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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Bush Will Seek Congressional Approval to Move Against Iraq; Two Teens Are Prosecuted From the Same Murder

Aired September 04, 2002 - 22:00   ET

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

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, again. Good to be here, I must say.
There was an image today that was nothing short of riveting. You may have seen it. This young boy in Florida, Alex King -- when we say young we mean it. This kid is clearly a long ways away from seeing a razor. And his voice has yet to change. And on the witness stand, on TV and on trial as an adult, of course, facing a lifetime -- a literal lifetime in prison.

No matter how heinous the crime, and this one certainly was, we cannot imagine anyone seeing this image, seeing this young boy, hearing his voice, without having some qualms at least, about trying kids as adults.

But that is not really what this page is about tonight. It is not nearly the most troubling part of the case involving the murder of the child's father, Terry King, last fall. It is that prosecutors in this Florida county have charged two sets of defendants for the same crime, though different theories of the crime. Alex and his brother are on trial this week.

The trial against the brothers' friend, and we use the term loosely here, was held last week. The jury reached a verdict; the verdict is sealed until this second trial is done.

You do not have to be lawyer to have a lot of red flags fly up in your face on this one, but we defer to a lawyer for just what's wrong here. CNN legal analyst and former prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin, who described this all as chilling more than once today for a simple reason: Prosecutors -- prosecutors representing the state -- should only bring a case if they truly believe the defendant is guilty. Here, someone has to be innocent.

But you could conceivably have a case where two different juries find both theories correct, and find both sets of defendants guilty, which cannot be. Someone could go to jail for life who is clearly innocent. That is a real possibility. And those "someone's" could be the kids, who are barely considered teenagers and, honestly, look even look younger than that.

We cannot imagine that multiple guilty verdicts will stand up on appeal, but then again, we could not imagine two trials for one crime could happen, either. A fascinating case, and we hope you'll stick around. We'll spend some time on this as the program moves along.

But, it is Iraq that begins "The Whip." The president making the case for action to leaders of congress. Kelly Wallace is at the White House.

Kelly, a headline from you, please

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, in making the case, President Bush says he will seek congressional approval before taking any action against Iraq. But Democrats say they need a lot more information from the White House to prove that a military attack might be necessary -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelly, thank you.

A shift in tone a bit in the Middle East today; slightly more optimistic. Jerrold Kessel in Jerusalem tonight for us.

Jerrold, a headline from you, please.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because he says he senses that some Palestinians have accepted that violence does not work, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, says for the first time he believes a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians may be possible. Some Palestinians also talking of the idea of ending violence. Now we know, Aaron, that we are not supposed to have question marks in headlines, but perhaps this is an appropriate time for a question mark. Has this Middle East confrontation turned a corner? Well, it was a lot of skepticism whether it has, and yet one has to ask, and yet.

BROWN: Jerrold, where Middle East is concerned, a question mark always fits. Thank you. Back with you in a little bit.

On now to that case in Florida: two trials, one crime, two theories. David Mattingly sorting it all out.

David, give us quick headline please.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, they convinced veteran investigators they killed their father. Now two young brothers have to convince a jury that they did not. We will show you compelling testimony tonight from a Pensacola courtroom.

BROWN: David, thank you. Back with all of you shortly.

Also coming up on the program tonight, quite a twist in the case of -- that define the old image of New York. It is a city plagued by crime and racial tension. The Central Park jogger case. Now DNA evidence is throwing a convention, years ago, into doubt. We will spend some time there tonight, as well.

Also, "Segment 7," pairing up our live coverage on September 11, a year ago with images captured by some of the best photographers in the world, the photographers at Reuters. This turned into a very interesting piece for us, and we will show that to you at the end of the program. All of that in the hour ahead.

We begin at the White House, the president's day of persuading. This is what all presidents have to do at one time or another. Some do it better than others. Lyndon Johnson was the master of it. The Treatment, they called it. If he could get a senator or a congressman one-on-one, or in a small group, if he could get close -- and he could get very close -- he would find a way of winning him over to his side.

Today it was another president from Texas trying too much the same thing.

We begin tonight with CNN's Kelly Wallace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): Facing criticism he has not made the case for a U.S. attack on Iraq, President Bush mounts an offensive. He summons congressional leaders to the White House, telling them he will seek a congressional resolution, backing possible military action to oust Saddam Hussein.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At the appropriate time this administration will go to the Congress to seek approval for -- necessary to deal with the threat.

WALLACE: The president urges Congress to act before lawmakers recess for the November elections. Aides stress Mr. Bush has not decided military action is necessary.

But one Republican leader left the White House session convinced otherwise.

REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY WHIP: Well, I think military action is inevitable, faced with Saddam Hussein, 11 years of history of his thumbing his nose at the world.

WALLACE: Democratic lawmakers applaud the president for seeking congressional approval, but stress the administration needs to answer several questions.

REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D-MO), MAJORITY LEADER: How are we going to build a democracy? How -- who is going to help with that? What is the strategy? We are dealing with all of that. And then there is the question whether military should be involved.

WALLACE: Democrats also want proof about the threat posed by the Iraqi leader.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MAJORITY WHIP: I have not seen the intelligence that would indicate that the threat is imminent.

WALLACE: In an effort to prove that, the president sends Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Capitol Hill for a closed-door briefing with senators. The PR offensive also to include top military officials testifying before Congress, the president consulting with allies, meeting Saturday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and delivering a major address to the United Nations September 12.

BUSH: I will first remind the United Nations that, for 11 long years, Saddam Hussein has sidestepped, crawfished, wheedled out of any agreements he has made.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Senior aides say the president is not ruling out a diplomatic option, such as seeking a U.N. inspections regime. This one, though, would be backed by military force. U.S. troops or troops from other nations would be on standby and would use force if U.N. inspectors were not allowed to go where they wanted to go inside Iraq -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kelly, give me your best guess on something. I was listening to Congressman Gephardt as he was speaking in the piece, and in the back-left corner we could see Tom DeLay shaking his head, no, no, no. Is this destined to become a partisan battle on the Hill?

WALLACE: That is an interesting observation. Both sides say no. You do have Democrats though, Aaron, concerned, especially if you have a vote on a congressional resolution over the next several weeks before the November elections. Concerned this could be used as political issues -- could be used by Republicans to score points with voters in November.

So both sides saying politics not issue here. Clearly some Democrats concerned about that though, Aaron.

BROWN: Kelly, thank you. Kelly Wallace with the duty at the White House tonight.

A late legal development tonight. Lawyers have filed a suit in federal court against Iraq on behalf of the victims of September 11. The lawsuit claims that Iraq knew Saddam Hussein was targeting the Pentagon and New York City and that the Iraqi government has supported terrorism for years to avenge its defeat in the Gulf War. Bottom line, the lawsuit seeking a trillion dollars in damages.

Secretary of State Powell was at the U.N. Earth Summit today in Johannesburg, South Africa, talking to world leaders, doing a lot of listening as well, trying to line up support for action against Iraq, whatever that action may turn out to be. There was also an address he made at the summit, and he got heckled for his effort. "Shame on Bush," people in the hall shouted. "Betrayed by governments," one of the signs read.

The protesters and many of the delegates take exception to the administration's position on the environment, as well as the president's decision not to attend the summit.

Middle East, now, and signals coming from both sides that, even if no one has yet come up with an alternative to war, everybody seems to agree that war isn't working at all. Attacks on Israeli civilians are not getting the Palestinians what they want, the military occupation of West Bank cities has not made Israeli citizens feel much safer, or at least not safe enough. So we look to progress.

Here again, CNN's Jerrold Kessel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL (voice-over): Israeli tanks still very much in control of Palestinian towns. Yet, now a new direction in talk on both sides which could just lead to the tanks leaving.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Now for the first time I see a possibility for a breakthrough, for a political arrangement. It will not be a simple thing or easy thing, but there is a possibility. With whom to negotiate, with whom, with Palestinians who have reached the conclusion that with terror they cannot achieve anything, and that the road Arafat has led them for years, terror and murder, hasn't brought them anything.

KESSEL: Palestinian leaders were not immediately impressed, dismissing Mr. Sharon's statements as no change of heart or change of mind.

But, also on the Palestinian side, with their police back on some streets, support for a possible new approach to the way out of the conflict.

SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Instead of talking, do something, because the world is sick of tired of us forbidding (ph) ourselves, of saying the same things, and they want action on the ground. So the whole idea was to begin gradually a process that was very painful, very difficult to accept, but we accept it to begin. And then to move to a point whereby a joint declaration will be issued at the same moment, same date by both leaderships, calling for general cease-fire.

KESSEL: And the new pivotal figure along side Yasser Arafat, Interior Minister Abdul Rasi Caliph (ph) here has been speaking out forcefully of the need to end the violence. He calls it counterproductive to Palestinian interests.

The Palestinian leader himself, meanwhile, tells the visiting Danish foreign minister he accepts a new European initiative for a cease-fire, to be followed by talks and, eventually, a Palestinian state within three years in peace, alongside Israel.

Overall, Palestinians remain very skeptical, pointing to the new Israeli policy of deporting from the West Bank to Gaza relatives who help suicide bombers, siblings, Kifa (ph) and Itissara Jorouri (ph) dispatched to Gaza, after being accused of helping their brother, who has said to have masterminded a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KESSEL: No great confidence then, that the two-year confrontation has really turned a corner. But there is this fresh talk about new approaches to the confrontation. And it really does not seem to be accidental that it is coming in time when the United States is making up its mind on Iraq. Neither side in this conflict here, seems to want Washington to feel it is an impediment -- Aaron.

BROWN: Well, I have a couple questions. One is very quick. On the European plan, the Israelis reject the plan or accept the plan?

KESSEL: Really, they reject it, although they will not say they reject it because what they do not like is that Yasser Arafat has a central place in it. Mr. Sharon, for all his talk about possibility of an arrangement, has not backed off from the idea that Yasser Arafat has no place in it. Yasser Arafat has a central place in European thinking.

Therefore, probably a nonstarter as far as the Israelis are concerned.

BROWN: Which leads me to the second question, and it seemed to me the key question that interviewers asked of him, negotiate with whom? It is one thing to reach a deal. It is another thing to be able to sell the deal in the occupied territories.

If not Arafat, who does Sharon or the Israeli government, who do they deal with?

KESSEL: Very weak point in any of the thinking that the Israelis and the prime minister comes with. There is no real substitute for Yasser Arafat on the Palestinian side.

I think the interesting thing about these developments we are hearing, both from the Palestinian leadership there and from Mr. Sharon, that neither side is really talking about talking to the other side at this stage. They're just saying, let's try to shift the confrontation. Maybe the time is to cool the confrontation down. Perhaps it's at that level, not about really negotiating peace at this stage.

BROWN: Well, that in and of itself would be a good thing. Jerrold, thank you. Jerrold Kessel in Jerusalem.

For us tonight, ahead in NEWSNIGHT, one murder victim, two separate theories of the case, two separate trials. What happens if the jury comes back with guilty verdicts in both?

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BROWN: ... case itself, in a dramatic and unsettling day in court.

Once again, here's CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATTINGLY (voice-over): Based on looks alone, the possibility that these young brothers with choirboy faces could plot and murder their own father might seem inconceivable. Yet, Derek and Alex King are on trial for doing just that last November in Escambia County, Florida.

And in court Wednesday, the boys' own words, confessions, taped by police shortly after the murder, played for the jury.

DEREK KING: I hit him once, and I heard him move, and then I was afraid that he might wake up and see us. So I just kept on hitting him.

MATTINGLY: At the time, just 13, it was older brother Derek saying he struck the killing blows. Little Alex, 12 at the time, said it was he who came up with the idea, and watched as his brother carry it out.

But on the stand, in a 180-degree turn, Alex now says the killer was family friend Ricky Chavis. Alex testified the night of the murder, Chavis entered their bedroom and had boys hide in the trunk the car before taking them secretly to stay at his home.

ALEX KING: ... said that there had been a fight between my dad, and he said that dad was dead.

MATTINGLY: Alex told the court Chavis coached the boys on details of the crime, and convinced them into taking the blame, thinking as juveniles, they will not go to prison.

ALEX KING: I -- upset, crying, I was angry -- kind of angry at him. But he kept saying like, I mean that he had done it for me.

MATTINGLY: Alex also giving details into a sexual, and what he described as deeply emotional relationship, he claims to have had with Chavis, a convicted child molester, testifying Chavis told him he killed the father so the two could be together.

ALEX KING: He was saying that he had done it for us. He said -- my dad would never have let us live with him. He would never let us go.

MATTINGLY: But with two compelling versions of a brutal murder, a grand jury compelled prosecutors to try Chavis and brothers for the same murder, with two separate juries, in two separate trials.

Chavis maintained his innocence in his murder trial last week, as boys provided key testimony.

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY: ... what to say to police as far as what you killed your father with?

DEREK KING: A bat.

MATTINGLY: The jury in the Chavis trial reached its verdict last week. That verdict, however, is sealed and will not be revealed until a new jury decides the fate of Derek and Alex. Beyond the shocking nature of the crime, the case has become a legal sensation: two distinct stories, two separate trials, two juries whose verdicts could fail to agree who is the true killer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And you have to think the pressure is building for the jury tonight, because two drastically different stories, yet both with elements of credibility.

How, Aaron, do you pick the right one?

BROWN: Well, I assume that the current jury knows -- well, I may be wrong here: Does the current jury know there was a previous trial?

MATTINGLY: They know there was previous trial. But all the participants are under a gag order. The verdict has been sealed, so there is really no basis for them to go on about what happened to before.

BROWN: But they do know there was another trial. And how close to the end of this one do we seem to be?

MATTINGLY: Well, both of the boys have their own attorneys. The attorney for Alex today said that he will probably not be calling more witnesses. We might see some more witnesses for the other brother. But we do not know if he's going to be taking the stand. At least another day of testimony.

BROWN: David, thank you. David Mattingly covering that trial for us tonight.

Jeffrey Toobin is here, our legal analyst, I was going to say, to help sort this out. In some ways, I am not sure you can. Looking at the core of this, it seems to me, the prosecutors are not supposed to bring cases because maybe someone did it, they are suppose to bring cases because they believe someone did it. It is not possible that they believe -- it is not possible they believe both these people did it after different theories.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is -- they are completely contradictory. You know, Earl Warren, long before he was Chief Justice, was the chief prosecutor in Oakland, California. And he had a rule for prosecutors. He said: If you simply have the slightest doubt that anyone you are prosecuting is innocent, I will take you off the case in a second, no questions asked.

That rule has sort of filtered down to even the lowly likes of me, when I was a prosecutor. I mean, it is a sacred obligation, I think, a prosecutor is different from other kinds of lawyers, that you simply cannot bring a case unless you believe you have figured it out.

But, I mean, they seem to have not followed that rule in this case, and it is really troubling.

BROWN: In fairness to them, and I -- this is important, because we are probably beat them up a little here, they are gagged. They cannot talk, they cannot defend themselves, and so we do not know precisely what they are thinking or how they looked at that, and we ought to keep that in mind.

MATTINGLY: It is a terrible, terrible crime. I mean, this man...

BROWN: It is an awful crime.

MATTINGLY: ... in his own home. It is not like they should not be hard at home. But it -- the two cases is what makes it so strange.

BROWN: So tell me, in your vast prosecutorial experience, where I am sure you have dealt with similar matters...

MATTINGLY: It comes up every day.

BROWN: ... both juries come back with guilty verdicts, what happens?

TOOBIN: What happens is, all three of them, provided it is not overturned on appeal, serve the rest of their life in prison. And you are looking at the 13 and 14-year-olds. They are not doing 30 to life or 40 years to life, they are doing life until 2070, or whenever it is those kids die of old age. That is California -- that is Florida law.

BROWN: Now I -- but, the but in that is, there is an appeal question. And how does an appeals court deal with two different theories of the case, right?

TOOBIN: Right...

BROWN: Two different theories, two guilty verdicts, one of which has to be wrong?

TOOBIN: Has to be wrong. I do not -- I mean, I was trying to do legal research on this. It is not exactly double jeopardy...

BROWN: No.

TOOBIN: ... where you have the same person tried twice. It has to be some sort of violation, I think, of due process of law. The system simply cannot tolerate in a situation where you know to certainty that one or two or perhaps three of the people are innocent. And yet they serve these gigantic sentences.

BROWN: I mean, you would -- you desperately would like to sit and talk with prosecutors, the district attorney in the county and say what you're thinking. It does seem to me, at some point, they must have decided that, look, I do not know, let us let the jury sort it out.

TOOBIN: Absolutely. Sometimes the prosecutors do that with a grand jury. They say, we do not know whether to bring charges or not, let us let the grand jury decide whether to bring charges. I mean, that is more acceptable, because a grand jury is about the investigative strategy.

BROWN: Right.

TOOBIN: This is, you know, up or down, literally life or death. And I do not think a prosecutor could simply throw that kind of decision on a jury's shoulders.

BROWN: Could a defense lawyer? I think I know the answer to this. Could a defense lawyer, in closing the case, stand up and say, here is the problem, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: They tried someone else for this case on a different theory of this case last week in a courtroom six stories down. Could you could say that?

TOOBIN: You know what, I do not know exactly. I was wondering that, because it is not really evidence in the case. As a defense lawyer you are only supposed to talk about evidence in the case.

BROWN: I thought when you close, you make arguments. Don't you?

TOOBIN: But you do make arguments, but that is not really in evidence, the fact that this other charge is out there. So I think if I were the defense lawyer, I would sure try to make that argument. But I do not know if judge will let them.

BROWN: It is annoying, is not it, when I disagree with you on a legal matter, about whether it is argument or evidence...

TOOBIN: What you say is never annoying, Aaron. It just could not be.

BROWN: I just -- I cannot -- I just -- I am just scratching my head on this.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: ... I am telling you, you are not the only one.

BROWN: Thank you. I mean, these are children, in my universe, and that is a whole different question, by the way, whether a 12-year- old, one of these kids was 12 at the time, ought to be standing trial as an adult. But we will leave that for another time.

TOOBIN: Another time.

BROWN: Nice to see you. Thank you.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, your proposals for rebuilding Ground Zero.

When we come back we will be back in the courtroom, more or less. Will DNA evidence overturn the convictions of young men, a bunch of them in one of New York City's most notorious crimes?

This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Some items from around the country tonight, starting with Dr. Steven Hatfill, a so-called "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks who, as we told you last night, lost his job yesterday at Louisiana State University. We learned today, his firing came after the Justice Department sent an e-mail directing LSU not to use Dr. Hatfill on any project receiving agency funding. His friend and spokesman, Pat Clawson, today called it blacklisting, and said it was aimed at pressuring Dr. Hatfill into making a false confession.

Federal investigators tell CNN the shooting two months ago at Los Angeles International Airport was an act of terrorism. They say, even though the Egyptian man who opened fire at the El Al ticket counter acted alone and apparently has no connection to any terrorist groups, they are convinced he did it for political reasons. He was bent on becoming a martyr, they say, and he wanted to kill as many Israelis as he could.

And in Washington, Secret Service agents arrested an apparently deranged man with a carload full of guns, Jeffrey Cloutier, police say in New Hampshire. Issued a warrant for him last night after he reportedly said he was going to Washington to "get things straightened out." Always an ominous sentence, that. And he said that the CIA had implants in his brain.

And in Winterset, Iowa, this is what's left of the Cedar Bridge. Fire destroyed it overnight. There aren't many bridges like it. Just five covered bridges left standing in the county. That would be Madison County. And the Cedar Bridge was the most famous. Perhaps you've read the novel. It was the bridge on the cover.

This is a story that when if first broke, seemed to confirm everything bad about New York City, about crime in general, about young people, race, you name it. It gave rise to a new term, wilding, as in the image a wilding embodied young predators committing violent crime just for the fun of it. A young woman had been raped and beaten while jogging through Central Park. She was white and well to do. The suspects were young and black. And their trial made national news for weeks. There were questions of racism, complaints, their confessions had been coerced. Both of which pretty much faded not long after the guilty verdicts. But all are being revisited today, now that someone else has confessed to the crime, and new DNA evidence has come to light.

Here's CNN's Michael Okwu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a crime so widely abhorred that, even today, the words "Central Park jogger" conjure images of a desolate stretch of Manhattan at night. Six teenagers attack a 28-year-old woman, raping her, beating her, and leaving her for dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was (UNINTELLIGIBLE). OKWU: Twelve years ago, their confessions bought all but one of them at least five years in prison. Defense attorneys say those confessions were coerced. And now they say another man's confession should exonerate them.

RON KUBY, DEFENSE LAWYER: All of the young people who were convicted of that horrific crime are completely innocent. They weren't there. Didn't do it. As innocent as it's possible to be.

OKWU: Lawyers for three of the defendants filed a motion to overturn their verdicts, based on interviews with this man, Mattes Reyes, who's serving 33 and a third years to life for rape and murder in an unrelated case. Defense attorneys say Reyes has confessed to a private investigator that he assaulted the jogger, and that he's been questioned by the Manhattan D.A.'s office. "On one occasion" the court papers say, "Reyes was brought to Manhattan and taken to Central Park, where he described the areas of the park where he attacked the victim.

In addition to the new confession, the defense attorneys say new DNA evidence conclusively connects Reyes to the victim.

BARRY SCHECK, DEFENSE LAWYER: At the time of the trial, there was a DNA pattern from somebody who was unapprehended and unknown, that there was no semen attributed to any of the young men that were convicted. They were convicted entirely based on the confessions that were given. And in one instance, some microscopic hair evidence.

OKWU: DNA tests conducted at the time revealed there were various attackers, but that the results were inconclusive. This was a case that presented the worst image of New York to outsiders, and inside the city, exacerbated racial tensions because the victim was white. The accused, minorities. Prosecutors would only say they are reviewing the matter.

Michael Okwu, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Just a quick footnote, as you would imagine, we invited the prosecution's side to join us either here or on camera. And New York District Attorney's office declines the offer, but they do continue to investigate, we are told.

When we come back, we'll talk to DNA attorney, Barry Scheck, about this case and more. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

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BROWN: I'm joined by Barry Scheck. He and his partner, Peter Neufeld, along with their law students, have made a project, life's work in many cases, of using science to free the innocent. We're always glad to have him on the program. And we are again tonight. Nice to see you. Tell me what happened here?

SCHECK: Well, what we know from published reports today in "The New York Daily News" and some previous articles, is that there's a man named Matias Reyes, who has been convicted of some terrible sexual assaults, violent acts.

BROWN: I'm sorry...

SCHECK: Yes.

BROWN: Let me fast forward you a little bit. I want -- what I really want to know is how they got these kids to confess?

SCHECK: Well, this guy now is coming forward saying I did it.

BROWN: Right.

SCHECK: Apparently, DNA evidence confirms that he is the unknown semen donor.

BROWN: Right.

SCHECK: The District Attorney's office has been working now for quite a number of months, retracing steps. I have great confidence in that office. I think that they're going to come to the right results here.

They're young kids, were picked up, while apparently wilding in Central Park. We all remember that. Most of them were brought in that night, some the next day. They were interrogated by police. They maintained, at the time of the trial, that police said to them if you confess to this, we'll let you go home. They were also told, and police admitted this, that there was fingerprint evidence linking them to this crime. And admittedly, that was a deception. And under the law, they're allowed to do that.

BROWN: Right. So there are, in fact, some things cops can, in those situations, can lie about?

SCHECK: That's correct.

BROWN: Can they say -- can they lie about whether you get to go home if you confess?

SCHECK: Well, that would be an improper inducement. And they denied that they ever said that. All these kids went to trial. All denied that they committed the crime. All said that the confessions were false.

It would have been great if we had videotapes from the very beginning of the initial police confession. At the end, there was a videotape made, where the prosecutor, Elizabeth Lederer, asked these kids questions. They confessed. But that's at the end of the process.

BROWN: Right.

SCHECK: They all claimed that those were false confessions. If you recall what was extraordinary about these tapes is that, you know, everybody was saying the eyes were dead.

BROWN: Yes.

SCHECK: They're sociopaths, they're teen predators. You know, big news from paper magazine covers and everything. Now if it turns out that they're all innocent, we know why they didn't showed no remorse why the eyes were glassy and everything else. They didn't do it.

BROWN: There are, actually here a lot of different things to talk about, it seems to me. Are you confident that prosecutors behaved appropriately here?

SCHECK: Well, I don't see any evidence on the face of it that would indicate that Elizabeth Lederer, who tried the case, who had an excellent reputation, and seems to be consummate professional, you know, did anything wrong or didn't believe that these kids were guilty. Some might question whether Linda Ferinstein (ph) should have allowed the cops to interrogate these kids without intervening. But you know, frankly, that's something that unfortunately is par for the course.

BROWN: One of the things that has come out, I think it was the Illinois review of the death penalty, the commission there said that all interrogations from beginning to end...

SCHECK: Yes.

BROWN: ...ought to be videotaped. And there's lot of fussing about whether that makes sense or not. It seems quite logical to me, but it doesn't happen that way?

SCHECK: No. And two states, Minnesota and Alaska by court order have had these for years. And it's worked out very well for them. First, law enforcement was reluctant to go along with it, but they find it helps. Of course, this has been the rule for years in the United Kingdom, that they have at least an audiotape of the interrogations. And I think that in a case like this, it would have been enormously helpful.

BROWN: And there's about 20 seconds here. These kids are still in prison. They got a long way to go, I gather, before they're out of prison.

SCHECK: Well, no. They're actually -- most of them are out.

BROWN: They are out?

SCHECK: Yes, they've served their time. And so the -- some are back in. One is back in, I think, for another offense. But they've served their time...

BROWN: So it's clearing the record?

SCHECK: Well, it's more than clearing the record. I mean, I think, you know, they may have civil litigation afterwards. BROWN: Yes.

SCHECK: But I think it's an extremely important process. It will teach us a lot about this system and about the ways of changing it. And you know, Robert Morgenthaw has been great prosecutor for a lot of years.

BROWN: Yes.

SCHECK: And it would be very interesting to see what his people conclude here. And you know, I'm looking forward to it.

BROWN: Thanks. I wish we had time to talk about the Florida case, too.

SCHECK: Yes, well...

BROWN: But we don't.

SCHECK: You covered it.

BROWN: Thank you. It's always good to see you.

When we come back, a unique look at the events of 9/11 through the eyes of the photographers of Reuters. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

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BROWN: It has been often said, and it is very likely true, that no single event in human history was covered in the way September 11 was covered. In many ways, we believe, it was the finest hour of our business, a business that at times does not distinguish itself in the ways that it should, or in the ways that a free society requires.

But that day it did, all of it, the words written by newspaper and television reporters, the videos shot by TV cameramen and women, the thousands upon thousands of still pictures shot. We were looking at a book from Reuters, "September 11: A Testimony." It is a book of just photographs, 150 stills, but such a remarkable photographs are these.

NEWSNIGHT producer Amanda Townsend and editor Matt Moskowitz took nearly every picture in the book and wove them together with the sound from CNN on that day and the days that followed. And we were struck, and you may be as well, with how true to the day it all seemed. And so now from the photographers of Reuters, here's is "September 11: A Testimony."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's the World Trade Center. It's going to be an award winner of a day here today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news, this is a CNN Radio special report. The two World Trade Center towers in New York have been struck by aircraft just a few minutes apart. And that may be only the tip of the iceberg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I heard the explosion, I looked up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we did see for the next five minutes were people jumping out of the building in suits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now at this point, we must add to the confusion and shock of the moment that there has been explosion and fire at the Pentagon and...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is so terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Air travel in this country has come to a halt this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a report that a 747 is down in Pennsylvania.

BUSH: Secretary Rumsfeld told me that he felt the blast shake the Pentagon. Although he was on the other side of the building, the building rocked. And now I know why.

I can hear you!

I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you and the people -- and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

I'm a loving guy. And I'm also someone, however, who has got a job to do. And I intend to do it.

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While he was ministering to dying firemen, administering the sacrament of the sick and last rites, Michael Judds died. You should know how much you gave to him. And it was that love that he had for people, and that way of relating him that led him back to New York City and to become part of the fire department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, America goes back to business. Welcome back to the greatest market on the face of the earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In all of the six ballparks tonight, teams will be honoring the police, fire, and rescue departments of the city of the New York.

(MUSIC)

BUSH: And I will carry this. It is the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center, trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, Arleen, as a proud memorial to her son.

(MUSIC)

RUDY GIULIANI, FMR. MAYOR, NEW YORK: To those who say that our city will never be the same, I say, you are right. It will be better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The book is, comes from Reuters. It is called "September 11: A Testimony." And the piece was the work of NEWSNIGHT producer Amanda Townsend and editor Matt Moskowitz. Nice job. Thank you. How close to the surface our sorrow still is, isn't it. We'll talk about Ground Zero some when we come back.

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BROWN: Well, we don't want to become obsessed with looking back at what happened. And part of the reason we do, we want your ideas on Ground Zero. As we try and look forward, here are few of these. Go to CNN.com/newsnight. You know the drill.

Here, Tara in White Plains, New York sent us this proposal. What an interesting design is this, the World Memorial Center is what he calls it. Four buildings representing the four corners of the world.

This one comes from Peter in New York -- in Kingston, New York. Two pools where the towers once stood, each piece, a twisted wreckage of the Center as a fountain.

Keep your ideas coming. We want to see more.

And we want to see you again tomorrow. We hope you'll join us.

Until then, good night from all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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