Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Same-Sex Marriage Legal in New York; Judge in Casey Anthony Trial Abruptly Adjourns Court; Wildfires Burn in Arizona, Oklahoma; Gambling On A Restaurant; Remembering Michael Jackson; Super Bowl Seats Lawsuit; Mom Loses Custody for Spanking; Behind the NASCAR Wheel; Whitey Bulger Court Appearance; Former Detroit Mayor Paroled

Aired June 25, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And as I hand it over to Fredricka here, that - that's a - you know, there are so many stories and so - all those young men had good stories, but this was one that certainly stood out.

So he's one you'll - you want to root for.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and we all will be, and we'll be watching him.

HOLMES: Yes. Certainly.

WHITFIELD: That's a great story.

HOLMES: We'll be watching you for the next - how many hours now?

WHITFIELD: Who's counting?

HOLMES: Who's counting? I'm sorry.

WHITFIELD: Let's just take it minute to minute, OK?

HOLMES: Well, minute one starts right now.

WHITFIELD: OK. It's right now.

All right, you have a great day.

HOLMES: Fredricka Whitfield. We'll see you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right, let's begin this hour with same-sex marriage now being law in the land of New York. State senators approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, making New York just the sixth state where gay couples can wed. The vote followed intense last-minute negotiations.

Let's turn now to David Ariosto who is covering the story from New York. So David, give me the back story on how this came to be. DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, invariably, Fred, there had to be a lot of political horse training (ph) that was going into this. But what we find now is - is that, you know, there really had to be a sort of concerted effort here by Andrew Cuomo, the governor here in New York who made it a priority.

Previous governors - previous Democratic governors in the past have raised this in prior years. It - it had always failed. But, this time, last night - actually, at the stroke of midnight last night, Andrew Cuomo signed this bill into law.

And there were celebrations here in New York City, where a Pride Parade is set for this Sunday. And let's listen in where - where we were last night, and - to see some of the celebrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just incredible. I used to be enraged for six years before (INAUDIBLE). But, you know, it's really amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just really great to know that finally, here, that everyone else can have the same rights and be able to get married and, you know, show the love that they have. It's amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever since I was a little girl, I didn't think that marriage was possible for me at all, and like just now, hearing, like, you can get married.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARIOSTO: And yet it wasn't all - all smiles after this - this bill was - was passed. Up in Albany, opposition lawmakers and religious leaders had other things to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be two men calling each other husband and husband, and there will be two girls calling themselves wife and wife, I guess. I - I don't know how it's going to work.

But I just feel sad for our children because the next generation is going to have to deal with a culture where gender doesn't mean anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARIOSTO: And, see, that's where we stand, Fred, just - basically just ahead of the - the Pride Parade this - this weekend. And the - what the significance of this bill - and I think it's important to note this - is that New York becomes the sixth state and the largest state, but the amount of people when this bill goes into effect in about 30 days will have doubled of those who'll be living under same- sex laws - Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, David Ariosto. Thanks so much. I know you were getting a lot of feedback in your earpiece, so great job on that. Appreciate it.

All right. Meantime let's talk about a case that has a whole lot of people watching out of Florida, another shocker in that murder trial of Casey Anthony. We were getting ready for more testimony today when all of a sudden the judge said there would be no court in session today.

CNN's David Mattingly is outside the courthouse. So exactly what happened?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what everyone would like to know, Fredricka. Everyone - the attorneys on both sides went with the judge behind closed doors, which was unusual. Usually all the discussions they have are in sidebar, there in the courtroom for everyone to see.

But, this time, they went behind closed doors to keep their discussion private. They brought the court reporter in there, and then they emerged about a half hour later and the judge told a very surprised courtroom this very short notice. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, ORANGE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: As both sides concur that a legal issue has arisen unrelated to the issue that we talked about first thing this morning, dealing with Dr. Furton that would necessitate us recessing for today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Afterwards, after court, when everyone walked out and neither the prosecution nor the defense, everyone trailed by reporters asking questions, would offer any sort of explanation about what happened today. Of course, opening up a whole new world of speculation behind this already highly speculative case as people continue to watch very intently the daily proceedings behind the trial of Casey Anthony - Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like it's difficult to know exactly what may take place Monday when court is back in session. Is it the expectation that the defense still might be calling more witnesses or is it time now for prosecution rebuttal?

MATTINGLY: Well, we do know that there were several witnesses for the defense outside in the hallway, prepared to be called today. That didn't happen, of course, when the court recessed. So we have to wait now to see who will be called, if anyone, to the stand on Monday and what kind of legal issue this is that they're talking about.

It could be something as simple as needing the services of someone who's not available today, and it could be something as serious as a problem with a juror or a witness or someone participating in this trial. We just don't know, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mystery continues to surround this case unfolding there in Orlando. Thanks so much, David Mattingly. Appreciate that.

And our legal guys are getting ready to weigh in on today's surprise move and talk about some of the other elements that have taken place involving this trial during the week. We'll hear from them in about 10 minutes from now, right here in the NEWSROOM.

All right, coming up, we'll check in with Reynolds Wolf as well on Extreme Weather. We're having a lot of nasty weather right now.

And then, later -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What's it like to go speeding around this Charlotte Motor Speedway? I'm about to find out with Jason Leffler, right there.

Ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, floodwaters are gushing into Minot, North Dakota. About a fifth of the city is underwater. Thousands of homes and businesses swamped.

It's the worst flooding there in more than a century, and the Souris River is still rising. It's not expected to crest for another 12 hours or so.

And wildfires in Oklahoma are forcing the governor to declare emergencies in 33 counties. Thousands of acres are burning. Some people in Central Oklahoma have evacuated their homes.

And then, making matters worse, the drought and the heat could spread those fires.

Firefighters now have the upper hand on a half million acre blaze near the Arizona and New Mexico border. More than a dozen homes are threatened there, and it's possible that even more could be threatened.

Reynolds Wolf keeping a close watch on these extremes. You've got that drought and those kind of fires, and then you got way too much water in other areas.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know. Extreme opposites.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

WOLF: I mean, if we could flip-flop, it may be the situation would be a little bit better in both places. But, unfortunately, that's not the case. We've had a very tough time battling these fires in parts of the four corners. I can tell you, Mother Nature really has not cooperated at all from start to finish.

They still have a long way to go. Much of the progress is made just by the hard work of the men and women battling this blaze.

Conditions are going to be rough again today. The winds, weak now, will intensify this afternoon. And, in terms of the humidity, it's going to remain very low. So very dry, very breezy. Not at all what need to deal with. Not much cooperation.

Now, in terms of the rest of your forecast for the rest of the nation, we're going to expect the dry, hot conditions to continue for parts of the desert southwest. No surprise this time of year. One- oh-eight for El Paso; 97 in Dallas; 93 in Houston; also very warm conditions for parts of Oklahoma, where they're battling these fires.

But then, we get a little bit further to the north, you're going to run into some cooler air. But, at the same time, you'll also run into a chance of scattered showers and even some thunderstorms. In fact, the two areas you see shaded in red for the North Central Plains and also into parts of the Midwest, that's where you've got your best chance of strong storms, especially into the afternoon because you have a very, very humid air mass, very unstable as we make our way into the afternoon. As things begin to heat up and that frontal boundary begins to drift right to the region, things could get kind of bumpy.

Also, anyone taking a flight from, say, Dallas, going to Chicago, once you fly over the Midwest you might have a few jolts with the airplane. Same deal if you're flying over the Central Rockies.

Meanwhile, in the southeast, humid with a chance of scattered thunderstorms. Rain in parts of the northeast. And we'd wrap it up out towards the west, very dry from all the way in Seattle to San Diego.

All right, Fred. That is a look at your forecast. Let's pitch it back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, nice and comprehensive. Thanks so much, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate that. Have a great day.

All right. Again, no testimony today in the Casey Anthony trial, by order of the judge. We'll check in with our legal guys about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Testimony in the Casey Anthony trial ended before it ever started today.

Let's bring in our legal guys. Avery Friedman is a civil right attorney and law professor in Cleveland. Good to see you. And Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor, joining us from Vegas today.

Good to see you.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, gentlemen.

So, Avery, you first, what reason do you suppose the judge had to say, you know what, we're just not even going to have a session today?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, that's actually the $64,000 question. My belief is that there was certain evidence that the prosecution should have turned over. It goes to a material question of what the expert was about to say, and therefore, because it's a legal issue, we'll never know until the case goes to an appeal, which it will.

The bottom line is - I've heard wild ideas about incompetence on the part of counsel, a whole bunch of different reasons on why the judge stopped it for today. But the bottom line, Fredricka, is that it probably had something to do with the failure to turn over some evidence, an effort to rectify. The case will proceed starting at 8:30 on Monday.

WHITFIELD: And it also means, Richard, it could be anything from maybe there was an unexpected, you know, witness; maybe it meant a witness is no longer available when at first they thought that person would be; or could it even be a problem with a - a juror?

HERMAN: Yes. It could be a problem with the jury. That's one thing it could be, Fred. I don't think it's a witness issue because I understand there were like 15 witnesses in the hallway, ready to go today.

So, for the judge to stop everything, this is very serious. Whatever it is - and Avery's right, wild speculation out there. It's very serious for this judge to put this jury back into sequestration for two more days before the trial begins. With July 4th weekend coming up, not good.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.

OK, so let's talk about what did happen or try to, you know, figure out what did happen earlier this week, namely, just Thursday and Friday. You had the defense calling forth witnesses.

They called Cindy Anthony again - she was a prosecution witness - called her again, and spent a lot of time, Avery, on the clothing of little Caylee, the two-year-old who was murdered and is at the center of this case, the clothing that was at the home, the ladder at the swimming pool. What do you suppose the defense accomplished by calling her back?

FRIEDMAN: Well, Cindy Anthony has been a very powerful witness in this case, probably, up to this point, the most dramatic witness for the defense. The difficulty in - in what happened on Thursday and Friday is that I think Cindy Anthony understands her granddaughter is gone, her daughter faces lethal injection with the conviction, and she has taken off on a wild - in a wild blue yonder on this issue of chlorophyll versus chloroform.

WHITFIELD: Right, that she looked up chlorophyll -

FRIEDMAN: And the idea of maybe looking -

WHITFIELD: Right. She looked it up because she - at least she testified, and she also said in deposition, that she thought her dog was sick, maybe had eaten some bamboo -

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- and so she went to look for, you know, a component of bamboo, chlorophyll. But then chloroform would pop up, and you take it from there.

FRIEDMAN: Yes. The jury just -

WHITFIELD: Do you think the jury would buy that?

FRIEDMAN: It's just so odd. It's - I don't think so.

Look, chloroform was deleted from the computer 84 times, and there was no inquiry about that with Cindy Anthony. It's really a preposterous part of the defense.

And, again, we understand Cindy. We understand the loss of her family. We understand the motive for not being forthright about that. But it just is not working.

WHITFIELD: But, you know -

FRIEDMAN: It has not worked at all.

WHITFIELD: -- what was interesting, then, Richard, is that then the prosecutor then spends a little bit of time with Cindy, trying to establish, well, here are the dates that you may have been at work. Might the prosecution be trying to figure out, all right, if she was at home, they have some time stamps of when, you know, the searches took place of the chloroform versus chlorophyll. If she was at work at that time, then it couldn't have been her even though she said, well, the computer could have been on and I'm not sure what the computer's doing when I'm at work.

HERMAN: Well, listen, Fred, the bottom line here is, yes, there may have been a punch-in at the - at the office when she went there. She testified the records are gone. Nobody can verify her work records, whether she was there or not then.

But this was devastating evidence to the prosecution, and I'll tell you why.

WHITFIELD: Why? HERMAN: Their entire chlorophyll theme - chlorophyll. Chlorophyll. That was the murder weapon. That's what did it. And premeditation was that Casey looked it up.

She told them years ago in a deposition, she was the one that did it. So, for the prosecution to get up in their opening and be so disingenuous and ignore this bombshell which Cindy gave - and you can't have it both ways, Avery. You can't say she's a great prosecution witness and we love her, but she's a horrible defense witness. You can't do that.

The prosecutor has to be very careful when they cross-examine her because she was one of their star witnesses. This was her testimony. She looked up chlorophyll. I think it's believable. I think the jurors that are still open-minded - and there may be three or four left that are - they're going to take this information and run with it -

WHITFIELD: Well, could it -

HERMAN: -- because it's very, very powerful.

FRIEDMAN: I don't know.

WHITFIELD: Could it be that the prosecution is preparing for a rebuttal witness that might in some way poke a hole in that theory of being at work or searching for that material at home versus at work? I mean, you have to think, or you would want to think, that there is a plan, there's a reason why the prosecution would take a stab at that one more time.

FRIEDMAN: Oh, sure.

HERMAN: The problem - the problem -

FRIEDMAN: What's going to happen -

HERMAN: Yes.

FRIEDMAN: What - yes, what you're going to see is the police going back, getting work records, establishing that she may have been at the gas station, she may have been at a convenience store. I mean, it - the prosecution is going to succeed (ph) that this was motivated frankly by trying to save her daughter and it was untruthful.

I don't think it's a bombshell at all. It's dramatic, but it's certainly lacking in credibility, and I think prosecution -

HERMAN: Fred -

FRIEDMAN: -- will show that on rebuttal.

WHITFIELD: OK, Richard, last word on this?

FRIEDMAN: Yes. HERMAN. Yes. Yes, the problem is that at the time the chlorophyll searches were taking place, they were also logging on to Casey's MySpace account at the same time -

FRIEDMAN: Right. Right.

HERMAN: -- and Cindy does not have a MySpace account. So that is not good. That doesn't bode well for that testimony.

But it's very powerful. It takes away the premeditation, if a juror is going to believe that.

She also testified with respect to the - the stairs going into the pool, that she recalls them being up. Now, she recalls taking them down, but maybe George put them up, or maybe Casey put them up. But her recollection was they were up, and that feeds into the defense theory that Caylee walked up those stairs and -

(CROSSTALK)

FRIEDMAN: It's all over the place. All over the place.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, we will see what happens Monday, since today there will be no court proceedings on that case.

FRIEDMAN: Right.

WHITFIELD: Gentlemen, thanks so much. I will see you again in 20 minutes, because we always have a part deux. In 20 minutes we'll be talking about -

HERMAN: Part deux.

WHITFIELD: Part deux. We'll talk about a man who is actually suing a woman for alleging that he is gay.

And in these tough economic times, the last thing financial advisers might recommend is quitting your office job and starting a business known to have a high rate of failure. But that's just what a couple in Boston did, and, so far, their upscale restaurant, Journeyman, is paying dividends.

Christine Romans has their story in this edition of "Smart Is the New Rich."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tse Wei Lim and Diana Kudajarova married, and barely 30, never went to cooking school and never owned a business.

TSE WEI LIM, RESTAURANT OWNER: My parents were horrified that we were doing this, because, you know, she has a Ph.D., and I'm at least a college grad, all right?

DIANA KUDAJAROVA, RESTAURANT OWNER: It's a waste of education. LIM: Yes.

ROMANS: But the two wanted a hands-on project they could do together.

KUDAJAROVA: You know, the interest rates were very low.

LIM: Yes.

KUDAJAROVA: So that helped.

We had good jobs for quite a while before starting that, so we did have savings.

ROMANS: They cashed in nearly $200,000, took out a second mortgage, and, forever foodies, taught themselves to cook, using friends as taste testers.

It took a year to launch a plan that integrated low-fix costs. For starters, they found cheap rental space down a back alley.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keeping it a little bit quasi-underground makes it cool.

ROMANS: They did most repairs themselves.

LIM: We spent weeks just chipping out all the cracked and chipped paint.

ROMANS: They were frugal with the interior.

LIM: We went to Ikea and bought a bunch of chairs.

ROMANS: And only offer a limited tasting menu.

LIM: That enables us to cut down on food waste quite a bit.

ROMANS: Instead of pricey ads, they blog and tweet.

MEG GRADY-TROIA, MANAGER: So I added a little column that kind of talks about our cocktails.

ROMANS: The crowd is young and splurging.

The couple hasn't recouped construction costs, but they have positive cash flow, and, they say, never missed a payroll. Still, there's been a learning curve -

KUDAJAROVA: We'll make hiring mistakes. The staff we opened with, some of them are still here, but most of them are not.

ROMANS: -- constant worries -

LIM: Most recently, the fact that our AC wasn't up to scratch. Two weeks ago, it was where am I going to get meat from?

ROMANS: -- and sage words for others who venture into the biz.

LIM: Be well-capitalized. Be prepared to kill your babies.

You just have to let go of a lot of your ideas.

KUDAJAROVA: We're trying to stick to our guns while being flexible.

ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And the couple talks about being flexible. Well, what an understatement. Just days after shooting that story, an SUV crashed into the restaurant.

No one was hurt, thankfully, but Journeyman, the restaurant, will be closed for at least a couple of weeks. The owners are praying that insurance will cover the pay for their hourly staff. Still, they are optimistic, hoping to reopen soon and to add a bar this summer.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look now at our top stories.

A suicide bombing, the second in as many days in Afghanistan. A truck packed with explosives detonated outside a hospital in Eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 35 people and wounding nearly as many. Many of the dead are women and children.

This attack, like the previous one, targeted civilians. Both come just days after President Obama outlined plans to withdraw 30,000 troops by next September.

And there's a sudden recess at the Casey Anthony murder trial in Orlando. It resumes Monday now. Our David Mattingly calls the judge's surprise action significant.

Casey Anthony is accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter, Caylee.

After meeting with attorneys behind closed doors, Judge Belvin Perry said an unspecified legal issue had to be resolved first. He wouldn't elaborate further.

Supporters of gay marriage are celebrating a major vote in New York legalizing same-sex marriage in that state. The bill passed last night after a language was included to provide legal protection for religious institutions, the demand of several Republicans.

Hours after the bill was passed, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law. It goes into effect in about 30 days.

A mother has lost custody for spanking her child. When does spanking become abuse? Our legal guys weigh in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: They're holding a memorial tribute for Michael Jackson tonight in his hometown of Gary, Indiana. The pop icon died two years ago today in Los Angeles where he was preparing for a comeback concert.

A coroner's report blamed sedatives and a surgical anesthetic allegedly administered by Jackson's physician. The physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and is scheduled to go on trial come this fall.

Remember the Super Bowl ticketholders who lost their seats earlier this year after some temporary seating was declared unsafe in the new stadium? Well, they, those ticketholders, now want to be compensated for lost income. Will that happen?

Our legal guys are back, Avery Friedman in Cleveland and Richard Herman in Las Vegas.

OK, gentlemen, this is very interesting because they were compensated, right? They may have gotten a refund on their tickets because the seats that they thought were going to be there for them at that Dallas Stadium were not there.

But now they say, I want lost income. Avery, how do you argue this and get your way on this one?

FRIEDMAN: Not successfully, I'll tell you that.

WHITFIELD: I had a feeling you were going to say that.

FRIEDMAN: It's just mind-blowing to me. I mean, ultimately if the case goes to trial, everyday work a day Texans are going to have to decide if these people who spent thousands to come to Dallas should get, among other things, lost income.

They're asking the jury to put themselves in the rich people's shoes to award this and punitive damages and everything. Look, the NFL and the cowboys' Jerry Jones did the right thing by offering money.

A little bit too stringent, somewhere between actual loss and the fortune they're asking for is how this case will be -- it won't go to trial. It will be settled.

WHITFIELD: But, you know, it's interesting, Avery, because I don't know, this argument is a pretty solid one when you hear from these ticketholders in this class action suit who say, wait a minute, the NFL, Jerry Jones and others knew these seats weren't going to be available when I showed up.

So why didn't all those who are now the defendants, why didn't they better inform these ticketholders that they could make a decision about whether they wanted to make the trip and be there? FRIEDMAN: Right, that's the argument, I guess.

WHITFIELD: Yes, Richard, what do you think?

HERMAN: Yes, the NFL and Jerry Jones are saying, we were working frantically on the day of the Super Bowl to make those seats acceptable to pass inspection.

And it was only moments before the game began that those seats were declared, you know, unsafe and therefore we couldn't let the people in or there was obstructions. So it wasn't -- we didn't know about this in advance.

But they made offers to them. They offered them double the ticket price. They put caps what they paid for, the hotel, the air. These people are saying, listen, I took off a week of work to come out there and I want compensation for that.

Fred, Avery's right. It will be tried in Dallas. I just came back from Dallas. That stadium is a shrine. It's going to find a jury in Dallas that's going to find for these people. Guarantee you that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about something else taking place in New York in Broom County, very interesting, your backyard kind of, Richard.

We're talking about a man who is alleging defamation because he says someone called him gay. And for that, he is paying a price. What does he mean and where does this case go?

HERMAN: Isn't that incredible on what just happened in the state of New York?

WHITFIELD: Exactly this is the complete antithesis now.

HERMAN: Somebody called him gay, he felt offended by that so he brought a defamation law suit and the law and the cases that are relied upon go way back, Fred, to a point in time in New York where defamation -- where homosexuality was illegal.

So therefore a motion to dismiss was dismissed. The case lives, it survives. It's going to litigate. At the end of the day, truth is a defense and I just don't know -- I don't think it's going anywhere. This guy should toughen up a little bit, especially with what's going on in New York.

WHITFIELD: Yes, Avery, how do you see this one? Button it up for us.

FRIEDMAN: The guy lost his girlfriend is what happened. Kelly Geller was the girlfriend. Her mother said, you know the guy you're dating is gay. And therefore you may want to break up and she broke up with the guy.

There were suits all over the place, but Richard is right. Back in 1888, there was a case that was decided when indeed homosexuality was a crime.

And therefore until such time as either the folks in Albany change that, the judge is obligated to move forward. So who knows what's going to happen? I think it will actually have to be tried in order to get it resolved.

WHITFIELD: OK. Now let's move on to Texas -- going back to Texas now, but very different situation. This involves a Texas mom who was convicted of spanking her child too hard, to the degree that she lost her 2-year-old, lost custody of her 2-year-old, and then is facing five years probation.

So, Avery, help explain, how does a court -- how does the system determine whether this is spanking, this kind of discipline is OK, or whether a parent or a guardian has gone too far?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I've never understood this argument that by slugging a kid or hitting a kid or spanking a kid is really a smart way of parenting. But the problem is so serious in Texas -- listen to this -- the attorney general has a web site and tells people who live in Texas, you may use force, but not deadly force.

Apparently in Texas, there's some question in people's mind whether you can use deadly force. In this case, the child was discovered with red marks. The judge certainly did the right thing.

It was excessive behavior. It doesn't answer the question of whether or not you can slug a kid. But apparently in Texas, it's OK. I think the judge did the right thing.

WHITFIELD: Richard?

HERMAN: Fred, what the judge -- the judge did a blanket "no spanking." That's what the judge relied upon. This was a felony conviction here, Fred, ridiculous. Texas allows spanking on the buttocks as long as you don't leave a mark.

Apparently, the child had a mark. Child went to the woman's mother. The mother brought the child to the hospital and that's why the charges were brought. But, you know, you can't mess with Texas. They say you can spank on the buttocks, but you can't leave a mark and you can't use an instrument to do it like a switch or a stick or a fly swatter. You can't use that.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: But you can spank and that's OK. This judge says, no, I'm not going to allow spanking anymore, that's archaic, if you spank anyone, felony conviction. That's ridiculous. Come on, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Five years probation for the mom. Now the 2-year-old is in the custody of the grandmother, by the way, who noticed the marks in the first place.

FRIEDMAN: As she should be.

WHITFIELD: Yes, all right. Thanks so much. Avery, Richard, always good to see you gentlemen. Have a great weekend.

FRIEDMAN: See you soon.

HERMAN: Bye, Fred.

WHITFIELD: I have a question for you guys. You guys ever wanted to be race car drivers?

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Didn't you want to be a race car driver when you were growing up? This kid did, too. The tomboy in me wanted to know, what is it like to be in a race car, a stock car, in particular, going around the motor speedway, what does it feel like?

I decided to find out by reaching out to NASCAR star Jason Leffler. This is a little taste of what it's like face to face.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Whose idea was this? I'm in great hands with Jason here. If I'm going to have a first-time race car experience, this is the way to go. We're in a Richard Petty NASCAR Experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK, just a little cliffhanger there. Jason Leffler there putting the pedal to the metal. Find out what happened next right after the break, face to face.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It is hugely popular, stock car racing, or NASCAR. Drawing up to 150,000 fans each week to speedway stands, face to face, I caught up with two of NASCAR's finest drivers, 35-year-old Jason Leffler and 21-year-old Joey Logano. Before the big interview with the two, Leffler took me for my first spin around the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: How fast are we going?

JASON LEFFLER, NASCAR DRIVER: As fast as that thing will go. I don't know, 160, 170, whatever we'll get in there.

WHITFIELD: You know I'm complete novice. I haven't gone past 90 before.

LEFFLER: You're in for a treat.

WHITFIELD: Is my stomach going to be able to handle it?

LEFFLER: Yes, I think so.

WHITFIELD: OK, so we're at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Would this be your favorite track?

LEFFLER: It is one of my favorite tracks.

WHITFIELD: OK, I'm ready to roll. You?

LEFFLER: Let's do it.

WHITFIELD: All right, what's it like to go speeding around this Charlotte Motor Speedway? I'm about to find out with Jason Leffler right there. You see I'm not going to actually be driving, but the passenger. I'm in good hands.

LEFFLER: Come right on in. Just like the dukes of hazard. You have your standard car. You got your "h" pattern manual transmission. You got your gas, break, clutch, the only thing different is this steering wheel comes on and off.

WHITFIELD: Generally, you're very close on the steering. Generally when you're driving a regular car, you get to extend your arms. Is that comfortable?

LEFFLER: Yes, it is because of the duration of the race, your arms will get tired if they're way up here. This one is not quite set up for me. I have my own race car.

WHITFIELD: It's really about endurance?

LEFFLER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Being able to have the wheel so tight.

LEFFLER: Yes. It's physically demanding in racing. People don't realize that. The heat -- there's a lot -- wrestling these heavy cars around for 300 to 500 miles is not easy.

WHITFIELD: So does this ever get old hat or do you get the rush every time?

LEFFLER: Yes, you get the rush every time. I mean, it's what you live for. It's the only thing I've ever done is drive race cars. It's exciting, doesn't get any better than that. People ask what it's like to be a race car driver. I say it beats working for a living, that's for sure.

WHITFIELD: Who has idea was this? I'm actually really excited and I know I'm in great hands with Jason here. So if I'm going to have a first-time race car experience, this is the way to go. We're in a Richard Petty NASCAR experience vehicle. So here we go. Let her rip. Ready to roll?

LEFFLER: Ready.

WHITFIELD: All right. Yes, ready. Whoo! OK. I'm hooked. I want to be a race car driver.

LEFFLER: That was just a warm-up. WHITFIELD: That's awesome.

LEFFLER: That was just a warm-up.

WHITFIELD: That is so awesome, wow. I thought maybe I was going to close my eyes but then I didn't want to miss anything. That's so wonderful.

I was thinking to myself, OK, here we are, the only ones on the track. But the proximity to all the other cars, that's the real danger, that's the real risk involved.

LEFFLER: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And the excitement, too, right?

LEFFLER: Yes. And that's where the skill is. You've got a lot of variables when you have other cars on the racetrack. Obviously they're probably in the lane you want to be in.

You're getting dirty air, which we call dirty air. You're getting their wake off their car, which is making your car handle different.

It's all how you work traffic and set your car up for traffic. It's not as easy as just pulling up behind somebody and driving.

WHITFIELD: It seems like one of the hardest parts is not to touch another vehicle.

LEFFLER: Yes. I mean, it's tough, especially when you get 42 other cars out there. It's 42 other competitive race car drivers. So everybody's fighting for the same piece of real estate out there.

WHITFIELD: Right.

LEFFLER: Yes, that's when you see the wrecks happen.

WHITFIELD: Or better yet, you don't want to be trading paint.

LEFFLER: No, you really don't. You have to do what you have to do when it comes down to the end of the race. But you definitely don't want to be -- the ideal thing is not to be running into each other.

WHITFIELD: Yes, yes. Have you counted the wrecks that you've had?

LEFFLER: I couldn't count the wrecks.

WHITFIELD: That numerous?

LEFFLER: That many times. I couldn't tell you how many times I've been upside down. Not in a stock car, but the other forms of racing, the dirt track racing I did before, I really couldn't tell you how many times I've flipped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Jason Leffler, what a gentleman. He's a great guy and there's more, as you heard right there. He said that was just the warm-up.

Beginning at 2:00 Eastern Time, back in the car with Jason Leffler. We're going to go 170 miles per hour. That time, it was just about 100 or so.

All right, alongside Leffler, I sat down face to face with Joey Logano. He also knows the thrill and the risk involved with NASCAR racing.

I sat down with both to talk about their passion for stock car racing. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So take me back, where this passion came from. You and your family are living in Connecticut, and somewhere this spark of go-kart racing and dreams of something bigger comes along. What's the evolution of that?

JOEY LOGANO, NASCAR DRIVER: It's crazy. You know, my family wasn't into racing. My father played baseball and basketball through high school. Those are the things I tried first. But I think the fact that I wasn't good at any of them, I found something I was pretty good at.

I think that was the fact that -- I enjoy winning. No matter what it is. If it's not racing, it's playing a board game, whatever it is, I want to win. So I think I found something that I was good at and I was able to win at.

I just liked it. I was the kid with the race car bed and all the Matchbox cars. With all the racing gear, all the NASCAR stuff. I was just fortunate enough that I was able to follow my dream. I never, ever thought I'd be racing in the Spring Cup Series against Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart and all these guys that I watched on TV.

Mark Martin, I watched him on TV. I had his gear. I wore Mark Martin stuff around and here I am racing door to door with him. I remember the first time that happened, I thought, this is crazy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, more face to face with Joey Logano and Jason Leffler throughout the afternoon beginning at 2:00 Eastern Time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, now to some stories happening around the nation.

In Boston, reputed mobster Whitely Bulger appeared in court facing a 100-page indictment. He said he'd hire his own lawyer if, quote, "you give me back my money."

When police captured Bulger in California after 16 years on the run, they found $800,000 in cash. He is accused of murder and racketeering.

Next, to Detroit, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was given parole and could be released from prison next month. Kilpatrick pleaded guilty back in 2008 to obstructing justice trying to cover up an extra marital affair. He still faces several federal charges from his time in office.

And in Port Orchard, Washington, topless espresso stands have become all the rage and generating of outrage. Five are already in business. The county wants to regulate them as adult entertainment or at least require the baristas to cover more skin.

All right, all this week, CNN has been shining a spotlight on modern day slavery. In Nepal, one woman has fought to save sex trafficking victims for nearly two decades, helping rescue and rehabilitation more than 12,000 women and girls. That earned her the title of 2010 CNN Hero of the Year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANURADHA KOIRALA: If someone comes and says, I want to make your child a prostitute, they would give them one slap or should. But here, families, they are tricked all the time.

Girls are brought from the villages by people who can lure them and tell them that they are getting a nice job. It is my strong hope to stop every Nepali girl from being trafficked. We go to the border of India and Nepal, is the conduit point of trafficking.

Once they are here, there is no way to escape. I am Anuradha Koirala and it is my stronghold to stop every Nepali girl from being trafficked. Then we go to the border, exit points, we are intercepting four to five girls per day.

After the rescue, the girl is taken to mighty Nepal. We started this to accommodate these survivors, trafficking survivors, we take everybody. The girls who come back from brothels are totally psychologically broken.

We give them whatever work they want to do, whatever training they want to do. One day, we will really stop it. The trafficking will end. These are all convicted. There is always a small scar that, yes, one day I was trafficked. But today I am nothing new in my life. They are my strength.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Helping in that effort, actress Demi Moore recently went to Nepal to work with Koirala and CNN's cameras were there. Tune in Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern to see the "Nepal's Stolen Children," a CNN Freedom Project documentary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. New York is now the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex marriage. A last- minute vote changed by two Republican state senators pushed the bill over the top.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law just before midnight. Celebrations immediately broke out. New York has no residency requirements. So couples can come from out of state to get married. Law goes into effect in 30 days.

There's a sudden recess at the Casey Anthony murder trial in Orlando. It resumes Monday. Our David Mattingly calls the judge's surprise action significant. Casey Anthony is accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

And after meeting with lawyers behind closed doors, the judge in the case said an unspecified legal issue has to be resolved first. He wouldn't elaborate further.

First lady Michelle Obama went on a safari today at a game reserve in South Africa. The world spotlight continues to shine on her and her daughters during their week-long tour there in South Africa. The first lady returning on Monday.

Do you think your relationship with money is healthy? Come back in our 2:00 Eastern hour and find out from our financial experts today and don't miss my face to face series this afternoon "Face-to- Face" series with Jason Leffler and Joey Logano, two of NASCAR's most promising drivers.

"YOUR MONEY" starts right now.