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Mistrial Declared in Polk Trial After Attorney's Wife Murdered; Whiet House Supports Miers Against Conservative Critics

Aired October 17, 2003 - 14:29   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Nancy Grace, as you know from her show on Headline News, she has had Daniel Horowitz on her show a number of times. She's very good friends with him, was also very good friends with his wife, Pamela.
Nancy, I know we've got you by phone now. I'm just curious, your first reaction -- you and I were going to talk later about your relationship with Horowitz and, of course, his wife, and how they're doing since he found his wife dead in their home. But now the judge coming forward, saying there will be a mistrial in the Polk case.

What do you make of all this?

NANCY GRACE, CNN HEADLINES NEWS ANCHOR: Well, I think it was to be predicted. There is no way around the fact that this jury, under the Constitution, Kyra, cannot go forward under these circumstances. Just think about it. If one juror, much less the entire panel, had learned of the murder of Daniel's wife Pamela, that would greatly affect their view of the facts of the case, their sympathies for Daniel. There's no way the case could go forward, much less expect Daniel to hand the case off to a second chair. He has been trying the case largely alone.

And I tried most of my cases solely and it's very difficult to pass off a case -- you can't do it. I'm sure the judge did not expect Daniel to go forward with this case. It is very, very complicated not only with the scenario, Kyra, but with the physical evidence of the murder.

No way could Daniel go forward at a time like this. The judge did the right thing.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, let's -- a couple of questions from what you just said.

First of all, when you talk about the impact of the jurors, it could be a combination of things, right? The jurors could wonder, OK, what was going on with Daniel and his wife, that seems odd. They also could be thinking, there's no way he could handle this case considering the emotions he's dealing with.

So it could turn a number of ways if this were to go forward, right?

GRACE: Well, you're absolutely correct, Kyra. It could. I was thinking of it along the lines of, you know, projecting my own feelings toward it, my sympathy and my heartbreak for Daniel and Pamela. We spent many, many evenings together, the three of us, during the Peterson trial. Of course, I opposed him, as he is a defense attorney.

But even as late as Friday night we were on the phone arguing about the Polk case until almost midnight -- Daniel, his wife, Pamela, and myself.

And long story short was the jury heard of his tremendous loss and what he is going through. When I spoke to him on the phone yesterday, Kyra, his -- he could hardly speak. He's in so much pain. He sounds like a man broken in half. He was half whispering, half speaking.

And I said, "What has happened?" And he said, "She is the love of my life."

He is not even speaking of her in the past tense. He is beside himself. And if I heard that, I would naturally empathize with him, even as a juror.

Now, you brought up the fact that they may be suspicious of Daniel. Maybe some of them would be, I don't know. They don't have the benefit of knowing him.

But long story short, that's another angle that they both had to take into account. So this is not just for Susan Polk's benefit, but it is for Horowitz's and the state's benefit. It benefits everyone all around -- justice delayed.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's go back to that conversation, Nancy, Friday night when you were on the phone with both of them.

GRACE: Right.

PHILLIPS: Did anything strange occur? Did Pamela mention anything...

GRACE: No, no, no.

PHILLIPS: ... you know, about any threats against her life or...

GRACE: No, no, no, no, no.

They were both very, very happy. We were, again, arguing. He had just come off my Headline News show and we continued the argument over the phone.

They had been out to dinner, invited me. They've been working on this house, Kyra, for so long. They've been living in a trailer on the ground, miserable and waiting to get into the home -- and were very happy, invited me out to continue our argument about Polk in person, in their new home, and we talked about the show.

They were perfectly happy. They had been out to dinner.

Now, as far as these alleged threats on him -- this is the deal. And I'll just be blunt, Kyra. You and I have talked about it many times there in the CNN make-up room.

When you are a prosecutor or a defense attorney of violent criminal cases, you put yourself and your family and your loved ones at a certain risk. You are dealing with nuts. You are dealing with criminals that you would never associate with.

PHILLIPS: Sure. He's had to defend drug dealers and death row inmates and kinds of serious criminals.

GRACE: Yes.

I mean, he just finished representing a prime minister of the Ukraine, and successfully.

And, you know, the echelon of defense at which Horowitz is, you are dealing with some very dangerous people.

Of course, that's jumping the gun. We don't know. Was this an intruder? Was this someone with a grudge against Daniel? Is it somehow related to the Polk case? Is it related to something he said on air?

It could be anything.

All I know for sure is what I heard in his voice, Kyra. All I know is what he told me. That's all I know for sure.

PHILLIPS: And no doubt you'll be talking about this on your show tonight, Nancy?

GRACE: Yes, I will.

And I'm planning to head out to California immediately.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Nancy Grace, will you stay in touch with me and just let me know how they're doing, and as this develops just stay...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Can I tell you one more thing, Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Sure, sure.

GRACE: One of the last nights before the Peterson verdict came in, as much as Daniel and I disagree, we all had dinner -- I think it was one night after Larry King, we had all been on Larry King arguing about Peterson. And I was talking to Daniel face on at the table with a group of people and I noticed his face lit up, and I turned around to look to see what he was looking at -- Kyra, Pamela had just walked into the room and his face literally lit up. PHILLIPS: Wow.

Well, that's one thing that's really amazing about you -- can be with these lawyers in the courtroom and have the opposite side and still maintain incredible friendships with these attorneys.

GRACE: Kyra -- it's all about the law, Kyra. It's all about the law for me.

PHILLIPS: Nancy Grace.

GRACE: Thank you, friend.

PHILLIPS: Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

Of course, we'll stay on that story and the developing news as the judge declares a mistrial in the Susan Polk murder case. As you know, Daniel Horowitz, who just lost his wife a couple days ago, friend of Nancy Grace's, is going through now what authorities are saying the murder of his wife. The latest twist now, Susan Polk, the woman he was representing, now declared a mistrial.

We'll stay on that story.

Also straight ahead, we're talking about Harriet Miers. We're going to have Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Patrick Leahy on with us right after the break talking about her nomination.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: An update for you just real quickly.

If you're just joining us, on that breaking news story that we had just moments ago, and that is the judge declaring a mistrial in the Susan Polk murder case.

Just to give you a little background. Susan Polk, that murder trial, she is the woman accused of stabbing her husband to death back in 2002. Well, she was being defended by attorney Daniel Horowitz. And as you know, within the past 48 hours, we have been bringing that story to you about Daniel Horowitz's wife being found murdered in their home. Since that homicide, since authorities came forward and talked about that homicide, declaring it a homicide, now a judge in Contra Costa County has declared a mistrial in the Susan Polk murder trial -- of course, the murder case that Daniel Horowitz has been involved with.

Nancy Grace saying to us, as you can just imagine, the impact on jurors. A trial -- she's not surprised it was declared a mistrial just because of how it would impact the jurors on trying to make a decision about the fate of Susan Polk as Daniel Horowitz would try to go forward defending her and dealing with the homicide of his wife.

We're staying on that story, a lot of interesting twists and developments. We'll bring you more information as we get it.

Now, back to our top story and what some are billing as the new White House push to sell Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers to her critics, especially conservative Republicans.

President Bush is leading the charge in the bid to bolster Miers' credentials. And he met today with six former members of the Texas state Supreme Court who have come out in support of Miers. Now, officials say the White House is focusing on Miers' qualifications rather than her faith, as Mr. Bush did last week. For her part, Miers held talks today with two key Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Now joining us with their take on the controversy over the Miers nomination, Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Both are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Gentlemen, great to have you both.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Senator Grassley, I know you both have had, actually, one-on-one moments with Harriet Miers.

Senator Grassley, tell me about your time with her, what you thought of her, and how did that meeting go?

SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: Well, I had a one-on-one meeting with her with no staff on either side around, and so it gave me a chance to become better acquainted with her.

But, short of becoming better acquainted with her, I don't have any impression and I shouldn't have any impression because, really, what's going to make a difference whether or not she's confirmed is what on the record from the Judiciary Committee after days of questioning of her.

And that's her opportunity to lay out her qualifications for being on the Supreme Court, her philosophy, her judicial temperament and her capability. And so, I told her that I would not make any decision based upon just my short conversation with her. And I shouldn't.

PHILLIPS: And, Senator Leahy, how about your one-on-one time?

LEAHY: Well, I always meet with nominees just one on one. I consider that very much a preliminary meeting. I asked her some of the questions I'd be asking her at the hearing.

Actually, some of them were questions I've asked -- I've been here for 13 nominees and I've asked of all of them -- I suggested she may want to work on her answers.

I'm somewhat concerned about this idea of having like almost a political campaign for her nomination. Usually, a Supreme Court nominee, if they've got the qualities and that stands out, they don't need a campaign for them.

John Roberts was originally nominated for this same seat, got three quarters of the Senate, myself included, to vote for him, based on what he said, not what special interest groups on the right or left said, but based upon what he said at the hearings.

I'm concerned when I read in the press that there were phone conversations two days before the president nominated her to lay down support for -- political support for her. Usually, a Supreme court nominee -- you know when you look at one -- are they qualified or not.

PHILLIPS: Senator, you bring up conference calls. I want to ask you both about this editorial that was written by John Fund in the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking of conference calls, it says: "If Christian conservatives receive assurances that Miers would oppose Roe v. Wade," the title of the editorial.

And John Fund saying, on October 3rd, the day of the Miers' nomination was announced, Mr. Dobson -- James Dobson, as we know, of Focus on the family and other religious conservatives, held a conference call to discuss the nomination.

"One of the people on the call took extensive notes, which I have obtained" -- John Fund saying he obtained those notes -- "and according to the notes, two of Ms. Miers' close friends, both sitting judges, said that during that call she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade."

PHILLIPS: Senator Grassley, what do you make of that?

GRASSLEY: Two things. Number one, what's going to make a difference is when she's under oath and she answers questions from members of the United States Senate on those points and many more. That's what we ought to be basing our record on.

Secondly, if those conversations did take place, I think that there is a couple things. Number one, you know, if they were private conversations, that's nobody's business. If they were instituted because of the White House then that makes them somewhat more public.

But, also, I'm familiar with people that want to let people who are around them know that they might be close to the chairs of power and tend to talk too much and want to be big shots and really are talking more than they should and probably saying more than they really know.

PHILLIPS: Well, Senator Leahy, it says here that the call was moderated by the Reverend Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association, participating were 13 members of the executive committee of the Arlington Group, an umbrella reliance of 60 conservative groups and then it goes on to name all these individuals. Is that a private conversation?

LEAHY: Well, it appears -- no, obviously, that's not a private conversation. When you get 50, 60 people into something, it's not a private conversation.

Also, I think everybody understands this was proposed by the White House, which takes it out of that. Senator Specter and I have both said that we will have our offices look into what was said, what assurances were made.

I absolutely agree with Chuck that if you have a -- it's what the nominees themselves say when they're under oath before us. Because we all know that if anybody were to be a nominee for any federal court position, especially the Supreme Court, if they've given assurances of how they're going to rule on any kind of a case before they're confirmed, then they're not qualified and they should be rejected on that.

I mean, if somebody would say, "Well, I assure you I will vote to uphold Roe v. Wade," or, "I'll vote to do away with Roe v. Wade," if you're making assurances on how you're going to vote before you're even on the court, the Senate pretty much has to automatically reject them whether they're a Democrat or a Republican.

PHILLIPS: Well, Senator Grassley, do you think that James Dobson and some of these other religious leaders should come and testify during these hearings?

GRASSLEY: I have not thought that through. I don't know the basis for it. I suppose you can subpoena anybody, if they don't want to come; maybe they'd willingly come.

But I don't have any objections to hearing anybody who wants to testify before Congress. Whether they should or not, that's another question.

But here's what I do believe: that there are people that want to act like they have all the answers and that they're going to clear people for confirmation and, really, do more harm than good.

GRASSLEY: If they're trying to help, I would advise them that this is not one way to help the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate.

PHILLIPS: Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator Patrick Leahy, I think...

LEAHY: I agree with that, too.

PHILLIPS: I noticed your smirk, Senator Leahy.

LEAHY: It's not a smirk, it's a smile.

PHILLIPS: A smile.

(LAUGHTER)

Big difference; you are right.

LEAHY: And we will ask her a lot of questions, an awful lot of questions at the hearings.

John Roberts answered his. Now the question will be whether she'll answer hers.

PHILLIPS: With many smiles, Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator Patrick Leahy.

We look forward to the smiles and a lot of pointed questions.

Gentlemen, thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: All right.

That story that we've been telling you about that has happened: sort of an interesting twist out of the Bay area and that is a judge declaring a mistrial in the Susan Polk murder case.

As you know, this is the woman who has been accused of murdering her husband back in 2002. She was being defended by Daniel Horowitz.

We know that name, of course, because he's a TV analyst. He's been on Nancy Grace's show and a lot of television programs talking about the low.

But he was not only defending Susan Polk, but he is the one that right now is mourning the death of his wife who was found, according to authorities, murdered in their home -- a picture here of his wife, Pamela -- on Saturday.

Our Ted Rowlands, live from Lafayette, California, right now and sort of this -- boy, Ted, it just gets more interesting and more interesting. And now, Nancy Grace even saying she wasn't surprised that there is a mistrial.

I mean, how can someone like Daniel Horowitz even concentrate on a huge murder trial like Susan Polk's murder trial when he's dealing with the loss of his wife?

ROWLANDS: Yes, and how could the jury concentrate? They're not sequestered. This was big news over the the weekend here in the Bay area and, obviously, they're aware of what has happened with the lead defense attorney.

The judge has declared a mistrial and the jurors have gone home in the Polk case.

According to Daniel Horowitz's co-counsel, Ivan Gold, who was at the courthouse, he and Horowitz do plan to continue to represent Susan Polk. They're going to set that trial date on December 2 and pick a new jury and start from scratch.

They were about a week into that case. Both sides have done opening arguments and the prosecution had laid out the beginning of their case, but it was relatively early on. And they'll start again from scratch. That will give time for mourning for Daniel Horowitz and also give time for investigation and that is the big question now. Who killed Daniel Horowitz's wife, Pamela, over the weekend?

She was found dead Saturday evening -- reported dead by Daniel Horowitz. He called police -- called 911 about 6:10 p.m. They are looking, according to sources, at every possible angle, as you might imagine, any possible relationships that either Horowitz or his wife have that may have led to motive.

We do know one thing, that a neighbor of Daniel Horowitz was the subject of a restraining order that was issued in June in Contra Costa County here, ordering that neighbor to stay at least 100 yards away from both Daniel Horowitz and away from his wife, Pamela.

We did contact that neighbor this morning over the phone and he said, about the speculation that he may be responsible, quote, "that is ridiculous."

At this point, the investigation is still wide open. According to Contra Costa County sheriff's investigators, there is a, as we said, a mistrial granted in the Polk case so that this case can be investigated.

PHILLIPS: And, Ted -- real quickly -- I was reading that there were a number of security cameras on the Horowitz home -- in the area of their home -- right there, inside and outside.

Do we know if tape was rolling, if authorities are reviewing any type of security tape on their home?

ROWLANDS: Well, clearly, they're going to look at that. One could assume that. There is not a lot official coming out, as is typically the case, from the Contra Costa County Sheriff Department or any sheriff department this early in the investigation.

But you can be sure that those tapes are being looked over and this was 6:00 was when the 911 call was made, so, presumably, she died some time during daylight hours on Saturday. So, if something happened and those tapes were rolling, it should be pretty clear who the suspect is.

We are being told that they do have a potential suspect, according to Ivan Golde, the co-counsel. They say they're centering in on one individual and they say that's where it's going now, that's not official, that's from Ivan Golde, the co-counsel from Daniel Horowitz.

But, clearly, if those tapes were rolling, they presumably would have picked up the murderer.

PHILLIPS: Ted Rowlands, thank you so much, we're going to take a quick break. More LIFE FROM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: As you know, we had a lot of developing news within the past 20 minutes or so. But we had brought you this very special story that Christy Oglesby with CNN.com brought to us.

A really neat story about the Green family of New Orleans and she focused on three branches of that family and now we want to bring Christy back, hopefully, folks watching remember the piece. It was wonderful and how you laid out all the various stories intertwined in this one family.

Now, you're with CNN.com. Tell me how this happened, you ended up with a photographer. You were taking still pictures. You came across this amazing story. How did it all begin?

CHRISTY OGLESBY, CNN.COM: Well, I'm from New Orleans. I grew up in New Orleans and one of my neighbors is also from New Orleans. And after the hurricane a number of my family members were living with me. And my co-workers were fabulous, gave me a bunch of supplies to help take care of my evacuees.

And the extras I had I took to my neighbor and as we talked about how we were coping with our expanding households and taking care of them, she told me about her aunt, who died and her cousin who was three, who had also died. And they were a large family, there is more than 100 of them.

So, as we talked about everything, these three different branches encountered, there's, you know, the loss of the matriarch and the baby and there's a mother who was trying to find her son in the chaos of the convention center and then there's this son who is devoted, who stayed behind.

His family evacuated and stayed behind in case his 77-year-old mother, Miss Nelly (ph) needed him. And as it turned out, she did need him.

PHILLIPS: All right, so, let sort of -- and let's talk about each, kind of update viewers on each branch of that family.

Let's start off with Robert and this was the man that was looking for his granddaughter and his mother. You started by profiling him. You still talk to him every day.

OGLESBY: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Has he been able to find his granddaughter or his mom?

OGLESBY: He hasn't. And the family is just in a lot of turmoil. There's so many bodies that aren't identified and in his particular case, they're very distinctive remains.

How many three-year-old corpses can there be? There's a tiny baby and he's thinking, how difficult can it be for someone to return my granddaughter, if they recovered her.

The other part is that his mother is an elegant, distinctive woman, six-foot, you know, one-inch. And so, they're thinking, we've given you DNA, certainly pictures probably wouldn't be effective now but we've given you DNA and the size of their remains should help. So, they're still struggling for closure.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, you've got Robert Green who is struggling with that closure. Then you've got the other part of his family, Jocelyn and Quentin, the mother and son. How are they related to Robert?

OGLESBY: Now, Jocelyn and Robert are cousins.

PHILLIPS: OK.

OGLESBY: They're parents are siblings.

PHILLIPS: And, now, she was a security officer at Tulane. She had become separated from her son, they came together, how are they doing?

OGLESBY: They're doing much better now. After she found him and got him safely home, they were separated for a number of weeks. He went to live in Maryland with one of her brothers because the city was in a mess and he, sort of, needed to be around another male, to have someone to talk to.

So, he went to Maryland, spent a lot of time with her brother and he returned home a little over a week ago. So, finally they're back together. Each of them are back at work. He's working for the museums and she's still at Tulane.

PHILLIPS: Christina Oglesby, what an amazing job you did. You can go on to CNN.com learn more about the Green family, follow up how they're all doing. Of course, read your stories.

OGLESBY: And there galleries and maps to explain the story to you.

PHILLIPS: And yes. Oh my goodness it's great stuff. Thank you so much for just sharing this with us, appreciate it.

OGLESBY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be back here, of course, tomorrow and then, up next, Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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