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West Memphis Three Released; Unrest Continues in Syria; West Memphis Three Freed; HP Discontinuing Tablet and PC; Doctors Say Heart Disease Preventable; New Comic Book Series Features Political Figures

Aired August 19, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: As we hear the closing bell and we talk a lot about the markets, I think it's also significant here to point out Bank of America.

Can you just give us the news here today in terms of these layoffs? Because I know the numbers I was reading today. What, they're cutting 3,500 jobs?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.

BALDWIN: And that's on top of the 2,500 job cuts already this year.

KOSIK: Exactly.

And this is kind of startling. These are huge job amounts -- job losses. And it makes many market watchers maybe wonder, you know, with all the volatility we're seeing in the markets and we see these huge job cuts in the financial sector, it's like having a flashback to 2008.

But there is a big difference because you have to remember the stock losses that we saw in 2008, the Dow fell as much as 7 percent some days. Now the falls are a little less. We're seeing the Dow fall a little less, somewhere between 3 percent and 4 percent today. It's 1.5 percent.

And back in 2008, you have to remember we were worried about the banks going bankrupt. Now companies and banks are sitting on piles of cash. Banks are still lending. You really can't compare this to 2008, even though we hear about those huge numbers of job losses at Bank of America -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, another big difference, too, that people point out that mess in 2008 was economic. And this time, political. Alison Kosik in New York -- Alison, thank you.

KOSIK: A lot of it is.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much. Have a wonderful weekend to you.

And now watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: The year was 1993, the era of grunge and goth, flannel shirts, black lipstick and the horrific murders of three young Boy Scouts in Arkansas.

JOHN MARK BYERS, STEPFATHER OF VICTIM: They're innocent. They did not kill my son.

BALDWIN: Now the young men who went to prison as teenage murderers are free. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Live fire in Syria. How will the world respond today after reports that President Bashar al-Assad's men shoot and kill more protesters? I will speak with the State Department this hour.

911 OPERATOR: What is the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a truck with a baby stroller in the back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a truck with a baby stroller in the back.

BALDWIN: The woman in the back of the truck, she's the baby- sitter. See if you agree with her defense. We're on this case for sure.

And why is Hewlett-Packard ditching part of its business?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the HP TouchPad.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hour two continues on. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(NEWS BREAK)

Coming up next: Three Arkansas men taste freedom today after serving nearly two decades behind bars. But it took a mind-boggling legal maneuver to get their freedom back. CNN was inside that courtroom today for the so-called West Memphis Three. We are going to take you there live next.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEYONA DAVIS, DEFENDANT: It's not like they give you a handbook or anything on how -- what's neglect and what's not neglect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, it didn't take a handbook for everyone else to learn that this, this here, is wrong. Folks, that is a woman with a child in a stroller in the back of a moving truck. Yes, it's all caught on police dash-cam.

Back in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: What would you do if you were there, you're driving along, you see this pickup truck, and in the back of a truck is a baby stroller with a baby inside?

It happened in Florida. And we have the police car dash-cam video for you. Take a look. This Florida woman who is seen there -- see, she's sitting grabbing on to that stroller in the back that she's sitting alongside. She was arrested. And she was charged with child neglect for this outrageous ride.

And if she didn't realize how dangerous it was, you better believe those other drivers on that same road did -- 911 apparently was flooded with calls. How does this woman justify her actions?

Claire Metz with CNN affiliate WESH was in court to hear her defense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIS: It's not my child. I was watching a friend's child for her while she was at work.

CLAIRE METZ, WESH REPORTER (voice-over): Twenty-three-year-old Keyona Davis, facing a judge, didn't seem to understand that what we did was wrong, allowing her eight-month-old charge, Terrance McClain, to sit in his stroller in the bed of the pickup, even if she was next to him. Stunned motorists starting calling 911.

911 OPERATOR: Nine-one-one. What is the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a truck going down Mason Avenue headed east with a baby stroller in the back of the truck with a baby in it.

911 OPERATOR: Nine-one-one. Where is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a (AUDIO GAP) back in a pickup truck while I was driving on Nova Road southbound.

METZ: One motorist stayed with the pickup as it headed south on busy Nova Road for several miles, finally turning on to Orange Avenue, where police picked the truck up. What a sight. Imagine if the driver hit a bump, if he had an accident. There are any number of horrible scenarios.

DAVIS: I got my first child when I was 16.

METZ: Davis explained to the court she's been baby-sitting without incident since she was a teen, didn't realize police would consider this endangering a child.

DAVIS: It's not like they give you a handbook or anything on how -- what's neglect and what's not neglect.

METZ: Davis' public defender argued that a charge of felony neglect was too harsh, saying the baby wasn't hurt. But the state and the judge saw this video as very disturbing. The charge stands, though they did agree to release Davis on her own recognizance. She's ordered to stay away from the child the court said she neglected in this wild ride.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So, we picked up the phone. We reached out to Davis' attorney ourselves. So far, he hasn't returned our phone calls.

But we did hear from Florida's Department of Children and Families. You know they're investigating this case. Let me read for you what they told us in a statement -- quote -- "No child should ever ride in the back of a moving pickup. They could be thrown from the vehicle and suffer serious injuries. All children should be properly restrained in moving vehicles with child seats for children age 5 and younger and seat belts for children of all ages."

Coming up next: The United States has made it crystal-clear Syria's president must go, but apparently Syria's president not getting the message -- more fighting, more violence, more death in the streets of that country today. Will the U.S. step up its actions? I will ask State Department spokesman Mark Toner. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Right now, I want to show you what happened in Damascus -- Damascus, capital of Syria.

This was yesterday right about the same time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was calling for the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Let's just watch and listen for a moment. A man described as a Syrian activist witnessed this shooting. He tells CNN it was carried out by Syrian security forces. He says he does not know if anyone was wounded. Significant, though, that this incident occurred in the Syrian capital.

Joining us from our nation's capital, State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

And, Mark, just school us here, if you would. What is to be gained here by calling for President al-Assad's resignation? I mean, obviously, we don't expect him to step up and say, well, if you say so, I'm gone. But could there be a possible downside here at all?

MARK TONER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Well, primarily, this is us showing solidarity with the Syrian people, who, as you have seen, have been courageously standing up to just a brutal assault by Syrian security forces now going on three, almost four months.

And this has been a steady ratcheting up of international pressure, international indignation, if you will, against what he's doing to his own people.

And so, yesterday's statement, powerful, and says he needs to get out of the way and allow a democratic transfer to take place. But not in isolation did the president make that statement or the secretary also make the statement yesterday. It's done with our EU counterparts, as well as U.K., France, Germany, and Canada. And we've also seen increasing pressure in the Arab world as well. So Syria's neighbors have also spoken out against what they're seeing there.

BALDWIN: You make a great point, right? We don't have a whole lot invested in Syria. You mentioned Europe, Persian Gulf states. What specifically are we asking them to do?

TONER: Well, we're asking them to look at way, sanctions is one way to do it where they can tighten the noose, if you will, or really increase pressure on Assad's regime, really starve them of the revenue they need to fund them of the security forces to use them against innocent civilians. You've seen in cities throughout Syria this past week where the Syrian security forces have been using armor against citizen civilians. So it's quite startling, it's horrible. And we're trying to use, both diplomatic pressure and economic pressure to get them to stop doing it.

BALDWIN: When Secretary of State Clinton made that announcement yesterday, right off the bat she mentioned Iran. We know Syria and Iran, they're big buddy. And if and when the president of Syria goes, is there a viable anti-Iran opposition that might take his place?

TONER: Well, you know, it's a very fluid situation in Syria. But we have seen the Syrian opposition begin to take shape, begin to stand up and become more cohesive and become more broadly representative of the Syrian -- of Syrian society.

BALDWIN: But is that a worry for you, for the state department?

TONER: It's not from what we' seen. We want to remain in contact with the Syrian opposition as they grow.

BALDWIN: Before I let you go, I just want to talk Libya here. Is Moammar Gadhafi on the ropes here nor Tripoli? And will he leave? What could he leave behind? I mean, it could be chaos if and when he finally leaves Libya.

TONER: There again, we've had our folks on the ground, working with the Libyan opposition, the so-called transitional national council for some time. We have folks in Benghazi, indeed a kind of embassy or opposition, working on exactly what it's going to look like post Gadhafi. Impossible to say when he'll go, but it's clear he will go.

BALDWIN: Mark Toner with the U.S. state department, appreciate it very much. TONER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, President Obama is trying to get a little R&R, but not everyone is very happy about his vacation. In fact, they're being downright nasty about it. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: President Obama spending his first full day of a 10 day vacation on Martha's Vineyard. But given what's going in markets, unemployment figures, jobless claims, some of his Republican critics say he should be back in Washington.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called the president "tone deaf" today when it comes to the Americans' expectations of a president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: There isn't anything wrong with going on vacation, but the problem with this president is that he's tone deaf to the American people and what people expect out of a president in tough times. I think everyone can admit we're in an extremely and extraordinarily tough times in this country, and we have a president that just doesn't seem to connect the dots.

In the second piece of this is that the place he chooses to go on vacation is like he's living out the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The Republican National Committee even set up a website for voters to send postcards mocking the president's coastal getaway. Here are a few. A White House spokesman says this is, quote, "a working vacation." The president also takes time with his family to recharge his batteries.

All right, now to quite a story today here, the so called West Memphis Three. These three men have been in prison for half of their adult lives since 1993, they are walking free today. But back then they were convicted of brutally killing three young boy scouts during a satanic ritual in the woods.

And there has always been doubt in this community exactly who really committed those horrific murders. CNN's David Mattingly has been covering this story really for years, even put out a documentary on the West Memphis Three, interviewed one of them on death row last year. David, first, let's just listen together. I want to listen to the words of these three men, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., and Jason Baldwin from a news conference just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMIEN ECHOLS, FREED AFTER GUILTY PLEA TODAY: I'm still very much in shock, still overwhelmed. You have to take into consideration that I spent almost the past decade in absolute solitary confinement. So I'm not used to being around anyone, much less this many people.

QUESTION: Is it bittersweet?

ECHOLS: It's not perfect by any mean, but at least it brings closure to some areas and some aspects. You know, we can still bring up new evidence. We can still continue the investigation we've been doing. We can still try to clear our names. The only difference is now we can do it from the outside instead of having to sit in prison and do it.

JESSIE MISSKELLEY JUNIOR, FREED AFTER GUILTY PLEA: Even in prison, it went on every day. You had to worry about your own safety. It doesn't matter what the crime is. You still have to worry about your safety regardless.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jason how about you?

JASON BALDWIN, FREED AFTER GUILTY PLEA: I don't have to worry about what some people are going to do. I just stand with people I know and trust. This was not justice, you know. At the beginning, we told them the truth, we were innocent. And they sent us to prison for the rest of our lives. Then we had to come here. And the only thing the state would do for us is hey, we'll let you go, only if you admit guilt. And that's not justice no matter how you look at it. They're trying to kill Damian, and sometimes you've just got to fight to save somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: In fact that was the first time they'd all been together in years and years. David Mattingly, let's just begin with the how. I know there was some sort of legal maneuver. They still had to plead guilty and they got credit for time served, right?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has a name. They put in a guilty plea but they walk out free with time served. That way the prosecution gets its victory, they're still criminals in the eyes of the court, but they're able to walk out free and proclaim their innocence with no more obligations to serve any more time behind bars in the state of Arkansas.

So not a sense of closure really on either side. The attorneys are looking at this. The prosecutor is saying we are convinced that these are the guys who did it. S we're not reopening this case. The defense attorneys say there's no way they would have let them go if they really thought they were guilty.

So this case will continue to be argued. There's going to be questions out there. The West Memphis three is not done talking about what happened 18 years ago by any stretch of the imagination.

BALDWIN: I know you're there. I was glued to the live feed today just outside of that courthouse where you are and I saw a number of family members not just for these three men but some of the victims. And I imagine you being in the courtroom, there had to have been some emotions, some outbursts? MATTINGLY: There were some outbursts. I heard one woman yelling "baby killers." There was one father stood up and yelled at the judge and said you're opening a Pandora's Box by letting people off of death row like this. So the judge responded and said this is not going to make the pain go away, not for the families that lost their children and not for the families of these three men who lost 18 years of their lives behind bars.

BALDWIN: David, I know you've been following this for years. Tell me how these three men were convicted. Talk to me about evidence, what evidence linked them to the crimes.

MATTINGLY: It was called a "satanic panic." Back then there were a lot of unsolved crimes linked to possible acts of Satanism. That's what happened here. People got the idea there was some Satanic ritual involved in the murders of those three young boys. So when they went looking for suspects, the immediately focused on these three. They were sort of outcasts. They like heavy metal music, wore dark clothing. They stood out and they were instantly considered targets.

And from there the case continued to be built. They were able to get Jessie Misskelley to admit to a confession which he immediately recanted. Jessie Misskelly known to be borderline retarded, so he was frightened. So as time went by and emotions went away, they were looking closely at the facts in this case. There were no facts, no pieces of evidence that linked these three men to those three boys and not linking those men at all to that crime scene.

BALDWIN: David, I talked to two of the filmmakers for "Paradise Lost" embedded with these men for 18 years and chronicling their lives. There were a number of celebrities in there today. Who is in there? And why has this particular story become such a cause celeb?

MATTINGLY: I saw Natalie Maynes from the Dixie Chicks. There was Eddie Vetter from Pearl Jam. I think what attracted so many people to this was these kids were sort of odd. They were outcasts, loners. They were immediately singled out, and the view is that they were picked on by the justice system. That resonated with a lot of people who shared their similar tastes and shared their similar aloofness as they were growing up. So there was something appealing about the lifestyle they were living and who they were when this happened.

And they look at them as victims, and they were able to generate a lot of support as people continue to look at what they consider the lack of evidence in this case. The West Memphis Three might be free tonight, but while they have the support of these high-profile people and the support of others in the community, they still have the undying hatred of some of these family members who believe that they murdered their children.

BALDWIN: What a story. David Mattingly, thank you very much. We mentioned your documentary. We're going to air it tonight again at 11:00 eastern time. David, thank you so much, live in Jonesboro. Now coming up next, if you have a Hewlett-Packard community, you might want to hang on to it because you won't have a chance to buy one again. Why HP is saying adios to the PC.

And holy haboob, what's going on in Phoenix? Chad's got that. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Couple of stories here. First, you have the world's largest computer maker killing off of it tablet and PC business. Also Phoenix is hit by a haboob. And we're learning how to prevent heart attacks. It's time to play Reporter Roulette of this Friday.

Dan Simon, let's begin with you in San Francisco. HP, say it ain't so, killing off their touchpad tablet. Why?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is like, you know, making the most expensive movie of all time and having nobody come to the theatre. It's actually worse than that. HP paid more than $1 billion to acquire Palm and then took Palm's operating system called Web OS. It made a smart phone and a tablet called the HP touchpad. It came out just two months ago and HP saying they're going to get rid of it.

The problem is that the reviews were not very good and they just could not compete against the Apple juggernaut. The iPad, for example, has 90,000 apps while HP had 300 and developers didn't want to touch this thing with a 10 foot pole.

BALDWIN: It's one thing to do away with its tablet. It's another thing when you hear they're getting out of the PC business altogether. Why? And then what are they left with?

SIMON: It's an interesting question. HP is still the largest technology company in the world when it comes to revenue. They actually make more computers than any other company. They make more computers than dell, for example.

But the margins on PCs are so razor thin, and HP not making as much money as they'd like to make. So they want to exit that business and they want to get more into the software business, more of the enterprise business and compete with IBM. So they made a bid, a $10 billion bid for a British software company. In the meantime, if you have an HP touchpad, you might want to think about taking it back if you haven't taken it out of the box yet.

BALDWIN: That is huge news in the tech world for us. Dan Simon, thank you very much.

Next, it's an Arabic term. It's called a haboob. It's happened again in Phoenix. Dangerous winds. I also want to talk about that and another state fair Chad Myers, let's start with this haboob. This is the third one in Phoenix recently?

CHAD MYERS AMS METEOROLOGIST: Exactly. It's almost the same idea of what happened at the Indiana state fair. The rain comes down, hits the ground, and that air splashes out and you're going to get -- I'm going to call it a dust storm. I like that term better. There it is, coming down. All those air filters in those cars, it's all clogged now. Go out and buy another air filter. You can see it just engulfing the entire city there of Phoenix and Scottsdale.

BALDWIN: It's so huge, Chad. How quickly is it moving, and how quickly does it move away?

MYERS: They can move in about 40 to 50 miles per hour. The big one we had about four weeks ago, that thing moved at 60 to 70 miles an hour because the wind was so strong.

BALDWIN: Before I let you go, state fair, damage, what are you learning?

MYERS: Again, Missouri, what is going on with state fairs this year. First we had Indiana, and now we have Missouri last night. Obviously no one there, but obviously still the livestock was there. Wind blew through, the same storm really that hit Omaha with baseball- sized hail as it came down through. You're very happy that was at night and no one was there. It's going to open up again around 3:00 local time. But that state fair has been closed all night and into this morning.

Now we have Harvey, getting rid of the "h" letter. Move into Roatan really and then into Belize. There are two more very big systems in the middle of the Atlantic that we're going to watch for next week. This is a big deal. Irene and then maybe Jose. One could be a category something greater than one near the Gulf of Mexico by the end of next week. Don't go under a rock and go away for a couple of weeks because this could be a big hurricane.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, thank you very much.

Next here on Reporter Roulette, learning how to prevent heart disease. Former president Bill Clinton at first ignored his own symptoms until he was forced to have surgery. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent more than a year here looking at heart disease for this upcoming special. He says there are a lot of things you can do to avoid surgery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: A few months before this happened, I noticed whenever -- not every time, but often when I would do rather strenuous exercise -- there's really hilly areas in the town where I would climb those hills and stop and take a breath. I didn't take it seriously because every time it happened I just lowered the exercise level, got my breath back and it was never painful. It was just tight.

If this isn't good for my heart, I don't know what is.

GUPTA: By the time he felt the first symptoms, that tightness in his chest, President Clinton's heart disease was well advanced. It had been decades in the making.

DR. ARTHUR AGATSTON, AUTHOR, "SOUTH BEACH DIET": You don't die with your first plaque. You develop blockages, really your whole life for many, many years before it causes a heart attack or a stroke.

GUPTA: And what Dr. Agatston told me next should ring a bell of hope for just about anyone that's every worried about a heart attack -- it doesn't have to happen.

AGATSTON: One of the best kept secrets in the country in medicine is that doctors who are practicing aggressive prevention are really seeing heart attacks and strokes disappear from their practices. It's doable.

GUPTA (on camera): And you're saying from what we know right now, we don't have to have any more heart attacks in this country?

AGATSTON: I won't say any, but the great majority, yes, absolutely.

GUPTA: It's the biggest killer of men and women, heart disease in this country.

AGATSTON: And it's completely preventable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: No heart attacks ever, Sanjay Gupta? I know your dad and grandfather both had heart disease, but is that realistic?

GUPTA: I think for the vast majority of people it is. And you're starting to hear this drumbeat from more and more doctors are cardiologists who say, look, if you really analyze this, it's primarily a food-borne disease. Heart disease is something that has increased in number as our diets has changed. If you look at cultures across the world, there are lots of cultures that don't have much heart disease at all because of the way they eat.

So if you think of it like that, you believe you can essentially become heart attack proof by virtue of your diet, that's what a lot of these doctors are saying, no meds, no interventions, no angioplasty, no surgery.

BALDWIN: Food-borne disease, I never even thought about it that way. Quickly, you were in Havana recently, lucky you.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: You were down there looking at the health care system?

GUPTA: It's interesting. It's a country that spends far less per capita than we do on health care, yet their life expectancy is about what ours is and their infant mortality rate are actually lower than ours. So I wanted to get a real idea of how they do it.

There's a lot to it, as you might imagine. But one of the key is the real concept of prevention, not just catching diseases early, but trying to prevent things from ever happening in the first place. That's where they spend their money, and they get a pretty good bang for their buck on it. It's not the United States in a lot of way, but it's pretty interesting the way they can make it work for them.

BALDWIN: Is it all work and no play?

GUPTA: Pretty much. You know how it is.

BALDWIN: Sanjay Gupta, always working, working, working.

GUPTA: I'll buy you a mojito --

BALDWIN: I will take you up on that.

And let's just remind everyone here, former president Bill Clinton is going to join Sanjay this Sunday night to explore the signs that could result in "THE LAST HEART ATTACK." CNN presents Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. And that is your Reporter Roulette. Thank you very much.

Coming up next, have you heard about this? The Tea Party darlings get their cartoon close-ups? Joe Johns has that coming up in your political pop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Time now for political pop. Apparently coming to a store near you, a Tea Party comic book and comic bios of several Republican presidential candidates. Joe Johns is here to talk to me about these new comics. Who is putting this out?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is something a lot of parents are actually going to love, and no matter what your political persuasion. There is this company Blue Water Productions, Blue Water Comics out in the Pacific Northwest, starting with the last election. They took a look at that election and the campaign Sarah Palin and Hillary Rodham Clinton were being treated unfairly by the media, so now they decided to make a comic book about them.

Now the latest comic book they're putting out is about Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, and the Tea Party. But don't draw any conclusions about the way they're headed politically. They're apparently trying to be very agnostic about it. I talked to a guy named Jason Schultz out of Blue Water, and he says they don't want readers to know who they voted for. The goal they say is to put comics out, not pick a side, sort of spark interest in the readers and let them study the lives of people they're depicting, you know.

BALDWIN: OK. You say this is great for parents, when do the comic books hit the stores?

JOHNS: Gosh, for Bachmann, one is going to come out in, I think, November, and the other two are supposed to come out in December. So these are some of the others, sort of screen grabs they sent me today. That's a biographical thing about Michelle Bachmann. And some of the black and white ones have pictures of Romney in them. He looks like he's sitting in an airplane seat or something like that.

But it seems to me and it's pretty clear from them that this is a work in progress. They're just sending us stuff that they're working on so you can see what they're doing. It's interesting stuff. Good for kids who don't like to read the newspaper or "TIME" magazine or whatever.

BALDWIN: But enjoy a good comic or two.

JOHNS: Right, get them a comic book, exactly.

BALDWIN: OK, so for transparency's sake, the next part of the segment, I was yelled at, Troy Bentley, our associate producer for looking at this script.

Apparently they've had a little fun with you and me in comics. So I have no idea what we're about to look at. Just letting everybody know that.

Jason, do we have it? It's coming, I'm told it's coming. So there are captions and cartoons. Boy, here it is.

JOHNS: Wow, I love this.

BALDWIN: I have bad vision. I can't read it.

JOHNS: Look at that, that's incredible. You know, they took a drawing or something of me in a tux, I think at an inaugural ball. Where's the -- and that's you on the set.

BALDWIN: Now, I'm being told. Now I'm getting the news as to what the caption says. It says, I say Joe, big plans this weekend? And you say, I hope, Brooke, doesn't ask me details about my evil weekend plans. I say, he's up to something and you say mwah-hah-hah. To be continued.

JOHNS: I do have an evil laugh, but I don't have any evil weekend plans. Maybe we'll have to scare something up.

BALDWIN: I guess so, that was kind of funny. Joe, thank you very much. Have a wonderful weekend whatever you decide to do.

And still to come here. You know, every time we flip through the channels, we see celebrities endorsing products, but which celebrities do Americans really trust?

Reuters and Ipsos has revealed a list of the most trusted personalities coming in at number five, not an American, Katherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge 58 percent trust Prince William's wife.

And legendary actor Morgan Freeman coming in at fourth place with 59 percent. Here we go, yes, Ms. Congeniality herself, Sandra Bullock coming in third place with 60 percent. So there you go, five, four and three. Who were the top two trusted personalities in America? The answer after this short commercial break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK, so you've thought about this. What celebrities do Americans trust the most? We showed you the five, four, three and now the top two running at the list for pollsters Reuters/Ipsos, Tom hanks is the second most trusted at 65 percent of the vote.

Yes, I think I would trust him and no one is more trusted than Betty White with 69 percent of the vote. She is the golden girl. Did you notice, only one of those people is under the age of 40? Just saying.

They've earned our trust, clearly. Someone I know I trust, I'm sure many of you trust, Wolf Blitzer, always at the helm of "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf, I have mad trust for you.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": You know, I remember you did that little item from CNN Eatocracy about some eating habits that I have.

BALDWIN: Your frozen Oreos.

BLITZER: Yes, what do you think about that?

BALDWIN: I think it's a little odd, freezing Oreos. I mean, what -- what the really like net gain from a frozen Oreo.

BLITZER: You know, you have to be careful when you have frozen Oreos at night just before you go to sleep with a glass of skim milk, which I like to do as you know. They could be really tough.

You could break a tooth if you're not careful. So you've got to work that or owe a little bit and make sure it melts just a little bit so that you don't have any problems.

BALDWIN: And this is your -- I'm Wolf Blitzer. I eat this every night on the campaign trail thing.

BLITZER: No, no, my whole life. I don't know my whole life, but in recent years.

BALDWIN: Who knew. I love getting little things out of you each and every day here.

BLITZER: Have you gone to that Eatocracy website?

BALDWIN: Of course, I have. It's wonderful. OK, what do you have coming up?

BLITZER: All right, let me tell you. You know, Piers Morgan is going to be in "THE SITUATION ROOM." We're talking about the walkout. Christine O'Donnell, remember her, she walked off the set.

She was on "The Today Show" this morning talking about it, calling him creepy, sexist, all sorts of other words. So we invited Piers to come on to defend himself and he's going to be joining us. We invited her as well. Unfortunately she can't do it. Maybe she will be able to join us somewhere down the road.

Remember, I moderated the Delaware Senate debate when she was running for the U.S. Senate from Delaware against Chris Koons. So I met her in Delaware so maybe she'll join us at one point down the road. She's out promoting her book and just started going through it.

So we'll have a good conversation with Piers on that whole incident, which I think our viewers will appreciate. We're doing all the other important news, including what's going on in Libya, Syria, and politics. We've got a lot of stuff going on.

BALDWIN: All right, Wolf. We'll look for you in a couple of minutes and have a wonderful weekend to you.

Straight ahead for me though today, I want you to take a look at this video here because in case there is any doubt with what we're seeing. That is a woman riding in the back of a pickup truck, hanging on to a baby stroller, inside that stroller, a baby. We're going to give the woman's reason behind the ride coming up when we're on the case.

But first, here's a sneak peek. This is when you get to ask me some of the questions here each and every Friday. This is what we're calling the week wind down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Does Ali Velshi ever sleep? He's on all the time. I always introduce him as the man who never sleeps. I'm not so sure if sleeping and Ali Velshi go in hand and hand. I'm pretty convinced the man must have a cot or something at CNN. I tried e-mailing him to get an answer for you. The man is actually taking the day off. Ali Velshi, good for you. You deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want you to look closely at this video here. It was captured by police. You're going to see a pickup truck and in the back you're going to see a stroller, there you go, and a woman hanging on to a stroller. There's actually an 8-month-old baby in the stroller.

The woman responsible for this child is a 23-year-old woman in Florida. She told police she didn't know she was doing anything wrong maybe the back of a stroller in a pickup truck. So the woman, who is described as a friend of the family and a baby-sitter was in the back of the struck with the child.

She is facing felony child neglect charges. We're going to take a couple of minutes to delve into this legal issue of this story. Holly Hughes here is on the case. Holly, got a couple of stories here first.

But I want to play the sound. I'm sure you've heard it, but this woman actually has spoken in court in her own defense. Let's see what she had to say about why she did this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not like they give you a handbook or anything on what's neglect and what's not neglect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So I guess it's less of a why, but I didn't have a handbook. I wasn't supposed to know. As a lawyer, what do you think of this woman?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: After I'm through laughing at that, common sense. Do you need a handbook to tell you that something on wheels inside of something else on wheels --

BALDWIN: That's moving.

HUGHES: Might move if he hits the bricks suddenly. I mean, this is common sense. You don't have to be a parent to know this. You could show this to an 8-year-old child and they could say that's dangerous.

From a legal standpoint, this absolutely is a felony, Brooke, because the child could be dead because of the level of neglect involved here.

BALDWIN: Thank goodness, the truck didn't hit anything or have to stop suddenly or get any kind of accident so the child is OK. She is charged as you said felony child endangerment. If you're representing this woman, what's the defense, ignorance?

HUGHES: At this point, that's the best she can do because clearly there is no legal leg to stand on. It's not like a self defense case where you say, you know, I'm justified in some way. There's no defense for this kind of behavior.

And this isn't a 13-year-old baby-sitter. This is a 23-year-old young woman and again, common sense. I mean, if this was my client truthfully, I would throw both me and her on the mercy of the court and say, you know what, judge, she didn't think it through. It's lack of planning and preparation. She didn't think what was to happen if there was a sudden slam on the brakes. She'll never do it again. Just be merciful.

BALDWIN: OK. That's that story. Another one had a lot of us talking today here. I want to talk about this mom. She's charged with using hot sauce to discipline her kids. Her name is Jessica Bickley. She appeared on the TV show "Dr. Phil" to talked about her parenting style.

So this week she's on trial in her hometown on Anchorage, Alaska for child abuse and the evidence being used against her. The tapes she shot herself to get this spot on Dr. Phil. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you get a yellow card? I'm waiting. You don't know what you did? OK, then let's think about it in here. Open. Close your mouth. Did you swallow it?

Did you lie to me? No, don't spit it. Are lies supposed to come out of your mouth? No. Does it make it better to lie? Was it a good choice to lie about pulling three cards today?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So the hot sauce. Then also I want to play one more clip, then the cold shower. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the consequence for pulling the card?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Cold shower.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A cold shower. Get undress right now. Why are you getting a cold shower?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So Alaska prosecutors, they say the pictures are evidence, just evidence in and of themselves of child abuse. What do you say?

HUGHES: They're absolutely right. I mean, you know, as a trial attorney, you always want that case where you can literally say let's go to the video.

In this case, that's exactly what you have. There's no doubt what she's doing to this child. It's not like one of the other children say mommy put him in a cold shower or mommy, put hot sauce.

She actually has and that sadder part is, one of her other children, holding the video camera.

BALDWIN: Is that's who it was? Another child?

HUGHES: Yes. It's her oldest daughter holding the video camera to film her abusing this little boy who she adopted from a Russian orphanage.

BALDWIN: We'll follow it Holly Hughes. I could see your blood boiling watching this segment. Thank you very much. My time is up here. Thank you for watching me. Have a wonderful weekend.

Now, Wolf Blitzer, "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts now.