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Countdown to Election Day; Posting Hate; Man Released From Iranian Prison After 29 Months; Internal Organs Not Always Put Back Into Autopsied Bodies; Notre Dame Student Tweets Moments Before Death; Democrats Try and Recruit Volunteers at Rally to Restore Sanity
Aired October 28, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Five days to go. Could one letter make a difference in whether your vote is counted? How about your handwriting? That answer will affect the Tea Party's outcome come election night. You have to hear this.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): A school board member says, sure, he will wear purple for gay spirit day, if -- quote -- "They all commit suicide."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not right.
BALDWIN: This man spent two-and-a-half years in prison in Iran. Now the 71-year-old California businessman is sharing his story with me live.
A class trip to a mortuary, and students realize one display was all too familiar.
KORISHA SHIPLEY, JESSE'S MOTHER: And they saw this jar with a brain in it, saying that it has been labeled Jesse Shipley.
BALDWIN: Jesse died in a car accident. Hear what the young man's parents are doing now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: We are five, five days out now from those midterm elections. And the headline continues to be the Tea Party.
No matter where you stand on some of these issues, there is no question this whole Tea Party movement is turning conventional political wisdom pretty much upside-down. In fact, this week, much of the national spotlight, it is once again on this woman.
This is Delaware's Christine O'Donnell. But, this time, it's not necessarily for what she's saying. This is about body language. I'm going to play you a clip. I want you to -- to take a look at this. This is an exchange between Christine O'Donnell and this radio talk show host in Delaware. And I want you to pay close attention to her hands. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running for U.S. Senate because Delawareans --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I'm doing is, I'm challenging you on your criticism of Chris Coons.
O'DONNELL: -- face the largest tax increase in U.S. history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's an honest telling.
O'DONNELL: And I just have said to you. And I have just said to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK. So you -- OK. So you don't really have the answer of what you would do differently?
O'DONNELL: No, I just gave you my answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
O'DONNELL: I would not have created sweetheart slush funds. I would not have spent money on private casino nights, private catered dinners --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But there's still more money to cut. And how would you make us --
(CROSSTALK)
O'DONNELL: And I would look --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you make us actually economically feasible in 2014? What?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: All right, so Delaware's Christine O'Donnell now one of our Tea Party movement candidates on the cover. Check it out. This is the cover of "TIME" magazine this week.
In fact, this is one of four covers. "TIME" is crediting these four candidates I'm about to show you with really reviving Republican politics by crashing the party. So the magazine calls Christine O'Donnell here the troublemaker.
Next up, you know this face if you're in Florida here, doing pretty well in the polls. This is Florida's Marco Rubio. He's one of the party's crashers as well, according to "TIME" magazine. He's what they're calling the upstart who defeated a popular governor in Florida's Republican primary. Next, you know this face. They are also singling out Kentucky's Rand Paul, calling him the populist. He too took the Republican establishment really in his own state of Kentucky, won that primary for his call for a small government revival.
The fourth candidate you will find on the cover of "TIME" magazine, California's Meg Whitman. She is this billionaire who has funded her own campaign with her own -- and I should add a lot of her own money.
So given the fact that the Tea Party still here on the cover of "TIME" magazine this week and on the minds of many here as we talk elections, I want to talk to CNN's political producer. This is Shannon Travis here. And he's joining me in this conversation because you have essentially, Shannon, been embedded with the Tea Party this entire last year.
And you're -- you're putting out this incredible, revealing, if that's the right adjective, revealing --
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Right.
BALDWIN: -- documentary this weekend with some never-before-seen moments.
We will -- we will take a look at some of those in just a second, but if I can just get you to react to the WDEL interview that we just played, that snippet where you have Christine O'Donnell, who later her camp wanted to sue the radio station for recording that whole exchange.
TRAVIS: That's right.
Christine O'Donnell has been getting, Brooke, as you know, as much attention on what she's been saying in some of her past statements from the '90s as her combativeness or maybe even some say hostility with the press. This is just a -- yet another example of that.
We already know that they have a public declaration that they wouldn't talk to the national media. They have done some national media interviews since she declared that, but even with some of the local reporters, some of the local talk show hosts that we saw just there, there's been a sense that -- a sense of back and forth, a sense of hostility between the O'Donnell campaign and some local reporters.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Now, to her defense, though, her campaign has said, look, the media is clearly biased against her.
TRAVIS: That's right.
TRAVIS: And what was your experience in seeing her, trying to talk with her? How did that go? TRAVIS: Well, I spoke with Christine O'Donnell the day before she won the Republican primary there in Delaware. After that, again, when she mounted this kind of blackout with the national media, I -- it was hard getting information about even where she would be, her public schedule.
So, as you will see in the documentary, we went on a search just to say, hey, you know, to her campaign office, can we talk to her or just find out where she's going to be? And we -- on -- along the way, we talked to some local reporters and said, hey, they promised they would talk to you guys, the locals.
BALDWIN: At least the locals.
TRAVIS: The local --
BALDWIN: Right.
TRAVIS: -- the local reporters.
The people that we talked with said, well, the information has really dried up. So, again, you see this sense that -- I mean, to -- in fairness, their side, the O'Donnell campaign, says that there's not a whole lot of fairness going around in terms of the media exposure of her.
BALDWIN: We --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: -- we have a clip of one of those moments.
TRAVIS: That's right.
BALDWIN: Let's just show the clip. This is from "Boiling Point."
TRAVIS: That's right.
BALDWIN: Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BOILING POINT")
TRAVIS: I will leave my callback number once again.
I have been calling and calling the campaign, and just call around to a few people on the campaign and see if we can find out some information about where she's going to be.
It's Shannon Travis, political producer with CNN. Called and left you a few messages.
This is what it's been like for at least a week-and-a-half for me personally, a lot longer for some other people who have been trying to contact the O'Donnell campaign. We're going to hop back on the bus and just see if we can actually go and find her at some of the places that we know that she will -- might be.
So, we're here in the building where Christine O'Donnell's campaign headquarters is. Apparently, it's on the second floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the headquarters.
TRAVIS: This is the headquarters.
(KNOCKING)
TRAVIS: Hello?
Been knocking repeatedly, and pretty loudly.
(KNOCKING)
TRAVIS: And we definitely hear people on the other side of the door, a lot of activity back there.
Maybe someone is coming to the door now.
Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, turn the camera off, guys. You're acting immature.
TRAVIS: The camera is off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you're rolling (INAUDIBLE) rolling (INAUDIBLE) roll?
TRAVIS: I just want to get for the record what -- I'm rolling. I want to get the audio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's audio only.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Huh.
TRAVIS: There you have it. I mean, you will have to watch the documentary to see what happens next. I won't give it away now.
BALDWIN: So, what was he -- so, what was he saying?
TRAVIS: Well, I will just say this much. Two gentlemen came out from behind the door.
BALDWIN: Yes.
TRAVIS: And, at first, It was a very tense moment, Brooke. They wanted to know who we were and why we were there. I explained who I am, who I was, you know, with, who the whole entire crew and why we were there. But they refused to give us their names. Eventually, they did. And you will see the scene as it unfolds.
But, basically, I want to make this point that the O'Donnell campaign feels that -- at least they told me that they have some enemies in the press, that they're not getting a fair shot, not -- not getting a fair treatment. It's not unlike what a lot of conservative Republican candidates have said about the so-called mainstream media.
BALDWIN: Sure.
TRAVIS: So, they're very careful out -- possibly even gun-shy about who they actually talk to. That's a moment that you saw unfolded right there.
BALDWIN: So, that's the moment that we saw, and we will see more of that, I know, this weekend.
TRAVIS: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: But I want to just take the turn to Alaska, another case of an upstart Tea Party movement candidate beating a strong Republican incumbent. You have Tea Partier Joe Miller beating Lisa Murkowski for the Republican Senate nomination during the primary, but she has not given up. In fact, she's now the write-in candidate.
And last night's Alaska debate got kind of testy. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you handle -- how do you handle how do you handle those who may be at 50 and have paid into the system for all of their working years, and now you're saying, well, you may or may not get it?
I will give you 15 seconds --
(CROSSTALK)
JOE MILLER (R), ALASKA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I have never said to eliminate it. That's never come out of my mouth, Senator. That's another mischaracterization of what I said. No, there is no quote.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was reported in "The Anchorage Daily News."
MILLER: Well, that's right. It was reported in the "ADN," which is basically your arm piece in this entire campaign. That's not what I said. There's not a quote to that effect.
I have said that we have got to go to a different system. People in my year group clearly have got to have the option of putting their money somewhere where that money is not going to be stolen from them from the government. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Murkowski, 15 seconds. Anything you need to say to that?
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: I'm still waiting for the answer.
MILLER: I just told you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next up --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we need a group hug.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: She says she's still waiting for the answer, very testy.
We're seeing that back and forth between your establishment candidate and your Tea Partier.
TRAVIS: Absolutely.
I mean, Joe Miller is basically -- he's not unlike what a lot of conservatives in this cycle have been saying about Social Security. I mean, if you want to tackle massive government spending, there's no way you can do it without taking on, doing something about the massive entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare.
And so it will be a test to see if that resonates with voters, possibly privatizing Social Security, doing something -- doing away with a federal program for it. That's what a lot of conservative activists are pushing. Whether that will resonate with voters is still -- still a test.
In fact, the entire Tea Party movement is a bit of a gamble. They have won in Republican primaries and won over conservative activists, but can they win in a general election?
BALDWIN: But, in some cases -- and I want to look at a couple of states' polls -- they're -- they're faring pretty well.
TRAVIS: That's right.
BALDWIN: At least, some of these races are fairly tight.
We have polls from -- speaking of, we have polls from Alaska. Can we take a look at those polls? We have -- here is from Nevada. Of course, you have Sharron Angle, right, against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, 49 percent to 45 percent. That's a close one.
Let's go to the next poll. We have a poll from -- there you go. This is Kentucky. So, you have Rand Paul, 50 percent, one of the guys we saw on the cover of "TIME" magazine, and Jack Conway pretty close as well. And we also have Alaska. So, you have Murkowski, the write- in candidate, doing pretty well, 37 percent, your incumbent senator . And then there's Joe Miller, pretty much neck-and-neck with her.
And I think what's so fascinating and really the broader story here is the fact the Tea Partiers so far, they have certainly made a dent within conservative circles. But this is the real test, Shannon, is it not, come Tuesday, the test to see how Tea Partiers fare in the general election?
TRAVIS: Absolutely.
I mean, you can look at it two ways. Right now, they have absolutely scored a lot of successes during the Republican primaries. They have scored -- they have definitely taken on a lot more independent membership. But can they win, can they actually win in a general election?
Can Democrats -- will Democrats vote for them? And will all of those independent supporters vote for them as well? So, that's yet to be gauged, whether the Tea Party movement will have lasting impact, or whether it will go the way of other populist movements that we have seen in the past.
BALDWIN: And we will have to wait and see how Tuesday goes. And perhaps that would foreshadow the big year we're all waiting for --
TRAVIS: That's right.
BALDWIN: -- 2012.
TRAVIS: That's right.
BALDWIN: Shannon Travis, so nice to have you in person.
TRAVIS: Nice to be here with you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: By the way, quick pitch -- pitch for the weekend. Your documentary, "Boiling Point," when can we watch?
TRAVIS: That's right.
This Saturday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And it literally will have moments that you never seen before about the Tea Party movement. So I encourage everyone to watch it.
BALDWIN: Excellent.
Shannon, thank you.
TRAVIS: I'm glad to be here.
BALDWIN: All right.
Well, still to come here, some of the most popular vehicles on the market right now plagued with all kinds of engine problems. We are going to break down this latest recall that could send 750,000 drivers back to their dealers. Later: A tragic coincidence has one dead student's parents asking, what did the medical examiner do to their son's body? And why were his classmates able to actually see that young man's brain? You will not believe this one, parents. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Taking a look at the top stories now, and I know this is still a really huge number, but 434,000 Americans signed up for unemployment benefits for the first time just last week. And that's actually a good thing, because it is the lowest jobless number the Labor Department has reported in three months, can you believe.
Economists tell us that the number really needs to get below the 400,000 mark simply, because we can then view it as a sign businesses are finally hiring again.
The jury is about to get the ninja home invasion murder trial in Florida, attorneys delivering closing arguments right now. Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. is the man accused of leading that band of men, remember, they were dressed in black, like ninjas, who broke into the homes -- some of the video from that living room here as they broke into the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings.
The couple was shot to death, execution-style, while their nine children, special-needs kids, were in the home. Gonzalez could be sentenced to death if he is convicted.
And aid is trickling in here, as more and more bodies are found after Monday's earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. Now we're hearing 343 people are confirmed dead on the remote islands off of Sumatra. But almost as many are still missing. It is feared they were simply swept out to sea.
Meanwhile, an Indonesian volcano that erupted the next day is erupting again. This is Java's Mount Merapi. It is one of Indonesia's most active volcano -- 32 people were killed during Tuesday's eruption.
And Nissan announcing its third largest recall ever, more than two million vehicles worldwide here. The carmaker says faulty relays could cause some of the Nissans to stall. So, owners of almost 750,000 trucks and SUVs in the United States are being told to go to the dealer, get your repair.
So, pay close attention here. The U.S. is recalling six of these models. Here you go, Armada, Frontier, Pathfinder, Xterra, and the Infiniti QX56 Armada. They were built between the years of 2003 and 2006. At least no one has reported any accidents because of this particular problem.
So, imagine this. Imagine being held in an Iranian prison for more than two years without ever being charged, all because of a misunderstanding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That is what happened to that California businessman. People are clapping. He's finally home. But, in 20 minutes, he is going to tell me how he survived in one of the toughest, most notorious prisons in the world.
Also, if jobs and the economy are the top two issues in this campaign, you know the stakes are high for Detroit voters, right? What do they think about the game-changing candidates in the balance of power in Washington? Don Lemon is in Motor City, joins us live right after the break.
Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Five days now until the big day, Election Day. And all this week, we have been rolling through the Midwest ahead of those midterms. Don Lemon is in Michigan today.
And, last night, he spoke with patrons of a bowling alley, and they offered up some solutions for the political problems plaguing Detroit and the whole country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHARLENE MARTIN, DETROIT, MICHIGAN: This is Pampa's Lanes at 14 Mile and Van Dyke. And I'm here practicing.
LONNIE JONES, RESIDENT OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN: I'm getting a little stronger from my operation. So I'm trying to get my game back together.
Well, Detroit has -- I have been here over 60 years. And it's not the same. Politics has been the detriment of Detroit. We need to bring back some real good leaders.
MARTIN: I think a lot of the politicians are out of touch with what the people in this state need. And not just this state but throughout the country.
RAYMOND DALEY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Get it. Yes. I mean, it was the auto industry. We -- we lived by it and now we're dying by it.
JONES: Whatever this election's going to do, it's about Americans learning how to survive perhaps maybe with less, but then getting things back through some agenda that can be created by a consolidation of all parties.
MARTIN: I think we need people that have the stated heart, that are willing to get out there and work and maybe make a few sacrifices and don't let the sacrifices all come from the middle income class. JONES: Republicans and Democrats and Independents, even the Tea Party. Let's come together and work together for a better solution for all American people. We can't come together in a house divided among itself. It's going to fall.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: And Don Lemon now joins me from Lou's (sic) Country Oven in Madison Heights, Michigan.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Leo's.
BALDWIN: Don -- Don, you're always eating and talking to some wonderful people.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Do they agree -- do they agree, though, that really, it's all about compromise and working together?
LEMON: Oh, yes, they do, Brooke. And we're going to -- we're going to talk to some of the people here at Leo's Country Oven.
BALDWIN: Leo's.
LEMON: It's just outside of Detroit. It's in Madison Heights.
And we have been here for so long all day today, they have actually put me to work here.
Michelle (ph) -- we're going to talk to some of the workers.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Michelle is -- she asked me for some coffee there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: There you go. I'm hired, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you are.
LEMON: We're going to talk to some of the workers here, because we -- we spoke to the workers bowling last night.
You guys needs to let loose after you get off.
What is on your mind coming up to the election, Michelle?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The film industry and the jobs that it's created, and the wrong governor could ruin things for us.
LEMON: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's very -- that's one of my concerns. My fiance works for the film industry. LEMON: Yes. And besides working here, Darlene (ph) is a -- you're kind of an activist, aren't you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am. I am.
I'm really into just trying to keep the safety and honest politicians. I want honest politicians. I don't like the trash back and forth. That turns me off. I would rather vote for the other guy, if you're going to be the trash basher.
I'm into my safety. I want my politicians to listen to us when we're talking. We want our police, all of them. We want our firefighters. We want all that. We need our security.
LEMON: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we don't have that, we have nothing.
LEMON: Belinda (ph) is back there shaking her head.
You agree?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. I do.
LEMON: You all agree with her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all agree.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: All agree.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Listen, big union town, of course, with the auto industry. And this is -- what is it, like 14 percent unemployment in the area, hardest hit by the economy.
Nevada -- you're only second to Nevada. A couple of union workers here. What do you guys think? What are you -- what are you looking at coming into the election?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we're worried about the health of the middle class and the health of the auto industry in Michigan. You know, we need a strong auto industry to survive, because it doesn't just affect autoworker families, but everybody in the state of Michigan.
LEMON: Agree --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would agree totally with that.
I'm -- the workers in this country have been taking it on the chin for the past 30 years. And, you know, one election is not going to save everybody.
LEMON: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we have got to keep it going, you know?
LEMON: Thank you, Aaron (ph).
Thank you, Chris (ph).
Thank you, ladies.
Are you guys all ready to vote?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: Yes!
LEMON: Yes? Ready to vote?
You can see -- hey, listen, only a couple more days, Brooke. I'm here. They are going to put me to work. This is my second job now. So, I will finish up here and then I will make it back to Atlanta --
BALDWIN: Nice.
LEMON: -- so that I can vote on Tuesday as well.
BALDWIN: Nice. I will coffee, cream and half-a-Splenda. Thank you very much, Don Lemon.
And, please, thank --
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I got it. I got it.
BALDWIN: -- thank your group for us, too. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Don.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: all right
BALDWIN: This next story, this is unbelievable. You have this grieving family. They get another shock after this bizarre coincidence. What happened is, their son's classmates found his brain on display during a class field trip. That is next.
Also ahead, a school board member's stunning comments about a show of support for gay students. He said he would only wear purple if they -- quote -- "all commit suicide." That's what he said.
That and more -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: When a New York couple buried their son after a horrific car crash, they had no idea they were not burying all of him. But a couple of months later, the Shipleys got a terrible shock. Classmates from his school's forensic science club made a gruesome discovery during a field trip to the medical examiner's office.
The Shipleys so outraged, they are now suing.
And they are sharing their story with CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andre and Korisha Shipley lost their 17-year-old son, Jesse, in a fatal car accident in Staten Island, New York in 2005. Just a few months later, another shock, when Jesse's high school classmates visited the local morgue on a field trip.
KORISHA SHIPLEY, JESSE'S MOTHER: And they saw this jar with a brain in it saying that it is the labeled Jesse -- Jesse Shipley.
COHEN (on camera): What did the kids do when they saw this jar?
ANDRE SHIPLEY, JESSE'S FATHER: The kids started screaming. You know, they -- they knew Jesse. Jesse knew them, and they are looking at his brain, and it's looking back at them.
COHEN: So, this got back to you?
A. SHIPLEY: Yes, it did.
COHEN: And how did you feel about it when you heard about it?
A. SHIPLEY: Very violated.
COHEN (voice-over): Several of Jesse's organs, including his brain and liver, had been taken from his body during the autopsy and were sitting on a shelf in the medical examiner's office, where anyone passing by could see them.
(on camera): What did you expect when you said OK to do an autopsy?
A. SHIPLEY: You look for the causes of death, you check the organ, and you put it back in the body. In this case, it was a little more than that.
COHEN: In a statement to CNN, the city's attorney says, although they sympathize with the family, it's "within the medical examiner's discretion to perform an autopsy, and, in appropriate cases, to remove and retain bodily organs for further testing."
Dr. Cyril Wecht is a forensic pathologist and attorney who specializes in cases like these. He says to determine the exact cause of death, especially after head trauma, it is necessary to remove the brain. DR. CYRIL WECHT, MEDICAL EXAMINER: That is the whole purpose of medical legal investigation. If you don't do that, then forget about forensic pathology, and forget about doing things in a proper scientific fashion. That is why you would save the brain in such a case.
COHEN: Medical examiners say the brain needs to sit in a formula for at least two weeks before it can be studied, and, by then, the funeral has already taken place.
ART CAPLAN, MEDICAL ETHICIST: I was shocked.
But medical ethicist Art Caplan says, that's no excuse. To him, the law is very clear.
CAPLAN: In situations of autopsy, when the coroner or the medical examiner is doing a mandatory study of a body, you are supposed to get everything back, no questions asked.
COHEN: The Shipleys are suing the city for the mishandling of their son's remains, and they say they will never be able to forget what they went through following his death.
A. SHIPLEY: And we buried our son, and, then two months after, we have parts of him coming back in. All we got back was little chunks.
K. SHIPLEY: We held the organs in my hands. I almost fell to my knees when I saw that. Now we have to live with that for the rest of our lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: What a story. Elizabeth Cohen is here. I remember when the story came out a couple of weeks ago and we were all talking about it. I thought what was revealing in your piece, if I may ask -- so if you have head trauma, they have to remove the brain to do testing. By that point, they had the funeral for Jesse Shipley. Am I to then deduce that there could be money bodies out there that don't have the organs replaced?
COHEN: Right. And I think it's interesting, because I think a lot of people assume after an autopsy that everything goes back in.
BALDWIN: Of course.
COHEN: And medical examiners tell us that that is not the case. Some samples are taken out and that they are then examined later. You obviously don't want to hold the body that whole time. The body needs to be buried.
And so one of the big questions they'll try to get to as this goes through the courts is should they have told the Shipleys this and informed them that this was the situation?
BALDWIN: So they had a court date yesterday in the city of New York. What happened?
COHEN: Nothing was decided. They now have another date in January. And, again, that's going to be one of the focuses of this court date in January is should they have told them? Hey, guess what, your son is not being buried with everything.
Some families, it's very important to them for religious reasons to get everything back, and those families do ask. All right, we know you need to keep some parts out, but --
BALDWIN: But not everybody knows about this.
COHEN: Exactly. Some people who know to ask do ask, and in those cases they often do get those parts back. But who knows to ask?
BALDWIN: Exactly.
Do you think most families expect, like we said -- my guess would be no, that families know after an autopsy not everything is put back in.
COHEN: Right. I think they think the doctors do their work and that's it.
BALDWIN: But it's one thing to do their work and place it on a shelf. And maybe this is just me, but it's quite another to have a school field trip and you see on a jar, Jesse Shipley.
COHEN: Right. These things should be stored in a way that they are not seen by passers-by. I think there's a lot of agreement on that. And certainly if you're going to invite outsiders in, you should probably be careful about how you store and label those specimens.
BALDWIN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Are Mexican cartels using Al Qaeda tactics to intimidate lawmen and innocent bystanders? We'll have the latest on this wave of escalating violence.
And there is a whole lot of asphalt and grass in this shot. So why did the plane land on two small cars? Look at this. That story is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. It was an outrageous miscarriage of justice that cost a retired California businessman more than two years of his life, tossed in prison in Iran, never formally charged with a crime.
That was back in 2008. Now take a look at this picture here. This was Reza Taghavi a couple days ago in Los Angeles, on the receiving end of many, many hugs, seeing friends and family for the first time since Iran released him from prison after keeping him locked up for, imagine, 29 very long months.
He had some help most definitely negotiating his way to freedom. And now here he is, live with me right now in New York, a free man today. Reza Taghavi, also sitting alongside him his attorney who helped negotiate that release. We'll talk to both of you.
But Mr. Taghavi, welcome home. Thank you for joining me. First, if we can just set this up, I want to hear in your own words what it was the Iranian government said you did, thought you did, what crime it was that they say you had committed.
REZA TAGHAVI, SPENT TO YEARS IN PRISON IN IRAN: Thank you very much. I was given $200 to pass on to someone in Tehran. And I just passed -- sat down after a month. They arrest me because the guy was involved with a terrorist group. And they put me in jail, and they find out I'm not really -- didn't know. They used me to take that money to Iran.
BALDWIN: But you had gone --
TAGHAVI: But anyway, they keep me --
BALDWIN: You had gone, you were asked to pass on 200 bucks to someone in Iran who, unbeknownst to you, was tied to this terrorist anti-regime group. You did not realize his affiliation?
TAGHAVI: Right, exactly, yes. Yes, I didn't know that. And they used me to do that. And after that, they put me in jail and they keep -- said pretty soon, a month, a week, two weeks. It took me 29 months. Finally my attorney took me out of jail.
BALDWIN: Let's talk about those 29 months. I can't imagine 29 months for anyone, let alone a gentleman in his 70s. Talk to me about prison conditions. Did you get --
TAGHAVI: It was really tough. It was really tough. It was some different jail every time, a different jail. You know, jail is tough for anyone, especially when you're old. It's very tough. But, you know --
BALDWIN: How many people -- how many people were you having to share a cell with? Did you get at least a bed to sleep in?
TAGHAVI: I got -- yes, because I was old, they gave me a bed. But we were -- every time between 30 and 34 people in the room like with 16 beds.
BALDWIN: So people were obviously having to share beds?
TAGHAVI: Yes. No, we didn't have shared beds. They were sleeping on the -- on the ground and outside of the room or across the door.
BALDWIN: Sleeping on the ground. You got a bed because you were elderly. Sir, what did you do to pass the time? I imagine it was very, very slow. TAGHAVI: It was very slow, very slow. I was -- you know, we were walking around the cell, around the backyard. And it was very hard for me, especially. I am not a smoker. And everybody was smoking down there. It was extremely bad for me.
BALDWIN: So you weren't smoking? You're not a smoker, so you weren't smoking. Were you able to read? Did they provide you with books? Could you watch television?
TAGHAVI: Yes. But television only four channels they have. I could see just those four.
BALDWIN: Four channels. I heard you watched a lot of that show "24." is that right?
TAGHAVI: Yes, I did. They would -- once a week, they had a show "24." I saw one of them.
BALDWIN: One of them.
Mr. Prosper, if I can just ask you a question here. I know you played a role in negotiating Mr. Taghavi's release. Why -- because this is a story not a lot of Americans know a lot about, unlike some of the other stories, the American hikers, for example -- why was this story kept so quiet and out of the news?
PIERRE-RICHARD PROSPER, ATTORNEY FOR REZA TAGHAVI: Well, one of the things that we did when I was contacted last summer, the summer of 2009, to help Mr. Taghavi, I recognized the fact that I'm obviously not a former governor, a former president, so we had to develop a strategy that was designed for the maximum success.
That strategy was two-fold. One, to stay below the radar so that we could have a widest room to maneuver in our negotiations with the government of Iran. And, two, we asked the United States government to not get involved because we did not want this -- the issue of Mr. Taghavi becoming a political one and becoming politicized to the extent that he would not be released.
BALDWIN: So, just briefly here, and then I want one more question of Mr. Taghavi, but how were you able to negotiate that? I know there were conditions for the release. What were they?
PROSPER: Well, the negotiations, as you can imagine, were difficult. Mr. Taghavi at one point was even facing the death penalty. So what I had to do was really have five rounds of meetings with the Iranian authorities, one here in New York, three times -- three meetings in -- rounds of meetings in Tehran. I traveled to Iran, as well as meetings in Europe.
I exchanged countless e-mails and spent 75-plus hours of face time going back and forth. Really in the end, it was persistence. We really pushed the facts that Mr. Taghavi was unwittingly used here and he had nothing to do with this organization that committed the terrorist bombing at the mosque. BALDWIN: If I may ask my final question of Mr. Taghavi. I understand that this notorious prison in Iran, and I understand two of those American hikers are still there. Were you able to speak with them at all? And if so, how are they?
TAGHAVI: No, I didn't see them. They were on top of my dorm. There was a room. They were there. They were in good shape. They had movies, they had beds. And they were in good shape. But they wouldn't let anybody see them.
BALDWIN: Mr. Taghavi, Mr. Prosper, I appreciate you. And again, Mr. Taghavi, welcome home. Thank you.
TAGHAVI: Thank you.
PROSPER: Thank you.
BALDWIN: The Notre Dame campus is in shock today after this freak accident. It killed a student. So coming up next, the young man's haunting final tweets. He tweeted moments before his tragic fall.
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BALDWIN: Take a look with me. We've got Sandra Endo. She may be in Washington today watching some of the stories developing on the edges of the news today. We've got her doing what's trending.
And Sandra, I heard about this. This one, I think it was last night, in fact. Notre Dame University, this is a tough, tough day for them because of this young man. Tell me what happened.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke. This is a trending story today, but a very tragic one. We're talking about a 20-year-old junior from Notre Dame University who tragedy died after falling off a hydraulic scissor lift.
He was on that camera tower filming the school's football practice when there were severe wind gusts. As you know, there are a lot of storms going through the country this week. There were wind gusts of 50 miles per hour.
But then this is the eerie thing. He tweeted about this moments before his tragic fall. Let's just take a look right now at the tweet. At around 3:22, this is what he tweeted as practice was starting - "Gust of wind up to 60 miles per hour. Well, today will be fun at work. I guess I've lived long enough," with a crooked smiley face.
But then, just moments later, another eerie tweet from him. This is less than an hour before that tower came down. He tweeted, "Holy bleep, holy bleep, this is terrifying." Now, that tower came down at 4:50.
Today, we heard from school administrators and the school athletic director spoke to reporters. He says he was near the football field, he heard the tower come crashing down. He didn't know anyone was injured, but now the quest is on for answers.
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JACK SWARBRICK, NOTRE DAME ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: We don't have those answers today. I know there's a lot of speculation about what may or may not have happened, but that's what the investigation is for. And we'll let that investigation thoroughly and completely run its course and then we will have the ability to really understand what happened to learn from it and move on from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: And a state safety administration, Indiana's OSHA, is investigating the situation so it could be prevented in the future. Brooke?
BALDWIN: It is tough because you think why are you tweeting? Just get down. It just shows I guess how dedicated he was to filming that football practice.
Sandra, second here, you got a story about a British airline who says they are sick of kowtowing to us Americans. What's going on there?
ENDO: Yes, this is an interesting story that is trending today also. It kind of goes to what a lot of people experience when they go to the airports, you know, those long security lines here, having to take off your shoes, pulling out those laptops, all just to get to your gate.
This British airline official, a chairman from British Airways, says that their airline should stop kowtowing to U.S. security standards. And he said this at an industry airlines convention, saying that, look, we should stand up to the United States, that their security restrictions are actually redundant, and pretty much said what a lot of us always think, right, when we go to the airport.
But surprisingly as well, his European counterparts, his colleagues, also agree with him, but the United States, of course, is saying that those comments are not OK, that security is very, very important and that is also what is trending today. So, a lot of mixed opinions out there about what security should be like at airports, but of course, the traveler has to deal with all those hassles.
BALDWIN: I know, I'm headed to the airport after the show, ready to pull my laptop out, take my shoes off. But I would rather be safe than sorry.
Sandra Endo.
ENDO: Don't wear tall boots, OK?
BALDWIN: Yes, note to self. Note to self. Thank you, see you next hour.
Coming up next, you got to see this. This is some of the video of the day here. And here is a hint. You really, really, really shouldn't get too close to lions and sharks. We will leave it there. Be right back.
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BALDWIN: Most animals at a zoo usually seem pretty oblivious to the thousands of visitors each and every year. Not so much for this fellow. You got to see this.
Off from the distance, past this precious creature here, you have Mr. Lion hanging out under a tree, nothing unusual about this, right? As this cute little girl is singing and dancing at the top of the exhibit, he gets up for what appears to be a stretch.
Whoa, the lion jumps up at this little girl, scares her half to death. You can hear them. And the parents saying, "Get away!" Thank goodness for the glass.
Next, imagine you are scuba diving 30 feet down, you see this coming through your camera. You have got to see this. Scott McNichol did the only thing he could, scream and keep recording. Listen.
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BALDWIN: This time didn't have a whole lot of glass separating him from the shark. Maybe the shark wanted his close up. McNichol estimates the shark was eight feet long, 300 pounds. Needless to say, he's lucky to be alive this guy. Yikes.
Coming up next what you have got to see from the world of politics, Wolf Blitzer has the candidates making news during these final campaign days. CNN Newsroom, we will be back.
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BALDWIN: Five days to go here until Election Day. CNN has all your latest political news with "The Best Political Team on Television." Of course "CNN = Politics." Wolf Blitzer is in New York for us today. And Wolf, going become to a comment a couple days ago here, maybe telling the president to shove it was not such a good idea?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Not a good idea if you believe the polls in Rhode Island. Frank Caprio, he's the Democratic nominee for governor of Rhode Island. Remember, the president went into Rhode Island a few days ago, pointedly did not endorse Caprio, who is the Democratic nominee, didn't endorse anyone.
But he made it clear he likes Lincoln Chafee, the independent, the former Republican senator from Rhode Island. And Lincoln Chafee has been doing ads showing him together with Obama ever since then. Caprio said the president could take his endorsement and really shove it. That was the quote from Caprio. There's a new poll in Rhode Island that came in today shows it didn't exactly help Caprio, those tough comments. Right now, Chafee, the independent, is at 35 percent. The Republican is at 28 percent. Frank Caprio is now in third place with 25 percent, this only five days before the election. We will see what happens in Rhode Island.
Let's go to this coming weekend when Jon Stewart is coming to Washington with his supporters, "Rally to Restore Sanity." We have now learned that the DNC, the Democrats, are going to try to take advantage of these tens of thousands of young people coming to Washington. They're going to try to enlist some of them to go to phone banks, to get out the vote to try to help energize that Democratic base.
We will see how successful that is, but there will be buses waiting at Union Station in Washington to try to get some of these young people to help other Democrats.
Finally, the story that we are working on, Chris Lawrence, our Pentagon correspondent is working on it over at the Pentagon. Apparently, some opposition research developing, as the Democratic National Committee apparently looking for some background information under the Freedom of Information Act among some potential Republican presidential candidates, including Mike Huckabee, to see what at the Pentagon they might have on these candidates, about a dozen or so.
Huckabee says they are flattered that they're even thinking about him. He says it's better than it was four years ago, "when I was an asterisk," if he decides to run again. He says the Democrats are nervous because they are bracing for a political tsunami, his words, on Tuesday. "They know they are going to get wiped out next Tuesday," Huckabee says. "They wouldn't be looking down the road in two years if they thought they really had any shot at winning these races next week."
We will have a lot more in THE SITUATION ROOM at the top of 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Brooke, a lot more politics, only five days before the election.
BALDWIN: Wolf, before I let you go, I want to go back to Rhode Island. We have talked about a lot of some of these gubernatorial races and how they're so, so important, because they are the ones who will be overseeing the redrawing of the congressional districts, thus playing key roles in presidential politics.
And I'm just curious, how does the White House feel secure in having Lincoln Chafee -- mentioned the Republican-turned-independent -- in charge of that in Rhode Island, and -- and not a Democrat?
BLITZER: Well, White House officials say it was simply a matter of the president being loyal to Lincoln Chafee, who, as a Republican senator from Rhode Island, remember, endorsed President Obama. And President Obama had a good working relationship during the brief time he served in the U.S. Senate with Lincoln Chafee.
He didn't feel it would be the right thing to do to formally endorse the Democratic nominee, even though the president is the leader of the Democratic Party. This has angered a lot of Democrats because they think the president really hurt the Democratic nominee.
The Democratic Governors Association, for example, spent $1.5 million trying to help Caprio. They see that money potentially going down the drain now as a result of this decision by the president to go in to Rhode Island to sort of rub it in. He didn't have to go to Rhode Island and make it clear he was neutral in this race. It didn't obviously help the Democratic nominee.
BLITZER: Wolf Blitzer, we will see you in an hour. Thank you, sir.
We're going to get another political update in half-an-hour. You can always get the latest political news. Go to CNNPolitics.com. They're on Twitter at @PoliticalTicker.
