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Jury Reaches Verdict in Moussaoui Trial; Alabama Arson Suspects to Face 46 Felony Charges; Pandemic Planning; Gulf Coast Region Prepares For Upcoming Hurricane Season
Aired May 03, 2006 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: If you're just tuning in at the top of the hour on LIVE FROM, it was just a couple of minutes ago that we told you that Earl Woods, the father of golfer Tiger Woods, has passed away. He was 74 years old.
As you probably know, if you have been following Tiger Woods and his relationship with his father, and, of course, Tiger's golf game, his father has been his best friend, his mentor, has coached him and pushed him since he was a -- a young child. And Tiger firmly believes he wouldn't be where he is today if it were not for his father -- Earl Woods passing away at the age of 74, after fighting cancer.
Let's get straight to Carol Lin. She's working a developing story on those Alabama church fires.
What do we know, Carol?
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you remember these -- a string of church fires in Alabama back in February. Three college students were arrested.
And, today, the Alabama attorney general has announced that the state is going to be filing 46 felony counts against these students. Now, these students already face a handful of federal charges. That trial is expected to start on June 5. But these additional counts, Kyra, it just goes to show that this is a case that the Alabama attorney general is taking very seriously.
The federal charges, there may be a plea bargain. The attorneys for the three students are talking about hoping that they can make some kind of out-of-court settlement. But the state charges, it looks like they are going to be going to trial there, and, a very serious situation.
You know, Kyra, they -- these kids actually said that this started as a joke. You know, they set the first few fires just as a joke, and then they set the other fires, totaling nine, you know, to try to cover up and to try to throw the investigators off.
It was a confusing case, because there was no real pattern, except that they were rural churches. They were white churches. They were black churches. And a lot of pastors and congregants very fearful at that time -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: I remember, when that came out, we read that in the -- the testimony, and the detectives were saying they just weren't buying it, because, if it were indeed a prank, they wouldn't have continued to do it, that there was definitely, detectives thought, a big thrill- seeking part behind the motivation there.
LIN: Yes. Well, they're going to be paying a price for this.
PHILLIPS: All right, Carol, thanks.
LIN: Mmm-hmm.
PHILLIPS: Two-hundred-plus pages, 300 separate jobs, and one bottom line: Don't count on Washington to do all the work. The White House is putting its road map for pandemic preparedness on the table, outlining duties for state and local governments, businesses, schools and others.
Although there's no sign of a human flu pandemic right now, many scientists believe the world is overdue, with bird flu the most likely candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISER: If this develops into a circumstance where there is efficient human- to-human transmission, we will take immediate action to prevent or to slow the spread of the infection, including entry and exit screening, restrictions on movements across borders, and consider the rapid deployment of international stocks of antiviral medications, in coordination with our international partners.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: In its worst-case pandemic scenario, the feds predict as many as 50 million Americans would be infected, two million would die, and as much as 40 percent of the work force would be unable or unwilling to work.
Well, since 1900, three flu pandemics have ravaged the United States. Here's the facts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The deadliest infectious pandemic in U.S. history was the Spanish flu of 1918. Unlike most flu outbreaks, that strike mostly the very old and the very young, this one, a bird flu, also zeroed in on young adults.
As a result, children were orphaned, families left without wage earners. One horrifying characteristic, many people died from this killer very quickly. Some people who felt well in the morning became sick by noon and were dead by nightfall.
But, within a few months, the pandemic was over -- in its wake, more than 500,000 Americans dead. Worldwide, 20 to 50 million people were killed. In 1957, the Asian flu was first detected in China. Unlike the 1918 virus, this one was quickly identified. It hit the U.S. quietly, with a series of small outbreaks in the summer, but quickly spread when children went back to school in the fall.
In all, about 70,000 died, with most victims being the elderly. In early 1968, the Hong Kong flu pandemic reached the U.S. Again, the elderly were the hardest hit. By the time it was over, in March 1969, nearly 34,000 Americans had died, making it the mildest pandemic in the 20th century.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: A U.S. Marine's life savings cleaned out after his death. The family is outraged. And you may, too.
John Ferrugia of CNN affiliate KMGH in Denver has an investigation that went all the way to City Hall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIS SEPULVEDA, JASON SEPULVEDA'S MOTHER: My son died instantly and the other Marine died approximately two weeks after.
JOHN FERRUGIA, KMGH REPORTER (voice over): Jason Sepulveda, a Marine, was training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, preparing to go to Iraq, when, in an evening off base, he was killed in a car accident.
SEPULVEDA: This was the last picture of him leaving home.
FERRUGIA: His parents, who spoke with him weekly, knew he had been saving his money for a long weekend, when they would all be together.
SEPULVEDA: We were going on vacation for the Fourth of July to visit him. And I know he had been sacrificing, because they don't get paid very much.
FERRUGIA: Jason's body was returned to Colorado for burial, and records show the funeral was paid for in full by the Marines. But after closing out her son's account, Jason's mother realized the probate court had sent the proceeds of Jason's savings account to the funeral home, run by this man, Jim Bostick.
SEPULVEDA: And I called Mr. Bostick. He just kind of really blew me off a lot.
FERRUGIA (on camera): Did he give you any other receipts or bills?
SEPULVEDA: Never.
FERRUGIA: He just kept the money?
SEPULVEDA: He just kept the money.
FERRUGIA (voice over): Jim Bostick not only owns two funeral homes. He is also mayor of Fort Lupton and heads the city council. In that role, he is heavily involved in overseeing the finances of the town.
SEPULVEDA: You know, I told Mr. Bostick, well, that's my son's money.
FERRUGIA: Now, Elis Sepulveda took Bostick to court over the money he wouldn't return to her family, and the judge's order in the case was final.
SEPULVEDA: She gave damages, interest, court fines, everything. And I assumed that, if you go to court, that you're just supposed -- you know, you pay it.
FERRUGIA (on camera): I'm John Ferrugia. I'm from over at Channel 7.
(voice over): But, despite the judgment of more than $7,500, Jim Bostick has refused to pay.
(on camera): Why are you still holding the money for this Marine family?
JAMES BOSTICK, MAYOR OF FORT LUPTON, COLORADO: Well, I'm not holding the money for them. You know, and I don't want to be on camera right now.
FERRUGIA: Clearly, Bostick was not happy to see us.
(on camera): These aren't the only people you owe money. You owe people -- other people money. You have got other judgments out there. You want to talk to me about that?
BOSTICK: No, I don't.
(voice over): In fact, court records show Bostick has several current unsatisfied debts to creditors from Greeley to Montana, and that doesn't include money he owed when he took bankruptcy in 2001.
(on camera): This is a city building.
BOSTICK: I know, sir. I just don't want to be on camera.
FERRUGIA (voice over): He claims he's trying to repay the money. But he didn't want to talk about the money he owes to the Marine family, or whether, given his personal financial problems, he should be making fiscal decisions for the town of Fort Lupton.
(on camera): I want to know if you think it's appropriate for the mayor, who has fiduciary responsibility, to owe this kind of money?
(voice over): We have obtained letters written by Bostick to the family, saying he would resolve the issue. But...
SEPULVEDA: It got to a point where he would just not even accept our phone calls and just say, I can't hear you. I can't hear you.
FERRUGIA (on camera): You wrote them letters and you said, I want to settle this. And you never have. Why not?
BOSTICK: I don't recall ever writing letters to no one.
FERRUGIA: Do you want to see them?
BOSTICK: Well, I don't recall that.
FERRUGIA: You don't recall the letters?
BOSTICK: No.
FERRUGIA (voice over): Finally, using the same apparent double- talk that has frustrated the Sepulvedas, Bostick seemed to make clear he has no intention of settling the claim.
BOSTICK: It will be worked out with them.
FERRUGIA (on camera): Worked out? You have been saying that for how many years? How many years you have been telling them that?
BOSTICK: I can't even remember when it happened.
FERRUGIA: It's not a real top priority, is it?
BOSTICK: Yes, it is a priority.
FERRUGIA: It's a priority to them.
BOSTICK: But I feel that it's money that I do not owe them.
SEPULVEDA: You know, my son was in the Marines. And he went there to do what was right for his country, you know? And I know for a fact that for -- you know, for somebody to actually steal from him is not right. This is -- me, as a mother, I need to do this. This was my son's money, and I'm -- and I -- and I'm not going to go away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: John Ferrugia now joins us live.
First of all, John, way to go. Way to stay after all those people involved. What's the talk around town? I can just imagine friends of this family are outraged.
FERRUGIA: Well, the -- the thing this, this small town in Colorado is a wonderful town. And people there are embarrassed. They want him either to pay this or to resign as mayor.
And I think he has done neither at this point. They have gotten, at city government there, around 1,000 e-mails from all over the world, including Iraq, people saying, you know, this guy needs to pay up. So, it's an embarrassment to the town. And, thus far, he has not taken any action.
PHILLIPS: Why don't they just arrest the funeral director?
FERRUGIA: Well, you -- you can't arrest people for a -- a small- claims court judgment. And that's what this is.
Essentially, the family's option is to put a lien against his businesses or -- or his car or so on. But they have to stand in line, because he's got a lot of debts, including, we find, child support payments he hasn't paid. And, so, their chances of getting blood out of a turnip, as they say, is pretty slim.
PHILLIPS: Do you think that all this media coverage and the attention paid to this story and the fact that this was a -- gosh, a Marine fighting for this country, will have an impact and might push this along a little faster?
Yes, I really do. I mean, here in Denver, we have gotten hundreds of e-mails from people from around the country, a lot of military families who are saying, you know, this has got to be resolved. I think it -- you know, how it's going to be resolved, I don't know. He hasn't said he's going to resign. He hasn't yet said how he's going to pay or if he's going to pay. Remember, this has been going on now for two years. He has been telling them intermittently, oh, I will pay you, and then it never happens.
PHILLIPS: So, how is the mom doing?
FERRUGIA: Well, you know, as you might imagine, this is a wound that's not healing.
You know, she feels her son is being dishonored here. She wants this settled. Every time she has to go back to him or to court or whatever to try to get this money, it's just an unresolved issue that just keeps bringing her death forward in her mind. And -- and it's a very painful thing for her.
PHILLIPS: Well, we're glad you're on the story, John. Will you keep us updated and let us know what happens?
FERRUGIA: Will do, Kyra. Thanks very much.
PHILLIPS: John Ferrugia, thanks so much.
World Wide Web, worldwide threat, for all the positive ways the Internet affects our lives, the online realm is one where criminals, sex criminals, find easy prey and, far too often, anonymous -- anonymously, and, far too often, children.
Right now, live on Capitol Hill, a House panel is hearing more testimony calling for a crackdown on cyber predators. Sadly, it's too late to help Masha Allen. She's the now 13-year-old girl whose adopted father abused her and sent pornographic photos of her across the Web. Well, he's in jail, but Masha is getting up there on the stand and telling her story to Congress today. Of course, we are following that. And we will bring you live pictures, once they step up to the microphone, Masha and also our Nancy Grace, who is there testifying.
Now, the Internet, online seduction, a grown man and a young girl -- we like reporting those FBI stings that bust sexual predators before they meet their victims, but this isn't one of them.
Kara Sundlun of our affiliate WFSB has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA SUNDLUN, WFSB REPORTER (voice-over): Aaron Whitney (ph) ducked down in the back of this police cruiser when he saw our cameras at Middletown Superior Court. He's accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl he met on MySpace.com here at the Riverdale Motel. Police say this case is a wake-up call for parents.
SERGEANT PAUL VANCE, CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE: Exposing children to computers is educational and necessary, but they also need to know the dangers of -- of being online. Putting a computer in a private space, in a bedroom, out of sight, is wrong.
SUNDLUN: After the girl's mother reported her missing, police searched her computer. They say they found evidence that Whitney (ph) was having an online relationship with the young girl. Then they started searching the area and found his car at this motel in Portland and found the two of them together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the room here, room 28, where the two people were.
SUNDLUN (on camera): So, that's where police found them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's where the police found them at 4:00 this morning.
SUNDLUN: Rich Collins has worked here at the Riverdale Motel on Route 66 for the last three years, and he says he feels sick about this.
RICH COLLINS, HOTEL EMPLOYEE: A 13-year-old kid and one man there, my God. I -- I just couldn't believe it. This is not right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Kara Sundlun there from Hartford, Connecticut, our affiliate, WFSB.
While Congress decides how it can protect kids online, there is plenty that you can do -- and I'm talking about parents -- to predator-proof -- or to predators, rather, proof that -- your kids' Internet experience.
For starters, lay down the law for when they can use the Web. Ideally, it's when you're close by. Also, keep the computer out in the open and check the browser's history file. It's a list of everywhere that your surfer has surfed. And then look into adding filter software to block certain sites that you choose. And, finally, find out where else your kid is Web-surfing. It could a friend's house, the library, or a public access point.
Well, coming up, two towns in recovery mode now working on their game plan for the 2006 hurricane season. I'm going to talk with a couple of community leaders from Gulfport to Biloxi -- next.
But, first, the storm season just weeks away -- we want to hear from you. I'm going to talk with the man in charge of FEMA this hour. What questions do you have for acting Director David Paulison? E-mail us your questions at LIVEFROM@CNN.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, first came a major earthquake, then the tsunami warnings. And, as you may have seen earlier on LIVE FROM, the Southwestern Pacific went on alert when a powerful 7.8-magnitude quake struck 95 miles off the coast of Tonga. Tsunami warnings were quickly posted, but all have since been canceled.
An American tourist in Tonga described the quake as a real shaker and told us some areas had even lost power. A journalist in Fiji reported a weak tremor and no damage.
We saw what happened when the levees failed in New Orleans. Now people in Florida are worried about the dike on Lake Okeechobee. Engineers have told Governor Jeb Bush that a breach could run tap -- ruin tap water supplies, rather, flood farmlands, and cause tens of billions of dollars in damage.
The experts put the risk at one in six if a hurricane hits nearby. The state is asking the feds for help.
Well, we hear a lot of assurances that the Gulf Coast will be ready when hurricane season arrives. That's in 29 days, by the way, if you're counting.
Let's check with someone who knows pretty well where things stand.
Joining me on the phone from Gulfport, Fire Chief Pat Sullivan.
Chief, can you hear me OK?
PAT SULLIVAN, GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI, FIRE CHIEF: Yes, ma'am. I can.
PHILLIPS: Well, thanks for joining us. Tell me what you're doing to prepare. What's your strategy for if indeed a hurricane hits?
SULLIVAN: Well, you know, there are so many things we're trying to do.
What we're doing, specifically, is we are taking our lessons learned, the things that didn't go right, the things that did go right in the last hurricane, in -- in Katrina. And we are -- we're trying to correct those things that we feel we could do something about and improve on. And we're just going to firm up those things that work successfully. Some of the...
PHILLIPS: What are you correcting specifically, Chief? SULLIVAN: Well, some of the things are the logistics.
An example, we know that, this year, we're looking at having 3,460 gallons of water specifically for the fire department. That's for a -- that's for two gallons of water per -- per firefighter for 10 days. We hadn't got to that much detail in the past in our -- in our plans. This time, we're looking specifically at how much food a specific firefighter would need, how much water he would need, how much fuel we need, not only for the fire trucks, but to get firefighters back and forth to the stations, where we had problems last year in the fuels resources. We're trying to firm those things up -- so, specific things, not just general overall things, but specific items that we need that we didn't have or that we didn't plan on.
PHILLIPS: Would you be involved in evacuations?
SULLIVAN: We are -- we are involved in somewhat in the evacuations, because we assist in the -- in the sheltering. We assist in -- in the citizens getting out, giving them information as to where to go, giving them information on -- on how to get there.
And, you know, sometimes what happens, in an evacuation, we have people in a hurry to get out of town, and they have accidents and things happen. So, our call volume increases during an emergency like that. Prior to the storm coming, we have a lot of -- a lot of issues and a lot of emergencies that we have to deal with.
So, we have to bring in personnel, extra personnel, just to deal with that part of it.
PHILLIPS: Well, Chief, you probably know, Mayor Ray Nagin came at -- on -- well, he had a press conference. It was either yesterday or the day before. Everything seems to runs together for me. But he talked about specific changes that they're going to make. And he's basically saying everybody is going to be out, period. He's going to warn everybody there, I think it was 30 hours ahead of time. And they have got to go.
Is it going to be the same situation in your area? Because I heard you mention shelters, so, is there going to be a policy of, no matter what, get out? Or are you going to say, we will have shelters available; stay if you want?
SULLIVAN: I think that everybody is aware that you cannot force people out of their homes. You can beg them. You can ask them. You can do everything you can to convince them to leave. But you cannot physically remove somebody from their homes. But some people are going to stay. We have found this in every storm that we have dealt with. We try to educate our -- our citizenry to -- to get out. And that's the safest thing to do.
But, for one reason or another, they may be late in getting out. They may have had mechanical problems, that they can't get out. So, there is going to be some issues where -- where sheltering is going to have to happen. We're going to have to shelter our firefighters. We have to shelter our public safety workers. When the storm gets too great that -- that they can't be out in it, they have to find safe shelter. So, sheltering is not a -- we can't do without sheltering.
What we do, though -- and -- and I think Mayor Nagin is correct -- is, you try to warn your -- your citizens to get out sooner. This year, a Category 1 and 2 storm is going to be more devastating to us than it would have been prior to Katrina, because of the damage that was done, because of the structural damage of the homes that haven't been repaired, because of the number of FEMA trailers that people are in. They have get -- take action sooner, rather than later.
PHILLIPS: Point well made.
Fire Chief Pat Sullivan there in Gulfport, Mississippi -- Chief, thanks for your time.
SULLIVAN: You're certainly welcome.
PHILLIPS: And, in just a few minutes, I am going to pose some of your concerns to the man in charge of FEMA for this hurricane season. David Paulison is my guest -- straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, pop goes the sugar weasel at public schools across the U.S. concerned about the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.
Former President Clinton and the American Heart Association are fighting back. And they have enlisted major drink-makers as allies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I'm enormously happy to announce our first industry agreement, as part of the Healthy Schools Program. Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the American Beverage Association have agreed to new guidelines limiting the portion sizes and reducing the number of calories available to children through their products during the school day.
Under these guidelines, only lower-calorie and nutritious beverages will be sold in schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Want to take you straight to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld speaking on Capitol Hill.
Do we know what he's speaking about or where he's coming out from?
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: ... joint briefing. They got along superbly well.
PHILLIPS: Obviously, this is Senator Warner speaking, but Rumsfeld right behind him. I guess they came out of a meeting.
You also see the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, behind him. They were having a discussion about Iraq. So, let's listen in and try and figure out what was going on.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
WARNER: There's always been rather an interesting relationship between the secretaries of defense and the secretary of state. And having witnessed it firsthand myself, I would say this team is managing that marvelously.
QUESTION: Would the secretaries care to comment?
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I agree.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I agree. I like him. I think he likes me.
(LAUGHTER)
WARNER: Next question.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, did you guys...
WARNER: Over here...
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) can I get your -- your opinion on (OFF- MIKE) Senator Biden's proposal (OFF-MIKE) as far as putting in the sections. I know Chairman Warner thought that it was constructive criticism. But I wanted to get your take on it as well.
RICE: Well, I would just -- I would just make the point that the Iraqis have a quite decentralized structure that they envision in the way that their constitution is written.
It gives significant authority to the provinces. It gives significant ability to decentralize functions.
But I think this is a debate essentially Iraqis are going to have about this. And, so far, what they believe is in a unity government. They believe in a central government in Baghdad with autonomy for the provinces. And that's what we're going to try to support them in. They are the ones who have elected their government. That's what their government is doing on behalf of their people. And I think we ought to support them in their view of what Iraq ought to be.
WARNER: One question from over here. Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, did you get any better fix from Casey when you were in Iraq on his thinking about troop drawdowns?
RUMSFELD: We had excellent meetings, but he is -- faces the same reality that Condi just mentioned. And that is the fact that the new government is just starting.
They have not appointed their ministries. Until their ministers have been appointed and General Casey and Ambassador Zal Khalilzad are able to begin discussions with him and talk about the conditions on the ground and the responsibility being passed over to the Iraqis, I doubt that I would be getting any recommendations from General Casey or General Abizaid on that.
But I do expect that, after that happens, they will be having those discussions and that, as we pass over more responsibility, we ought to be able to reduce our forces.
WARNER: Thank you very much.
(CROSSTALK)
RUMSFELD: Thank you, folks.
PHILLIPS: Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice were together in Iraq last week. So, they were up on the Hill there, briefing members of the House and Senate about what they saw and experienced in Iraq.
They talked about troop withdrawal, the new Iraqi government, and the fact, as you heard the secretary of defense point out there, that not all of the ministers have been appointed in Iraq, and, until that happens and a full government is in operation, that they can't even start considering troop withdrawal.
Well, if you keep getting stuck with outdated stamps, and you need to buy 2 cent stamps to make up the difference, this post office has a new idea for you.
Susan Lisovicz, live from the New York Stock Exchange, to explain.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Susan, I still have Christmas stamps -- or holiday stamps...
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what?
PHILLIPS: ... that I'm putting with the 2 cent stamps. It's pretty pathetic.
LISOVICZ: And Kyra, it is to consumers like us that the Postal Service is targeting. Because I just had -- this is just the stash that I keep here in the office, my personal stash.
I have Native American rugs, flowers. I have Black History month, flag, Muppets, a more perfect union. So I have another stash. They're all outdated. I have another stash of two-cent stamps.
PHILLIPS: You better start writing some postcards and some letters or paying more bills.
LISOVICZ: I just want to be prepared. So the Postal Service, Kyra, listen up, is considering what it calls a Forever Stamp.
According to the "A.P.," it would sell at current first-class rates and remain valid no matter what the first-class rate is when it's used, regardless of future increases.
That's important because the Postal Service is also seeking another increase in the first-class rate, which just went up a few months ago to 39 cents. Now looking for 42 cents, probably to take effect next spring. So that Forever Stamp might be the way to go. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Why consider this move? How do they think this is going to work and why is this a good idea?
LISOVICZ: Well there are two factors here. We know how rising fuel prices are affecting us. Well just consider how it's affecting the U.S. Postal Service with all the trucks, vehicles that it uses.
Each penny increase in a gallon of gas costs the post office an additional $8 million. We've seen a lot of penny increases -- dollar increases might be more accurate. So in addition to its own fuel, expenses the post office has about 7,000 employees who use their own vehicles and are reimbursed for gas.
And then there are about 17,000 contractors whose rates are adjusted for rising fuel costs. The strategy here is that if there was this Forever Stamp, that maybe we'd all stock up on them and that would give the Postal Service extra revenue right now.
PHILLIPS: All right, what's happening on Wall Street?
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
LISOVICZ: Stay with us. LIVE FROM will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
PHILLIPS: And the word is in. There is a verdict in the Moussaoui case. We're being told it will be read at 4:30 Eastern time. Life or death for Moussaoui, that is the question the jury has decided.
We will know in less than an hour from now. Producer Phil Hirschkorn on the phone with us from Alexandria, Virginia. I know Kelli Arena is getting to the cameras. We'll have her in just a moment. Phil, we had a feeling it was going to happen today, didn't we?
PHIL HIRSCHKORN, CNN PRODUCER (on phone): Well in fact, I bet 3:00 on the jury pool. But it's not really about me. This is about first person tried in the United States for the September 11th attacks. Moussaoui, he's 37 and we know that pleaded guilty last year to six terrorism conspiracies behind that worst terror attack in our history. It killed close to 3,000 people. And for the past eight weeks, we've been sitting through a trial merely to determine his punishment. As you said, there's been only two choices and only two choices. He'll either receive death by lethal injection if these 12 jurors voted unanimously for that. Or if they were not unanimous or felt differently, the verdict will be life in prison without the possibility of parole.
PHILLIPS: You know, Phil, everybody knows that's been watching CNN and watching how this trial has unfolded. I mean, Moussaoui has had no problem coming up to the microphone, saying whatever he wants to say, making fun of the victims families, wishing that he would have been involved in the death of even more Americans, making it very clear that he had no regrets about what he did on 9/11.
HIRSCHKORN: Absolutely right. The turning point in this trial was Moussaoui's testimony. He testified twice. The first time he testified, he claimed that he was a part of 9/11. He claimed that he would have hijacked a fifth plane and flown it into the White House.
He also claimed Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, was part of his crew. That was later contradicted. Moussaoui testified again in this penalty phase. And not only did he express no remorse, one of the key factors on the jury verdict form, but he went beyond that.
He was positively gleeful with all the deaths. He made fun of the family members who cried right before his eyes about losing their loved one. He said that he wished September 11th attacks happened again on the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th. It was extraordinary and it's one of the factors that the jury will be voting on on their verdict form that we will hear within an hour.
PHILLIPS: Phil, stay with us. Kelli Arena now with us in front of the camera. She came out of the courtroom. Kelli all of us have been waiting. Now it's less than an hour away. Of course, we cannot forget all the emotional family testimony that led up to this point. That's what we've been talking about so much in the past two weeks, those recordings and what the family members had to say.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. This has been a trial like no other that I have ever seen. There were moments that were just painful when we heard from Moussaoui, when he expressed absolutely no remorse for the attacks.
As Phil said when he said that he wished they could go on and on, when you heard the tearful stories from family members and how their lives had be changed by the loss of their loved ones. We heard desperate 9/11 calls from the Twin Towers in New York City, people on the highest floors of those towers screaming for help. Again, this has been an extraordinary trial.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): Jurors relived the horror of the September 11th attacks as prosecutors tried to convince them to sentence Zacarias Moussaoui to death. More than 30 survivors and relatives of those who died created a literal parade of tears, telling heart- wrenching stories about their loss and suffering. Jurors even heard desperate calls made to 911 operators on that fateful day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'am, ma'am, say your prayers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to die.
ARENA: And former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani offered gripping testimony of what he experienced that day. Prosecutors also play the cockpit voice recording from Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania as passengers tried to take back control of the plane.
Some of what the jury heard was initially released by the 9/11 Commission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, this is the captain. I would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board.
ARENA: The government had to walk a fine line. The judge warned the emotional testimony could be grounds for an appeal. Experts say it was vital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things the prosecutors was doing there was putting these jurors back on September 12th, 2001, how we all felt, how the country felt on that day.
ARENA: The jury has already decided Moussaoui could be held responsible for at least one death on September 11. Now it has two choices: death or life in prison. Moussaoui, intent on testifying, again took the stand against his lawyers' advice.
When asked if he had any remorse for the September 11 attacks, he responded, "none whatsoever." And said he wished the hijackings could have gone "on and on." He mocked family members and survivors who cried on the stand, calling them pathetic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's making it more and more likely that the jury will, in fact, decide to execute him.
ARENA: Defense attorneys tried to undo the damage, presenting mental health experts who argued Moussaoui is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffers from delusions. They brought in friends who knew Moussaoui in high school and described him as a fun-loving, playful young man.
Jurors also heard taped interviews with his sisters who both suffer from mental illness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I also suffer from psychosis with schizophrenic tendencies.
ARENA: Moussaoui's lawyers introduced a statement confirming there is no evidence Moussaoui and shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to work together on 9/11, which Moussaoui had claimed in earlier testimony. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That indicates perhaps that Moussaoui was self-aggrandizing, that he was exaggerating his own role to try to achieve some end.
ARENA: And the defense presented another group of 9/11 family members, those who not believe Moussaoui should be executed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all children. We're all struggling. None of us is beyond redemption.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: Kyra, when the trial -- when the closing arguments were made, Judge Brinkema told both the defense and the prosecution that she was very thankful for all the effort that they had put into this case, that she thinks that Moussaoui did get a fair trial. And she said what was perhaps the understatement of the year, that she had never witnessed a defendant more difficult than he -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Kelli Arena with us there outside the courthouse on camera.
Also in New York we've got our Jeffrey Toobin, our legal analyst. Jeffrey, Kelli was mentioning just how this trial, in many ways, has simply just been unprecedented. And following Moussaoui and his behavior has been something that you and I have talked a lot about and how outrageous it has been.
I'm wondering do we start even talking about what do we think, life or death, considering everything that's happened in the past couple of weeks and what we've heard from Moussaoui?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: You know, there's a paradox at the heart of this case, Kyra, which is that the magnitude of the crime is perhaps worse than anything that's ever been tried in an American courtroom. I mean, the number of deaths, the tragedy, the magnitude is simply just almost too much to comprehend.
At the same time, the actual evidence against Moussaoui in this case is really not that strong. As many people will remember, Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota in August of 2001, a month before 9/11. He was in prison at the time of the attacks. His connection to the attacks is -- it's not zero, as the jury found, but it's not that strong.
And the thing that got him convicted or got him to this stage -- he pled guilty -- is his insane, self-defeating testimony that may have been some sort of bid for martyrdom. But the actual evidence that the government presented was really not that strong.
PHILLIPS: The talk about his mental health, being schizophrenic, being completely insane, could that work to his advantage at all with regard to life in prison versus death?
TOOBIN: It certainly could. In fact, the defense has put great stock in that. It's one of the factors, the so-called mitigating factors, that they have put forward. They have said, look, you can't execute this guy, they have argued, because he is not a rational actor.
And frankly, some of his behavior in the courtroom has given ammunition to that point of view. I mean his outbursts, his yelling, his, you know, generally contemptuous behavior of the whole process. One interpretation of that is that he's simply crazy.
Another interpretation is that he is simply an al Qaeda soldier who wants to see Americans die and he's acting perfectly rationally. This is one of the issues very much in front of the jury.
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the charges.
TOOBIN: OK. He has pleaded -- this is such an unusual process here, Kyra. The process that has been going on for the last month is -- two months -- is a penalty phase. He pled guilty to conspiracy, as we see on the screen, to commit acts of terrorism across national boundary, to destroy aircraft, and to use weapons of mass destruction. That's what he pled guilty to.
But, again, keep in mind, what he's -- what the substance of the case has been about is his interviews with the FBI after he was arrested in August. And the government's theory of the case is that by lying to these FBI agents, by not tipping them off to the existence of the 9/11 conspiracy, he prevented the FBI from stopping it and, thus, stopping the deaths of all the people who died on 9/11. That's a pretty attenuated -- that's a pretty complicated series of -- link of causation to hold someone accountable.
But the jury has gone this far. And now the issue is simply life in prison or the death penalty.
PHILLIPS: Kelli Arena, you wanted to add something. All right. We're still having audio problems with Kelli Arena. Let me know when we have contact with her. I know she wanted to add to what you were saying, Jeffrey.
OK, Jeanne Meserve with us as well. Jeanne, I'm not quite sure when you got on set there, but were you able to hear what Jeffrey Toobin was saying? And did you want to add in on that discussion?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I wanted to bring up a different point. You know, most of America has seen these snapshots of Zacarias Moussaoui, they have seen the headlines about his testimony, the fact that he has pled guilty, the fact that he has had these outbursts in the courtroom where he said things like "burn in the USA."
And they may be puzzled about how someone who spent their childhood in France ended up in this courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia. We took a look at his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): The youngest of four children, Moussaoui, now 37, was born in France, to parents who had immigrated from Morocco. Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, says she was repeatedly beaten by her husband. In taped depositions played in court, Moussaoui's sisters say their father was diagnosed with mental illness after leaving the family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): He was a bad father, a bad husband who beat his wife and children, who starved them.
MESERVE: Moussaoui and his siblings were in and out of orphanages during their early childhood as their mother struggled.
AICHA El-WAFI, MOUSSAOUI'S MOTHER (through translator): I had a very tough life with my ex-husband. I spent -- I was five times in a shelter for battered women. It was a very difficult existence.
MESERVE: Moussaoui left home in 1990 when he was 22, first studying in France and then, two years later, moving to England where he earned a Master's Degree in business. During his time in London, his family said, he became more religious, attending a mosque frequented by immigrants. Iman Abdul Hak Baker (ph) said Moussaoui came under the influence of a radical element.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember him asking me, like really impatiently, where is the jihad in the world? Where? Tell me, show me somewhere where there is -- as you have taught to me. And the way he was asking, I thought this would be like a lighting a paper, igniting something.
MESERVE: Moussaoui then started attending a more extremist mosque, where, experts say, clerics took advantage of what they called his apparent lack of identity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They exploited the situation, encouraged him to go off to far away lands. He went to the al Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan and was further indoctrinated.
MESERVE: Moussaoui admitted that beginning in 1998, he trained in knife fighting at an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, and later managed a guest house for the terror group. He told the government al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden personally chose him to participate in an operation to hijack commercial airliners and fly them into buildings.
In 2000, he traveled to Malaysia where he sought help getting flight training from several members of another terror group affiliated with al Qaeda. After Moussaoui described to one of them a dream to fly a plane into the White House, several associates said they had doubts about his stability. One even described him as cuckoo.
But despite those doubts, Moussaoui came to the United States in early 2001 to get flight training. His cover story? He was working for a European businessman.
Tim Nelson, who worked at the Minnesota flight school Moussaoui attended, didn't buy it. TIM NELSON, PAN AM INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT ACADEMY: I don't know what this guy is up to, but he's paying a lot of money for nothing he can use legitimately.
MESERVE: Teachers and classmates described Moussaoui as difficult, in a rush to finish his training, and lacking basic aviation skills. Two flight school employees decided to call the FBI because of their suspicions about Moussaoui. He was arrested at this hotel in Minnesota in August of 2001, just three weeks before the 9/11 attacks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Exactly what his mission was is something of a puzzle. He testified in the first phase of this trial that he was supposed to fly a plane into the White House in a second wave of attacks. But then in this phase of the trial, he said, no, he was supposed to be part of the 9/11 plot. His attorneys, defense attorneys, presented some evidence discounting that. The question is, what does the jury make of all of it? We'll know shortly -- Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jeanne Meserve, thank you so much. Our breaking news coverage will continue. If you're just tuning in, Zacarias Moussaoui, the first person tried in the 9/11 attacks, the worst attack on American soil, we'll now know if he will spend his life in prison or if he will die. We're going to have more straight ahead, right after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In just about 35 minutes, Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person tried in the 9/11 attacks, the worst attack on American soil, we'll find out if he will die by lethal injection or if he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Phil Hirschkorn, our producer that's been following this trial with our Kelli Arena and our Jeanne Meserve and of course the whole CNN team joins us now on the phone to talk about the evidence, a lot of evidence throughout the past couple of weeks, that we have heard firsthand, from audio tapes to cockpit voice recorders. The prosecutors definitely with a strong case throughout the last couple of weeks.
HIRSCHKORN: That's right, Kyra. You know, you thought you knew everything about 9/11 before this trial started, with the 9/11 Commission and all the investigative reporting that went on. But, amazingly, there were some revelations during this child that were new to all of us, things we had heard about but never seen before. And that was very important to the prosecutors, to get the story of 9/11 into a court record and also to get the 9/11 families an opportunity to tell their story. After Mayor Giuliani went first and summarized the attacks, we heard family after family.
But also interesting, in the first phase, we saw a lot of that evidence that I mentioned that we hadn't seen before. Chief among them is the fact that the hijackers wore red bandanas. This was something that was talked about by people who were on the planes, and particularly on Flight 93. And a powerful moment in this trial, when an FBI agent on the stand held up the actual red bandana that you see on your screen now, which the hijackers wore, according to passengers on Flight 93, who spoke to people on the ground.
Of course, the Flight 93 cockpit voice recorder is another item of evidence, perhaps most desired to be heard piece of evidence. This was the 31 minute tape of conversations by the hijackers in the cockpit, which also documented the fact that passengers staged an uprising, they stormed the cockpit, and they tried to divert the hijackers from their intended target, which investigators believe was the U.S. Capitol. Perhaps the most dramatic evidence in the entire trial.
We also saw some details about the Pentagon attack. The Pentagon tends to be -- you know, of the three ground zeroes, the one that gets the least attention. After Shanksville, where Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania, and after the Trade Center ground zero. But we saw a lot of evidence. We saw the picture of where that Flight 77 came to rest at the Pentagon in one of its inner rings. And we also saw, in this trial, one of the box cutters that the Pentagon hijackers left in their car at Dulles Airport the day that Flight 77 -- there's the hole and the C-ring of the Pentagon on your screen now, which is where the flight came to rest. And there's the box cutter in the car, abandoned by the hijackers at Dulles.
Jeff Toobin earlier was talking about some of the evidence against Mr. Moussaoui himself. One things we had heard about since the day he was indicted was that Moussaoui himself had knives like these box cutters, like the short-bladed knives that the hijackers used. Well, you know what? When he was arrested, two of them were on his person. One was in his leather jacket. And at one point in the trial, the FBI agents who arrested him showed us a knife -- not the box cutter, but a different shank that was in his pocket when he was arrested in August of 2001. And that was another piece of evidence that we had long desired to see and we finally did see.
And the last piece of evidence that was very interesting in terms of Moussaoui himself was this infamous contact number in his notebook. This was a phone number scribbled in his notebook for Ramsey Bin Alsheed (ph), who we now know was one of the main plot coordinators in Germany. And the number's kind of hard to read there, it's a German phone number.
Here's what's important about this. The government says if Moussaoui had told the truth about who he was, about where he got his money from, including that phone number, that agents could have put things together. They could have traced phone records, and through phone records alone, they could have identified, Kyra, eight of the 19 hijackers who were in the United States. And in those 25 days between Moussaoui's arrest and the September 11th attacks, they might have actually intercepted them and arrested some of them.
PHILLIPS: Phil Hirschkorn, stay with us.
Kelli Arena also on the line. Kelli, you're right there outside the courthouse, where we're about to hear that verdict. It will be read in just about 31 minutes. There's a security sweep going on right now around that courthouse?
ARENA: That's right, Kyra. That's why you're not seeing me on camera right now. They are doing a sweep with the police dogs that have been on-site. They actually have been sweeping our site all day. They do it very regularly here. The law enforcement force has been pretty significant. You've got members of the sheriff's department, the Alexandria Police Department. Of course, you have ICE police and U.S. Marshals on-site. It -- the security has been pretty tight all along.
But we have all been told that we have to leave the site where we've been working since day one -- to move away so that they can do a more thorough canine sweep of the area before, you know, the jurors come out, before folks come out to announce this verdict.
Of course, any high profile trial like this is always going to be a concern. But this one is of some particular concern. Not that there has been anything, in the terms of intelligence that's specific to this trial. They just want to make sure that they're on top of it.
PHILLIPS: Now, Kelli, we know we'll hear from defense attorneys. We'll hear from prosecutors. Do you think there is a chance we could hear from Zacarias Moussaoui?
ARENA: Well, we will in the courtroom. I do believe that. You know, he will get an opportunity to say something. I don't know if the judge will actually limit the amount of time that he has to say it. But he has hardly kept his mouth shut throughout this whole thing. Of course, he has before the jury.
And that's a point I wanted to bring up to you, Kyra. You were asking before about mental health and how that would play, you know, in the jury deliberations. And you need to know that all of the times that I came out here and I started telling you about comments and, you know, remarks that Moussaoui made on his way out of the courtroom, those were never made in front of the jury. He was always on his best behavior in front of that jury -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Kelli Arena outside the courthouse. Our Jeff Toobin, our legal analyst. Jeanne Meserve. All our forces. Producer Phil Hirschkorn. Following the breaking news. If you're just tuning in, will it be life or death for Zacarias Moussaoui? We'll find out in less than 30 minutes.
"THE SITUATION ROOM" now with Wolf Blitzer takes it from here.
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