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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Congress Outraged by Polygraph Requests; Man Convicted After Living Free for 40 Years; Reds General Manager's Comment Enrages Nation
Aired August 02, 2002 - 22:00 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.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, everyone. We spent some time on this page last night, trying to bring you into the process of how we wanted to report a certain story and what our concerns were about that story. It was the story having to do with Amtrak's potential suspect. What we didn't say is that we were facing another interesting dilemma at the same time, about a very different story, and in truth, we needed some time to think about it, talk about it, before we brought it up with you.
It has to do with the teenage girls who were kidnapped yesterday and then rescued. You saw their faces and you saw their names on CNN and everywhere else all day long -- until a certain point, that is. The point when we found out the girls had been sexually assaulted.
At the root of all of this seems to be a fundamental clash. As soon as these two girls were reported missing, our first thought as editors was to get their pictures on the screen, get their names up. Show them as often as possible in the hope that someone will spot them, that they will be safely rescued.
And then we find out that they are assaulted, and our first instinct is to protect their privacy. As minors, it goes without saying, but also as victims of a sexual attack. And the fact is, fair or not, we do think of rape as a sex crime. We still think somehow, many people do at least, that the worst part of it is not the assault itself but the embarrassment over the assault. That's dumb, but we do it.
We have policies on such things, and I think these policies are right. We don't name rape victims and we don't show their faces, and it's no doubt true that the policy, while seeking to be sensitive, helps perpetuate the shame, which is not good. And that's the dilemma.
The best solution I can think of is for victims to decide to allow their names to be used, but until the way rape is often viewed, until that changes, we are not going to make those decisions for them.
Now, in the California case, the two girls have made the decision, and that's where "The Whip" begins tonight, the case of the kidnapping. Thelma Gutierrez is once again working the story. Thelma in Los Angeles, start us off with a headline, please. THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, one of the two teenagers who was kidnapped at gunpoint yesterday spoke out today. She describes 12 hours of captivity and how they tried to kill their captor -- Aaron.
BROWN: Thelma, thank you. We'll be with you shortly.
The controversy over the leaks of classified information got a whole lot more interesting on Capitol Hill today. Jonathan Karl working the late shift tonight. Jonathan, a headline from you.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, members of Congress wanted an investigation into those leaks, but now they are balking because the FBI wants them to take lie detector tests.
BROWN: Jon, thank you.
One of the headlines 12 years ago today: Iraq takes Kuwait in lightning blitz. What does Kuwait think now about a possible new war against Iraq? Brent Sadler is there tonight, on the videophone. Brent, a headline, please.
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Aaron. There is a growing sense of unease here that Iraq's President Saddam Hussein could launch the weapons of mass destruction at this tiny (UNINTELLIGIBLE) emirate if there's any U.S.-led military action to topple the Baghdad regime.
BROWN: Brent, thank you. We'll be back with you. Back with all of you in a moment. Also coming up in the program tonight, a case that had gone cold for four decades until some intrepid detectives picked it up. Tonight, a grandfather is in prison, and there is justice for one man. A man murdered so long ago.
A story that's tailor-made for NEWSNIGHT's own "Idiocy Watch." The general manager of the Cincinnati Reds comparing a possible baseball strike to the attack of the country on September 11. Baseball players, to hijackers.
And what is it about baseball spouting off all this nonsense in Cincinnati? We'll take a look at their news from the Queen City night.
And "Segment 7" tonight, a little more nonsense, or as we prefer to call it, some flapdoodle over no-good-nicks in corporate America. This is actually terrific. You need the NEWSNIGHT dictionary, though. Well, any dictionary will work.
All of that on a Friday NEWSNIGHT edition.
But we begin with the case of the kidnapped girls in California. We run the risk tonight of talking too much about how the story was handled and losing site of the story itself. And the story itself, their rescue, was truly a gripping one. We have got some rough outlines of this last night. Today, incredibly powerful, detailed narratives. The view of the police who saved the girls, and now the view of one of the girls, who tonight talked about the desperate and violent fight with the man who kidnapped them.
We said a minute ago that we'll let the victims decide how they are telling the story. This girl told her story to CNN affiliate KABC. Once again, here's CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just couldn't believe it when it was happening. It was just unbelievable.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twelve hours of terror is how this 17-year-old describes it. From the moment she was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced into the vehicle, she discovered she was not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he picked me up, I could see down and that's when I saw Tamara on the floor.
GUTIERREZ: Hours into the captivity, the girls decided the only way to stay alive was to kill their captor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The plan was that, there was a knife, and it was in a holster. It was on the gear shifter, and so Tamara, we made so Tamara would reach over and stab him with the knife and hit him -- and she'd hit him with the whiskey bottle. And we like got enough courage because like you could see his pulse, and so I got the knife and I stabbed him in the throat, and he woke up and he was like shocked.
She hit him in the face with the whiskey bottle, right here on his eyes, and then he was like really out of it, and he like went over and he pushed on the door handle, made the door open. And so I kicked him out.
GUTIERREZ: The marks visible on the teenager's arms tell a story of a terrible ordeal the girls endured at the hands of a fugitive.
CARL SPARKS, KERN COUNTY SHERIFF: He had already hurt the girls. Wasn't anything else to do there.
GUTIERREZ: Investigators are now saying their captor may have had no intention of letting them go alive.
SPARKS: They were probably 10 minutes away from being killed. He was a two-striker. He was going to prison for the rest of his life. He had nothing to lose. He needed to get rid of those girls.
GUTIERREZ: He was 37-year-old Roy Ratliff, a fugitive with the long rap sheet, who was lying dead near the stolen Ford Bronco, shot 17 times by sheriff's deputies.
SPARKS: I hugged both deputies and told them, way to go.
GUTIERREZ: The Kern County sheriff said justice was swift and just in the nick of time. SPARKS: I'm an emotional guy. I have got 38 years in this place. These people are my family. And we came very close to losing them. I understand their concern about the girls, but when that suspect pointed a gun at a deputy sheriff, he got exactly what he deserved.
GUTIERREZ: Ratliff had a criminal history dating back 20 years, including burglary, theft and drug possession.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He told me he was going to kill; he actually just wanted to tie me up. He just wanted the truck.
GUTIERREZ: By the time he had driven up to this lookout point in Lancaster, California, where he would meet up with his victims, Ratliff was a wanted man. He had allegedly carjacked this vehicle in Nevada. And last year, Ratliff was accused in the brutal rape of a Kern County teenager.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I flipped on my scanner and every truck driver in California was talking about this vehicle and looking for it.
GUTIERREZ: Investigators are crediting this statewide Amber alert system for helping to save the girls, and drivers for paying attention and calling authorities.
BONNIE HERNANDEZ, REPORTED VEHICLE: I just did what anybody else would have done, and I'm just grateful that the girls are all right.
GUTIERREZ: Once the car was tracked down in a remote desert area, deputies closed in quickly. But Ratliff wasn't about to be captured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were yelling, demanding he surrender, give up his position and exit the vehicle. Loud exchange of words. The defiant suspect was cussing at them. The suspect came up from the back seat with the gun and pointed it at the deputy. The deputy on the other side of the vehicle saw this occur, and shot.
Now, during this firing of the guns, the girls revealed their location, which was in the back of the Bronco, and they were hunkered down. They came up. They were hysterical.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They always say, don't be fooled, it could happen to you, but you don't really believe it until it actually happens to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUTIERREZ: Now you may be wondering what happened after the teenagers attacked Ratliff. One of the girls had described it, they had stabbed him in the neck, they had hit him in the face with the bottle and kicked him out of the Bronco. But apparently he had a gun and was able to force his way back into the vehicle.
Shortly after that, the vehicle was spotted by authorities. And as you know, Aaron, the girls were then saved.
BROWN: It's an incredible story of good police work and great, good fortune that the woman, the animal control officer, I think it was, who spotted the car. That's just something. Thelma, nice piece of work tonight. Thank you.
We have much more to talk about on this as we go along. We'll talk to the sheriff in the case, and some other issues as well as we go along. We want to deal with some of the other news of the day first. And some of it takes place in Washington.
A pair of important court rulings, and both of them went against the administration today. The first came in a lawsuit filed by the activist group Judicial Watch. It has to do with the White House Energy Task Force, headed by Vice President Cheney.
Judicial Watch wants a look at the task force documents to find out who influenced the plan -- excuse me. Was it the big energy companies, as many critics believe? The White House has maintained the documents are private and privileged. Today a federal judge said no, gave the administration 30 days to object or hand them over. The ball is back in the White House court tonight.
The other ruling has to do with the people detained after September 11. A federal judge today ordered the Justice Department to release their names. She gave the government 15 days to do it, to name names with two exceptions, people close enough to a particular crime to have specific information about it, material witnesses, and detainees who choose not to be identified.
At one time the federal government held about 1,200 detainees, most of them foreign nationals. The lion's share have since been deported. At last count, which was more than a month ago, 147 people remained in custody.
Some tension as well tonight between the executive and the legislative branch. This has been festering for a while now. The White House is said to be furious of leaks coming from the congressional inquiry into the 11th of September.
What the administration knew, what it did, what the FBI knew, what it did or did not do and the like. The FBI wants lawmakers to take lie detector tests, and some of the lawmakers in question, men and women who take great pride in the secrets they keep, are not exactly pleased with the idea.
Here again CNN's Jonathan Karl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL (voice-over): Memo to Congress. Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.
REP. POTER GOSS (R), SELECT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There has been a report that has reached the highest levels of the White House that has said that congressional sources may have been involved in a leak of information.
KARL: That was six weeks ago. The leaders of the committee investigating the September 11 intelligence failures then asked the FBI to investigate who in Congress leaked classified information. Now the FBI wants to know if members of Congress would take lie detector tests.
No way, says a top Republican on the committee, Richard Shelby. He told investigators that would violate the constitutional separation of powers. Besides, Shelby said, polygraphs aren't reliable.
Democratic leader Tom Daschle echoed Shelby's views, saying he is, quote, "gravely concerned about the FBI request."
The leak in question was a report, first aired on CNN, that the National Security Agency on September 10 intercepted messages in Arabic that warned "The match begins tomorrow," and, "Tomorrow is zero hour."
The NSA didn't translate the intercepts until September 12. But not everybody is against the polygraph test.
SEN. BOB GRAHAM (D), SELECT INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: I would not have any problem taking one. And I think the people who were conducting these interviews believe that they are getting the information that they need.
KARL: Republican leader Trent Lott says he's not sure the tests are a good idea, but...
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: My council would be keep your mouth shut if you are on the Intelligence Committee, and then don't complain if the FBI asks questions. The FBI was asked to do the job. Now they're complaining. I'm not directly involved in that. But I can't help but be amused that there has been misconduct.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KARL: Well, with all this controversy about the FBI investigation, it's easy to forget that this Special Intelligence Committee was actually set up to investigate intelligence agencies like the FBI, not the other way around -- Aaron.
BROWN: You know, we haven't heard much about the committee's work. Has it been going on?
KARL: It has. This -- the FBI investigation has been generating more headlines, though. The work on that intelligence -- the 9-11 intelligence investigation has been dramatically slowed. It's had only closed hearings, and the first public hearings, we are told, will not begin until September, if then. So that one is moving along at a much slower pace, Aaron.
BROWN: Jonathan, thank you. Jon Karl on Capitol Hill tonight.
Still ahead on the program, more on the dramatic rescue of the kidnapped teenagers, and later a crime story solved after 41 years. This is NEWSNIGHT on a Friday from New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We want to revisit our lead story now, the kidnapping and the rescue of the two Southern California teenagers. We are joined now by the Kern County sheriff, Carl Sparks, who's had an awful lot to deal with the last day-and-a-half, none of it easy.
You heard a bit of what he had to say in the piece that Thelma Gutierrez that began the program. The sheriff joins us tonight from Bakersfield.
What I said to you off the air I'll say to you on the air, we appreciate how you've handled all this. We appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.
You were -- your officers were both lucky and good, as it turned out, because they didn't really know where the girls were, did they?
SPARKS: No, that's right. They are -- they were just outstanding. The big hero in this is probably the animal control officer, Bonnie Hernandez. She's the one that really pointed the vehicle out and put it in the location. Our helicopter -- our helicopter located the vehicle, the deputies confronted the suspect.
He kept yelling no way, no way to them, and he was a two-striker, so this was his third strike, so he would have went to prison for the rest of his life, and I think he was saying no way am I going back to prison.
BROWN: Yes. How -- from the time that Miss Hernandez -- I think I got that right -- calls in and says I think I've seen the car, how long is it before the deputies arrive on the ground?
SPARKS: Probably 20 to 25 minutes. The suspect...
BROWN: I'm sorry, what is going on at that point is -- in the command center? Is it frantic, is it what?
SPARKS: Well, you know as well as I do that command center is going nuts, because they want that vehicle, and the CHP helicopter is in the area. Our helicopter is there. Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had a helicopter, and I think the CHP also had a fixed wing. It was just that our helicopter was in position and guided the two deputies into the location.
BROWN: And...
SPARKS: But there was help about.
BROWN: I'm sorry. And then this -- as we said at the beginning, the officers didn't know that the two young women were in the back of the Bronco when the shootout started.
How long from the moment they make contact with Mr. Ratliff to the point where the shooting ends? How long is that? SPARKS: Probably because the first contact was on the road, then he took off across an incline and into a ravine. You are probably talking maybe two minutes to two-and-a-half minutes from the initial contact until the deputies opened fire on the vehicle, which at no time did they know the two girls were in the area between the back seat and the back window.
BROWN: I want to talk about one other area with you that's a little trickier. You have some regrets about having told us, reporters and others, that the girls had been sexually assaulted.
The only question I have about this is to put it in some context of what you were thinking when you did it.
SPARKS: My thought was I wanted to paint a picture to the media and the public that this suspect had already done whatever he was going to do to the girls, and he was hunting for a place to kill them and dump them.
And I thought it was important that people understand that he had already raped them, and then he was just hunting for a place to get rid of them.
And I did apologize to the young women and to the family over the air through the media, that if I caused them any embarrassment, I was sorry.
BROWN: Just a second or two. Ever have a day like yesterday in your life?
SPARKS: All law enforcement prays for a day like today. I mean, this is why we put the uniform on. What happened out there, our ability to save those two young ladies and make that suspect responsible for his actions, it's law enforcement's dream to be in a situation like this.
This is why we do this job.
BROWN: Sheriff, I think everybody in the country just wants to say thanks. Your people certainly were lucky, but they were also good. And those kids are safe, and nicely done.
Thank you for your time tonight.
SPARKS: Thank you, sir.
BROWN: There are a number of complicating issues here, one of them has to do with the privacy of the young women, as we were just dealing with with the sheriff, and the fact that they were sexually assaulted, and what's expected of the media, what's expected of a public official like that.
Someone who has been wrestling with these issues for a long time joins us tonight. And in some respects, at least in a public sense, I think, she goes against the grain of how most newsroom executives and editors think about this. Geneva Overholser of the Missouri school -- University of Missouri School of Journalism joins us from Washington tonight.
It's nice to see you.
I want to get to the specific case, which is incredibly unusual for a couple of reasons. But just -- let's just start more broadly on this.
You do not believe that it is actually a very wise thing to withhold the names of rape victims.
GENEVA OVERHOLSER, MISSOURI SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM: Well, I guess that's fair to say. I certainly understand why newspaper editors and others have made the decision, because rape does bear a special stigma.
I guess what I think is that we need to think about the ramifications of our not naming victims in only this case among adult victims of crime.
You know, I thought it was interesting listening to Sheriff Sparks. He did what I think comes naturally to us in this country, and that is, he shared the facts as he knew them. And, in fact, the charge of rape and the fact of the rape would be a public record.
But over the years newspaper editors made the decision to withhold it.
BROWN: And I talked about this a bit at the beginning of the program, that one effect of that -- and this is what concerns me -- is that it has the unintended consequence of perpetuating the shame.
OVERHOLSER: Well, I think it does. I think that the reason editors decided not to do it, and media people generally, is because they've been told by people that then rape victims are twice exposed.
And I think what we need to ask is: When we don't do what we normally do, and share the facts, do we not give the public a chance to wrestle with this crime. But also, even for the victims of rape, you know, I can't imagine that most of the public didn't imagine that this awful crime might have happened to these two young women. This fellow had been charged, or had been -- he was wanted for another rape charge, right.
BROWN: Let's talk a little bit more about this now, because here was a case where they were kidnapped. There pictures were out there. Their names were out there. And then bingo, we all pull back instantly and wring our hands for a while in the process, which on this program we're particularly good at, I think.
Were we being silly, in a sense?
OVERHOLSER: Well, I do think we should wring our hands over this one, because I wouldn't want to use the word silly, but it doesn't help anyone, right? I mean, first of all, we knew who the young women were. The nation grieved with the families yesterday. Cable television had the story all day long. The nation had a chance to understand the depth of the difficulties.
And then lo and behold these young women are found. It's a great and joyous moment. But suddenly we hear that they had been raped and it's as if a screen is pulled over them. No longer are we able to rejoice over them.
But there's also a kind of fiction there, right, that suddenly we can un-name them. And it seemed that the media made two different choices. Some media continued to name them and show them, but didn't mention the rape charge. Other media mentioned the rape charge, and the ceased to name them and show them.
BROWN: Yes, I know. The best of this is, honestly, is that we're talking about it and all of us...
OVERHOLSER: Exactly.
BROWN: ... I think, this went on in newsrooms and, I expect, in dining rooms all over the country. And to the extent that that is helpful is probably a good thing that we're doing it.
It's nice to meet you finally, albeit electronically. I hope you'll join us again.
OVERHOLSER: Thank you so much for having me.
BROWN: Thank you.
Still ahead on the program tonight: some good old words for some new financial chicanery. That's how we'll end it all tonight.
Up next: How Kuwaitis view a possible invasion of Iraq 12 years after the first one.
This is NEWSNIGHT in a rainy New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Twelve years ago tonight, working as the local news anchor in Seattle and wondering if the country was going to war, I just reported that Iraq had invaded Kuwait. Twelve years later, oddly enough, the question remains the same: Will there be a war with Iraq?
For all that was left undone in the Gulf War, one thing is clearly accomplished: Kuwait was freed. That is to say, it was freed from Iraqi control; it would be tough to call the country free. But that's local politics, and another matter.
The anniversary tonight from CNN's Brent Sadler.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SADLER (voice-over): Kuwait City's skyline, just 75 miles from Iraq's southern port city of Basra, within rocket range, say military officials here, of Saddam Hussein's suspected arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, putting Kuwait's rebuilt armed forces and this vitally important American ally in the possible line of retaliatory fire from Iraq if war breaks out.
GENERAL ALI MUMEN, CHIEF OF STAFF, KUWAIT ARMED FORCES: We think it is a great possibility. Looking at his previous actions, and I could not see what could stop him to us weapon of mass destruction again.
SADLER: Meaning that Kuwait and its U.S. protector, with as many as 10,000 American troops stationed here, have already trained for such an eventuality.
And as tensions rise, military units along the Iraqi border are on high alert. Oil field security is being stepped up, and civil defense plans implemented to allay the fears of a war-jittery population.
(on camera): In the 12 years since Iraq invaded, occupied and plundered Kuwait, creating Middle East mayhem, the tiny oil-rich state has bounced back. But the specter of another war, with Iraq this time to topple possibly president Saddam Hussein, is casting a long shadow over the Gulf region.
(voice-over): Kuwait says it can't be at the forefront of any U.S.-led military action to overthrow the Iraqi leader without international consensus.
But there's no attempt in Kuwait to mask a yearning shared with U.S. President George W. Bush.
AHMED FAHAD AL-SABAH, KUWAITI INFORMATION MINISTER: I assume the whole region will be safer without Saddam Hussein (ph). And for that also we think in any direction if Saddam is not there, more security for us and for the other neighbor of Iraq.
SADLER: Kuwait is using the 12th anniversary of Iraq's invasion to showcase a new museum of alleged Iraqi atrocities, diplomats from the Coalition of Gulf War Liberators invited to attend.
Kuwaiti Air Force Colonel Mohammed Al-Shaji (ph) helped create this exhibition, and gives a history lesson, using miniature settings to explain the invasion and seven-month Iraqi occupation. A brutal occupation, he says, using these life-size replicas of documented cases to depict Kuwaiti suffering.
Twelve years later, admits the colonel, conflict with Iraq seems likely to continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story will never end. It is going to be continuous. God knows what is going to happen in the future.
SADLER: And whatever does happen next, say officials, expect this museum to add another grizzly chapter to the saga of an unfinished war.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SADLER: Kuwait's chief of the armed forces also tells me that he believes a reinvasion and reoccupation of Kuwait is an impossibility today given, he says, the state of Kuwait's armed forces and, perhaps more importantly, the presence of the U.S. military protection here -- Aaron.
BROWN: You started to answer this. I just want to make sure I understand it.
The Kuwaitis would not be, at this moment, receptive to the Americans basing the operation in their country, is that right?
SADLER: There's a lot of ambiguity in what's said by officials here. But quite clearly I get the messages, having spent the past week here building that report, that the real objective is, that if the U.S. does launch an attack against Saddam Hussein, it must be an attack which completes the mission, i.e. removes the Iraqi dictator from power.
As far as Kuwait's involvement in that, they say, under international consensus perhaps the United Nations, again unspecific though, Kuwait will play a small part in whatever happens.
So you can read it either way. But whatever does happen, if it's serious to topple Saddam Hussein, that Kuwait will go along with that.
BROWN: Brent, thank you. Brent Sadler in Kuwait City tonight 12 years after the invasion.
Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: big trouble for an executive of the Cincinnati Reds. You can't say anything dumber than this guy said.
And up next: how police solved a 41-year-old murder mystery.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: There's a reason cold case files have their own program on A&E. There's something very compelling about these cases. It's an unsolved mystery, of course; justice has not been done. That's always compelling. There's also the passage of time. The accused goes free, gets older, lays low; maybe leads an entirely different kind of life and, of course, is keeping a secret.
There's also the underdog appeal in these stories. Some scrappy detectives dig up the file after many years, when memories have faded and witnesses have vanished.
This is a cold case story that began on the evening of February 28, 1961 and ended last night, August 1, 2002.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SHERIFF LEON LOTT, RICHLAND COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Yes, it was a gruesome killing. He was executed. He was shot in the head. He was executed and he was pushed down a cliff.
BROWN: That is how John Orner died 41 years ago.
But who killed him? Who shot him in the head and threw him off that cliff had been a mystery since 1961.
LOTT: The victim's pockets were pulled out, and he didn't have any money on him. And he was a taxi cab driver, so he would have had some money. So we believe robbery was the motive.
BROWN: Three weeks after Horner's body was discovered, a Tennessee state trooper stopped a man for hitchhiking. He stopped Ed Freiburger.
Freiburger was a soldier then, 18 years old who had gone AWOL from South Carolina's Fort Jackson.
JOHN DELGADO, FREIBURGER ATTORNEY: What happened was he left the Army to go back to Fort Wayne to see an ex-girlfriend, long before he got married. And he didn't come back for two days, and they court martialed him.
BROWN: In his possession Freiburger had a loaded 32-caliber gun, the same type of weapon used to kill John Horner. Freiburger was taken into custody and detectives were able to prove he bought that gun in Columbia, South Carolina at a pawn shop the day before Horner was murdered.
But the ballistics test came back inconclusive, and Ed Freiburger was never charged. He left South Carolina a free man.
And the case died. A cold case, in the language of cops everywhere.
The gun, the crime scene photographs, all the evidence was gathered and boxed up, for more than three decades forgotten, when Richland County Sheriff's Office in Columbia, South Carolina created its own cold case squad.
KNOX MCMAHON, ASSISTANT SOLICITOR, RICHLAND COUNTY: I was somewhat amazed and fascinated that they had the file from 39 years ago at the time, almost 40 years ago. And some of the photographs that they had located, some of the physical items of evidence that were still at sled (ph) at that time were really just fascinating and interesting.
BROWN: It is hard to make a case 40 years later. Many of the original detectives had died. So had other witnesses, friends of the victim.
It can also be difficult to defend yourself after 40 years. Freiburger's alibi witness and fellow soldier was dead as well.
The only thing that gets better after 40 years in the cop business is science. And science nailed Ed Freiburger.
That old gun, the one found on him all those years ago by the Tennessee State Trooper, did him in.
LOTT: The weapon, the pistol, has a fingerprint, also, that it puts on that bullet. And this ballistics expert was able to go back and identify that fingerprint that gun made when it fired that bullet and say, that is the gun that fired the bullet that killed Mr. Horner.
BROWN: A year ago April, Freiburger, who lived outside Fort Wayne, Indiana, had a clean record and a quiet life, was paid a visit by his past.
LOTT: It was like a ton of bricks had fell on top of him. I think after all this time he felt like he had got away with it, and here we were knocking on his door and we were back investigating it, and we were not going to let him get away with it.
DELGADO: When the search warrant was issued, Ed voluntarily came down to South Carolina from Indiana and turned himself in. It was not a pleasant experience.
BROWN: Nor was the trial. The prosecution relied heavily on the testimony of their new ballistics expert and the new test results. They also used the retired Tennessee state trooper. Forty years later John Orner received the justice that every victim deserves.
SCOTT SYLVESTER, JURY FOREPERSON: The bottom line is that we just looked at the evidence when it came to making our decisions. We didn't -- we didn't try to speculate on which way the cab went or which -- what Mr. Freiburger did immediately after or any of that. We just went basically on the evidence and it led to indisputable -- a mountain to prove his guilt. Justice is timeless so we felt that justice was done.
BROWN: Mr. Freiburger will serve at least 10 years in a South Carolina prison. Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, we'll resurrect some old words that might be useful in these days.
Up next, however, how to get your foot out of your mouth in CINCINNATI. NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: First things first here. Cincinnati Reds General Manager Jim Bowden did not use the "N"-word. He did not make anti-Semitic remarks, nor did he say Hitler did some really good things until he went nuts. We want to make it perfectly clear that was Marge Schott, his old boss. That was not Mr. Bowden.
We give Mr. Bowden credit in this regard. He is trying to live up to the reputation of the past. Talking to reporters yesterday about the possibility of a strike, he said this: "If the players want to strike, they ought to just pick September 11 to do it, because that's what they're going to do to the game. Let the Players Association president drive the plane right into the building." He actually said that. A written apology came out shortly thereafter. Our Keith Olbermann has a tape of the remarks. We'll talk with him in a moment about all of this, but first, how the story is playing in the Queen City. Their news tonight from Cincinnati television station WLWT.
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ANNOUNCER: The home of Sky 5, this is Eyewitness News 5 at 5.
DAVE WAGNER, WLWT ANCHOR: What was he thinking? That appeared to be the collective reaction today from those who heard the comments from Reds General Manager Jim Bowden. Twenty-four hours after opening mouth and inserting foot, a day of damage control for Jim Bowden.
Good evening, I'm Dave Wagner.
ANN MARIE TIERNON, WLWT ANCHOR: I'm Ann Marie Tiernon. This controversy began when Bowden compared a potential baseball strike to the tragedy of September 11. Now before yesterday's game he said, quote, "If they do walk out, make sure it's September 11. Be symbolic. Let Donald Fehr drive the plane right into the building if that's what they want to do."
After the game, Bowden issued a five cents (ph) apology, using the word "apologize" three times, in part saying, "I regret making such extremely insensitive remarks, and I apologize to everyone I may have offended."
WAGNER: So what kind of impact could Jim Bowden's comments have on the Reds now?
TIERNON: Ken Broo joins us now with some answers -- Ken.
KEN BROO, WLWT CORRESPONDENT: Not so much on the Reds. Just on himself. He got off very light. Baseball was swift to react to this. In a sense, Bowden can be happy for that. For him it could have been much worse. Commissioner Bud Selig fined Bowden today. That's it. Here's the statement from Major League Baseball just released late this afternoon.
"Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, following consultation with Karl Lindner (ph) and John Allen (ph), has taken disciplinary action against Cincinnati general manager Jim Bowden."
Bowden was fined an undisclosed amount for the insensitive and inappropriate comments he made yesterday. Now, the amount of that fine could have topped out at $1 million dollars, but it's believed to be only a fraction of that. Suspension was possible. Now it's just a healthy whack in his wallet and his self-inflicted embarrassment that will carry with him for some time.
Dave, you talked to the commissioner's office today. I guess the analogy here is the Rocker incident of a couple years ago.
WAGNER: The insensitivity and appropriateness of the comments, that's what they talked about here, and said it's up to the commissioner's discretion as to how much this fine will be.
You would hope that Major League Baseball would be smart enough to maybe pass this money along to the victims of September 11, but they've done other things before that we kind of question.
BROO: They drew that analogy, yet suspended Rocker. They didn't suspend him.
WAGNER: Good point. All right.
TIERNON: Thanks, Ken. So what is the reaction to Bowden's controversial comments? John London live tonight outside Cinergy Field, where Bowden is refusing to talk about all of this -- John.
JOHN LONDON, WLWT CORRESPONDENT: Well, both Bowden and the front office remaining mum tonight, Ann Marie. Nothing more beyond the statement that you just heard Ken Broo allude to and read. Bowden telled WLLW radio earlier today he wishes he could take the words back. Tonight this controversy still percolating out here in Reds country.
LONDON (voice-over): Fans like the Mannises (ph) in from Muncie (ph) for the just completed Dodger series don't necessarily want world events Bowdenized, if you will. They just want him to stick to sports.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would hate to have been the one to have said it. I think he's paying the price now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I thought it was pretty insensitive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pouring over the 58-word Bowden apology, this fan is ready to let it go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, that sounds sincere to me. I don't know what else you can say.
LONDON: Reflected in so many sunglasses on this day, nationwide articles and analysis, some concluding it was not exactly a matter of popping off, as certain headlines suggest, but a dire warning about the game itself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bow's kind of correct, in a way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever happened to the First Amendment, freedom of speech?
BILL CUNNINGHAM, RADIO SHOW HOST: Only applies to liberals and social perverts.
LONDON: Who better to rail about insensitivity than the self- proclaimed voice of the common man?
BILL CUNNINGHAM: He didn't mean to say that the Reds ball players are the same as al Qaeda. He didn't mean to say that but it came out that way.
LONDON (on camera): In this age of instant polling, ESPN wasted no time, contacted 25,000 people. A third of them said Bowden should wither be fined, suspended or fired. Two-thirds of them -- the overwhelming majority -- say nothing should happen to him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's terribly offensive to a lot of people, but in my heart I really don't think that was his intent.
JIM BOWDEN, REDS GENERAL MANAGER: It came off really wrong, and humor like that's not funny, and again I just really regret it. I mean, sometimes we have bad sense of humors, but there's still no excuse for it, and all I can do is apologize. I wish I could take the words back that I used, but it's already been said, and so all I can do is have the one -- I made a mistake and I hope people will forgive me.
LONDON: Those comments from Jim Bowden hours before that latest Reds statement about the fine that has just been imposed. Bowden, we are told, did not travel with the club for this weekend's San Diego series, that, of course not unusual and not necessarily significant.
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BROWN: OK. Their news from Cincinnati tonight. We appreciate that. Mr. Bowden said what he said to reporters. Tape recorders were rolling, at least some were, and Keith Olbermann got the tape. So let's hear what he had to say, and then let's talk about some other stuff related to it.
KEITH OLBERMANN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. Talking to a gaggle of Ohio sports writers, Bowden has already made one reference to how a strike would do to baseball what the terrorist attacks did to the country.
The conversation turned away and then several minutes later, asked again about a player strike, Bowden turns it back.
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BOWDEN: My viewpoint is there will not be one because there can't be one. If they do walk out, as I said, I encourage all to make sure it's September 11. Be symbolic about it. Donald Fehr drive the plane right into the building if that's what they want to do.
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OLBERMANN: One of the reporters present for that said what you may have read there. The chuckling you heard was, quote, "our nervous laugh." Baseball has punished offensive speech as far back as 1938, most famously the panoramically insulting John Rocker and Bowden's ex- boss Marge Schott.
The question is, what happens to someone -- what should happen to them when they take the unending pain of September 11 and drag it down to the level of business? BROWN: We talked about this on the phone a little bit ago, and my view tends to be stupid, which is what this is, remains a misdemeanor. and -- but I wish that he had, in the first instance, had the guts -- forgive me -- to come out and apologize, as opposed to handing a statement out.
OLBERMANN: That made a bad impression on me, too.
And also I sense this -- and I'm sure you remember from September, that maybe it strikes us in a way some of these other offensive comments have not hit home.
I mean, this hurt me when I heard it. This really hurt me.
BROWN: I always wonder if that's because I live here, but I think it hurt a lot of people.
OLBERMANN: Exactly.
BROWN: What also hurt baseball, which has had a kind of interesting role in the healing process. And it's one of the few things that's done well recently, is that.
OLBERMANN: Yes, especially with this team. That's the irony of the timing of this. The Reds were here in New York about week-and-a- half ago and Scott Williamson, who is a pitcher from Texas who is marrying into a firefighter family in Cincinnati, went down to Ladder Company No. 2, which last 10 men from lower Manhattan, and wept openly with the firefighters there.
Ken Griffey, one of his greatest fans was a New York firefighter who perished on September 11. He met the family and the kids.
And baseball has -- as you said, one of the few things that has gone right the last year -- has tried to heal -- help heal the nation's wounds, and then their boss did this.
BROWN: Well, I think he should be sentenced to spend a week with John Rocker. That's my feeling.
Thank you for coming in on short notice on a Friday.
OLBERMANN: Sure.
BROWN: Still ahead on NEWSNIGHT: some good old words to describe some new bad behavior.
We'll be right back.
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BROWN: We recently read that young Maya Lin first roughed out her vision for the Vietnam Memorial using a plate of mashed potatoes. We like this story a lot, but keep sending us your ideas for the future of lower Manhattan the modern way, minus the mashed potatoes, over the Internet. The sire is cnn.com/NEWSNIGHT, and it is new and improved. Honestly, we revamped it -- well, I didn't -- just days after launching it in par because we've gotten so many proposals sent in.
And here's -- this one comes from Virginia. Robert calls this The Hands of Lady Liberty. Two towers, Liberty One, Liberty Two. That's a nice job too, Robert, thank you.
From Marcel in Brooklyn up next. That's cool. Look how he did that. It looks like crayons. A complex of buildings wrapped in a frame of steel and colored glass. Nicely done.
Garett in Louisiana doesn't think anything should be built in the area. A lot of people think that.
Susan in Ohio came up with this idea.
We're eager to see yours. Send them on our way.
But it is no contest. You will get no prize, I assure you.
Finally from us tonight, and for the week, as it is: words. With the financial Wizards of Oz being led away in handcuffs at an average of what seems at least a couple times a week, it strikes us that maybe we've been too polite, maybe uncreative in the way we talk about what's been going on.
We talk about accounting irregularities. Hey, let me tell you, the language has more firepower than that. There are some wonderful old words to describe these shenanigans. Come to think of it, "shenanigans" is one of those words.
So we'll end it all tonight with a page or two from the NEWSNIGHT dictionary of scheming, scamming, bunkum (ph) and sheep dip.
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W.C. FIELDS, ACTOR: Don't be a luddy duddy. Don't be a moon calf. Don't be a jabber now (ph).
BROWN (voice-over): Don't be a sucker is what W.C. Fields is saying.
And for those who take suckers in, they are engaged in chicanery. That's a fine old word. You take people to the cleaners for billions of dollars, that's chicanery, my friend, that is not irregular accounting.
Or maybe it's flimflam. That's another fine old word with some color in it, and some teeth. And a word ought to have teeth in cases like these. Like humbug. Humbug has some teeth.
And what about hornswoggle? If your portfolio is as limp as lasagna, that is what's happened to you, my friend, you've been hornswoggled, and to a farethewell (ph). You've been hornswoggled, you've been hoodwinked, you've been bamboozled. You've been gulled and bilked and swindled. You've been cozzened, you've been gypped and fleeced.
And those are just the verbs. There are some very good nouns as well to describe the people who do the gypping and the fleecing.
Call them mountebanks, for starters. Or rogues, or rapscallions. Call them charlatans, grifters, scalawags. Call them chiselers or four-flushers or knaves.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Imagine a man who takes money out of a child's piggy bank, puts in IOUs.
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BROWN: These are all wonderful words entirely appropriate, and WE recommend using them often. And we suspect, unfortunately, there will be many reasons to use them as well.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: If five will get you 10, 10 will get you 20. Sixteen cylinder cars, a big home in the city.
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BROWN: Have a wonderful weekend. That's all from us tonight. We'll see you all next week at 10:00 Eastern time.
Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
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