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The Trial of Dr. Conrad Murray; American Hikers Back in U.S.; Deadly Shooting near Seattle; Students Teaching Teachers; Pastor Passes out Money; An End to Bullfighting in Catalonia
Aired September 25, 2011 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, I'm Don Lemon. Thank you for joining us here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
You know, this week begins one of the most high profile and possibly gut-wrenching criminal trials you may ever witness. Dr. Conrad Murray, the man blamed for Michael Jackson's death, will defend himself in court on charges of involuntary manslaughter. The trial officially began Friday when a jury of seven men and five women was seated. The defense tried unsuccessfully to have the jury sequestered.
And for a better understanding of the case against Dr. Murray, here's CNN's Ted Rowlands.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. CONRAD MURRAY, ON TRIAL FOR MICHAEL JACKSON'S DEATH: Your honor, I'm an innocent man.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The jury in the Conrad Murray manslaughter trial will have several questions to answer.
One, did Dr. Murray give Michael Jackson a lethal dose of Propofol. Prosecutors say there's no doubt. Murray and his attorneys say there is no way.
ED CHERNOFF, MURRAY'S ATTORNEY: There is no way that Dr. Murray would pump him full of enough Propofol sufficient for major surgery and walk out that room. It's not going to happen. That's not the doctor Dr. Murray is.
ROWLANDS: Murray claims the day Jackson died he only administered 25 milligrams of Propofol, far less than what was found in Jackson's body by the coroner.
(on camera): How did it get in him?
CHERNOFF: That's a good question. Ted, do you have any idea how it got in him?
ROWLANDS (voice-over): The defense is expected to argue that Jackson somehow gave himself the lethal dose.
(on camera): Could Michael Jackson have done it? CHERNOFF: Is it possible for an individual to inject himself with a drug? Yes. Yes.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Before Jackson died, he spent hours struggling to go to sleep according to a time line Murray gave police. Murray says he gave Jackson five doses of three different drugs between 1:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. At 10:40 a.m., he said he gave Jackson the Propofol.
911 OPERATOR: Did anybody witness what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Just the doctor, sir.
ROWLANDS: 911 was called at 12:21. Emergency responders will testify they believe Jackson was dead when they arrived.
Another question jurors must answer is, was using Propofol, an anesthetic for surgery as a sleep aid, so reckless that Murray should be held responsible for Jackson's death?
(on camera): Doctor after doctor gets up and says, well, this should never be used outside a clinical setting, outside of a hospital or a clinic.
CHERNOFF: The fact that the circumstances may be unusual, may be demonstrated to be unusual, does not make it egregious. That alone does not make it egregious.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): Murray's defense will argue that Jackson was a drug addict and in horrible physical shape and that he was getting drugs from other doctors that Murray didn't know about.
Prosecutors plan to argue that Jackson was in good shape and planned to show this clip from the documentary "This Is It" of Jackson rehearsing just days before he died.
So now, more than two years after Jackson's death, a Los Angeles jury will be presented with the case and ultimately decide whether or not Dr. Conrad Murray should be held responsible.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And I will be in Los Angeles all week to cover the trial for CNN and bring you the very latest from inside the courtroom.
One of the judge's biggest worries in the Conrad Murray trial is social media, believe it or not. Jury misconduct online is becoming more frequent. The judge wants jurors to not only to avoid sharing their experience and feelings about the case on social networking sites, but to also refrain from researching the case online.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JO-ELLAN DIMITRIUS, JURY CONSULTANT: I'd say in the last year and a half, I've seen about 75 percent hands of perspective jurors go up to say that they actually Googled the parties in the case, even the attorneys.
RICHARD GABRIEL, JURY CONSULTANT: There's been numerous scores of trials that have been overturned, mistrials declared, as a result of jurors not realizing that, oh, if I Google a particular term or person or witness that's come into the trial, that's doing investigation into the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: -- women and the alternate selected for the jury have been questioned about their social networking habits.
In other news, President Barack Obama begins a new week out west raising campaign cash and hosting a high-tech town hall. He got a warm welcome from Democratic donors just a little while ago, that was in Seattle. He used most of his speech to promote his new jobs bill, a plan that's not popular among Republicans. He also asked the crowd to help with his re-election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've come because I need you to help finish what we started in 2008. Now, back then we started this campaign not because we thought it would be a cakewalk. After all, you supported a candidate named Barack Hussein Obama. You didn't need a poll -- you didn't need a poll to know that that was not going to be easy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And from Washington state, the president heads to northern California for more fund-raisers later this evening. Sunday, he hosts a town hall meeting with the web company LinkedIn.
781 days, that's how long Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer spent locked up in Iran. But now both have their feet planted firmly back on U.S. soil. CNN's Susan Candiotti was there when they spoke with reporters soon after arriving home.
So, Susan, we've been waiting to hear from these men. Take us inside that press conference.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the very first thing we learned was how it was that they found out that they were going to be set free. And they said, normally, every day they had a bit of exercise in the prison that was outside, then they would normally be blindfolded and taken to their 8-by-13 cell.
But last Wednesday, after their exercise, they said they were taken to a different floor of the prison and that they were given street clothes and they were fingerprinted. Then they were taken somewhere else and met with an envoy for the Sultan of Oman, and he said to them, "Let's go home". And Don, that's how they figured out they were going home. And of course, they did say that they were very thankful to be set free by the Iranian government, but then they didn't waste any time slamming the Iranians, saying that they don't deserve any praise, other than the fact that they let them go. Here's how they elaborated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH FATTAL, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: But we want to be clear, they do not deserve undue credit for ending what they had no right and no justification to start in the first place. From the very start, the only reason we have been held hostage is because we are Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHANE BAUER, FREED AMERICAN HIKER: In prison, every time we complained about our conditions, the guards would immediately remind us of comparable conditions at Guantanamo Bay. They would remind us of CIA prisons in other parts of the world and the conditions that Iranians and others experience in prisons in the U.S.
We do not believe that such human rights violations on the part of our government justify what has been done to us. Not for a moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: So an interesting comment there. They also called on Iran to release all political prisoners.
So Don, what happens next? Well, they said they're going away. They want privacy, they want to be left alone, they want to get some rest, and then figure out what to do with the rest of their lives. And of course, they thank everyone, volunteers in the private and public sector, who helped get them out and kept the pressure on.
LEMON: Yes. After two years, they would probably want some privacy, and just reset. Thank you, Susan Candiotti. Appreciate it.
A shoot-out in a small town; we have new information on the deadly shooting outside a youth football game in Washington State. It's an incident that has left an entire community dazed and confused.
It was no ordinary Sunday in this New Jersey church. The pastor said, please stand as we pass the offering plate, except, please take some cash instead of giving a little. It's what the pastor calls a spiritual stimulus.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: New details are emerging about a dramatic shoot-out you first saw last night right here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SOUNDS OF GUNFIRE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus Christ.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A gunman opening fire near an elementary and middle school, a high school in Issaquah, Washington. Here's the scary part: a youth football game underway at that high school.
I want you to listen, because football fans in the packed stadium ducked for cover.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They huddled under the bleachers, staying close together, and scared out of their minds.
CHASE HAWKINS, WITNESS: Everybody's terrified out there. They're very scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They started shooting at us and the bullet went me and my friend, Tony, and we went around and started running and we could hear the bullets bouncing off the concrete behind us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: No one in the stadium was hit, but police say the unidentified 51-year-old man fired his first shot at the elementary school where he tried to break into a car. From there, police say he attempted to get into the cab of a backhoe that was on school property.
Police rushed to the scene and exchanged shots with the man killing him before he was able to get near the parents and children at that football game.
Remembering the victims of that tragic air race disaster in Nevada, it's impossible to forget the image of this crash in Reno on September 16th. 11 people died when a pilot lost control of his vintage plane and barrelled into the crowd.
Well, tonight, hundreds are expected to gather at a memorial at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. The city will dedicate a tree to the victims and hold a candlelight vigil.
The call to Sunday service at one New Jersey church had a different ring to it, more like a jingle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. TIM LUCAS, PASTOR, LIQUID CHURCH: People are acting like they're going to be struck by lightning. They're typically, you know, a lot of people are cynical about religion and they come to church expecting to be shaken down. But we're saying, you know what, it's really all God's money, and he trusts you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Well, find out why a pastor invited those in his church to reach into the offering plate and take some money out.
But first -- first, remember how it was when you were in school? Teachers always in front, students at their desks, taking note. Well, in tonight's "Perry's Principles", CNN education contributor, Steve Perry takes a look as the kids take charge, at least for a day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the synapses in my brain connect, then I learn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you guys stand up and do it with us?
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): The students are teaching class today at the Beardsley School. The pupils? Their teachers.
This role reversal is part of a revolutionary program developed by the National Urban Alliance or NUA.
(on camera): How do teachers respond to having kids tell them how to teach?
ERIC COOPER, PRES., NATIONAL URBAN ALLIANCE: They love it, primarily because it really gives them an understanding of the strengths that the students have, as well as where the gaps are that need to be filled in.
PERRY (voice-over): The training is broken up into two parts. First, an NUA representative leads a session on creative teaching methods for both students and teachers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready? Set? Go.
STUDENTS: Neurons are the brain cells, the brain cells, the brain cells.
PERRY: Then the kids take over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll only give you about two minutes. So, go.
PERRY (on camera): You're working in some of the lowest performing school districts in the country. What is it that you hope to gain?
YVETTE JACKSON, CEO, NATIONAL URBAN ALLIANCE: It's not just so that the students feel empowered. It's so that the teachers see what unbelievable wealth of potential these students have.
PERRY: Today, you guys were teaching. Was that cool?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
PERRY: What makes you think you'd be a good teacher?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They always teach us. So, it's good to teach them for a change.
PERRY (voice-over): Costs for the program are split between the NUA and participating school districts. More than 450 students and 15 schools across the country have participated so far.
The NUA says those students' performance has improved in the classroom, and they're currently sponsoring formal research to confirm that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think teachers need to know that they should keep on trying and keep on teaching the kids no matter what.
PERRY: Steve Perry, Bridgeport, Connecticut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: People who attended services at one New Jersey church today left with more money than they had when they came. The Liquid Church passed the offering plate, but insisted people take money out instead of dropping it in. How often does that happen? The church pastor was on CNN earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUCAS: On a typical Sunday, people give about $30,000 in cash into our Sunday offering, so today, they're going to do just the opposite. They're going to reach in and pull out unmarked envelope that we've pre-packed with 10s, 20s, and 50s.
People are acting like they're going to be struck by lightning. They're typically -- you know, a lot of people are cynical about religion and they come to church expecting to be shaken down. But we're saying, you know what, it's really all God's money and he trusts you.
You know every bill in the U.S. economy says "In God We Trust", and we're going to put that to the test.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That's my kind of church. Pastor Lucas isn't just throwing cash around. He's urging his flock to use the money to help people in need. He calls it a spiritual stimulus.
Spain's most famous matador takes the ring for Barcelona's final bull fight. We'll tell you why there are mixed emotions about the end of this era.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Spain is the cradle of bullfighting, but critics say the sport's time has come and gone. They're celebrating its end in one province, but as Lola Martinez explains, that doesn't mean bullfighting is on the edge of extinction. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOLA MARTINEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The trumpet fanfare signals the end of an era as Barcelona hosts its final bull fight. Bull fighting is a sport that for many had come to symbolize Spain. But Catalonia's regional government voted last year to ban the practice on the grounds that it is cruel and outdated. Critics of bullfighting hailed the vote as a victory for animal rights.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We, Catalans, don't want bullfighting anymore, and finally, it's over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think it is barbaric. I'm totally against it.
MARTINEZ: Supporters say bullfighting is an art form that represents Spanish cultural and should be preserved. They hope to overturn the ban on constitutional grounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think it's terrible to ban bullfighting here, because it represents the culture of our country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Why do we have to ban bullfighting here in Catalonia when it's permitted in the rest of Spain?
MARTINEZ: In recent years, attendance has been down at the famous Monumental Bull Ring due to bullfighting's declining popularity among young people. But tickets for Sunday's finale were sold out. Fittingly, Jose Tomas, Spain's most popular matador rang down the curtain as the final bullfighter on the bill.
Lola Martinez, CNN, Barcelona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Lola.
A disappointing end for swimmer, Diana Nyad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANA NYAD, SWIMMER: I owned it. I trained so damned hard for it. I deserve it. It's a hard thing to let go of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: You're going to find out why she was forced out of the water less than halfway through her swim from Cuba to Florida. It's disappointing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Let's check your headlines, shall we?
Technicians in California have restored service to most AT&T customers affected by a major outage. You know, a hardware glitch disrupted service for thousands of wireless customers in southern California over the past 24 hours. AT&T says a hardware issue knocked out about 900 cell towers within its network around the Los Angeles County area.
In Athens today, police used tear gas to subdue several hundred protesters. Police accused a group of trying to block a road near Parliament. A nationwide civil servant strike has been called for October 5th because of anger over austerity measures. Greek officials have a tough week ahead of them -- a very tough week ahead of them trying to persuade European and IMF auditors that they are on track to control the country's enormous deficit.
And we go to Yemen now. Medics in Yemen say one person was killed in the capital today as security forces battled anti-government protesters. 38 people were killed Saturday in clashes, 38. Addressing his country, President Ali Abdullah Saleh blamed terrorists for the deadly violence and anti-government protests. He also said that al Qaeda is supported by the elements responsible for the violence.
And Saudi Arabia's king is giving women the right to vote. King Abdullah's decision doesn't take effect until after the next election. On Thursday, Saudi men will vote in municipal elections, only the second in 50 years. Women still have a long way to go in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia doesn't even allow them to drive.
Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad failed today in her latest attempt to swim the 130 miles from Cuba to Florida. Nyad began her swim Friday evening and projected it would take 60 hours to complete, but she suffered jellyfish and Man-of-War stings and was pushed off-course by strong currents. She was pulled from the water after 67 miles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NYAD: But those two Portuguese Man-of-War stings -- I have never been through any pain ever like that in my whole life.
(INAUDIBLE)
NYAD: And I tried. I was paralyzed all through my back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back off, I'm coming through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, go forward. Get out of the way.
NYAD: I had the chills, vomiting. Twice. And I kept swimming through it. And now it's set me so far back, I just don't have the lung capacity to swim the way I can, you know?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, Diana, you're still a champ. She made her first attempt 33 years ago. Her second attempt last month ended after 29 hours. Again, you're still a champ.
So good luck to you, good luck in the future. I'm sure you'll try something else again.
All right, NBC "Saturday Night Live" has its eye on politics, spoofing the GOP's latest presidential debate. Well, guess host Alex Baldwin portrayed Texas governor Rick Perry as a less than -- well, I should say, energized candidate. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEC BALDWIN, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Chip, if I may, I would like to attack Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you sure? It's late in the debate. This is when you normally get tired and confused.
BALDWIN: Not tonight. I'm ready. Romney said he was for -- uh, against Obama care, but what about Mitt Romney? I mean Mitt Romney care? Was it was before he was before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh-oh.
BALDWIN: Was it was, he was before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Rick Perry getting it from all sides. I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
"STORIES: REPORTER" coming up next.
