Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Jackson's Accuser Returns to Stand Today; "90 Second Pop"
Aired March 14, 2005 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That sound is the opening bell on Wall Street. The Dow begins trading at 10,774 after a decline of 77 on Friday. Over at the Nasdaq market site the composite index begins at 2,041 after a loss of 18 on Friday.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Mr. Hemmer's got the day off. Jack Cafferty. Got a little extra Jack today.
CAFFERTY: Extra Jack. That's what the world needs. Thank you, Soledad.
Coming up, the woman who went through a hostage ordeal most of us could never imagine. She is my hero. Probably handled herself better than any of us ever could. Ashley Smith telling the story of her night with the suspected murder in the Atlanta killings.
O'BRIEN Also this morning, the boy who's accusing Michael Jackson of molestation is back on the stand today. As lawyers try to destroy his story, we'll get perspective on how the boy's been doing so far.
But first, another check of the headlines with Carol Costello. Good morning again.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Some astounding pictures to show everyone. Now in the news, more than half a million men, women and children flooding the main square in Beirut, Lebanon right now. Take a look at this. The crowds are chanting freedom, sovereignty and independence. They're demanding that all Syrian troops pull out of Lebanon. They're also calling for an international investigation into the death of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Today marks one month since his assassination.
In about an hour and a half, a man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush will be arraigned in federal court. Ahmed Abu Ali is expected to plead not guilty. The 23-year-old is charged with providing support to al Qaeda and conspiring to assassinate the president. His lawyers say the government obtained his confession through torture.
More details could be released today about why a Wisconsin man fatally shot seven people and then killed himself during a church service. Friends and relatives gathered at a candlelight vigil to remember the victims. Sources say Terry Ratzmann may have been upset over a previous sermon and he was on the verge of losing his job. A news conference is scheduled for this afternoon. When that happens, we'll take it live.
And a deadline ticking down for steroids in Major League Baseball. A congressional committee is giving officials until today to produce some subpoenaed documents about baseball's new drug testing program. The files will include players' test results but no names. League officials say the panel will get the files by the end of the day. And it will interesting to hear what's in those files. That will be fascinating, won't it?
O'BRIEN: No question about that.
CAFFERTY: Baseball doesn't want these hearings to happen, do they?
COSTELLO: No. Some of the players are threatening not to show up.
CAFFERTY: Really?
COSTELLO: Yes.
CAFFERTY: To be continued.
A quick trip to the store for cigarettes turned into a night-long nightmare for 26-year-old Ashley Smith. Grabbed by a gunman. The suspect in the Atlanta courthouse shootings, Brian Nichols pushed his way into her suburban Atlanta apartment, he bound her, gagged her. She begged for her life and talked about her daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEY SMITH, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY COURTHOUSE SHOOTING SUSPECT: I told him that I was supposed to go see my little girl the next morning at 10:00. I asked him if I could go see her and he told me no. My husband died four years ago. And I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy. And she was expecting to see me the next morning, that if he didn't let me go, she would be really upset. He still told me no. But I could kind of feel that he started to know who I was, he said maybe. Maybe I'll let you go. Just maybe. We'll see how things go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: By the time it was all over, Smith had cooked Nichols breakfast. She said she did what she had to do in order to gain his trust. Nichols finally let her go to go see her daughter and that's when she called 911 leading to Nichols' capture. He's currently being held in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.
Tonight at 10:00 Eastern, be sure to join Aaron Brown for a special edition of "NEWSNIGHT," titled "26 Hours: Inside the Atlanta Manhunt" -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: Michael Jackson's accuser will return to the witness stand this morning in the child molestation trial, as the defense resumes its cross-examination of the state's star witness. More from CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pajama-clad Michael Jackson in court when his 15-year-old accuser began telling his story. Jackson's lawyer said the pop star injured his back after he slipped and fell while dressing. Jackson will sit up this week to watch his accuser cross-examined by his high-powered legal team.
MICHAEL JACKSON, POP STAR: I can't speak.
MARQUEZ: The boy testified last week that Jackson molested him twice, on several occasions served him alcohol, which he says Jackson called Jesus juice, showed him sexually explicit photos, and all but abandoned him during his fight with nearly terminal cancer.
LAURIE LEVENSON, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: It was very personal in there. It was personal on the boy's side, talking about how much he felt hurt by Michael Jackson.
MARQUEZ: Jackson denies the charges and his lawyer Tom Mesereau is expected to continue questioning the boy's story by highlighting differences in the accounts he's given to the sheriff's investigators and the grand jury that indicted Jackson. He is also expected to attack differences between the boy's stories and those of his siblings.
LEVENSON: That's one of the concerns with the prosecution's case. They can't seem to hammer down exactly when this happened and whether there's any corroboration from the boy, even from his own brother.
MARQUEZ: The prosecution will continue its efforts to delve into Jackson's finances, arguing it needs a snapshot of his economic situation in February 2003. Prosecutors contend that Jackson is nearly bankrupt and his money problems helped fuel what they allege is a conspiracy to cover up his crimes after the Martin Bashir documentary aired on ABC.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Santa Maria, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Criminal defense attorney Anne Bremner has seen much of the Jackson trial from inside the California courtroom. She joins us from Seattle, Washington, this morning. Nice to see you. Good morning.
ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it. Before we talk about what's ahead for today, though, I want to go back to the court appearance where Michael Jackson showed up in his pajama pajamas. You're inside the courtroom. Describe what happened and then what the reaction of the jurors was.
BREMNER: Well, the first sentence of the book "Peter Pan" is "Every child except one grows up." So there was an aspect of kind of this Peter Pan/Michael Jackson character. He was in his pajamas, his parents were behind him. The jury was in the jury box and the accuser was on the stand. And the judge and lawyers went into chambers and everyone just kind of looked at each other. There were definitely some raised eyebrows. And then the judge came back and said you can't use this for guilt or innocence. So kind of a surreal scene when he came back into court in his pajama bottoms and his slippers.
O'BRIEN: When the judge said you can't use this to influence you for guilt or innocence, how did the jurors react to that?
BREMNER: They -- you know, this is a very attentive jury. They take a lot of notes and they listen to everything the judge says. They looked nonplused, they listened and took that in and then the accuser resumed his testimony right after that admonition from the judge.
O'BRIEN: There were certainly lots of people, myself included, who last week said, Michael Jackson has such a huge entourage. Wasn't there one person -- I mean, he's got a guy who holds the umbrella. Wasn't there one person who could kind of run out and get some slacks and meet him at the courthouse so he could throw them on before he went in? In all seriousness, you have said you think that there is some kind of manipulation going on. Explain that.
BREMNER: Well, I think, you know, either -- that he did have the back problem, he needed to be in the hospital or, another explanation, this is something that completely disrupted the trial and it was a very serious time with the accuser on the stand and all of a sudden you've got Jay Leno in his, you know, Spongebob t-shirt and bunny slippers and Michael Jackson's on the front page of the "New York Times" above the fold in his pajamas. Neverland's about 30 minutes, 35 minutes away from Santa Maria. The hospital in Santa Inez is another ten minutes further from the courthouse. Somebody in that entourage could have gotten a pair of pants sometime during the day. Because we went in court up until 2:30 and there's quite an entourage and people available to give him a pair of pants. It's just, you know, one way of looking at it.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about today. Cross-examination of the accuser. What's his demeanor been like on the stand?
BREMNER: He was very appropriate throughout direct examination. He, you know, like the Dorothy Parker quote, "His emotions ran the gamut from A to B, not A to Z." You know, not embellishing, not, you know...
O'BRIEN: How about in cross, though?
BREMNER: On cross, well, he got combated. And Mesereau's a former boxer and this is like a boxing match. And so the judge had to admonish both the accuser and Mr. Mesereau to, you know, bring it down, bring the level down.
O'BRIEN: Well, let's talk about the risk there, because you're talking about a young man who's trying to come off as almost as he was years ago when the abuse is alleged to have happened. And then for Mesereau, same risk there. You don't want to be seen as beating up on a child.
BREMNER: Well, he's 15 now. And you know, so he's an adolescent. He's, you know, a teenager. That's a little bit different from back at the time of the abuse in terms of what his demeanor would be. Because he's fighting back, then the concept or the perception of beating up on him would be minimized because he's holding his own so far in terms of, you know, fighting back with the lawyers. It's only been 20 minutes. We'll see how he is today.
O'BRIEN: You're saying it might be not such a bad thing for Tom Mesereau. We'll see today. Thank you very much, Anne. Nice to see you as always. We appreciate the update -- Jack.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So, maybe you're not a morning person. But Dr. Sanjay Gupta says embracing the a.m. can keep you in good health. Sanjay's joins us this morning.
Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
And of course no one knows better than you, Soledad, as a morning anchor.
O'BRIEN: All morning people.
GUPTA: We are here on this show, for sure.
Listen, it turns out your mom may have been right -- early to bed, early to rise. That was the adage that she used to tell you, and it may have some significant health benefits that's now proven in science.
A University of Pittsburgh study actually looked at this, trying to figure out, is it better to go to bed earlier or later? And specifically, what are the health benefits. What they find may not surprise a lot of people, but when you do go to bed early, you tend to sleep better, and you tend to have a more consistent routine. Why is that important? Greater immunity, in the long run, healthier eating throughout the day, a sharper mind, and stress control. Of course, people are asking, what about the flip side?
What if you are a night owl, someone who doesn't like to get to bed too early? Lower immunity. You're more likely to maybe get colds, for example. Higher blood pressure in the long run. Depression as well. Obesity, all of those things associated with people going to bed later, even if you're getting the same amount of sleep.
Now one piece of advice I'll give you as well, if you do start getting up in the morning because you've watched this segment, an important piece of advice, to actually get some light on your face as quickly as possible as well. Not always possible for you, Soledad, getting up at 3:00 in the morning, but get some light on the face. That triggers all of the hormones that are important to really wake you up.
O'BRIEN: Is there any genetic reason why some people seem to be naturally morning people, and then other people seem to be naturally nighttime people?
GUPTA: Yes, and there's a genetic component as well. A lot of it probably is more adaptation. Your lifestyle, what it sort of led you to do, if you're a doctor, for example, as I was training, you're waking...
O'BRIEN: You are.
GUPTA: Yes, I am. A morning anchor as well.
But also as we age, a lot of people know this, but you tend get up earlier as well. It just part of your body's natural evolution.
O'BRIEN: Interesting study. I wonder how people who are going to try to make that switch are going to be able to pull it off.
GUPTA: You can do it. They say do it slowly. Do 15-minute increments, for example. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier, get up 15 minutes later. That seems to help, so just by those 15-minute increments.
Also, if you're going to do this, get lots of light. I mentioned that earlier, but lots of light as soon as you wake up. And don't sleep in, even on the weekends, an important point. If you need to use drugs, a lot of people try to take them when making the switch- over from different shifts, Melatonin, about .5 to 1 milligram. Don't take more than that. And take it, it's going to sort of advance your day a little bit for you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, good advice. Thank you, as always.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: Don't sleep in on the weekends? I'm getting another opinion.
"American Idol" has a new controversy on its hands. A fan favorite goes home sooner than expected, but he's only got himself to blame. "90-Second Pop" is next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: We're rocking out this morning. Hey, good morning once again. It's time for the critically-acclaimed "90-Second Pop" with our AMERICAN MORNING idols. Andy Borowitz from Borowitzreport.com. You don't like that?
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: No!
O'BRIEN: I know. That's why I keep repeating it. It makes you all a little uncomfortable, and I like that. Jessica Shaw is from "Entertainment Tonight" -- "Entertainment Tonight?"
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Weekly.
O'BRIEN: Weekly. Is there something you want to tell us?
And Toure, CNN's pop culture correspondent. We're off to a strong start, I am happy to say.
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it. First, Jay Leno, the gag order is off.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Right.
O'BRIEN: It's been lifted. First, let's listen to what he had to say in his monologue. Good stuff. Well...
TOURE: OK, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this morning.
O'BRIEN: Hey, this tape actually had words, believe it or not. He went on. He probably told...
SHAW: And that was funnier than his regular jokes, amazingly
O'BRIEN: And he told about two dozen of these Michael Jackson jokes, one after the other after the other after the other. But, of course, one of the fun things before was that he had had the fill-in hosts like Dennis Miller and Drew Carey and Roseanne filling in for him normally...
BOROWITZ: Right.
O'BRIEN: I thought it worked really well. Do you think it's worse that now he's kind of back to doing his own jokes?
BOROWITZ: Well, you know, I think it was a funny bit for a while, but I think that the bit went on too long. And I can offer proof of that in two words: Carrot Top.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
BOROWITZ: I think once you get to...
O'BRIEN: Scraping?
BOROWITZ: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: Once you get to Carrot top, it's kind of over. But I don't know. I mean, I think it was very funny. It was inspired bit while it lasted.
O'BRIEN: Roseanne was very funny. Drew Carey was funny.
SHAW: She was good. We have to live in fear, thought, that Carrot Top gets his own late-night show now.
TOURE: It will happen.
O'BRIEN: It's going to launch his career again.
BOROWITZ: It could. It could.
SHAW: Again.
TOURE: I mean, at this point, anytime you see Michael Jackson, I'm getting, like, nervous and anxious. The whole weekend I was nervous and anxious, because we got Michael Jackson acting a fool on one coast, and the brother in Atlanta acting a fool on the other coast. 50 Cent and The Game aren't helping us out. At this rate, we're going to be back to Africa by September.
O'BRIEN: So overall is it bad for black people?
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so you know what you're saying.
TOURE: Yes, yes.
O'BRIEN: Well, we'll see about that. Many people would say, of course, that Michael Jackson is not so black anymore. But I guess that's up for discussion.
BOROWITZ: Carrot Top is not so good for the white man, if it makes you feel any better.
O'BRIEN: Share the pain among everybody, right? Let's move on and talk about "American Idol".
SHAW: The scandal!
O'BRIEN: Mario Vasquez...
SHAW: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... is out.
SHAW: There's a scandal every year on this show. There's someone who is on, like, a kiddie porn site or there's a suspected DUI. O'BRIEN: There he is.
SHAW: Mario Vasquez, he was really a favorite to win the show, and he dropped out yesterday.
O'BRIEN: Why?
SHAW: We don't know.
O'BRIEN: What did he say?
SHAW: It's very shrouded.
BOROWITZ: Personal reasons.
SHAW: He said it was family reasons.
BOROWITZ: Except that his family doesn't know the reasons. That's a bad sign.
SHAW: It was a very -- yes, his family was informed by the press, actually, that he had dropped out. So, I don't quite know what these family reasons are.
TOURE: Well, he's from the Bronx. So, you know he's not a quitter. And the thing is, like, I think he's seeing that being on "American Idol," you never lose the taint of having been on "American Idol." You can never be bigger than the show. You're always "American Idol's" Ruben Studdard, "American Idol's" Kelly -- you can never grow beyond it.
O'BRIEN: So, do you think it's an intentional manipulation to get bigger than "American Idol?"
TOURE: Well, he knows that he's one of the best singers on that show.
SHAW: Yes.
TOURE: So, if I stick with this, this is a dead-end road.
SHAW: You know what? There is a lot of speculation that he dropped out because maybe he's going to sign a more lucrative recording contract. But you have to believe that 19 Entertainment, the company around the show, that they have signed all of these people, including the finalists from, like, day one to holding deals. So, I don't think he can do anything until the show is over.
BOROWITZ: There's a picture in the "New York Post" of his brother comforting his mother. I just want to say, Vasquez family, pull yourselves together. Come on.
SHAW: And we're with you. We're with you, Vasquez family!
BOROWITZ: Yes.
TOURE: The Vasquez family.
O'BRIEN: It's all going to work out. Let's talk about the music hall -- the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
TOURE: The Hall of Fame.
O'BRIEN: That's what we, of course, were playing at the very beginning, rocking out this morning.
SHAW: A future where Mario Vasquez will end up, no doubt.
TOURE: Yes, right.
O'BRIEN: Maybe. Buddy Guy, Percy Sledge, the O'Jays, the Pretenders, U2 are being inducted. Anybody you think shouldn't be on this list?
TOURE: Well, no, not at all. I mean, the O'Jays are the ones that I'm most excited about, right? Cinematic funk. Amazing harmony.
O'BRIEN: Best outfits ever!
TOURE: I mean, they did "Backstabbers," right?
O'BRIEN: "Backstab."
TOURE: "They smile in your face." "For the Love of Money, right? "Love Train."
BOROWITZ: Yes.
TOURE: So they're totally -- I mean, perhaps the only one that doesn't belong on the list is U2, not because they're so incredible. They are incredible. But they're still mid-career. You know, it's like putting Randy Johnson in the hall of fame today. Like, he's still got more to do. Or even, say, Kobe, he's got more and more and more to do. So, I mean, where can they go from here?
SHAW: It is pretty amazing...
BOROWITZ: Well, the World Bank. Bono is going to run the World Bank.
O'BRIEN: A whole career change.
BOROWITZ: It's apparently between Bono and Percy Sledge, running the World Bank.
SHAW: It is pretty amazing that in order to be eligible, you have to have been around for 25 years. And that's pretty great that U2 has been around that long.
TOURE: Like, if they had stopped 10 years ago, they'd still be in the hall of fame. So what is the record that puts like -- is it "Joshua Tree," and like, OK, that's it, like they're done now?
O'BRIEN: They're all good.
TOURE: You're just playing for the history books? And The Pretenders, how great are they? Chrissie Hynde and...
SHAW: Yes.
O'BRIEN: All good. Congratulations to all of the inductees. I think that's a pretty cool thing. You guys, thank you very much. Look, we ended on a strong note, even though it was a bit of a rough beginning.
BOROWITZ: Let's run that tape again.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, guys, as always. Let's go back to Jack -- Jack.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: They have so much fun. One company decides it's seen one too many federal investigations and the CEO is about to pay the price. Andy's "Minding Your Business." Soledad is pinching my arm.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAFFERTY: Another big CEO leaving under a dark cloud. Andy Serwer has that story, and a look at markets. He's minding our business.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
We've seen a lot of CEOs and dark clouds over the past couple of years, haven't we?
CAFFERTY: Yes, we have.
SERWER: Let's talk about the markets. First of all, stocks trading up at this hour. Let's see here on the Dow. We've got 17 up on the industrials. Disney's up. They're going to have a new CEO over there. Bob Iger's going to be taking over October 1st.
And what Jack was alluding to was AIG, the giant insurance company, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning, that -- there is Mr. Iger -- that Hank Greenberg, the longtime CEO of that company, who built that up into a juggernaut, will be stepping down this week.
Here's an interesting piece coming out of Russia this morning. The Communist Party is in trouble. Yes, it's true, it's the No. 1 opposition party to Putin's United Russia Party. But still, most of its members are old. They're having a tough time attracting young people to the Communist Party. And so the communist poobahs met the other day and decided to come up with a new campaign to attract people. Forget about hammers and sickles, they decided that graffiti would be a good idea. And also, get this, text messaging on cell phones sent out to young people to attract them to the Communist Party. They said with rhymes and political slogans.
Here may be something they could use -- "Come on, Russians, stop your crawling, vote for the party of Lenin and Stalin." These are just some ideas.
Here's another quickie, "Khrushchev, Breznev, Andropov, too, these are the men who still think of you."
What are they thinking?
CAFFERTY: They still call each other "comrade."
SERWER: Yes, comrades or commie poobahs -- I mean, it's just craziness over there.
O'BRIEN: You made those up, right?
SERWER: I made those up, Soledad. But I think they'd probably be pretty good.
O'BRIEN: They might just go ahead and steal those from you, Andy. And I'm sure you'll let them go.
SERWER: Thank you. I will, they can have them.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Let's get right back to Jeff Toobin. He's a got a look at the Question of the Day.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Indeed, our Question of the Day has been, "Do the Atlanta courthouse shootings change your opinion about the death penalty?" A lot of answers.
Richard in Randolph Massachusetts writes, "The Nichols incident in Atlanta leave me firmly in opposition to capital punishment. Nichols certainly seemed the poster boy for capital punishment, but a closer, more reasoned look shows his vicious behavior was indeed as his family and friends said an aberration from his early life. He himself, according to his guardian angel, in the form of Ashley Smith, could not recognize his actions seeing them on TV."
Weldon from Newmarket, Ontario writes, "No sympathy from me. They should endorse the death penalty and carry it through within a two-year period. Too many bleeding hearts in our society."
Finally, Sylvia in Raleigh, North Carolina, writes, "No, if a woman held hostage by a suspected killer has the courage to treat him as a human being and with dignity, we should follow that example. As Ashley Smith said when recounting her episode with Brian Nichols, she would not kill him even if he gave her his gun."
Ashley Smith is the hero of this story, that's for sure.
O'BRIEN: Remarkable young woman, I thought. TOOBIN: She's the name will remember probably out of this story, not him.
O'BRIEN: A tough life, you know; she had a tough four years. You got a sense of that when she was...
SERWER: I sure hope she gets that reward money.
O'BRIEN: Please!
SERWER: They should deliver that cash today.
TOOBIN: I wouldn't want to be the person arguing she shouldn't get it, that someone else should.
O'BRIEN: She really needs the money. Her daughter doesn't live with her. So that 60 grand could go to good use.
TOOBIN: And she's a widow; her husband was murdered.
CAFFERTY: You know she's going to get from the book?
TOOBIN: A couple mil, we hope.
CAFFERTY: Yes, easily.
SERWER: Good. She deserves it.
TOOBIN: There a lot of people who get book deals who are a hell of a lot less deserving than Ashley Smith.
CAFFERTY: And interesting.
TOOBIN: She's compelling and interesting.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Jeff.
A short break, we'll be right back.
(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
Aired March 14, 2005 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: That sound is the opening bell on Wall Street. The Dow begins trading at 10,774 after a decline of 77 on Friday. Over at the Nasdaq market site the composite index begins at 2,041 after a loss of 18 on Friday.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Mr. Hemmer's got the day off. Jack Cafferty. Got a little extra Jack today.
CAFFERTY: Extra Jack. That's what the world needs. Thank you, Soledad.
Coming up, the woman who went through a hostage ordeal most of us could never imagine. She is my hero. Probably handled herself better than any of us ever could. Ashley Smith telling the story of her night with the suspected murder in the Atlanta killings.
O'BRIEN Also this morning, the boy who's accusing Michael Jackson of molestation is back on the stand today. As lawyers try to destroy his story, we'll get perspective on how the boy's been doing so far.
But first, another check of the headlines with Carol Costello. Good morning again.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Some astounding pictures to show everyone. Now in the news, more than half a million men, women and children flooding the main square in Beirut, Lebanon right now. Take a look at this. The crowds are chanting freedom, sovereignty and independence. They're demanding that all Syrian troops pull out of Lebanon. They're also calling for an international investigation into the death of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Today marks one month since his assassination.
In about an hour and a half, a man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush will be arraigned in federal court. Ahmed Abu Ali is expected to plead not guilty. The 23-year-old is charged with providing support to al Qaeda and conspiring to assassinate the president. His lawyers say the government obtained his confession through torture.
More details could be released today about why a Wisconsin man fatally shot seven people and then killed himself during a church service. Friends and relatives gathered at a candlelight vigil to remember the victims. Sources say Terry Ratzmann may have been upset over a previous sermon and he was on the verge of losing his job. A news conference is scheduled for this afternoon. When that happens, we'll take it live.
And a deadline ticking down for steroids in Major League Baseball. A congressional committee is giving officials until today to produce some subpoenaed documents about baseball's new drug testing program. The files will include players' test results but no names. League officials say the panel will get the files by the end of the day. And it will interesting to hear what's in those files. That will be fascinating, won't it?
O'BRIEN: No question about that.
CAFFERTY: Baseball doesn't want these hearings to happen, do they?
COSTELLO: No. Some of the players are threatening not to show up.
CAFFERTY: Really?
COSTELLO: Yes.
CAFFERTY: To be continued.
A quick trip to the store for cigarettes turned into a night-long nightmare for 26-year-old Ashley Smith. Grabbed by a gunman. The suspect in the Atlanta courthouse shootings, Brian Nichols pushed his way into her suburban Atlanta apartment, he bound her, gagged her. She begged for her life and talked about her daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEY SMITH, TAKEN HOSTAGE BY COURTHOUSE SHOOTING SUSPECT: I told him that I was supposed to go see my little girl the next morning at 10:00. I asked him if I could go see her and he told me no. My husband died four years ago. And I told him that if he hurt me, my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or a daddy. And she was expecting to see me the next morning, that if he didn't let me go, she would be really upset. He still told me no. But I could kind of feel that he started to know who I was, he said maybe. Maybe I'll let you go. Just maybe. We'll see how things go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: By the time it was all over, Smith had cooked Nichols breakfast. She said she did what she had to do in order to gain his trust. Nichols finally let her go to go see her daughter and that's when she called 911 leading to Nichols' capture. He's currently being held in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.
Tonight at 10:00 Eastern, be sure to join Aaron Brown for a special edition of "NEWSNIGHT," titled "26 Hours: Inside the Atlanta Manhunt" -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: Michael Jackson's accuser will return to the witness stand this morning in the child molestation trial, as the defense resumes its cross-examination of the state's star witness. More from CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pajama-clad Michael Jackson in court when his 15-year-old accuser began telling his story. Jackson's lawyer said the pop star injured his back after he slipped and fell while dressing. Jackson will sit up this week to watch his accuser cross-examined by his high-powered legal team.
MICHAEL JACKSON, POP STAR: I can't speak.
MARQUEZ: The boy testified last week that Jackson molested him twice, on several occasions served him alcohol, which he says Jackson called Jesus juice, showed him sexually explicit photos, and all but abandoned him during his fight with nearly terminal cancer.
LAURIE LEVENSON, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: It was very personal in there. It was personal on the boy's side, talking about how much he felt hurt by Michael Jackson.
MARQUEZ: Jackson denies the charges and his lawyer Tom Mesereau is expected to continue questioning the boy's story by highlighting differences in the accounts he's given to the sheriff's investigators and the grand jury that indicted Jackson. He is also expected to attack differences between the boy's stories and those of his siblings.
LEVENSON: That's one of the concerns with the prosecution's case. They can't seem to hammer down exactly when this happened and whether there's any corroboration from the boy, even from his own brother.
MARQUEZ: The prosecution will continue its efforts to delve into Jackson's finances, arguing it needs a snapshot of his economic situation in February 2003. Prosecutors contend that Jackson is nearly bankrupt and his money problems helped fuel what they allege is a conspiracy to cover up his crimes after the Martin Bashir documentary aired on ABC.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Santa Maria, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Criminal defense attorney Anne Bremner has seen much of the Jackson trial from inside the California courtroom. She joins us from Seattle, Washington, this morning. Nice to see you. Good morning.
ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it. Before we talk about what's ahead for today, though, I want to go back to the court appearance where Michael Jackson showed up in his pajama pajamas. You're inside the courtroom. Describe what happened and then what the reaction of the jurors was.
BREMNER: Well, the first sentence of the book "Peter Pan" is "Every child except one grows up." So there was an aspect of kind of this Peter Pan/Michael Jackson character. He was in his pajamas, his parents were behind him. The jury was in the jury box and the accuser was on the stand. And the judge and lawyers went into chambers and everyone just kind of looked at each other. There were definitely some raised eyebrows. And then the judge came back and said you can't use this for guilt or innocence. So kind of a surreal scene when he came back into court in his pajama bottoms and his slippers.
O'BRIEN: When the judge said you can't use this to influence you for guilt or innocence, how did the jurors react to that?
BREMNER: They -- you know, this is a very attentive jury. They take a lot of notes and they listen to everything the judge says. They looked nonplused, they listened and took that in and then the accuser resumed his testimony right after that admonition from the judge.
O'BRIEN: There were certainly lots of people, myself included, who last week said, Michael Jackson has such a huge entourage. Wasn't there one person -- I mean, he's got a guy who holds the umbrella. Wasn't there one person who could kind of run out and get some slacks and meet him at the courthouse so he could throw them on before he went in? In all seriousness, you have said you think that there is some kind of manipulation going on. Explain that.
BREMNER: Well, I think, you know, either -- that he did have the back problem, he needed to be in the hospital or, another explanation, this is something that completely disrupted the trial and it was a very serious time with the accuser on the stand and all of a sudden you've got Jay Leno in his, you know, Spongebob t-shirt and bunny slippers and Michael Jackson's on the front page of the "New York Times" above the fold in his pajamas. Neverland's about 30 minutes, 35 minutes away from Santa Maria. The hospital in Santa Inez is another ten minutes further from the courthouse. Somebody in that entourage could have gotten a pair of pants sometime during the day. Because we went in court up until 2:30 and there's quite an entourage and people available to give him a pair of pants. It's just, you know, one way of looking at it.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about today. Cross-examination of the accuser. What's his demeanor been like on the stand?
BREMNER: He was very appropriate throughout direct examination. He, you know, like the Dorothy Parker quote, "His emotions ran the gamut from A to B, not A to Z." You know, not embellishing, not, you know...
O'BRIEN: How about in cross, though?
BREMNER: On cross, well, he got combated. And Mesereau's a former boxer and this is like a boxing match. And so the judge had to admonish both the accuser and Mr. Mesereau to, you know, bring it down, bring the level down.
O'BRIEN: Well, let's talk about the risk there, because you're talking about a young man who's trying to come off as almost as he was years ago when the abuse is alleged to have happened. And then for Mesereau, same risk there. You don't want to be seen as beating up on a child.
BREMNER: Well, he's 15 now. And you know, so he's an adolescent. He's, you know, a teenager. That's a little bit different from back at the time of the abuse in terms of what his demeanor would be. Because he's fighting back, then the concept or the perception of beating up on him would be minimized because he's holding his own so far in terms of, you know, fighting back with the lawyers. It's only been 20 minutes. We'll see how he is today.
O'BRIEN: You're saying it might be not such a bad thing for Tom Mesereau. We'll see today. Thank you very much, Anne. Nice to see you as always. We appreciate the update -- Jack.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So, maybe you're not a morning person. But Dr. Sanjay Gupta says embracing the a.m. can keep you in good health. Sanjay's joins us this morning.
Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
And of course no one knows better than you, Soledad, as a morning anchor.
O'BRIEN: All morning people.
GUPTA: We are here on this show, for sure.
Listen, it turns out your mom may have been right -- early to bed, early to rise. That was the adage that she used to tell you, and it may have some significant health benefits that's now proven in science.
A University of Pittsburgh study actually looked at this, trying to figure out, is it better to go to bed earlier or later? And specifically, what are the health benefits. What they find may not surprise a lot of people, but when you do go to bed early, you tend to sleep better, and you tend to have a more consistent routine. Why is that important? Greater immunity, in the long run, healthier eating throughout the day, a sharper mind, and stress control. Of course, people are asking, what about the flip side?
What if you are a night owl, someone who doesn't like to get to bed too early? Lower immunity. You're more likely to maybe get colds, for example. Higher blood pressure in the long run. Depression as well. Obesity, all of those things associated with people going to bed later, even if you're getting the same amount of sleep.
Now one piece of advice I'll give you as well, if you do start getting up in the morning because you've watched this segment, an important piece of advice, to actually get some light on your face as quickly as possible as well. Not always possible for you, Soledad, getting up at 3:00 in the morning, but get some light on the face. That triggers all of the hormones that are important to really wake you up.
O'BRIEN: Is there any genetic reason why some people seem to be naturally morning people, and then other people seem to be naturally nighttime people?
GUPTA: Yes, and there's a genetic component as well. A lot of it probably is more adaptation. Your lifestyle, what it sort of led you to do, if you're a doctor, for example, as I was training, you're waking...
O'BRIEN: You are.
GUPTA: Yes, I am. A morning anchor as well.
But also as we age, a lot of people know this, but you tend get up earlier as well. It just part of your body's natural evolution.
O'BRIEN: Interesting study. I wonder how people who are going to try to make that switch are going to be able to pull it off.
GUPTA: You can do it. They say do it slowly. Do 15-minute increments, for example. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier, get up 15 minutes later. That seems to help, so just by those 15-minute increments.
Also, if you're going to do this, get lots of light. I mentioned that earlier, but lots of light as soon as you wake up. And don't sleep in, even on the weekends, an important point. If you need to use drugs, a lot of people try to take them when making the switch- over from different shifts, Melatonin, about .5 to 1 milligram. Don't take more than that. And take it, it's going to sort of advance your day a little bit for you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, good advice. Thank you, as always.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: Don't sleep in on the weekends? I'm getting another opinion.
"American Idol" has a new controversy on its hands. A fan favorite goes home sooner than expected, but he's only got himself to blame. "90-Second Pop" is next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: We're rocking out this morning. Hey, good morning once again. It's time for the critically-acclaimed "90-Second Pop" with our AMERICAN MORNING idols. Andy Borowitz from Borowitzreport.com. You don't like that?
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: No!
O'BRIEN: I know. That's why I keep repeating it. It makes you all a little uncomfortable, and I like that. Jessica Shaw is from "Entertainment Tonight" -- "Entertainment Tonight?"
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Weekly.
O'BRIEN: Weekly. Is there something you want to tell us?
And Toure, CNN's pop culture correspondent. We're off to a strong start, I am happy to say.
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it. First, Jay Leno, the gag order is off.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Right.
O'BRIEN: It's been lifted. First, let's listen to what he had to say in his monologue. Good stuff. Well...
TOURE: OK, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this morning.
O'BRIEN: Hey, this tape actually had words, believe it or not. He went on. He probably told...
SHAW: And that was funnier than his regular jokes, amazingly
O'BRIEN: And he told about two dozen of these Michael Jackson jokes, one after the other after the other after the other. But, of course, one of the fun things before was that he had had the fill-in hosts like Dennis Miller and Drew Carey and Roseanne filling in for him normally...
BOROWITZ: Right.
O'BRIEN: I thought it worked really well. Do you think it's worse that now he's kind of back to doing his own jokes?
BOROWITZ: Well, you know, I think it was a funny bit for a while, but I think that the bit went on too long. And I can offer proof of that in two words: Carrot Top.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
BOROWITZ: I think once you get to...
O'BRIEN: Scraping?
BOROWITZ: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: Once you get to Carrot top, it's kind of over. But I don't know. I mean, I think it was very funny. It was inspired bit while it lasted.
O'BRIEN: Roseanne was very funny. Drew Carey was funny.
SHAW: She was good. We have to live in fear, thought, that Carrot Top gets his own late-night show now.
TOURE: It will happen.
O'BRIEN: It's going to launch his career again.
BOROWITZ: It could. It could.
SHAW: Again.
TOURE: I mean, at this point, anytime you see Michael Jackson, I'm getting, like, nervous and anxious. The whole weekend I was nervous and anxious, because we got Michael Jackson acting a fool on one coast, and the brother in Atlanta acting a fool on the other coast. 50 Cent and The Game aren't helping us out. At this rate, we're going to be back to Africa by September.
O'BRIEN: So overall is it bad for black people?
TOURE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so you know what you're saying.
TOURE: Yes, yes.
O'BRIEN: Well, we'll see about that. Many people would say, of course, that Michael Jackson is not so black anymore. But I guess that's up for discussion.
BOROWITZ: Carrot Top is not so good for the white man, if it makes you feel any better.
O'BRIEN: Share the pain among everybody, right? Let's move on and talk about "American Idol".
SHAW: The scandal!
O'BRIEN: Mario Vasquez...
SHAW: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... is out.
SHAW: There's a scandal every year on this show. There's someone who is on, like, a kiddie porn site or there's a suspected DUI. O'BRIEN: There he is.
SHAW: Mario Vasquez, he was really a favorite to win the show, and he dropped out yesterday.
O'BRIEN: Why?
SHAW: We don't know.
O'BRIEN: What did he say?
SHAW: It's very shrouded.
BOROWITZ: Personal reasons.
SHAW: He said it was family reasons.
BOROWITZ: Except that his family doesn't know the reasons. That's a bad sign.
SHAW: It was a very -- yes, his family was informed by the press, actually, that he had dropped out. So, I don't quite know what these family reasons are.
TOURE: Well, he's from the Bronx. So, you know he's not a quitter. And the thing is, like, I think he's seeing that being on "American Idol," you never lose the taint of having been on "American Idol." You can never be bigger than the show. You're always "American Idol's" Ruben Studdard, "American Idol's" Kelly -- you can never grow beyond it.
O'BRIEN: So, do you think it's an intentional manipulation to get bigger than "American Idol?"
TOURE: Well, he knows that he's one of the best singers on that show.
SHAW: Yes.
TOURE: So, if I stick with this, this is a dead-end road.
SHAW: You know what? There is a lot of speculation that he dropped out because maybe he's going to sign a more lucrative recording contract. But you have to believe that 19 Entertainment, the company around the show, that they have signed all of these people, including the finalists from, like, day one to holding deals. So, I don't think he can do anything until the show is over.
BOROWITZ: There's a picture in the "New York Post" of his brother comforting his mother. I just want to say, Vasquez family, pull yourselves together. Come on.
SHAW: And we're with you. We're with you, Vasquez family!
BOROWITZ: Yes.
TOURE: The Vasquez family.
O'BRIEN: It's all going to work out. Let's talk about the music hall -- the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
TOURE: The Hall of Fame.
O'BRIEN: That's what we, of course, were playing at the very beginning, rocking out this morning.
SHAW: A future where Mario Vasquez will end up, no doubt.
TOURE: Yes, right.
O'BRIEN: Maybe. Buddy Guy, Percy Sledge, the O'Jays, the Pretenders, U2 are being inducted. Anybody you think shouldn't be on this list?
TOURE: Well, no, not at all. I mean, the O'Jays are the ones that I'm most excited about, right? Cinematic funk. Amazing harmony.
O'BRIEN: Best outfits ever!
TOURE: I mean, they did "Backstabbers," right?
O'BRIEN: "Backstab."
TOURE: "They smile in your face." "For the Love of Money, right? "Love Train."
BOROWITZ: Yes.
TOURE: So they're totally -- I mean, perhaps the only one that doesn't belong on the list is U2, not because they're so incredible. They are incredible. But they're still mid-career. You know, it's like putting Randy Johnson in the hall of fame today. Like, he's still got more to do. Or even, say, Kobe, he's got more and more and more to do. So, I mean, where can they go from here?
SHAW: It is pretty amazing...
BOROWITZ: Well, the World Bank. Bono is going to run the World Bank.
O'BRIEN: A whole career change.
BOROWITZ: It's apparently between Bono and Percy Sledge, running the World Bank.
SHAW: It is pretty amazing that in order to be eligible, you have to have been around for 25 years. And that's pretty great that U2 has been around that long.
TOURE: Like, if they had stopped 10 years ago, they'd still be in the hall of fame. So what is the record that puts like -- is it "Joshua Tree," and like, OK, that's it, like they're done now?
O'BRIEN: They're all good.
TOURE: You're just playing for the history books? And The Pretenders, how great are they? Chrissie Hynde and...
SHAW: Yes.
O'BRIEN: All good. Congratulations to all of the inductees. I think that's a pretty cool thing. You guys, thank you very much. Look, we ended on a strong note, even though it was a bit of a rough beginning.
BOROWITZ: Let's run that tape again.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, guys, as always. Let's go back to Jack -- Jack.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: They have so much fun. One company decides it's seen one too many federal investigations and the CEO is about to pay the price. Andy's "Minding Your Business." Soledad is pinching my arm.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAFFERTY: Another big CEO leaving under a dark cloud. Andy Serwer has that story, and a look at markets. He's minding our business.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
We've seen a lot of CEOs and dark clouds over the past couple of years, haven't we?
CAFFERTY: Yes, we have.
SERWER: Let's talk about the markets. First of all, stocks trading up at this hour. Let's see here on the Dow. We've got 17 up on the industrials. Disney's up. They're going to have a new CEO over there. Bob Iger's going to be taking over October 1st.
And what Jack was alluding to was AIG, the giant insurance company, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning, that -- there is Mr. Iger -- that Hank Greenberg, the longtime CEO of that company, who built that up into a juggernaut, will be stepping down this week.
Here's an interesting piece coming out of Russia this morning. The Communist Party is in trouble. Yes, it's true, it's the No. 1 opposition party to Putin's United Russia Party. But still, most of its members are old. They're having a tough time attracting young people to the Communist Party. And so the communist poobahs met the other day and decided to come up with a new campaign to attract people. Forget about hammers and sickles, they decided that graffiti would be a good idea. And also, get this, text messaging on cell phones sent out to young people to attract them to the Communist Party. They said with rhymes and political slogans.
Here may be something they could use -- "Come on, Russians, stop your crawling, vote for the party of Lenin and Stalin." These are just some ideas.
Here's another quickie, "Khrushchev, Breznev, Andropov, too, these are the men who still think of you."
What are they thinking?
CAFFERTY: They still call each other "comrade."
SERWER: Yes, comrades or commie poobahs -- I mean, it's just craziness over there.
O'BRIEN: You made those up, right?
SERWER: I made those up, Soledad. But I think they'd probably be pretty good.
O'BRIEN: They might just go ahead and steal those from you, Andy. And I'm sure you'll let them go.
SERWER: Thank you. I will, they can have them.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Let's get right back to Jeff Toobin. He's a got a look at the Question of the Day.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Indeed, our Question of the Day has been, "Do the Atlanta courthouse shootings change your opinion about the death penalty?" A lot of answers.
Richard in Randolph Massachusetts writes, "The Nichols incident in Atlanta leave me firmly in opposition to capital punishment. Nichols certainly seemed the poster boy for capital punishment, but a closer, more reasoned look shows his vicious behavior was indeed as his family and friends said an aberration from his early life. He himself, according to his guardian angel, in the form of Ashley Smith, could not recognize his actions seeing them on TV."
Weldon from Newmarket, Ontario writes, "No sympathy from me. They should endorse the death penalty and carry it through within a two-year period. Too many bleeding hearts in our society."
Finally, Sylvia in Raleigh, North Carolina, writes, "No, if a woman held hostage by a suspected killer has the courage to treat him as a human being and with dignity, we should follow that example. As Ashley Smith said when recounting her episode with Brian Nichols, she would not kill him even if he gave her his gun."
Ashley Smith is the hero of this story, that's for sure.
O'BRIEN: Remarkable young woman, I thought. TOOBIN: She's the name will remember probably out of this story, not him.
O'BRIEN: A tough life, you know; she had a tough four years. You got a sense of that when she was...
SERWER: I sure hope she gets that reward money.
O'BRIEN: Please!
SERWER: They should deliver that cash today.
TOOBIN: I wouldn't want to be the person arguing she shouldn't get it, that someone else should.
O'BRIEN: She really needs the money. Her daughter doesn't live with her. So that 60 grand could go to good use.
TOOBIN: And she's a widow; her husband was murdered.
CAFFERTY: You know she's going to get from the book?
TOOBIN: A couple mil, we hope.
CAFFERTY: Yes, easily.
SERWER: Good. She deserves it.
TOOBIN: There a lot of people who get book deals who are a hell of a lot less deserving than Ashley Smith.
CAFFERTY: And interesting.
TOOBIN: She's compelling and interesting.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Jeff.
A short break, we'll be right back.
(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
