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Storm Threat Triggers Shutdown in Gulf; Jerry Sandusky Found Guilty

Aired June 23, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hello again, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

In the Gulf of Mexico right now, the threat of a tropical storm is prompting the evacuation of oil rigs off the coast of Texas and Louisiana. Let's bring in Bonnie Schneider. Bonnie, what's shaping up out there in the Gulf?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're monitoring this area of disturbed weather that is likely to become Tropical Storm Debby within the hour.

The next advisory is likely to indicate that because hurricane hunter aircraft has found a lot of indications that we are seeing tropical storm force strength winds.

You were mentioning about the oil rigs. I want to show you on Google earth. We plotted where most of the oil rigs are, most of them off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, and notice where the storm is.

It's mainly to the east of that. Nonessential personnel at some oil companies have done evacuations already because of the increase in winds, but it looks like with this storm most of the precipitation and convection and thunderstorms are managing to stay east at least right now.

But let's take a look at this storm a little bit closer and show you where it's going. Because hurricane hunter aircraft as we speak are inside the storm. They have been flying all the way since earlier today from Keisler Airforce base in Biloxi, Mississippi straight south and then they dip further north and they kind of get different readings including surface pressure and winds. A lot of the winds we've been tracking were almost a tropical storm force strength.

You can see just to the exterior of the storm we had 17-mile-per-hour winds and the wind speed now being clocked at 60. We're likely to get this as a tropical storm very soon. We're waiting on the advisories. Once we have that we will be able to get a much better picture than this.

This is the current spaghetti model plot. We call it that because the lines look like spaghetti. They actually indicate quite a divergence and where some models are taking the storm, westward to Texas or to the eastward into Florida. It's really interesting. You don't even see anymore that are going straight to the north. They're going one way or the other depending on whether the storm will get picked up by a trough to the north and kind of steered in that direction.

All indications are that's likely what will happen because you can see a lot of strong winds right now are to the north and east of where the storm is located. We're already getting some stronger winds in the New Orleans area. Heavy rain is in the forecast for coastal Florida all the way from the panhandle down through the Tampa area over the next 48 hours but really within a matter of minutes possibly by 5:00 we will be able to give you a better track and an official word of whether or not this is tropical storm Debby. All indications are we will have a tropical storm though soon in the Gulf of Mexico.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Keep us posted on that, Bonnie. Thanks so much.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Out in Colorado now firefighters are up against extreme fire conditions today as they battle flames in the Hyde Park fire. We've heard from local officials earlier today and they say it looks like the fire is going to keep growing all weekend long. So far at least 191 homes and more than 75,000 acres have been destroyed.

I-reporter Ken Rager took these photos of the fire from Fort Collins, Colorado yesterday. He evacuated his cabin which is about a mile away from the flames. He says that seeing the fire at such close range is both, "horrific and beautiful."

Flood waters are receding in Duluth, Minnesota. People are finally getting a look at the true scope of the damage. Homes are surrounded by water and roads and bridges are washed out. Early damage estimates from city officials more than $100 million.

All right. Turning to Egypt now thousands are gathering in Tahrir Square. They're waiting for results from last week's presidential election. Riot police are on stand by in front of Egypt's election commission which is expected to release results tomorrow.

And now to Kenya. Americans are being urged to leave the port city of Mombassa. Officials have warned of an imminent threat to that city which is Kenya's second largest and a major tourist attraction. No details were issued with the warning but Kenya has recently been hit by grenade attacks blamed on a Somalian terrorist group right there along the Kenyan coast.

All right. Jerry Sandusky has been convicted and is now behind bars and it is likely he'll be there for the rest of his life. The jury reached its verdict late last night and found the former Penn State assistant coach guilty on 45 of 48 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys. Sandusky was immediately taken away and booked into the county jail. He is now under suicide watch.

Less than 24 hours after his conviction CNN cameras caught this moment. His wife Dottie Sandusky showing up today at the jail where her husband is being held. Our Jason Carroll is in Pennsylvania with more on the developments there So, Jason, one of the lawyers for Sandusky made what most are considering a very surprising announcement today about their readiness just prior to trial.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Fredericka, this is something that we've known about for quite sometime but because of a gag order there were some certain things that we were not able to reveal. I can tell you that a few days before the trial was set to begin I spoke to a defense source who told me, "Jason, we are six months behind from preparing and getting ready for this to go to trial." They felt as though that the continuances that they kept asking for because they were denied, they simply were not ready. They did not feel as though Jerry Sandusky himself was ready to be cross examined.

These are just some of the issues that they had to deal with leading into this trial. Also, in terms of Jerry Sandusky, himself, the source also tells me that they discussed on more than one occasion, Fredericka, about the possibility of a plea deal telling Jerry Sandusky that the chances of conviction were very, very high. Earlier today Carl Romminger spoke on a morning show, spoke about the entire issue of whether or not the defense was prepared. I want you to listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL ROMMINGER: We actually asked to resign from the case and that was done in secret. (INAUDIBLE) and I asked Judge (INAUDIBLE) if we could withdraw from representing Jerry Sandusky because we felt we were ethically unable to go forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When did you ask to resign the case?

ROMMINGER: We did that the morning before jury selection started. We got an informal ethics opinion from the bar hotline and we were told that under Rule 1.. I think it was 1.16 if I'm quoting it right or 1.6 - I think it's 1.16 but if an attorney has an ethical duty to be prepared and adequately able to represent the defendant. If he can't he must ask to withdraw from the case. We did that. It was denied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So this whole idea of continuances will be obviously brought up at a later date. Whether or not it's enough for an appeal at this point, Fredericka, is still under question. Obviously, a lot of the community weighing in on this verdict last night. I'm sure you saw some of the coverage. You heard the screams, the cheers outside here in front of the courthouse last night as word had spread that the guilty verdicts had come in.

Obviously the community starting to react to this. Earlier today one of our CNN producers were out at the Jerry Sandusky home, spoke to one of Jerry Sandusky's neighbors, Sue Strauss. She says at first she did not believe the allegations but once, Fredericka, she started hearing more and more about the case her opinions started to change specifically about Dottie Sandusky. This is the woman who she knew more than Jerry Sandusky. Now I want you to listen to what she had to say about Dottie Sandusky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SUE STRAUSS, SANDUSKY'S NEIGHBOR: There is going to be a day whether it's today, next week, it's not - it hasn't happened yet but there will be a day where she wakes up and she says, this four and a half decade long marriage was not what I thought it was and that will be a tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: It is her opinion that Sandusky suffers from a condition that prevents him from seeing or feeling or admitting to the truth. As for Jerry Sandusky, his attorney says he continues to maintain his innocence. Fredericka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Jason Carroll, thanks so much.

So could there be a more legal charges against Jerry Sandusky? Our legal guys will be weighing in on that, what might happen now after the former Penn State coach's molestation convictions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. The legal guys are here weighing in on the Jerry Sandusky conviction. Avery, your thoughts?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Now that Jerry Sandusky has been convicted will the law go after his wife, Dottie? Or will they leave her alone?

WHITFIELD: And Richard, how do you see it?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Fred, a flash verdict. The jury had no problem with convicting the serial pedophile. He's going to die in prison.

WHITFIELD: After 21 hours of deliberations. All right. We're going to see you again in about 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is on suicide watch in jail. After 21 hours of deliberating jurors handed down a verdict guilty of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15- year period.

Let's bring in our legal guys Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Cleveland. Good to see you.

FRIEDMAN: Hi, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: Hello. And Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor joining us from Las Vegas. Good to see you as well.

HERMAN: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, gentlemen. A conviction, 45 counts, sentencing has yet to happen. But this case is really far from over. Richard, might there be other cases that develop as a result of this or other charges to be prosecuted now that the court has heard from a number of witnesses that came through? And then they didn't hear from one - Matt - the adopted son of Jerry Sandusky but, perhaps, his allegations may spark new charges?

HERMAN: They could very well spark new criminal charges against Sandusky and if they do, I would hope they would bring in Dottie, also, as a co-defendant and an accomplice.

WHITFIELD: That's the wife.

HERMAN: That's his wife. But it is very interesting this Matt Sandusky, because this is the alleged reason they did not put Jerry Sandusky on the witness stand. They feared that as a rebuttal witness the government would call Matt Sandusky who would, after all this time, saying, "No, my father never touched me. He never touched me." Now all of a sudden he was going to get on the stand and say, "Yes, I was molested."

WHITFIELD: And so Avery, we don't know. What were the sequence of events here? At what point did Matt Sandusky stepped forward and say, "I have a story to tell?" Or did the defense say "We want to use him or the prosecution we want to use him as a rebuttal witness potentially as opposed to just calling him in the first place?" What could have potentially happened here?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I think there are a number of things going on. Number one, I think both the prosecution and the defense realized that Matt Sandusky had credibility issues and, to me, I never bought the explanation we heard last night from the (INAUDIBLE) who is the counsel for Jerry Sandusky that, "Well, you know, we knew that Matt was going to testify and then Jerry was going to testify, we were going to call him, but because he was going to be a rebuttal witness then we decided against it." It makes absolutely no sense.

I think Matt Sandusky, whether or not the story is straight up we don't know because we've heard two different stories but I also am in agreement that we may see more cases down the line as well as, and we'll talk about this in civil litigation.

WHITFIELD: OK. Before we get to the civil litigation do you agree with Richard that Dottie, the wife of Jerry Sandusky, might possibly face some sort of charges whether it be, you know, being complicit in any way or whether it be, you know, hiding evidence? Any of those things sound like possibilities to you?

FRIEDMAN: Obstruction.

WHITFIELD: Obstruction of justice potentially?

FRIEDMAN: I absolutely do not believe that. I think she was a victim. I think we saw her on the stand. Even Joe (INAUDIBLE) who is the lead prosecutor was very gentle. I don't believe it for one second. I think she is harmed because of this conviction and the fact is that her testimony other than being a nice old lady was a very, very little value. You would have expected they'd have brought in calendars of events to rebut some of the victims' testimony but I think it's just, frankly, a sad, older woman who now is going to be on her own and she is going to be stripped of an ability frankly to survive after the civil litigation.

HERMAN: Right.

FRIEDMAN: I don't at all believe the prosecutor is going to go after Dottie. No way.

WHITFIELD: Richard?

HERMAN: I completely disagree. This woman for all of these years saw these young boys in her house, in the basement, on the road, in hotel rooms with her husband. Come on. She had to have known what was going on. And just one thing, Fred. We have to step back for a moment. Those young boys who screamed in that basement, who cried themselves to sleep every night, now, finally their screams have been answered. This serial pedophile animal is going to die in prison where it should be. He's done. He's never going to see the light of day.

FRIEDMAN: No doubt about it. But there was no evidence at the trial - no evidence at the trial that Dottie, none of these victims -

WHITFIELD: Except one of the alleged witnesses - do I recall - I mean one of the alleged victims did say that he was screaming in the basement and he thought that his screams would be answered by the wife, Dottie, who was upstairs?

FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.

HERMAN: Yes, that's the assumption, yes.

WHITFIELD: OK.

HERMAN: Well, that's the evidence.

FRIEDMAN: I just don't buy it.

HERMAN: Well, that's the evidence, that she walked into hotel rooms with him laying on the bed with kids.

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

HERMAN: These are little kids. This is so disgusting this case.

FRIEDMAN: Convict her beyond a reasonable doubt? No way.

HERMAN: I'll take a shot.

WHITFIELD: The criminal case is not quite over because the sentencing will take place but let's talk about, Avery, those civil suits that could come. Would it be, the civil suits would be, you know, pinpointing Jerry Sandusky, his estate, or would it be Penn State University or both? FRIEDMAN: Both. Not only will it zero in on Jerry Sandusky to the extent that there's much value to that, and there is, there's pension and some other assets, but it's going to zero in on the university. I mean the fact is that there was sufficient evidence that surfaced at the criminal trial to show that the university over time had a pretty good idea what was going on. I just can't imagine what the defense is going to be on the part of the university that somehow we had no idea what was going on. The evidence including McQueary's testimony is very clear. They did know. They did nothing about it. Even Joe Paterno before he died said "You know, I wish I could have done more. Well he didn't and neither did the other officials and I think the university is in an enormous, in an enormous big bowl of trouble.

WHITFIELD: All right. You can catch our legal guys every Saturday on CNN beginning at noon Eastern time.

All right. Let's check with our Bonnie Schneider because we have been talking about that threatening storm in the gulf but now there is another potential disturbance and this is taking place in Florida. What is it?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it's actually related because we're getting some of those outer bands from the disturbance in the gulf and onshore in Florida and what happens is you get, when the storms come onshore we often get tornadoes and we've had one law enforcement official report the sighting of a tornado near Tamiany Trail and Rattle Snake Road. This is in Collier County in southwest Florida.

You can see that this tornado warning - we actually had two, one just expired a moment ago, but this one is for central Collier County. Why don't we zoom in here, you can take a better look at the area affected. Northward we're still getting some very strong thunderstorms in Ft. Myers as well but as I open up this wide you can see some of the heavy bands of rain coming up from the south as this system, which is so widespread, really is enhancing moisture. So the threat for tornadoes will continue into the afternoon and evening hours with this system. Any moment now we could get word from the National Hurricane Center on whether or not this is indeed a tropical storm.

All indications are that we're going to get a named storm in the Gulf of Mexico called Debby before 5:00 p.m. but in the meantime the immediate threat from Sarasota, south of Tampa to Ft. Myers and into Naples is the threat of severe weather, severe thunderstorms and as I mentioned a tornado warning that's in effect until 4:30. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.

Bonnie, keep us posted on that.

Meantime, some people who are not on television any more in shows, et cetera, are up for some of TV's biggest honors tonight. There is a live picture right now at the ballroom where the action will be taking place as the day time Emmy awards. We're going to take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is profiling a man who wants to inspire Americans to get back to making things. Here is a preview of "The Next List."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just going to make a mess.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN HOST: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See what the kid wants to do.

GUPTA: Calling me a kid?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So here's a model. We put two pieces of a conductive Play-do in between an insulator. But first, we're just going to put a battery on. There we go.

GUPTA: Wow. That's amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We plug that in anywhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That is pretty amazing. Tune in tomorrow to watch "The Next List" or set your DVR for 2:00 p.m. Eastern Sunday. Then at 2:30 tomorrow a well known atheist blogger announces this week that she has become a Catholic. I'll be talking with her about her journey from disbelief to faith and what changed her mind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hollywood is celebrating stars that shine during the day. And the Day time Emmy Awards are on our sister network, HLN, tonight and "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer looks at the top nominees. A.J. Hammer joining us live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. So who or what show had the most nominations tonight?

A.J. HAMMER, HOST "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, "General Hospital," Fred, "General Hospital" has an amazing 23 nominations and Tony Geary from that show could win his seventh for outstanding actor tonight. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the GH stars, truly going to be a great celebration of all things in daytime but the soaps in particular getting a lot of love tonight, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. That's good. So, you know, I understand Regis Philbin even though he is no longer on, you know, "Live with Regis and Kelly," you know, he is up for an award. What are the chances? Would he be there to accept if he were to get it?

HAMMER: Well, I'm being very diplomatic. Don't know if we'll see Reg in the house tonight. I know Michael Gelman is here. I spoke to Michael Gelman a couple of weeks ago, the very long time producer of "Live with Regis and Kelly," "Regis and Kathy Lee" and now just "Live with Kelly." And Gelman has his hopes high that he can no longer go on as the Susan Lucci of daytime talk shows as he said. He actually wants to go home with an award for the show tonight. The show has never won before in all the years it has been on air. So it would be a great tribute to Regis to actually see them walk away. He is also nominated in the host category.

WHITFIELD: Right. And speaking of Susan Lucci any idea whether or not she may be in the house since "All My Children" might be up for something?

HAMMER: "All my Children" of course up for 11 awards. I just bumped into Susan Lucci back stage.

WHITFIELD: Really?

HAMMER: She is very excited and is part of a big tribute. I can't tell you exactly what she is going to do. She is going to be on my red carpet preshow, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh good.

HAMMER: That's going to be after 7:00 but during the show which begins at 8:00 Eastern Laluch will be on stage doing something very exciting to celebrate the soaps. Wait till you see what she's going to do.

WHITFIELD: Oh, we can't wait. A.J., thanks so much for bringing some of the previews. Then you'll be bringing us the highlights too. HLN's coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern tonight with all the fashion from the red carpet. That's just for starters. Then the 39th annual Daytime Emmy Awards celebrating the TV shows and the stars you love 8:00 Eastern time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We're following these developments. Some severe, potentially dangerous weather in Florida, in particular. Our Bonnie Schneider is in the weather center now talking about not just one tornado threat but several.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. Fredricka, we have actually three tornado warnings up right now. Let's zoom into Collier County. Because we've been tracking these cells and they do look very strong. We have reports that very strong thunderstorms near mile marker 60 on Alligator Alley and we're also looking for the threat for tornadic weather in south central Hendry County. That's in southern Florida. So really a good portion of the parts of southwest Florida impacted by a tropical system that doesn't have a name yet but it will.

We're anticipating that this storm will be named Debby within the next 20 to 30 minutes by the National Hurricane Center. Look at all the rain that's coming up from the south of this system. And again not officially a tropical storm yet but hurricane hunters have been flying through the system and that's why we've been getting reports that the winds are strong enough to be tropical storm force strength. We're certainly seeing strong winds right now with this system. And, Fredericka, just to let you know, we're also tracking of course where the storm is in relation to the oil rig. It's much further east. Most of the rigs are to the west of where the strongest thunderstorms are. But nonessential personnel has already been issued the order to evacuate just in case.

WHITFIELD: All right. Bonnie, keep us posted. Thanks so much for that information.

That's going to do it for us. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Much more of "THE NEWSROOM" continues at the top of the hour with Don Lemon.

SANJAY GUPTA, M.D. starts right now.