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Paula Zahn Now

Band Manager Sentenced to Four Years For Deadly Nightclub Fire; Jury Deliberates in Nun Murder Trial; President Bush's Travel Plan Slip

Aired May 10, 2006 - 20:00   ET

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

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Glad to have you with us.
Here is what is happening at this moment.

The House votes to extend a $7 billion tax cut for investors. The bill could end up on the vice president's desk by Friday. Democrats say it will save millionaire households more than $40,000 each. But it also gives millions of taxpayers relief from the alternative minimum tax.

It's another nerve-racking night of watching for killer tornadoes like this one that struck just north of Dallas, killing an elderly couple and a teenager. The storm left a half-mile-wide path of destruction.

On to our nightly check on gasoline prices across the country. We call it "Crude Awakenings." The states with today's highest prices are in red, the lowest pump price in green. And the average today for unleaded regular remains on hold at $2.89 cents. That happens to be the same as yesterday.

Tonight, a former band manager has begun serving four years in prison for his role in a devastating nightclub fire that took 100 lives. Anguish and tears filled a Rhode Island courtroom today. And before the judge sentenced him, Daniel Biechele spoke in public for the first time about the fire. He apologized to the families, and he broke down, sobbing.

Allan Chernoff was in court for all of the day's drama and just filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL BIECHELE, DEFENDANT: I'm truly sorry. I am.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an emotional end to the sentencing process. The band manager whose pyrotechnics triggered the nightclub fire that killed 100 people pleading for mercy and forgiveness.

DANIEL BIECHELE, BAND MANAGER: I don't know that I'll ever forgive myself for what happened that night. So, I can't expect anybody else to. I can only pray that they understand that I would do anything to undo what happened that night and give them back their loved ones.

CHERNOFF: Daniel Biechele faced up to 10 years in prison.

BIECHELE: I'm so sorry for what I have done. And I don't want to cause anyone any more pain.

CHERNOFF: But Judge Francis Darigan, noting Biechele's contrition, sentenced him to less than half the maximum.

JUDGE FRANCIS DARIGAN, SUPERIOR COURT: This court will therefore sentence you to 15 years at the ACI, four years of which to be served by you.

CHERNOFF: Some parents who lost children in the fire say the sentence is a slap on the wrist.

PATRICIA BELANGER, MOTHER OF STATION NIGHTCLUB FIRE VICTIM: It's a joke. It's a joke.

CHERNOFF: But others say justice was done.

SUZANNE FOX, LOST SON IN FIRE: I think it was reasonable. I think it was fair and just.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... like to speak about the nature...

CHERNOFF: Dave Kane and his wife, Joanne (ph) O'Neill, who lost their 18-year-old son, Nicky, watched from home, too emotional to come to court.

DAVID KANE, FATHER OF STATION NIGHTCLUB FIRE VICTIM: This is about justice. It's not about revenge.

Seven-six-six-thirteen-eighty.

CHERNOFF: Hours earlier, Kane, a talk radio host, was on the air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's lots of people behind you who love you and are backing you and there for you.

CHERNOFF: But it wasn't easy.

KANE: All right, baby, thanks a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. You take care, honey.

KANE: I appreciate your call.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye now.

CHERNOFF: It hasn't been easy for the more than three years since Nicky died.

(on camera): But Nicky remains a strong presence in Dave and Joanne's (ph) lives. ON Tuesday, Dave told the court what his son would say.

KANE: We know that our gentle, loving, funny, sincere, spiritual son, Nicholas, would want us to accept Mr. Biechele's apology. That's the kind of boy Nicky is. That's the kind of boy we raised.

CHERNOFF: Today, Dave said his son was with him as he was working on the air and watched the sentencing.

KANE: I spoke only the truth about Nicky. That's who our son is. We have to love each other, understand each other's shortcomings and try to make it better. That was Nicky's message.

CHERNOFF: AS Daniel Biechele was cuffed and led out of court, Dave and Joanne (ph) said they were at peace with the judge's decision, exactly, they believe, what Nicky would have wanted.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Providence, Rhode Island.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: What a nightmare for all of those families. And this isn't the end of the story, because they're going to have to endure two more trials for the brothers who happened to own the nightclub.

Now, right at this moment, in Toledo, Ohio, a jury is deliberating in another dramatic case. On trial, a Catholic priest accused of murdering a nun. It was a crime that shocked the city of Toledo when it happened 25 years ago on the day before Easter and equally shocking when the suspect was finally arrested two years ago.

Keith Oppenheim was in the courtroom today and just filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a murder trial, it is unusual for a prosecutor to quote scripture to show holy figures are not infallible.

DEAN MANDROS, LUCAS COUNTY ASSISTANT PROSECUTOR: Three times, St. Peter lied to keep himself out of trouble.

OPPENHEIM: But, in this Toledo courtroom, the question before a jury is whether one servant of the church killed another. Father Gerald Robinson is believed to be the only priest ever in the United States to have been charged in the murder of a nun, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

Closing arguments portray two very different versions of what happened.

JOHN THEBES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR GERALD ROBINSON: Father Robinson is not guilty.

OPPENHEIM: It was in 1980 that the body of the 71-year-old nun was found in the chapel of Toledo's Mercy Hospital. She had been strangled and stabbed. Prosecutors said the murder appeared to be a ritual killing and claimed Father Robinson made some of the stab wounds in the shape of an inverted cross.

MANDROS: To degrade her, to mock her, to humiliate her, to bring her down to the lowest point he possibly could.

OPPENHEIM: At the time, Father Robinson was a hospital chaplain. Because of a lack of evidence, the case went cold for 24 years and was reopened when investigators believed they found a match between a bloodstain at the crime scene and a dagger-shaped letter opener belonging to Father Robinson.

MANDROS: This case is about the most common scenario there is for a homicide. A man got very angry at a woman, and the woman died.

OPPENHEIM: Prosecutors weren't required to provide a motive, but they said the priest and nun were at odds and suggested he was tired of being pushed around. The defense argued the case against the priest was based on a false presumption, that his letter opener was used to kill the nun.

THEBES: This thing doesn't fit all the way in. This, ladies and gentlemen, is not the murder weapon.

OPPENHEIM: And they charged that not one strand of DNA found at the crime scene links the defendant to the victim.

THEBES: And that's DNA, excludes this man and points somewhere else.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Now 12 jurors must decide if enough physical evidence is intact from more than a quarter-century ago to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Father Robinson committed murder.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Toledo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Now, the jury has not been sequestered, but may have to put in some really long hours. The judge has decided to keep deliberations going to 8:00 every night and possibly into the weekend, if necessary.

And if Father Robinson is convicted, he will face a mandatory life sentence.

Now on to the court of public opinion and new evidence that a profound shift in opinion is under way in this country. New polls out just tonight make it clear that Americans are fed up with higher prices, especially higher gas prices, and with the war in Iraq. And the targets of their anger are President Bush and his fellow Republicans.

Here's our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, part of the best political team in TV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): President Bush is trying hard to be upbeat.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One hundred and thirty-eight thousand additional Americans found jobs over the last month, which is good. The national unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. This economy is strong.

SCHNEIDER: Is anybody listening? Yes. Most Americans say economic conditions are good. But is it doing the president any good? No.

Our poll of polls has five polls taken so far this month. Four of them show Bush's rating in the low 30s. Two have him at 31 percent, this president's lowest approval rating ever. Only three presidents in the past 50 years have been less popular, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Bush's father. Nixon resigned. Carter and the elder President Bush lost their bids for reelection.

In "The New York Times"/CBS News poll, 53 percent say the economy is good. But only 28 percent approve of the way President Bush is handling the economy. There's gratitude for you.

Why are Americans so grumpy? Well, one thing, they fear the economy is bound to get worse, what with gas prices and all.

SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: How it is that the inflation index is so modest, when everything costs more, whether it's milk, whether it's electric, whether it's housing...

SCHNEIDER: Almost half the public say they are very concerned about inflation, even more than interest rates.

But the main reason Americans are grumpy isn't the economy. It's Iraq. Bad news from Iraq trumps any good news about the economy.

Here's some proof. Right now, Democrats have a 14-point lead over Republicans when registered voters are asked how they would vote for Congress this year.

Among voters who think the economy's in good shape, Republicans have a 28-point lead. But, among voters who think the economy's in good shape, but who disapprove of the decision to go to war in Iraq, Democrats are 21 points ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: Why does Iraq overwhelm the economy? People are apprehensive about the economy. But they are angry about Iraq -- Paula.

ZAHN: But, Bill, when you look at these numbers closely, wouldn't you think the Democrats would be getting more traction than they seem to be getting in these polls?

SCHNEIDER: Well, they are getting traction. A 14-point lead is not small in this kind of thing.

BLITZER: It isn't, but I spoke with a bunch Democrats today who still are not convinced that, when it comes to midterm elections, it is going to translate to much.

SCHNEIDER: Well, there are lot of built-in protections for incumbents. And that's got Democrats very worried. How can they beat all those congressional incumbents who have safe districts?

It would require a tidal wave. But these poll numbers point to something like a tidal wave building. And that is -- that could be big enough to overcome all the system's biases against -- in favor, rather, of incumbent officer-holders.

ZAHN: We will be watching this very closely with you.

Bill Schneider, thanks so much for the update.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

ZAHN: Appreciate it.

And we have even more evidence that President Bush just can't catch a break right now. Coming up, we are going to tell you what one garbage man found that is embarrassing the White House tonight. Oh. Wait until you see this list.

But, right now, we move on to our countdown of the top 10 stories on CNN.com -- 18 million of you logging on today.

Coming in at number 10, our lead story -- band manager Daniel Biechele sentenced to four years in prison for his role in that deadly fire at a Rhode Island nightclub.

And number nine -- Iran's president today insisted his country will not abandon its nuclear program. And he said that sending a letter to President Bush was the right thing to do, even if the White House chooses not to respond.

Numbers eight and seven on the countdown coming up, along with explosive controversies involving powerful clergymen and their hold on the women who follow them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: "Outside the Law" -- the charismatic leader of a polygamist sect now on the FBI's most wanted list. Is he a sinister abuser of women and children or a prophet? Listen to his secret sermons and decide for yourself.

The "Eye Opener" -- sex for salvation, stunning allegations against a respected minister. What really went on behind the walls of his mega-ministry -- all that and more when we come back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Coming up -- some things about the president's latest trip that you weren't supposed to see. So, what the heck were they doing in the garbage? We will explain.

Pressure is mounting tonight on a community of 10,000 polygamists along the Arizona-Utah border. The people of Colorado City, Arizona, are members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect, whose leader, Warren Jeffs, claims to be a prophet. Well, he now stands accused of arranging polygamist marriages of underage girls.

And, this week, the FBI put him on the 10 most wanted fugitive list. And, just yesterday, Arizona officials say they tried to serve grand jury subpoenas at City Hall and the town martial's office, but, strangely, found no one there.

They described the atmosphere in Colorado City as tense. Now, you're about to get a very rare look inside this community and hear Jeffs himself instructing young women how to be good wives.

Here's Randi Kaye with tonight's "Outside the Law."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His followers, an estimated 10,000 people, believe he is their prophet.

To the FBI, he's one of their top 10 criminals. The prophet, Warren Jeffs, is considered one of the most sinister polygamists of his time, a cold-hearted, abusive leader, the head of a secret society where men have dozens of wives and small armies of children, where women as young as 13 are forced to marry and start families.

Listen to how the fugitive prophet speaks to first-time brides. This is a rare audio recording of his teachings recorded by a disgruntled member and obtained by KSL Radio.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

WARREN JEFFS, POLYGAMIST LEADER: Many young men, when they receive their first wife, they're just so untrained. And the woman, if she's not careful, will be overbearing and always ask permission for what she wants. And, ladies, build up your husband by being submissive.

ANNOUNCER:

KAYE: In Jeffs' fundamentalist world, men are kings.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEFFS: Don't let your former family be your total confidence. It should be your new husband. Turn to him with a full heart and give him the opportunity to lead you right.

(END AUDIO CLIP) KAYE: For the documentary, "Colorado City and the Underground Railroad," Filmmaker Michael Watkiss visited the Colorado City compound dozens of times.

MICHAEL WATKISS, FILMMAKER: He has this sort of preacher-like nice deep voice, and this sort of -- or this numbing sort of presentation.

But it's just this over and over sort of rote communication to these young people, that this is what you do. And everything else is sinful.

KAYE: Jeffs controls his followers by steering them away from the outside, what he calls a wicked and immoral world.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEFFS: You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, or rude and filthy, uncomely, disagreeable, and low in their habits, wild and seemingly deprived of nearly all of the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KAYE: Watkiss says Jeffs, and his father before him, controls the followers from cradle to grave.

WATKISS: He clearly is sort of a Svengali, charismatic figure. People disparage him, you know, and -- but the bottom line is, I think the guy has a lot of power and needs to be taken very seriously. And I listen to these sermons, and they scare me.

KAYE: Watkiss says it's no coincidence the compound is one of the most isolated areas of the country, chosen, he says, for that very reason.

WATKISS: They went there very intentionally, because they have long understood that the light of day is not their friend. If they're going to practice this stuff, they need to be in secret and in hiding.

KAYE: Watkiss calls the emphasis on selecting wives and baby- making assembly-line polygamy, with no end in sight. Even with Jeffs on the run, he says, the faithful remain behind him.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And joining me now, a former Mormon and the author of "God's Brothel," the stories of 18 women who escaped polygamist communities, Andrea Moore-Emmett.

Thanks so much for being with us tonight.

You have studied Warren Jeffs and other polygamist sects. What makes him so dangerous? ANDREA MOORE-EMMETT, AUTHOR, "GOD'S BROTHEL": Well, like Mike Watkiss said, he does have control over everyone.

He is armed. He has bodyguards. They do expect to have a shoot- out, a bloodbath. He would like to be a martyr, if they ever find him. He does control a lot of people. They have compounds now in Eldorado, Texas, in Mancos, Colorado, in South Dakota, and still in Utah and Arizona, and in -- in Canada as well.

ZAHN: We just heard some of the disturbing sections of the speech that he gives these new young brides. But how does he win their trust in the first place?

MOORE-EMMETT: Most of the girls are born into this lifestyle. They don't know anything else. That's what they get from the cradle.

They -- their whole family, their whole life is -- is involved in this. They don't have any contact on the outside. They're very isolated. They don't have radio, television, newspaper, magazines, so all they know is what he tells them.

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: So, are you basically saying they have absolutely no way out of this?

MOORE-EMMETT: No, they don't have any way out of it.

It is very seldom when someone does escape. That has happened a few times, but it is very rare. So, these women are very trapped. These girls are -- are completely trapped. And when they get married at such a young age and start having children, they're trapped completely. They believe that a woman is to have a child per year. A woman is a vessel to be worn out in childbirth.

So, they're very trapped.

ZAHN: You have a very interesting theory that, if state and federal officials really wanted to close down these polygamist sects, they would.

MOORE-EMMETT: Mmm-hmm. Right.

ZAHN: Why don't you think they are?

MOORE-EMMETT: Well, in this country, we have a high tolerance for religion belief and religious freedom. Unfortunately, these people take advantage of that belief.

The United States Supreme Court said in the 1800s, you can believe whatever you want to believe. You just cannot practice everything you believe, if it is against the valid law of the land. In Utah, where it is -- it's so Mormon, it's a theocracy, the Mormon Church still believes in polygamy, as far as it's on -- it's in their scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132. A senator in Utah that is not there anymore once told me: Andrea, they're not going to do anything. My colleagues on the Hill are never going to do anything about polygamy, because what they have told me, when Jesus returns, the groups that have left the Mormon Church to live polygamy will come back to the mainstream church. We will all be living polygamy together, and it will all be all right. So...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: Well, the FBI certainly doesn't want it to end that way. And they seem to be serious about going after that. I know you're fearful it might end up in a shoot-out. But we will be watching that very closely from here.

Andrea Moore-Emmett, thank you very much. That was fascinating and equally disturbing.

MOORE-EMMETT: Thank you.

ZAHN: Anderson Cooper is live in Salt Lake City tonight, covering the hunt for Warren Jeffs. Among his stories, one from Randi Kaye explaining why Jeffs' polygamist community is costing you money, even if you don't live anywhere near Colorado City, Arizona.

And our examination of the power of clergymen and the potential dangers facing women in their congregations is coming up in just a minute.

Also coming up: Why does one woman say her trust was twisted into sexual temptation and ultimately betrayal? Hear her story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: We join you with number eight on our CNN.com countdown. A spokeswoman for the Rolling Stones denies reports that guitarist Keith Richards suffered brain damage during a fall last month in Fiji, fell out of a coconut tree. Richards had surgery Monday in New Zealand, after he complained of headaches.

Number seven, we mentioned it at the top of the hour, people in north Texas trying to get back to normal, after a deadly tornado raked the area last night. Officials in one hard-hit town say it has no tornado sirens to warn residents about coming storms -- numbers six and five straight ahead.

But, first, in tonight's "Eye Opener," another story focusing in on religious leaders and the power they hold over the women who follow them. You may not want the kids in the room for this one, because it deals with some very disturbing allegations of sex, trust and betrayal -- the central figures, a major church in a big city, its respected leader, and a young woman who turned there for spiritual comfort after a crisis.

Here's David Mattingly with tonight's "Eye Opener." (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MONA BREWER, FORMER CHAPEL HILL HARVESTER CHURCH MEMBER: And she died when she was 18 in a car accident, suddenly. And I really had a real experience with God at that time.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty years ago, and just a teenager, a young Mona Brewer was reeling from the death of her sister and turned to God. She found comfort in the welcoming arms of the Chapel Hill Harvester Church near Atlanta.

At the time, it was one of the nation's growing charismatic mega- churches, with thousands of members, led by the influential Bishop Earl Paulk.

BISHOP EARL PAULK, CHAPEL HILL HARVESTER CHURCH: I want you to praise God with us today. We are going to have...

BREWER: He had a -- a fresh word from God every time he came to the pulpit, which was several times a week.

And it was amazing, you know, that God spoke to him such -- on such a frequency. And we were taught that spiritual authority was -- your level of spiritual authority was according to, you know, your revelation from God, or the things that God revealed to a person. And he was -- we were taught he was a prophet and an apostle in the church.

MATTINGLY: Mona says she came to view Paulk, a married father and grandfather, as a holy messenger of the lord, selected by God to speak for the almighty.

And, over time, Bishop Paulk's church became her life. Mona became a teacher in the church school, a soloist in the church choir. And, at age 27, she even married an associate church pastor, a union blessed by Paulk himself, a man she believed so close to God that his words could never be questioned.

BREWER: There were signs on the walls at the church. They didn't put scriptures on the wall. They put his sayings, his quotations. And one of them was, "The kingdom of God is built in trust." And we were taught that we were to trust our spiritual authority, and we were taught not to question it.

MATTINGLY: And so it went for years, Mona says, until, one day, Paulk asked for a meeting with her.

BREWER: And, at the end of the chat, he said, well what is it you want for me? And I thought to myself at the time, well, I didn't -- I didn't ask to come here. You asked me to come. But I couldn't say that, because that would sound verbose. And I couldn't say that.

So, I just said, well, you know, I guess I need a father, because that's what everybody was -- said. And I thought -- and I did. I thought, you know, well, that's a good thing to say.

MATTINGLY: But Mona was about to get something she never expected. She says in her next few meetings with Paulk, his plans for her became shockingly clear.

BREWER: He said well, I guess you'll just have to take your clothes off, because I'm going to have to love you. And I thought, oh God, I didn't want to do it, but what choice did I have? I had been taught for all these years not to question him and I had this word from God. I mean God obviously wanted me to do this and it was so foreign to me, but I didn't know what else to do. I was on the spot, so I took off my clothes and we did it.

MATTINGLY: The tryst she says went against all she had been taught about marriage, sin and adultery. Then, age 29 and a member of Paulk's church for 10 years, she was left confused, conflicted and questioning what she knew about her faith. And according to Mona Brewer, it was just the beginning. The liaisons continued. She says it became frequent. She says that Paulk used the scriptures to justify the seemingly unholy behavior, claiming that God had elevated him above the sin of adultery.

BREWER: Because he said, you know, the adultery issue was for the little ones. It was for the people, you know, commoners. It wasn't for people who God elevated and trusted with special things like this, relationships like this. That's the way he explained it to me.

MATTINGLY: And now you were elevated as well?

BREWER: Oh, yes, God trusted me with this relationship, and that was major.

MATTINGLY: And how long did this go on?

BREWER: Fourteen years.

MATTINGLY: Fourteen years of alleged silence, secrets and sin, now spelled out in a stack of legal documents in a lawsuit filed in 2005 by Mona Brewer and her husband Bobby, against Paulk, other church leaders and the church itself. The couple accuses Paulk of abusing his confidential relationship with Mona as his spiritual adviser, and through manipulation, coercion, and deception caused her to believe that her only route to salvation was to engage in sexual acts at the request of Bishop Earl Paulk.

But Paulk responded, denying all allegations. Including that he coerced or manipulated Mona into having sex. Paulk and the others field a countersuit seeking damages for libel and slander.

Mona claims, however, that Paulk's request didn't involved just having sex with him. She claims that Paulk arranged for her to have sex with a member of his family and once with a visiting minister.

BREWER: Paulk brought him into Atlanta, had him stay in his own home, in the basement bedroom, where we always had sex. And he wanted me to go downstairs and have sex with him and then come upstairs and have sex with himself and tell him all about it.

MATTINGLY: The list of the alleged encounters would not end here. Mona Brewer claims that there were times that, unknown to her, Paulk had others watching while they had sex. Still for years, she never denied him. All the while, she says, thinking her salvation depended on it, but eventually she says there was one Paulk perversion that even God couldn't make her do.

BREWER: The whole time I'm laying there, just praying, I'm praying, God, I will do anything for you. You know, I've proven that, but please don't make me do that. I don't want to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: So what does Mona Brewer say her pastor actually wanted? And what do other women at the church have to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was turned on by the fact that I was watching while he was having sex with another woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So what happened to the other woman and their pastor? David Mattingly's shocking report continues in just a minute.

Right now, No. 6 on our CNN.com countdown. The historic oceanliner the S.S. France is headed for a scrap yard in India. And that is raising protests from Greenpeace and other environmental groups who say it holds more than 1,000 tons of asbestos and other toxic materials.

No. 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin takes a swipe at the U.S. today. In his State of the Nation address, he implied that Washington puts global political interests ahead of Democratic ideals and human rights.

No. 4 on our countdown right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: She says her minister forced her into having an affair and as time went on, she says his demands became even more shocking. What were they? David Mattingly's report continues in just a minute.

And when President Bush headed to Florida this week, something very important got left behind. What ended up in the trash? How important is it and who found it?

Then at the top of the hour, "LARRY KING LIVE" has illusionist David Blaine on, the first primetime interview since his week in the big fish bowl. I wonder how his hands look tonight.

Here's what's happening at this moment. In a stunning turn tonight, the Justice Department says it has ended a probe into the administration's warrantless wiretapping because the spy agency involved has refused to give Justice Department lawyers security clearance. The administration has defended the domestic surveillance as vital for the war on terror.

Controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio leads the latest effort for crack down on illegal border crossings tonight. A 250-member posse is patrolling roads and desert passes for illegal immigrants under a new estate law aimed at smugglers.

And the nation's housing secretary, Alphonso Jackson is apologizing for telling a business forum that he canceled a government deal because the contractor didn't like the president. Democrats are calling for an investigation and one senator is demanding that Jackson be fired.

ZAHN: We continue now with a story of Mona Brewer. She says the influential pastor of her church abused his power and then pressured her into an affair that lasted more than a decade. She says it grew more and more bizarre as time went on. Again, here's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: From the outside, Chapel Hill Harvester appears much more than a church. A campus of rolling hills, gives way to schools and offices and a massive multi-million dollar cathedral. All built under the charismatic leadership of Bishop Earl Paulk, who is now named in a lawsuit by a devout former church employee, Mona Brewer, alleging acts of sexual coercion.

BREWER: I was brainwashed. I was taught he was infallible and I had to do what he said, not knowing that it would lead to something like that.

MATTINGLY: What it led to was an alleged 14 year sexual relationship between Paulk and Brewer, in which Paulk is accused of also manipulating her into having sex with a member of his family and a visiting leader of another church. Believing all the while, she says, that she was acting in the service of God.

(on camera): People are going to watch this and how you were talked into doing this and manipulated. Sure I can believe it once, OK, maybe twice. But for years?

BREWER: That's how much I believed it. Anyone who has ever been in a cult or known someone in a cult, would immediately recognize it and understand. If you've never been in anything like that or related to it any way, it does seem bizarre doesn't it?

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Brewer reference to a cult is her way to describe the pressure she felt to comply with Paulk's wishes. Her lawsuit does not allege that the church itself is a cult. Paulk's attorney describes Chapel Hill Harvester as a nondenominational, full gospel, charismatic church. In a statement to CNN, he writes, "It would be interesting to see what percentage of viewers would buy into this beautiful 40 year old's woman's preposterous sex fantasy."

The attorney claims it was Mona who seduced Paulk, and only on one or two occasions. He says Paulk has openly confessed this to his congregation and he suggest that the Brewer's lawsuit is driven by money.

(on camera): Now almost 80 years old, Paulk, according to his attorney is recovering from cancer surgery and remains in very poor health. He hasn't commented publicly outside of church about the lawsuit. And Mona Brewer is not alone in her accusations.

Mona was talking about there was a time when someone was watching, that was you.

CINDY HALL, FMR. CHURCH MEMBER: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Did she know it at the time?

HALL: No, she did not know it at the time.

MATTINGLY: What did he get out of it?

HALL: He was turned on by the fact that I was watching while he had sex with another woman.

MATTINGLY: When she would leave would it be your turn?

HALL: Yes.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Cindy Hall is also a married former member of the church who claims to have been also manipulated by Paulk for ten years into performing sometimes twice daily sexual acts with him and occasionally other men and women. Now, a friend of Mona Brewer, Paula has provided a deposition for the lawsuit. Like Mona, she said she was made to believe she was serving God and was compelled by her faith to obey.

(on camera): After these episodes, did he ever pray with you?

HALL: Yes, there was several occasions that he prayed with me.

MATTINGLY: Right there in the bedroom?

HALL: Yes.

MATTINGLY: What would he say?

HALL: He would pray during sex, pray for me.

MATTINGLY: Pray for you?

HALL: Pray for the relationship, pray for -- yes, he would pray, sometimes during sex. Yes. When I say pray over me. It is kind of hard to describe.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): And hard to believe according to Paulk's attorney, who writes, "Cindy Hall's story is even more ludicrous and unbelievable than Mona's, all of it categorically denied by dish Bishop Paulk."

Through the years there have been other lawsuits and accusations. In 2001, there was another lawsuit by woman claiming Paulk molested her as a child. That case ended with a confidential settlement. In 1992, seven women held a press conference to publicly accuse church members of sexual misconduct. One of those women accused Earl Paulk. They were sued for libel and slander but that libel case was later dropped.

Cindy Hall says she is now in counseling. She and her husband left the church and have stayed together. Mona Brewer says she was suicidal.

BREWER: I though of ways to do it. Every time I would think what if the kids think it was their fault. I couldn't deal with that.

MATTINGLY: For Mona Brewer, the final break came in March of 2004. She told her husband Bobby of the 14 year affair and the couple invited Paulk and his brother Don to their home. These photographs reveal the result. The meeting ended when Bobby punched both of them in the face.

Mona says because her husband has stayed by her side, it has given her the strength to pursue their lawsuit. She's also thankful that her faith in God remains intact.

BREWER: I know there's a God up there that loves me in spite of everything and I know he forgives mistakes and he'll vindicate the righteous.

MATTINGLY: David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Mona Brewer and Cindy Hall say they hope that by telling their stories publicly others will come forward from the church.

"LARRY KING LIVE" coming up in just a few minutes. You got a big lineup tonight, Mary Cheney, David Blaine.

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: We do. Mr. Blaine will kick it off. The aftermath of the unsuccessful attempt to break the world record underwater. Just got out of the hospital. Then, the bulk of the show will be devoted to Mary Cheney. The daughter of the vice president of the United States. She'll be live with us here in Los Angeles, talking about her new book and including your phone calls. That's all ahead at the top of the hour.

I await tomorrow and next week's show when I get to see Paula in person.

ZAHN: You're so nice.

KING: Highlight of my week.

ZAHN: Thank you so much. Would you tell Mr. Blaine that the newspapers have been so mean. I think he deserves credit for holding his breath.

KING: About what?

ZAHN: That he didn't get to nine minutes. We tried getting folks in the news room to hold their breath and we were lucky to get to 32 seconds.

KING: How many news people did it?

ZAHN: Good question, got me, I don't know, I'm sure they didn't make it beyond a minute. Have fun with David tonight. I hope he's feeling better. Thanks.

Have you ever realized you tossed something important in the trash that you shouldn't have thrown away, you're not alone. They do that at the White House. Why did someone leave this for the garbage man to find?

Before that number four in our CNN count down. The buzz over how much money the first picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby could bring. One photographer told CNN he thinks it could fetch as much $3 million.

Two hikers were rescued after they got lost and had to spend three nights in the mountains near Palm Springs, California. They were able to help searchers find them by lighting a fire at a camp site left by another man who vanished a year ago.

Number two on our list, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Well, the president's trip to Florida has ended with some embarrassment. Even before President Bush arrived back at the White House this morning, members of his staff found they had some explaining to do. As Kathleen Koch shows us, some very sensitive information about his trip ended up in the wrong hands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The exact arrival and departure time for Air Force One, Marine One and for backup choppers Night Hawk Two and Three, a list of every passenger on board each aircraft, from the president to the military attache carrying the nuclear football, just the kind of information a terrorist would love to find.

RANDY HOPKINS, SANITATION WORKER: When I seen this symbol, and me being nosy, I thought I should pick it up and read it.

KOCH: Instead, D.C.-area sanitation worker Randy Hopkins found the stack of papers with details of the president's Florida visit on the floor next to a big trash truck Tuesday morning while President Bush was still on the trip.

HOPKINS: I saw locations and names and places where the president is supposed to be on this day. And I knew it was kind of important. It shouldn't have been in the trash at whole like this. KOCH: The papers even listed the order of vehicles in the president's motorcade, including which limo Mr. Bush was in.

KOCH: So anyone who found this would know who's in the lead vehicle, who's in the spare vehicle. The president is in this limo.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: That's right. Well, it's a pretty big screw-up. It could be a lot worse. It could be a classified document. But it's pretty bad. The people who get this are supposed to dispose of this in a burn bag.

KOCH: The Secret Service says these were White House documents and not classified. Still the details included are not even given to reporters who cover presidential trips, to lessen its risk of leaking and falling into the wrong hands.

FALKENRATH: The Secret Service's worst fear of course that this will assist some sophisticated assassination plot.

KOCH: But it was found on Tuesday morning and he's getting back from the trip Wednesday afternoon. It had details all the way through today.

FALKENRATH: It's very puzzling circumstances.

KOCH: No one knows which of the roughly 25 staffers who travel with President Bush left the staff trip schedule. Sensitive information has gone astray before. In 2004, a Pentagon press aide left among other things, a hand-drawn map to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's home in a Washington D.C. Starbucks.

As for the presidential trip schedule, Hopkins says he felt it was his civic duty to turn it in.

HOPKINS: We're going through a war. And if it would have fell into the rights hands at the right time, it could have been something real messy for the presidency.

KOCH: The White House isn't commenting on the incident, but a former agent from the presidential protective detail who I spoke with this afternoon said, "You can bet that the Secret Service is talking to staff right now to find out just who handled this sensitive information so very carelessly." Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Yes and those probably aren't very pretty meetings, are they? This is hardly the first time that important things have been left behind by White House staff or presidents. You might remember that Bill Clinton once left a meeting without the military aide who carries the launch codes for the country's nuclear missiles. The aide walked back to the White House.

We're going to check tonight's business headlines for you.

(MARKET REPORT) ZAHN: At the top of the hour on "LARRY KING LIVE," illusionist David Blaine's first primetime interview since his week in that huge plastic bubble and his attempt to break the record for holding his breath.

Before that, No. 2 in our CNN.com countdown. Baby No. 2 for Britney Spears. Yes indeed, she confirmed her pregnancy last night on the "Late Show." Spears and husband Kevin Federline have an eight- month-old son. Top story on CNN.com right out of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: They got it wrong again. We were supposed to see umbrellas out there tonight. Looks like a pretty good night out there right now on Columbus Circle.

The top story now on CNN.com, police in St. Louis say 12 boys in the first and second grade at this elementary school sexually assaulted a second-grade girl during recess last Friday. Authorities are still investigating, but school officials have fired the teacher who was assigned to supervise the recess and 10 of the boys have been suspended.

That's it for all of us here tonight. Thanks so much for joining us. Tomorrow night, consumer correspondent Greg Hunter has an eye- opening look at a company that is using celebrity power to sell dogs by way of the Internet. But before you buy a pet online, there's a danger you need to know about.

Again, thanks for dropping by tonight. We'll be back same time, same place tomorrow night. Until then, have a good night. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts now.

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