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CNN Saturday Morning News

Martha's Found Guilty on All Charges; A Hitch in Iraqi Constitution

Aired March 06, 2004 - 07:00   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.


KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is March 6.
Good morning.

I'm Kelli Arena.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

Thanks for being with us.

Here's what's coming up this Saturday morning.

Martha Stewart guilty as charged. Would testifying in her own defense have made a difference?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAPPELL HARTRIDGE, JUROR: If we had enough evidence, it didn't make a difference if Martha would have got on and said something to the contrary. It didn't change me one way or the other, what she had to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: A stunning verdict. We'll look at what lies ahead for the homemaking icon.

The presidential campaign kicks off in earnest. It's now down to Bush and Kerry. An in depth look at the players and the stakes coming up after the half hour.

And where's the winner? It's been more than two weeks since someone bought a $239 million lottery ticket from this store. We'll check in with the store's manager as we wait to find out who that lucky winner is.

But first, our headlines.

ARENA: The fog of war was thick and confusing this morning at Gaza's Erez Crossing into Israel. Palestinian gunmen in jeeps attacked an Israeli military post. The Israelis killed one of the attackers. The other gunman blew up their jeep, killing Palestinian security officers. No Israeli casualties are reported. Senator John Kerry is stumping President Bush's home state today, visiting Houston and San Antonio ahead of the Texas Democratic primary on Tuesday. Yesterday in New Orleans, Kerry said job losses "rip the heart out of our economy."

And President Bush is also in Texas today, at his ranch near Crawford, entertaining Mexican President Vicente Fox and his wife. Fox arrived yesterday for two days of meetings. He said he would push for an agreement on Mexican migration to the United States.

And Attorney General John Ashcroft is still in intensive care at a Washington hospital, being treated with antibiotics and painkillers. Ashcroft was hospitalized Thursday night, suffering severe gallstone pancreatitis. A specialist says patients with the condition are often hospitalized for a month or longer.

HILL: Martha Stewart will appeal her conviction and fight to clear her name. Most legal analysts predict Stewart and her stockbroker will get jail time, but nowhere near the maximum sentences. The two were convicted yesterday in connection with a stock deal.

CNN's Allan Chernoff covered the trial in New York.

Kendall Coffey is a legal analyst. He joins us from Miami.

Allan, first to you -- good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a slam dunk victory for the government, no question about that. Martha Stewart guilty on all four counts. And clearly the jury decided that Martha Stewart and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, had lied about the true reason that Martha Stewart sold her ImClone stock back in December of 2001, the jury determining that Stewart and Bacanovic were trying to cover-up the fact that he had passed some insider information to Martha Stewart, that Sam Waksal, then head of ImClone Systems, was trying to dump his stock.

Martha Stewart left the courthouse, behind me, a convicted felon.

Inside of the courtroom, as Judge Miriam Cedarbaum read the verdict, guilty, four times, Martha Stewart herself showed no emotion, stone-faced. The big emotion actually came from the lead prosecutor, Karen Patton Seymour, who was holding back tears after months and months of working on the case.

Outside of the courthouse, one juror said this was a victory for the little guy and a message to bigwigs that they must obey the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARTRIDGE: I guess the cover-up began when Merrill Lynch started to do their internal investigation and Peter realized that, oh, boy, I'd better start covering things up. And then he, when Doug kept questioning him about what they did, if it was right or not, don't worry about it, we're all on the same page, Martha and I, we're all on the same page, so this is the story. It was a tax loss. It was a tax loss. That was around the beginning of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: And clearly the jurors did not believe that initial story at all. Stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, convicted on four of five charges. Martha Stewart and Bacanovic facing theoretical maximums of 20 years in prison, but that's not really what the judge will be deciding, because she's going to get a memo from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Board. The probation department will be sending a note to the judge and she will likely look at a federal guideline of approximately three years as a maximum. Many analysts are saying that Martha Stewart perhaps may face an actual one year in prison. But the judge has plenty of leeway there.

Of course, attorneys for both sides say that they are going to be appealing, attorneys for both Bacanovic and Martha Stewart -- Erica.

HILL: And we will definitely have you covering that in the future.

But going back to the trial, hindsight, of course, 20-20, but some discussion now as to whether or not any mistakes were made by the defense and what they may be.

What's it, what, give us a sense of what you're hearing on that front.

CHERNOFF: Well, there was a lot of debate should Martha Stewart have come to the stand. But clearly she would have faced a very tough cross-examination. So one can't necessarily say that it was a mistake not to put Martha Stewart on the stand.

Perhaps it was a mistake to have such a short defense. Remember, the defense for Martha Stewart brought only one witness to the stand, Steven Pearl, an attorney who had been present when Martha Stewart was interviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney's office.

Certainly, Mr. Morvillo could have put on a lengthier defense, could have at least brought some character witnesses up to the stand. He had said he put on "a minimal defense" simply because he felt the government had not proven its charges. But obviously the jury felt otherwise -- Erica.

HILL: Obviously is right.

Allan Chernoff live in New York.

Thanks, Allan.

As Allan Chernoff mentioned, the maximum prison terms are 20 years combined for Martha Stewart, 25 years for Peter Bacanovic. But federal sentencing guidelines could cut that to a year or so in prison.

Legal analyst Kendall Coffey joins us now from Miami with a look at what happens next.

Good to have you with us this morning.

And that is the question, what happens next in this case?

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the next event is the sentencing. And on a good day for the defense, the range would be 10 to 16 months. But it's going to be interesting to see, Erica, how aggressive the government may want to get here. Do they think they've sent enough of a message or do they want some years in prison for Martha Stewart? Because the securities fraud count was thrown out, insider trading was never charged criminally. But the government can argue to put some of that back into the sentencing analysis. And if they do, then tens of millions of dollars are implicated and the way those sentencing guidelines work, Martha Stewart could be looking at years in prison as opposed to a range of 10 to 16 months.

HILL: Which is definitely a big change.

You mentioned how, we'll have to see how aggressive the government is here, what kind of message they're sending.

Do you, are you getting a sense that perhaps the sentence could be more aggressive because we are dealing with Martha Stewart, not just somebody else who is dealing with one of these trials who happened to go through a stock trading scandal?

COFFEY: Well, I think the government has made a spectacular statement already. And while I'm not predicting an immediate tidal wave of guilty pleas over the next couple of weeks, I think everyone who is a defendant in a corporate fraud charge, everyone who's a target, everyone who's a potential cooperator is going to be thinking about what happened in this trial.

In terms of where the government goes from here, I think they play it by the book. I think they want to be very careful not to be seen as going out for any more headhunting, any more trophy hunting. They won their case. I think they go by back now. The pre-sentence investigation report will come back. That will put a recommendation guidelines range. And if I were the prosecution, that's what I would support.

HILL: Two quick questions for you in terms of the appeal before we let you go.

The first part of that question, is the fact that Martha Stewart's lawyer has already come up front and said we're going to appeal, could that affect her sentencing? And if an appeal is granted, if we do go to the appeal phase, could some of the statements from the juror yesterday that this is a victory for the little guy, could that hurt the prosecution?

COFFEY: No, I don't think so. I don't think anything the jury said in interviews yesterday is going to affect the strength of any appeal Martha Stewart's lawyers might try to file. And, frankly, I don't think she's got any good appellate issues. And as to whether it affects the sentencing, the best thing to do in a sentencing is to go up, be humble, apologize, acknowledge and that can get you the benefit of the low end of the sentencing guidelines.

If, instead, her attitude is going to continue to be appeal, appeal, which means deny, deny, that's not going to help her at the sentencing.

HILL: Well, we'll definitely be learning more in the next few months. And that sentencing to come on June 17th.

Kendall Coffey, always good to have you with us.

Thanks for being here.

COFFEY: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Well, there is no scientific survey yet on how the public feels about Martha Stewart now, but a sample taken from passersby on a New York street produced mixed views.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think that she's getting scapegoated for something that everyone's doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd buy the products, but I wouldn't buy the stock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll still continue to support her and her products. But, you know, I am kind of like cool on her character. I don't think she's the best person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The talk show hosts are also weighing in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)

JAY LENO, HOST: How amazing is that? A jury actually convicting a rich, white woman on felony charges? Michael Jackson must be scared to death. On my god. Oh my god!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Michael Jackson is charged with child molestation.

Has the Martha Stewart verdict got you a little curious about this self-made woman? Be sure to tune into CNN today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. We have the inside story of the homemaking maven on "People In The News."

And we'd love to know what you think about this. Is the Stewart verdict a victory for the little guy, as one of the jurors said? It's our morning e-mail question. You can send your comments to us at wam@cnn.com, and we'll be reading some of them throughout the morning. ARENA: On the campaign trail, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is getting some help from a former rival. Retired General Wesley Clark spoke at a $100 a plate banquet last night in Topeka, Kansas. The event was tapped to raise $60,000 for the Kansas Democratic Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY CLARK (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course, I was taken with his Navy record and I went up and I told him, I said, "I'm here with enthusiasm, I salute you." And in the way that Army has learned to do the Navy, I said, "Sir, request permission to come aboard."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: The Republican National Committee is warning television stations across the country not to air anti-Bush ads from a group known as Moveon.org Voter Fund. The RNC says the left leaning group violated the new campaign finance reform law in paying for ads. A lawyer for the group denies that.

We'll talk in depth about decision 2004 after the half hour.

Our guest will be NPR reporter Andrea Seabrook.

HILL: Time now for a check of some of the other stories making headlines across America.

In Springfield, Tennessee, police are investigating a shooting spree that left three men dead and one critically injured. The men were all local business leaders and reports say they played in the same Thursday night poker club. Police are looking into whether one of the four men shot the others then turned the gun on himself.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg jumps into the same-sex marriage controversy, saying the unions should be allowed, but maybe given a different name. Bloomberg told CNN he believes the laws banning same-sex marriages should be changed.

And here are some cool pictures, or, rather, hot pictures. The Kuala volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is in its 21st year of almost continuous eruption, which began back in 1983. The lava flow stretches out one and a half miles from its current venting hole.

If you haven't had time to keep up with the news this week, that's what we're here for. Let's rewind for you now and take a look at some of the top stories.

The February unemployment rate stays at 5.6 percent, but only 21,000 new jobs are created. It falls far short of White House predictions.

Bombings in Baghdad and Karbala kill more than 180 Iraqis. The explosions target Shiite Muslims celebrating a holy day. It was, indeed, a Super Tuesday for John Kerry, as he wracks up wins in nine more contests. A day later, John Edwards drops out of the race.

And Martha Stewart is found guilty on all four of the counts she faced in her obstruction of justice trial. It's likely she will serve some time in prison.

Tomorrow, we'll fast forward to the week ahead to tell you which stories will grab the spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE 'KING' IS BACK")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And hell fire. Let's go, brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: The king is definitely in the spotlight this weekend. Vigo Martinson (ph) returns to the screen in a new movie. If you're in the mood for a flick this weekend, catch some previews right here in a few minutes.

HILL: And take a look at this. Only in Britain would they think of doing some very private affairs behind a one way glass wall. Don't miss our Wows of the Week later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ARENA: The new Iraqi constitution was supposed to be signed, sealed and delivered by now. But some last minute maneuvering sent the Governing Council back to the conference table.

With the latest on the negotiations and the possible timetable for an agreement, we turn to CNN's Ben Wedeman, who joins us from Baghdad -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kelli, well, everyone was ready. The band was playing. There were girls singing. Diplomats and VIPs were assembled for what was supposed to be a historic ceremony marking an important stepping stone toward the transfer of power from the U.S.-led coalition to an Iraqi government. But all of that came for naught when at the last moment, a group of Shiite members of the Governing Council raised objections to a clause in this interim constitution that would have effectively granted three Kurdish provinces in the north veto power over a permanent constitution, which was to be put to a referendum some time next year.

Now, these last minute objections came as a result of meetings between, or consultations between Shiites members of the Governing Council and the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is a leading Shiite spiritual leader, but one who's also playing a very large political role increasingly.

Now, today the same, or, rather, several Shiite members of the Governing Council are in Najaf, a Shiite holy city south of Baghdad, meeting with the same Ayatollah Sistani, to see what their next move will be.

Now, late last night, the Governing Council issued a statement saying that today and tomorrow they would be looking further into trying to iron out their differences and maybe they would be signing this new interim constitution on Monday. But at this point, that seems more like a hope than a certainty -- Kelli.

ARENA: All right, well, we'll see.

Ben Wedeman live from Baghdad.

Thanks for that report.

A week ago, many wanted him gone. Now, many other Haitians are calling for the return of the president and telling the Yankees to go home. Find out what U.S. Marines are facing in Haiti ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

First, one of the week's best photos. Picture this, the narrow path that you see this woman carrying her child along leads to a village that may soon be cut off from the West Bank. Miles of separation barriers that would close off the West Bank from Jerusalem are under construction in Israel. When the controversial barrier is completed, the people of this village say that they'll be cut off from schools and hospitals by steep cliffs on one side and by the barrier on the other.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: A look at some of the new offers coming up on DVD and in the theaters.

And speaking of the theaters, it is the return of the king, sort of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "HIDALGO," COURTESY TOUCHSTONE PICTURES)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you bloody stupid?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Actor Vigo Mortinson (ph), a anointed king in the final installment of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is back, this time in a new movie titled "Hidalgo." In it, Mortinson rides a horse, meets up with colorful characters and takes off on an awesome journey. He's probably not too worried about being typecast then.

Also ahead in theaters...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "STARSKY AND HUTCH," COURTESY WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want some proof? Here's some proof. He's a bad man.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: Pull out your polyester, puff up your perms and the '70s are back, at least in the form of a new "Starsky and Hutch." The action comedy remake of the popular 1970s cop show stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, and, of course, the oh so quotable tattletale gangster, Huggy Bear also making an appearance.

ARENA: Speaking of huggy, huggable...

HILL: Very huggable.

ARENA: Rob Marciano...

(CROSSTALK)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, all right. I get to work...

HILL: How about that? How about that?

MARCIANO: I get to work with two beautiful girls for a change today, so now we're starting the show off right. Hey guys, nice to have you with us.

HILL: Good morning.

ARENA: Good to have you.

MARCIANO: It's Saturday morning and we have rain coming into Atlanta, but by the time we're done here, I think it'll be moving out.

ARENA: Good.

HILL: Good enough.

MARCIANO: We want to talk about Alaska, though, the Iditarod, you know, the big dogsled race.

ARENA: A place, I would love to be there one year.

MARCIANO: It is, it's a fun time. And it's happening today. It starts. The ceremonial beginning of the 32nd Iditarod. It begins in Anchorage, Alaska in just a couple of hours, at 10:00. Then tomorrow they actually restart the race. And this year it had to be moved just a little bit because of a lack of snow. They had a crazy, crazy winter with a lot of snow and cold weather, but the last couple of months have been on the warm side.

The trail is about 1,100 miles long and it takes place from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. And usually it takes at least nine days, sometimes up to two weeks. This year, there are 87 mushers and that's a new record. There are 16 dogs in a team, all trying to take part of that $700,000 prize money. The winner gets $69,000 and a brand new Dodge pickup. The competition will be very tough this year, with two four time winners in the race. And about a third of the mushers in the race this year are first time participants. This is a historic trail and the reason they run this race is because they used to take supplies from Anchorage to Nome during the gold mining days. And then when they dumped off those supplies, they'd stack up the sleds with gold and take it back to Anchorage. So a little history there and definitely a fun time.

One of the other reasons they hold it this time of year, usually that's when they have the most snow pack. A little bit warmer temperatures and a little bit longer daylight, 10, 11, and then later in the month 12 hours of daylight. So there's your track.

As far as what kind of weather you can expect typically this time of year, the climate for Alaska, we'll start in Anchorage. The temperature ranges 17 degrees in the morning, on average, to about 33 degrees in the afternoon. And today we'll see temperatures in the mid-20s with sunshine to begin the race. The record high, 51. And the record low in Anchorage, -24. If you go to Nome, it's a little bit colder, one to about 17 degrees for a high temperature. But it can get nasty, -46 the record low. And they have a 30, 30 and 30 rule, which means if it's -30 and the winds are blowing 30 miles an hour, your skin can freeze in about 30 seconds. So I don't think at this point they're going to have that kind of cold, cold weather, and that's good news, at least for the next five to seven days.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: I've been to Anchorage once, actually, this time of year, and it is a beautiful place.

Good luck to all the participants.

We're going to try to get a racer on the phone later in the 9:00 hour. Hopefully that'll work.

ARENA: Let's just hope it's not that 30-30-30 thing going on.

HILL: Right.

MARCIANO: No, at this point, it doesn't look like it's going to be that cold.

HILL: That's not a very good combination there.

MARCIANO: They'll be wearing sunglass today.

ARENA: That's a good thing.

MARCIANO: Yes.

HILL: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you later.

ARENA: Thank you.

Well, checking our top stories, in the Middle East, Palestinian gunmen in jeeps attacked an Israeli military post. The Israelis killed one of the attackers. The other gunmen blew up their jeep, killing three Palestinian security officers. No Israeli casualties are reported.

And the Republican National Committee is urging TV stations to pull this anti-Bush ad from the air, saying it was funded illegally. The ad is sponsored by the left-leaning group Moveon.org Voter Fund. The group says all financing is legal.

HILL: Let the race for the White House begin. What's ahead for John Kerry after his super sweep on Tuesday? We're talking politics in the next half hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

ARENA: And later, prepare for some Wows of the Week. This bale of wool was worth $750,000. We'll tell you what makes it so precious.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

02270103.v74

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush, give me Aristide, please! Give me Aristide, please!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: A week after President Aristide's departure is public, opinion about him in Haiti taking a 180 degree turn.

Welcome back.

I'm Kelli Arena.

And I'm Erica Hill.

We'll have that story for you in a minute.

But first, a look at the headlines at this hour.

It looks like jail time for Martha Stewart. The jury found Stewart guilty on all four counts, which could mean up to about four years in prison for her. Stewart's attorneys say they plan to appeal the verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17th.

Three prominent business leaders in Springfield, Tennessee are dead. Another is in control condition, following a shooting spree. Police are investigating whether one of the victims shot the others or if there is a suspect on the loose.

Two Russian rescue helicopters are on their way to the North Pole to evacuate 12 polar explorers stuck on an ice floe. The scientific team has been at the North Pole station for nearly a year. And sources tell CNN the National Security Agency intercepted phone calls from a 9/11 hijacker to an al Qaeda safe house in Yemen, but never knew the future hijacker was making the calls from inside the United States. The hijacker, Khalid al-Mindhar, was aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Officials say that it's not uncommon for the NASA to be unable to trace a call's origin.

ARENA: Some U.S. Marines have moved out from the Haitian capital in an effort to provide security in former rebel strongholds in the northern and western parts of the country. The Marines are deployed as part of an international peacekeeping force.

The Marines' presence has not been met with parades or celebrations, by all of Haiti's citizens, with some referring to the Americans as nothing more than an occupying force.

CNN's Lucia Newman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Haitian flag flies above the presidential palace, the dates commemorating Haiti's 200 years of independence permanently displayed. On the driveway and front lawn, a large contingent of U.S. Marines. People mumble under their breath as the armored vehicles take off to patrol the nearby port. Suddenly, thousands of people descend in front of the palace, peaceful, but furious protesters demanding the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush, give me Aristide, please. Give me Aristide, please!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bush et Jacques Chirac.

NEWMAN: "Bush, Chirac, conspired together to steal our president," says this man, echoing a popular belief that American soldier was forced to leave the country. Many also express outrage at seeing so many Marines at the presidential palace, saying they look more like an occupation force than a security force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The troops that occupied our palace look like they get our power from us. No, we are a country, an independent country.

NEWMAN: The U.S. Southern Commander rejects the notion of an occupation.

GEN. JAMES HILL, U.S. SOUTHCOM CHIEF: Some people may say that. Some other people may say that we are preserving democracy in Haiti.

NEWMAN: After days of silence, Aristide's supporters are regrouping and have a message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we don't have Aristide, no peace.

NEWMAN: They warn Haiti will be ungovernable unless Aristide returns. This, as the country tries to put together a new transition government with a new prime minister.

Not everyone is upset to see the U.S. Marines. Many, in fact, are relieved that they've been deployed to rebel controlled areas in northern Haiti.

(on camera): Their mission is not to disarm the rebels, but rather to provide a sense of general security for the Haitian people, as well as to protect key locations. But with Aristide supporters now vowing to launch a campaign of civil disobedience, it could get complicated.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Port-au-Prince.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: As for the peacekeeping force, about 450 Canadian soldiers are scheduled to arrive next week. And Brazil has promised to send more than 1,000 soldiers in the coming months.

HILL: The jury selection in the Scott Peterson trial is under way and the defense knows exactly who it wants on that panel. Our legal eagles get on the top of the case at the top of the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Then at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, back to Martha Stewart. If she does go to prison, will she ever be able to recover her image?

And a bit later, at 9:30 a.m., when good asteroids go bad. You may not know this, but just a couple of months ago, some scientists feared the earth was just hours away from devastation. Now the details are out in a new report.

But up next, it's time to talk politics. The week in review and the race ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ARENA: Have you had one of these for breakfast yet? Find out why yogurt is on the list of top super foods and what else you need to add to your menu if you want to stay healthy. Details coming your way in the third hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Picture this, here is one of our images of the week. It's perhaps the biggest night of his political career so far. Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on the night he all but clinched the nomination. It was, indeed, a Super Tuesday. At a rally in Washington, D.C., on the stage with the senator are his wife, daughter and stepson to share the moment.

And what a week it has been in politics. John Kerry making a virtual sweep of Super Tuesday. John Edwards bows out of the running, while George Bush launches new campaign ads.

Let's see what NPR's congressional correspondent, Andrea Seabrook, has to say about all this.

Good morning, Andrea.

Thanks for being with us.

ANDREA SEABROOK, NPR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Good morning.

Thank you.

HILL: A busy week for you, for everyone involved in politics. What is the fallout from Super Tuesday? Talk about a super day for Kerry.

SEABROOK: Yes, really. I mean this really defend the rest of the race. In fact, it's not so much seen as the end of something anymore as it is the beginning of eight months of the general election campaign. It was a big, big day.

HILL: A very big day. Of course, now the question turns to well, who will the running mate be? Who will Kerry have stand beside him in that vice presidential slot. A lot of names being thrown around -- of course, Edwards, Clark and even Senator Clinton, Hillary Clinton?

SEABROOK: You know, there are a lot of people who speak her name and the truth is I think the center of that vice presidential pick, at least the thought right now, is that it would be John Edwards. The North Carolina senator, you know, was very popular, even though he only won one state in the primary campaign. But he would bring to Kerry something that Kerry -- many analysts see Kerry actually needs pretty badly, which is the South, a really Southern component.

And it looks like, you know, Kerry is in the South right now. He's making what's called a victory lap through the South. This is just in preparation for Tuesday's primaries, which most people aren't really thinking about anymore.

But the point is that he is going to need to battle it out for the South in order to really set his sights on the White House. And a vice presidential pick that's in the South could help him do that. And so Edwards is a candidate. There's also talk of Bob Graham of Florida. He was also one of the presidential contenders earlier in the primary race. But that would -- the hopes there in the campaign is that that would avert another Florida 2000. We don't want that to happen in Florida 2004. You know, and there are a lot of candidates being thrown around, yes.

HILL: Do you think this is something that'll happen sooner or later? When are we going to hear it? Will it be dragged out?

SEABROOK: You know, the conventional wisdom is that it would happen later, that there's no reason to go early. But there are also whispers, seeming whispers that an early pick would help with the campaign. I mean, two people running through the South or running all over different parts of the country could really help him at this point. So, I mean anybody who says, who answers that question straightforward is guessing at this point. But, you know, like I said, it could be later.

HILL: It could -- OK.

Well, we want to get to this quickly before we do let you go.

SEABROOK: OK.

HILL: A lot of controversy over some of the ads that President Bush began airing for his reelection campaign. Those began airing on Thursday using some images of September 11. We're hearing from both sides, victims on both sides saying they either support or don't. But President Bush said not long ago he would not use September 11 in his reelection campaign.

What is the take on these in Washington?

SEABROOK: Well, in Washington there's some really mixed feelings. I mean, you know, the thought is that Democrats -- I mean the Republicans see it as Democrats will jump on anything at this point. I mean the election season has really begun. And Republicans also believe -- and I think rightly so, to some extent -- that the defining moment of the Bush presidency was September 11, 2001. It's when he made his name. It's when he showed unwavering, you know, sensibility in the aftermath when the country needed him. And so they're, you know, there's this thought that well, of course, he's going to use his one moment.

On the Democrats side, it's, you know, they see this as pulling the heartstrings of America, as using something that was a terrible tragedy for the United States and to political advantage, which could -- which seems like, you know, it could be dirty politics, you know?

And so it's a really, it's a really hard question, this one.

HILL: Sure.

SEABROOK: I think it will dog this campaign throughout. And I think, you know, there's one other thing. It's not just this September 11, but the firefighters is another element of that, that Bush has been seen with in these ads. He shows himself with his arm around a firefighter and all this. Actually, the firefighters union has endorsed John Kerry.

HILL: Right.

SEABROOK: So that's, you know, part of the controversy here.

HILL: It could prove to be a very interesting eight months.

Andrea, always good to have you with us.

Andrea Seabrook is NPR's congressional correspondent.

Thanks.

SEABROOK: My pleasure.

ARENA: We spend millions of dollars and sometimes get millions of headaches. We're talking about dealing with contractors for home improvements and construction. But coming up today at 4:30 Eastern on CNN Dollar Signs, we will have expert advice to help you avoid contractor nightmares. We want your questions and comments. Our e- mail address is dollarsigns@cnn.com.

We'll also take your phone calls starting at 4:30.

And speaking of money, a $239 million lottery prize is still unclaimed. Is the winner just too shy to come forward? We'll get the buzz when CNN SATURDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Two days and counting, that's how much time one California lottery winner has left to claim $28.5 million. The winning numbers are 7-20-27-34-43. The mega number is six. Now, if that money is not claimed by Monday, it all goes to the public school fund.

But this may not be an isolated incident for California. In 2000, a jackpot of $25 million also went unclaimed.

ARENA: And in other lottery news, the manager of the Red Apple store in Stevens City, Virginia is becoming a regular on our weekend morning shows. We first talked to Vangy Robinson two weeks ago, just as she learned that her store had sold the only winning ticket in the $239 million Mega Millions Lottery.

We got an update from her last week and found that no one had claimed the prize yet.

And now we check in again.

Vangy?

VANGY ROBINSON, MANAGER, RED APPLE STORE: Yes? I'm here.

ARENA: So, have you heard anything? Has anyone been acting suspiciously in your town?

ROBINSON: No, we haven't heard anything at all about the person who's got the tickets yet. We've been wondering about what happened to the ticket ourselves.

ARENA: Have you sort of gone through your mind to try to remember people who came in and out of the store, if there were any...

ROBINSON: I've given up. There's too many people that come through.

ARENA: Well, what do you think? What are some of the theories? Do you think that this is just somebody who's trying to get their finances in order or is this somebody who may have just thrown it out? What's your best bet?

ROBINSON: Well, a lot of people are thinking they're still working with the finances of the situation. And then some people were thinking that maybe it got lost.

ARENA: Well, what happens to this money if nobody claims it?

ROBINSON: I am not sure. I've heard different stories, so I'm not really sure. I know we'll get our amount of money, the $25,000 for our store. But what will happen with the other, I thought it would go back in the jackpot. But then I've heard people say it's supposed to go into this and this and that. So I'm not really sure.

ARENA: Well, now, $25,000 goes to the store.

Do you get a piece of that action?

ROBINSON: It depends on the owner that owns the store. If you...

ARENA: Well, has he said yet?

ROBINSON: No, he hasn't.

ARENA: Well, what's up with that? Tell him to...

ROBINSON: Well, I don't think he has had anybody contact him yet that I know of, you know, that has that. He said he hadn't heard anything.

ARENA: Well, I'd be on the phone, Vangy. I'd be on the phone asking him what are you going to do and...

ROBINSON: Well, it's his money so I just, I'll let him decide what he wants to do with it, you know? It's his.

ARENA: But have you been sort of thinking about hmmm, what if?

ROBINSON: It would be nice, yes. And I'm sure, you know, he'll think about that and whatever, you know, because he's a pretty nice guy.

ARENA: Have you had a lot of people in the store hoping that some of the luck will rub off?

ROBINSON: Yes. And they've been asking us what we'll be getting and if we had any -- heard anybody or anything, you know? And we said you all know just as much as we know.

ARENA: All right, well, Vangy, we, we'll keep watching and waiting.

ROBINSON: OK. All right.

ARENA: All right. You take care.

ROBINSON: All right. Bye-bye.

ARENA: Well, if you are that lucky winner but have a fear of commitment to your Mega Million prize, maybe this will help you step forward. The National Association of Convenience Stores came up with some options for spending your money. Wasn't that convenient?

If you don't want any for yourself, you could write a check for $32.77 to each Virginia resident. If you love travel, you could make 11 trips to the international space station and still have $19 million left over for souvenirs. If you love baseball, you could pay Arod's salary for seven years and still have enough to buy the Minnesota Twins.

And we did some calculations, as well, and here are our suggestions. You could buy an island in Hawaii -- this is my favorite -- the whole island for yourself at a resort in Long Island to keep you close to the city that never sleeps, at an estate in Florida, where you could work on your tan in the winter; an ocean motor yacht for cruising in the Atlantic and Pacific and a Boeing 767 to, obviously, get you from Hawaii to Long Island in a matter of hours.

Well, if you buy all of that, you will still have $97 million left for home improvement, fuel and sunscreen.

Now, how on earth do you resist that?

HILL: I can't.

ARENA: Could you imagine buying all that and still having $97 million left?

HILL: That's amazing. No. No. I, you know, I don't even know what I would do with all of that money. And I know you lose a little with taxes, but you still make out very well.

ARENA: Well, you know, yes. I could tell you, I'll deal with the taxes, thank you very much.

HILL: I think I could figure it out.

ARENA: Just figure it out.

HILL: Yes. Yes. It would make this whole house buying process a lot easier than I'm going through.

ARENA: Maybe we should go to Virginia and start scouring the trash.

HILL: You know, I think we may have to after the show. A little weekend trip.

A mother's heart is never wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She sees the child, says this is my child. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That after thinking her girl, her child had been dead for six years. Details in our Wows of the Week, next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

ARENA: And later, at 8:30 Eastern in Weekend House Call, Dr. Sanjay Gupta returns to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One year after the war, the Iraqi health system is slowly starting to rebuild. Just how bad was it, how good might it get and where is the help coming from? The answers might surprise you.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Baghdad with a special edition of Weekend House Call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Time now for our Wows of the Week.

We start with Kermit's worst nightmare. This looks like three frogs hanging out together, but, in fact, it is just one. This mutant has three heads and six legs and the ability to turn stomachs.

Fire crews in Orlando, Florida are being outfitted with special oxygen masks for pets. The masks fit dogs, cats and, you know, maybe if they're lucky, three headed frogs.

What's so special about these Australian sheep you see? It's all about their wool, which is worth $750,000 a bale. Now, we're not going to bore you with the wooly details, but suffice it to say it's even a finer grade than cashmere.

This Philadelphia mother sees her daughter again for the first time in years. Luz Cuevas thought she lost her daughter in a house fire six years ago. The baby had, in fact, been kidnapped during the fire.

And in England, they've taken the lieu to a new extreme. This Tip Top toilet is surrounded by a one way mirror so those on the outside can't look in, but those using the facilities can actually watch the street show go by, which may be needed in case, you know, you forget to bring your reading material.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd have to be really, really desperate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's own quake at British humor is what really it is. I mean it's kind of funny, but it's just odd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Odd, indeed.

ARENA: Yes. Good lord.

HILL: It could be a little crazy.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HILL: Let's get you caught up now on our top stories.

Martha Stewart says she will appeal her guilty verdict and clear her name. A jury yesterday found the homemaking queen guilty on all four counts in her obstruction of justice trial. The charges carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. Some legal observers, though, say a year or so seems more likely.

And in the Middle East, Palestinian gunmen in jeeps attacked an Israeli military post. The Israelis killed one of the attackers. The other gunman blew up their jeep, killing Palestinian security officers. No Israeli casualties are reported.

ARENA: Well, we have some e-mail response to our question of the day, which is was the Martha Stewart verdict a victory for the little guy?

And we heard from Hassan in Vancouver, British Columbia, who says, "It is definitely a victory for the little guys. Martha thought she was above everyone else and now it's time to put her in her place. I hope she gets the maximum sentence."

Woof.

HILL: And taking a look at the other side, sort of equally woof, we're hearing from Perry in Georgia, who says, "This case" -- Matt, rather, from Perry, Georgia, saying, "This case was absolutely ridiculous. Martha Stewart created so many jobs and employment for people, now that is all lost. Perhaps if the Justice Department would tackle truly illegal and dangerous criminals with such passion, this would be a better country!!!"

So a lot of passion on both sides of this issue.

ARENA: Yes, I think we're going to see that straight down the line.

HILL: We definitely are. And, of course, we're not done with it yet because sentencing still to come.

ARENA: Yes. And the appeal.

HILL: And the possible appeal. So, get ready for more Martha.

ARENA: It goes on and on.

The next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING begins right now. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Constitution>


Aired March 6, 2004 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is March 6.
Good morning.

I'm Kelli Arena.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erica Hill.

Thanks for being with us.

Here's what's coming up this Saturday morning.

Martha Stewart guilty as charged. Would testifying in her own defense have made a difference?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAPPELL HARTRIDGE, JUROR: If we had enough evidence, it didn't make a difference if Martha would have got on and said something to the contrary. It didn't change me one way or the other, what she had to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: A stunning verdict. We'll look at what lies ahead for the homemaking icon.

The presidential campaign kicks off in earnest. It's now down to Bush and Kerry. An in depth look at the players and the stakes coming up after the half hour.

And where's the winner? It's been more than two weeks since someone bought a $239 million lottery ticket from this store. We'll check in with the store's manager as we wait to find out who that lucky winner is.

But first, our headlines.

ARENA: The fog of war was thick and confusing this morning at Gaza's Erez Crossing into Israel. Palestinian gunmen in jeeps attacked an Israeli military post. The Israelis killed one of the attackers. The other gunman blew up their jeep, killing Palestinian security officers. No Israeli casualties are reported. Senator John Kerry is stumping President Bush's home state today, visiting Houston and San Antonio ahead of the Texas Democratic primary on Tuesday. Yesterday in New Orleans, Kerry said job losses "rip the heart out of our economy."

And President Bush is also in Texas today, at his ranch near Crawford, entertaining Mexican President Vicente Fox and his wife. Fox arrived yesterday for two days of meetings. He said he would push for an agreement on Mexican migration to the United States.

And Attorney General John Ashcroft is still in intensive care at a Washington hospital, being treated with antibiotics and painkillers. Ashcroft was hospitalized Thursday night, suffering severe gallstone pancreatitis. A specialist says patients with the condition are often hospitalized for a month or longer.

HILL: Martha Stewart will appeal her conviction and fight to clear her name. Most legal analysts predict Stewart and her stockbroker will get jail time, but nowhere near the maximum sentences. The two were convicted yesterday in connection with a stock deal.

CNN's Allan Chernoff covered the trial in New York.

Kendall Coffey is a legal analyst. He joins us from Miami.

Allan, first to you -- good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a slam dunk victory for the government, no question about that. Martha Stewart guilty on all four counts. And clearly the jury decided that Martha Stewart and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, had lied about the true reason that Martha Stewart sold her ImClone stock back in December of 2001, the jury determining that Stewart and Bacanovic were trying to cover-up the fact that he had passed some insider information to Martha Stewart, that Sam Waksal, then head of ImClone Systems, was trying to dump his stock.

Martha Stewart left the courthouse, behind me, a convicted felon.

Inside of the courtroom, as Judge Miriam Cedarbaum read the verdict, guilty, four times, Martha Stewart herself showed no emotion, stone-faced. The big emotion actually came from the lead prosecutor, Karen Patton Seymour, who was holding back tears after months and months of working on the case.

Outside of the courthouse, one juror said this was a victory for the little guy and a message to bigwigs that they must obey the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARTRIDGE: I guess the cover-up began when Merrill Lynch started to do their internal investigation and Peter realized that, oh, boy, I'd better start covering things up. And then he, when Doug kept questioning him about what they did, if it was right or not, don't worry about it, we're all on the same page, Martha and I, we're all on the same page, so this is the story. It was a tax loss. It was a tax loss. That was around the beginning of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: And clearly the jurors did not believe that initial story at all. Stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, convicted on four of five charges. Martha Stewart and Bacanovic facing theoretical maximums of 20 years in prison, but that's not really what the judge will be deciding, because she's going to get a memo from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Board. The probation department will be sending a note to the judge and she will likely look at a federal guideline of approximately three years as a maximum. Many analysts are saying that Martha Stewart perhaps may face an actual one year in prison. But the judge has plenty of leeway there.

Of course, attorneys for both sides say that they are going to be appealing, attorneys for both Bacanovic and Martha Stewart -- Erica.

HILL: And we will definitely have you covering that in the future.

But going back to the trial, hindsight, of course, 20-20, but some discussion now as to whether or not any mistakes were made by the defense and what they may be.

What's it, what, give us a sense of what you're hearing on that front.

CHERNOFF: Well, there was a lot of debate should Martha Stewart have come to the stand. But clearly she would have faced a very tough cross-examination. So one can't necessarily say that it was a mistake not to put Martha Stewart on the stand.

Perhaps it was a mistake to have such a short defense. Remember, the defense for Martha Stewart brought only one witness to the stand, Steven Pearl, an attorney who had been present when Martha Stewart was interviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney's office.

Certainly, Mr. Morvillo could have put on a lengthier defense, could have at least brought some character witnesses up to the stand. He had said he put on "a minimal defense" simply because he felt the government had not proven its charges. But obviously the jury felt otherwise -- Erica.

HILL: Obviously is right.

Allan Chernoff live in New York.

Thanks, Allan.

As Allan Chernoff mentioned, the maximum prison terms are 20 years combined for Martha Stewart, 25 years for Peter Bacanovic. But federal sentencing guidelines could cut that to a year or so in prison.

Legal analyst Kendall Coffey joins us now from Miami with a look at what happens next.

Good to have you with us this morning.

And that is the question, what happens next in this case?

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the next event is the sentencing. And on a good day for the defense, the range would be 10 to 16 months. But it's going to be interesting to see, Erica, how aggressive the government may want to get here. Do they think they've sent enough of a message or do they want some years in prison for Martha Stewart? Because the securities fraud count was thrown out, insider trading was never charged criminally. But the government can argue to put some of that back into the sentencing analysis. And if they do, then tens of millions of dollars are implicated and the way those sentencing guidelines work, Martha Stewart could be looking at years in prison as opposed to a range of 10 to 16 months.

HILL: Which is definitely a big change.

You mentioned how, we'll have to see how aggressive the government is here, what kind of message they're sending.

Do you, are you getting a sense that perhaps the sentence could be more aggressive because we are dealing with Martha Stewart, not just somebody else who is dealing with one of these trials who happened to go through a stock trading scandal?

COFFEY: Well, I think the government has made a spectacular statement already. And while I'm not predicting an immediate tidal wave of guilty pleas over the next couple of weeks, I think everyone who is a defendant in a corporate fraud charge, everyone who's a target, everyone who's a potential cooperator is going to be thinking about what happened in this trial.

In terms of where the government goes from here, I think they play it by the book. I think they want to be very careful not to be seen as going out for any more headhunting, any more trophy hunting. They won their case. I think they go by back now. The pre-sentence investigation report will come back. That will put a recommendation guidelines range. And if I were the prosecution, that's what I would support.

HILL: Two quick questions for you in terms of the appeal before we let you go.

The first part of that question, is the fact that Martha Stewart's lawyer has already come up front and said we're going to appeal, could that affect her sentencing? And if an appeal is granted, if we do go to the appeal phase, could some of the statements from the juror yesterday that this is a victory for the little guy, could that hurt the prosecution?

COFFEY: No, I don't think so. I don't think anything the jury said in interviews yesterday is going to affect the strength of any appeal Martha Stewart's lawyers might try to file. And, frankly, I don't think she's got any good appellate issues. And as to whether it affects the sentencing, the best thing to do in a sentencing is to go up, be humble, apologize, acknowledge and that can get you the benefit of the low end of the sentencing guidelines.

If, instead, her attitude is going to continue to be appeal, appeal, which means deny, deny, that's not going to help her at the sentencing.

HILL: Well, we'll definitely be learning more in the next few months. And that sentencing to come on June 17th.

Kendall Coffey, always good to have you with us.

Thanks for being here.

COFFEY: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Well, there is no scientific survey yet on how the public feels about Martha Stewart now, but a sample taken from passersby on a New York street produced mixed views.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think that she's getting scapegoated for something that everyone's doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd buy the products, but I wouldn't buy the stock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll still continue to support her and her products. But, you know, I am kind of like cool on her character. I don't think she's the best person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The talk show hosts are also weighing in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)

JAY LENO, HOST: How amazing is that? A jury actually convicting a rich, white woman on felony charges? Michael Jackson must be scared to death. On my god. Oh my god!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Michael Jackson is charged with child molestation.

Has the Martha Stewart verdict got you a little curious about this self-made woman? Be sure to tune into CNN today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. We have the inside story of the homemaking maven on "People In The News."

And we'd love to know what you think about this. Is the Stewart verdict a victory for the little guy, as one of the jurors said? It's our morning e-mail question. You can send your comments to us at wam@cnn.com, and we'll be reading some of them throughout the morning. ARENA: On the campaign trail, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is getting some help from a former rival. Retired General Wesley Clark spoke at a $100 a plate banquet last night in Topeka, Kansas. The event was tapped to raise $60,000 for the Kansas Democratic Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY CLARK (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course, I was taken with his Navy record and I went up and I told him, I said, "I'm here with enthusiasm, I salute you." And in the way that Army has learned to do the Navy, I said, "Sir, request permission to come aboard."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: The Republican National Committee is warning television stations across the country not to air anti-Bush ads from a group known as Moveon.org Voter Fund. The RNC says the left leaning group violated the new campaign finance reform law in paying for ads. A lawyer for the group denies that.

We'll talk in depth about decision 2004 after the half hour.

Our guest will be NPR reporter Andrea Seabrook.

HILL: Time now for a check of some of the other stories making headlines across America.

In Springfield, Tennessee, police are investigating a shooting spree that left three men dead and one critically injured. The men were all local business leaders and reports say they played in the same Thursday night poker club. Police are looking into whether one of the four men shot the others then turned the gun on himself.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg jumps into the same-sex marriage controversy, saying the unions should be allowed, but maybe given a different name. Bloomberg told CNN he believes the laws banning same-sex marriages should be changed.

And here are some cool pictures, or, rather, hot pictures. The Kuala volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is in its 21st year of almost continuous eruption, which began back in 1983. The lava flow stretches out one and a half miles from its current venting hole.

If you haven't had time to keep up with the news this week, that's what we're here for. Let's rewind for you now and take a look at some of the top stories.

The February unemployment rate stays at 5.6 percent, but only 21,000 new jobs are created. It falls far short of White House predictions.

Bombings in Baghdad and Karbala kill more than 180 Iraqis. The explosions target Shiite Muslims celebrating a holy day. It was, indeed, a Super Tuesday for John Kerry, as he wracks up wins in nine more contests. A day later, John Edwards drops out of the race.

And Martha Stewart is found guilty on all four of the counts she faced in her obstruction of justice trial. It's likely she will serve some time in prison.

Tomorrow, we'll fast forward to the week ahead to tell you which stories will grab the spotlight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE 'KING' IS BACK")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And hell fire. Let's go, brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: The king is definitely in the spotlight this weekend. Vigo Martinson (ph) returns to the screen in a new movie. If you're in the mood for a flick this weekend, catch some previews right here in a few minutes.

HILL: And take a look at this. Only in Britain would they think of doing some very private affairs behind a one way glass wall. Don't miss our Wows of the Week later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ARENA: The new Iraqi constitution was supposed to be signed, sealed and delivered by now. But some last minute maneuvering sent the Governing Council back to the conference table.

With the latest on the negotiations and the possible timetable for an agreement, we turn to CNN's Ben Wedeman, who joins us from Baghdad -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kelli, well, everyone was ready. The band was playing. There were girls singing. Diplomats and VIPs were assembled for what was supposed to be a historic ceremony marking an important stepping stone toward the transfer of power from the U.S.-led coalition to an Iraqi government. But all of that came for naught when at the last moment, a group of Shiite members of the Governing Council raised objections to a clause in this interim constitution that would have effectively granted three Kurdish provinces in the north veto power over a permanent constitution, which was to be put to a referendum some time next year.

Now, these last minute objections came as a result of meetings between, or consultations between Shiites members of the Governing Council and the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is a leading Shiite spiritual leader, but one who's also playing a very large political role increasingly.

Now, today the same, or, rather, several Shiite members of the Governing Council are in Najaf, a Shiite holy city south of Baghdad, meeting with the same Ayatollah Sistani, to see what their next move will be.

Now, late last night, the Governing Council issued a statement saying that today and tomorrow they would be looking further into trying to iron out their differences and maybe they would be signing this new interim constitution on Monday. But at this point, that seems more like a hope than a certainty -- Kelli.

ARENA: All right, well, we'll see.

Ben Wedeman live from Baghdad.

Thanks for that report.

A week ago, many wanted him gone. Now, many other Haitians are calling for the return of the president and telling the Yankees to go home. Find out what U.S. Marines are facing in Haiti ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

First, one of the week's best photos. Picture this, the narrow path that you see this woman carrying her child along leads to a village that may soon be cut off from the West Bank. Miles of separation barriers that would close off the West Bank from Jerusalem are under construction in Israel. When the controversial barrier is completed, the people of this village say that they'll be cut off from schools and hospitals by steep cliffs on one side and by the barrier on the other.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: A look at some of the new offers coming up on DVD and in the theaters.

And speaking of the theaters, it is the return of the king, sort of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "HIDALGO," COURTESY TOUCHSTONE PICTURES)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you bloody stupid?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Actor Vigo Mortinson (ph), a anointed king in the final installment of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is back, this time in a new movie titled "Hidalgo." In it, Mortinson rides a horse, meets up with colorful characters and takes off on an awesome journey. He's probably not too worried about being typecast then.

Also ahead in theaters...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "STARSKY AND HUTCH," COURTESY WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want some proof? Here's some proof. He's a bad man.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: Pull out your polyester, puff up your perms and the '70s are back, at least in the form of a new "Starsky and Hutch." The action comedy remake of the popular 1970s cop show stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, and, of course, the oh so quotable tattletale gangster, Huggy Bear also making an appearance.

ARENA: Speaking of huggy, huggable...

HILL: Very huggable.

ARENA: Rob Marciano...

(CROSSTALK)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, all right. I get to work...

HILL: How about that? How about that?

MARCIANO: I get to work with two beautiful girls for a change today, so now we're starting the show off right. Hey guys, nice to have you with us.

HILL: Good morning.

ARENA: Good to have you.

MARCIANO: It's Saturday morning and we have rain coming into Atlanta, but by the time we're done here, I think it'll be moving out.

ARENA: Good.

HILL: Good enough.

MARCIANO: We want to talk about Alaska, though, the Iditarod, you know, the big dogsled race.

ARENA: A place, I would love to be there one year.

MARCIANO: It is, it's a fun time. And it's happening today. It starts. The ceremonial beginning of the 32nd Iditarod. It begins in Anchorage, Alaska in just a couple of hours, at 10:00. Then tomorrow they actually restart the race. And this year it had to be moved just a little bit because of a lack of snow. They had a crazy, crazy winter with a lot of snow and cold weather, but the last couple of months have been on the warm side.

The trail is about 1,100 miles long and it takes place from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. And usually it takes at least nine days, sometimes up to two weeks. This year, there are 87 mushers and that's a new record. There are 16 dogs in a team, all trying to take part of that $700,000 prize money. The winner gets $69,000 and a brand new Dodge pickup. The competition will be very tough this year, with two four time winners in the race. And about a third of the mushers in the race this year are first time participants. This is a historic trail and the reason they run this race is because they used to take supplies from Anchorage to Nome during the gold mining days. And then when they dumped off those supplies, they'd stack up the sleds with gold and take it back to Anchorage. So a little history there and definitely a fun time.

One of the other reasons they hold it this time of year, usually that's when they have the most snow pack. A little bit warmer temperatures and a little bit longer daylight, 10, 11, and then later in the month 12 hours of daylight. So there's your track.

As far as what kind of weather you can expect typically this time of year, the climate for Alaska, we'll start in Anchorage. The temperature ranges 17 degrees in the morning, on average, to about 33 degrees in the afternoon. And today we'll see temperatures in the mid-20s with sunshine to begin the race. The record high, 51. And the record low in Anchorage, -24. If you go to Nome, it's a little bit colder, one to about 17 degrees for a high temperature. But it can get nasty, -46 the record low. And they have a 30, 30 and 30 rule, which means if it's -30 and the winds are blowing 30 miles an hour, your skin can freeze in about 30 seconds. So I don't think at this point they're going to have that kind of cold, cold weather, and that's good news, at least for the next five to seven days.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: I've been to Anchorage once, actually, this time of year, and it is a beautiful place.

Good luck to all the participants.

We're going to try to get a racer on the phone later in the 9:00 hour. Hopefully that'll work.

ARENA: Let's just hope it's not that 30-30-30 thing going on.

HILL: Right.

MARCIANO: No, at this point, it doesn't look like it's going to be that cold.

HILL: That's not a very good combination there.

MARCIANO: They'll be wearing sunglass today.

ARENA: That's a good thing.

MARCIANO: Yes.

HILL: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you later.

ARENA: Thank you.

Well, checking our top stories, in the Middle East, Palestinian gunmen in jeeps attacked an Israeli military post. The Israelis killed one of the attackers. The other gunmen blew up their jeep, killing three Palestinian security officers. No Israeli casualties are reported.

And the Republican National Committee is urging TV stations to pull this anti-Bush ad from the air, saying it was funded illegally. The ad is sponsored by the left-leaning group Moveon.org Voter Fund. The group says all financing is legal.

HILL: Let the race for the White House begin. What's ahead for John Kerry after his super sweep on Tuesday? We're talking politics in the next half hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

ARENA: And later, prepare for some Wows of the Week. This bale of wool was worth $750,000. We'll tell you what makes it so precious.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

02270103.v74

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush, give me Aristide, please! Give me Aristide, please!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: A week after President Aristide's departure is public, opinion about him in Haiti taking a 180 degree turn.

Welcome back.

I'm Kelli Arena.

And I'm Erica Hill.

We'll have that story for you in a minute.

But first, a look at the headlines at this hour.

It looks like jail time for Martha Stewart. The jury found Stewart guilty on all four counts, which could mean up to about four years in prison for her. Stewart's attorneys say they plan to appeal the verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17th.

Three prominent business leaders in Springfield, Tennessee are dead. Another is in control condition, following a shooting spree. Police are investigating whether one of the victims shot the others or if there is a suspect on the loose.

Two Russian rescue helicopters are on their way to the North Pole to evacuate 12 polar explorers stuck on an ice floe. The scientific team has been at the North Pole station for nearly a year. And sources tell CNN the National Security Agency intercepted phone calls from a 9/11 hijacker to an al Qaeda safe house in Yemen, but never knew the future hijacker was making the calls from inside the United States. The hijacker, Khalid al-Mindhar, was aboard the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Officials say that it's not uncommon for the NASA to be unable to trace a call's origin.

ARENA: Some U.S. Marines have moved out from the Haitian capital in an effort to provide security in former rebel strongholds in the northern and western parts of the country. The Marines are deployed as part of an international peacekeeping force.

The Marines' presence has not been met with parades or celebrations, by all of Haiti's citizens, with some referring to the Americans as nothing more than an occupying force.

CNN's Lucia Newman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Haitian flag flies above the presidential palace, the dates commemorating Haiti's 200 years of independence permanently displayed. On the driveway and front lawn, a large contingent of U.S. Marines. People mumble under their breath as the armored vehicles take off to patrol the nearby port. Suddenly, thousands of people descend in front of the palace, peaceful, but furious protesters demanding the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush, give me Aristide, please. Give me Aristide, please!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bush et Jacques Chirac.

NEWMAN: "Bush, Chirac, conspired together to steal our president," says this man, echoing a popular belief that American soldier was forced to leave the country. Many also express outrage at seeing so many Marines at the presidential palace, saying they look more like an occupation force than a security force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The troops that occupied our palace look like they get our power from us. No, we are a country, an independent country.

NEWMAN: The U.S. Southern Commander rejects the notion of an occupation.

GEN. JAMES HILL, U.S. SOUTHCOM CHIEF: Some people may say that. Some other people may say that we are preserving democracy in Haiti.

NEWMAN: After days of silence, Aristide's supporters are regrouping and have a message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we don't have Aristide, no peace.

NEWMAN: They warn Haiti will be ungovernable unless Aristide returns. This, as the country tries to put together a new transition government with a new prime minister.

Not everyone is upset to see the U.S. Marines. Many, in fact, are relieved that they've been deployed to rebel controlled areas in northern Haiti.

(on camera): Their mission is not to disarm the rebels, but rather to provide a sense of general security for the Haitian people, as well as to protect key locations. But with Aristide supporters now vowing to launch a campaign of civil disobedience, it could get complicated.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Port-au-Prince.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: As for the peacekeeping force, about 450 Canadian soldiers are scheduled to arrive next week. And Brazil has promised to send more than 1,000 soldiers in the coming months.

HILL: The jury selection in the Scott Peterson trial is under way and the defense knows exactly who it wants on that panel. Our legal eagles get on the top of the case at the top of the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Then at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, back to Martha Stewart. If she does go to prison, will she ever be able to recover her image?

And a bit later, at 9:30 a.m., when good asteroids go bad. You may not know this, but just a couple of months ago, some scientists feared the earth was just hours away from devastation. Now the details are out in a new report.

But up next, it's time to talk politics. The week in review and the race ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ARENA: Have you had one of these for breakfast yet? Find out why yogurt is on the list of top super foods and what else you need to add to your menu if you want to stay healthy. Details coming your way in the third hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Picture this, here is one of our images of the week. It's perhaps the biggest night of his political career so far. Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on the night he all but clinched the nomination. It was, indeed, a Super Tuesday. At a rally in Washington, D.C., on the stage with the senator are his wife, daughter and stepson to share the moment.

And what a week it has been in politics. John Kerry making a virtual sweep of Super Tuesday. John Edwards bows out of the running, while George Bush launches new campaign ads.

Let's see what NPR's congressional correspondent, Andrea Seabrook, has to say about all this.

Good morning, Andrea.

Thanks for being with us.

ANDREA SEABROOK, NPR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Good morning.

Thank you.

HILL: A busy week for you, for everyone involved in politics. What is the fallout from Super Tuesday? Talk about a super day for Kerry.

SEABROOK: Yes, really. I mean this really defend the rest of the race. In fact, it's not so much seen as the end of something anymore as it is the beginning of eight months of the general election campaign. It was a big, big day.

HILL: A very big day. Of course, now the question turns to well, who will the running mate be? Who will Kerry have stand beside him in that vice presidential slot. A lot of names being thrown around -- of course, Edwards, Clark and even Senator Clinton, Hillary Clinton?

SEABROOK: You know, there are a lot of people who speak her name and the truth is I think the center of that vice presidential pick, at least the thought right now, is that it would be John Edwards. The North Carolina senator, you know, was very popular, even though he only won one state in the primary campaign. But he would bring to Kerry something that Kerry -- many analysts see Kerry actually needs pretty badly, which is the South, a really Southern component.

And it looks like, you know, Kerry is in the South right now. He's making what's called a victory lap through the South. This is just in preparation for Tuesday's primaries, which most people aren't really thinking about anymore.

But the point is that he is going to need to battle it out for the South in order to really set his sights on the White House. And a vice presidential pick that's in the South could help him do that. And so Edwards is a candidate. There's also talk of Bob Graham of Florida. He was also one of the presidential contenders earlier in the primary race. But that would -- the hopes there in the campaign is that that would avert another Florida 2000. We don't want that to happen in Florida 2004. You know, and there are a lot of candidates being thrown around, yes.

HILL: Do you think this is something that'll happen sooner or later? When are we going to hear it? Will it be dragged out?

SEABROOK: You know, the conventional wisdom is that it would happen later, that there's no reason to go early. But there are also whispers, seeming whispers that an early pick would help with the campaign. I mean, two people running through the South or running all over different parts of the country could really help him at this point. So, I mean anybody who says, who answers that question straightforward is guessing at this point. But, you know, like I said, it could be later.

HILL: It could -- OK.

Well, we want to get to this quickly before we do let you go.

SEABROOK: OK.

HILL: A lot of controversy over some of the ads that President Bush began airing for his reelection campaign. Those began airing on Thursday using some images of September 11. We're hearing from both sides, victims on both sides saying they either support or don't. But President Bush said not long ago he would not use September 11 in his reelection campaign.

What is the take on these in Washington?

SEABROOK: Well, in Washington there's some really mixed feelings. I mean, you know, the thought is that Democrats -- I mean the Republicans see it as Democrats will jump on anything at this point. I mean the election season has really begun. And Republicans also believe -- and I think rightly so, to some extent -- that the defining moment of the Bush presidency was September 11, 2001. It's when he made his name. It's when he showed unwavering, you know, sensibility in the aftermath when the country needed him. And so they're, you know, there's this thought that well, of course, he's going to use his one moment.

On the Democrats side, it's, you know, they see this as pulling the heartstrings of America, as using something that was a terrible tragedy for the United States and to political advantage, which could -- which seems like, you know, it could be dirty politics, you know?

And so it's a really, it's a really hard question, this one.

HILL: Sure.

SEABROOK: I think it will dog this campaign throughout. And I think, you know, there's one other thing. It's not just this September 11, but the firefighters is another element of that, that Bush has been seen with in these ads. He shows himself with his arm around a firefighter and all this. Actually, the firefighters union has endorsed John Kerry.

HILL: Right.

SEABROOK: So that's, you know, part of the controversy here.

HILL: It could prove to be a very interesting eight months.

Andrea, always good to have you with us.

Andrea Seabrook is NPR's congressional correspondent.

Thanks.

SEABROOK: My pleasure.

ARENA: We spend millions of dollars and sometimes get millions of headaches. We're talking about dealing with contractors for home improvements and construction. But coming up today at 4:30 Eastern on CNN Dollar Signs, we will have expert advice to help you avoid contractor nightmares. We want your questions and comments. Our e- mail address is dollarsigns@cnn.com.

We'll also take your phone calls starting at 4:30.

And speaking of money, a $239 million lottery prize is still unclaimed. Is the winner just too shy to come forward? We'll get the buzz when CNN SATURDAY MORNING returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Two days and counting, that's how much time one California lottery winner has left to claim $28.5 million. The winning numbers are 7-20-27-34-43. The mega number is six. Now, if that money is not claimed by Monday, it all goes to the public school fund.

But this may not be an isolated incident for California. In 2000, a jackpot of $25 million also went unclaimed.

ARENA: And in other lottery news, the manager of the Red Apple store in Stevens City, Virginia is becoming a regular on our weekend morning shows. We first talked to Vangy Robinson two weeks ago, just as she learned that her store had sold the only winning ticket in the $239 million Mega Millions Lottery.

We got an update from her last week and found that no one had claimed the prize yet.

And now we check in again.

Vangy?

VANGY ROBINSON, MANAGER, RED APPLE STORE: Yes? I'm here.

ARENA: So, have you heard anything? Has anyone been acting suspiciously in your town?

ROBINSON: No, we haven't heard anything at all about the person who's got the tickets yet. We've been wondering about what happened to the ticket ourselves.

ARENA: Have you sort of gone through your mind to try to remember people who came in and out of the store, if there were any...

ROBINSON: I've given up. There's too many people that come through.

ARENA: Well, what do you think? What are some of the theories? Do you think that this is just somebody who's trying to get their finances in order or is this somebody who may have just thrown it out? What's your best bet?

ROBINSON: Well, a lot of people are thinking they're still working with the finances of the situation. And then some people were thinking that maybe it got lost.

ARENA: Well, what happens to this money if nobody claims it?

ROBINSON: I am not sure. I've heard different stories, so I'm not really sure. I know we'll get our amount of money, the $25,000 for our store. But what will happen with the other, I thought it would go back in the jackpot. But then I've heard people say it's supposed to go into this and this and that. So I'm not really sure.

ARENA: Well, now, $25,000 goes to the store.

Do you get a piece of that action?

ROBINSON: It depends on the owner that owns the store. If you...

ARENA: Well, has he said yet?

ROBINSON: No, he hasn't.

ARENA: Well, what's up with that? Tell him to...

ROBINSON: Well, I don't think he has had anybody contact him yet that I know of, you know, that has that. He said he hadn't heard anything.

ARENA: Well, I'd be on the phone, Vangy. I'd be on the phone asking him what are you going to do and...

ROBINSON: Well, it's his money so I just, I'll let him decide what he wants to do with it, you know? It's his.

ARENA: But have you been sort of thinking about hmmm, what if?

ROBINSON: It would be nice, yes. And I'm sure, you know, he'll think about that and whatever, you know, because he's a pretty nice guy.

ARENA: Have you had a lot of people in the store hoping that some of the luck will rub off?

ROBINSON: Yes. And they've been asking us what we'll be getting and if we had any -- heard anybody or anything, you know? And we said you all know just as much as we know.

ARENA: All right, well, Vangy, we, we'll keep watching and waiting.

ROBINSON: OK. All right.

ARENA: All right. You take care.

ROBINSON: All right. Bye-bye.

ARENA: Well, if you are that lucky winner but have a fear of commitment to your Mega Million prize, maybe this will help you step forward. The National Association of Convenience Stores came up with some options for spending your money. Wasn't that convenient?

If you don't want any for yourself, you could write a check for $32.77 to each Virginia resident. If you love travel, you could make 11 trips to the international space station and still have $19 million left over for souvenirs. If you love baseball, you could pay Arod's salary for seven years and still have enough to buy the Minnesota Twins.

And we did some calculations, as well, and here are our suggestions. You could buy an island in Hawaii -- this is my favorite -- the whole island for yourself at a resort in Long Island to keep you close to the city that never sleeps, at an estate in Florida, where you could work on your tan in the winter; an ocean motor yacht for cruising in the Atlantic and Pacific and a Boeing 767 to, obviously, get you from Hawaii to Long Island in a matter of hours.

Well, if you buy all of that, you will still have $97 million left for home improvement, fuel and sunscreen.

Now, how on earth do you resist that?

HILL: I can't.

ARENA: Could you imagine buying all that and still having $97 million left?

HILL: That's amazing. No. No. I, you know, I don't even know what I would do with all of that money. And I know you lose a little with taxes, but you still make out very well.

ARENA: Well, you know, yes. I could tell you, I'll deal with the taxes, thank you very much.

HILL: I think I could figure it out.

ARENA: Just figure it out.

HILL: Yes. Yes. It would make this whole house buying process a lot easier than I'm going through.

ARENA: Maybe we should go to Virginia and start scouring the trash.

HILL: You know, I think we may have to after the show. A little weekend trip.

A mother's heart is never wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She sees the child, says this is my child. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: That after thinking her girl, her child had been dead for six years. Details in our Wows of the Week, next on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

ARENA: And later, at 8:30 Eastern in Weekend House Call, Dr. Sanjay Gupta returns to Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One year after the war, the Iraqi health system is slowly starting to rebuild. Just how bad was it, how good might it get and where is the help coming from? The answers might surprise you.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Baghdad with a special edition of Weekend House Call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Time now for our Wows of the Week.

We start with Kermit's worst nightmare. This looks like three frogs hanging out together, but, in fact, it is just one. This mutant has three heads and six legs and the ability to turn stomachs.

Fire crews in Orlando, Florida are being outfitted with special oxygen masks for pets. The masks fit dogs, cats and, you know, maybe if they're lucky, three headed frogs.

What's so special about these Australian sheep you see? It's all about their wool, which is worth $750,000 a bale. Now, we're not going to bore you with the wooly details, but suffice it to say it's even a finer grade than cashmere.

This Philadelphia mother sees her daughter again for the first time in years. Luz Cuevas thought she lost her daughter in a house fire six years ago. The baby had, in fact, been kidnapped during the fire.

And in England, they've taken the lieu to a new extreme. This Tip Top toilet is surrounded by a one way mirror so those on the outside can't look in, but those using the facilities can actually watch the street show go by, which may be needed in case, you know, you forget to bring your reading material.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd have to be really, really desperate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's own quake at British humor is what really it is. I mean it's kind of funny, but it's just odd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Odd, indeed.

ARENA: Yes. Good lord.

HILL: It could be a little crazy.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HILL: Let's get you caught up now on our top stories.

Martha Stewart says she will appeal her guilty verdict and clear her name. A jury yesterday found the homemaking queen guilty on all four counts in her obstruction of justice trial. The charges carry a maximum of 20 years in prison. Some legal observers, though, say a year or so seems more likely.

And in the Middle East, Palestinian gunmen in jeeps attacked an Israeli military post. The Israelis killed one of the attackers. The other gunman blew up their jeep, killing Palestinian security officers. No Israeli casualties are reported.

ARENA: Well, we have some e-mail response to our question of the day, which is was the Martha Stewart verdict a victory for the little guy?

And we heard from Hassan in Vancouver, British Columbia, who says, "It is definitely a victory for the little guys. Martha thought she was above everyone else and now it's time to put her in her place. I hope she gets the maximum sentence."

Woof.

HILL: And taking a look at the other side, sort of equally woof, we're hearing from Perry in Georgia, who says, "This case" -- Matt, rather, from Perry, Georgia, saying, "This case was absolutely ridiculous. Martha Stewart created so many jobs and employment for people, now that is all lost. Perhaps if the Justice Department would tackle truly illegal and dangerous criminals with such passion, this would be a better country!!!"

So a lot of passion on both sides of this issue.

ARENA: Yes, I think we're going to see that straight down the line.

HILL: We definitely are. And, of course, we're not done with it yet because sentencing still to come.

ARENA: Yes. And the appeal.

HILL: And the possible appeal. So, get ready for more Martha.

ARENA: It goes on and on.

The next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING begins right now. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





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