Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Tracking Wilma's Path; Mounting Urgency in Europe Over Avian Flu; Arrest Made in Vitale Murder Case

Aired October 22, 2005 - 14:00   ET

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

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN ANCHOR: This hour, Hurricane Wilma still pounding the Yucatan. The storm is now a Category 2. What does that mean for Florida? We're going to take you out now to the Florida Keys, where a news conference is set to begin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of us, in cooperation certainly in partnership with the agencies, the emergency operation center in the city of Key West, and we all plan and prepare for any eventuality. With me today we have Morgan McPherson, our city mayor and he would like to say a few words.

MORGAN MCPHERSON, KEY WEST MAYOR: Morgan McPherson, Morgan with McPherson, M-C-P-H-E-R-S-O-N. Mayor of the City of Key West.

I would like to remind everyone that it is essential that you heed the warnings. Don't become complacent because this storm will make up for the time it spent over the island because it is going to get here in a hurry. Pay attention. Think carefully before you make any decision to stay. This could be very serious. Don't take it for granted.

And I also want to say, make sure you know that right after the storm, we're going to be ready and we're going to be clear and clean and the Fantasy Fest will go on and we won't miss a beat. And we need you down here so please come. Thank you.

BILL MAULDIN, KEY WEST CHIEF OF POLICE: I'm Bill Mauldin. Chief of police here in Key West. As you already know, the storm is going to arrive tomorrow as previously stated, looking at the tropical storm winds moving in tomorrow evening and into Monday. The police department is well prepared. We will be instituting our alpha bravo shifts. Which essentially means we'll have a large contingent of police officers who will be awake and a large contingent that will be resting and alternating between those two groups throughout tomorrow night and on into Monday.

We're planning on recovery and any operations that we may have to conduct on Monday. Right now entry control points have not been established. But it is always an option. It's something that we may have to put things in place depending on the severity of damage that we may have as a result of this storm.

The storm is still dictating many of the procedures and things that we're doing, but we'll see what happens as this thing progresses.

BILLY WARDLOW, KEY WEST FIRE CHIEF: Good afternoon. I'm Billy Wardlow, the Key West fire chief. Just to let everybody know that the fire department is well staffed. We have all our trucks filled up. We have a command unit on, and we'll also be running the ambulance out of each one of our fire stations. We have three within the city, and after the post hurricane we'll put out strike teams to do an assessment study of the City of Key West so hopefully everything will be well and see you all after the storm. Thank you very much.

BILL VERGE, KEY WEST CITY COMMISSIONER: Bill Verge, city commissioner, district one. My district encompasses most of the business district and a fair amount of the military and so forth and I think we're all prepared.

But I agree with the mayor, let's don't have any complacency. These storms can be dangerous and the rest of it is afterwards if we're out of power and we have problems, it gets pretty difficult living, so take precautions. Make sure that you take time to evacuate while you can before the roads are closed, and otherwise, wish us luck. Thank you.

CAPTAIN PHIL HEYL, U.S. COAST GUARD: Good afternoon. I'm Captain Phil Heyl. H-E-Y-L. I'm the Coast Guard commander here in Key West and the Coast Guard's on watch. We tend to be on duty 24-7, leading up to the storm, and then after the storm, we'll close the port here in Key West at 0800 on Sunday morning, which is 12 hours before tropical storm winds, and we'll be prepared to do whatever we have to do after the storm for rescues or to help the port get open. Thank you.

And we've been listening to n to a news conference, Key West officials giving us an update. And we will certainly continue to monitor Hurricane Wilma as officials are preparing to, for the brunt of the hurricane. Let's now turn on to, we're going to check in with Susan Candiotti, more than 35,000 tourists have been riding out Hurricane Wilma in Mexican hotels. At least two deaths in Mexico are blamed on the storm.

SYLVESTER: Wilma has been pounding the resort towns of Cozumel and Cancun with hurricane-force winds for nearly 30 hours and it's not over yet. And our own Susan Candiotti has been riding it out in Cancun and she joins us by phone. Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): It does seem to a lot of people here, both tourists and of course residents alike that, when is this ever going to end? That's what they're wondering. We are still experiencing certainly the effects of the storm and the outer bands of the storm.

As I understand the latest information has it just west of the Yucatan Peninsula where Cancun is located and it's a Category 2 storm but I can tell you it's still on top of us. You know, trees are still bent over. We are now seeing a lot of debris, this very strong Category 4 storm, did a lot of damage to this area and unlike Hurricane Emily that hit this same region in the Yucatan in July, this one lingered longer. Therefore, there is far more damage. We've been talking to some of the locals as we've been driving around and that's clearly that's the key difference here. We've seen buildings with the roofs torn off, with catastrophic damage, really structural damage to these buildings. Windows gone. I must say, however, for the strip of hotels many people are familiar with the structure seems to be in good shape.

Clearly there are broken windows. There is some structural damage on the inside of the building that you can see, water damage throughout, many of these hotels that we looked at. However, the outer core of the building -- buildings are still standing.

Now it is very hard to get around when you go down the street and try to make your way from where we are in Cancun along the Gulf of Mexico down to the central area of the city. That is where the tourists were ordered to be evacuated, and are taking shelter in both hotels there as well as schools. The last we heard when I talked to them a couple of days ago, they were fairly decent shape, had provisions, and seemed to be doing all right.

But clearly the question on everyone's mind is, when will this end? Back to you.

SYLVESTER: Susan, what are you hearing in terms of deaths? We are getting reports two people were killed by Hurricane Wilma. What are you hearing on the ground there?

CANDIOTTI: Well, that information we have also heard, but unfortunately, don't have more details of that. Those deaths reportedly coming from some sort of a gas tank explosion is my understanding. However, we've been unable to talk to any officials ourselves because of cell phone usage is spotty and it's been very difficult to track down the people that you need to to get the details.

We have not seen any evidence as we drive around of ambulances or police vehicles, as we have in the last couple of days. We have passed by police stations but no one is in the police stations or the fire department, no one is there at the one that is closest to the Marriott Hotel where we are staying and there are two of them side by side.

But certainly the employees have taken up shelter there. In fact, there was a commercial shopping center, multistory, where a lot of employees spent the night and they're still hunkered down with the provisions they need, their families are in town and they've had difficulty getting a hold of them, although their friends have learned that they seem to be all right.

SYLVESTER: So earlier we heard that you were going to try to make it to the downtown area where the tourists have been basically staying. Have you been able to get anywhere near there? You mentioned a lot of debris, for instance.

CANDIOTTI: We tried our best. There is debris in the road that you can make your way around. However, the water is very deep and that's where the problem arises, the roads are impassable to that degree, depending on the vehicle you have, however we could not make it through. The water was frankly too deep and frankly, our vehicle got stuck in it and we were forced to turn around.

We got farther yesterday than we did this morning, this is clearly in the aftermath of Wilma and so we'll keep trying. But so far we will have to wait a little bit longer until those waters recede.

SYLVESTER: We keep seeing the pictures of rain, the storm surges, the high winds and such. Was there more wind damage or water damage where you are?

CANDIOTTI: I'd say a combination of the two, with the Category 4 storm you're going to get both of those things. The wind ripped off roofs, ripped through some of these structures, tore apart wooden frames as well as beams that hold these buildings together. But you also have storm surge damage. You could you see the water rushed through some of these buildings. So when you get something this strong you've got that one-two punch. The storm surge, the wall of water coming at these buildings, and they are not that high above sea level. We are about 27 feet above sea level at this particular location but not all of the hotels are. So therefore, you're going to see damage from both.

SYLVESTER: Susan, give us a sense, you rode out this storm, give us a sense of what it was like, the high winds, the howling sound. What was your personal experience?

CANDIOTTI: Well, anyone would be concerned and scared, because in our case this hotel did board up some of the hotel rooms and try to make them as secure as possible, the ones that faced the gulf. And those are where we were put. And we agreed to that. And in fact, you heard howling winds. It was worrisome. You kept one eye open, one eye closed. One eye with a flashlight -- naturally, there is no power -- on those boards and you could see them moving back and forth and back and forth. The floors were wet and the question would these boards stay in place? They were rattling. Some of our colleagues slept in the closet, quite frankly, some of them on top of the bed.

But you kept your clothes on ready to run out if you had to.

SYLVESTER: Susan, thank you very much, for joining us. Please be safe as you continue to report from the Cancun area and we should emphasize that CNN is the only TV network in there, we just heard from Susan Candiotti bringing us firsthand reports.

Now, as we reported, Wilma is now a Category 2 hurricane. Let's go to the CNN weather center where meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is getting some new information about Wilma. Bonnie?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Lisa, a Category 2, up to 110 miles per hour is a strong Category 2. Remember in order to be a Category 2 hurricane the winds are between 96 and 110 miles per hour so Wilma just now a Category 2 by one mile per hour. Any higher it would be back at Category 3 strength.

The storm is drifting erratically to the north that's why we don't have much of a change in its movement. Because of the slow movement, Cancun, Cozumel, down to Chilum (ph) just getting pounded as you heard from Susan's report, a steady flow for 30 hours of hurricane-force winds, torrential downpours of rain, coming in as a Category 4 and still a Category 2, definitely doing a lot of damage in-to-that region of the Yucatan. We're not expecting it to work its way to the north and to the northeast until later tonight into Sunday and Monday for our track.

Right now, though, there is a hurricane watch posted for the U.S. Includes all of the Florida Keys and this means we could see hurricane force conditions in this region within the next 36 hours. We're also anticipating hurricane watches to go up here for the southwest coast of Florida later today when we get those we'll let you know.

Here is the latest track for you. The storm as it works its way over the Gulf of Mexico and remember the water temperatures are in the 80s over the gulf. So we're still looking at some warm water.

Once the storm moves away from the Yucatan, moves away from that interaction with land, comes over the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico we're expecting it to maintain its strength as a Category 2, maybe weakening and strengthening a little bit before it gets to Florida. But the one thing to note is while the storm has been battering the Yucatan for days on end seemingly to not move, once it gets away from the Yucatan it will zip very quickly towards Florida.

So that's why the time to prepare is now, coming in sometime on Monday, anywhere really from 8:00 in the morning towards the early afternoon hours of Monday, we're only anticipating the storm to say over Florida for about six hours before it works its way further off to the north and to the east and eventually working its way eventually away from land.

But a lot of rain is expected for South Florida. We could see six inches, up to eight inches and possibly even up to a foot of rain in some areas, depending on how fast the storm moves through. So we'll get a better idea once the storm pulls away from the Yucatan, right now still pounding the area and we could see reports when all is said and done of up to three feet of water in the Yucatan, just devastating for this region since the storm is still sitting there.

Lisa?

SYLVESTER: Bonnie Schneider, we'll continue to check back with you.

Naples, Florida a long with Marco Island is now under a mandatory evacuation order. One prediction has Wilma crossing the state's southwestern city sometime on Monday. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is there. Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lisa, the Collier County commissioners here in Florida voted to do something this morning that they've never done before, they are imposing a curfew in hours before the storm hits. Wilma, as you know, expected here on Monday but the commissioners saying there will be a curfew from 10:00 p.m. Sunday to 6:00 a.m. on Monday. There are some very nice areas in the neighborhoods that have been put under that mandatory evacuation area.

Some people have left already. Many others on their way out of town. The sheriff for the county says the looting in New Orleans was not the primary factor in making the decision and recommendation for this curfew but clearly the protection of property is front and center.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF DON HUNTER, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA: ...Board of County Commissioners directed an evacuation out of the expected coastal impact areas, critical areas and therefore property and some people in those areas would be theoretically exposed to a potential crimes of opportunity. So it makes sense this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Collier County preparations continue apace. We're at a marina. Ordinarily on a Saturday afternoon this place would be humming. It is really quiet today. A lot of the boat slips are empty, an indication that some of the vessels have been taken out of the water or moved to a safer location. A lot of businesses in town have boarded up, many of them are closed. But we've talked to a lot of residents here today saying we've been doing this for days. We've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Will Wilma please get here? We are ready for her. Back to you.

SYLVESTER: OK. Thank you very much. Jeanne Meserve waiting it out with the residents as well.

And we're continuing to follow our top story all hour, Hurricane Wilma still pounding Mexico. It's been hovering over the area for at least 24 hours. The storm could hit Florida early next week. So how is FEMA preparing for its wrath? That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: As Hurricane Wilma lumbers toward the Florida coast, FEMA is working 24-7 to make sure this time, it's ready to deal with any potential storm emergencies. The agency has pre-positioned emergency response teams throughout Florida and stocked up on supplies there. Joining us now from FEMA headquarters in Washington, CNN's Gary Nurenberg.

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Lisa. You talked about Wilma lumbering toward Florida? FEMA wants to make sure it doesn't have a lumbering response to this hurricane and is doing everything it can to send a message that it is in control and prepared for whatever contingencies Wilma may present.

Here at FEMA headquarters in Washington the acting director, R. David Paulison said his staff is tired from months of hurricane cleanup and hurricane planning, but it is doing everything it can to prepare on the ground, Lisa, as you said, it has pre-positioned 30 truckloads of water, ice and meals at two military bases in Florida, four urban search and rescue teams are in place, as are nine national disaster and medical teams, nine more of those on standby.

The military, the coast guard and air force pre-positioning ships and aircraft for use if needed after the storm strikes and more than 300 satellite phones have been shipped to the area to make communications easier particularly if existing communication systems go down as they did during Katrina. On CNN this morning, Paulison said just knowing what's happening will be key.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

R. DAVID PAULISON, ACTING FEMA DIRECTOR: What we did not have in Katrina was a good situational awareness of what was happening on the ground. So we're trying to make sure we do not what's happening. Our job is really to assist the state when they need help. The State of Florida, like I said earlier, really has their act together but we want to be ready with all of the supplies, food, water, ice, medical teams, urban search and rescue teams, if the state needs those we want them ready to go when they ask for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NURENBERG: In this effort to convince the public that the administration and FEMA is prepared, that message is coming out of Washington, several different agencies. The White House telling reporters today that President Bush received a Wilma update briefing earlier on Saturday and that the Bush administration is in close contact with Florida officials, so they can react quickly to whatever requests are made. Lisa, back to you.

SYLVESTER: Gary Nurenberg at FEMA headquarters, thank you very much for that report. And stay here with CNN, we're keeping you updated all day on Wilma's latest movements.

Plus -- to drive or not to drive, as the high price of gas keeps going upward, is your car the best way to get to work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: The executive editor of the "New York Times" says reporter Judith Miller may have misled the newspaper about her role in the CIA leak controversy. A federal grand jury is investigating who leaked the name of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.

In a memo to "New York Times" employees, executive editor Bill Keller says Miller did not tell him the extent of her discussions with Bush administration officials about Plame. He says, quote, "I wish that when I learned Judy Miller had been subpoenaed as a witness in the leak investigation, I had sat her down for a thorough debriefing and followed up with some reporting of my own. It is a natural and proper instinct to defend reporters when the government seeks to interfere in our work."

He adds, "And under other circumstances it might have been fine to entrust the details - the substance of the controversial interviews, the notes - to lawyers who would have been handling the case." In other news, Syria today is responding to a damning report to the UN. The report links Syria to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A German prosecutor investigated the bombing at the request of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Syria hotly denies it had anything to do with the one-ton explosion in Beirut last winter. The foreign minister says the UN report is based on third-hand counts.

He insinuated some Lebanese witnesses were rehearsed. Hariri's son wants an international court, wants them to hand out justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAD HARIRI, RAFIK HARIRI'S SON (through translator): They failed to assassinate him politically, they assassinated him physically. They wanted to sideline him to take him out of the political -- Lebanese political field. Rafik Hariri became a great danger to the project. He became dangerous for the mandate system and the hegemony. He was dangerous for the tools to blackmail Lebanon and the Lebanese government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: The Security Council takes up the report Tuesday. President Bush says the UN should move quickly and hold Syria accountable for the killing.

And we're following Hurricane Wilma all day here on CNN. When will Florida feel the storm's wrath? A live update from the CNN weather center when CNN LIVE SATURDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: We've been tracking Hurricane Wilma and we take you now out to Broward County, Florida, where they have had some flooding already from Hurricane Wilma. The area has received about four to five inches of rain already and this is rain coming from the outer bands of Hurricane Wilma.

This isn't even -- keep in mind, Hurricane Wilma, it doesn't reach landfall until Monday afternoon. According to the A.P., there have been several people who have been forced out of about 50 apartments and homes and also we're told from local affiliate that they have opened up a couple -- the Red Cross has opened up a couple of shelters in Broward County to help residents out with the flooding. So we'll continue to monitor the situation throughout the afternoon.

And now the latest on Hurricane Wilma. It's just weakened into a strong Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 110 miles an hour. Wilma has been beating up on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula for more than a day now. Powerful winds are blowing down trees and roofs in the resort towns of Cancun and Cozumel, and the rain there is relentless. Two deaths in Playa Del Carmen are being blamed on the hurricane. The storm is expected to slowly drift toward Cuba before heading straight for Florida.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Southwest Florida shows scars from powerful Hurricane Charley just 14 months ago and now Wilma is on the horizon. CNN's Allan Chernoff joins me live from Sanibel Island -- Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Lisa. Well, mandatory evacuation is now in effect here on Sanibel Island. And as you can see behind me on the causeway, the traffic flow is primarily out back towards the mainland, although most people have already left.

According to the rules issued by the police department, no more tourists permitted into the island, only people providing essential services and full-time residents who may be coming back to finish up their hurricane preparations. The police and volunteers have been calling residents. They've been going door to door, making sure people are doing everything they can do to prepare for the hurricane and also doing what they can to help folks out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFC. JAMES PHILLIPS, SANIBEL ISLAND, FLORIDA POLICE: Going around and they're knocking on doors, and they're dropping off these flyers that they gave you and they're talking to people. And if there's assistance needed, they're contacting the police department and we'll make arrangements to help them get them off the island if they need or to shelters, wherever they need to go -- doctors offices, so whatever they need that's what we're doing for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: The police do not plan to force anyone to leave the island but just about everyone has already gone. Houses are boarded up. Businesses shut down, and there will be relatively few people remaining, perhaps a couple hundred, at the moment, as we continue to wait for Wilma to arrive -- Lisa.

SYLVESTER: Thanks. Allen Chernoff at Sanibel Island. And stay with CNN all day for the latest on Wilma. We're your hurricane headquarters.

There is mounting urgency in Europe over a possible avian flu pandemic. As of today, Italy will no longer accept live poultry from Balkan countries. And, Italian scientists are taking blood samples from migratory birds.

Britain is urging the European Union to ban all imports of wild birds. British scientists are trying to determine what strain of flu killed a quarantined parrot from Suriname.

CNN's Jim Boulden reports from Wales that hunters may be the first line of defense against the disease.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On this salt marsh in North Wales, hunters are looking for prey and for bird flu. Bird hunters are the first line of defense in Britain's battle to discover if and when bird flu hits the shores. They're being asked to test each kill.

MARK COKAYNE, HUNTER: And as soon as I get back off the marsh that will go off to the veterinary labs for analysis.

BOULDEN: About 1,000 shot birds will be tested this way.

(on camera): It's highly unlikely a hunter here in Britain will find a diseased bird this early into duck season. It will be several weeks before the migratory birds make it here from Europe. So if a diseased bird is found in the coming days, then that means the avian flu has traveled much further, much faster than anyone predicted.

(voice-over): The second line of defense is here, at Britain's bird sanctuaries. Experts will test a number of migratory and domestic breeds. But first the team, led by Peter Cranswick (ph), has to catch them.

(on camera): You flush the bird in and you get smaller and smaller and smaller, and at the end you're able to catch the bird.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

BOULDEN: You test it, bring it, and off it goes.

(voice-over): Off to Europe's infectious disease lab outside London. It's here scientists confirmed bird flu had reached Europe. That has made the work of testing the migratory birds now even more critical.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a group of those asleep in the water and then just behind them are Teal (ph), another species we know breeds in southern Russia and we know a few of those birds from the area have turned up in the UK.

BOULDEN: It's unlikely any infected European bird will my migrate to the U.S. That just doesn't fit the migration pattern. The infected bird would somehow have to be exported to the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. are lucky because they have their own flyways. So they have got their own breeding grounds, their own migration routes, and their own wintering grounds, so it's a slightly different over in the states.

BOULDEN: As far the common flu, which spreads every year, this flu season will kill many thousands of people. These hunters and conservationists are helping to make sure Britain know if a more deadly version is not on the horizon. Jim Boulden, CNN, Clwyd, Wales.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: New developments in the slaying of Pamela Vitale. The teen now in custody is being charged as an adult. What do our legal eagles think? That's ahead when CNN LIVE SATURDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: California prosecutors say a teenager will be tried as an adult in the beating death of a well-known defense attorney's wife. Sixteen-year-old Scott Edgar Dyleski was charged yesterday with one count of murder. He's being held on a $1 million bail.

Attorney Daniel Horowitz says he found his wife's body at their San Francisco area home last Saturday. Law enforcement officials say Pamela Vitale was beaten to death with a piece of crown molding, and they say a crucifix was carved in her back.

The death of Pamela Vitale tops our legal briefs this hour. And our favorite attorneys, Richard Herman and Avery Friedman, they join us now. Thanks, gentleman, for being with us.

Avery, let me throw out the first question to you. How important is DNA, the DNA evidence in this case?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Lisa, DNA is everything. This is a case that I think will be dispositive once the crime lab comes back with its findings. If I'm prosecuting this case, that's where my focus is. Because once DNA can be shown to be at the crime scene, certainly involving the victim, I'm not sure there's any other evidence that, as a prosecutor, I'm going to need to get my conviction.

SYLVESTER: Richard, we've been hearing reports that whoever killed Pamela Vitale took a shower, basically, after murdering her. How hard will it be to get enough evidence to get a conviction in this case?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Lisa, it will not be hard to get DNA evidence from the shower itself. The drain will probably have remnants of skin and hair tissue from this person. So, I mean, that's going to do him in on the DNA.

But the issue is going to be whether or not this was a premeditated killing. Did he go and seek this victim out and kill her intentionally, or was it a surprise encounter between the two where he reached for a piece of debris and struck her and killed her? Those are the issues, the crucial issues, that will be determined on whether or not this is an intentional killing or not.

Either way, the maximum that this boy is facing is 25 years to life in prison. He is not facing a death penalty. They do not have the death penalty for 16-year-olds in California. And so says the United States Supreme Court.

SYLVESTER: Avery, we are getting a picture of this individual, Scott Dyleski, his past, his background. Apparently he -- at least his classmates say that he was, essentially, was into cult affairs and such. How likely are we to see some kind of an insanity defense? I know it's kind of in the early stages at this point.

FRIEDMAN: Yes, you're right. It's impossible to make that decision now, but I'll tell you what. As a former juvenile court probation officer, I know that we used to look at the surrounding factors. And, ultimately, if I've got to defend this case, some of that behavior, which I think was clearly apparent to family, to the community, to school officials, is certainly going to be used to try to address the issue of intent, the issue of motive.

And frankly, I would hate to be defending this case. I wouldn't -- but it seems to me that when you have that kind of behavior, there are red flags that should be very apparent to the surrounding community, and I'm not sure what the community did about that.

Lisa, you hit the nail on the head here. Although insanity defenses win one out of 100 times -- those are these statistics -- if the DNA evidence comes back positive, that's going to the only out for this young man. That is going to be the only defense, an insanity defense here.

SYLVESTER: All right. I want to turn and switch gears just for a moment and talk about Tom DeLay, his troubles in Texas. He is essentially saying I want a new judge because the judge that's hearing my case right now is a Democrat. He's got -- at least his attorney has some records that show that he made a contribution to moveon.org. How likely do you think that this is? And you're smiling there. So who wants to take this question?

FRIEDMAN: I would -- may I take the first one? Let me just tell you something.

HERMAN: Of course.

FRIEDMAN: Let me just tell you something. I think, if I'm Tom DeLay's lawyer, I'm going to be making these arguments. And you know what? He actually put the judge on the defensive. It -- this was amazing. Just because an individual, a citizen, made contributions, doesn't mean that they're biased. There's a code of judicial conduct.

And I think -- you know what? The tactics used by defense counsel in this case is probably going to work, because the judge was basically responding in a defensive way. And I think he's going to bow out and defer this case to the administrative judge.

HERMAN: You know, Avery, I've been trying cases for 22 years and I always thought that the judges were impartial. I didn't think that political partisanship came into play with the decisions. But maybe Tom DeLay knows something that we all don't know. We should take a lesson from this.

FRIEDMAN: I mean, look, there's some evidence that this judge here made political contributions.

HERMAN: So what? Come on.

FRIEDMAN: These are state court judges. And you know what? the judge reacted very defensively. And I think you have to avoid an appearance of impropriety, an appearance. And I have a hunch it's going to roll back to the administrative judge. HERMAN: This does not even rise to that level. There's no way this judge should be changed at this point. It's a delay tactic by DeLay, by DeLay. And he better take this very seriously, because he's facing prison time here.

FRIEDMAN: Oh, that's why he's doing it. He's taking it seriously.

SYLVESTER: OK, Richard, Avery, let me just step in here for a moment. We only have about 30 seconds. But how difficult is it to get a conviction in these type of cases? Do you have to have essentially some kind of smoking gun evidence here?

HERMAN: Well, they're going to have a witness. I believe they're going to have some sort of government witness who's going to step in and pin it on DeLay. If they don't have that, it's going to be very difficult to get a conviction.

FRIEDMAN: And, actually, I agree with that. I hate to do it, but I agree.

SYLVESTER: All right. We have a little bit of agreement after a few fireworks there. Thank you both, gentleman, for joining us.

FRIEDMAN: Nice to see you.

SYLVESTER: We appreciate it. We'll see you next time.

FRIEDMAN: Take care.

HERMAN: Bye, Lisa.

SYLVESTER: All right.

Getting to work. Is your car the best way to commute? Our Tom Foreman takes a look, when CNN LIVE SUNDAY (sic) returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: And we've been tracking Hurricane Wilma. It is now a Category 2 storm, but it is expected to pick up speed as it barrels toward the Florida coast. There is a hurricane watch in effect for the Keys, and we will continue to monitor the storm and bring you the latest updates.

The cost of gasoline is putting a these days is putting a crimp in the free-wheeling lifestyle of the open road. And as part of his series on commuting, CNN's Tom Foreman looks at how price pains are adding to the traffic headaches.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): When Americans want to go anywhere, nine times out of 10, they hop into the car, flip on the radio and step on the gas. (on camera): The advantage to driving a car is obvious. You have complete control. You can adjust the music. You can pick news, if you want to. You can change the climate inside the car. And you can change directions with a moment's notice.

(voice-over): The cost, however, is extraordinary. We spend about 47 hours a year just sitting in traffic, sitting, burning nine billion gallons of fuel while we're at it. That's 800 times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

Add up vehicle price, depreciation, fuel, repairs, insurance, and, depending on the type of car you have, you're paying from 32 to 52 cents for every mile you drive.

AAA's Mantil Williams says you can make it cheaper.

MANTIL WILLIAMS, AAA: You can save really as much as $500 per year just by doing proper maintenance, but the most significant thing that you could do in terms of conserving fuel and saving money is change your vehicle. And most people aren't able to do that.

FOREMAN: And the options are quite limited. Hybrid cars, while increasingly popular, account for only a fraction of overall auto sales. Solar, electric and fuel cell autos have yet to become fully practical for obvious reasons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very enjoyable when you --

FOREMAN: So Phil Mitchell is delighted. He sells Vespas, those trendy little scooters. And September was spectacular.

(on camera): So how popular are these things right now?

PHIL WILLIAMS, VESPA WASHINGTON: When the gasoline got above $3 a gallon, people were calling from the gas stations and saying do you still have those Vespas? You can fill up a Vespa for $5 or $6 and you're going to get 100 plus miles out of that tank full. Plus you're having fun.

FOREMAN: When I bought my SUV seven years ago, with a wife and two kids, the whole family thought it was a lot of fun. Now, when this is empty, it can take around $60 to fill it up now.

(voice-over): But what else can you do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today the automobile is part of any American scene.

FOREMAN: Ever since Da Vinci wrote down his ideas for a motorized carriage and certainly since the first gas powered car started rolling, 120 years ago, the car has been burrowing into our culture. They build our societies, our jobs, our lives around it. This is how it was in 1952.

ANNOUNCER: Because there was a car or a truck for every three persons, almost 50 million motor vehicles. FOREMAN: Today, America has more cars than drivers. What does that mean? It means my 10 mile commute takes about 45 minutes each way. You add everything up, the grand total cost is about $19 a day. Yes, I am the king of my driving domain, but I'm paying dearly.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: Coming up later today on CNN, alternatives to the car commute. We'll check out public transportation in the 4:00 hour Eastern time, then go for a bicycle ride at 5:00 Eastern. You may be surprised at what our reporter learned.

And the future is now at the Tokyo Motor Show. It opened today with Jetson-like styling and technology.

CNN's Atika Shubert has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is Toyota's concept car, called the Fine X. And it takes the Toyota's concept of environmentally-friendly transport one step further. It also runs on fuel cell technology, but the interior of the car also has biodegradable plastic. And there's also some additional lifestyle features, including this driver's seat. It literally comes out to meet the driver, pushing back the steering wheel and rotating to the side. All you have to do as the driver is step into the seat, and it does the rest of the work for you.

Now, if this all seems pretty futuristic, then consider some of the other features of this car, including its wheels. The wheels actually rotate 77 degrees, allowing the car to pivot out of some of those tight spaces you find in the city. Now, it's still a concept car in development. So if you want to be able to see some of the other features of the Fine X, unfortunately, you're going to have to come down yourself to the Tokyo Motor Show.

For CNN, I'm Atika Shubert in Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: Yes, we just want to know what the gas mileage is, though.

And there's much more ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. At the top of the hour, "CNN PRESENTS." "Iraq War: Voices from the Homefront." John King talks to Americans to try to understand why public opinion about the war is so divided.

At 4:00 on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, the latest on Hurricane Wilma. Where is the storm headed? Plus, a red flag is raised on a new diabetes drug that is one step away from hitting the market. Our Dr. Bill Lloyd explains. And at 5:00, we'll talk to a Congressman from Florida whose district is in the possible path of Wilma. They're still recovering from Hurricane Charley.

That's all coming up, here on CNN. We'll be right back.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com