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Murder Conviction Overturned in Dog-Mauling Trial; American Taliban Strikes Out in Court
Aired June 17, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, HOST: A courtroom shocker as a murder conviction is overturned in the San Francisco dog mauling case, also, the American who fought for Taliban strikes out in court and wildfires from coast to coast. It's all next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE JAMES WARREN, SAN FRANCISCO SUPERIOR COURT: The motion for a new trial as to second-degree murder, as to Marjorie Knoller, is granted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A stunning turn of events in a California courtroom. And an outcry from the friends and family of a woman mauled to death by her neighbors' dogs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON SMITH, DIANE WHIPPLE'S DOMESTIC PARTNER: I'm in shock. We're all in shock right now. Justice was done and now I feel justice has been undone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: She's supposed to protect the forests, but now she's charged with sparking the largest wildfire ever in Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To us, this sort of thing is unthinkable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A crucial day in court for the so-called American Taliban. Can John Walker Lindh get a fair trial in a courthouse just nine miles from the Pentagon?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The United States has been and is currently doing a variety of things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld won't get specific. But we'll ask an expert -- just what Washington is doing to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power. CNN's live from Denver, Salt Lake City, Washington, New York and other datelines around the globe. Here now is Carol Lin.
LIN: And topping our news -- shock and disbelief in a California courtroom. A judge in the San Francisco court case has thrown out Marjorie Knoller's second-degree murder conviction in the dog mauling death of her neighbor Diane Whipple. CNN's Anne McDermott now with more on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The owners of these dogs, dogs that killed this college lacrosse coach last year were called "despicable" by a San Francisco judge.
WARREN: I believe, unfortunately, Mr. Noel and Miss Knoller, that you are the most despised couple in this city. I don't believe anybody likes you.
MCDERMOTT: Even so, the judge through out a second-degree murder conviction against Marjorie Knoller.
WARREN: There is no question in this court's mind that in the eyes of the people, both defendants are guilty of murder. In the eyes of the law, they are not.
MCDERMOTT: But Marjorie Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, both lawyers still stand convicted of manslaughter in the death of Diane Whipple. That wasn't good enough for Whipple's long-time partner Sharon Smith.
SMITH: Justice was done and now I feel justice has been undone.
MCDERMOTT: Whipple died here, in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building last year. When Knoller arrived in the hall with the dogs and they attacked.
For months afterwards, Knoller and Noel blamed the victim, saying she may have somehow provoked the animals. Their lack of feeling for the dead women made them so hated in the Bay Area that their trial had to move to Los Angeles. There, Noel's lawyer stunned many observers by alternately dropping to her knees to prove a point or shouting her defense, blaming everyone but the defendants.
NEDRA RUIZ, FORMER KNOLLER ATTORNEY: Both police officers were standing in a stairwell, 10 feet away watching Diane Whipple bleed to death.
MCDERMOTT: Before sentencing, friends and family members of the deceased got to say a few words.
SARA MILLER, ASSISTANT LACROSSE COACH: And it is very eerie to me that Diane was murdered by those mean dogs and their irresponsible owners that -- when Diane loved dogs so much.
MCDERMOTT: And Whipple's partner again commented on the lack of remorse on the part of the defendants.
SMITH: Neither of you could say you were sorry. You were too busy being lawyers to be human.
MCDERMOTT: Robert Noel was sentenced to four years for manslaughter. His wife will be sentenced later as prosecutors try to get the judge to reconsider and reinstate the murder conviction.
Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Now let's bring in CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. He's in New York.
Jeffrey, were you surprised at today's developments?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This was really a stunning development. And talk about huge stakes. If the murder conviction had stood, Marjorie Knoller faced 15 years to life in prison. With the murder conviction overturned, she faces a maximum of four years in prison and a minimum of nothing. So it was a huge change and a big surprise to me, I'll tell you.
LIN: I still don't understand why the second-degree murder conviction didn't stick in this case.
TOOBIN: Because under the law, second-degree murder means intentional murder. And the judge looked at Marjorie Knoller and he said, "I don't -- I didn't believe any of your testimony except one thing that you said. You said that I didn't want that dog to kill that woman, and I believed you." And basically, he said this was a horrible accident. It was negligent. It was negligent. It was irresponsible. It was wrong of Knoller and Noel to have these dogs and keep them in a city, but it wasn't intentional murder, and so he couldn't let the conviction stand. He overruled the jury, which judges sometimes do, but it's pretty unusual.
LIN: Interesting. So is it up to the prosecutors now to decide whether they're going to try her again?
TOOBIN: Well, they have a couple of options. One is to simply try again, but if it's in front of this judge, he's seen all the evidence and I don't think he's going to change his mind if there is another trial with all the same witnesses.
The prosecutors do have another option though. They could appeal. Usually prosecutors can't appeal in a criminal case but they could ask an appeals court to reinstate the murder conviction and they might just do that.
LIN: Do you think they have a good basis? TOOBIN: Well, they have a pretty good chance because after all the argument that the judge accepted, which was this was just a mistake, this was a negligence on the part of the defendants, was made to the jury and the jury rejected that. So it's a specific overruling of what the jury was invited to consider. And appeals courts often do reject when trial court judges overturn jury opinions.
LIN: What do you make of Judge Warren's very personal stinging remarks about this couple? I mean he said that they were the most despised couple in the city and that he outright said, "I don't believe anybody likes you."
TOOBIN: Well, I think Judge Warren wanted to show that this wasn't somehow an endorsement of the behavior of these two defendants. He recognized how awful they were. But on the specific question of whether Marjorie Knoller committed murder, he said he just couldn't uphold it.
There's another factor at play here, too. Marjorie Knoller was, in the view of many, the less culpable person because she wasn't the person who wanted to collect all these horrible dogs. It was really her husband. And by accusing only Marjorie of murder, because she was the only one home at the time, they really let Robert Noel get a pass and the judge was clearly offend by that. And he didn't want to see them judged in that disproportionate way.
LIN: All right, thank you very much Jeffrey Toobin. We'll see what happens and see what the prosecutors will do in this case. Jeffrey Toobin in New York.
Moving on now to our other big story of the day. Firefighters in Colorado are in a race against Mother Nature. They are trying to hold the ground they have gained against the biggest wildfire in that state's history. The Hayman fire is less than 50 percent contained and today, the Forest Service employee accused of setting the blaze appeared in court. CNN's Charles Molineaux is in Denver on that case.
You got to see her for yourself today, Charles.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, a little of everything, Carol. And this day has actually been a rough one for firefighters as they are dealing with new problems with the problem they've been dealing all along, which is the fire itself.
The weather, which has been so cooperative for the past several days, turned against them abruptly. Humidity dropped sharply and unexpectedly, new winds blew out of the west, pushing the Hayman fire on its southeastern flank, that is where it is been the most vulnerable and where it is threatening populated areas in Douglas and Teller County. Again, this is the southern part of the fire farthest away from Denver.
But nonetheless, it did manage to jump over containment lines and make what fire officials are calling "significant runs" to communities of Turkey Rock and Shrewsbury Gulter (ph), the scene of new mandatory evacuations. Another community, Woodland Park is now on advisory. Of course, all this happens as this new firestorm rages, centering on the federal district courthouse right here in Denver. The case of the Forest Service worker accused of starting the Hayman fire, an act that forest officials are calling unthinkable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: And that's their job -- is to protect, you know, what we have around us. And to find out she started this is just -- it's sickening.
UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT: It's worse, I think, than if a camper would have done it, I think, especially since it happened with a forest ranger.
MOLINEAUX (voice-over): The 103,000-acre Hayman fire is now burning alongside a new inferno of outrage that a Forest Service worker is accused of setting it. Terry Lynn Barton made her first court appearance this morning sober and so subdued Judge Michael Watanabe asked her to speak up to answer three felony federal charges -- willfully setting a timber fire, destruction of property and lying to investigators.
Prosecutors say she told them that while she was on patrol enforcing a ban on campfires, she went to a campfire site, burned a letter from her estranged husband and lost control of the fire.
JOHN SUTHER, U.S. ATTORNEY: Here we have a person who was a sophisticated Forest Service technician, knew all about fires, knew about the fire danger, was in fact patrolling the forest to enforce a no-fire ban and the evidence as set forth in the affidavit would indicate that this woman knowing all those things intentionally set a fire.
MOLINEAUX: That bizarre twist is a stunner in Terry Barton's hometown of Florissant where many fire refugees are waiting and hoping to go home and for her Forest Service comrades who have been struggling with the fire. Prosecutors specifically mentioned community anger and animosity towards Barton when they say they want her held without bail.
If she's let out, they say she may try to skip town.
SUTHER: The whole community aura increases the flight risk. I mean if -- typically the term of bond is you return to your residence and you -- and your normal life pending trial. I don't think that's in the cards for her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MOLINEAUX: What will be in the cards for her? Well, that may be decided on this Thursday when she comes in for a hearing, which will decide whether or not she will be let out on any bond at all. The charges add up to a total of five, five and 10 years, if she's convicted, maybe up to 20 years, more likely about 10 years in prison if she is convicted and fines may be up to $750,000. Meanwhile, out on the fire lines, there's more concern about the weather forecast, Carol. The forecast is still for lower humidity and higher winds. Winds out of the southeast, very hot, very dry, starting tomorrow.
LIN: Not good news for those firefighters. Charles, you talk about the fines against Terry Barton. What about the federal government? She was a federal employee, trained by the federal government. What's the liability there?
MOLINEAUX: Well, the federal prosecutors are not willing to talk about that officially, but they are saying, basically, keeping in mind of course that it is the U.S. attorney that may well end up defending the Forest Service if anybody tries to sue it. They say she was not acting in an official capacity. They are very reluctant to talk about, but they say it is probably a -- pretty likely that somebody is going to give that a try.
And actually, Terry Barton could very well be held financially responsible to the extent that she can be as well. In fact, one of the charges specifically mentions restitution if she is convicted. And of course, this fire is going up already expected to be well over $50 million.
LIN: Yeah, a lot of trouble ahead. All right, thank you very much. Charles Molineaux live in Denver.
Well, in southwestern Colorado, at least 1,200 more homes were evacuated today, as a big wildfire grew even bigger. That blaze near Durango has scorched almost 27,000 acres.
The battle against wildfires is being fought around the country. An air tanker near Walker, California, crashed and burned today. There's no word yet of any injuries or deaths, but we're keeping an eye on that story.
And in San Bernardino, in southern California, a wildfire has scorched 4,500 acres. It also shut down part of Interstate 15.
And a popular beach resort on the East Coast is also feeling the heat. A three-day-old wildfire has scorched more than 1,500 acres near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That blaze is about 80 percent contained.
We're back in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: He fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Today, his fight moved to a courthouse just nine miles from the Pentagon. We'll have the latest on the case against the so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lindh.
Did an open door open the way for the person who abducted Elizabeth Smart?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED SMART, ELIZABETH SMART'S FATHER: The garage door was open during the day. I did close it that night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We'll go live to Salt Lake City for the latest on the case of a 14-year-old girl kidnapped at gunpoint from her bedroom.
And later, the best-kept secret in a city known for its leaks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Washington, D.C., motto -- "We can't keep a secret here, except this one."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any clue as to who Deep Throat could be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't. I have no idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: We're back in a moment, but first, time for your opinion. Do you agree with the judge's decision to throw out the second-degree murder conviction in the dog mauling case? To take the quick vote, head to CNN.com. The AOL keyword is CNN. Right now, three-fourths of those casting ballots say no.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: John Walker Lindh's father is Catholic. His mother follows Buddhism. Walker Lindh converted to Islam when he was 16. In 1998, he enrolled in a fundamentalist Muslim school in Pakistan. Four years later, he began training and fight with forces funded by Osama bin Laden.
LIN: A federal judge dealt two blows to John Walker Lindh today. He refused a defense request to dismiss the indictment against the Taliban American and he refused to move the trial to another location. CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is covering this case and he joins us from Alexandria, Virginia.
Bob, it looks like two strikes and he's still in.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, John Walker Lindh did have one of his days in court today. And now, about the best they can do is look forward to the next day in court.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): "No," said the judge, "Nine times no." So John Walker Lindh left the courthouse facing the same charges he faced when he arrived. All the defense requests were denied. He'll be returning to the same courthouse. Motions to dismiss or change venue because of prejudicial publicity were denied, even though this building is only nine miles from the Pentagon, where the attacks by terrorists on September 11 are still a burning memory. "One would have to go to planet Pluto," said the judge, "to find those who had not heard of this." Nevertheless, he was confident a fair and impartial jury could be impaneled here.
The judge ruled that Lindh is not covered by the international principle of combat immunity. President Bush declared him an unlawful combatant. Even so, the judge was not willing to accept the administration argument that the courts had no right to even consider the question, nor did he accept the defense argument that Lindh had been the victim of selective prosecution.
The defense contention that Lindh was exercising his constitutional right of association while fighting for the Taliban was also rejected. Lindh's lawyers tried to put their best face on the case.
JAMES BROSNAHAN, WALKER LINDH LEAD ATTORNEY: We thrive on adversity, as you may have noticed and we have a secret weapon. We have a secret weapon, and his name is John Lindh.
FRANKEN: Lindh's father, mother and sister sat in the front row. As he departed, John Walker Lindh, the son and brother, nodded a silent greeting. And before the judge left, he ordered a three-week investigation into the leaks of confidential e-mails, published in "Newsweek," expressing questions by some lawyers in the Justice Department about the interrogation of Lindh, that interrogation is being challenged by defense attorneys who want to suppress an alleged confession that is considered vital to the government's case. That hearing is scheduled next month.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: First, a hearing on Wednesday with one of the complex questions in this case and that is -- what classified material has to be used in the trial? It's just one of the difficult ways that they have to confront the conflict between the rights of the defendant and national security. The judge, as a matter of fact, said much of this is uncharted territory -Carol.
LIN: Bob, I'm so curious about this young man. What is he like when he's sitting there in court?
FRANKEN: Well, he is quite stoic, actually, no emotion. He only has perfunctory conversations with the judge -- with his attorneys rather. He comes in. He's wearing a green jump suit. He's gone from the scruffy, craggy, bearded person who we saw when he war first presented to the world last November and December. Now, he is incredibly clean cut. Somebody made the joke today that if he gets any more clean cut, he's going to have a little alligator on his jumpsuit.
LIN: But you're saying he acknowledge his family in court.
FRANKEN: He did -- he did in a very brief way. It's something he has not done before. He's just sort of stared in the distance. But this time, his 13-year-old sister was there. He looked at her and he nodded. He smiled. They're obviously quite close.
LIN: All right, thank you very much. Bob Franken covering that trial in Alexandria, Virginia.
Well, meanwhile, the number of Taliban and al Qaeda detainees is growing at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Military officials say 34 new prisoners, who had been held in Afghanistan by U.S. forces have been brought to newly constructed cells at Camp Delta. There are now 536 prisoners at the site.
Some of those who have been fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan came home today. Members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned to their home base at Camp Pendleton, California aboard three warships. The unit took part in Operation Anaconda, the largest battle yet in America's war on terrorism.
And now, U.S. officials are telling overseas airlines flying into the United States they have to fortify and bulletproof their cockpit doors. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced the changes have to be made by next April. The FAA already requires U.S. airlines to have new cockpit doors in all of their planes by the same date.
The airport some of the September 11 hijackers used is beefing up its own security. Boston's Logan Airport has gotten federal approval for a luggage screening system that scans all bags for explosives. The system may be in place by the end of the year at a cost of about $100 million.
About half of all air traffic controllers will reach retirement age in eight years and a new government report says the FAA is not prepared to replace them. That report also questioned the selection process for prospective hires. We're back in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Next, the talk of the town, and the town's Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAJI SABRI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): It's not new. The United States has been conspiring against Iraq for more than 30 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Iraqi leaders react to the word that the CIA is trying to bring down Saddam Hussein. Our cameras take you to Iraq when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Osama bin Laden founded al Qaeda in the late 1980s. Its current goals include overthrowing governments deemed non-Islamic and expelling westerners and non-Muslims from Islamic countries.
In 1998, it issued a statement saying it was the duty of every Muslim to kill U.S. citizens, civilian or military, and their allies everywhere. LIN: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the war on terror is taking a toll on al Qaeda. He says that while al Qaeda is still capable of launching a strike, it's being forced to seek new strategies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUMSFELD: They are shifting their efforts of necessity. They've got less money. They've got fewer training camps in -- probably none in Afghanistan, and fewer in the world. There is no question but that their lines of control and communication have been disrupted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Now, Rumsfeld warns that while the U.S. can disrupt al Qaeda's ability to carry out terrorist acts, it would be impossible to stop the attacks completely.
Now, reports that President Bush has authorized the CIA to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are drawing a muted response in Baghdad. CNN's Rym Brahimi reports that if Iraqi leaders are concerned, they're not admitting it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was supposed to be a celebration marking 133 years of Iraqi journalism with Iraq's foreign minister, a former journalist himself, the keynote speaker. But the news from Washington overshadowed the event and the foreign minister was mobbed by reporters with questions about President Bush's order directing the CIA to undertake a comprehensive covert program to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
SABRI (through translator): It's not new. The United States has been conspiring against Iraq for more than 30 years and it conspires against any independent state in the world. It's not new. It's just that the United States tries to come up with deceptive policies every now and then in order to deceive the public opinion.
BRAHIMI: That Iraqi government defiance isn't new either, despite being under increasing pressure both politically and economically, just two weeks before the next round of Iraqi/U.N. negotiations over the return of weapons inspectors. Iraq's government insisting, at least for domestic consumption, that any return of the inspectors must be linked to the lifting of sanctions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... are missing a lot of things as a result of the imposition of this unethical, criminal regime of sanctions, which is unrepresented in history, and which is described even by American officials as the most -- the harshest and the most comprehensive regime of sanctions in history.
BRAHIMI (on-camera): Despite the tough language, the Iraqi leadership has generally not been keen to react to what's seen here as U.S. provocation. Repeating the government's line, most people here say they're not afraid of U.S. strikes... (voice-over): ... and some see signs there may be less fear. In recent weeks, the Iraqi dina has actually slightly gained value against the U.S. dollar to its best level in four years.
But the government is taking no chances. Over the last few weeks, airing pictures on state-run TV of various cabinet ministers training, ever ready to defend their country against an outside threat.
Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: So should the United States be launching preemptive strikes in the war on terror and is it wise for the U.S. to act unilaterally? Lawrence Korb was an assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration and he's now a director of studies -- the director of studies at the Counsel on Foreign Relations.
Good evening, Mr. Korb. Thanks for joining us tonight.
LAWRENCE KORB, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Nice to be with you.
LIN: Well, President Bush has not confirmed that this executive order in fact went to the CIA. But if it did, what specifically do you think it might have said?
KORB: Well, basically, it's the start of a process to bring about a regime change in Iraq. The president is very clear about that in his public statements all over the world, that he favors a regime change. And by starting with the CIA, and maybe some Special Forces, they want to see if they can do it without a full-scale military invasion, which would take time to do, and would probably bring about a lot of complaints from our allies around the world.
LIN: Well, do you think the Bush administration is intent on assassinating Saddam Hussein?
KORB: Well, I think what they want to do is they want to have a regime change. And if in the process of a regime change, he gets killed because according to what people have talked about, this directed to the CIA, they can kill Saddam if it's in self-defense because there is a presidential executive order that says you can assassinate foreign leaders.
LIN: So how likely -- how do you see the CIA operation unfolding then inside the country if there were a preemptive strike?
KORB: Well, what the -- what you would want to do if you had a preemptive strike, you'd want the CIA and the Special Forces in there on the ground to get the opposition groups to rise up against Saddam maybe with some help from the Special Forces and if not, if there's an American invasion to do what the Northern Alliance did in Afghanistan against the Taliban. That would be the hope. It's a little bit unrealistic, but nonetheless that would be the game plan. LIN: But the administration allowed this information to leak out, allowed it to be published in the Washington Post. Do you think the timing of this has something to do with the upcoming meeting in Vienna with the United Nations, the last call for Saddam Hussein to allow weapons inspectors into the country?
KORB: Yes, there's no doubt about it. I mean they've made no secret of it really since October that they want to take the events of September 11th as an excuse to bring about a regime change there and they have been sending all kinds of messages. I mean I think the most blatant message was the fact that they're going to have a strategy of preemption that might even include using low-yield nuclear weapons.
LIN: So does anything about this scenario worry you?
KORB: Well, it does because I think the United States has to be careful about setting a new standard of international behavior. There's no doubt that the world would be better off without Saddam, but there are a lot of other leaders who would be better off, for example in North Korea.
But once you start down the road of bringing about regime change when there's no imminent danger to the United States or its allies, then you've opened up a whole new code of behavior in international politics and you could undermine the war against terrorism, because other nations may not want to cooperate with you in terms of getting the financial assets of terrorists or sharing intelligence information with you, as well as the fact it will distract you from going after al Qaeda, which the president says they have cells in some 80 countries.
LIN: But not in terms of a regime change, but in terms of a preemptive strike in the name of self defense. Nobody really held it against Israel back in 1967 when they launched the six day wars. Their borders were surrounded. Is it possible -- go ahead.
KORB: Well, but there -- but I mean that was a clear cut case. There was no doubt about it. I mean they had hundreds of thousands of troops massed all around them and there was no way a small country of three million people could have stood by and let that happen. But you may remember that Israel was roundly condemned when they went into Lebanon in a preemptive strike in 1982.
LIN: So what are your predictions in this matter?
KORB: Well I think they want a regime change in Iraq, and if Iraq doesn't go along with the inspections, I expect that there will be, they'll start with the CIA and Special Forces and then be ready to have a full-scale military invasion of 200,000 to 300,000 people within the next year.
LIN: History repeating itself. Thank you very much, Lawrence Korb for joining us tonight. We are back in a moment.
ANNOUNCER: Next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) E. SMART: We still feel very strongly Elizabeth is out there. Elizabeth, we love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: It's been 12 days since Elizabeth Smart was abducted at gunpoint from her bedroom. Are police any closer to solving the case? We'll go live to Salt Lake City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Welcome back. Here's a brief look at our top stories.
The man convicted for his part in the so-called dog mauling trial received his punishment today. Robert Noel was sentenced to four years in prison. His wife, Marjorie Knoller could get the same when she's sentenced next month. Her murder conviction was thrown out today. The judge says the evidence did not support the conviction as defined by state law.
Firefighters in Colorado are still trying to gain the upper hand on a massive wildfire burning southwest of Denver. Meanwhile, bail was denied for the forestry worker accused of starting the fire. If convicted, Terry Barton could face a hefty fine and 20 years in prison.
And from Walker, California some amazing video of just how dangerous the battle against a huge wildfire can be; three people were killed when an air tanker crashed and exploded earlier today. Authorities are not sure what caused the crash. The Walker fire had burned at least 5,000 acres.
And the American accused of fighting alongside the Taliban was also in court today. Attorneys for John Walker Lindh tried to have their client's case thrown out on constitutional grounds. They also wanted a change of venue but the judge rejected both requests.
Today, the father of a missing Utah teenager confirmed a news report we first told you about last night. Ed Smart admitted he left his garage door open, possibly for two hours, the day his daughter disappeared. CNN's Michael Okwu has been following this new development and he joins us now with a live report from Salt Lake City. So, Michael, are they suggesting that an intruder might have entered through that garage and hidden inside the house?
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Carol. There's been so much speculation since this happened on the morning of June 5th, but the bottom line is regardless of what the speculation is; it's been almost two weeks now and still no sign of Elizabeth Smart.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU (voice over): On Day 12, Father's Day, Ed Smart said he had a vision his daughter Elizabeth was about to join him during his morning prayers. Day 13, pained and still clinging to hope, he told journalists he had left the garage door open on the afternoon before she was abducted. It was unclear whether police thought this might have enabled her abductor to enter the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, I can't talk about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it just water coming through here?
OKWU: Some 400, 500 volunteers continued their search for Elizabeth. One-third of the state has already been scoured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a lot further than we were day one. I think we're in the process of getting to the leads and eliminating those leads.
OKWU: But eliminating leads has not led investigators any closer to identifying who kidnapped Elizabeth. After several false sightings, Bret Michael Edmunds is still on the loose, police insisting the drifter who may have been near the Smart home 48 hours before the abduction is still not a suspect.
E. SMART: Yesterday was a very difficult day for us and we still feel very strongly Elizabeth is out there. Elizabeth, we love you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU (on camera): And one other development this afternoon, a security officer at a hospital located just a few short blocks away from the Smart residence said that he noticed two cars idling suspiciously just moments before Elizabeth was abducted. Now after reviewing the poor quality of the hospital surveillance tapes, the police said that those tapes were not helpful -- Carol.
LIN: Michael, does it seem to you that this investigation is losing its focus? It just seems like they're chasing five different leads in five different directions.
OKWU: You know, to say that they would be confused might be overstating it. The fact is there have been so many people who have been trying to help the police crack this case, clearly so much concern around the country. They have received some 6,500 tips. They do concede that recently they haven't been getting as many tips as frequently as they were in the past, but the point is they want to follow everything.
Bret Michael Edmunds, the fellow who has been sort of on the loose, they continue to say is not a suspect. So they have to look at just about everything and everyone. They say they are no longer focusing on just a small group of people.
They have looked into sex offenders who have lived in the area and there were a couple who they were specifically looking at, but their alibis have checked out.
LIN: And last I read into this, they were also focusing very much on the family and the immediate extended family. It's a very large family, a traditional Mormon family. Is that still the case? OKWU: You know they won't speak very specifically about real specifics regarding the investigation and what their leads might be. But from Day 1, they have always looked at the family and this very large extended family. This, of course, is standard operating procedure in cases like this.
We know at this point that at least two of the family members have taken polygraph tests, so they are still looking at the family. We know that those polygraph tests, at least with one of those family members proved to be inconclusive. So how that turns out, how that develops in the coming days, if not the coming weeks, remains to be seen. Carol.
LIN: In the meantime, Michael, how long can this volunteer effort keep going? These people probably have to get back to their lives, get back to work.
OKWU: That's a great question. There's been so much of an outpouring of emotion and concern about Elizabeth Smart, clearly, a really innocent, cute-looking girl in the view of so many people. I think the hearts around the country, if not the world, were touched by this story and so there's been this outpouring of support to help.
We've talked to organizers who say that no only have they received calls from around the state, but they've also received calls from as far out as Ohio, people wanting to start their volunteer searches there as well, and they received letters from outside the country as well.
They say that they want -- that they still have hope, that they want to continue to do this until they find Elizabeth, and at this point, it appears that that's going to be the case.
LIN: We'll keep our fingers crossed for the search. Thank you very much, Michael Okwu, in Salt Lake City. Well coming up, a Russian woman set out to make a simple statement against anti-Semitism. She found terrible suffering instead and something else from an entire nation; her inspirational story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: A few weeks ago, a woman in Russia was driving near Moscow when she noticed a sign along the road that read "death to Jews." She thought it was repulsive so she got out of her car and she pulled the sign down. The sign was booby trapped and it exploded in her face. CNN's Matthew Chance picked up the story from Israel, where the woman is receiving treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): She is Israel's new heroine, the Russian Christian who stood up against anti-Semitism in her own country and paid a heavy price. She now gets strangers visiting just to say thanks.
"It's extraordinary" this Israeli woman tells her. "I doubt many others would have acted like you. We're grateful."
But Tatiana Soponova, who almost lost her sight to that booby- trapped sign outside Moscow, told me she did the only thing a decent person could.
TATIANA SOPONOVA, BOMBING VICTIM: I'm not a hero. I'm just a woman and I think many people in Russia did the same, did the same because many normal people in Russia and many people think that a sign like this shouldn't be in Russia, you know, near the roads.
CHANCE: And even though she may be scarred for life, she says she has no regrets. Why did you stop though? Why not other people? Why did you feel it was your responsibility to stop?
SOPONOVA: Because it's my country and I had a responsibility. I feel the responsibility for my country and I think you feel the same. You live in your country and you love your country. Everybody wants that your country real beautiful.
CHANCE: A Jewish community group in Russia organized her treatment here, bringing her mother and four-year-old daughter to Israel as well. Israeli medical staff say they've seen and treated wounds like Tatiana's all too often in the past.
DR. ARIE ORNSTEIN, TEL HASHOMER HOSPITAL: This is a very common injury now, neighborhood. All the terrorist acts here bring us too many patients in this situation and much worse than that and we have to deal with these situations for years. It's nothing new for us.
CHANCE: From her hospital bed, Tatiana says she's been overwhelmed by the attention the people of Israel have given, receiving gifts and thanks and kindness from a country that feels it shares in her pain.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Tel Aviv, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: The big mystery from a 30-year-old break-in remains unsolved. Who is deep throat? Our Candy Crowley searches for clues to the Watergate informant's identity when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Washington scandals come and go but only one of them ever toppled the president. Today marks the 30th anniversary of a botched break-in at the Watergate Building at the Headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. The trail led to the White House and eventually to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
But despite all the revelations all those years ago, one mystery remains. Who provided the information that helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein unravel the scandal? CNN's Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley is still asking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CROWLEY (voice over): Washington, D.C., motto, "We Can't Keep a Secret Here," except this one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any clue as to who Deep Throat could be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't. I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No idea.
CROWLEY: After 30 years, the world is divided into two parts, those who don't know who deep throat is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any idea who deep throat could have been?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't have the slightest idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you deliver to this building a lot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, every day.
CROWLEY: And those who really don't know who deep throat is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know about deep throat right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little before your time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CROWLEY: Deep throat after a porno movie of the same name, was a source who pretty much brought down a presidency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it was probably Henry Kissinger.
CROWLEY: Definitely not Kissinger, laughs a friend. Kissinger would never go to a garage, which is where deep throat would meet reporter Bob Woodward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I made a little list, Alexander Haig? How about Diane Sawyer?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you got it.
CROWLEY: Woodward has said deep throat is a man and that it's not Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I told you, I'd have to kill you.
CROWLEY: At least four people actually know deep throat, then Post editor Ben Bradley, reporter Carl Bernstein and Woodward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any clue as to who deep throat is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Offer a guess?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They haven't shared that with us in the newsroom because it's a secret.
CROWLEY: And it will be a secret, says Woodward, until deep throat dies, which means you can rule out all the dead people. Everyone else...
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You really are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
CROWLEY: Is fair game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't deny it sir?
RUMSFELD: This is wonderful. That is amusing. I'd heard every name in the world except -- no; I was kind of busy running the Economic Stabilization Program and was not really engaged in that process.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: I'll take that as a no.
CROWLEY: More clues, deep throat was a Scotch drinking, chain smoking combat veteran with access to information from the FBI, the White House, the Justice Department and the Committee to Reelect the President. Boy, they should make a movie out of this. Oh, wait.
CROWLEY: They did.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Now a look at some other stories in the headlines. The government's claim that police need more leeway to fight terrorism gets a boost. The U.S. Supreme ruled that police do not have to read passengers their rights before asking to look for drugs or other evidence of a crime aboard busses or trains.
Free speech advocates are celebrating a big victory before the courts. The justices ruled today that religious groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, politicians and Girl Scouts do not have to go get a permit to go door-to-door. The ruling overturns a permit requirement in a village in Ohio.
Calling home ownership the American dream, President Bush is pushing a plan to boost the number of minorities who own their own homes. Today, Mr. Bush toured an Atlanta neighborhood where new homes are replacing rundown and crime plagued housing projects. The Bush plan would boost the number of minority homeowners by five and a half million by the end of the decade.
Victims of apartheid are seeking billions of dollars in reparation from financial institutions. They're suing Citigroup and Swiss banking giants UBS and Credit Suisse, alleging the companies helped South Africa's White dominated former regime with loans and other businesses. The lawsuit is being filed by Ed Fagan. He is the U.S. Attorney best known for taking on Swiss banks on behalf of holocaust victims and their heirs.
She's been America's reigning fashion queen for decades, but look out Barbie; these dolls are out to disrupt your dynasty, their story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Archaeologists in Egypt think they stumbled on the oldest mummy ever. The coffin was discovered near the Giza Pyramid with its lid intact. It has remained unopened for 4,600 years.
Well, Iran hopes these new dolls, Dara (ph) and Sara (ph) will knock Barbie off the shelves and put an end to what it calls a Western cultural invasion. Barbie was declared un-Islamic six years ago but is still available. So far, sales for Dara and Sara have been kind of slow.
And that's our report tonight. I'm Carol Lin. "LARRY KING LIVE" is next.
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