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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Jackson Verdict Fallout

Aired June 14, 2005 - 22:00   ET

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

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


AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening, again.
For both sides in the Michael Jackson trial, day one post-verdict meant a shift in gears. Mr. Jackson waking up a free man out of the shadow of a felony charge, but facing an uncertain future.

His prosecutors trying to make sense of a colossal defeat.

Mr. Jackson saying nothing publicly; today was a day for lawyers -- not an easy day for one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Tom Sneddon, no doubt, has had better days than today.

The day after losing a case he worked for years and took before the jury himself, he said all he could say in defeat.

TOM SNEDDON, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: We felt we put on a good case. I think I made it very clear to everybody, I'm not going to be apologetic for what we did. We did our job. We thought it was a persuasive case. We thought we should have won the case. That we had enough evidence that was credible and believable. And we all believed in the young man.

BROWN: He may have believed the young man and to a degree, some jurors may have too, but not beyond a reasonable doubt. The kid had lied before. The family was portrayed by the defense as grifters, out to make a buck. The young man's mother was the kiss of death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I disliked it intensely when she snapped her fingers at us. That's when I thought, "Don't snap your fingers at me, lady."

SNEDDON: I don't think there's any question that we knew going into the trial that the mother was a difficult person. But the fact of the matter is, you don't visit the sins of the parent on the child. And the fact of the matter is, that the child -- we believed in the child, and we believed in the case, and we believed that there was sufficient corroboration for what the children said occurred.

BROWN: Tom Mesereau, white hair flowing and glowing in victory, stuck to his script as well. After all, what can you say about a 46- year-old client who walked from a molestation charge, but professes no problem with sleeping with young boys? So, Mesereau conceded a little. But not too much.

MESEREAU: ... he has to be a lot tougher with who he lets into his life and who he allows to run around his home. And that will happen.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Does that mean the sleep-overs are over?

MESEREAU: Well, it means that he's going to be a lot more careful about who he lets into his life.

Michael is a very kind-hearted, child-like person. He's been too nice to too many people. He's allowed people to come into his life and run freely through his home and that's going to change.

BROWN: From morning to night, Mesereau, today's hot-ticket Hollywood defense attorney, made the rounds. While his vanquished opponent was left with a career-ending defeat and some wishful thing.

SNEDDON: Frankly, if you looked at that video of him when he made his disclosure to law enforcement, which was the last thing in the trial, I think it's pretty difficult for people to see that and not really say that this young man was molested.

BROWN: Which is, of course, why he brought the case all those month ago; why he tried the case for so many weeks.

And why he struggles tonight to accept defeat.

SNEDDON: It means that there's 12 people out there that don't agree with us and that's the way it goes. That's why we have a system.

BROWN: And no one can argue with that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Aside from witness credibility, there's also this little matter of celebrity, and what role, if any, it played in the verdict yesterday.

Someone here last night said, we just sort of expect our celebrities to be weird. So if they act strange -- and criminal charges notwithstanding I think you can safely say Mr. Jackson acts a bit strange for a 46-year-old man -- well, they get a pass. That's just celebrity for you.

So, while no one would argue you can't convict a celebrity of a crime, you can make a fair argument it is tougher than convicting a punk from south L.A.

Here's CNN's Jeffrey Toobin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST (voice-over): Criminal cases against celebrity defendants usually begin the same way...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And arrest warrant for Mr. Jackson has been issued.

TOOBIN: ... With earnest promises from prosecutors that the defendant will receive no special treatment.

JEAN ROSENBLUTH, USC GOULD SCHOOL OF LAW: They want to communicate to the world that they are fair, that they are not going to treat this celebrity any different, and perhaps sometimes, they over-compensate.

TOOBIN: The cases tend to end the same way too: With complete exoneration for the celebrity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder.

TOOBIN: O.J. Simpson, acquitted -- same with Sean P. Diddy Combs, Robert Blake, William Kennedy Smith -- charges dismissed before trial against Kobe Bryant, and then yesterday...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury in the above-entitled case, find the defendant not guilty.

TOOBIN: Could this be simply because jurors are star struck?

HARVEY LEVIN, CREATOR, CELEBRITY JUSTICE: I think they become extremely cautious, especially about passing judgment and saying to somebody: You are now going from the stage, to a prison.

And that's a huge leap. And it's something that you're going to have to go home and answer to your neighbors to.

TOOBIN: But there may be another factor. Some of these celebrity cases were awfully weak in the first place.

In the date rape case against Kobe Bryant, the accuser refused to testify. Prosecutors in the murder case against Robert Blake couldn't produce the murder weapon, or any eyewitnesses to the crime. And jurors in the Jackson case, said it was built on the word of witnesses who were unreliable, at best.

PAUL RODRIGUEZ, JURY FOREMAN: ... Couldn't buy the story of the mother, for one. And the corresponding stories of the children, they were too much like the mother's. Although, it's almost like they rehearsed it.

TOOBIN: Perhaps what's happening in these cases is that prosecutors are so worried about giving celebrities a break, that they make the opposite mistake, and bring cases that were flawed from the start.

High-priced lawyers, which celebrities can always afford, then exploit these witnesses for the jury, and the world to see. Marginal cases plus aggressive defenses equals the result we've come to know -- celebrities walking out courthouse doors as free men.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Jeffrey Toobin joins us to talk a little bit more about this.

Jeffrey, I think it would be hard to argue that the O.J. case was over-charged. The case was the case.

But I think you can argue that they were out-lawyered; that the prosecution simply faced better lawyers.

TOOBIN: And, you know, that is always true in situations where, you know, defendants can hire the best. Most criminal defendants can't hire the best, can't pay for experts.

But it is true that celebrities are somewhat different. There are a lot of white-collar criminals, especially, who are convicted,who have high priced lawyers. So, it's not just the money for defense lawyers, the celebrity factor has something to do with it.

BROWN: OK, then why does Martha Stewart -- I mean -- look, does the fact that Martha Stewart was convicted on -- I don't want to say it was a nothing charge, but it wasn't child molestation and it wasn't two counts of murder.

TOOBIN: You bet.

BROWN: It was calling your stockbroker and --

TOOBIN: It wasn't even insider trading, it was lying about an insider trading investigation.

BROWN: Is that an easier call for a jury to make?

TOOBIN: I think it's an easier call for a jury to make. It was also exceptionally well-tried by the government here in the United States, in the southern district of New York, where you have extremely successful, good prosecutors, which you don't always have around the country.

But I think, you know, it is almost the exception that proves the rule. That's the -- a relatively minor case with the cards very much stacked in favor of the government. That's the one time a celebrity's gotten convicted.

Jeffrey, thank you, again. Good to see you, tonight.

Bob Tarver and Michael Wolff are with us.

Mr. Tarver is a criminal defense attorney, and Mr. Wolf writes about media and fame for "Vanity Fair."

And they're both good friends of the programs and we're pleased to see them both.

You said today that celebrity in the country, these days, is like aristocracy. How does that play out in the courtroom?

ROBERT TARVER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think people look at the celebrities, as they walk into the courtroom and as they have to deal with the system, as being an extension of themselves, the better part of themselves.

BROWN: I think it's just the opposite. I think they think they're the weirder part of themselves.

TARVER: Well, it depends on the celebrity. I mean, clearly, if you take someone like Michael Jackson, who perhaps was a part of the popular culture for so many years -- people grew up with him, grew up with his music. People have a hard time seeing him come to a bad end. That doesn't mean jurors disregard the evidence, but I think it's a part of them that's invested in this courtroom as well.

BROWN: I'm smart enough not to too much with lawyers.

I'll argue with you a little, I think.

MICHAEL WOLFF, "VANITY FAIR": Please, I can't wait.

BROWN: Yes.

If you listen to the jurors, last night, it was fascinating because one of them, -- I don't know as a body how they thought -- but one of them said: yeah, well, he probably molested kids, but they didn't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

So here's the question: Do celebrities get more reasonable doubt than the average punk who ends up in Manhattan superior court?

WOLFF: Sure. I mean, I think you'd say that rich people get more reasonable doubt. If you can afford all of the best defense, you're going to be in a better position than that punk from -- who doesn't have a defense.

Very clearly, but, you know, nevertheless, I mean, this is -- in this trial, it is true -- I meant that, I think, that everybody can say -- and everybody in America certainly feels: Yes, Michael Jackson is a perv.

On the other hand...

BROWN: I don't know that everyone says that.

WOLFF: I think everyone...

BROWN: Believe me, I'm going to get 100 E-mails from people who don't believe that.

WOLFF: That's because you can't say the word perv.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: ... I think they're going to say that. We can say whatever. But the other thing that everyone -- that I think the jury felt and I think a lot of people suspected going forward on this case, was that all of these witnesses were grifters of some kind.

So, you think, you can't convict. Even if you know he's guilty, you can't convict on the basis of that.

BROWN: But you're...

TARVER: I think he's right. You know, people who study these things, study jurors and study verdicts, in the civil context, will tell you in a heartbeat, wealth makes a difference, class makes a difference, race makes a difference. Why would we assume that it would be any different on the criminal side? Clearly, class, wealth, aristocracy, and celebrity has to play into the whole equation of what a jury thinks of a person, and what they think of you is primarily important for establishing whether or not you can or will not commit that type of crime.

The other thing though with celebrity is that, in this case, is that it also goes to why you were charged -- it actually goes further, it goes to why you did what you did or didn't do, why you were charged with what you did or didn't do, and then finally why you were convicted. It colors everything here. We are in another world.

BROWN: Wait, wait. I'm obsessing on something and I shouldn't do this, but I will anyway. If you took exactly the same testimony, every word in that trial the same, does a non-celebrity get convicted? Or does the non-celebrity walk?

TARVER: A non-celebrity with a good lawyer walks.

BROWN: No, I'm just saying, the same words. So, same lawyers. He walks anyway?

WOLFF: Well, even...

TARVER: I think he walks anyway because the doubt is there.

BROWN: I don't.

WOLFF: But you can't even do that. You can't do that because the non-celebrity is not going to have the boys and the mothers bringing the boys...

BROWN: Well, of course not.

WOLFF: OK, but that's a very elemental thing to this. The other thing is that the non-celebrity is probably not going to be charged with this either because you have -- the witnesses are so screwy.

TARVER: Well, I would disagree with you there. I think it's likelier to be charged.

BROWN: Well, let me -- one more thing.

WOLFF: The other thing -- screwy witnesses? BROWN: Stop. Here's the other thing I found weird listening to the jury last night. I think what they said in some respects was, honestly, any mother who would let their child sleep with this guy is not to be believed. There's something wrong with her. I mean, that actually has nothing to do with the case itself but that's how they thought.

TARVER: Well, it has everything to do with the case because the case was based upon credibility. You got to remember, a criminal case, whether it's for celebrity or anyone else, is really based on credibility, and I've got to tell you, I think that the wealthy and the celebrities do get a pass, somewhat, when it comes to the facts and interpretation of the facts, but witnesses are going to be judged on the credibility element no matter what.

BROWN: Can you do the last word in 15 seconds?

WOLFF: They're all perv's.

TARVER: That's about seven seconds.

BROWN: Nice to see you both.

TARVER: You, too.

BROWN: I look forward to the next time, but we could use a slight break. Thank you.

Story of celebrities taken down a notch, whether they deserve it or not, is timeless. Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell from the sky -- the book, on the other hand, sold millions. Clearly, there's an appetite. We like to watch and frequently there's something to see, so here's NEWSNIGHT'S Beth Nissen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The word "scandal" is derived from a word meaning snare or trap and scandal has done just that to the careers, the lives, of a number of American celebrities and cultural icons, some who freed themselves, some who never did.

Case in point, Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, star of the "Keystone Kops" silent films. In 1921, at the peak of his career, he was accused of involvement in the death of an actress at a sex party in his San Francisco hotel suite. He was acquitted, but his reputation, his career, were destroyed. Arbuckle died in 1933 of heart failure, what his loyal friend Buster Keaton insisted was a broken heart.

Arbuckle's fellow star Charlie Chaplin was also entangled in scandal thanks to his fondness for very young girls -- three of his brides were under 18 -- and very leftist causes, namely communism. In 1952 the English actor was declared an unsavory character and barred from reentering the U.S. He went into exile in New Zealand with fourth wife Oona and their children, finally returning to the U.S. in 1972 to accept a special Academy Award. He was mourned and honored worldwide when he died on Christmas Day of 1977. HUMPHREY BOGART, ACTOR: Here's looking at you, kid.

NISSEN: In 1949, it seemed most of America was looking at actress Ingrid Bergman with extreme disapproval. She was a married woman when she fell in love with director Roberto Rossellini and got pregnant by him, left her husband and daughter to be with him. She was vilified, denounced from the floor of the U.S. Senate as "Hollywood's apostle of degradation."

But maybe because she married Rossellini, and maybe because times and mores were changing in the 50s, Bergman kept her career, winning a best actress Academy Award from "Anastasia" in 1956, and a best supporting Oscar in 1974 for "Murder on the Orient Express." She was still a cultural icon at the time of her death from cancer in 1982.

Few people remember how big Jerry Lee Lewis was in his day. Elvis once said that if he could play piano as well as Lewis, he'd quit singing. But Lewis lost it all in 1958 when it was revealed that his third wife was his 13-year-old second cousin. Lewis was an instant pariah. It took him years to battle his way back onto the music scene.

A 1989 feature film based on his life gave him some retro fame. Now 70, he still performs and plans to release a new album in the fall.

Not all celebrities are the stars of screen and stage. Roman Polanski is a film director best known for "Rosemary's Baby" in 1978 and the 1974 film, "Chinatown." In 1977 he was charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's home. Nicholson was out of town. Soon, Polanski was, too: released on bail, he was allowed to leave the country to work on a film and has never returned, not even to accept the Academy Award he won in 2003 as best director for "The Pianist." This photo was taken at another award ceremony in France where Polanski remains a fugitive.

Scandal also tarnished the career of director Woody Allen. For 10 years in the '80s and early '90s, he and actress Mia Farrow were connected on set. They made more than a dozen films together and off set they adopted two children, had another. Then in 1992, Allen left Farrow for one of her previously adopted daughters, 21-year-old Sun Yi Previn. He later married Sun Yi, and they have two children. Allen has continued to make films, on average one a year, although they've had more success in Europe than in the U.S., where his reputation has never fully recovered.

Is there a lesson in all this for Michael Jackson? Maybe. Carry on. Make right what you can. Do good work, and you might be forgiven, if what led to the scandal that ensnared you is seen by enough people as forgivable.

Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In a few moments, the latest in the search for a missing teenager in Aruba, but at a quarter past hour, NEWSNIGHT time, we go to Atlanta and Erica Hill for the latest headlines. Erica?

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi, Aaron.

Results of the autopsy performed on Terri Schiavo will be released tomorrow. Schiavo died in March nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed. Her husband and parents had been in a bitter legal battle for years. Schiavo's family says now it hopes the autopsy will reveal what caused her to collapse some 15 years ago, leaving her severely brain damaged. It's been blamed on an eating disorder. Schiavo's family, however, believes she was abused by her husband. He denies that charge.

No word tonight on the cause of death for a 4-year-old boy. He died after he rode the Mission Space ride yesterday at Disney World. Preliminary autopsy results show no signs of trauma but were otherwise inconclusive. Further testing will be done. The child lost consciousness during the ride and died a short time later. Mission Space simulates a rocket launch.

And two members of the violent gang MS-13 are now facing life behind bars. The two were convicted of murdering 17-year-old Brenda Poss, a police informant. A jury in Virginia could not agree on a death sentence for the men so they will automatically get life without parole.

And that is the latest at this hour, Aaron, from Headline News. Back over to you.

BROWN: Thank you. That last one's actually a remarkable story. That young woman turned on the gang, went to Kansas city, lived in hiding for a while, and then came back.

HILL: Terrible.

BROWN: Yes. Thank you. we'll see you in half an hour.

More to come in the program tonight, starting with trouble in paradise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(voice-over): With the search growing for a missing young woman, a story emerges from the night spots of Aruba.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say that he was not only kissing her but fondling her sexually.

BROWN: Forty years later, the bitterness remains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where I came from, you don't come back home as a coward. You go somewhere and hang your head in shame.

BROWN: Forty years later, a man who chose life in North Korea comes home, but it's never as simple as that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guantanamo has become the primary recruiting tool for our enemies.

BROWN: That's the charge and it's not just the Democrats making it. So is an old friend of the president. So what to do about Guantanamo Bay?

And later, how fast is too fast?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just try to go at least with the crowd and that's usually about 15 to 20 over, and I see cops but they don't really do anything.

BROWN: At what point will they? Stick around. Your wallet will thank you, because this is NEWSNIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied today that the military prison at Guntanamo Bay represents an image problem for the Bush administration. That is an argument he is free to make, even as many others in Congress and around the world would take issue.

And in any case, the problem isn't simply one of image. The problem is also there are people in that prison who, if not there, would almost certainly be plotting or executing some terrorist action. Would all 500 or so? Probably not.

But you can't look at the controversy surrounding the prison, the interrogations, the lack of legal rights, and not acknowledge that other reality -- there's some real bad actors down there, which makes it a bit easier to complain about Gitmo than solve it. Here's CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Bangladesh, an angry march toward the U.S. embassy. The latest Muslim world protest accusing Americans of abusing the Koran and its followers at Guantanamo Bay.

RICHARD CHENEY, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Does this hurt us from the standpoint of international opinion? I frankly don't think so.

BASH: That's the vice president's public defense of Gitmo. But Bush officials privately acknowledge what a growing chorus of lawmakers, even Republicans, fear about the prison.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, (R) NEBRASKA: Guantanamo is one that has hurt us. It's identifiable with, for right or wrong, a part of America that people in the world believe is a power, an empire that pushes people around.

BASH: This fundamentalist Web site alleges humiliation of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo and glorifies Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 hijackers. SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, (D) VERMONT: Guantanamo has become the primary recruiting tool for our enemies.

BASH: Gitmo was controversial from the beginning. But the public relations challenge has snowballed. "Newsweek" reported and retracted that a Koran was flushed down the toilet. But the next week, an ongoing Pentagon review found five instances of...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What could be broadly defined as mishandling of a Koran.

BASH: And Amnesty International labeled the prison a "gulag" and said the United States "thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights."

In the latest "Time" magazine, details of controversy interrogation tactics against Muhammad al Qahtani, who U.S. officials believe was supposed to take part in the 9/11 attacks.

"When al Qahtani again requests his promised bathroom break," says one log entry, "he is told to go in his pants. Humiliatingly, he does." Some Republicans are taking it upon themselves to give the world a different taste of life at Guantanamo.

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA), CHR. ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: This is lemon fish. And this is what the 20th hijacker, Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, will be eating this week in Guantanamo.

BASH: Even those who support keeping the facility open says a murky legal process contributes to the perception, as this senator said, that hundreds of prisoners reside in perpetuity.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: Try them or release them.

BASH: The vice president suggests critics exaggerate the problems.

CHENEY: Those who are most urgently advocating we shut down Guantanamo probably don't agree with our policies anyway.

BASH: But it was a Bush loyalist, former housing secretary, now Senator Mel Martinez who was the first GOP lawmaker to suggest closing a prison he called an "icon for bad stories."

Image problem or not, U.S. officials insist there is no serious consideration at this point of moving the 500 plus detainees. Why? They say there's no viable alternative. Gitmo costs $100 million to build and it's a secure location where officials say they glean invaluable intelligence from prisoners.

(on camera): For now, the strategy is to tough out the bad P.R. But the president deliberately left the door open to closing Guantanamo Bay. His aides are bracing for results from another probe on alleged prisoner abuse there. Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Of all the strange stories in the Vietnam era, Charles Jenkins ranks near the top. He defected to North Korea of all places. Perhaps one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. That was 40 years ago, and today, Mr. Jenkins, a deserter once and apparently forever, came home. Reporting for us tonight, CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time in 40 years, Charles Robert Jenkins is back in the country he abandoned. Flying in with his Japanese family to visit his aging mother.

CHARLES ROBERT JENKINS, VIETNAM ERA DESERTER: After 40 years, I'm very happy to go visit my mother and my family in America. But only one week. I am going back to Santa (ph), Japan to live with my dear wife and her family.

FOREMAN: Jenkins said little on arrival but in the rural community where he grew up, veterans are saying plenty.

RICHARD KOHL, FORMER MARINE: He let down his family, he let down his friends, he let down his buddies.

BILL TERRY, NAVY VETERAN: It's appalling. It's unthinkable.

FOREMAN (on camera): Some people would portray Jenkins as a tragic character. But what do you see him as?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see him as a traitor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where I came from, you don't come back home as a coward. You go somewhere and hang your head in shame.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Vietnam was raging in 1965 when Jenkins was 24, an army sergeant and afraid of being sent to war. So while stationed in South Korea, he defected to the north where he says he was held and forced to become part of the anti-American propaganda machine teaching English and explaining American ways to the enemy.

But in his hometown, that explanation falls flat. Great soldiers are revered here. Jenkins' picture is a fading embarrassment in a local museum. And even old friends like Michael Cooke go know he's not welcome.

MICHAEL COOKE, FRIEND: There's not going to be any parades for him coming home. He's not going to be honored as a hero.

FOREMAN: People here know Jenkins turned himself in when North Korea released him last year and that he was subsequently dishonorably discharged from the army and spent a month in jail. Many say he owes his mother a visit.

JUNIOR BAIRD, FORMER MARINE: He tortured his mother for 40 years. You can't make up for that. FOREMAN: But once that is done, they want Charles Robert Jenkins to do as he has promised -- to once again say goodbye to America. And get out. Tom Foreman, CNN, Rich Square, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Straight ahead on the program, you can't get away with much. But see how you can get away with speeding. Not that you or we would ever try.

And before there were cars, there were cameras. The faces of our ancestors from Ellis Island, one of the great places in the country in stills. Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: There are some things we assume are true even absent direct proof. We can't see air, but we know it's there. Night follows day, sure as summer follows spring. There's no difference between good tapioca and bad tapioca. We know deep down these things are true. The proof is simply icing on the cake. And so it is with this. Here's CNN's Betty Nguyen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know the feeling. Flying down the freeway wondering, what's the speed limit? Because whatever it is, no one's driving it.

PETER BURKE, NEW YORK RESIDENT: If you don't do a little bit more, you might get run over. People come up behind you, they will absolutely run you over.

STEPHANIE STURGESS, GEORGIA RESIDENT: I just try to go at least with the crowd, and that's usually about 15 to 20 over. And I see cops, but they don't really do anything.

NGUYEN: Is that just luck of the draw, or is everyone ignoring the law, including those assigned to enforce it?

JIM CHAMPAGNE, GOVERNORS HIGHWAY SAFETY: The public believes in this country that there is a tolerance. They believe that they can drive five, six, seven miles over the speed limit and never be stopped.

The truth is, they are correct.

NGUYEN: A national survey found that in the great majority of states, troopers give drivers a cushion of five to 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Trooper Larry Schnall (ph) has been patrolling Georgia highways for 11 years. We went for a ride with him.

(on camera): Is this cushion just public perception? Or is it something that is being enforced by Highway Patrol? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a strong public perception. As we're doing the story here, we're traveling the speed limit. We've got motorists that are slowly passing us. But our enforcement efforts are there.

NGUYEN (voice-over): But not everyone is just over the 55 miles per hour limit.

(on camera): How fast was he going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty-seven miles per hour.

NGUYEN: Which car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White car in the left lane. It's got a solo occupant.

NGUYEN: A dangerous part of your job, trying to catch up to these people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Obviously, a person who speeds affects law enforcement greatly. We have to drive in an aggressive pursuit mode to catch up with that person.

NGUYEN (voice-over): This driver was well over the so-called cushion, but says there's only one way to put the brakes on it.

DANIEL MILLER, SPEEDER: If they start cracking down more on giving people tickets, maybe at five miles an hour over, then I might be able to slow down a little bit. But I sure hope they don't.

NGUYEN: And that speed cushion can be much more than a few miles above the limit. Take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just monitoring the traffic. Again, it appears to be free flowing. No significant speeders.

NGUYEN (on camera): Which is surprising to me, because they're all around 70, 80, in a 55. And you say no significant speeders? Can't they all be considered speeders?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, we got one at 85 miles per hour.

NGUYEN: Which vehicle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a truck.

NGUYEN (voice-over): Bottom line, the faster you go, the less likely you are to survive a crash. Last year, some 13,000 people nationwide died in speed-related accidents.

ROB MIKELL, GEORGIA GOVERNORS OFFICE OF HIGHWAY SAFETY: You need to change people's minds, to make them realize that speeding is a danger.

NGUYEN: And if moderate speeders don't always get pulled over, it's because troopers are focused on catching those who are most dangerous.

Betty Nguyen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And on the program tonight, the latest headlines of the day, and some time travel as well. Ellis Island in the early days of the last century. Remarkable photographs of the great American story. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In a moment, some of the millions of immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island, captured by an immigration inspector who snapped photographs for a hobby. A great piece, this.

But first, at about quarter to the hour, Erica Hill joins us from Atlanta with one last look at the night's headlines -- Erica.

HILL: Hi again, Aaron. We start off with the news in the Bush administration. It's backing off some new passport requirements for visitors to the U.S., at least for now. Starting in October, travelers from 27 countries who don't currently have to apply for a U.S. visa must carry passports with tamper-proof, digitized photos. Plans to require fingerprints and iris scanning information were put off at least until next year.

Some scary moments today in New York City. A helicopter carrying seven people on a sight-seeing tour crashed into the East River in lower Manhattan. Everybody got out alive. One tourist, though, is reported to be in critical condition. An investigation is under way to determine the cause.

And drenching rains cause a mudslide that closed off a 16-mile stretch of highway linking New York state and Canada; 13,000 vehicles were forced to use detours until the highway can be cleaned and reopened. What a mess there, Aaron. It's going to take a little while to clean it up.

BROWN: Incredibly, it's like 300 miles from my house, and it will still affect my commute home.

HILL: Yes, it will.

BROWN: I can't figure that out. Thank you, Erica. We'll see you tomorrow.

Some amateur photographers by virtue of their place and time capture a turning point in history. Augustus Sherman for one. As a clerk at Ellis Island, he watched waves of immigrants arrive in America full of hopes, and he snapped their pictures. Over 15 years, more than 200 families and individuals in all. For the first time, his photographs have been compiled in a book. "Ellis Island Portraits, 1905-1920." They're on display at Ellis Island. You ought to go see them. The exhibit runs through Labor Day.

We went on the day it opened. And we were joined by a descendent of one of those immigrants who posed for Mr. Sherman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYNTHIA GARRETT, SUPER, STATUE OF LIBERTY/ELLIS ISLAND: Although Ellis Island was only in operation between 1892 and 1954, it's basically the preeminent symbol of the story of this country's immigration and the cultural richness of the United States.

And one thing this great national park does is it brings a very human face to our history.

PETER MESENHOLLER, EXHIBIT CO-CURATOR: Sherman wasn't just an ordinary immigration inspector working the floors, but he also had access to the people who were detained. And some of these people stayed here for a couple of days, weeks or even months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The great fear of our family, you know, the stories that come down to us, the great fear was that with 13 people, if one of them would be denied, if one were denied, they had no idea what they would do. I guess they would have to return.

MESENHOLLER: Another name for Ellis Island among the immigrants was Island of Hope and Island of Tears, because 2 percent of the total were denied access to the United States.

Once the immigrants arrived at a pier in Manhattan, they were given tags, little pieces of paper with a number on it, and a short description of the ship they arrived on. This kind of tagging was necessary for the immigration inspectors, since if the case was there that an immigrant was denied, the ship owners had to take them home at their own costs.

Augustus Frederick Sherman was a hobby photographer, but a very good one. Children were especially interesting for Sherman, and family sizes of course.

ROY GLERUM, DESCENDANT OF ELLIS ISLAND IMMIGRANT: My grandfather and grandmother came from the Netherlands in 1907, and they brought 11 children along with them, to make a go of it here in the States.

This was my father's when he came over.

LESLIE BALDYGA, GLERUM DESCENDANT: We knew that the picture existed, but I didn't actually know that there was so much interest in it.

GLENN GLERUM, GLERUM DESCENDANT: The picture just shows everything that's great about this building and about this island.

MESENHOLLER: Large numbers of Sherman photos were printed in the "National Geographic" magazine as examples of the new immigrants, of the new Americans, in fact.

You can take a lot of information from the folk dresses. Like from what social strata they came from. In his later years, he took down names of families and the occasional person where he wrote down the name. But usually, he depicted them as types, as specimens, I should say, of the new American type of people. There was the incoming new immigrants from Eastern Europe, from southern Europe, and they were the new Americans. They were individuals, individual families, individual persons, who had their own faith, their own background. And this is I think what Sherman expresses in these portraits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: On Ellis Island, if you come to the city this summer, just go out there, OK?

On the other hand, if you're going to Russia, a vacation suggestion from morning papers. We'll take a break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: I have so many papers I like, and so little time.

"The International Herald Tribune," if you're planning a summer trip, you might consider Chernobyl. "A grim tourist hot spot: Chernobyl." Get the tents and sleeping bags, the Geiger counter and head on over. My goodness.

"The Washington Post" -- get my glasses out of the way, Aaron -- leads thusly -- "Kurdish officials sanction abductions in Kirkuk." They're kind of slowly working towards democracy in Iraq these days. Very slowly.

Down here, "The Washington Times," "British court to air Saudi king's affairs. Divorce hearing open to the public." $50 billion. I'll cover it.

"The Daily News" here in New York. "Chopper down." It's a great picture on the front page of "The Daily News," the cover of "The Daily News." "Six tourists, pilot, saved from East River grave."

"King of comebacks" is how "Stars and Stripes" leads the Michael Jackson story. You can't get away from it. My goodness, even "The Australian" leads with it. "Jack-o probably molested boys, says juror."

"Chicago Sun-Times," man, are you kidding me? No more sleepovers. Seems unfair, but that's what Michael says.

The weather tomorrow in Chicago -- "play hooky."

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: OK, this doesn't happen often, but these are the headlines of the two tabloids in New York. Today, "The Daily News," "Boy, oh, boy." "New York Post," "Boy, oh, boy!" But "The Post" wins, because they use Macaulay Culkin down at the bottom screaming.

Good to have you with us. We'll see you tomorrow, at 10:00 Eastern time. Until then, good night.

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


Aired June 14, 2005 - 22:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening, again.
For both sides in the Michael Jackson trial, day one post-verdict meant a shift in gears. Mr. Jackson waking up a free man out of the shadow of a felony charge, but facing an uncertain future.

His prosecutors trying to make sense of a colossal defeat.

Mr. Jackson saying nothing publicly; today was a day for lawyers -- not an easy day for one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Tom Sneddon, no doubt, has had better days than today.

The day after losing a case he worked for years and took before the jury himself, he said all he could say in defeat.

TOM SNEDDON, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: We felt we put on a good case. I think I made it very clear to everybody, I'm not going to be apologetic for what we did. We did our job. We thought it was a persuasive case. We thought we should have won the case. That we had enough evidence that was credible and believable. And we all believed in the young man.

BROWN: He may have believed the young man and to a degree, some jurors may have too, but not beyond a reasonable doubt. The kid had lied before. The family was portrayed by the defense as grifters, out to make a buck. The young man's mother was the kiss of death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I disliked it intensely when she snapped her fingers at us. That's when I thought, "Don't snap your fingers at me, lady."

SNEDDON: I don't think there's any question that we knew going into the trial that the mother was a difficult person. But the fact of the matter is, you don't visit the sins of the parent on the child. And the fact of the matter is, that the child -- we believed in the child, and we believed in the case, and we believed that there was sufficient corroboration for what the children said occurred.

BROWN: Tom Mesereau, white hair flowing and glowing in victory, stuck to his script as well. After all, what can you say about a 46- year-old client who walked from a molestation charge, but professes no problem with sleeping with young boys? So, Mesereau conceded a little. But not too much.

MESEREAU: ... he has to be a lot tougher with who he lets into his life and who he allows to run around his home. And that will happen.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Does that mean the sleep-overs are over?

MESEREAU: Well, it means that he's going to be a lot more careful about who he lets into his life.

Michael is a very kind-hearted, child-like person. He's been too nice to too many people. He's allowed people to come into his life and run freely through his home and that's going to change.

BROWN: From morning to night, Mesereau, today's hot-ticket Hollywood defense attorney, made the rounds. While his vanquished opponent was left with a career-ending defeat and some wishful thing.

SNEDDON: Frankly, if you looked at that video of him when he made his disclosure to law enforcement, which was the last thing in the trial, I think it's pretty difficult for people to see that and not really say that this young man was molested.

BROWN: Which is, of course, why he brought the case all those month ago; why he tried the case for so many weeks.

And why he struggles tonight to accept defeat.

SNEDDON: It means that there's 12 people out there that don't agree with us and that's the way it goes. That's why we have a system.

BROWN: And no one can argue with that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Aside from witness credibility, there's also this little matter of celebrity, and what role, if any, it played in the verdict yesterday.

Someone here last night said, we just sort of expect our celebrities to be weird. So if they act strange -- and criminal charges notwithstanding I think you can safely say Mr. Jackson acts a bit strange for a 46-year-old man -- well, they get a pass. That's just celebrity for you.

So, while no one would argue you can't convict a celebrity of a crime, you can make a fair argument it is tougher than convicting a punk from south L.A.

Here's CNN's Jeffrey Toobin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST (voice-over): Criminal cases against celebrity defendants usually begin the same way...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And arrest warrant for Mr. Jackson has been issued.

TOOBIN: ... With earnest promises from prosecutors that the defendant will receive no special treatment.

JEAN ROSENBLUTH, USC GOULD SCHOOL OF LAW: They want to communicate to the world that they are fair, that they are not going to treat this celebrity any different, and perhaps sometimes, they over-compensate.

TOOBIN: The cases tend to end the same way too: With complete exoneration for the celebrity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder.

TOOBIN: O.J. Simpson, acquitted -- same with Sean P. Diddy Combs, Robert Blake, William Kennedy Smith -- charges dismissed before trial against Kobe Bryant, and then yesterday...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury in the above-entitled case, find the defendant not guilty.

TOOBIN: Could this be simply because jurors are star struck?

HARVEY LEVIN, CREATOR, CELEBRITY JUSTICE: I think they become extremely cautious, especially about passing judgment and saying to somebody: You are now going from the stage, to a prison.

And that's a huge leap. And it's something that you're going to have to go home and answer to your neighbors to.

TOOBIN: But there may be another factor. Some of these celebrity cases were awfully weak in the first place.

In the date rape case against Kobe Bryant, the accuser refused to testify. Prosecutors in the murder case against Robert Blake couldn't produce the murder weapon, or any eyewitnesses to the crime. And jurors in the Jackson case, said it was built on the word of witnesses who were unreliable, at best.

PAUL RODRIGUEZ, JURY FOREMAN: ... Couldn't buy the story of the mother, for one. And the corresponding stories of the children, they were too much like the mother's. Although, it's almost like they rehearsed it.

TOOBIN: Perhaps what's happening in these cases is that prosecutors are so worried about giving celebrities a break, that they make the opposite mistake, and bring cases that were flawed from the start.

High-priced lawyers, which celebrities can always afford, then exploit these witnesses for the jury, and the world to see. Marginal cases plus aggressive defenses equals the result we've come to know -- celebrities walking out courthouse doors as free men.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Jeffrey Toobin joins us to talk a little bit more about this.

Jeffrey, I think it would be hard to argue that the O.J. case was over-charged. The case was the case.

But I think you can argue that they were out-lawyered; that the prosecution simply faced better lawyers.

TOOBIN: And, you know, that is always true in situations where, you know, defendants can hire the best. Most criminal defendants can't hire the best, can't pay for experts.

But it is true that celebrities are somewhat different. There are a lot of white-collar criminals, especially, who are convicted,who have high priced lawyers. So, it's not just the money for defense lawyers, the celebrity factor has something to do with it.

BROWN: OK, then why does Martha Stewart -- I mean -- look, does the fact that Martha Stewart was convicted on -- I don't want to say it was a nothing charge, but it wasn't child molestation and it wasn't two counts of murder.

TOOBIN: You bet.

BROWN: It was calling your stockbroker and --

TOOBIN: It wasn't even insider trading, it was lying about an insider trading investigation.

BROWN: Is that an easier call for a jury to make?

TOOBIN: I think it's an easier call for a jury to make. It was also exceptionally well-tried by the government here in the United States, in the southern district of New York, where you have extremely successful, good prosecutors, which you don't always have around the country.

But I think, you know, it is almost the exception that proves the rule. That's the -- a relatively minor case with the cards very much stacked in favor of the government. That's the one time a celebrity's gotten convicted.

Jeffrey, thank you, again. Good to see you, tonight.

Bob Tarver and Michael Wolff are with us.

Mr. Tarver is a criminal defense attorney, and Mr. Wolf writes about media and fame for "Vanity Fair."

And they're both good friends of the programs and we're pleased to see them both.

You said today that celebrity in the country, these days, is like aristocracy. How does that play out in the courtroom?

ROBERT TARVER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think people look at the celebrities, as they walk into the courtroom and as they have to deal with the system, as being an extension of themselves, the better part of themselves.

BROWN: I think it's just the opposite. I think they think they're the weirder part of themselves.

TARVER: Well, it depends on the celebrity. I mean, clearly, if you take someone like Michael Jackson, who perhaps was a part of the popular culture for so many years -- people grew up with him, grew up with his music. People have a hard time seeing him come to a bad end. That doesn't mean jurors disregard the evidence, but I think it's a part of them that's invested in this courtroom as well.

BROWN: I'm smart enough not to too much with lawyers.

I'll argue with you a little, I think.

MICHAEL WOLFF, "VANITY FAIR": Please, I can't wait.

BROWN: Yes.

If you listen to the jurors, last night, it was fascinating because one of them, -- I don't know as a body how they thought -- but one of them said: yeah, well, he probably molested kids, but they didn't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

So here's the question: Do celebrities get more reasonable doubt than the average punk who ends up in Manhattan superior court?

WOLFF: Sure. I mean, I think you'd say that rich people get more reasonable doubt. If you can afford all of the best defense, you're going to be in a better position than that punk from -- who doesn't have a defense.

Very clearly, but, you know, nevertheless, I mean, this is -- in this trial, it is true -- I meant that, I think, that everybody can say -- and everybody in America certainly feels: Yes, Michael Jackson is a perv.

On the other hand...

BROWN: I don't know that everyone says that.

WOLFF: I think everyone...

BROWN: Believe me, I'm going to get 100 E-mails from people who don't believe that.

WOLFF: That's because you can't say the word perv.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: ... I think they're going to say that. We can say whatever. But the other thing that everyone -- that I think the jury felt and I think a lot of people suspected going forward on this case, was that all of these witnesses were grifters of some kind.

So, you think, you can't convict. Even if you know he's guilty, you can't convict on the basis of that.

BROWN: But you're...

TARVER: I think he's right. You know, people who study these things, study jurors and study verdicts, in the civil context, will tell you in a heartbeat, wealth makes a difference, class makes a difference, race makes a difference. Why would we assume that it would be any different on the criminal side? Clearly, class, wealth, aristocracy, and celebrity has to play into the whole equation of what a jury thinks of a person, and what they think of you is primarily important for establishing whether or not you can or will not commit that type of crime.

The other thing though with celebrity is that, in this case, is that it also goes to why you were charged -- it actually goes further, it goes to why you did what you did or didn't do, why you were charged with what you did or didn't do, and then finally why you were convicted. It colors everything here. We are in another world.

BROWN: Wait, wait. I'm obsessing on something and I shouldn't do this, but I will anyway. If you took exactly the same testimony, every word in that trial the same, does a non-celebrity get convicted? Or does the non-celebrity walk?

TARVER: A non-celebrity with a good lawyer walks.

BROWN: No, I'm just saying, the same words. So, same lawyers. He walks anyway?

WOLFF: Well, even...

TARVER: I think he walks anyway because the doubt is there.

BROWN: I don't.

WOLFF: But you can't even do that. You can't do that because the non-celebrity is not going to have the boys and the mothers bringing the boys...

BROWN: Well, of course not.

WOLFF: OK, but that's a very elemental thing to this. The other thing is that the non-celebrity is probably not going to be charged with this either because you have -- the witnesses are so screwy.

TARVER: Well, I would disagree with you there. I think it's likelier to be charged.

BROWN: Well, let me -- one more thing.

WOLFF: The other thing -- screwy witnesses? BROWN: Stop. Here's the other thing I found weird listening to the jury last night. I think what they said in some respects was, honestly, any mother who would let their child sleep with this guy is not to be believed. There's something wrong with her. I mean, that actually has nothing to do with the case itself but that's how they thought.

TARVER: Well, it has everything to do with the case because the case was based upon credibility. You got to remember, a criminal case, whether it's for celebrity or anyone else, is really based on credibility, and I've got to tell you, I think that the wealthy and the celebrities do get a pass, somewhat, when it comes to the facts and interpretation of the facts, but witnesses are going to be judged on the credibility element no matter what.

BROWN: Can you do the last word in 15 seconds?

WOLFF: They're all perv's.

TARVER: That's about seven seconds.

BROWN: Nice to see you both.

TARVER: You, too.

BROWN: I look forward to the next time, but we could use a slight break. Thank you.

Story of celebrities taken down a notch, whether they deserve it or not, is timeless. Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell from the sky -- the book, on the other hand, sold millions. Clearly, there's an appetite. We like to watch and frequently there's something to see, so here's NEWSNIGHT'S Beth Nissen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The word "scandal" is derived from a word meaning snare or trap and scandal has done just that to the careers, the lives, of a number of American celebrities and cultural icons, some who freed themselves, some who never did.

Case in point, Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, star of the "Keystone Kops" silent films. In 1921, at the peak of his career, he was accused of involvement in the death of an actress at a sex party in his San Francisco hotel suite. He was acquitted, but his reputation, his career, were destroyed. Arbuckle died in 1933 of heart failure, what his loyal friend Buster Keaton insisted was a broken heart.

Arbuckle's fellow star Charlie Chaplin was also entangled in scandal thanks to his fondness for very young girls -- three of his brides were under 18 -- and very leftist causes, namely communism. In 1952 the English actor was declared an unsavory character and barred from reentering the U.S. He went into exile in New Zealand with fourth wife Oona and their children, finally returning to the U.S. in 1972 to accept a special Academy Award. He was mourned and honored worldwide when he died on Christmas Day of 1977. HUMPHREY BOGART, ACTOR: Here's looking at you, kid.

NISSEN: In 1949, it seemed most of America was looking at actress Ingrid Bergman with extreme disapproval. She was a married woman when she fell in love with director Roberto Rossellini and got pregnant by him, left her husband and daughter to be with him. She was vilified, denounced from the floor of the U.S. Senate as "Hollywood's apostle of degradation."

But maybe because she married Rossellini, and maybe because times and mores were changing in the 50s, Bergman kept her career, winning a best actress Academy Award from "Anastasia" in 1956, and a best supporting Oscar in 1974 for "Murder on the Orient Express." She was still a cultural icon at the time of her death from cancer in 1982.

Few people remember how big Jerry Lee Lewis was in his day. Elvis once said that if he could play piano as well as Lewis, he'd quit singing. But Lewis lost it all in 1958 when it was revealed that his third wife was his 13-year-old second cousin. Lewis was an instant pariah. It took him years to battle his way back onto the music scene.

A 1989 feature film based on his life gave him some retro fame. Now 70, he still performs and plans to release a new album in the fall.

Not all celebrities are the stars of screen and stage. Roman Polanski is a film director best known for "Rosemary's Baby" in 1978 and the 1974 film, "Chinatown." In 1977 he was charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson's home. Nicholson was out of town. Soon, Polanski was, too: released on bail, he was allowed to leave the country to work on a film and has never returned, not even to accept the Academy Award he won in 2003 as best director for "The Pianist." This photo was taken at another award ceremony in France where Polanski remains a fugitive.

Scandal also tarnished the career of director Woody Allen. For 10 years in the '80s and early '90s, he and actress Mia Farrow were connected on set. They made more than a dozen films together and off set they adopted two children, had another. Then in 1992, Allen left Farrow for one of her previously adopted daughters, 21-year-old Sun Yi Previn. He later married Sun Yi, and they have two children. Allen has continued to make films, on average one a year, although they've had more success in Europe than in the U.S., where his reputation has never fully recovered.

Is there a lesson in all this for Michael Jackson? Maybe. Carry on. Make right what you can. Do good work, and you might be forgiven, if what led to the scandal that ensnared you is seen by enough people as forgivable.

Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: In a few moments, the latest in the search for a missing teenager in Aruba, but at a quarter past hour, NEWSNIGHT time, we go to Atlanta and Erica Hill for the latest headlines. Erica?

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS: Hi, Aaron.

Results of the autopsy performed on Terri Schiavo will be released tomorrow. Schiavo died in March nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed. Her husband and parents had been in a bitter legal battle for years. Schiavo's family says now it hopes the autopsy will reveal what caused her to collapse some 15 years ago, leaving her severely brain damaged. It's been blamed on an eating disorder. Schiavo's family, however, believes she was abused by her husband. He denies that charge.

No word tonight on the cause of death for a 4-year-old boy. He died after he rode the Mission Space ride yesterday at Disney World. Preliminary autopsy results show no signs of trauma but were otherwise inconclusive. Further testing will be done. The child lost consciousness during the ride and died a short time later. Mission Space simulates a rocket launch.

And two members of the violent gang MS-13 are now facing life behind bars. The two were convicted of murdering 17-year-old Brenda Poss, a police informant. A jury in Virginia could not agree on a death sentence for the men so they will automatically get life without parole.

And that is the latest at this hour, Aaron, from Headline News. Back over to you.

BROWN: Thank you. That last one's actually a remarkable story. That young woman turned on the gang, went to Kansas city, lived in hiding for a while, and then came back.

HILL: Terrible.

BROWN: Yes. Thank you. we'll see you in half an hour.

More to come in the program tonight, starting with trouble in paradise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(voice-over): With the search growing for a missing young woman, a story emerges from the night spots of Aruba.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say that he was not only kissing her but fondling her sexually.

BROWN: Forty years later, the bitterness remains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where I came from, you don't come back home as a coward. You go somewhere and hang your head in shame.

BROWN: Forty years later, a man who chose life in North Korea comes home, but it's never as simple as that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guantanamo has become the primary recruiting tool for our enemies.

BROWN: That's the charge and it's not just the Democrats making it. So is an old friend of the president. So what to do about Guantanamo Bay?

And later, how fast is too fast?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just try to go at least with the crowd and that's usually about 15 to 20 over, and I see cops but they don't really do anything.

BROWN: At what point will they? Stick around. Your wallet will thank you, because this is NEWSNIGHT.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied today that the military prison at Guntanamo Bay represents an image problem for the Bush administration. That is an argument he is free to make, even as many others in Congress and around the world would take issue.

And in any case, the problem isn't simply one of image. The problem is also there are people in that prison who, if not there, would almost certainly be plotting or executing some terrorist action. Would all 500 or so? Probably not.

But you can't look at the controversy surrounding the prison, the interrogations, the lack of legal rights, and not acknowledge that other reality -- there's some real bad actors down there, which makes it a bit easier to complain about Gitmo than solve it. Here's CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Bangladesh, an angry march toward the U.S. embassy. The latest Muslim world protest accusing Americans of abusing the Koran and its followers at Guantanamo Bay.

RICHARD CHENEY, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Does this hurt us from the standpoint of international opinion? I frankly don't think so.

BASH: That's the vice president's public defense of Gitmo. But Bush officials privately acknowledge what a growing chorus of lawmakers, even Republicans, fear about the prison.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, (R) NEBRASKA: Guantanamo is one that has hurt us. It's identifiable with, for right or wrong, a part of America that people in the world believe is a power, an empire that pushes people around.

BASH: This fundamentalist Web site alleges humiliation of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo and glorifies Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 hijackers. SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, (D) VERMONT: Guantanamo has become the primary recruiting tool for our enemies.

BASH: Gitmo was controversial from the beginning. But the public relations challenge has snowballed. "Newsweek" reported and retracted that a Koran was flushed down the toilet. But the next week, an ongoing Pentagon review found five instances of...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What could be broadly defined as mishandling of a Koran.

BASH: And Amnesty International labeled the prison a "gulag" and said the United States "thumbs its nose at the rule of law and human rights."

In the latest "Time" magazine, details of controversy interrogation tactics against Muhammad al Qahtani, who U.S. officials believe was supposed to take part in the 9/11 attacks.

"When al Qahtani again requests his promised bathroom break," says one log entry, "he is told to go in his pants. Humiliatingly, he does." Some Republicans are taking it upon themselves to give the world a different taste of life at Guantanamo.

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA), CHR. ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: This is lemon fish. And this is what the 20th hijacker, Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, will be eating this week in Guantanamo.

BASH: Even those who support keeping the facility open says a murky legal process contributes to the perception, as this senator said, that hundreds of prisoners reside in perpetuity.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: Try them or release them.

BASH: The vice president suggests critics exaggerate the problems.

CHENEY: Those who are most urgently advocating we shut down Guantanamo probably don't agree with our policies anyway.

BASH: But it was a Bush loyalist, former housing secretary, now Senator Mel Martinez who was the first GOP lawmaker to suggest closing a prison he called an "icon for bad stories."

Image problem or not, U.S. officials insist there is no serious consideration at this point of moving the 500 plus detainees. Why? They say there's no viable alternative. Gitmo costs $100 million to build and it's a secure location where officials say they glean invaluable intelligence from prisoners.

(on camera): For now, the strategy is to tough out the bad P.R. But the president deliberately left the door open to closing Guantanamo Bay. His aides are bracing for results from another probe on alleged prisoner abuse there. Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Of all the strange stories in the Vietnam era, Charles Jenkins ranks near the top. He defected to North Korea of all places. Perhaps one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. That was 40 years ago, and today, Mr. Jenkins, a deserter once and apparently forever, came home. Reporting for us tonight, CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time in 40 years, Charles Robert Jenkins is back in the country he abandoned. Flying in with his Japanese family to visit his aging mother.

CHARLES ROBERT JENKINS, VIETNAM ERA DESERTER: After 40 years, I'm very happy to go visit my mother and my family in America. But only one week. I am going back to Santa (ph), Japan to live with my dear wife and her family.

FOREMAN: Jenkins said little on arrival but in the rural community where he grew up, veterans are saying plenty.

RICHARD KOHL, FORMER MARINE: He let down his family, he let down his friends, he let down his buddies.

BILL TERRY, NAVY VETERAN: It's appalling. It's unthinkable.

FOREMAN (on camera): Some people would portray Jenkins as a tragic character. But what do you see him as?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see him as a traitor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where I came from, you don't come back home as a coward. You go somewhere and hang your head in shame.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Vietnam was raging in 1965 when Jenkins was 24, an army sergeant and afraid of being sent to war. So while stationed in South Korea, he defected to the north where he says he was held and forced to become part of the anti-American propaganda machine teaching English and explaining American ways to the enemy.

But in his hometown, that explanation falls flat. Great soldiers are revered here. Jenkins' picture is a fading embarrassment in a local museum. And even old friends like Michael Cooke go know he's not welcome.

MICHAEL COOKE, FRIEND: There's not going to be any parades for him coming home. He's not going to be honored as a hero.

FOREMAN: People here know Jenkins turned himself in when North Korea released him last year and that he was subsequently dishonorably discharged from the army and spent a month in jail. Many say he owes his mother a visit.

JUNIOR BAIRD, FORMER MARINE: He tortured his mother for 40 years. You can't make up for that. FOREMAN: But once that is done, they want Charles Robert Jenkins to do as he has promised -- to once again say goodbye to America. And get out. Tom Foreman, CNN, Rich Square, North Carolina.

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BROWN: Straight ahead on the program, you can't get away with much. But see how you can get away with speeding. Not that you or we would ever try.

And before there were cars, there were cameras. The faces of our ancestors from Ellis Island, one of the great places in the country in stills. Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.

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BROWN: There are some things we assume are true even absent direct proof. We can't see air, but we know it's there. Night follows day, sure as summer follows spring. There's no difference between good tapioca and bad tapioca. We know deep down these things are true. The proof is simply icing on the cake. And so it is with this. Here's CNN's Betty Nguyen.

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BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know the feeling. Flying down the freeway wondering, what's the speed limit? Because whatever it is, no one's driving it.

PETER BURKE, NEW YORK RESIDENT: If you don't do a little bit more, you might get run over. People come up behind you, they will absolutely run you over.

STEPHANIE STURGESS, GEORGIA RESIDENT: I just try to go at least with the crowd, and that's usually about 15 to 20 over. And I see cops, but they don't really do anything.

NGUYEN: Is that just luck of the draw, or is everyone ignoring the law, including those assigned to enforce it?

JIM CHAMPAGNE, GOVERNORS HIGHWAY SAFETY: The public believes in this country that there is a tolerance. They believe that they can drive five, six, seven miles over the speed limit and never be stopped.

The truth is, they are correct.

NGUYEN: A national survey found that in the great majority of states, troopers give drivers a cushion of five to 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

Trooper Larry Schnall (ph) has been patrolling Georgia highways for 11 years. We went for a ride with him.

(on camera): Is this cushion just public perception? Or is it something that is being enforced by Highway Patrol? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a strong public perception. As we're doing the story here, we're traveling the speed limit. We've got motorists that are slowly passing us. But our enforcement efforts are there.

NGUYEN (voice-over): But not everyone is just over the 55 miles per hour limit.

(on camera): How fast was he going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eighty-seven miles per hour.

NGUYEN: Which car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White car in the left lane. It's got a solo occupant.

NGUYEN: A dangerous part of your job, trying to catch up to these people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Obviously, a person who speeds affects law enforcement greatly. We have to drive in an aggressive pursuit mode to catch up with that person.

NGUYEN (voice-over): This driver was well over the so-called cushion, but says there's only one way to put the brakes on it.

DANIEL MILLER, SPEEDER: If they start cracking down more on giving people tickets, maybe at five miles an hour over, then I might be able to slow down a little bit. But I sure hope they don't.

NGUYEN: And that speed cushion can be much more than a few miles above the limit. Take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just monitoring the traffic. Again, it appears to be free flowing. No significant speeders.

NGUYEN (on camera): Which is surprising to me, because they're all around 70, 80, in a 55. And you say no significant speeders? Can't they all be considered speeders?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, we got one at 85 miles per hour.

NGUYEN: Which vehicle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a truck.

NGUYEN (voice-over): Bottom line, the faster you go, the less likely you are to survive a crash. Last year, some 13,000 people nationwide died in speed-related accidents.

ROB MIKELL, GEORGIA GOVERNORS OFFICE OF HIGHWAY SAFETY: You need to change people's minds, to make them realize that speeding is a danger.

NGUYEN: And if moderate speeders don't always get pulled over, it's because troopers are focused on catching those who are most dangerous.

Betty Nguyen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And on the program tonight, the latest headlines of the day, and some time travel as well. Ellis Island in the early days of the last century. Remarkable photographs of the great American story. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.

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BROWN: In a moment, some of the millions of immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island, captured by an immigration inspector who snapped photographs for a hobby. A great piece, this.

But first, at about quarter to the hour, Erica Hill joins us from Atlanta with one last look at the night's headlines -- Erica.

HILL: Hi again, Aaron. We start off with the news in the Bush administration. It's backing off some new passport requirements for visitors to the U.S., at least for now. Starting in October, travelers from 27 countries who don't currently have to apply for a U.S. visa must carry passports with tamper-proof, digitized photos. Plans to require fingerprints and iris scanning information were put off at least until next year.

Some scary moments today in New York City. A helicopter carrying seven people on a sight-seeing tour crashed into the East River in lower Manhattan. Everybody got out alive. One tourist, though, is reported to be in critical condition. An investigation is under way to determine the cause.

And drenching rains cause a mudslide that closed off a 16-mile stretch of highway linking New York state and Canada; 13,000 vehicles were forced to use detours until the highway can be cleaned and reopened. What a mess there, Aaron. It's going to take a little while to clean it up.

BROWN: Incredibly, it's like 300 miles from my house, and it will still affect my commute home.

HILL: Yes, it will.

BROWN: I can't figure that out. Thank you, Erica. We'll see you tomorrow.

Some amateur photographers by virtue of their place and time capture a turning point in history. Augustus Sherman for one. As a clerk at Ellis Island, he watched waves of immigrants arrive in America full of hopes, and he snapped their pictures. Over 15 years, more than 200 families and individuals in all. For the first time, his photographs have been compiled in a book. "Ellis Island Portraits, 1905-1920." They're on display at Ellis Island. You ought to go see them. The exhibit runs through Labor Day.

We went on the day it opened. And we were joined by a descendent of one of those immigrants who posed for Mr. Sherman.

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CYNTHIA GARRETT, SUPER, STATUE OF LIBERTY/ELLIS ISLAND: Although Ellis Island was only in operation between 1892 and 1954, it's basically the preeminent symbol of the story of this country's immigration and the cultural richness of the United States.

And one thing this great national park does is it brings a very human face to our history.

PETER MESENHOLLER, EXHIBIT CO-CURATOR: Sherman wasn't just an ordinary immigration inspector working the floors, but he also had access to the people who were detained. And some of these people stayed here for a couple of days, weeks or even months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The great fear of our family, you know, the stories that come down to us, the great fear was that with 13 people, if one of them would be denied, if one were denied, they had no idea what they would do. I guess they would have to return.

MESENHOLLER: Another name for Ellis Island among the immigrants was Island of Hope and Island of Tears, because 2 percent of the total were denied access to the United States.

Once the immigrants arrived at a pier in Manhattan, they were given tags, little pieces of paper with a number on it, and a short description of the ship they arrived on. This kind of tagging was necessary for the immigration inspectors, since if the case was there that an immigrant was denied, the ship owners had to take them home at their own costs.

Augustus Frederick Sherman was a hobby photographer, but a very good one. Children were especially interesting for Sherman, and family sizes of course.

ROY GLERUM, DESCENDANT OF ELLIS ISLAND IMMIGRANT: My grandfather and grandmother came from the Netherlands in 1907, and they brought 11 children along with them, to make a go of it here in the States.

This was my father's when he came over.

LESLIE BALDYGA, GLERUM DESCENDANT: We knew that the picture existed, but I didn't actually know that there was so much interest in it.

GLENN GLERUM, GLERUM DESCENDANT: The picture just shows everything that's great about this building and about this island.

MESENHOLLER: Large numbers of Sherman photos were printed in the "National Geographic" magazine as examples of the new immigrants, of the new Americans, in fact.

You can take a lot of information from the folk dresses. Like from what social strata they came from. In his later years, he took down names of families and the occasional person where he wrote down the name. But usually, he depicted them as types, as specimens, I should say, of the new American type of people. There was the incoming new immigrants from Eastern Europe, from southern Europe, and they were the new Americans. They were individuals, individual families, individual persons, who had their own faith, their own background. And this is I think what Sherman expresses in these portraits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: On Ellis Island, if you come to the city this summer, just go out there, OK?

On the other hand, if you're going to Russia, a vacation suggestion from morning papers. We'll take a break first.

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BROWN: I have so many papers I like, and so little time.

"The International Herald Tribune," if you're planning a summer trip, you might consider Chernobyl. "A grim tourist hot spot: Chernobyl." Get the tents and sleeping bags, the Geiger counter and head on over. My goodness.

"The Washington Post" -- get my glasses out of the way, Aaron -- leads thusly -- "Kurdish officials sanction abductions in Kirkuk." They're kind of slowly working towards democracy in Iraq these days. Very slowly.

Down here, "The Washington Times," "British court to air Saudi king's affairs. Divorce hearing open to the public." $50 billion. I'll cover it.

"The Daily News" here in New York. "Chopper down." It's a great picture on the front page of "The Daily News," the cover of "The Daily News." "Six tourists, pilot, saved from East River grave."

"King of comebacks" is how "Stars and Stripes" leads the Michael Jackson story. You can't get away from it. My goodness, even "The Australian" leads with it. "Jack-o probably molested boys, says juror."

"Chicago Sun-Times," man, are you kidding me? No more sleepovers. Seems unfair, but that's what Michael says.

The weather tomorrow in Chicago -- "play hooky."

We'll wrap it up in a moment.

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BROWN: OK, this doesn't happen often, but these are the headlines of the two tabloids in New York. Today, "The Daily News," "Boy, oh, boy." "New York Post," "Boy, oh, boy!" But "The Post" wins, because they use Macaulay Culkin down at the bottom screaming.

Good to have you with us. We'll see you tomorrow, at 10:00 Eastern time. Until then, good night.

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