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American Morning
High Profile Trials of 2005; Anna Nicole Smith Gets Boost from White House; Riding the Electronics Wave
Aired December 27, 2005 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Picture postcard day here in New York City. The east side of Manhattan looking over Central Park.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's so beautiful. Good morning to all of you.
O'BRIEN: Good day to go back shopping.
COSTELLO: I think I'm going to do that!
O'BRIEN: You might just do that, huh?
COSTELLO: Thanks for the idea. Good morning, everyone. It's 8:30 Eastern.
(NEWSBREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Mark your calendar. CNN's Anderson Cooper, live from Times Square on New Year's Eve. He'll be joined by James Brown, the John Mayer Trio, Harry Connick, Jr, and a cast of thousands.
Plus, he'll have a look at the turbulent years in the news as well. CNN's New Year's Eve with Anderson Cooper begins Saturday night, 11:00 Eastern time. And here on AMERICAN MORNING, we're looking back at 2005.
Soledad, before she left, spoke with CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin about the big trials this year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: 2005 was a year of high profile trials. Everything from former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to pop star Michael Jackson.
Here to take a look back at the highlights and in many cases, the low lights, too, CNN senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin. Good morning.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning. S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk first about what seemed to be culture wars, almost, that almost made it into the courtroom. We're talking about intelligent design, cases that have only come up very recently. And also the Terri Schiavo case. Very high profile.
TOOBIN: One of the things about American courtrooms -- and this has been true throughout American history -- is that struggles elsewhere in society almost always wind up in court. And with the Terri Schiavo case and the intelligent design, we saw the culture wars on trial.
And the Schiavo case -- you think about how amazing it was that you had the United States Congress mobilized over -- literally overnight. The president of the United States flies across the country to sign a bill that says Terri Schiavo, this brain-damaged, very ill woman in Florida, needed to be further evaluated before a feeding tube was removed. And it kind of backfired. The interesting thing was that the country said, you know, this is more of a private matter.
S. O'BRIEN: Congress needs to stay out of it.
TOOBIN: Congress, the politics, politicians need to stay out of it. So that was an effort on the part of the president and Tom DeLay to advance what they call the culture of life. But it was not particularly successful and, sadly, of course, Terri Schiavo died shortly thereafter.
S. O'BRIEN: One of the most bizarre court cases and cases, really, that was wrapped up after many, many years was BTK.
TOOBIN: BTK was...
S. O'BRIEN: Bind, Torture, Kill.
TOOBIN: That was like an airport novel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS RADER, BTK KILLER: Kind of tied her in the other bedroom and then I came back to strangle him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TOOBIN: I mean, when you think about, you know, a mild-mannered man, Dennis Rader, a church official in town. For years, up to 1991...
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, talk about a hidden life.
TOOBIN: Through the 1970s through 1991, he killed in the most gruesome way ten people, disappeared from view. But had a compulsion to get back in touch, leaving clues. He was finally caught. The reason he didn't -- wasn't a candidate for the death penalty is the last murder took place in 1991 and Kansas did not have a death penalty then. S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, that was really riveting. To hear him speak in court was absolutely astounding.
TOOBIN: It was like a movie.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it was. Of course, Saddam Hussein, which is -- I mean, talk about a movie. What a bizarre trial this has been with --literally you can see, even when you don't necessarily get the translation, the grapple for power between Saddam Hussein and the judge in the courtroom.
TOOBIN: You know, what I always think about with the Saddam Hussein trial is that in the Nuremberg trials after World War II, at that point, most of the world didn't know about the Holocaust. It really took the trial really to bring it out to the public.
I think what's been unfortunate about the Saddam Hussein trial so far is that he has dominated it and his outbursts so much that the crimes that are being outlined against him haven't gotten the attention, perhaps, that they deserve. And I think that's a struggle that's going to go on for some time. I don't think there's any chance that Saddam Hussein is going to be acquitted, but the public education has not taken place perhaps the way it should.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about Michael Jackson. That got -- can you believe how long it's been since we were covering Michael Jackson's trial.
TOOBIN: You know, for all that it was goofy and awful and comical at times, you know, I thought the jury reached the right result. I followed that trial pretty closely and I thought, given the nature of the evidence against him, the untrustworthiness of so many of the witnesses -- you know, I'm not -- I certainly wouldn't leave my kids with Michael Jackson, but I didn't think he was proved guilty.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, I think that case defines circus atmosphere.
TOOBIN: It did. You know, I sometimes resent the use of that term, because I think a lot of trials are actually pretty good.
S. O'BRIEN: No, no.
TOOBIN: Not that one.
S. O'BRIEN: Jeff Toobin, as always, thank you.
TOOBIN: Happy New Year.
S. O'BRIEN: Happy holidays to you. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: We are watching for that image of Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith walking up the stately steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Yes, she will be there for the next session. She's trying to collect a multimillion dollar inheritance. And, as Adaora Udoji reports, she has friends in big places to help her -- the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Anna Nicole Smith, the model, the former "Playboy" playmate, who is now looking to the U.S. Supreme Court for help. Smith, who has been making headlines for a decade, finds herself and her fight for tens of millions of dollars on the court's doorstep, a case Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer acknowledged on CNN's "LARRY kING lIVE."
JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER, U.S. SUPREME COURT: I will not comment on a case, but I will say one thing about the case. It's a bankruptcy case. Bankruptcy law is federal law.
UDOJI: It's a bankruptcy case because when this vicious legal battle started nearly a decade ago, Smith said she was made bankrupt by not collecting what she said her late husband wanted her to have, a huge chunk of his massive estate.
J. Howard Marshall was the 89-year-old Texas mogul Smith married in 1994, when she was 26. She told Larry King how they met.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH: I met my husband in a gentlemen's bar. He had asked me to go to lunch with him the following day. And I did.
UDOJI: They were an unlikely pair. And Marshall died a year later. Since then, Marshall's youngest son has fought to keep Smith from getting any money. And he won in state court. But a federal court awarded Anna Nicole Smith an $89 million judgment, a judgment she alluded to on her reality television show.
SMITH: I'm not rich. I'm going to be rich.
UDOJI: It might take a while. The case has gone all the way to the Supreme Court on appeal. America's highest judges face a technical legal question about whether the case should have been heard in federal court at all.
The Bush administration has backed Smith, another unlikely pairing. But the Department of Justice has no interest in whether she gets the money or not. Their lawyers believe federal courts should have jurisdiction over probate and bankruptcy cases like hers.
Smith's lawyer says the entertainer will, quote, "definitely be at the Supreme Court when her case is called in a fight she intends to win."
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: I'm still getting over, I met my husband in a gentlemen's club.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Some very good relationships begin that way, Carol. COSTELLO: I guess so. I think that would be a strip bar.
O'BRIEN: It's A very underrated when meeting your future...
SERWER: Strip club, please.
COSTELLO: Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to dumb it down.
O'BRIEN: No, no, no, gentlemen's club!
SERWER: Well, OK.
COSTELLO: Hey, Andy, what's up in your business report?
SERWER: Well, nothing quite as uplifting as that, Carol.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: But a roller coaster ride for one American industry. How do the nation's amusement parks fare in 2005? You won't want to miss that. Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Tomorrow on American morning, a special reunion for you. Remember that dog we found the morning after Hurricane Rita hit, do you remember that?
SERWER: Yes, I do.
O'BRIEN: When we couldn't find her owner, our field producer, Dana Garrett, took her in. It seemed like a happy ending, right? Well, there's a twist in this tale, and while it was pretty rough for Dana, though not for the dog, we'll tell you, the story tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, where we always have a nose for news.
Looking at the markets this week, a man who has a nose for business news, Andy Serwer.
Good morning.
SERWER: Good morning, Miles.
I want to talk about those markets a little bit. All of the major U.S. indexes are up, albeit just a bit for 2005. Four trading days left in the year, and we want to make sure we get some green ink to end the year up. Always important to end off on an up note for 2006. Retail numbers for the holiday shopping season appear to be good, up 8.7 percent according to one survey, though you're going to see numbers all across the board. Bottom line is shopping pretty good in 2005.
Speaking of markets. Have you checked out the Nikkei lately? That's the Japanese stock market. On fire. Up 40 percent this year.
O'BRIEN: when was the last time you could say that? SERWER: On fire!
O'BRIEN: For the Nikkei. No, for the Nikkei.
SERWER: Oh, about the Nikkei? It's been a long, long time.
Up over 16,000 for the first time in five years; 16,000 it just broke, but at 40,000 in 1990. That was the height of the Japanese bubble at that point. So still a long way to go. A lot of foreigners buying into the Japanese market, looking for more action there than they are getting here.
And finally, speaking of one business that had a pretty good year in 2005, the amusement park business in the United States. Riders flocking in droves to some of those crazy rides that I don't get near, quite frankly. My kids like them. Do you ride those?
O'BRIEN: Well, I don't mind the rides. I can not stand waiting for them, though.
SERWER: Yes, you got to fast track.
O'BRIEN: You got to do the fast track, fast pass, whatever it is deal, and that's reasonable.
SERWER: You have to use your smarts.
O'BRIEN: I do. I do avoid the theme parks, I got to admit.
SERWER: I just don't like the rides too much. But anyway, maybe we're old fuddy-duddies.
O'BRIEN: Yes,we are! We have proven that time and again.
SERWER: Yes, we have. You proven that about me actually this morning. That's another story.
O'BRIEN: Well, I've shown my colors.
All right, Carol.
COSTELLO: I would have to agree with that.
Did you get a new Xbox, or iPod or some other high-tech device for Christmas? If so, you're on the crest of an electronics wave.
Our Jeff Greenfield is riding that wave, and he declares the future has arrived.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST (voice-over): This is the way we usually imagine the world of tomorrow, buildings rising to the sky, automated autos, people flying around in jetpacks, clad in costumes fit for superheroes. And that exotic future of course is always just around the corner. But here's a newsflash: The future has already arrived right here, right now. The world has changed in ways that would of dazzled just us a decade or two ago. Some changes are obvious. The iPod. The Web.
But check these out. We all knew something like the cell phone was coming. It's really a twist on the two-way wrist radio used by comic book hero Dick Tracy.
But did anyone suspect this twist? Yes, the passion for giving phones a personality has made ring tones a $5-billion-a-year business. That's more than Americans spent electing a president and a Congress in 2004.
Or consider video games. In the quarter century since Pong gave way to Doom or Grand Theft Auto, the business has grown to $25 billion a year.
Today, the video game business is bigger than the total domestic box office gross of the movie business, and that, in turn, has created a new generation of heroes for the new generation. For instance, who's one of the most popular athletes among young men? Lebron James? Allen Iverson? Derek Jeter? Tom Brady?
Try skateboarding champion Tony Hawk, who's become a household word in households with young men through his Activision video games.
Now turn to the newspaper business. One of the real threats to its future is here, at Craigslist, a site specializing in mostly free classified ads of every variety. It draws 10 million visitors a month. It could make newspaper classified ads obsolete.
And without those ads, the profits of most newspapers would collapse. And thanks to the TiVo and the digital video recorder, millions of viewers now have the ability now to speed right through commercials, a power that threatens 75 years of a broadcast business built on advertising.
(on camera): So feel free to daydream about jumping into your teleporter and beaming up to the rings of Saturn or firing up the time machine to go battle a dinosaur, but while you're at it, make sure you keep your eyes open so you can have a look at the future that's already here.
Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: I still want that robot, though. Rosie, you know?
COSTELLO: That would be great.
O'BRIEN: Speaking of futuristic technology, CNN -- excuse me. CNN? We can do it. Can CNN do it? No. Can lasers help people quit smoking?
Gosh, that looks painful.
Your morning house call is a little bit later. And we are back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
COSTELLO: Coming up, do you know what your kids are downloading off of the Internet? Because what you don't know could get you sued. We'll talk to a mother of five who says it's happened to her. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien. A suspect serial rapist is captured in Miami. Reynaldo Rapalo on the run for a week, pretending to be homeless before police finally chased him down. We'll have a live report for you from Miami in a moment.
COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad today. Police in New Orleans say they had no choice, fatally shooting a man with a knife after this tense confrontation. A report from New Orleans straight ahead.
O'BRIEN: And in Iraq, thousands and thousands of demonstrators flood the streets. A look at what they're demanding for the next Iraqi government on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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