul, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, since Rick first reported that story, Brian Calvert's Web site has been shut down. Anyone trying to find it will be redirect to another hate-filled site, we are told.
Coming up next on 360, exhausting all of the appeals: the mom and dad of Terri Schiavo running out of option, but still the legal appeals continue maybe all the way to the Supreme Court. We'll talk about that ahead.
Also the president and his brother weighing in. Should the governor be involved in life-and-death decisions? Would do you think? We're getting a lot of e-mail on this. We'd love to hear from you. A closer look at their personal and political connections to this case. We're talking about the president and Governor Bush.
Also tonight, a grieving father set himself and a Marine vehicle on fire. Remember that story? We'll find out what has happened to him since. It was all caught on tape. Part of our week-long special series.
And later, dealing with memories that just will not go away. Our 360 M.D., Sanjay Gupta on coping with post-traumatic stress. And do you have some memories that you want to get rid of that you can't? Interesting look at how the brain really works. We're covering all the angles. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JEB BUSH, (R) FLORIDA: I'm doing everything within my power to make sure Terri is afforded at least the same rights that criminals convicted of the most heinous crimes take for granted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That was Florida Governor Jeb Bush today making a startling announcement, making his position very clear. He also said that a new neurologist has examined the case, examined Terri Schiavo, and determined that he she is not in a vegetative state. And in fact, he said he would like the state to take custody of her if they could.
Now as we told you at the top of the show, a state judge has agreed to consider new evidence, and will decide tomorrow whether to reinsert the feeding tube based on this new neurologist's report. The parents are waiting for an answer. Two very powerful men named Bush come to their side.
Here is CNN's senior White House correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Late morning, Waco, Texas, President Bush making it clear if the federal courts don't intervene to save Terri Schiavo, he sees no way he can do more.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll watch the courts make its decisions. But we look at all options from the executive branch perspective.
KING: Oh, and by the way.
G. BUSH: I have not discussed the next steps from the brother -- my brother who is the governor of Florida.
KING: Two-and-a-half hours later, Tallahassee, Florida, Governor Jeb Bush saying he now believes he has executive authority to at least temporarily restore Schiavo's feeding tube.
J. BUSH: We're exhausting all executive options.
KING: The role of the brothers Bush is a remarkable subplot to the legal and political battle over Schiavo and the broader debates over the right to life and the right to die.
KEITH APPEL, CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIST: The Congress, the president, the legislature, the governor in Florida, have all bent over backwards. They've all gone to remarkable lengths -- certainly unprecedented lengths in my lifetime and the lifetimes of most people -- to try to save the life of this one woman.
KING: For years, this was Jeb Bush's fight in the Florida legislature and in the state courts. President Bush stepped in when it appeared his brother's options at the state levels were exhausted, supporting, and then rushing back from Texas, to sign extraordinary legislation shipping the Schiavo fight to the federal courts.
Very different in political style. The president acknowledges he tends to be blunt. His brother is more soft spoken. President Bush is a devote Christian, his brother the government, a convert to Catholic.
Both outspoken in their support for what they call a culture of life -- opposition to abortion and cloning, strict limits on stem cell research. And now extraordinary executive efforts in the Schiavo case, that won praised from social conservatives, but run contrary to majority opinion in the United States. And critics say, contrary to years of legal precedent.
KATHERINE TUCKER, LEGAL ANALYST: It has been an act that is such a gross overreaching of the bounds of federal authority.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Two brothers, one the chief executive of Florida, the other the chief executive of the United States. Yet their considerable powers, perhaps not enough to win a fight they insist is motivated by deep moral beliefs not as some critics say, Anderson, of politics.
COOPER: Well, John, that's what's remarkable. On camera, all these politicians say, politics has nothing to do with this. But I mean, these are politicians. Don't politics always have something to do with this?
KING: Well, certainly if the motivation itself is not politics, there are ramifications in politics. And many say that both the president and his brother, the governor, perhaps going an extra step or at least seeing if they can go an extra step to keep at least keep their political bases happy. Again, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) both men insist if that happens, it is secondary, and it's accidental -- if you will, coincidental. They say they are motivated by their moral beliefs. But of course, anytime you have a case so controversial, so emotional, there is a legal fight and there is a very loud political fight.
COOPER: John King, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Michael Schiavo getting death threats, hires bodyguards for protection. Tonight, has he become a wanted man for trying to end his wife's life?
And "Caught on Tape," a father, grief-stricken at the news his son had been killed in combat, sets himself ablaze inside a van. Tonight, how this distraught father is trying to triumph over tragedy. This special two-hour edition of 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Not just a burning van, a father's dreams going up in flames. A moment we can't forget. It happened when a Florida man blind with rage and disbelief, attacked a military van after he learned his son, a U.S. Marine had died in Iraq. All this week, we're bringing you up to date to what happened to the people involved in moments like that. Moments we all remember. Moments that were caught on tape.
Tonight John Zarrella on the father whose grief overwhelmed him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With great care, Carlos Arredondo, shovels the snow from his son's grave. More than six months have passed since day Carlos' son Alex died. Twenty-year- old Marine Lance Corporal Alex Arredondo was killed during combat in Najaf, Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexander's mother choose this place, and it's wonderful.
ZARRELLA: The serenity of this snow-covered cemetery outside Boston is a long way in miles and emotion from that sweltering August day in Hollywood, Florida.
CARLOS ARREDONDO, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: Accidentally pressed the button, because that's when the van blew up. And the next thing I know, it threw me out to the street and I was on fire.
ZARRELLA: Cameras captured a U.S. Marine Corps van burning, firefighters spraying water on the flames. Nearby, Carlos Arredondo lay with burns over 25 percent of his body. Carlos remembers everything that happened, but not why. He was in his front yard when the three blue uniformed Marines showed up.
ARREDONDO: And I say, are you guys here to recruit some kids, because you guys are in the wrong house. The kids are next door. And they -- they responded by saying, we are not here to recruit anyone.
ZARRELLA: His son had been killed, they told him, but the words could not be real, he remembers thinking, as he ran to the backyard.
ARREDONDO: Perhaps it's a nightmare. I need to wake up from this nightmare.
ZARRELLA: Then he ran to the garage, first for a hammer, then for gasoline.
ARREDONDO: I grabbed a torch. I grabbed the gas.
ZARRELLA: He went to the Marine van out front and began smashing it, then picked up the can of gasoline.
ARREDONDO: I grabbed the gasoline and I start pouring gasoline everywhere inside the van.
ZARRELLA: His mother, who was at the house that day tried pulling him away. That's when Carlos says he slipped and pushed the igniter on the torch.
ARREDONDO: Inside the van blew up, in which threw me out of the van.
ZARRELLA: That was August 25. The ambulance ride to the hospital was not the only one he would take. On September 4, Carlos attended his son Alex's funeral in Boston from a stretcher in an ambulance.
ARREDONDO: The burns are healing much better.
ZARRELLA: The emotional healing will take much longer.
ARREDONDO: He was so proud. He -- in every move he did, he can show people how proud he was about being a U.S. Marine. And he was my American dream.
ZARRELLA: Nearly every room in the Arredondo home in Hollywood became a shrine to Alex.
ARREDONDO: We have here the Purple Heart.
ZARRELLA: Carlos did apologize to the three Marines. No charges were filed. Now he and his wife, Melida, Alex's stepmother, have moved from Florida and gone back to Boston far away from the reminders of August, closer to the memory of Alex.
MELIDA ARREDONDO, ALEXANDER'S STEPMOTHER: A lot of times it's really hard to just go on (UNINTELLIGIBLE), because we can't believe he's gone. But we're doing better. And I know that's what you would have wanted.
ZARRELLA: Melida is working to pay off Carlos' $50,000 in medical bills. Carlos is in counseling finding peace, he says, a little at a time.
ARREDONDO: Rest in peace. Rest in peace.
ZARRELLA: John Zarrella, CNN, Hollywood, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: The parents' grief. Tomorrow, "Caught on Tape," the fiery crash landing of a crippled DC-10 airliner in Sioux City, Iowa. Do you remember that? The hero pilot who saved live -- lives against incredible odds. We're going to take a look at how the crash has changed his life.
Coming up next on 360 however, how your mind works when something traumatic happens to you, and how to help those who've seen the worst of times find relief.
Also tonight, fast-moving developments in the Terri Schiavo case. Kids in handcuffs, a children's crusade for Terri Schiavo, as the protests are getting more emotional and very, very personal.
Also later tonight, the suspect in Jessica Lunsford murder: was a plea for help missed years ago? We've got the interrogation tapes that tell the tale coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Images from fighting in Falluja -- the shock, the fear, the violence of war, it is literally unforgettable for so many Americans coming home from Iraq.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Some events our brains simply cannot forget. As we continue our series "Refresh Your Memory," 360 MD Sanjay Gupta shows us how horrible memories can actually change the brain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ESTEBAN LORA, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: There are a lot of things they see every day to day that remind me Iraq. Like for the New Years, you had to walk outside your door and you see all of these things flying around and you hear the firecrackers popping. It's like -- for a second you're like, whoa.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Esteban Lora is 22 years old, a college student in Miami, and a war veteran with a Purple Heart. He battled insurgents in a notorious Sunni Triangle. In the fall of 2003, he was wounded by a roadside bomb, and sent home. The scars on his hand and foot have healed over. But mentally...
LORA: I was angry. Very emotional. Very emotional.
GUPTA: A doctor at the Miami V.A. hospital diagnosed with him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
PTSD encompasses a wide range of symptoms. Nightmares and flashbacks are common. A signature complaint is that the smallest stimulus like a noise triggers a flood of painful, overwhelming memories. It leads to jumpiness, anger, and depression.
Psychiatrist Douglas Bremner is at the forefront of scientific research on people with PTSD. With advanced imaging technology, he and others have been able to pinpoint actual changes in the brain. Perhaps the biggest difference is in the hippocampus, that area so central to memory. In people with PTSD, it is significantly smaller than in healthy people.
Researcher Robert Osturer (ph) put me through a brain scan, an MRI, testing the function of my hippocampus. My healthy brain could remember exactly where to go in the water mains, but PTSD patients have trouble with this. In real life, they can have trouble recalling directions, or what to buy at the store.
Here's my brain during the task. The area's lighting up so brightly are the two sides of the hippocampus. But on a PTSD patient, the hippocampus isn't lighting up at all. There's no focus of activity.
A damaged hippocampus leads to other problems, too -- severe absentmindedness and intrusive, fearful memories. Today, standard treatments for PTSD are anti-depressants, and group and individual therapy.
Lora's doctors say that by seeking and receiving treatment early on, his chance of recovery is excellent. Research also backs up what several doctors and patients told us: social support tends to help as much as anything.
LORA: Relief came when you're sitting around with the same guys you were with in Iraq and saying hey, man, I'm having these problems. And you know, you open up to them and they're like dude, let's get help, let's go. The most painful thing for me is to sit in a room or go to drill and know that you're among heroes. That's my thing. It's not painful. It's just painful because so joyful. I know people who are heroes -- real-life heroes and they're my friends.
GUPTA: With a wedding planned for June and two years left to a political science degree, this hero is putting his life back together. He's one of the lucky ones.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: He certainly is.
Are there certain kinds of memories that are harder for us to forget than others?
GUPTA: Yes, Yes. The sense of smell, really very interesting, Anderson. You'd think that the most powerful memories would be visual but in fact the smell -- something goes through your nose and goes almost directly to that area of the brain that's so central for memory.
So smell can be hard, also sounds. A lot of veterans say the smell of diesel and the sound of helicopters are unforgettable. So, those two things, even more than visual, are hard to forget.
COOPER: If you know a smell or sound can trigger bad memory, can you change it? Can you associate it with someone or something else?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, we looked pretty hard into this, the whole notion of replacing a bad memory. Sort of like, if you have a memory of a song that keeps playing over and over again in your head, a song that you don't like, you can replace that with another song, for example, or something else if you would like to try to get that one memory out of your mind. But it really takes a conscience effort to be able to do it, but it's possible.
COOPER: I have the "Macarena" song eternally going in my head.
Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much.
Our series on memory continues tomorrow with deceptive memories: how two people can see the same thing and remember it completely differently. We see this in the courtroom all of the time.
U.S. troops on the offensive in Iraq, just one of the stories making news at a quarter until the hour. Erica Hill from "Headline News" joins us for an update -- Erica.
HILL: Hi, Anderson.
Intelligence tips from Iraqi citizens have resulted now in the deaths of dozens of insurgents. U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 85 militants at a suspected training camp in central Iraq yesterday. They reportedly included Iraqis, Filipinos, Algerians, Moroccans, Afghanis, and Arabs from neighboring countries. The raids also turned up booby-trapped cars, suicide bomber vests, and weapons and training documents.
A federal jury in Texas has convicted a truck driver of transporting illegal immigrants in the nation's deadliest smuggling attempt. The judge declared a mistrial, however, on the most serious charges after jurors were deadlocked and that means no death penalty. Nineteen people died after being crammed inside of the hot tractor trailer in 2003.
One of Michael Jackson's attorneys was taken from the courthouse on a gurney today. Brian Oxman was seen leaning over the defense table at the end of testimony during the pop star's trial on child molestation charges. No word on what his ailment is or his condition. Meantime, a victory for Jackson today. The judge ruled the prosecution cannot show the jury adult material found on Michael Jackson's computer.
And that's the latest from "Headline News." Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Man, they're dropping like flies in that courtroom.
HILL: Must be something in the water.
COOPER: I know. What's going on?
Erica, thanks very much. See you back in 30 minutes.
360 next, time running out for Terri Schiavo as protests continue and appeals are running their course. We're going to hear from both sides of her family, coming up.
Plus, chilling interrogation tapes of suspect in Jessica Lunsford murder -- tapes from 14 years ago: a confession, a plea for help, and possibly -- and we say possibly -- a missed opportunity. We'll show you the tapes.
Also, 35,000 fishermen armed with nets and not much else. You have never seen pictures like this. We're going take you to Africa for a fishing contest you've got to see to believe. The World in 360, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You've never seen anything like this next story.
There's so much happening in the world, so much good and so much bad. Each night we like to take you on a journey, spend a few minutes in a land far away. WE call it the "World in 360." And tonight, we want to take you to Africa, to the most popular fishing hole on the planet. It's in northern Nigeria, where this week, thousands of fishermen went searching through swamp and mud for the catch of the year.
CNN International's Hala Gorani joins us from Atlanta with the story -- hey Hala.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, the U.S. has the Super Bowl, England has Wimbledon, but nothing may match the sheer spectacle of Argungu. CNN's Jeff Koinange was there to capture it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now in it's 71st year, the annual Argungu Fishing Festival in northern Nigeria pits thousands of prospective fishermen and the chance to display their bare-handed skills in bagging the big fish. In keeping with tradition, a musket is fired signaling the start of the event. A 100-meter dash, as the competitors rush headlong into a muddy river in the pursuit of Nile perch and catfish.
They carry the archaic tackles used by their ancestors -- giant butterfly nets and equally giant gourds used for both rotation and as vessels to store their catches.
(on camera): Now the basic principle behind this competition is pretty straightforward. You rush in, you cast your net, you look for the biggest fish and the biggest fish wins.
Oh, there is one more thing -- the water in the River Argungu at its deepest point is about seven to eight feet.
(voice-over): Thousands of bobbing heads dip into the muddy waters, while other contestants float about on their giant calabashes. And lifeguard patrol the river in canoes just in case someone needs help. In the suddenly frothing waters of the Argungu, it's a picture of chaos and confusion.
Exactly an hour after the starting gun and it's all over. The prize catches are tagged and laid out for all to see. And then, the moment of truth. A whopping 165-pound Nile perch caught by local hero Timothy Olu, so large, two men struggle to hold it up.
To the winner, the spoils. With his shiny trophy and $1,000 in cash, Olu walks away, or rather drives a way, in this brand new minibus which is also now his. But perhaps most importantly, he carries off bragging rights as Nigeria's number one fisherman.
Jeff Koinange, in Northern Nigeria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, Anderson, as well as that minivan and the bragging rights, a big fish also means big money for the winner, more than $7,000 to be exact. And it's a country where people live on less than $1 a day. So that's 22 years of cash with one big catch -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, how would you like to be a catfish just sitting in Argangugu (sic) waiting for those guys to come?
GORANI: You don't have a chance, I tell you.
COOPER: I believe you. All right Hala, thanks very much.
360 next, the latest developments in the Terri Schiavo battle, including a doctor's claim tonight that she is not in a vegetative state and it has big political implications. We'll tell you about that.
Also later, the chilling confession of the man who now stands accused of killing a child.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. BUSH: This is an extraordinary and sad case. And I believe that in a case such as this, the legislative branch, the executive branch, ought to err on the side of life, which we have. And now we'll watch the courts make its decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Welcome back to this special two-hour edition of 360. We're focusing in depth tonight on the Terri Schiavo case -- events moving very fast indeed, all day long and even right now.
Here is where things stand right now. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today denied an emergency appeal by Ms. Schiavo's parents to reconsider their daughter's case. So that avenue is closed.
Today, too, the Florida State Senate failed to pass a specially crafted bill that would have resulted in Terri Schiavo's feeding tube being reinserted, another avenue closed.
But then, late today, Florida Governor Jeb Bush announced that he is looking for some other way for his state to intervene, citing what he called new evidence that the brain-damaged 41-year-old woman may have been misdiagnosed, that she is, in fact, not in a persistent vegetative state, this according to a new neurologist on the case that he had on the case -- a neurologist who has not actually physically examined Terri Schiavo.
So, two doors seemingly slammed shut, another, though, suddenly opened a crack late today, a ruling. A judge said that tomorrow -- Judge Greer, who has been on this case for years now said that tomorrow he will rule on that allegedly new evidence referred to by Governor Jeb Bush.
So, what should have been the most private of all decisions involving a woman who's been marooned on a hospital bed for years has now, today, become a debate in the courts and the houses of legislature and, out on the streets, something more passionate even than that.
John Zarrella has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Even children attempting to bring water to Terri Schiavo were put into handcuffs outside her hospice. The protest was peaceful and coordinated with police, so there would be no violence. But it underscores the religious fervor of the people here.
CROWD: This day our daily bread.
ZARRELLA: Their passionate about their religion and the right- to-life cause. The scene playing out at the hospice is, they say, not just Michael Schiavo's doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to point fingers as to who's to specifically to blame, but we definitely need a conversion of hearts here in this country to once again uphold the culture of life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do believe that we are in a culture of death, that we glorify death in this country.
ZARRELLA: Fingers were pointed toward at least one of the judges involved in the Schiavo case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a wicked man, a wicked judge.
ZARRELLA: Against this backdrop, police presence is everywhere and in numbers. For several weeks, Michael Schiavo has been under police guard. People close to him say he has received death threats. Protesters have even staged rallies at Schiavo's house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Schiavo, can we talk to you, please?
ZARRELLA: Given the level of religious zealotry evident in the debate over Schiavo, there is reason for concern. Governor Bush today implored people to keep it peaceful.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Those who value life need to act accordingly.
Even though we may disagree with the courts, there is no justification for violent acts.
ZARRELLA: Florida has seen it's share of violence by extremists. In 1993, Michael Griffin murdered an abortion doctor in front of a Pensacola clinic. He's serving a life sentence.
Paul Hill, one of Griffin's supporters, took the life of an abortion doctor and his escort the following year. He was executed for his crime. One of Hill's supporters was caught by the FBI at Miami Beach. He was sentenced last year for plotting to blow up abortion clinics. A security analyst and former Broward Sheriff Nick Navarro says high emotions can lead people to overreact.
NICK NAVARRO, FORMER BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFF: They could react in a manner that it could be a violent situation at hand. So I hope that this security continues for the time being now and maybe even after she expires.
ZARRELLA: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says it is monitoring the situation in Pinellas Park, and, in its words -- quote -- "collecting intelligence."
While supporters don't agree with the law as it pertains to Terri, they are being careful not to break it.
John Zarrella, CNN, Pinellas Park, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, on 360, we don't take sides. We like to present all the angles. In a moment, you're going to hear from an adviser to Terri Schiavo's parents, but first Brian Schiavo, the brother of Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, who is spearheading the effort to let his wife die.
I talked with him earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Brian, I want to play you something that Governor Bush said earlier today and have you respond to it. Let's take a look.
BRIAN SCHIAVO, BROTHER OF MICHAEL SCHIAVO: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: The neurologist's review indicates that Terri may have been misdiagnosed and it is more likely that she is in a state of minimal consciousness rather than in a persistent vegetative state. This new information raises serious concerns and warrants immediate action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The governor's saying she's in a minimal conscious state, rather than a persistent vegetative state. True?
B. SCHIAVO: That's what he believes, but, you know, he was asked to come in and take a good look at all of the information, the medical information, and he wouldn't have had to do this at the last minute, to throw this in there and to try to create a problem at the last minute. He was asked to look at this before. I don't believe that's true. I've been to see her.
She's very peaceful and she's not conscious. She -- unfortunately, this particular condition, it looks like somebody's awake. They have wake and sleep cycles. And it looks like they're awake, but Terri doesn't recognize anybody. She doesn't recognize where she is. So, I don't agree with that at all.
COOPER: So, in your opinion, she's not aware of any of this whirlwind around her right now?
B. SCHIAVO: Not at all. Not at all.
COOPER: What is it like in that hospital room? I mean, I know your brother has been there around the clock, except when the feeding tube was removed. I mean, what is the atmosphere like?
B. SCHIAVO: Well, unfortunately, it's -- you know, it's -- when you walk in, I'm a little I'm a little concerned for -- you know, there's other people there that have loved ones that are dying. And I'm not sure -- I don't think that there is a problem, but I would imagine -- I can only imagine if it was me being made to -- to be privy to all that commotion, it wouldn't be a pleasant thing. But getting into, you know, exactly in the room itself, it's very peaceful. I mean, she is just very peaceful there. I don't know why people think she -- you know, this -- quote, unquote -- "starving to death" is so terrible. She is very, very peaceful.
COOPER: The people who say the feeding tube should be put back in say that people don't treat animals like this. They don't allow animals to starve to death. Your response to that.
B. SCHIAVO: No, but Terri's not an animal, first of all, and this is her wish. She didn't want to be this way. She expressed that not only to my brother. Many people think it's just communication that she expressed to my brother during their marriage, but there are other people involved that she had conversations with about this.
You know, I can't equate it to an animal. Terri's not an animal. She's not an object. So, you know, everybody says, give her over to her parents. Well, she's not an object. Unfortunately, she's become a political object, but she's not an object just to be turned over to somebody. And her wishes, right now, her constitutional rights are being violated. I don't care how Mr. Bush or anybody else in Congress, whether it be in the United States Congress or Senate, you know, some of their irrational decision-making is very troublesome.
And people of this country, they need to be very, very concerned about the people that we put in a position, such as Tom DeLay has. His behavior is just irrational. And next time you go and pull your levers, just make sure who we're putting in these positions.
COOPER: Brian Schiavo, I appreciate you being with us. Thank you, Brian.
B. SCHIAVO: No problem at all. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, for another angle, we go to Brother Paul O'Donnell, who has been a spiritual adviser to Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. I spoke with him earlier as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Brother O'Donnell, based on these latest decisions today, where do you go from here?
PAUL O'DONNELL, SCHINDLER FAMILY ADVISER: Well, I think we're very hopeful that the Department of Children and Families has had a physician examine Terri, and it has been determined that she is not in a persistent vegetative state.
COOPER: Well, let me just interrupt you for a second, because they didn't have a physician actually examine her. They had a physician who look at her and then looked at videotapes.
O'DONNELL: Right.
COOPER: He made it very clear that he didn't examine Terri Schiavo, but go ahead.
O'DONNELL: Right. But he did go -- he did go into her room and was at her side and did also physically observe her. And so we now believe that the Department of Children and Families can pursue taking Terri Schiavo into protective custody. At least that's what we're hoping for.
COOPER: Under what jurisdiction, under what right do you think that they should be allowed to take physical custody of her, as judge after judge has ruled that Michael Schiavo is within his rights?
O'DONNELL: Well, it's only Judge Greer that has refused primarily that the DCF should not get involved.
But the Department of Children and Families, it's a state organization that investigates people who are being abused -- vulnerable adults, children. And they do have the authority, by Florida state law, if someone is being physically abused -- and there is evidence that Terri Schiavo is not in a persistent vegetative state, and, therefore, what is being done to her now and what the department has found constitutes her being into protective custody.
COOPER: There are -- hundreds of protesters have come forward, of course, on behalf of the Schindlers. Some of them have been arrested. Are you in any way encouraging this kind of very active protest?
O'DONNELL: Well, let me say I understand their frustration.
This is the United States of America. And we're on day six where a human being is being deprived of food and hydration. And here in Miami, I'm told that someone is going to prison for five years for starving animals. It's insanity, what's happening here in Florida.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But aren't people taken off feeding tubes all the time?
O'DONNELL: Well, when they're dying, but Terri is not dying of any terminal illness. She could live another 20, 30, 40 years. She is the only person in the United States that has been court-ordered to die. In other words, Judge Greer didn't say the guardian may remove the feeding tube. Judge Greer said, the guardian shall. And that's a very dangerous precedent in the United States.
COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Brother Paul O'Donnell, appreciate you being with us. Thank you.
O'DONNELL: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, as I point out, we don't take sides in this program, but we are a stickler for facts. We looked into the association of Brother O'Donnell's that Terri Schiavo is legally unique because a court ordered not that her feeding tube could be removed, but that it had to be removed.
We found that Brother O'Donnell is incorrect in this case. In at least once case, the case of woman a named Nancy Beth Cruzan, a court did order that a feeding tube had to be removed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): John Couey charged with killing Jessica Lunsford. Tonight, his tape-recorded confession to another crime.
JOHN EVANDER COUEY, DEFENDANT: I asked her if she wanted to play hide-and-go-seek.
COOPER: Was there something more police could have done to keep track of this sexual predator?
Elizabeth Smart kidnapped by a deranged man wanting to make her his wife. Tonight, a 360 interview with Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart: the lesson he's learned and his advice to keep your kids out of the hands of a predator.
360 continues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY SCHINDLER, MOTHER OF TERRI SCHIAVO: When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is Terri's face in front of me dying, starving to death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was a statement from Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother. She's begging for her daughter's life.
After several setbacks today, Schiavo's parents are expected to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and keep her alive.
Congressional correspondent Joe Johns is outside the court, joins us now.
Hey, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson.
We've been basically waiting all day for this appeal to the United States Supreme Court. Heard about it early this morning, but it hasn't gotten here. Just a little while ago, got some information about perhaps why. The attorney for the Schiavo parents has been busy in Tampa on other issues related to this case and only this evening started working on the Supreme Court appeal.
Meanwhile, some others here in Washington, D.C., have also been working on this appeal, even though it hasn't gotten here yet. Among them, some key House Republicans, including the speaker of the House himself, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. They put together an amicus brief -- in other words, a friend of the court brief -- as well as a letter of intent to the court to be delivered with the appeal when it is filed.
They make several points. Probably key among them -- we have a graphic -- is that the court, "The court below failed to properly assess the legislative history of the acts that was passed over the weekend and signed by the president in the Terri Schiavo case. They say the legislation they passed requires the reinsertion of the feeding tube, also that the plain meaning and legislative history require that a temporary restraining order be issued. This is required to ensure that desperately needed nutritional support is provided to keep Terri Schiavo alive during the pendency of her claim.
Now, whenever that application for appeal gets here, whenever the appeal itself gets here, of course, it is expected to go first to Justice Anthony Kennedy. He has the option of entering a temporary restraining order on his own or bumping this issue up to the high court in its whole, in its entirety. That is what is expected to happen -- Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: All right, Joe, live at the Supreme Court -- thanks, Joe.
Regardless of what happens at the Supreme Court, Judge Greer, who's the judge who has been following this case and ruling on it for years, said late today he'll review the so-called new medical evidence that Governor Bush spoke about earlier today, evidence the governor says indicates Terri Schiavo is not in a vegetative state.
There are so many legal angles on the story, it's very easy to get confused. Want to try to clear things up right now with where everyone stands with attorney Avery Friedman.
Avery, good to see you. Thanks for being on the program.
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Nice to see you, Anderson.
COOPER: Florida Judge George Greer has agreed to consider new evidence on what Terri Schiavo is in fact in a persistent vegetative state. Is this the best hope right now for Schiavo's parents to get that feeding tube back in?
FRIEDMAN: It's a pretty remote one, Anderson.
What the judge is doing -- and, remember, this is the same judge that found by clear and convincing evidence that Terri Schiavo didn't want the feeding tube -- now is reconsidering new evidence, or will consider new evidence based on the Department of Family and Children under an abuse or neglect statute.
But I think that Judge Greer is going to be very careful as he has been throughout this case, before making a ruling which would reverse the precedent which has been established. I think it's very, very unlikely we're going to see a change.
COOPER: And, basically, you know, we're calling it new evidence, but, in fact, when you look at the details, this is one neurologist hired by the state to look at the case.
FRIEDMAN: Right.
COOPER: To examine videotapes, and to stand in the room with Terri Schiavo, not to even physically examine her. So to call it even new evidence, you know, it's a fine line.
FRIEDMAN: Well, it's evidence. The question is what weight Judge Greer is going to give to it.
And you nailed the point. The point is that this new doctor has not examined the patient. Maybe it would be different. But, in any event, what Judge Greer is going to consider is whatever weight he's going to assign to this new medical evidence. And you know what? It's the sign of a good judge. Judge Greer is doing the right thing. This issue is so important, this case is so remarkable that Judge Greer is doing the right thing. I don't think, again, it's going to make a whole lot of difference, but it really is the last major hook that the Schindlers have in this case.
COOPER: Well, what about the U.S. Supreme Court? What are the chances there?
FRIEDMAN: Well, remember, Joe just gave his report in front of the Supreme Court. I think the Schindlers' lawyer wasted a lot of time today by trying to convene the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. It was, I think, a waste of time. And I will tell you why, Anderson.
The opinion that was issued at 2:15 this morning -- and I was waiting -- I got it off the wires -- basically was very analytical and dealt with the issue of congressional intent -- what Senator Frist had to say, what Senator Levin had to say -- very well-written. And so we knew that it was a powerful opinion. Instead of going to the Supreme Court, which, if the Schindlers were represented by me, that's exactly where I would have gone, tried to get U.S. Associate Justice Kennedy to take the case -- they wasted literally an entire day.
COOPER: All right, we'll see what happens there at the Supreme Court tonight and tomorrow. Avery Friedman, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.
FRIEDMAN: Nice to be with you.
COOPER: We're going to take a look at the medical angle on this story. And there are so many developments on this story, moving very fast. We're trying to keep you up to date. We're going to take a look at the medical angle. Really, is this new evidence? What does it really mean?
That in a moment.
But, first, let's take a look at the other headlines making news right now.
Erica Hill from Headline News joins us for that.
Hey, Erica.
HILL: Hi, Anderson.
The Army secretary is hoping that by putting an emphasis on patriotism, that will inspire parents to get their kids to join up. The Army is revamping its sales pitch to try to counter sagging recruiting numbers. With long deployments overseas, the numbers are steadily dropping. Officials expect they won't meet recruitment goals this month or the next.
The government is investigating whether millions of Ford pickup trucks and SUVs may have a potential fire hazard. Now, the probe covers 3.7 million Ford F-150 pickups, Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators. The model years date from the late '90s to early 2000. Ford has received 218 complaints of engine fires caused by the cruise control switch.
Pop singer Whitney Houston has checked into rehab again. No other details are available at this point. Houston last checked herself into a rehabilitation center a year ago, this after denying she used drugs for years. She admitted using cocaine, marijuana and pills in a TV interview in 2002. Houston said she was using the power of prayer now to help her get over her addiction.
And that's the latest from Headline News -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Erica, thanks. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes for another update.
Right next -- coming up next on 360, what about this new medical evidence? Is Terri Schiavo not in a vegetative state? 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta weighs in next.
And a little later tonight, the man accused of killing little Jessica Lunsford confessed to another crime in the past. We have the tapes. We're going to play it. It raises some alarming questions.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. BUSH: The neurologist's review indicates that Terri may have been misdiagnosed and it is more likely that she is in a state of minimal consciousness rather than in a persistent vegetative state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, with that announcement, Florida Governor Jeb Bush said the state has filed another request to intervene to keep Terri Schiavo alive. He's basically saying she's been misdiagnosed. Now a state judge who ordered the feeding tube removed says he's going to rule on that case by noon tomorrow.
360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta joins me now for a look at this.
Is that possible? I mean, what's the difference between a state of minimal consciousness and a persistent vegetative state?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are several differences actually between the two. And it can be difficult for anybody, even a neurologist, to sometimes distinguish a couple of things. A persistent vegetative state, as we've seen so many times now, a person can have sleep/wake cycles. They actually open their eyes and close their eyes. They sometimes do not consciously process pain. Their eyes can open spontaneously. They don't have any evidence of the following, perception of surroundings, ability to communicate, or any intended movements. Everything is more reflex.
Compare that to a minimally conscious state. The biggest, most cardinal difference between the two is that they can actually follow some sort of commands. Their eyes open spontaneously. They have the sleep/wake cycles. Those are all the same. They can feel pain, but they demonstrate some awareness of their environment.
The biggest thing, though -- and I have not see any evidence of this in the videotapes -- is that, if you told them to do a simple thing like hold up two fingers or wiggle your thumb or turn your head to the right, they would actually hear you and follow a command. You know, obviously, from the videotape that we see, it's hard to get a sense of that, but those are sort of the big differences between the two.
COOPER: That's fascinating. So they would follow a simple command. They would give yes-or-no responses. They would verbalize.
The doctor who made that diagnosis that the governor is basing all this on, he's a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. He wasn't -- he didn't personally examine Terri Schiavo. He looked at videotapes, which we've all seen. He reviewed her medical records. He stood in the room and saw her, but he didn't touch her. Is that important? Does that matter?
GUPTA: Stood in the room. He met her, but didn't examine her.
Yes, it is important. I think that this is the type of situation where you need to have a thorough exam to be able to tell. I think it's really impossible to tell based on the videotapes alone. I mean, I think that that's pretty clear. A lot of people are making a lot of comments about these videotapes. We're seeing, you know, just a few minutes out of 15 years that a person has been in this state.
If someone is saying that she's, in fact, in a minimally conscious state, it would be great to see a videotape of her actually following a command. That is so crucially important, Anderson. Obviously, she's opening her eyes, closing her eyes, maybe even having some reflexes in terms of smiling, grimacing, things like that. But if she actually follows a command, it says that she can hear, she can understand, and she can act upon that information. Critical information, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. And this has been in the court for seven years now. The judge who's been ruling on this all along is going to rule on this very matter tomorrow, so we'll be watching that very closely, by noon tomorrow, we're told.
Sanjay Gupta, thanks. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thank you. Yes.
COOPER: We're going to continue to follow this story. If anything happens in the next half-hour, we'll let you know.
But we want to bring you up to date on the case of little Jessica Lunsford -- in particular, the man accused of killing her. In a moment, you're going to hear confession tapes from the alleged killer confessing to another crime years ago. The question is, was there something more police or prison officials or somebody could have done? We're going to take a look at the tapes.
And what can you do to protect your kids? A 360 interview with Ed Smart, whose daughter Elizabeth there was kidnapped and found alive. We'll also update you on her case.
And, later, the long search for a fugitive is over. After 20 years on the lam, the law finally got their man.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: New details are emerging about John Couey. He's the man accused of abducting, sexually assaulting, and killing Jessica Lunsford. She was a 9-year-old girl who disappeared exactly one month ago. Her body was found last Saturday. Now, Couey has a very long rap sheet. Back in 1991 he was arrested for molesting a child, and back then he confessed to police. CNN has obtained a copy of the tape of Couey's 1991 confession. It raises some pretty alarming questions about whether something more could have been done to stop this guy. Heidi Collins takes us "Beyond the Headlines."
Hey, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson.
You know, if we could only turn the clock back to 1991 when John Couey made it clear he had a problem that prison could not cure.
Listen now to his confession to police 14 years ago, about what he did to a 5-year-old girl in her back yard on this audiotape.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN COUEY, CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER: She was riding across and I went over there and she offered to go into the back yard to jump on the trampoline, and I said OK. So we went back there and she was jumping on there, and I asked if she wanted to play hide-and-go-seek, and she said yes, so we did. COLLINS (voice-over): It gets worse. Couey acknowledges to the officer that he exposed himself, that the girl then sat on his lap, voluntarily, he claims, and then he put the girl's hand on him. There's more. We'll spare you the details.
COUEY: Then her mother come out and yelled for her and I took off. I feel that prison ain't going to help. Well, I'd got out in three years, I got a ten-year sentence. And it doesn't really help. I feel that I need help for myself and that's why I'm confessing, you know, to my crime that I committed, tonight, because I want help for myself, so I will never have to do this again. I feel bad about it, really I do. I don't want to go to prison, I just want to get help for myself. So that's what I need. I want help for myself.
COLLINS: Couey was given the maximum sentence for attempted molestation, five years, and was out on parole in two. He was honest enough with himself and with police at the time to admit that his effort to molest a young girl was not a one-time event.
A written report by the officer who took the taped confession says, quote, "Couey admitted that this was not the first child he had ever touched, however, this is the first time he was caught." The officer continues, "Couey admitted to molesting his wife's daughter, however, she agreed not to report the incident if he left the house and gave her a divorce, which he did. Couey knows he has a problem, however, he has never sought medical assistance to help him control his sexual attraction for young children."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: We should also let you know that we tried unsuccessfully to locate Couey's former wife for comment on this. So, 14 years after John Couey's plea for help, 14 years after he was caught attempting to molest a child, and at least seven arrests later, John Couey now stands accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. If convicted, any help he may now get is obviously too late for him and too late for Jessica Lunsford.
COOPER: Certainly is. Heidi Collins, thanks very much.
Trying to understand what exactly goes on inside the mind of a molester. It's a hard thing to do, but we think it's important, not only for police, but for parents. Earlier, I spoke to James Goldenflame who did five years in prison for molesting his own daughter in the 1980s. He's not re-offended, he says, since that time, and has written a book called "Overcoming Sexual Terrorism." I started by asking him if prison can actually do any help to reform sex offenders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES GOLDENFLAME, AUTHOR "OVERCOMING SEXUAL TERRORISM": Yes, it can. To begin with, and we must not overlook this -- the first thing is does is help keep the community safe while the person is inside prison, obviously. But there's a second, additional help that imprisonment gives us. When the crime of the kind that's occurred here, involving this little child, takes place, the community has a right to express its wrath, and prison is the way we do it in our system. We say, we are so angry at you, we're putting you in a place of punishment, so it helps there.
As far as the inmate is concerned, it gives him a place where, if he uses his time productively and wisely, and if he's in the right kind of state system where it's available, he can get help while he's there. That's what happened to me.
I was sent to prison on a 10-year sentence, and while I was there, I sought and I was fortunate to be able to receive help, so that during the entire time that I was there -- and I served slightly over half my sentence before being released -- I had help, and counseling, and therapy throughout, and it prepared me to come out and be able to have a re-offense-free life all of these years since.
COOPER: But there is no cure, as you have...
GOLDENFLAME: No, no. But you know, Anderson, it's like this: there's no cure for a lot of mental problems. There's no cure for schizophrenia or manic-depressiveness or bipolar, and again and again, what we get instead is, no, there's no cure, but you can manage these so you don't become a schizophrenic or a bipolar...
COOPER: So, you manage it, and yet -- I mean, we see people doing this over again. They say they're not going to. I know the figures maybe aren't as high as some people think, the recidivism rates, but they are alarmingly high, and in a lot of these cases we never find out about -- are people just manipulating the system? Are sexual predators -- I mean, a lot of times -- do they know what the therapist wants them to say and they're repeating it?
GOLDENFLAME: It won't work anymore, Anderson. There's a new technological device out now called the plethysmograph; another variation of it was pioneered by Dr. Gene Able in Atlanta, and in both cases, it's like a sexual lie defector that is used on us that we can't fake out. It'll show whether there's any active deviancy left or not. It'll actually track it and graph it, and they can see what's going on in your brain.
COOPER: But, I mean, in order to molest kids, you have to be a master manipulator.
GOLDENFLAME: Yes, this is true, and as a result, when conventional psychotherapy was tried years ago, it didn't work. We came in, we conned the system, we conned, sometimes the therapists, and we as a result we remained no better than we were before, except maybe we learned a little about psychology.
COOPER: What changes do we need to make?
GOLDENFLAME: We need to make sure that everybody who goes to prison for a sex offense has treatment made available to them from day one, and they're not let out until their treatment team says, yes, we can see he's safe for supervised release. We need to have them in on a life sentence, so if they get out on a supervised release, and they even begin to look funny, they can go right back in for the rest of their life sentence.
COOPER: Just, finally, for parents, advice for how to keep their kids safe.
GOLDENFLAME: Look up and see who the sex offenders are, if there are any in your neighborhood. Use Megan's Law for a start, and secondly, if you put your child in a youth organization, make absolutely certain the organization has a standing rule that no child is left -- never left alone with a single adult, there's always two adults or more present. That way your child has a chance of being safe.
COOPER: Jake Goldenflame, appreciate you being with us.
Thanks, Jake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (on camera): Coming up, a man who helps parents cope with a nightmare he knows all too well. Elizabeth Smart was abducted in 2002 -- she was found alive. Her father, Ed, talks about the ordeal and what lessons parents can learn from it.
Also ahead, his neighbor says he was a regular guy, a church- goer, a poet -- he was also a criminal on the run.
And a little later, the latest on the Schiavo case, and your e- mails: go to CNN.com/360, click on the instant feedback link. We'd love to hear from you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Every parent, of course, wants to know what they can do to protect their child from illness, from accidents, and from sexual predators.
Ed Smart's daughter Elizabeth was abducted in June of 2002. She remained missing for nearly a year. She was found alive, returned home in March of 2003. He, Ed Smart, has learned so much about sexual predators and what parents can do to protect their kids. I spoke with him earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Were you -- you really had your eyes opened. Were you stunned at -- once you started looking into this, at how common it was?
ED SMART, DAUGHTER WAS KIDNAPPED: I was. The thing that I was so overcome with was I never thought this could happen to me. I never thought it would happen to our family. And we never pictured ourselves being in that position. And when that happened that morning of June 5, I just -- I thought, you know, my gosh, you know, what is it these families go through, and what kind of pain and residual issues did they deal with?
COOPER: Are these kind of kidnappings like we just saw in Florida, are they preventable?
SMART: Well, I think that legislatively we can do a lot. I mean, right now the national sex offender registry is in very poor shape. It's very ineffective. About 46 to 48 out of the 50 states consider non-registration of the sex offender to be a misdemeanor versus a felony.
COOPER: And if you do find out that there is a sexual predator living in your neighborhood, or several, I mean, we've again getting e-mails from several people that said, you know, "I went online last night and found out there are 10 people in my neighborhood." What can you do about it?
SMART: You can decide where your children are going to go. They don't need to go near that home. They can go out of their way. I think that you can, you know, say, you know -- you just can't go out there by yourself.
I think the statistics are that there is one within every square mile throughout the United States. So there is -- there's an issue there that we need to face as a nation that, one, they've always been there.
I mean, maybe it's more predominant now, but they've always been there, but we have never known that they were. And now it's coming online so that you can find out where they are. And I think that you can protect your children by knowing where -- where the predator is. But it's being aware of it.
COOPER: It's a tough conversation to have with your child.
SMART: There's no question about it. But I think the important thing is, I mean, with all of the awareness that's come up about kidnappings, it's an easy way to get your children scared. And the way to get rid of that, you know, scared type of being is, basically, by preparing them.
There's a program that I've been working with called Rad Kids, that is an empowerment tool that, you know, in grade schools in Salt Lake, they've -- well, in Provo, they've started to implement it into the school P.E. program, where they actually teach the children, you know, starting with 911, you know, they talk about who you can trust out there.
They actually go through the motions of not just telling, but teaching. They'll go through, you know, use your elbow, do this, take three giant steps back. And it's an eight-hour course that they actually go through during the year. And I believe that it empowers them. It gives them options.
COOPER: Ed Smart, thanks for being with us.
SMART: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, a blast in an oil refinery claims more than a dozen lives. Erica Hill from Headline News has an update right now.
Hey, Erica.
ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Yes, and still a lot of questions surrounding this one, Anderson. A deadly explosion today at a BP Oil refinery in Texas, Texas City, Texas, that is. At least 14 people were killed in the blast, as many as 70 others hurt. It blew out windows miles away, but the cause still not known.
President Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico today announced plans to strengthen economic and security ties among the countries, setting aside some of their regional differences. They met in Texas to adopt agreements aimed at making North American markets more competitive, and they vowed to work more closely to fight terrorism in a rapidly changing world.
It is not exactly an Amber Alert, but more of a burnt orange alert in the Houston area. The bi-colored Hummer presented to Roger Clemens by the Yankees has been stolen. There's a statewide APB out for it.
Clemens' son, Kody, left the Humvee unlocked in his high school parking lot. That's where it was stolen. The vehicle was a gift to the Rocket for his 300th win. He got it from the Yankees. He's offering a $10,000 reward for its safe return.
And you know, something similar happened to me in high school and my Humvee was stolen, Anderson. And it was such a bummer.
COOPER: Yes, I bet. I bet it was a bummer there, Erica. All right, thanks very much.
360 next: caught after 20 years. It makes you wonder how well you know your neighbors. The story of how high-tech led cops to a fugitive on the lam for 20 years.
Also tonight, viewers sounding off on the Terri Schiavo battle. We're going to read some of your emotional e-mails: CNN.com/360. Click on the instant feedback link.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Doc, we're looking for a prisoner from that bus/train wreck a couple hours ago. Might be hurt.
HARRISON FORD, ACTOR: What does he look like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 6'1", 180, brown hair, brown eyes, a beard. Seen anyone like that around?
FORD: Every time I look in the mirror, pal, except for the beard, of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That scene was from the movie "The Fugitive," a man on the run from the law. Tonight we've got the real deal, a most-wanted killer who lived a secret life on the lam for 20 years after his escape from prison. He's finally caught.
It's one of the most viewed stories on CNN.com all day. Three- sixty's Rudi Bakhtiar joins us. She looks into these Web sites, and brings you angles you won't see anywhere else.
What did you find out about the guy?
RUDY BAKHTIAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this one was a very interesting one. We found enough to make anybody wonder, Anderson, how well do you really know the people you work with or socialize with, for that matter? Well, thanks to a lot of persistence by police and some important high-tech help, one man's past has just caught up with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR (voice-over): In Chicago, the people at this Unitarian church thought they knew J.J. Jameson well enough. He was a poet, an antiwar protester -- but under a different name, he was also an escaped double murderer.
DET. LT. KEVIN HORTON, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE: Don't let anyone kid you, he's a cold-blooded Killer.
BAKHTIAR: J.J. Jameson is actually Norman Porter, who had done 26 years of a life sentence in Massachusetts before escaping in 1985.
QUESTION: Had you ever given up?
HORTON: Yes. No, no. I mean, did we work on it every day? No. But did we ever forget about the case? No.
BAKHTIAR: Porter was captured on Tuesday, thanks to computers. The FBI's fingerprint database matched Porter's prints to prints taken when Jameson was arrested in Chicago back in 1993. But wait a minute. That was 12 years ago. So why did it take so long?
HORTON: It could have been misread. If it was misread, they don't catch it. In the old days, it was all hand done. People did it. It's all automated now.
My guess is, it was -- it wasn't done correctly at first. Then with the new automation, they ran everything again, and it popped up that way. That's my guess.
BAKHTIAR: It's another success story for the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, IAFIS for short. It's the largest biometric database in the world, containing the fingerprints and corresponding criminal records of more than 47 million people.
But believe it or not, this high-tech tool for catching criminals has only been operational since 1999.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR: And even more surprising is that in this age of terrorism, U.S. Border Patrol is still working on getting all U.S. ports of entry hooked up to the fingerprint databases, and they're hoping to do that by the end of this year.
COOPER: So what happened to the guy today? He's in custody?
BAKHTIAR: Yes. He went to court. He waived extradition. He's going to be taken back to Massachusetts, and he said, when his captors caught him, that it's been a good 20 years.
COOPER: No doubt. All right. Rudi Bakhtiar, thanks for that.
Even more surprising, we have a lot more ahead of you -- ahead of us. We have about eight minutes until LARRY KING. Coming up next, we've got a lot of viewer e-mail to tell you about on the Terri Schiavo case. We're going to read some of them ahead. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MAE JEMISON, ASTRONAUT: You know when you're growing up you have lots of things you want to do. I always assumed I would go into space.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and liftoff.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST, "LIVE FROM" (voice-over): On September 12, 1992, at the age of 35, Dr. Mae Jemison boldly went where no African-American woman had gone before.
JEMISON: It was really after we got on orbit that I had a sensation that I belonged anywhere in this universe.
O'BRIEN: Jemison makes it her life mission to explore the universe in every way she can. This high achiever is also a chemical engineer, Peace Corps veteran, physician, author, and teacher.
In 1994 Jemison started an international science camp for teens called The Earth We Share.
These days, Jemison is the founder and president of the BioSentient Corporation, where she is working on a device that provides mobile monitoring of people's nervous systems. JEMISON: We think that there are real applications in the future for trying to identify certain diseases that can also help people monitor how effective drugs are.
O'BRIEN: In addition to her work in the sciences, Jemison says she one day may explore the field of politics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Been getting a lot of e-mails on the Terri Schiavo case. Time to check on some of those e-mails. A lot of them on this Terri Schiavo story. Here are just a couple for you.
John in Texas writes, "Even if a person wishes to die, a person allowing such a wish to happen is committing murder. We save mentally ill people from committing suicide. Why should Terri be allowed to die through the most painful procedure of starvation and dehydration."
Another angle from Kathy in Patrick Springs, Virginia. She says, "I'm a conservative but now I feel like the Republicans have betrayed the most fundamental of human rights all for some Culture of Life tangent they have all become zeroed in on. Come on, would any of these guys want to live like Terri Schiavo?"
We don't take sides, but we like to hear your angles on stories. Send us an e-mail. Just log onto CNN.com/360, click on the instant feedback link.
And finally tonight, taking answered prayers to "The Nth Degree."
There was a time people didn't have to make the kind of terrible decisions those around Terri Schiavo are currently being forced to make. That is not because things were better then; it's because things were worse, much worse.
For most of human history, someone too ill or too injured to eat would die. It was as simple as that.
As for Terri Schiavo's heart and lungs, they're functioning on their own, but if they weren't, there are machines now that could pump blood and breathe for her. Here, too, for most of human history, a ruined heart or ruined lungs always before simply meant the end. No choice about it.
But now there are choices. So many choices, so many things that were death sentences once now aren't. That is great and enormous, and that is progress.
Only it comes with the terrible complication: the creation sometimes of a state that is between life and death. A mysterious fog-bound condition that is not fully the former, but not really the latter either. That is a kind of hovering.
As we say, things were not better when people didn't have to make such awful decisions, not by a long shot. Nonetheless, the decisions still are agonizing. Thanks very much for watching this special edition of 360. Paula Zahn continues on vacation. We'll be back tomorrow with another two- hour version of 360. I'm Anderson Cooper. CNN's prime time lineup continues right now with "LARRY KING LIVE."
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