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Investigators Collecting Potential Evidence In Duke Rape Case; Library In South African Offers Civil Rights Materials At Height Of Apartheid
Aired April 22, 2005 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Two Duke University students, both sophomores, both athletes, both charged with first degree rape. The grand jury that indicted them may hear still more evidence in the case, and investigators armed with search warrants are collecting potential evidence.
CNN's Jason Carroll is in Durham, North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We now know what investigators were looking for when they showed up at Collin Finnerty's dorm room at Duke University Tuesday, the same day he and his teammate Reade Seligmann were arrested for sexually assaulting an exotic dancer.
A copy of the search warrant revealed they wanted to find clothing related to the suspect and the alleged victim, photographs of the party where she was allegedly assaulted, and a white six-inch shoe the young woman says she lost that night at the lacrosse team members' home located just a few miles from Finnerty's dorm. The warrant doesn't say whether any of those items were found.
(on camera): The warrant, released today, does show investigators retrieved a news article on the case from Finnerty's dorm as well as an envelope addressed to him from a woman from another school. In a previous search, they did confiscate some of his electronic equipment.
(voice-over): Defense attorneys met with Reade Seligmann and his father today. They maintain he was not at the party when the alleged assault took place.
They also say they have documented, timestamped evidence and eyewitnesses to prove it, including Moez Mostafa, a cab driver who says he remembers driving Seligmann and a friend to this ATM, the Cookout Restaurant and then to Seligmann's dorm that night. Mostafa also remembers going back to the lacrosse house a little after 1:00 a.m. to pick up four more players just as their party was breaking up.
MOEZ MOSTAFA, "ON TIME TAXI" DRIVER: The second fare I remembered because there's some kind of trouble outside the house that time. CARROLL: This is in line with what both defense lawyers and the district attorney's office say that there was a commotion outside the house after the two dancers, hired for the party, had finished performing. At 12:53 a.m., a 911 call the defense suspects may have been made by the second dancer came in complaining about racial slurs.
DURHAM COUNTY 911 RECORDING: And it's me and my black girlfriend and the guy, there's sort of like a white guy by the Duke wall and he just hollered out nigger to me and I'm just so angry I didn't know who to call.
CARROLL: Mostafa says he only remembers seeing a woman who appeared angry outside the house. The four players who got into his cab said very little about that woman.
MOSTAFA: I hear one guy he said, she just a stripper.
CARROLL: The defense says it will prove all of this happened long after both Seligmann and Finnerty left the house. And sources close to Finnerty's defense say, his legal team is gathering evidence to show he may have left the team's party before the two dancers ever showed up.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Durham, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Police are also working leads provided by another witness, a woman who says she was there at the party, not as a guest but as the entertainment. Kim Roberts, an exotic dancer, initially said she didn't think her colleague was raped. Now she tells the Associated Press she's not so sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM ROBERTS, EXOTIC DANCER: I never saw a rape occur. Everybody knows, I think -- it's hard for me to remember -- who knows what, you know, because the facts are so simple to me, so elementary, so simple. The timeline -- all that stuff that is so confusing to everybody, I was there from the beginning to the end.
The only thing I did not see was the rape because I was not in the bathroom at that particular moment. Everything leading up to the it I was there, everything leaving from it I was there. And mind you, I believe I was the only sober person in the place.
I even hesitate to say that I didn't believe a rape occurred, you know? One of the reasons why I hesitated to say that is because I didn't want to make any -- you know, make anybody else biased. I didn't want to, you know, hurt the integrity of the case. I probably am going to say that too many times, but I did not want people to make any judgments based upon my judgment, you know?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, whether Kim Roberts was actually at the party has yet to be confirmed by CNN. A defense lawyer in Durham says Roberts is looking out for her own interests, and she's involved as a defendant in another unrelated case.
"United 93," the movie premiers next week in New York but one of its stars might miss it. Louis Alsamari plays a hijacker on board the doomed flight that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. He's from Iraq and says the U.S. embassy in London, where he lives now, won't let him into the U.S.
The embassy said that Alsamari hadn't given sufficient notice of his travel plans. Alsamari believes the problem may have risen because he served in the Iraq army in the early 90s, service he says he was forced into.
Those who crave freedom sought refuge there. They shared their fears and their visions. Now it stands as a testament to civil rights in South Africa. LIVE FROM takes you there next.
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PHILLIPS: Knowledge is power, a timeless truth, entering a new chapter of history in South Africa.
CNN's Alphonso van Marsh reports from Soweto.
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ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A celebration in Soweto for the American library that opened 30 years ago, offering civil rights materials during the height of apartheid. This week American actress Phylicia Rashad cuts the ribbon for the library renamed after American civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Decades ago, screen writer Basil Dube was one of the library's early visitors. The anti-apartheid activist says in the 1970s, the library stocked books and magazines that South African authorities considered subversive.
BASIL DUBE, ARTIST/SOCIAL ACTIVIST: The foundation of my consciousness was inspired by a nonviolent approach, which basically was drawn from the literature, you know, I read about, you know, other struggles in Africa and the civil rights movement in the U.S.
VAN MARSH: Soweto was then under siege. Hundreds of anti- apartheid activists died at the hands of police. The library was seen as an oasis, a safe haven for freedom struggle leaders.
DUBE: It was very dangerous because they also suspected that because political gatherings were banned, you know, we were using the library as a forum, as a platform to -- as an alternative platform, you know, to pursue our political interests and to some extent it was true of course.
VAN MARSH (on camera): The American library eventually moved to this larger Soweto location, the old reading room was so popular that it was standing room only when it screened civil rights documentaries and other banned films.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kunta Kinte.
VAN MARSH (voice over): Dube first saw "Roots," based on Alex Haley's tracing his family from enslavement in Africa to America's Civil War at the American library. He says it was an inspiration.
DUBE: The issues that were raised in the film were found to be moral even to the South Africa and apartheid at that stage.
VAN MARSH: Thirty years later, a senior U.S. diplomat talks about how the African press covered the library back then.
DONALD TEITELBAUM, U.S. EMBASSY: I quote, "American information officials are stirring up the black population of South Africa." The present interference could be so dangerous that it could start a full- scale war in southern Africa. High praise indeed.
VAN MARSH: Democracy has replaced apartheid. Materials once considered subversive today are supplemented by library tools appealing to a new generation of South Africans.
Alphonso van Marsh, CNN, Soweto, South Africa.
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PHILLIPS: Neighborhood turf battle, no really. Neighbors taking out their anger at each other in the grass. Oh, yes, you've got to hear this one. The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.
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PHILLIPS: Straight back to Kelli Arena, our justice correspondent, in Washington, D.C.
Kelli, we've been talking about this leak within the CIA. Someone actually getting fired for it. What more do we know?
ARENA: That's right. That's right. Well, as we reported before for our viewers who were not with us, the CIA has confirmed that an officer has been fired for leaking classified information to the media. What we know now is a senior government source tells us the firing has to do with a leak to "The Washington Post" regarding a story on secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe for terrorism detainees.
Another U.S. official tells us that the officer only admitted to leaking after failing a polygraph. So far though officials will not identify the person who was fired. Justice Department officials still have no comment on the firing. But a senior government source does tell us that an investigation has been initiated, but federal law enforcement officials indicate that no criminal charges are imminent at this point. Kyra, you know, CIA Director Porter Goss told the Senate back in February that leaks of classified information to the media have caused severe damage to national security. He has even said that journalists should be brought before grand juries, a whole other kettle of wax there. But right now that's what we know. We are still working, though. We'll get it to you. Sorry it is coming in drips and drabs. I'm trying. I'm trying.
PHILLIPS: Your sources are the best. So Kelli Arena, no doubt, I know we'll get more. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Well, middle aged man, a younger wife, who would be shocked, right? Not Michael Thelemann, a 45-year-old Oklahoma man, who put a sign outside his home offering a $1,000 reward for a bride between the ages of -- and I'm not kidding -- 12 and 24. By the way, she has to be a virgin. One of his neighbors says she feels like she is living near a pedophile, but Thelemann says he doesn't see what all the fuss is about. His own grandmother married an older man. She was 14.
You might call it the unkindest cut of all. A Vancouver, Washington, man got tired of looking at his neighbor's uncut lawn, so he took matters into his own hands. He mowed the lawn himself, sort of. Chris King ended up carving two letters into his neighbor's lawn, letters we won't really repeat here on CNN because they left a pretty clear offensive message that prompted a visit from authorities. King admits he could have probably handled it a little better.
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CHRIS KING, ANGRY NEIGHBOR: I mean, I just snapped and, you know, I just started mowing her lawn and stuff and just like, you know what? Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to do this? Why don't they do this?
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PHILLIPS: The Vancouver lawn fight may be just about over. The man with the messy lawn says he is moving when his lease expires in two months.
Score one for the baby boomers.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One for six to start the year. Puts one to the right. It is pretty well hit. On the track near the wall. It's out of here.
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PHILLIPS: Deep in right field. The New York Mets put Julio Franco in as a pinch hitter last night against the San Diego Padres. And he did not disappoint. At 47, Franco became the oldest major leaguer to hit a home run. The Mets beat the Padres 72, but Franco says, hey, that's not his grand finale. He hopes to hit a homer when he is 50. Lots of people love potatoes but it's a rare potato that loves you right back. Ellen Anderson was rooting around in an ordinary sack of potatoes when her eye fell on this extraordinary spud. She says it made her heart jump for joy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLEN ANDERSON, FOUND UNIQUE POTATO: Only one person could make this potato like this and that's God. I missed choir practice because I was calling everybody and telling everybody about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Don't expect this potato to wind up in any salad, pancake or stew. Ellen says it will never be eaten.
Well it's been way up all day. We'll get a final check on the price of oil when our fired up Ali Velshi joins us next on LIVE FROM with a quick look at the markets.
All right, let's tell you about John Nolan. Similar to many other retirees in that he likes to stay active and take a nice long walk or two. But the latest walk John is taking won't bring him just around the block. It's taking him across the entire country. CNN's Jennifer Westhoven shares her story in our weekly series "Life After Work."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN NOLAN, STEPS ACROSS AMERICA: What a day, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right!
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Nolan looks like your typical retiree, spending his golden years outside, smelling the roses after 30 years in banking. But this is no ordinary walk. John Nolan is walking cross country.
NOLAN: Last fall in November, I was looking through a local Web site and there was an advertisement through a national running club for walkers to walk across America. And I read the application and it was extremely interesting. So I filled it out and sent it in.
WESTHOVEN: John is the oldest of 12 people walking across the country to promote physical fitness in a three-month hike, Steps Across America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready, set, walk.
WESTHOVEN: The walk is backed by corporate sponsors. John and his teammates set out on the first leg from New York. The finish line, Los Angeles. Each two-person team must walk a leg, up to 20 miles, and hand off to the next pair in the cross country relay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. WESTHOVEN: So John won't walk the whole way himself. But 20 miles every few days is no walk in the park. So at 65 and happily retired with his wife in South Carolina, the big question is, why?
NOLAN: I think this is a great opportunity for me to talk to people in my age group and say, "Folks, you can still do it. Put on your walking shoes and go out. Even if it's around the block, start somewhere." And I think at my age, there will be a lot of people out there looking up and saying, "Well, if he can do it, maybe I can try it."
WESTHOVEN: Jennifer Westhoven, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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PHILLIPS: Ali Velshi, I don't know about you, but when I turn 80, I want a fireworks celebration just like this, just like this.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: That's pretty fancy.
PHILLIPS: Just like Queen Elizabeth is receiving.
VELSHI: Kyra, by the time you're 80, they won't have fireworks anymore. It will all be virtual.
PHILLIPS: No kidding. I won't need the three cheers to the queen, that's OK. I just want the fireworks.
VELSHI: Yes, well, you know what? I'm sure we can arrange some software for that. You just walk into a room and you can have anything you want when you're 80.
PHILLIPS: Isn't that beautiful though? It's amazing.
VELSHI: You won't be driving though.
PHILLIPS: No, heck, no.
VELSHI: That's why the queen -- see, she's way ahead of her time. Doesn't she still get pulled with those horses and the cart and all that kind of stuff?
PHILLIPS: She sure does, everywhere she goes. She's old school.
VELSHI: Yes, exactly. Well old school is fashionable now.
PHILLIPS: And she's saving money.
VELSHI: She's saving a lot of money.
PHILLIPS: Yes, gas prices in London, how much?
VELSHI: About five and change for -- the equivalent of five dollars and change cents for a gallon of gas in London. And that's not the highest. I mean, there are cities where you see six bucks and more.
PHILLIPS: And you what? This is what I find interesting. The gas -- OK, it's really expensive in Europe. But they have all those really small cars that have really good gas mileage, so maybe it all evens out. Maybe it really is just as much as what we're paying if we drive an SUV.
VELSHI: You're absolutely right. We are very much part of the problem. We like -- as I was driving in today, I was thinking, "Wow, we love our trucks. We love the road in America."
PHILLIPS: It's true. And there's like nobody in the carpool lane when I'm driving into work.
VELSHI: No, no. They will choose to sit in traffic longer in their cars. You know what we do? Because I'm one of these people. I've got every gadget there is in my car. I've got the music, I've got any kind of want I want to listen to. It's my office, I can live in it.
PHILLIPS: You've got your CrackBerry.
VELSHI: I've got it all.
PHILLIPS: You've got your music, you've got your phone.
VELSHI: I was phoning into CNN. We were doing reports while I was driving in.
PHILLIPS: Excellent. Multitasking, just keep your eyes on the road.
VELSHI: Sometimes I even sleep in the car which is larger than my apartment in New York.
PHILLIPS: All right so, oil, 75 bucks a barrel.
VELSHI: Unbelievable.
PHILLIPS: We've got gas prices soaring. Some gas stations don't even have gas.
VELSHI: Up in the Northeast there are some gas stations -- we sort of identified almost 20 of them that don't have gas and there may be more.
PHILLIPS: Are we going to start seeing these lines like -- when was that, was it the 70s?
VELSHI: Yes, that was a real shortage. That was a shortage of oil coming in and being made into gas. This is a technical shortage. It's a logistical problem because we're changing over to adding ethanol to our gas as opposed to an additive that we used to put in that is a pollutant.
So this is not likely to be long term. But you know what, in the next few days, if you're anywhere from sort of Virginia to New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, yes, you might actually see some shortages for the next few days.
And because there are shortages, those gas stations with gas will charge more for the gas that they have. So not a long-term problem but you're not seeing discounts on gas any time soon. You're going to see $3 gas pretty much across the country very soon.
PHILLIPS: Have a wonderful weekend. And I'm sorry you drove to D.C. because that means you have to drive back. But make sure you charge the company for the tanks of gas.
VELSHI: Absolutely. Kyra, you have a good one and we'll remember your wish for your 80th birthday.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, lots of fireworks.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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