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NTSB Issues New Landing Safety Guidance; Remembering Christa McAuliffe; "After Innocence" Documentary Looks at Wrongfully Imprisoned Convicts

Aired January 27, 2006 - 14:30   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get straight to Tony Harris in newsroom working a developing story. Tony, what do you have?
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Betty, well, Kathleen Koch is actually standing by for us in Washington, D.C., where she has news that the National Transportation Safety Board is out with some new recommendations for the FAA.

Kathleen, I know this is about making air travel safer. What do you have for us?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, this is about the way planes stop. And planes basically have three ways of doing that. The brakes on the wheels, the flaps on the plane -- the wings which create drag and slow the plane, and then the thrust reversers, which are roughly akin of putting the plane's engines in reverse.

And today the NTSB put out an urgent recommendation -- that's the National Transportation Safety Board -- saying that pilots should no longer factor in thrust reversers when they're calculating stopping distance on a slick runway, a runway that's wet, icy, slushy, might be hard to stop on.

The NTSB said this problem came into play in that crash last month in Chicago, that tragic crash when a Southwest Airlines 737 slid off the end of the runway while landing in that snowstorm. It crashed through two fences on to a highway, hit a couple of cars and killed a little boy.

The NTSB says that this recommendation should have the immediate attention of the FAA. Because obviously this is a time of year that many parts of the country experience bad weather at the airports. The FAA does normally have 90 days to respond, but government sources do tell me the FAA could decide to require this change sooner, because it does agree with change.

And I'd also like to show you this, that the union representing Southwest Airlines pilots sent out just days ago. They're recommending that their pilots take this action. And this safety alert says that using current on board computer software, which does factor in these thrust reversers, quote, "does not give you the operator a realistic margin of safety when interpreting how much stopping margin is actually available." So pretty dramatic recommendation, Tony. HARRIS: Yes, it is, Kathleen. And even as you were talking, I pulled up a picture on our Web site of little 6-year-old Joshua Woods, who was killed in the crash in Chicago in December.

Kathleen, thank you.

KOCH: You bet.

HARRIS: Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Tony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Challenger, go with throttle up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Four words that changed the future of the American space program forever. Twenty years ago tomorrow, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight. Seven people died, highlighting the fragility of NASA and its missions. The nation watched as the spacecraft exploded and its seven astronauts were killed. Among them, Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to fly into space.

CNN's Paula Zahn reports on the sacrifice of this educator who reached for the stars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELE BREKKE, NASA FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Her payload was education. She herself was the payload, and she was carrying experiments that were typical kind of experiments that a teacher would conduct in a classroom. And the shuttle was going to be her classroom space.

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE, TEACHER: It's hard for kids to realize that you can build something that's not attached to anything, but in zero gravity you can do that. Or, you know, in space you can do that. So at that point, I want to be able to let it go.

BREKKE: It was very important to her to write her own lesson plan, and I don't remember all the details, but there was some headquarters involvement. And, you know, they had their ideas on what Christa should do, but she made it clear that she had her ideas on what she should be doing as the teacher in space in this classroom in space.

BARBARA MORGAN, TEACHER IN SPACE FINALIST: You just would never script out what you're going to say and we would laugh and say, you know, we're not -- and Christa would say, well, you know, I'm not an actress. I'm not pretending I'm a teacher. I am teacher. Teachers don't do this.

MCAULIFFE: I'm much more comfortable when I'm teaching in front of a classroom. I'm much more comfortable talking about something and doing something at the same time. And that's not distracting for kids. If you're talking about the thing that you are doing, it's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time I would like to introduce to you to perhaps the person you came to see, and that's Christa McAuliffe, our (INAUDIBLE) specialist teacher in space.

MCAULIFFE: Well, I am so excited to be here. We watched Columbia go over the Houston area this morning, and that was a thrill. I don't think any teacher has ever been more ready to have two lessons in my life. I've been preparing these since September, and I just hope everybody tunes in on day four now to watch the teacher teaching from space.

ANNE DONOVAN MALAVICH, CHRISTA'S BEST FRIEND: That's when it really struck me, oh my God, she's actually going to space. And then I asked her if she was afraid. I said, are you a little bit afraid? And she said no. And she had complete faith in NASA that they wouldn't let anything happen to her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: "CNN PRESENTS," "Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars." That airs Saturday and Sunday 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

Coming up on LIVE FROM, this man spent 19 years in prison, convicted for rapes he didn't commit. Now, his story is being told in a movie with Oscar potential.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Jailed for crimes they didn't commit. Plenty of convicts make that claim and every year, a few are proven right. Initially the joy must be overwhelming. The bars are gone, the name is cleared and life goes on. Or does it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I spent 23 years on death row for a murder I didn't commit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did 19 years, two months and 21 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was given $5.37 by the state of Pennsylvania and let loose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My whole belief was shattered about the justice system.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Dennis Maher lived this nightmare, 19 years of prison before DNA evidence earned him his freedom. His story is one of many told in the film "After Innocence."

Producer Mark Simon and Dennis Maher join me now to talk about it. It won an award at the Sundance Film Festival last year, and is picking up buzz as an Oscar contender this year. It's quite a story, many stories.

Dennis, let me start with you and your story. Take us back to 1983 when you were walking down the street and officers came up to you starting to question you. What happened?

DENNIS MAHER, WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED 19 YEARS: Well, I was walking down the street in Lowell, Mass, and I stopped at a package store to get a six pack to go over to my friend's house to watch the Bruins game, and three or four cop cars pulled out and stopped me, asked me for identification, so I showed them my I.D.

They ran my I.D. through the data bank, I guess, and nothing came back. So then they searched me and busted me for possession of marijuana, and arrested me, took me down to the police station, took my picture, and I guess they showed it to the victims, and the victims said this could be him. The next day they brought me ...

NGUYEN: Did you even know what you were being accused of?

MAHER: No, not until five or six hours after I had been arrested. They were questioning me, and I asked them, I says, what are you questioning me for? And they said rape and attempted rape. And I said well, I think I need a lawyer.

NGUYEN: Yes, and you were put in a lineup, and initially the victim identified somebody else, yet, you were still there. And then another rape charge comes up. How did that happen?

MAHER: Well, they did an in-court identification, and the victim walked into the courtroom and identified somebody else, so they dismissed the charges. As I was leaving, they arrested me and charged me with the same charges that they had just dismissed.

You know, so I went back -- I was in the military at the time so went back to the base, and in January of 1984, I was arrested again and charged with the rape in Ayer -- Ayer, Massachusetts.

NGUYEN: And you had never seen any of these women?

MAHER: No, I had never seen any of them.

NGUYEN: So at 20 ...

MAHER: And I'd never ...

NGUYEN: Go ahead.

MAHER: I'd never been in trouble with the law either. You know, I was a ...

NGUYEN: So at 25, you were sentenced to life in prison for crimes that you did not commit. You had to be angry. You had to be frustrated. You had to be hopeless to an extent. Where did you find that light at the end of the tunnel?

MAHER: Well, I was sentenced to life at 23. NGUYEN: Oh, 23, OK.

MAHER: Yes. Well, you never give up hope. If you are an innocent person, you never give up hope, you know, something can happen. You know, I saw Barry Scheck on "Phil Donahue," and I wrote to the Innocence Project.

And they filed DNA testing on me in 1997, but the judge who had sentenced me denied it without a hearing. And so I had to wait for the judge to retire before I could get DNA testing done.

NGUYEN: And that's a lot of waiting. Mark, I want to bring you in. You are the producer of "After Innocence" but you were also part of that Innocence Project. Tell me about how this works.

MARK SIMON, PRODUCER, "AFTER INNOCENCE": Sure, the Innocence Project is a student law clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and it was founded by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld.

And it takes on claims of actual innocence where biological evidence can prove positively, scientifically, that individuals are actually and factually innocent for the crimes that they were tried, convicted and spent decades in prison for

NGUYEN: Were you taken aback about how many people were in prison when they say they were innocent, in fact they were innocent?

SIMON: Yes, I mean, it's a phenomenon that is going on and the public really needs to -- is starting to understand that, unfortunately, our system makes mistakes. It's a reality.

We finished the film in '04 just in time for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. That was just a year ago. And we say at the beginning of the film that 150 people had been exonerated by DNA evidence. Today, one year later, it's over 170. And the DNA cases are just the tip of the iceberg.

NGUYEN: Right. Well, Dennis, DNA evidence led to your release after 19 long years behind bars. What was that like for you, and how has it been to readjust to the world outside?

MAHER: Well, I took -- I first took two months off and just adjusted to being free again, going for long walks and taking left turns and right turns in the same walk instead of walking in a circle or walking in a rectangle, dealing with traffic, getting my driver's license, going to the malls, you know, and dealing with people that way, learning to use money again and meet people. You know, it was a big adjustment.

NGUYEN: What's been the hardest part for you?

MAHER: The hardest part -- well, sometimes dealing with people. You know, I get along good with most people, but -- you know, that and the publicity that we're getting now.

NGUYEN: I want to put up some pictures now of your family, because you, in fact, have started your life all over. You met your wife on-line; is that correct?

MAHER: On Yahoo! Hi, Melissa. Hi, Dart (ph).

NGUYEN: And you have a child and one on the way.

MAHER: I have a 1-year-old son and a daughter who is due any day.

NGUYEN: My goodness. So as your children grow up and you tell them your story and others hear about your story, what do you want them to gain from it? What do you want them to learn?

MAHER: Even though you may be living as a law-abiding citizen, sometimes you can end up in jail for stuff you didn't do. You know, I had no charges, I had nothing against me. I was never in trouble with the law until one night in November of 1983.

NGUYEN: Mark, you started out as an attorney, and yet you've made this movie -- a compelling movie. How did you get interested -- I know you were in the Innocence Project, but why did you want to turn that into a film?

SIMON: Sure. And I still do practice law at Dreier LLP in New York City. These men are heroes. When I was in the Innocence Project, I was so struck by the fact that when they get out, they persevere. They keep going. They keep fighting.

They are really symbols for what our country is based on, and when they were getting out, no one was helping them. They were getting out, and they weren't even getting an apology. Dennis is the only one who I met who's in the film who the D.A. actually apologized to him.

NGUYEN: And he got a settlement, right?

SIMON: He's the only individual in the film who received compensation from the state. Only a handful of states in the country provide meaningful compensation. So I made this film to document what happens to these guys, the exonerated, once they get out, and that society -- it is our moral obligation to help the exonerated and to help improve this system that can be improved, and "After Innocence" is doing that.

It is traveling around the country right now. It is going to Boston next week, so Dennis' hometown is going to see this film and see everything that Dennis is made about, his spirit, his courage, and what kind of man he is

NGUYEN: And you both have got to be excited about the Oscar buzz. We wish you both the best of luck. It's really an extraordinary film. Thank you for being with us today and sharing these stories.

SIMON: Thank you so much.

MAHER: Thank you. NGUYEN: Hollywood's power players are gathered in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, but you don't have to be a high-roller to make a feature film. No, in fact, it can be done for less than the price of a used car, believe it or not. The story of Sundance's youngest director when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: A daring rescue on the high seas. It happened during Hurricane Katrina, but only now are the pictures coming to light. Check it out. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flies straight into the storm's almost 100 mile-an-hour winds. The target, a fishing boat in 40 foot waves taking on water, three people on board.

Today the chopper crew, two pilots a diver and mechanic became the first to receive a distinguished flying cross for operations during Katrina. Their citation reads, quote, "For heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight." Good for them.

A lot of people head to the Sundance Film Festival hoping to find the big-time, and sometimes the road is anything but big.

Brooke Anderson joins us now live from Park City, Utah, with a story of one filmmaker's very small beginnings. These are small, Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Betty. Yes, it's not a big road here. It's a pretty small street. I'm here on Main Street in Park City. And look at the snow. It is really coming down. It has been steadily snowing all morning long. The streets and the sidewalks are pretty quiet right now. People are actually, I think, staying inside as much as they can today because it's pretty chilly. It's about 20 degrees, it feels more like five degrees out here.

But it's been very exciting. This is the premiere American showcase for independent filmmaking. People like Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith have all gotten their starts right here. And now, sure, there are a lot of movies with budgets of millions of dollars and A-list stars including Jennifer Aniston, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, but there are also films made for mere thousands, including less than $10,000.

And one first-time filmmaker knows, this is a place where dreams are realized.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON (voice-over): Welcome to Stafford Springs, Connecticut, population about 16,000. Life is calm here now, but that was not the case in the summer of 2004. That's when 20-year-old independent filmmaker Roger Ingraham shot his first feature length movie here, a vampire flick called "Moonshine."

ROGER INGRAHAM, FILMMAKER: I wouldn't have made this in Los Angeles, it wouldn't have happened. But by coming home, I found a lot of support.

ANDERSON: A lot of support! The film's entire 22-day production budget, $9,200, came as a loan from Ingraham's aunt and parents. And his sister and mom both star in the film, when they weren't cooking food for the crew. Ingraham also received support from the town.

INGRAHAM: We have a car -- three car accidents in our film and all of the cars were given to me for free by people in our town who just believed in the project. I went to the Stafford Police Department and asked them, would you be willing to, you know, lend me your cop cars and your cops for six hours in the middle of the night and what did they say, yes!

ANDERSON (on camera): Two years later, Ingraham's hometown support and hard work have really paid off. He's celebrating his 22nd birthday here at Sundance, where his movie is an official selection and he is the youngest filmmaker at this year's festival.

ROBERT INGRAHAM, FATHER: You come out of college, and you got a bunch of grades in short under your belt, you still haven't done anything. So, this is his graduation night.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Ingraham hopes graduation night leads to a place in Hollywood.

INGRAHAM: They just come up from warm weather into cold weather and watch the film and then if they like it, then it could go to theaters and do the whole gamut.

ANDERSON: From the tiny town of Stafford Springs to Park City, Utah, Ingraham is a real "Sundance Kid" hoping to make a killing in Hollywood.

INGRAHAM: Well, I'm still a small town boy, so to speak.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: And he really is the pride of Stafford Springs, pretty much. Today is actually his 22nd birthday. We want to wish him a happy birthday. And we just found out a couple of days ago he now has a publicist, so indeed, he is well on his way to Hollywood. And Betty, the film hasn't been picked up yet by a distributor, as far as we know, but there is still time.

NGUYEN: But what a way to celebrate your birthday. You get some play on CNN, free publicity, it's all good. Let me ask you, though -- so many films to watch, so much to see out there. Have you been able to catch some good ones?

ANDERSON: I have, Betty. The schedules are so, so tight and so busy. I've been doing a lot of interviews, doing a lot of behind-the- scenes shoots at the swag suites, talking to the stars. I've actually caught the documentary, the Neil Young "Heart of Gold" documentary. It was very good. In fact, I saw Rosie O'Donnell's documentary, a documentary on eating disorders called "Thin." But tonight here at the Sundance Film Festival, we have the closing premiere and that is for the movie "Alpha Dog." It is actually Justin Timberlake's very first film, his feature film debut. It also stars Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone and it is a very interesting story. In fact, it's based on the true story of Jesse James' Hollywood. One of the youngest men ever to be put on the FBI's most wanted list. He was a fugitive for years, eluded the authorities.

But he was actually captured last March in Brazil. The director, Nick Cassavetes, had to go back, revise the script, change the story, reshoot some scenes. So this film's release really comes at what is a pivotal time in terms of the real-life story of Jesse James' Hollywood. He is right now awaiting trial, but no trial date has been set. And the movie, as of right now, is scheduled for release in April. So pretty, pretty fascinating story -- Betty.

NGUYEN: It really is. And there's been a lot of buzz about that movie, even when it started shooting there. So interesting to see how that turns out. Brooke, thank you.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Much more ahead. The news keeps coming, and we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

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