Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Flight 93 Tape Played for Jurors in Moussaoui Trial; DNA Dilemma?; Iraq and a Hard Place

Aired April 12, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Live from B Control, we're talking about hard enough to read the transcript, harder still to hear the voices, the sounds, the screams. The last half-hour of Flight 93 unspooled for the jury today in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve was in the courtroom as the cockpit voice recordings were heard in public for the very first time. She joins us once again from Alexandria, Virginia -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, what the jury heard were the sounds of people being murdered. It was not like a screenplay. You could not always tell who was talking, you could not always tell what actions were accompanying the words. But there was 31 minutes of it, and it was painful to listen to.

At the beginning, you hear the struggle as the hijackers try to take over the cockpit of the plane. You hear an unidentified man say, "Don't hurt me," and later, "I don't want to die. I don't want to die." Then he is silenced.

Then you hear a woman struggle. She too is silenced. Then there's a long period of relative quiet on the tape until late on when you hear another struggle.

The hijackers talk about displaying an ax to try to frighten the passengers, but apparently it doesn't work. You hear what is believed to be a passenger say, "Let's go, guys."

The hijackers talk about the need to hold the door and keep them out. One of the passengers says, "In the cockpit. If we don't we'll die."

There is more struggle. Eventually, one of the hijackers says to another, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" And a second hijacker responds, "Yes, put it in. Pull it down."

There is more struggle, apparently a disagreement about whether the plane should go up or whether the plane should go down. Then all is silent. The plane has crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

Hamilton Peterson lost his father and stepmother on the flight. He talked about his reaction to hearing the tape again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HAMILTON PETERSON, DAD, STEPMOM DIED ON FLIGHT 93: I think it captures the American spirit. It is truly remarkable that when one appreciates the brutality and the complexity of the conspiracy, that in a matter of moments these brave Americans overcame a horrific challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: There was another piece of tape played in the courtroom today. It was a phone message left by flight attendant C.C. Lyles (ph) for her husband. He did not retrieve it until a week after her death on Flight 93.

We heard her say, "Hope to see your face again, baby. I love you. Good-bye." Her voice cracking as the phone call ended.

Through it all, Moussaoui sat in the courtroom smiling, looking around for reaction. The prosecution has now rested its case. The defense starts tomorrow -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jeanne, once again, I just want to remind our viewers about the building that's going on behind you there. I'm sorry about the distraction. And it's probably loud for you. I hope you can hear me OK.

I just have one quick question, and that's, what is the defense strategy for Moussaoui now after hearing these tapes?

MESERVE: Moussaoui himself may take the stand again and testify in his own defense. In addition, we expect to hear experts who will talk about his difficult childhood in France, as a Muslim in France. Also, mental health experts to talk about whether or not he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

They also have asked to put Richard Reid on the stand. He is the shoe bomber who is currently serving jail time. Unclear at this point whether or not Reid will appear in the courtroom. Of course, Moussaoui has claimed he and Reid were supposed to pilot a fifth plane that was supposed to go into the White House.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Jeanne Meserve just outside the courtroom.

Thanks, Jeanne.

Putting down the textbooks, picking up the prayer books. Duke University is holding a prayer vigil this afternoon, a way of helping students endure an especially painful and divisive rape investigation. The vigil comes a day after Durham, North Carolina, prosecutors pledged to move on with the case despite an apparent lack of DNA evidence.

A woman hired as a stripper claims that she was raped at a lacrosse team party. And there are racial overtones as well. The alleged victim is black, and she says her attackers were white. DNA under the microscope. On the crime shows, it's that's crucial tidbit that makes the case and puts the bad guy behind bares. In real life it's often a different story.

Our Alina Cho takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no DNA evidence...

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When defense attorneys representing Duke lacrosse players made that announcement, many began to wonder, would prosecutors still have a case? If DNA is the most compelling evidence in a rape case, what happens without it?

Rockne Harmon is a longtime prosecutor and DNA expert.

ROCKNE HARMON, DNA EXPERT: I think for starters we have to acknowledge that just because there's no biological evidence of any kind, no DNA evidence, that doesn't mean an assault didn't occur.

CHO: Harmon says DNA is a relatively new prosecution tool introduced in the late 1980s, brought into the American consciousness during the O.J. Simpson trial.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder...

CHO: In the absence of DNA, Harmon says prosecutors must rely on other forensic evidence, like trauma to the victim or markings on the defendants. He says they must also rely heavily on witnesses.

BEN BRAFMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Maybe there was an overstatement of what actually took place.

CHO: Famed attorney Ben Brafman says witnesses coming forward can also help the defense. In the case of the Duke lacrosse players, Brafman says if there are 47 players on the team, there are likely many different stories, and it's possible none of them will match the accuser's account.

BRAFMAN: In a he said-she said, it's always difficult to get a conviction. When you have a she said, he said, he said, he said, he said, and multiply that out, you have a very difficult case as a prosecutor.

CHO (on camera): So we're looking at an uphill battle for the prosecution?

BRAFMAN: You're looking at an uphill battle.

CHO (voice over): Then there's the issue of some high-profile cases are handled. Take basketball star Kobe Bryant. When DNA linked him to his female accuser, the L.A. Laker's denial became a tearful admission.

KOBE BRYANT, BASKETBALL PLAYER: I'm so sorry.

CHO: Rockne Harmon says that proves DNA, though important, doesn't guarantee a conviction.

HARMON: Fifteen years ago we hardly ever got to do DNA. Now, whenever anything happens, we want -- we turn to DNA to save the day. And as you've seen, it does when it can, when it can't, you revert back to normal investigative means.

CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Getting some sad news within the music world now. Carol Lin with this story just into CNN -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The youngest of the Pointer Sisters has died at the age of 52. And just in case you didn't hear me, June Pointer, the youngest sister of the Pointer Sisters singing group, died at the age of 52.

Kyra, she apparently died of cancer. She passed away at the Santa Monica University of California hospital yesterday. And according to the reports that we have, that she died in the arms of her sister -- her sisters, and her brothers were there as well at her bed side.

But what a legacy that she had, Kyra. I mean, you and I were dancing to her music back in elementary school -- you know? Do you remember?

PHILLIPS: That is true. I remember very well.

LIN: "He's So Shy."

PHILLIPS: Yes, I know.

LIN: "I'm So Excited."

PHILLIPS: You know, we won't even attempt -- it's true. Those were the big hits.

LIN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: I mean, I remember even at my wedding that was music that we played.

LIN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: I mean, this is...

LIN: Everybody hits the dance floor. You know?

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. No doubt.

LIN: That was a life well lived. There you go. (MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: What did you get for us, Otis (ph)?

LIN: He nailed it. He nailed it.

PHILLIPS: He sure did.

LIN: Yes. Lots of happy memories. So, clearly, very loved. And it was great that her family was able to be with her when she passed.

PHILLIPS: Yes, she crossed all lines, I'll tell you what.

LIN: She sure did.

PHILLIPS: Everyone loved her music.

Carol, thank you so much.

Well, Michael Brown is heading back to Louisiana in search of a heck of a job. And he just may find one in St. Bernard Parish. The parish council is thinking of hiring the former FEMA director, now a consultant, to help cut through government red tape as it struggles to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

Critics argue Brown dredged up too many bad memories about the government's failures.

More rain, more flooding, more mudslides, more misery for northern California. In Mill Valley, a desperate search is under way for a man feared trapped under a 10-foot wall of mud. The man's wife says he was checking on their house when the hillside gave way.

Just to the south, Brisbane residents are eying another hillside. About four feet of it crumbled last night, coming to rest against the back of this house. Nearby homes are evacuated.

So when is the rain going to end? Let's check in with CNN's meteorologist Reynolds Wolf -- Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Kyra, I don't think it's not going to end anytime too soon.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: We'll keep checking in. Thank you.

WOLF: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Is the English language under assault in America? If so, are English-only laws the answer? We're going to have the debate when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Iran, the U.N. and uranium. Lines are being drawn, sides taken, including potentially in Iran's next-door neighbor and one-time enemy.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Iran and the U.S. are now likely to battle at the United Nations over Iran's nuclear program. But it's a battle that has Iraq right in the middle.

KEN POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: The Iran nuclear issue tends to be divorced from the reconstruction of Iraq. But most senior officials here in Washington recognize that the two are intimately intertwined.

RAMAN: The backbone of Iraq's government, the Shia Religious Alliance, is very close to Iran. Many of its leaders spent years there in exile during Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, when the Shia were persecuted in Iraq. The two countries are the biggest in the Muslim world, where Shias outnumber Sunnis. And the U.S. says Iran is undermining American efforts in Iraq, smuggling weapons, arming and training Shia militias.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq, and we know it.

RAMAN: An allegation made by Sunnis, as well. The leading Sunni politician fears his country will become an even bigger battlefield.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to do their attack first. They want to start the attack on the Americans in Iraq, and they want to make from Iraq the ground for the battle, not Iran.

RAMAN: The United States worked hard for more than two years to create a secular government in Iraq, a U.S. ally in the region. But Shias linked to Iran won big in every election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we will not allow our Iraqi territory to be used against any of our neighbors. We do not want to get involved in this.

RAMAN: Something not lost on Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are forced to temper their actions regarding Iran's nuclear program by the recognition that if they push too hard, they might wind up dooming the reconstruction of Iraq.

RAMAN: Reconstructing Iraq, analyst say, is the most important national security issue facing the Bush administration.

(on camera): Iraq's government is currently in the midst of its own political crisis, a bad time to be drawn into a brewing international dispute, one that could prove the first real sign of where new Iraq's allegiance lies, with the West or with its neighbor Iran.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Stories developing right now in Iraq. Let's head straight to Carol Lin with more in the newsroom -- Carol.

LIN: This is north of Baghdad, Kyra. CNN now confirming with Iraqi police that 20 people died in a bombing on a Shiite mosque north of Baghdad. Twenty people dead, 40 wounded, as this blast targeted worshipers at a mosque in the town of Hawidir (ph).

Hospital officials are saying that there were dozens of casualties being treated, and this in light of last week. There was a bombing -- in fact, it was a triple suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad which killed 90 people last week -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll continue to follow the stories, of course, coming out of Iraq throughout the next hour and a half or so.

An update now on a story that we brought you on Monday, also Iraq-related. You may remember a 10-year-old Iraqi girl who suffers from spina bifida was brought to this country through the efforts of a Tennessee reporter that was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq.

Well, little Gufran underwent almost eight hours of surgery yesterday to correct an opening at the base of her spine. Her doctors say it was a huge success.

She's expected to remain in a Knoxville hospital for a couple of weeks. She'll recuperate at the home of (INAUDIBLE) family. She and eight-year-old Samantha have become best friends, as you can see. She still won't be able to walk, but doctors say the surgery will greatly improve Gufran's mobility.

We want to take time now to salute fallen heroes, the men and women who have sacrificed their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here now are some of the names behind the casualty count.

Army Sergeant Rickey E. Jones was just 21 years old when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Hundreds of leather-clad biker vets showed up at his funeral in Kokomo, Indiana, to support his family.

Marine Lance Corporal Steven L. Phillips, English -- he was an English teacher, rather. He says he was always smiling. Phillips died in a vehicle accident during combat in Iraq. His aunt says that he was a wonderful, caring and intelligent man.

And Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Allan M. Cundanga Espiritu of Oxnard, California, also made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq. He was killed by a roadside bomb in November of last year near Ramadi.

These are just a few of the 2,364 men and women who have died in the war in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a badgered traveler packs her bags with some corporate cash. Make that lots of corporate cash.

A Texas jury awarded Samantha Carrington more than $27 million from Southwest Airlines. Carrington was accused of assaulting a Southwest flight attendant in 2003. The feds arrested her, but she was never was charged.

Carrington, who is an American citizen of Iranian descent, claimed that she was a victim of stereotyping and racial profiling and says the flight attendant compared her to a terrorist. The airline says it will appeal.

Last year, air travelers enjoyed some of the lowest fares ever. But as Susan Lisovicz tell us, those days are over.

Susan, bad news.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: It's bad news for -- you know, you have to remember that we've had pretty good fares, Kyra. And, you know, in order to keep so many of our major airlines aloft, they really needed to do this.

So many business analysts say they needed to raise fares to really get their balance sheets in order, and they have been raising fares by double digits since last fall. They are likely to go higher, perhaps a lot higher, due to strong travel demand. And, you know, this is a supply and demand business after all.

Airlines not only raising rates, but not adding any capacity, not adding seats, not adding extra flights, as so many of us know. This, of course, will be helpful to airlines which have hemorrhaged tens of millions of dollars since 9/11.

On the other hand, it means bargains for us are harder to find. We'll give you an example of how fares have risen.

Business fares, which are very lucrative for airlines, or have been, this is calculated by American Express business travel. In the fourth quarter of '05, the average for several hundred popular domestic routes was $223. That's one way. It sounds reasonable, right? But it's up more than 10 percent since the first quarter of '05, same year.

And, of course, the inflation rate overall is only 3.6 percent. So it's more than double that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So I'm guessing higher fuel prices, of course, have a lot to do with the increased airfares?

LISOVICZ: Right, because energy prices, of course, have also risen much higher than the CPI, than the Consumer Price Index overall. And when you think about jet fuel being one of the major expenses for airlines, you know that and it's unionized labor force, after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, jet fuel was above $125 per barrel. Last year, earlier in the year, $40 per barrel.

So airlines are raising prices, and they've been able to stick because they have the leverage. Everybody knows what's been happening in the oil market.

And by the way, we are watching oil prices very closely today. We got a report on U.S. fuel inventories this morning showing crude supplies rose last week. That's obviously good, but gasoline and heating oil stockpiles fell more than expected.

Right now, crude is down slightly, but still only a buck away from its all-time settling high. So that's something that's going to pinch us in so many ways, whether we're filling up at the pump or heating or air-conditioning our homes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Delta pilots, they've been talking about it, of course, here in Atlanta all day. They staged a protest.

What's the latest with the negotiations? Do we need to worry about this airline?

LISOVICZ: Well, yes. I mean, the short answer is, it's happening right in your back yard, Kyra. As you know, more than 300 Delta pilots marching outside company headquarters in Atlanta.

This is one of the nation's major airlines, one of the top five. It is already operating under bankruptcy protection.

The pilots today protesting the company's plans to void union contracts and cut its pay and benefits for a second time. Last week, you'll recall we talked about it. Pilots authorized a strike for any time after April 17th. An arbitration panel is expected to hear the case on the 15th.

Delta, of course, says the strike would put the airline out of business, and it very well may. Talks between the union and negotiators continue today in New York.

Delta's stock, by the way, of course is de-listed because it's under -- operating under bankruptcy protection. But we can tell you what the Big Board is doing.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

And that's the latest from Wall Street. CNN's LIVE FROM continues right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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