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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Courts Says Bush Overstepping Authority with Detainees; Michael Jackson Formally Charged; D.C. Sniper Found Guilty; Green River Killer Sentenced to Life in Prison

Aired December 18, 2003 - 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.


LARRY KING, "LARRY KING LIVE" HOST: He was ill for a couple of days. Good to see him back in that familiar seat as he anchors NEWSNIGHT. You are strong and hardy and well again, I trust?
AARON BROWN, HOST: Yes, close enough for television work.

KING: What the heck?

BROWN: Really.

KING: Aaron Brown is next.

BROWN: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. King. We'll talk tomorrow.

Good evening again, everyone.

Life would be a lot easier if the great issues only involved good guys and not one-time gang members with uncomfortable connections.

Jose Padilla is probably no angel, but he is an American. He was arrested in America. And today a court ruled he must be treated like an American, as uncomfortable as that may be for some.

The Padilla case goes to the heart of the American system of justice, what is allowed and what is not, what one man, even the president, can do and what he can't. It is so basic, it transcends routine labels of liberal and conservative.

We will visit a lot of courtrooms tonight, but none will be as significant or write history the way the Padilla case will. So "The Whip" begins there.

The courtroom was in New York and so, too, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

Deb, a headline.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, a legal setback for the president. An appeals court finding he overstepped his authority on who he can hold as an enemy combatant.

BROWN: Deb, we'll get back to you at the top tonight.

On to a somewhat simpler question. Did Lee Malvo understand what he was doing or was the young sniper brainwashed? CNN's Jeanne Meserve has been covering the trial from opening statements to today's verdict.

Jeanne, the jury spoke.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESONDENT: Aaron, the jury decided that the 18-year-old Jamaican was not insane and found him guilty. They now must decide whether he will live or he will die -- Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you, Jeanne.

Next to Santa Maria, California, and Michael Jackson and CNN's Frank Buckley.

Frank, the headline.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, as expected, Michael Jackson was formally charged today with multiple counts of child molestation. Jackson did not have to appear, but his defense attorney strongly denied the allegations, saying this is a case about money and revenge -- Aaron.

BROWN: Frank, thank you.

And finally to a case where the victims could fill a courtroom, Seattle's Green River Killer. CNN's Rusty Dornin with that tonight. A final chapter, it seems.

Rusty, a headline.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, or the first time ever, serial killer Gary Ridgway faced families of the 48 women he killed. He showed remorse, but for many there is no closure, only the certainty he will spend the rest of his life in jail -- Aaron.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. We'll get back to you and rest shortly.

Also ahead on the program tonight, Israel's leader vows unilateral action to remove settlements, a move condemned by Palestinians, Israelis and Americans alike.

Later, another of our "On the Rise" segments. A young man who's written an adventure novel that could become as big as "Harry Potter."

And after a day off, we end it all with a helping of morning papers, if the rooster is feeling up to it. And he is.

All that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin the hour with Jose Padilla and a very simple principle. So simple, in fact, so basic, it dates the Constitution by a good century or so. A person cannot be jailed unless the government can tell a court why. The prisoner must be produced, charges brought, or the prisoner goes free.

Some would argue, the Justice Department included, that the Founding Fathers didn't have al Qaeda or dirty bombs to deal with. But today an appeals court said bombs and terrorists notwithstanding, that principle remains.

Here again, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): The appeals court ruling finds President Bush overstepped his authority by holding American citizen Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant in a military prison without formally charging him with any crime and without giving him access to a lawyer.

In the 2-1 decision, the justices found the president does not have the constitutional power to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen seized on American soil outside a zone of combat. Only Congress can authorize that.

ANDREW PATEL, PADILLA DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What the court did say is that wherever Mr. Padilla is held next in civilian custody, is that he has the rights that all American citizens are guaranteed under the Constitution.

FEYERICK: Eighteen months ago, Brooklyn born Padilla was arrested at O'Hara airport coming back from Pakistan.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot.

FEYERICK: The attorney general accused him of trying to build and detonate a radioactive dirty bomb in the U.S.

While Padilla waited in jail, he was moved to a military brig. The White House and Pentagon argued the president should be able to detain enemy combatants anywhere to wage the war on terrorism.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: We believe the Second Circuit ruling is troubling and flawed. The president has directed the Justice Department to seek a stay and further judicial review.

FEYERICK: The government's holding two other men as enemy combatants in the U.S. Yaser Hamdi (ph), an American, was caught in Afghanistan fighting with the Taliban. After two years in custody, the government recently said it would let him see his lawyer.

Also, Alisawa Al-Mari (ph), a Qatari man studying in the U.S. He was moved into military custody six months ago, accused of being an al Qaeda sleeper agent.

The Padilla ruling does not apply to them. The court found Padilla must be released from military prison within 30 days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: The ruling has nothing to do with Padilla's guilt or innocence. The government now has several choices. They can either transfer him to civilian court and charge him criminally. They can hold him as a material witness for use in a grand jury investigation. They can appeal, or they can let him go. That's not something they're likely to do -- Aaron.

BROWN: Let's set the "let him go" aside, because I don't believe that's going to be happening.

They're clearly going to appeal. I mean, that was, if you listen to Scott McClellan and you listen to the government, that's their plan. They're going to -- This will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court?

FEYERICK: It's very likely that it will be decided by a Supreme Court. They're looking at the judicial review right now. And what that means is the case was heard by a three-judge panel.

The government could ask for the entire 12-judge appeals court to hear it. Otherwise, it could go to the Supreme Court. So they've got to make that decision, and they're looking at their options.

BROWN: Thanks very much. Deborah Feyerick tonight.

In one respect, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals had a simpler time of it in that Mr. Padilla is an American citizen and is being held on American soil. There are other permutations, namely the non- Americans held by Americans on a piece of American territory in Cuba.

There was a ruling on that, as well, today and it also went again the government.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While a court in New York said Jose Padilla cannot be held as an enemy combat, another in San Francisco said the 600 plus detainees being held by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are entitled to lawyers.

Those rulings follow sanctions against the government from a judge in Virginia for not allowing accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui access to al Qaeda leaders he says can help his case.

Each decision, legal experts say, calls into question the Bush administration's handling of terror suspects.

MARH CHEH, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: It's a problem for them in this sense. They have so far proceeded as if they alone -- the executive branch alone, can make the rules, enforce the rules and answer to no one.

Now, because of cases being brought in the courts, they're being required to at least answer to the courts on some questions.

ARENA: But the legal report card is far from clear. For nearly every ruling saying the government is overstepping its bounds, there is another ruling saying it has firm legal grounding.

Take the issue of detainees in Cuba. While the court in San Francisco said they should have lawyers, a court in Washington, D.C., ruled the prisoners had no right to the American legal system.

BARBARA COMSTOCK, SPOKESWOMAN, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: The American people do understand the president has these wartime authorities. And when you're at war and during hostilities, you have to detain individuals who are trying to harm U.S. citizens.

ARENA: Most, if not all of these issues are expected to be decided by the Supreme Court. Already on its docket, the issue of Guantanamo detainees.

(on camera) Legal experts say it's important to remember that these decisions are being made against the backdrop of terrorism. They say the weighing of national security against legal principles is the most complicated it's ever been.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, we first started talking about it here on this program before this program had a name. We talk about it a bit more now.

We're joined tonight by Jonathan Turley. Jon teaches law. He's in Dallas tonight. A constitutional lawyer, among other things. And we're always pleased to see him.

Here's the truth of it. We set out to find a conservative, legal scholar who would argue that the court got it wrong today. And we failed. That's the truth of it. OK?

And the reason we failed is it's hard to find people, conservative or liberal -- I'm not saying they aren't out there -- who think the court did get it wrong.

What is so simple about this, in a sense?

JONATHAN TURLEY, CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY: Well, actually, even two of the principal architects of this policy who just recently left the Justice Department, as soon as they left, they raised serious questions over the policy they helped create. And you see this departure from these policies -- I think rather belatedly.

But as you noted earlier in the program, what we're talking about in the Padilla case could not be more fundamental, not just to the constitutional system but how we define ourselves as Americans. I mean, the trick about winning a war is not to destroy the thing that you're protecting.

And what the court did today was a magnificent act. I mean, this is what the framers intended courts to do, to be independent enough to stand against the most powerful wind. And that wind is most powerful at the time of war, or in this case, you know, some people debate whether we're at war or not.

But certainly most citizens have little sympathy for Padilla. BROWN: And that's all well and good from where I sit. I mean, you can like the guy or not like the guy and still support what the court did. I mean, I don't think that's the issue here.

Obviously, one judge on that panel of three saw it differently. Does that give you any pause either to the strength of your own argument and your own conviction or the future of that decision?

TURLEY: Well, it doesn't give me pause, not because I don't respect the judge. But many of us have believed since Padilla was first arrested that the president's argument was so extreme that it was untenable.

I mean, what the president was arguing was that he could unilaterally designate a citizen an enemy combatant, and strip him of all his constitutional rights and access to courts and counsel.

If he prevailed on that argument today in the Second Circuit, the entire Constitution would be a discretionary document, a subject of his arbitrary whim as to whether this citizen is going to get full rights and that citizen is not.

And so we've had over the last few months a very sort of Caesar- like role of the president. He sends Zacarias Moussaoui into a federal court, even though he's a French citizen, sends Padilla into a Navy brig and strips him of all his rights. And the only difference between these two is the inclination of the president.

And that is untenable for our system of law. No one is that powerful in our system.

BROWN: You know, I -- Viet Dinh the other day on this program talked about a need -- one of the architects of the Patriot act, someone you referred to earlier as having now real concerns about the Padilla case and others -- said we all need to step back as a society and make some judgments about where we're going and what's to be allowed.

Do you see in the society, in Washington where you hang out, that the Congress and the executive branch are prepared to do that?

TURLEY: Well, I actually talked to two members today after the court said that you have to go to Congress to get this authority as the president of the United States. And one was a Democrat, one was a Republican. They actually called me on the decision.

And I asked them, you know, would you be prepared to give them this authority? And both of them said no.

I mean, the Constitution allows the president to -- allows Congress to suspend habeas corpus. But I don't think there's any intention to do that. And I think what you see in Congress is a certain rollback of some of the powers given to the president.

And there is a certain morning after aspect of this where we're looking at how much we've lost since September 11. But we lost most of these things by our own hand.

I mean, you know, the most chilling thing, Aaron, that I have ever read is the constitutional scholars was Benjamin Franklin told a woman outside of the convention when she came up and said, "What you have you done?" And he said -- she said, "What have you made and created?"

And Benjamin Franklin said, "It's a republic, madam, if you can keep it."

And that is the most chilling thing I've ever heard, because it reflects the fact that whatever legacy we have, it can die by our own hand. It can die by inaction. And today's decision really defended that legacy.

BROWN: In the last minute here, Jon, you said something when we talked with you earlier that struck a chord with me.

And that is, it surprised you how little conversation, how little national conversation there has been about this, whether it has been from media, whether it has been at the corner square, whether it's been in the has of Congress, wherever, that something this important has garnered so little talk.

TURLEY: I think that's true. And even today, Aaron, if you look at how people are portraying this decision, they're saying, "Well, you know, Padilla could end up going here or there."

Nobody is expressing any shock that what the court was saying is that the president had no authority to take an American citizen, strip him of his rights and throw him in a Navy brig for months.

You can't get more fundamental in terms of a denial of rights, in terms of usurpation of authority than the Padilla case. But people are not outraged, even though that is precisely the type of abuse that animated, motivated the framers.

BROWN: It speaks, I guess, to the power of 9/11 and a lot that's followed. Jon, it's nice to see you.

TURLEY: Great to see you.

BROWN: Thank you. Jonathan Turley with us tonight.

We'll revisit this issue from a slightly different angle a bit later in the program. We'll be joined by Stephen Kenny who is, to our knowledge at least, the first attorney to have met with a client, a detainee, at Guantanamo Bay. He's coming up a little bit later.

One other item, another thread in all of this. A British arms dealer was indicted in New Jersey today on federal charges of attempting to aid terrorists.

Hemant Lakhani was caught in a sting operation in which he allegedly offered to sell a variety of weapons, including a dirty bomb, to someone he thought was a terrorist.

Mr. Lakhani waived his Miranda rights, confessed, we are told, at some length, his lawyer now accusing the government of entrapment.

Still to come on the program tonight, another round of court cases, it seems. First the case of Michael Jackson. Charges filed today in Santa Barbara County, California.

The sniper trial, Lee Boyd Malvo, a guilty verdict there. What's coming up next.

And then the emotional, emotional sentencing of the man known as the Green River Killer. Forty-eight consecutive life terms. But that barely tells the story of the court in Seattle today.

From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Just reading the charging sheet is enough to make you gag. Pop star Michael Jackson charged with having sexual contact with a boy under 14. Nine charges in all involving this one child.

Now, charging sheets are not evidence. And a prosecutor's accusation is only that. But charges were filed today and then fiercely denied.

Here's CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): An employee of the district attorney's office walked the criminal complaint into the clerk's office as cameras captured every step of the process.

The three-page filing alleges that Jackson sexually abused a child under the age of 14 during two overlapping periods, between February 7 and March 10 of this year and February 20 and March 10. There are nine counts in all.

TOM SNEDDON, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY D.A.: Seven counts of 288-A, in violation of the California penal code, commonly known as child molestation. And two counts in violation of penal code Section 222 that involves administering and intoxicating liquor to a child for the purpose of committing a felony.

BUCKLEY: Jackson was not required to, and did not appear for the filing, but his attorney appeared before cameras in Los Angeles to say Jackson would fight the charges with, quote, "every fiber of his soul."

MARK GERAGOS, JACKSON ATTORNEY: What we have here is an intersection between a shakedown, somebody who's looking for money, with somebody with an investigation that's got an axe to grind.

BUCKLEY: Mark Geragos apparently referring to D.A. Tom Sneddon, who investigated Jackson on similar allegations in 1993 but did not bring charges then, because the alleged victim ultimately reached a financial settlement with Jackson and refused to testify.

Sneddon denies any vendetta, and he also rebutted critics who said the pause between Jackson's arrest on November 20 and the filing of charges on December 15 spoke to a less than solid case against Jackson.

SNEDDON: Somehow we issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Jackson and were hoping to gather information in the meantime, in order to buttress what some people have called a weak case. I want to categorically say that is false.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: Sneddon said that the reason for that pause, Aaron, was so that the county could put together a web site to distribute the materials that are going to come out in this case so that the various members of the media could get access to that material.

Mark Geragos, meanwhile, you heard is very strongly denying the allegations. He says that the prosecution will not prevail.

Both sides will be in court together on January 16 for Michael Jackson's arraignment -- Aaron.

BROWN: I think there are high school kids in my community that could get up a web site in about a day and a half. That notwithstanding, they clearly were fishing for other victims over the last month.

BUCKLEY: Well, you know, at the press conference, we all know that Tom Sneddon -- this was several weeks ago -- in fact invited members of the community to come forward if there were any additional allegations.

We thought, because we didn't know what he meant by multiple counts of child molestation when he said this several weeks ago, that there might be additional victims involved.

But it turns out that, yes, there are nine counts involved against Michael Jackson, but they all involve one alleged victim.

BROWN: Frank, thank you. Frank Buckley.

In another courtroom on the opposite side of the country, a jury in Virginia has convicted Lee Boyd Malvo of all three counts against him, including capital murder.

The jurors deliberated about 13 hours over two days. In the end they rejected Mr. Malvo's insanity defense. The question now, will they sentence an 18-year-old to die?

Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MESERVE (voice-over): Lee Malvo's own confessions to investigators, crime scene photographs, testimony from victims and family members, and mountains of evidence, including a murder weapon with Lee Malvo's DNA and fingerprints on it, overwhelmed the defense contention that Malvo was insane at the time of the shootings.

The verdict was unanimous: guilty of capital murder in the commission of an act of terrorism. Guilty of capital murder for the killing of two people in a three-year period. Guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

ABBE SMITH, GEORGETOWN LAW CENTER: The evidence was overwhelming. The crime horrific. The defense novel. And the jurors death qualified. Those things altogether spell a guilty verdict.

MESERVE: Lee Malvo, who in court has sometimes laughed and doodled, seemingly oblivious to the gravity of the events unfolding around him, was attentive when the verdict was read. He sat erect, staring straight ahead, betraying no emotion.

The families of victims smiled, clasped hands, showed relief.

BOB MEYERS, VICTIM'S BROTHER: We are extremely pleased with the verdict, believe that justice has been served.

MESERVE: The verdict took more than 13 hours of deliberations, and some members of the jury appeared to be upset. But their work is not done. The sentencing phase of the trial commences immediately.

The defense will underline that Malvo was a juvenile when the crimes were committed and argue for a penalty of life in prison without parole.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The prosecution will present victim impact testimony. They may try to introduce again the 911 tape of Ted Franklin calling after his wife was shot in the Home Depot parking lot. This jury has not heard it, and it is harrowing.

They may also refer back to some letters that Lee Malvo wrote in prison to another inmate, this after the date that the defense says he was separating from John Allen Muhammad.

One of those letters is about escape. And in it, he writes to another inmate, "If I was in population what the 'F' do you think I would be doing? Planning, waiting, looking every day. I don't know about you, but I'll die trying."

The prosecution, of course, is asking for death -- Aaron.

BROWN: Starts tomorrow?

MESERVE: It starts tomorrow morning 10 a.m.

BROWN: OK. MESERVE: And probably going to last a couple of days to put on the evidence. We don't know how long, of course, it will take the jury to come back with a verdict.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much. Jeanne Meserve.

Of all the criminals and accused criminals we've reported on tonight, none is worse than Gary Ridgway. In some respects, he may be the worst ever.

Mr. Ridgway murdered 48 women in a case that started a generation ago. Most of his victims were runaways and prostitutes estranged from both their families and in many respects, society. But today, both society and their families had their say.

Here is CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gary Ridgway told investigators he didn't remember his victims, their names or their faces. He called them trash.

He had never expressed remorse to anyone. But at his sentencing, his gaze never wavered from the daughters, sons, nieces, sisters, mothers and fathers of those he murdered some 20 years ago.

MARILYN MOLINA, MARIA MALYAR'S SISTER: Took away my best friend from me, 20 years ago. And, also, with that, he tore my family apart.

CAROL ESTES, DEBRA ESTES' MOTHER: She was just an immature teenager trying to find her way in life before it was snuffed out by Gary Ridgway. I won't ever forgive him for that. He has destroyed my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm angry. I will always be angry. I will never have that closure. I will never have my sister back in my life.

DENNIS MEEHAN, MARY MEEHAN'S BROTHER: I can only hope that some day someone gets the opportunity to choke you unconscious 48 times.

DORNIN: Gary Ridgway confessed to killing 48 women in exchange for his life. No trial, no death sentence. Some here felt robbed.

JODIE ARMAN, NIANDA SUMMERS' MOTHER: Shame on Seattle. Shame on you. There should be no plea-bargaining. If you're guilty, you're guilty.

DORNIN: Some families talked about the justice they hoped Ridgway would receive behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easy to kill women, but let's see how you do against the other prisoners in the general population.

DORNIN: Ridgway never flinched when family members called him a monster. It was the act of compassion by the father of Linda Rule that broke the composure of serial killer Gary Ridgway.

ROBERT RULE, LINDA RULE'S FATHER: When you've made it difficult to live up to what God says to do, and that's to forgive. He says to forgive all. So you are forgiven, sir.

DORNIN: Nearly two dozen family members had their say. And then Gary Ridgway said things he'd never said before.

GARY RIDGWAY, GREEN RIVER KILLER: I have tried for a long time to keep from killing any ladies. I'm sorry for causing so much pain to so many families.

DORNIN: But the judge wasn't buying any late show of emotion.

RICHARD JONES, JUDGE: I want you to turn around and just scan the audience right now. Those are the family and friends of the people that you killed. And, sir, if you have that drop of emotion, you will be haunted for the balance of your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: The thing that's so incredible, Aaron, is this man, Gary Ridgway, claims that he does not even remember how many women he may have killed since 1982, when he began confessing last year.

In fact, one of the 48 was killed in 1998. He also hinted to investigators he may have killed a woman in 2001.

This plea bargain only applies to the 48 women killed here in King County. That's what spared his life. And I say if investigators were able to find evidence and connect him to a murder even in another county in Washington, he could be tried. He could be eligible for the death penalty.

Until then, he will be in solitary confinement, life without parole -- Aaron.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. Rusty Dornin in Seattle tonight. The end of a story.

Up next on NEWSNIGHT, we'll check some of the other day's top stories.

And later, a dramatic announcement by Ariel Sharon, one that nearly everyone is condemning. How can that be? Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On any other day, some of these stories might play a bit higher in the newscast.

President Bush was at Walter Reed Medical Center today. He had his bad knees X-rayed, visited Secretary of State Powell, who is recovering from prostate surgery, cancer surgery. The president also met with some soldiers wounded on the battlefield. The president praised them for their bravery and marveled that so many talked so much about heading back to Iraq and rejoining their buddies.

If it's Thursday, it must be Moscow, James Baker's final stop on his Iraq debt relief tour. After meeting the Russian president, the former secretary of state left with a commitment on Russia's part to start negotiations on settling Iraq's tab.

Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter says the current Iraqi government has no right to try her father. She said this to CNN's Rym Brahimi in an exclusive CNN interview, her first on-camera interview her father's capture. Raghad Hussein said the interim government is illegitimate. She also accused the U.S. Army of drugging her dad. She says he never would have given up otherwise.

At The Hague in the Netherlands, retired General Wes Clark did another day's worth of damage to Slobodan Milosevic. General Clark testified, the former Yugoslav president knew that they Bosnian Serbs planned a massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica. He learned this, he said, during negotiations with Milosevic several years later.

And in case you're wondering -- and many of you must be -- how many roundups fit into one any segment, the answer is two. The "MONEYLINE Roundup" begins tonight with spam, Microsoft and New York's attorney general filing joint lawsuit today against a bulk e-mailer. The lawsuits allege consumer deception on the part of the company and demand a judge levy fines to the tune of $500 for each piece of spam.

Look out, Apple. Wal-Mart is rolling out a music download service. Tunes will cost 88 cents a track, a dime and a penny less than Apple is charging at the iTunes music store. The retail giant says it expects the store to go online, as they say, sometime next year.

New unemployment claims fell sharply last month, more so than expected, another a sign the labor market is shaping up, the pace of layoffs stabilizing.

And if "The Chicago Sun-Times" were to sum up the markets today, the word would be socko, green arrows across the board, all of those indices pointing up.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, we'll talk with the lawyer for one of the men being held in Guantanamo. One of them has a lawyer.

And a dramatic step in the Middle East. Will Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's plan bring peace or just more trouble?

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This is one of those stories where all is not as it seems to be.

It might seem that the Israeli prime minister talking about dismantling settlements, pulling back from occupied territory, regardless of what the Palestinians do, would be considered progress, maybe foolish, but progress. The Israeli prime minister did say those things today and virtually everyone considers it a step back.

Here's CNN's John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ariel Sharon says he just can't wait any longer. He won't wait for terrorism to stop and he won't wait to negotiate with the Palestinians.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We are interested in conducting direct negotiations, but do not intend to hold Israeli society hostage in the hands of the Palestinians. I have already said we will not wait for them indefinitely.

VAUSE: The clock is now running. The Palestinians have just months to act, he says, or Israel will, under his plan, Israel will withdraw from most of the occupied territories, but keep the land it wants. Even so, he warns that some settlements will have to go.

DAVID HOROWITZ, EDITOR, "JERUSALEM REPORT": The architect of the settlement enterprise has told the very people he sent into the West Bank, many of them at least, that they now have to leave.

VAUSE: Earlier this week, police clashed with radical young settlers who were defending an illegal outpost. If the other major settlements are ever likely to be dismantled, this is just a small taste of things to come. Settlers are now warning, if the Israeli prime minister has lost patience, so, too, have they.

EVE HAROW, SETTLER SPOKESPERSON: My thoughts are that the terrorists haven't broken the spirit of the Israeli society, but they most certainly have broken the spirit of my prime minister.

VAUSE: Crucial to the withdrawal from the West Bank, Sharon says, will be the acceleration of the construction of Israel's barrier.

SHARON (through translator): Today, we can already see it taking shape. The rapid completion of the security fence will enable the IDF to remove roadblocks and ease the daily lives of the Palestinian population not involved in terror.

VAUSE: From the Palestinian prime minister, no effort to hide his disappointment.

AHMED QUREIA, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER: I was expecting that something new. But I want to confirm, reiterate our position. We are committed to the road map.

VAUSE (on camera): The Israeli prime minister says these moves are not politically motivated, but, rather, are for security reasons. They're temporary, he says, not permanent. But he warns the Palestinians they'll pay a price for the Israeli withdrawal. They'll be left with less land than they would have received through direct negotiations.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Back now to the question that began the program tonight: How ought the various people now in custody here or at Guantanamo be treated under the law and ought conventional laws comply?

Steven Kenny's client, David Hicks, is an Australian. He's being held at Guantanamo. So far, he is the only detainee to have seen a lawyer, a meeting two years in the making. We're pleased Mr. Kenny is with us tonight.

You said to me a minute ago -- I don't remember exactly the question -- "I can't talk about that." Are you limited in what you can say by an agreement you made with the government?

STEPHEN KENNY, ATTORNEY FOR DAVID HICKS: Yes, I am.

The agreement I made with the government was that I would comply with the rules of the military commission. And that is, defense counsel can only speak on topics with the permission of the appointing authority. I have permission on some areas. And others, I don't.

BROWN: All right, tell me where you don't want me to talk about, then, because otherwise this is going to get mushy.

KENNY: Yes. I'm limited on the facts of the case, particularly, and I'm limited on the immediate surrounding circumstances of David Hicks' detention. But I can talk about things that have been discussed

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: OK.

Broadly, Mr. Hicks -- you stop me if we -- well, you will. You're a lawyer.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: You will probably not only stop me. You'll probably sue me -- is one of the people who they are talking about a military tribunal for. So, in their view, he's a major, major, major catch. How did he end up there?

KENNY: David Hicks not a major catch.

What I can tell you about the facts is this, that David Hicks has never injured or killed any civilian, any U.S. military personnel or any Australian military personnel. So I don't think he's a big catch. I think he's a pretty small fish in a very big sea. He ended up there because he was in Afghanistan at the time the American forces and Australian forces went in there. He was captured by the Northern Alliance and handed over to the Americans and, subsequently, like a lot of others in these circumstances, sent out to Guantanamo Bay.

BROWN: Do you believe he will face a military tribunal?

KENNY: I expect that that's what will happen. He's likely to be one of the first ones to face a tribunal.

BROWN: OK.

What's his condition?

KENNY: His condition for a person that -- you've got to understand the circumstances those people have been in now for two years, the interrogations, the locking in cages, the lack of access to the outside world. All of these things create a certain frame of mind in those people. And there's no doubt that was quite intentional on behalf of the authorities.

But for someone who has been in those circumstances, I think he's survived better than I would in there. I don't think I would survive too well.

BROWN: Is he depressed?

KENNY: I would say that he would be suffering some form of depression. I'm not an expert on that, though.

BROWN: Does he -- is he in a population or is he totally isolated? You can't be partially isolated, can you? Is he isolated?

KENNY: Yes, he is isolated.

And I can say -- I can't describe the circumstance of his isolation. But, publicly, we have made known from a letter that he had that he's been moved from the jail population. And all he sees now is M.P.s. So he's isolated.

BROWN: Do you know why he was moved or can you say why he was moved?

KENNY: Well, I can speculate on it. And that speculation is that...

BROWN: We'll take it.

(LAUGHTER)

KENNY: Yes.

He was one of the first six nominated to come before the military commissions. I think that the authorities realized that lawyers would start coming in, start talking to these people. And, clearly, they didn't want the message to get back to the rest of the detainees.

BROWN: Literally a minute here. Can you tell me who he is, in the sense, I mean, who is this kid that ended up -- somehow went from Australia to a battlefield under some circumstance or another in Afghanistan? KENNY: He's a -- I would describe him probably as an adventurer. He really started traveling. He got overseas to Japan on a job training racehorses as a jockey over there.

And from there, I think he started to open his eyes in the world and decided he wanted to do some traveling, became interested in the Muslim religion, led him to Afghanistan, and then into the difficulties that he has now got to. But it was really adventure I think that sparked this interest.

BROWN: Do you think he'll ever be a free man?

KENNY: Well, I think, in the circumstances, that, eventually, he should be a free man. I don't see why he shouldn't, at some stage, be a free man. He's not a major war criminal. He's not a major catch.

BROWN: Thank you for coming in.

KENNY: Thank you.

BROWN: There's a million other questions. We'll save them for another time. Thank you very much.

When we come back, we'll go "On the Rise" with a young man who's become a best-selling author.

We'll take a break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK, this is one of those "On the Rise' stories we periodically do that makes us feel a little inadequate, perhaps a bit lazy, if we're being really honest -- and why not -- both.

But that never stops us, which is a good thing, because Christopher Paolini, who has landed on "The New York Times" best- seller list for children's books, is quite something, a teenager who has created a fantasy world rivaling "Lord of the Rings." Meet the kid who makes the other kids want to read more and is clearly "On the Rise."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI, AUTHOR, "ERAGON": The best job in the world. I get paid to write my daydreams down.

I graduated from high school at 15. And when I graduated, I was looking for something to do. And I decided to try and write a story that I would enjoy reading.

"A blast of icy energy surged into his hand and raced up his arm."

"Eragon" is the story of a young man, Eragon, who becomes intricately linked with this beautiful sapphire blue dragon, Saphira.

"Its scale were deep sapphire blue."

They go on a series of adventures. And there's duels and dragons and battles and villains and romance and all the good stuff a story needs.

I didn't think it was going to be published. It was just sort of an experimental project for myself.

MICHELLE FREY, EDITOR, ALFRED A. KNOPF BOOKS: When I first got the book, I fell in love immediately. I knew that there was something magical on my hands. And I knew that Christopher had a gift.

PAOLINI: I got an e-mail completely out of the blue from my publisher, Knopf, saying that they wanted to buy the entire trilogy.

FREY: What's most impressive about Christopher's writing is the scope of his imagination. Christopher's writing is really in a class by itself.

PAOLINI: Dealing with the kids is probably the best part of being on a book tour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What inspired you to write the books?

PAOLINI: A dragon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you decide to make...

PAOLINI: Having kids come up to me and saying, "Eragon" was my favorite book or having the teachers come up to me and saying, that kid does not read and there he is reading an Eragon book.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was addicted to it. When I got home, I finished my homework as quickly as possible, stayed up large.

PAOLINI: All of my characters come from some part within me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really love the storyline. It makes me almost feel away from the present, like a different world.

PAOLINI: Out of it crawls this beautiful sapphire blue baby dragon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After I read the first sentence, I was so interested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think, when I'm old, I'm going to try to write a book, too, because...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being an author would be fun. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PAOLINI: I invented three languages for "Eragon." There is a blessing that's given in the book. And it goes (SPEAKING IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGE) The languages started off pretty much just as an entertainment for myself.

GERARD DOYLE, NARRATOR, "ERAGON" AUDIO BOOK: I was just blown away by the range of characters and the complexity of the languages.

PAOLINI: I think that's it.

DOYLE: I imagine a very, very rosy future for this young man.

PAOLINI: Wonderful movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to be in the movies and all that kind of stuff. But it's going to go big.

PAOLINI: I can't say enough about the movie deal. When I first found out that "Eragon" was being optioned by the Fox 2000 studio, I could not speak. I got called by my agent. I could not speak for about 30 seconds.

Thank you.

It's been a very long 15-city book tour, but I've met some incredible people.

Smile. Say Eragon.

CROWD: Eragon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: My kid went to the mall today.

Morning papers in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: I really shouldn't be at work today, but I miss doing morning papers. And I can't really do them when I'm at home. So we'll take a look at morning papers from around the world and around the world.

We'll begin with "The Richmond Times-Dispatch," because they've got themselves a lead story, don't they? "Malvo Convicted of Capital Murder. Sniper Faces Death or Life in Prison After Being Found Guilty of Terror, Multiple Killings." That's their lead. And Michael Jackson on just about every front page, like it or not. There it is. And "Two Setbacks For War on Terror," the court cases today. That's "The Richmond Times-Dispatch." If you're traveling here in the United States, as many of you may be, "USA Today" will arrive in your hotel. And that front page is just chock-full of stuff. I've got to tell you, they've got some football thing up in the corner, Michael Jackson at the top, Gary Ridgway and Lee Malvo, day of reckoning, in the middle. And "Court: U.S. Can't Hold Citizen as Combatant." This one caught my eye. "Calendars: Picking One Can Age You." "PDA Sales" -- those are little palm-like gizmos -- "Lag as Many Stick With Old-Fashioned Paper." Really? Is that really happening? Well, you don't know, do you?

"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." This is just two weeks after Mississippi State named a black football coach. "UGA Picks Top Dawg," first black athletic director in the SEC was Dooley. That must be Vince Dooley, right, the former football coach, Vince Dooley's choice. That's a big story down there. I like this one, too. "Ex-Strip Club to House Church." Kind of a man-bites-dog story there.

"The Miami Herald." "Detentions Unlawful, Court Says." They also put the sniper on the front page. But this is the best story on the front page. "For Mobsters, Florida Always a Second Home." I know that. I saw that on an episode of "The Sopranos." So I know that that is true.

"The Jerusalem Post" doesn't lead with any of that nonsense. It leads with "P.M." -- prime minister -- "Details Disengagement Plan." That's their lead.

How we doing on time?

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Thank you.

Down at the bottom of "The Cincinnati Enquirer," "Businessman Driving Force For Synagogue." Why is that on the front page? Hanukkah starts tomorrow, so they need a kind of Jewish related story to go on the front page. And they found one. I haven't read it. It's probably a fine story.

"The Chicago Sun-Times." The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "mundane." And they lead with whatever that thing is and the Padilla ruling on the front page -- "The Chicago Sun-Times."

We'll wrap up the day after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we leave you tonight, a quick recap of our top story.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Brooklyn-born Jose Padilla, a suspected al Qaeda operative, must be released from military custody within 30 days. He's been detained for more than a year, never formally charged with a thing, never seen a lawyer. In its ruling, the court said the president has no legal authority to indefinitely detain an American citizen who is not captured on the battlefield.

Tomorrow night on this here program, the long-awaited final design for the building that will replace the World Trade Center. We'll take a look. That's tomorrow night here on NEWSNIGHT.

For most of you, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.

We'll see you tomorrow. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

END

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





Michael Jackson Formally Charged; D.C. Sniper Found Guilty; Green River Killer Sentenced to Life in Prison>


Aired December 18, 2003 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, "LARRY KING LIVE" HOST: He was ill for a couple of days. Good to see him back in that familiar seat as he anchors NEWSNIGHT. You are strong and hardy and well again, I trust?
AARON BROWN, HOST: Yes, close enough for television work.

KING: What the heck?

BROWN: Really.

KING: Aaron Brown is next.

BROWN: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. King. We'll talk tomorrow.

Good evening again, everyone.

Life would be a lot easier if the great issues only involved good guys and not one-time gang members with uncomfortable connections.

Jose Padilla is probably no angel, but he is an American. He was arrested in America. And today a court ruled he must be treated like an American, as uncomfortable as that may be for some.

The Padilla case goes to the heart of the American system of justice, what is allowed and what is not, what one man, even the president, can do and what he can't. It is so basic, it transcends routine labels of liberal and conservative.

We will visit a lot of courtrooms tonight, but none will be as significant or write history the way the Padilla case will. So "The Whip" begins there.

The courtroom was in New York and so, too, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

Deb, a headline.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, a legal setback for the president. An appeals court finding he overstepped his authority on who he can hold as an enemy combatant.

BROWN: Deb, we'll get back to you at the top tonight.

On to a somewhat simpler question. Did Lee Malvo understand what he was doing or was the young sniper brainwashed? CNN's Jeanne Meserve has been covering the trial from opening statements to today's verdict.

Jeanne, the jury spoke.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESONDENT: Aaron, the jury decided that the 18-year-old Jamaican was not insane and found him guilty. They now must decide whether he will live or he will die -- Aaron.

BROWN: Thank you, Jeanne.

Next to Santa Maria, California, and Michael Jackson and CNN's Frank Buckley.

Frank, the headline.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, as expected, Michael Jackson was formally charged today with multiple counts of child molestation. Jackson did not have to appear, but his defense attorney strongly denied the allegations, saying this is a case about money and revenge -- Aaron.

BROWN: Frank, thank you.

And finally to a case where the victims could fill a courtroom, Seattle's Green River Killer. CNN's Rusty Dornin with that tonight. A final chapter, it seems.

Rusty, a headline.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, or the first time ever, serial killer Gary Ridgway faced families of the 48 women he killed. He showed remorse, but for many there is no closure, only the certainty he will spend the rest of his life in jail -- Aaron.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. We'll get back to you and rest shortly.

Also ahead on the program tonight, Israel's leader vows unilateral action to remove settlements, a move condemned by Palestinians, Israelis and Americans alike.

Later, another of our "On the Rise" segments. A young man who's written an adventure novel that could become as big as "Harry Potter."

And after a day off, we end it all with a helping of morning papers, if the rooster is feeling up to it. And he is.

All that and more in the hour ahead.

We begin the hour with Jose Padilla and a very simple principle. So simple, in fact, so basic, it dates the Constitution by a good century or so. A person cannot be jailed unless the government can tell a court why. The prisoner must be produced, charges brought, or the prisoner goes free.

Some would argue, the Justice Department included, that the Founding Fathers didn't have al Qaeda or dirty bombs to deal with. But today an appeals court said bombs and terrorists notwithstanding, that principle remains.

Here again, CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): The appeals court ruling finds President Bush overstepped his authority by holding American citizen Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant in a military prison without formally charging him with any crime and without giving him access to a lawyer.

In the 2-1 decision, the justices found the president does not have the constitutional power to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen seized on American soil outside a zone of combat. Only Congress can authorize that.

ANDREW PATEL, PADILLA DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What the court did say is that wherever Mr. Padilla is held next in civilian custody, is that he has the rights that all American citizens are guaranteed under the Constitution.

FEYERICK: Eighteen months ago, Brooklyn born Padilla was arrested at O'Hara airport coming back from Pakistan.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot.

FEYERICK: The attorney general accused him of trying to build and detonate a radioactive dirty bomb in the U.S.

While Padilla waited in jail, he was moved to a military brig. The White House and Pentagon argued the president should be able to detain enemy combatants anywhere to wage the war on terrorism.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: We believe the Second Circuit ruling is troubling and flawed. The president has directed the Justice Department to seek a stay and further judicial review.

FEYERICK: The government's holding two other men as enemy combatants in the U.S. Yaser Hamdi (ph), an American, was caught in Afghanistan fighting with the Taliban. After two years in custody, the government recently said it would let him see his lawyer.

Also, Alisawa Al-Mari (ph), a Qatari man studying in the U.S. He was moved into military custody six months ago, accused of being an al Qaeda sleeper agent.

The Padilla ruling does not apply to them. The court found Padilla must be released from military prison within 30 days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: The ruling has nothing to do with Padilla's guilt or innocence. The government now has several choices. They can either transfer him to civilian court and charge him criminally. They can hold him as a material witness for use in a grand jury investigation. They can appeal, or they can let him go. That's not something they're likely to do -- Aaron.

BROWN: Let's set the "let him go" aside, because I don't believe that's going to be happening.

They're clearly going to appeal. I mean, that was, if you listen to Scott McClellan and you listen to the government, that's their plan. They're going to -- This will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court?

FEYERICK: It's very likely that it will be decided by a Supreme Court. They're looking at the judicial review right now. And what that means is the case was heard by a three-judge panel.

The government could ask for the entire 12-judge appeals court to hear it. Otherwise, it could go to the Supreme Court. So they've got to make that decision, and they're looking at their options.

BROWN: Thanks very much. Deborah Feyerick tonight.

In one respect, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals had a simpler time of it in that Mr. Padilla is an American citizen and is being held on American soil. There are other permutations, namely the non- Americans held by Americans on a piece of American territory in Cuba.

There was a ruling on that, as well, today and it also went again the government.

Here's CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While a court in New York said Jose Padilla cannot be held as an enemy combat, another in San Francisco said the 600 plus detainees being held by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are entitled to lawyers.

Those rulings follow sanctions against the government from a judge in Virginia for not allowing accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui access to al Qaeda leaders he says can help his case.

Each decision, legal experts say, calls into question the Bush administration's handling of terror suspects.

MARH CHEH, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: It's a problem for them in this sense. They have so far proceeded as if they alone -- the executive branch alone, can make the rules, enforce the rules and answer to no one.

Now, because of cases being brought in the courts, they're being required to at least answer to the courts on some questions.

ARENA: But the legal report card is far from clear. For nearly every ruling saying the government is overstepping its bounds, there is another ruling saying it has firm legal grounding.

Take the issue of detainees in Cuba. While the court in San Francisco said they should have lawyers, a court in Washington, D.C., ruled the prisoners had no right to the American legal system.

BARBARA COMSTOCK, SPOKESWOMAN, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: The American people do understand the president has these wartime authorities. And when you're at war and during hostilities, you have to detain individuals who are trying to harm U.S. citizens.

ARENA: Most, if not all of these issues are expected to be decided by the Supreme Court. Already on its docket, the issue of Guantanamo detainees.

(on camera) Legal experts say it's important to remember that these decisions are being made against the backdrop of terrorism. They say the weighing of national security against legal principles is the most complicated it's ever been.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, we first started talking about it here on this program before this program had a name. We talk about it a bit more now.

We're joined tonight by Jonathan Turley. Jon teaches law. He's in Dallas tonight. A constitutional lawyer, among other things. And we're always pleased to see him.

Here's the truth of it. We set out to find a conservative, legal scholar who would argue that the court got it wrong today. And we failed. That's the truth of it. OK?

And the reason we failed is it's hard to find people, conservative or liberal -- I'm not saying they aren't out there -- who think the court did get it wrong.

What is so simple about this, in a sense?

JONATHAN TURLEY, CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY: Well, actually, even two of the principal architects of this policy who just recently left the Justice Department, as soon as they left, they raised serious questions over the policy they helped create. And you see this departure from these policies -- I think rather belatedly.

But as you noted earlier in the program, what we're talking about in the Padilla case could not be more fundamental, not just to the constitutional system but how we define ourselves as Americans. I mean, the trick about winning a war is not to destroy the thing that you're protecting.

And what the court did today was a magnificent act. I mean, this is what the framers intended courts to do, to be independent enough to stand against the most powerful wind. And that wind is most powerful at the time of war, or in this case, you know, some people debate whether we're at war or not.

But certainly most citizens have little sympathy for Padilla. BROWN: And that's all well and good from where I sit. I mean, you can like the guy or not like the guy and still support what the court did. I mean, I don't think that's the issue here.

Obviously, one judge on that panel of three saw it differently. Does that give you any pause either to the strength of your own argument and your own conviction or the future of that decision?

TURLEY: Well, it doesn't give me pause, not because I don't respect the judge. But many of us have believed since Padilla was first arrested that the president's argument was so extreme that it was untenable.

I mean, what the president was arguing was that he could unilaterally designate a citizen an enemy combatant, and strip him of all his constitutional rights and access to courts and counsel.

If he prevailed on that argument today in the Second Circuit, the entire Constitution would be a discretionary document, a subject of his arbitrary whim as to whether this citizen is going to get full rights and that citizen is not.

And so we've had over the last few months a very sort of Caesar- like role of the president. He sends Zacarias Moussaoui into a federal court, even though he's a French citizen, sends Padilla into a Navy brig and strips him of all his rights. And the only difference between these two is the inclination of the president.

And that is untenable for our system of law. No one is that powerful in our system.

BROWN: You know, I -- Viet Dinh the other day on this program talked about a need -- one of the architects of the Patriot act, someone you referred to earlier as having now real concerns about the Padilla case and others -- said we all need to step back as a society and make some judgments about where we're going and what's to be allowed.

Do you see in the society, in Washington where you hang out, that the Congress and the executive branch are prepared to do that?

TURLEY: Well, I actually talked to two members today after the court said that you have to go to Congress to get this authority as the president of the United States. And one was a Democrat, one was a Republican. They actually called me on the decision.

And I asked them, you know, would you be prepared to give them this authority? And both of them said no.

I mean, the Constitution allows the president to -- allows Congress to suspend habeas corpus. But I don't think there's any intention to do that. And I think what you see in Congress is a certain rollback of some of the powers given to the president.

And there is a certain morning after aspect of this where we're looking at how much we've lost since September 11. But we lost most of these things by our own hand.

I mean, you know, the most chilling thing, Aaron, that I have ever read is the constitutional scholars was Benjamin Franklin told a woman outside of the convention when she came up and said, "What you have you done?" And he said -- she said, "What have you made and created?"

And Benjamin Franklin said, "It's a republic, madam, if you can keep it."

And that is the most chilling thing I've ever heard, because it reflects the fact that whatever legacy we have, it can die by our own hand. It can die by inaction. And today's decision really defended that legacy.

BROWN: In the last minute here, Jon, you said something when we talked with you earlier that struck a chord with me.

And that is, it surprised you how little conversation, how little national conversation there has been about this, whether it has been from media, whether it has been at the corner square, whether it's been in the has of Congress, wherever, that something this important has garnered so little talk.

TURLEY: I think that's true. And even today, Aaron, if you look at how people are portraying this decision, they're saying, "Well, you know, Padilla could end up going here or there."

Nobody is expressing any shock that what the court was saying is that the president had no authority to take an American citizen, strip him of his rights and throw him in a Navy brig for months.

You can't get more fundamental in terms of a denial of rights, in terms of usurpation of authority than the Padilla case. But people are not outraged, even though that is precisely the type of abuse that animated, motivated the framers.

BROWN: It speaks, I guess, to the power of 9/11 and a lot that's followed. Jon, it's nice to see you.

TURLEY: Great to see you.

BROWN: Thank you. Jonathan Turley with us tonight.

We'll revisit this issue from a slightly different angle a bit later in the program. We'll be joined by Stephen Kenny who is, to our knowledge at least, the first attorney to have met with a client, a detainee, at Guantanamo Bay. He's coming up a little bit later.

One other item, another thread in all of this. A British arms dealer was indicted in New Jersey today on federal charges of attempting to aid terrorists.

Hemant Lakhani was caught in a sting operation in which he allegedly offered to sell a variety of weapons, including a dirty bomb, to someone he thought was a terrorist.

Mr. Lakhani waived his Miranda rights, confessed, we are told, at some length, his lawyer now accusing the government of entrapment.

Still to come on the program tonight, another round of court cases, it seems. First the case of Michael Jackson. Charges filed today in Santa Barbara County, California.

The sniper trial, Lee Boyd Malvo, a guilty verdict there. What's coming up next.

And then the emotional, emotional sentencing of the man known as the Green River Killer. Forty-eight consecutive life terms. But that barely tells the story of the court in Seattle today.

From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Just reading the charging sheet is enough to make you gag. Pop star Michael Jackson charged with having sexual contact with a boy under 14. Nine charges in all involving this one child.

Now, charging sheets are not evidence. And a prosecutor's accusation is only that. But charges were filed today and then fiercely denied.

Here's CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY (voice-over): An employee of the district attorney's office walked the criminal complaint into the clerk's office as cameras captured every step of the process.

The three-page filing alleges that Jackson sexually abused a child under the age of 14 during two overlapping periods, between February 7 and March 10 of this year and February 20 and March 10. There are nine counts in all.

TOM SNEDDON, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY D.A.: Seven counts of 288-A, in violation of the California penal code, commonly known as child molestation. And two counts in violation of penal code Section 222 that involves administering and intoxicating liquor to a child for the purpose of committing a felony.

BUCKLEY: Jackson was not required to, and did not appear for the filing, but his attorney appeared before cameras in Los Angeles to say Jackson would fight the charges with, quote, "every fiber of his soul."

MARK GERAGOS, JACKSON ATTORNEY: What we have here is an intersection between a shakedown, somebody who's looking for money, with somebody with an investigation that's got an axe to grind.

BUCKLEY: Mark Geragos apparently referring to D.A. Tom Sneddon, who investigated Jackson on similar allegations in 1993 but did not bring charges then, because the alleged victim ultimately reached a financial settlement with Jackson and refused to testify.

Sneddon denies any vendetta, and he also rebutted critics who said the pause between Jackson's arrest on November 20 and the filing of charges on December 15 spoke to a less than solid case against Jackson.

SNEDDON: Somehow we issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Jackson and were hoping to gather information in the meantime, in order to buttress what some people have called a weak case. I want to categorically say that is false.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: Sneddon said that the reason for that pause, Aaron, was so that the county could put together a web site to distribute the materials that are going to come out in this case so that the various members of the media could get access to that material.

Mark Geragos, meanwhile, you heard is very strongly denying the allegations. He says that the prosecution will not prevail.

Both sides will be in court together on January 16 for Michael Jackson's arraignment -- Aaron.

BROWN: I think there are high school kids in my community that could get up a web site in about a day and a half. That notwithstanding, they clearly were fishing for other victims over the last month.

BUCKLEY: Well, you know, at the press conference, we all know that Tom Sneddon -- this was several weeks ago -- in fact invited members of the community to come forward if there were any additional allegations.

We thought, because we didn't know what he meant by multiple counts of child molestation when he said this several weeks ago, that there might be additional victims involved.

But it turns out that, yes, there are nine counts involved against Michael Jackson, but they all involve one alleged victim.

BROWN: Frank, thank you. Frank Buckley.

In another courtroom on the opposite side of the country, a jury in Virginia has convicted Lee Boyd Malvo of all three counts against him, including capital murder.

The jurors deliberated about 13 hours over two days. In the end they rejected Mr. Malvo's insanity defense. The question now, will they sentence an 18-year-old to die?

Here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MESERVE (voice-over): Lee Malvo's own confessions to investigators, crime scene photographs, testimony from victims and family members, and mountains of evidence, including a murder weapon with Lee Malvo's DNA and fingerprints on it, overwhelmed the defense contention that Malvo was insane at the time of the shootings.

The verdict was unanimous: guilty of capital murder in the commission of an act of terrorism. Guilty of capital murder for the killing of two people in a three-year period. Guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

ABBE SMITH, GEORGETOWN LAW CENTER: The evidence was overwhelming. The crime horrific. The defense novel. And the jurors death qualified. Those things altogether spell a guilty verdict.

MESERVE: Lee Malvo, who in court has sometimes laughed and doodled, seemingly oblivious to the gravity of the events unfolding around him, was attentive when the verdict was read. He sat erect, staring straight ahead, betraying no emotion.

The families of victims smiled, clasped hands, showed relief.

BOB MEYERS, VICTIM'S BROTHER: We are extremely pleased with the verdict, believe that justice has been served.

MESERVE: The verdict took more than 13 hours of deliberations, and some members of the jury appeared to be upset. But their work is not done. The sentencing phase of the trial commences immediately.

The defense will underline that Malvo was a juvenile when the crimes were committed and argue for a penalty of life in prison without parole.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: The prosecution will present victim impact testimony. They may try to introduce again the 911 tape of Ted Franklin calling after his wife was shot in the Home Depot parking lot. This jury has not heard it, and it is harrowing.

They may also refer back to some letters that Lee Malvo wrote in prison to another inmate, this after the date that the defense says he was separating from John Allen Muhammad.

One of those letters is about escape. And in it, he writes to another inmate, "If I was in population what the 'F' do you think I would be doing? Planning, waiting, looking every day. I don't know about you, but I'll die trying."

The prosecution, of course, is asking for death -- Aaron.

BROWN: Starts tomorrow?

MESERVE: It starts tomorrow morning 10 a.m.

BROWN: OK. MESERVE: And probably going to last a couple of days to put on the evidence. We don't know how long, of course, it will take the jury to come back with a verdict.

BROWN: Jeanne, thank you very much. Jeanne Meserve.

Of all the criminals and accused criminals we've reported on tonight, none is worse than Gary Ridgway. In some respects, he may be the worst ever.

Mr. Ridgway murdered 48 women in a case that started a generation ago. Most of his victims were runaways and prostitutes estranged from both their families and in many respects, society. But today, both society and their families had their say.

Here is CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gary Ridgway told investigators he didn't remember his victims, their names or their faces. He called them trash.

He had never expressed remorse to anyone. But at his sentencing, his gaze never wavered from the daughters, sons, nieces, sisters, mothers and fathers of those he murdered some 20 years ago.

MARILYN MOLINA, MARIA MALYAR'S SISTER: Took away my best friend from me, 20 years ago. And, also, with that, he tore my family apart.

CAROL ESTES, DEBRA ESTES' MOTHER: She was just an immature teenager trying to find her way in life before it was snuffed out by Gary Ridgway. I won't ever forgive him for that. He has destroyed my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm angry. I will always be angry. I will never have that closure. I will never have my sister back in my life.

DENNIS MEEHAN, MARY MEEHAN'S BROTHER: I can only hope that some day someone gets the opportunity to choke you unconscious 48 times.

DORNIN: Gary Ridgway confessed to killing 48 women in exchange for his life. No trial, no death sentence. Some here felt robbed.

JODIE ARMAN, NIANDA SUMMERS' MOTHER: Shame on Seattle. Shame on you. There should be no plea-bargaining. If you're guilty, you're guilty.

DORNIN: Some families talked about the justice they hoped Ridgway would receive behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easy to kill women, but let's see how you do against the other prisoners in the general population.

DORNIN: Ridgway never flinched when family members called him a monster. It was the act of compassion by the father of Linda Rule that broke the composure of serial killer Gary Ridgway.

ROBERT RULE, LINDA RULE'S FATHER: When you've made it difficult to live up to what God says to do, and that's to forgive. He says to forgive all. So you are forgiven, sir.

DORNIN: Nearly two dozen family members had their say. And then Gary Ridgway said things he'd never said before.

GARY RIDGWAY, GREEN RIVER KILLER: I have tried for a long time to keep from killing any ladies. I'm sorry for causing so much pain to so many families.

DORNIN: But the judge wasn't buying any late show of emotion.

RICHARD JONES, JUDGE: I want you to turn around and just scan the audience right now. Those are the family and friends of the people that you killed. And, sir, if you have that drop of emotion, you will be haunted for the balance of your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORNIN: The thing that's so incredible, Aaron, is this man, Gary Ridgway, claims that he does not even remember how many women he may have killed since 1982, when he began confessing last year.

In fact, one of the 48 was killed in 1998. He also hinted to investigators he may have killed a woman in 2001.

This plea bargain only applies to the 48 women killed here in King County. That's what spared his life. And I say if investigators were able to find evidence and connect him to a murder even in another county in Washington, he could be tried. He could be eligible for the death penalty.

Until then, he will be in solitary confinement, life without parole -- Aaron.

BROWN: Rusty, thank you. Rusty Dornin in Seattle tonight. The end of a story.

Up next on NEWSNIGHT, we'll check some of the other day's top stories.

And later, a dramatic announcement by Ariel Sharon, one that nearly everyone is condemning. How can that be? Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: On any other day, some of these stories might play a bit higher in the newscast.

President Bush was at Walter Reed Medical Center today. He had his bad knees X-rayed, visited Secretary of State Powell, who is recovering from prostate surgery, cancer surgery. The president also met with some soldiers wounded on the battlefield. The president praised them for their bravery and marveled that so many talked so much about heading back to Iraq and rejoining their buddies.

If it's Thursday, it must be Moscow, James Baker's final stop on his Iraq debt relief tour. After meeting the Russian president, the former secretary of state left with a commitment on Russia's part to start negotiations on settling Iraq's tab.

Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter says the current Iraqi government has no right to try her father. She said this to CNN's Rym Brahimi in an exclusive CNN interview, her first on-camera interview her father's capture. Raghad Hussein said the interim government is illegitimate. She also accused the U.S. Army of drugging her dad. She says he never would have given up otherwise.

At The Hague in the Netherlands, retired General Wes Clark did another day's worth of damage to Slobodan Milosevic. General Clark testified, the former Yugoslav president knew that they Bosnian Serbs planned a massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica. He learned this, he said, during negotiations with Milosevic several years later.

And in case you're wondering -- and many of you must be -- how many roundups fit into one any segment, the answer is two. The "MONEYLINE Roundup" begins tonight with spam, Microsoft and New York's attorney general filing joint lawsuit today against a bulk e-mailer. The lawsuits allege consumer deception on the part of the company and demand a judge levy fines to the tune of $500 for each piece of spam.

Look out, Apple. Wal-Mart is rolling out a music download service. Tunes will cost 88 cents a track, a dime and a penny less than Apple is charging at the iTunes music store. The retail giant says it expects the store to go online, as they say, sometime next year.

New unemployment claims fell sharply last month, more so than expected, another a sign the labor market is shaping up, the pace of layoffs stabilizing.

And if "The Chicago Sun-Times" were to sum up the markets today, the word would be socko, green arrows across the board, all of those indices pointing up.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, we'll talk with the lawyer for one of the men being held in Guantanamo. One of them has a lawyer.

And a dramatic step in the Middle East. Will Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's plan bring peace or just more trouble?

This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This is one of those stories where all is not as it seems to be.

It might seem that the Israeli prime minister talking about dismantling settlements, pulling back from occupied territory, regardless of what the Palestinians do, would be considered progress, maybe foolish, but progress. The Israeli prime minister did say those things today and virtually everyone considers it a step back.

Here's CNN's John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ariel Sharon says he just can't wait any longer. He won't wait for terrorism to stop and he won't wait to negotiate with the Palestinians.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We are interested in conducting direct negotiations, but do not intend to hold Israeli society hostage in the hands of the Palestinians. I have already said we will not wait for them indefinitely.

VAUSE: The clock is now running. The Palestinians have just months to act, he says, or Israel will, under his plan, Israel will withdraw from most of the occupied territories, but keep the land it wants. Even so, he warns that some settlements will have to go.

DAVID HOROWITZ, EDITOR, "JERUSALEM REPORT": The architect of the settlement enterprise has told the very people he sent into the West Bank, many of them at least, that they now have to leave.

VAUSE: Earlier this week, police clashed with radical young settlers who were defending an illegal outpost. If the other major settlements are ever likely to be dismantled, this is just a small taste of things to come. Settlers are now warning, if the Israeli prime minister has lost patience, so, too, have they.

EVE HAROW, SETTLER SPOKESPERSON: My thoughts are that the terrorists haven't broken the spirit of the Israeli society, but they most certainly have broken the spirit of my prime minister.

VAUSE: Crucial to the withdrawal from the West Bank, Sharon says, will be the acceleration of the construction of Israel's barrier.

SHARON (through translator): Today, we can already see it taking shape. The rapid completion of the security fence will enable the IDF to remove roadblocks and ease the daily lives of the Palestinian population not involved in terror.

VAUSE: From the Palestinian prime minister, no effort to hide his disappointment.

AHMED QUREIA, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER: I was expecting that something new. But I want to confirm, reiterate our position. We are committed to the road map.

VAUSE (on camera): The Israeli prime minister says these moves are not politically motivated, but, rather, are for security reasons. They're temporary, he says, not permanent. But he warns the Palestinians they'll pay a price for the Israeli withdrawal. They'll be left with less land than they would have received through direct negotiations.

John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Back now to the question that began the program tonight: How ought the various people now in custody here or at Guantanamo be treated under the law and ought conventional laws comply?

Steven Kenny's client, David Hicks, is an Australian. He's being held at Guantanamo. So far, he is the only detainee to have seen a lawyer, a meeting two years in the making. We're pleased Mr. Kenny is with us tonight.

You said to me a minute ago -- I don't remember exactly the question -- "I can't talk about that." Are you limited in what you can say by an agreement you made with the government?

STEPHEN KENNY, ATTORNEY FOR DAVID HICKS: Yes, I am.

The agreement I made with the government was that I would comply with the rules of the military commission. And that is, defense counsel can only speak on topics with the permission of the appointing authority. I have permission on some areas. And others, I don't.

BROWN: All right, tell me where you don't want me to talk about, then, because otherwise this is going to get mushy.

KENNY: Yes. I'm limited on the facts of the case, particularly, and I'm limited on the immediate surrounding circumstances of David Hicks' detention. But I can talk about things that have been discussed

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: OK.

Broadly, Mr. Hicks -- you stop me if we -- well, you will. You're a lawyer.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: You will probably not only stop me. You'll probably sue me -- is one of the people who they are talking about a military tribunal for. So, in their view, he's a major, major, major catch. How did he end up there?

KENNY: David Hicks not a major catch.

What I can tell you about the facts is this, that David Hicks has never injured or killed any civilian, any U.S. military personnel or any Australian military personnel. So I don't think he's a big catch. I think he's a pretty small fish in a very big sea. He ended up there because he was in Afghanistan at the time the American forces and Australian forces went in there. He was captured by the Northern Alliance and handed over to the Americans and, subsequently, like a lot of others in these circumstances, sent out to Guantanamo Bay.

BROWN: Do you believe he will face a military tribunal?

KENNY: I expect that that's what will happen. He's likely to be one of the first ones to face a tribunal.

BROWN: OK.

What's his condition?

KENNY: His condition for a person that -- you've got to understand the circumstances those people have been in now for two years, the interrogations, the locking in cages, the lack of access to the outside world. All of these things create a certain frame of mind in those people. And there's no doubt that was quite intentional on behalf of the authorities.

But for someone who has been in those circumstances, I think he's survived better than I would in there. I don't think I would survive too well.

BROWN: Is he depressed?

KENNY: I would say that he would be suffering some form of depression. I'm not an expert on that, though.

BROWN: Does he -- is he in a population or is he totally isolated? You can't be partially isolated, can you? Is he isolated?

KENNY: Yes, he is isolated.

And I can say -- I can't describe the circumstance of his isolation. But, publicly, we have made known from a letter that he had that he's been moved from the jail population. And all he sees now is M.P.s. So he's isolated.

BROWN: Do you know why he was moved or can you say why he was moved?

KENNY: Well, I can speculate on it. And that speculation is that...

BROWN: We'll take it.

(LAUGHTER)

KENNY: Yes.

He was one of the first six nominated to come before the military commissions. I think that the authorities realized that lawyers would start coming in, start talking to these people. And, clearly, they didn't want the message to get back to the rest of the detainees.

BROWN: Literally a minute here. Can you tell me who he is, in the sense, I mean, who is this kid that ended up -- somehow went from Australia to a battlefield under some circumstance or another in Afghanistan? KENNY: He's a -- I would describe him probably as an adventurer. He really started traveling. He got overseas to Japan on a job training racehorses as a jockey over there.

And from there, I think he started to open his eyes in the world and decided he wanted to do some traveling, became interested in the Muslim religion, led him to Afghanistan, and then into the difficulties that he has now got to. But it was really adventure I think that sparked this interest.

BROWN: Do you think he'll ever be a free man?

KENNY: Well, I think, in the circumstances, that, eventually, he should be a free man. I don't see why he shouldn't, at some stage, be a free man. He's not a major war criminal. He's not a major catch.

BROWN: Thank you for coming in.

KENNY: Thank you.

BROWN: There's a million other questions. We'll save them for another time. Thank you very much.

When we come back, we'll go "On the Rise" with a young man who's become a best-selling author.

We'll take a break first. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK, this is one of those "On the Rise' stories we periodically do that makes us feel a little inadequate, perhaps a bit lazy, if we're being really honest -- and why not -- both.

But that never stops us, which is a good thing, because Christopher Paolini, who has landed on "The New York Times" best- seller list for children's books, is quite something, a teenager who has created a fantasy world rivaling "Lord of the Rings." Meet the kid who makes the other kids want to read more and is clearly "On the Rise."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI, AUTHOR, "ERAGON": The best job in the world. I get paid to write my daydreams down.

I graduated from high school at 15. And when I graduated, I was looking for something to do. And I decided to try and write a story that I would enjoy reading.

"A blast of icy energy surged into his hand and raced up his arm."

"Eragon" is the story of a young man, Eragon, who becomes intricately linked with this beautiful sapphire blue dragon, Saphira.

"Its scale were deep sapphire blue."

They go on a series of adventures. And there's duels and dragons and battles and villains and romance and all the good stuff a story needs.

I didn't think it was going to be published. It was just sort of an experimental project for myself.

MICHELLE FREY, EDITOR, ALFRED A. KNOPF BOOKS: When I first got the book, I fell in love immediately. I knew that there was something magical on my hands. And I knew that Christopher had a gift.

PAOLINI: I got an e-mail completely out of the blue from my publisher, Knopf, saying that they wanted to buy the entire trilogy.

FREY: What's most impressive about Christopher's writing is the scope of his imagination. Christopher's writing is really in a class by itself.

PAOLINI: Dealing with the kids is probably the best part of being on a book tour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What inspired you to write the books?

PAOLINI: A dragon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you decide to make...

PAOLINI: Having kids come up to me and saying, "Eragon" was my favorite book or having the teachers come up to me and saying, that kid does not read and there he is reading an Eragon book.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was addicted to it. When I got home, I finished my homework as quickly as possible, stayed up large.

PAOLINI: All of my characters come from some part within me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really love the storyline. It makes me almost feel away from the present, like a different world.

PAOLINI: Out of it crawls this beautiful sapphire blue baby dragon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After I read the first sentence, I was so interested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think, when I'm old, I'm going to try to write a book, too, because...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being an author would be fun. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PAOLINI: I invented three languages for "Eragon." There is a blessing that's given in the book. And it goes (SPEAKING IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGE) The languages started off pretty much just as an entertainment for myself.

GERARD DOYLE, NARRATOR, "ERAGON" AUDIO BOOK: I was just blown away by the range of characters and the complexity of the languages.

PAOLINI: I think that's it.

DOYLE: I imagine a very, very rosy future for this young man.

PAOLINI: Wonderful movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to be in the movies and all that kind of stuff. But it's going to go big.

PAOLINI: I can't say enough about the movie deal. When I first found out that "Eragon" was being optioned by the Fox 2000 studio, I could not speak. I got called by my agent. I could not speak for about 30 seconds.

Thank you.

It's been a very long 15-city book tour, but I've met some incredible people.

Smile. Say Eragon.

CROWD: Eragon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: My kid went to the mall today.

Morning papers in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

BROWN: I really shouldn't be at work today, but I miss doing morning papers. And I can't really do them when I'm at home. So we'll take a look at morning papers from around the world and around the world.

We'll begin with "The Richmond Times-Dispatch," because they've got themselves a lead story, don't they? "Malvo Convicted of Capital Murder. Sniper Faces Death or Life in Prison After Being Found Guilty of Terror, Multiple Killings." That's their lead. And Michael Jackson on just about every front page, like it or not. There it is. And "Two Setbacks For War on Terror," the court cases today. That's "The Richmond Times-Dispatch." If you're traveling here in the United States, as many of you may be, "USA Today" will arrive in your hotel. And that front page is just chock-full of stuff. I've got to tell you, they've got some football thing up in the corner, Michael Jackson at the top, Gary Ridgway and Lee Malvo, day of reckoning, in the middle. And "Court: U.S. Can't Hold Citizen as Combatant." This one caught my eye. "Calendars: Picking One Can Age You." "PDA Sales" -- those are little palm-like gizmos -- "Lag as Many Stick With Old-Fashioned Paper." Really? Is that really happening? Well, you don't know, do you?

"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." This is just two weeks after Mississippi State named a black football coach. "UGA Picks Top Dawg," first black athletic director in the SEC was Dooley. That must be Vince Dooley, right, the former football coach, Vince Dooley's choice. That's a big story down there. I like this one, too. "Ex-Strip Club to House Church." Kind of a man-bites-dog story there.

"The Miami Herald." "Detentions Unlawful, Court Says." They also put the sniper on the front page. But this is the best story on the front page. "For Mobsters, Florida Always a Second Home." I know that. I saw that on an episode of "The Sopranos." So I know that that is true.

"The Jerusalem Post" doesn't lead with any of that nonsense. It leads with "P.M." -- prime minister -- "Details Disengagement Plan." That's their lead.

How we doing on time?

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Thank you.

Down at the bottom of "The Cincinnati Enquirer," "Businessman Driving Force For Synagogue." Why is that on the front page? Hanukkah starts tomorrow, so they need a kind of Jewish related story to go on the front page. And they found one. I haven't read it. It's probably a fine story.

"The Chicago Sun-Times." The weather tomorrow in Chicago is "mundane." And they lead with whatever that thing is and the Padilla ruling on the front page -- "The Chicago Sun-Times."

We'll wrap up the day after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Before we leave you tonight, a quick recap of our top story.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Brooklyn-born Jose Padilla, a suspected al Qaeda operative, must be released from military custody within 30 days. He's been detained for more than a year, never formally charged with a thing, never seen a lawyer. In its ruling, the court said the president has no legal authority to indefinitely detain an American citizen who is not captured on the battlefield.

Tomorrow night on this here program, the long-awaited final design for the building that will replace the World Trade Center. We'll take a look. That's tomorrow night here on NEWSNIGHT.

For most of you, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" is next.

We'll see you tomorrow. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

END

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Michael Jackson Formally Charged; D.C. Sniper Found Guilty; Green River Killer Sentenced to Life in Prison>