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CNN Saturday Morning News
A look at Tyco, Martha Stewart Trials by Panel
Aired April 03, 2004 - 08:00 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.
RENEY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, the ultimate reality show.
It's April 3. Good morning to you. I'm Renay San Miguel.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: Good morning, everyone. I'm Catherine Callaway, thank you for being with us.
An admission from Secretary of State Colin Powell is topping our news this morning. He says that some intelligence information used to justify war in Iraq came from flawed sources. We have a live report on that coming up. Also a 12,000-mile journey to America for this 11- year-old girl may not be over, yet. Is she living on borrowed time?
Also, trying to get some sleep should not have to be a daily battle. Strategies for getting ZZs on "Weekend House Call."
SAN MIGUEL: Spanish officials confirm an explosive found Friday on a high-speed rail line between Madrid and Seville is the same type used in last month's attacks in Madrid. Investigators are taking more to determine who may be responsible.
A spokesman for an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq says coalition forces has taken his deputy into custody. The spokesman said that troops raided the house of Mustafa Al El Yakubi (ph), deputy to the Cleric Al Mutada Al Sader (ph). Al Sader's office recently announced active support for the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Closing arguments are set this morning in a disturbing murder trial Tyler, Texas. Deanna Laney accused of killing two of her children by smashing their skulls with rocks. She is pleading insanity.
A psychiatrist testified Friday that, quoting her now, that "she had not choice, but to follow what she believed were directions from God."
CALLAWAY: Our top story this hour, Secretary of State Colin Powell says his testimony before the U.N. Security Council in February, of last year, was based on less than solid intelligence. And our Dana Bash is in Washington with more on the testimony that Powell says came from flawed sources -- Dana. DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, you will recall it was a moment of high drama when Secretary of State Colin Powell whom many believed was the administration's most credible figure went before the United Nations in February of 2003, using intelligence he pored over for days, he made the case that Iraq had the capability and the intention to make weapons of mass destruction using mobile trailers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: One of the most worrisome things that emerges in the thick intelligence file we have on Iraq's biological weapons is the existence of mobile production facilities used to make biological agents.
Let me take you inside that intelligence file and share with you what we know from eyewitness accounts. We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels, and rails.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now the secretary told reporters last night en route from Brussels, on his plane, that it appears that case was not solid and he wants to get to the bottom of why. While it's the first time he conceded that, the man you just saw sitting behind the secretary during that presentation, CIA Director George Tenet, has already admitted the intelligence may have been wrong.
He gave a major speech, you see there, on the year anniversary of Powell's presentation this past February. And Tenet says there, that there is no consensus in the intelligence community over whether these mobile trailers were indeed ever used for biological weapons.
So Powell's confession it seems to be yet another in a series of the administration moves to be more candid, they may have been wrong about their central case for war, weapons of mass destruction, which, Catherine, of course, have not yet been found in Iraq.
CALLAWAY: All right, Dana, thank you very much.
BASH: Thank you.
CALLAWAY: Dana Bash in Washington this morning.
Renay?
SAN MIGUEL: Military officials investigating whether Wednesday's attack in Fallujah that killed four civilian contractors was part of an elaborate plot. Officials say there are signs of suspicion. Just before the ambush the normally busy streets were empty. Shops were closed. Local media also happened to be in the area. Officials say most residents apparently were not involved, but there was talk that trouble might erupt.
Fallujah has long been a hot bed of pro-Saddam enthusiasm and anti-American sentiment. Soldiers who have been there say the hazardous mix makes it one of the most dangerous places in Iraq.
CNN's David Mattingly reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): His limp is so slight it's hard to notice. But it's the only outward sign that Combat Medic Sergeant Chris Drolette carries two pieces of two-pieces of shrapnel in his left leg. Painful reminders of his hazardous duty in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.
SGT. CHRISTOPHER DROLETTE, U.S. ARMY 82ND AIRBORNE: Long periods of boredom followed by short periods of terror.
MATTINGLY: Drollette and others from the Army's 82nd Airborne just returned home from Fallujah, only to find the dangers they left behind, again making headlines.
DROLLETTE: You hate that another person had to die like that, you know, just trying to do their job.
MATTINGLY: The soldiers describe Fallujah as a place so dangerous that convoys drive-through town at break-neck speeds. You never venture out except in large groups. And you never, never close your eyes.
DROLLETTE: You are looking at the ground, you are looking at the buildings, you're looking for people that just make you feel uncomfortable.
MATTINGLY: Contact with Iraqi civilians is frequent, and soldiers say, almost always pleasant, but the sporadic and unpredictable attacks make true friendships difficult and unwise.
(on camera): Do you know who to trust while you are there?
DROLLETTE: You trust the ones wearing American uniforms.
MATTINGLY (voice over): But despite the unrelenting tension, these photographs are among the memories they bring home. Waving children, busy markets and lines at local gas stations, signs of a nation struggling to recover.
MATTINGLY (on camera): From what they could see, soldiers from North Carolina's Fort Bragg say that life for Iraqis in Fallujah seems to be getting better. The same could not be said, however, for American troops still there. Despite their best efforts soldiers returning home say that for American soldiers Fallujah is not getting any safer.
(voice over): Three of these soldiers are combat medics. In their line of work they say Fallujah remains the busiest place in Iraq.
PFC TOBEY WHITNEY, U.S. ARMY 82ND AIRBORNE: The unknown, you just kind of become -- you expect the unexpected. You just wait for something to happen.
MATTINGLY: And the months of stress have taken a toll. Loud noises, even thunder takes them back to the front lines.
DROLLETTE: I would hear thunder and -- my adrenalin, I can feel the butterflies and the adrenalin started happening.
MATTINGLY: The future of Fallujah will now be in the hands of U.S. Marines, who are taking over the mission as the Army rotates out. The departing soldiers leave with this simple advice, never let down your guard.
David Mattingly, CNN, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And a warning from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. They agencies say that terrorists may try to bomb buses and railways in major U.S. cities this summer. That warning says the intelligence is uncorroborated and doesn't name any specific targets.
SAN MIGUEL: Now to the story that sparked national attention all week, as well as a measure of skepticism. Police in Madison, Wisconsin now believe a 20-year-old college student's claim that she was abducted last Saturday, is not true. Audrey Seiler told police she was kidnapped at knife-point and held for several days. But police say there are inconsistencies with her story. Larry King talked with a friend of Seiler's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM MORRIS, FRIEND OF SEILER: I don't want to really comment on the subject too much. She's always been an amazing girl. I never noticed anything strange about her. I know her pretty well and she is just an amazing girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAN MIGUEL: The district attorney has not said yet whether charges will be filed against Seiler.
CALLAWAY: It was one of the biggest corporate fraud cases in history so is the jury solely to blame for the Tyco trial falling apart? Our legal eagles will deliberate all of that.
SAN MIGUEL: Plus, planning on spending your weekend catching on your ZZs? You may not be getting as much rest as you think. On "Weekend House Call" Strategies for a good night's sleep.
You are watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAN MIGUEL: A six-month trial, 11 days of deliberation, and perhaps on the verge of a verdict, but judge in the corruption case against ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski declared a mistrial, citing external pressure on one of the jurors. Trial watchers believe the decision may involve the woman who ignited juror furor by allegedly taking positions in favor of the defense. Two other jurors spoke with CNN's Paula Zahn about the woman known as juror No. 4.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a tough old lady. She had her ideas. And it was up to us to convince her that maybe our ideas were maybe more likely than hers.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: There has been a lot of discrepancy in the reporting about what she represented, what she didn't do in the courtroom, what she did. Did you see the apparent "OK" sign flashed to the defense?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think any of us saw it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see it, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of us saw that.
ZAHN: Did you see any other indication that she overtly was supporting the defense?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't.
ZAHN: Was it your belief that juror No. 4 wanted these two men acquitted?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think originally we thought that. And I don't think, actually, even going through the true negotiations that we were going through, at the beginning of deliberations, anyone thought that. I think towards the end some of us did think that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAN MIGUEL: So, welcome to the hot new reality show "Jurors Gone Wild". This week's headlines could make a case for such a program. As we told you, the lone holdout in the fraud trial of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski leads the judge to declare a mistrial.
Also a juror in the Martha Stewart case is accused of misconduct for allegedly lying on his selection questionnaire. And a prospective juror in the Scott Peterson is accused of judging the suspect before the trial begins.
Time convene our legal round table now to break down each case. With us from Houston, former prosecutor Nelda Blair, and from Miami, we have civil liberties attorney Lida Rodriguez-Tassef.
Ladies, thanks for being with us this morning.
NELDA BLAIR, FMR. PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF, CIVIL LIBERTIES ATTORNEY: Good morning.
SAN MIGUEL: I know you guys have been dying to get to this all week.
BLAIR: Oh, yes.
SAN MIGUEL: So, let's get to the Tyco case, but before we talk about juror misconduct, let's talk about media misconduct. Two major publications naming juror No. 4, one of them plastering her picture on it's Front Page.
What do you think, Nelda?
BLAIR: It's not a good idea. It is not against the law. But it is not a good idea. In fact, it prompted the defense to file motions for mistrial before this last one, because the juror was named. But you know, it is the juror herself that -- she's standing up for what she thinks, and jurors are allowed to do that. So, that's not illegal, either.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, what do you think about the judge in the case saying this is going to have an impact on future jury selection?
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: It absolutely is. Big casualty here is going to be the openness of the process. Judges in the future are going to use this as exhibit A to close off proceedings from the media and the public. That's a disaster.
The real culprit here is the media for having named a juror during deliberations, and not allowed the deliberations to proceed without this external force.
SAN MIGUEL: Nelda, doesn't the jury also kind of heap some of this blame on itself because they sent out these competing notes, last weekend. You know, one saying we can't -- we think we are deadlocked. Another one saying well, I -- the other jurors are not being open- minded. I mean, the media just jumped on that?
BLAIR: Well, it's the media that jumped on that. A jury should be allowed to do that. They should be free to make their own definitions, make their own decisions, ask the judge whatever they need to ask, send out notes, whatever they want to say. This is the jury system.
They are supposed to be able to have all the information that they should legally have in front of them. And they should be able to converse with the judge. Unfortunately, it's the media that made that public. I honestly don't think that helped things at all.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, help me out here, because I'm not sure if this applied to this particular case or with any of the other cases we're going to be talking about, Martha Stewart, Scott Peterson. What about alternates? I mean they pick alternates for a reason on some of these juries. Was that an option for the judge in this case?
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: You never want to use alternates once the jury starts deliberating. You dismiss the alternates right before deliberation. Once deliberations starts you want to stick to your panel, because it's very hard to bring in an alternate in the middle of deliberations. And, in fact, it does happen, but when it happens, it forces the entire jury to go back to square one, begin deliberations once again. And frankly, criminal defense lawyers don't think it's fair.
SAN MIGUEL: All right. The Martha Stewart case now, the defense says a juror did not come clean on his questionnaire. Talking about a possible criminal record here, and also the prejudgment of Martha before this case. Now, you know, this was the whole issue, whether or not anybody was going to be able to find a completely unbiased case with a high-profile celebrity, with a case that had gotten so much attention. Nelda?
BLAIR: That's right. That wasn't the question in the first place. But people have to come in and use their experiences to be jurors. And we understand that. But we ask them to do is to be unbiased when they get in there. This is not, so far, proven that this particular juror was unbiased when he came in.
You know, what Lida said is that the defense doesn't think that's fair. The defense never thinks anything is fair. The defense is going to use this to get Martha Stewart a new trial? I don't think so.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, do you think there is going to be a new trial because of this?
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: You know, I don't think so either. I hate to agree with Nelda, but the truth is ...
(LAUGHTER)
BLAIR: Hey!
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: ...you have biased jurors all the time. As long as they keep their opinions to themselves and as long as the biases do not infect the deliberation process, biases usually do not play a role.
You see it every once in a while with people who are racially biased, and bring in racial prejudice into the jury process and the deliberations. But that's not what happened here. It doesn't appear so far.
SAN MIGUEL: Talk about dangerous precedent, you two guys agreeing on this topic. I think that's -- we may have to bring a jury in on this one.
The Scott Peterson here, Mark Geragos, the defense attorney, saying that some juror told someone I'm going to get him. He's guilty as hell. I guess this goes back to the question about the voir dire process and whether or not, if this did indeed happen, how this juror was able to get through the process, Nelda?
NELDA: You do wonder that, because you are supposed to be saying yes, I can listen to all the evidence. And yes, I can then make my decision. If this juror has made the decision ahead of time, it's not good thing.
But let me say this, there's people all over California that either think Scott Peterson is guilty or innocence, it's not a need to move the trial somewhere else. Geragos is grasping at straws.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, I mean, you know the idea that it is kind of heresy to go by Geragos' word that this juror did say this. Unless he's got some kind of evidence or somebody else did hear him say this.
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: Well, even if they don't have evidence, the juror has been bounced, the problem is solved. The issue that Nelda is raising is whether or not this stealth jeer problem is going a infect the jury in Northern California and whether this trial needs to be moved.
Mark Geragos is sure making himself a good case that the only way to get an unbiased jury is to move this to another part of California. And the reality is the judge kind of agreed with him when he said, you know, I'm pulling my hairs out here, because I've been trying to get a jury seated by May and it may not happen. So, yes, I think that this is a great possibility that this stealth juror just ruined it for the prosecution.
SAN MIGUEL: Two of these cases already completed, one of them not even started yet, and here we are talking about, just used up five minutes talking about juries in these particular cases.
Former prosecutor Nelda Blair, civil liberties attorney Lida Rodriguez-Tassef, thank you so much ladies. We'll see you next time.
BLAIR: Thank you.
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: Take care.
SAN MIGUEL: What do you think? Should jurors be completely shielded from media scrutiny, send us your thoughts at wam@cnn.com. We will read your responses later on in the program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you at school when you were back home in El Salvador?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You weren't? What were you doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: One girl's incredible journey to be with her father. And now an order to take it all away when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER FORECAST) SAN MIGUEL: Checking our top stories, Secretary of State Colin Powell says prewar claims about Iraq were based on flawed intelligence. Powell says the information he presented to the U.N. Security Council about weapons of mass destruction appears not to have been solid.
It's our e-mail question for this week, should jurors be completely shielded from media scrutiny this is, of course, brought on by the mistrial in the Tyco trial.
CALLAWAY: Well, this is what Ed had to say: "I don't think that anything should be available to the public. That is somewhat like putting them on trial, at least in public opinion."
SAN MIGUEL: Cindy in South Carolina says, "I think the jurors should be shielded from the media before and during trials for two reasons. They're being identified, interviewed, etc cetera, could bring undue pressure from litigants and their supporters. And their attention, 15 seconds of fame, could sway the way they could hear, deliberate, the merits of the trial."
Our address is wam@cnn.com, please write in.
CALLAWAY: We will put them on the air.
Well, it is safe to say that you and I probably can't imagine walking 1,200 miles for any reason, yet that's the incredible journey of an El Salvadoran girl to get to this country, only to face an uncertain fate. Here's CNN Jason Bellini with her story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Eleven-year-old Erika Cruz and her father, Hector, are legally speaking, living on borrowed time. And Immigration has just given Erica until June 11th to go back to El Salvador or face deportation.
HECTOR CRUZ, ERIKA'S FATHER: I don't think it is going to be a good future for her being there.
BELLINI: Erika's father says if she went back to El Salvador she'd face a life on the street.
BELLINI (on camera): Were you at school when you were back home in El Salvador?
ERIKA CRUZ, FACING DEPORTATION: No.
BELLINI: You weren't?
ERIKA CRUZ: Uh-uh.
BELLINI: What were you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thinking about going back and the possibility of going back upsets her, so I basically just took a minute to reassure her that the adults are working very hard to make sure she can stay here.
BELLINI: Erika's teachers and classmates now know the story of her incredible journey. It started 1,200 miles away in Acajutla, El Salvador.
BELLINNI (on camera): Erika's family situation is this. When she was two years old, her father left El Salvador to come into the United States, when she was eight years old, her mother, she says, abandoned her and her two half brothers. Then for the next year she took care of both of them while living with family friends.
(voice over): Lead by human smugglers, who hoped to exhort money from her father, she traveled by bus to Guatemala. She was forced to walk long sections of the way through Mexico to the U.S. border.
"I was very alone", she says, "There was nothing on the roads."
Then she had to cross the Rio Grand River. She couldn't swim, so she floated across in a tire tube. Afterwards her smugglers abandoned her, she hiked alone for days, no food or water, before the U.S. Border Patrol found her.
HECTOR CRUZ: She has never known me, since she was a little girl.
BELLINI: Her father says no matter what, he won't let her leave him now.
It will be up to Immigration and Customs officials to enforce the judge's deportation order.
BELLINI (on camera): One of your friends?
ERIKA CRUZ: Yeah.
BELLINI (voice over): And they say, no matter what the courts decide, they wouldn't go after her.
LARRY ORTON, U.S. CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: We have discretion as to how those orders are carried out, when they are carried out. And we have priorities, so...
BELLINI (on camera): Meaning you prioritize who you chase down to deport. And she would be rank lower on that list?
ORTON: Well, I wouldn't even put her on the list. As I said, we're not in the business of deporting children.
BELLINI (voice over): Erika Cruz just may be home free.
Jason Bellini, CNN, Durham, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: That was certainly encouraging to hear him say that. I'm sure Jason will continue to follow this story and we'll keep you update on the case.
SAN MIGUEL: And we should because that is the personal side of the immigration issue. You know, a lot of folks just talking about the policy side, but never about the stories, the humans behind this particular issue.
CALLAWAY: That child has suffered enough.
SAN MIGUEL: Exactly. We have more CNN SATURDAY MORNING coming your way. Sleep deprived? "Weekend House Call" has strategies you need to get a good night's rest. That is coming up next.
At 9:00 a.m. Eastern, a brutal week in Fallujah. What needs to be done to secure that Iraqi city and what retaliation might look like.
Plus school bullies, this is an age-old problem, but at 9:40 a.m. Eastern, new ways to deal with the issue. That's all ahead when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired April 3, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENEY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: And from the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, the ultimate reality show.
It's April 3. Good morning to you. I'm Renay San Miguel.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY MORNING: Good morning, everyone. I'm Catherine Callaway, thank you for being with us.
An admission from Secretary of State Colin Powell is topping our news this morning. He says that some intelligence information used to justify war in Iraq came from flawed sources. We have a live report on that coming up. Also a 12,000-mile journey to America for this 11- year-old girl may not be over, yet. Is she living on borrowed time?
Also, trying to get some sleep should not have to be a daily battle. Strategies for getting ZZs on "Weekend House Call."
SAN MIGUEL: Spanish officials confirm an explosive found Friday on a high-speed rail line between Madrid and Seville is the same type used in last month's attacks in Madrid. Investigators are taking more to determine who may be responsible.
A spokesman for an influential Shiite cleric in Iraq says coalition forces has taken his deputy into custody. The spokesman said that troops raided the house of Mustafa Al El Yakubi (ph), deputy to the Cleric Al Mutada Al Sader (ph). Al Sader's office recently announced active support for the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
Closing arguments are set this morning in a disturbing murder trial Tyler, Texas. Deanna Laney accused of killing two of her children by smashing their skulls with rocks. She is pleading insanity.
A psychiatrist testified Friday that, quoting her now, that "she had not choice, but to follow what she believed were directions from God."
CALLAWAY: Our top story this hour, Secretary of State Colin Powell says his testimony before the U.N. Security Council in February, of last year, was based on less than solid intelligence. And our Dana Bash is in Washington with more on the testimony that Powell says came from flawed sources -- Dana. DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Catherine, you will recall it was a moment of high drama when Secretary of State Colin Powell whom many believed was the administration's most credible figure went before the United Nations in February of 2003, using intelligence he pored over for days, he made the case that Iraq had the capability and the intention to make weapons of mass destruction using mobile trailers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: One of the most worrisome things that emerges in the thick intelligence file we have on Iraq's biological weapons is the existence of mobile production facilities used to make biological agents.
Let me take you inside that intelligence file and share with you what we know from eyewitness accounts. We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels, and rails.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now the secretary told reporters last night en route from Brussels, on his plane, that it appears that case was not solid and he wants to get to the bottom of why. While it's the first time he conceded that, the man you just saw sitting behind the secretary during that presentation, CIA Director George Tenet, has already admitted the intelligence may have been wrong.
He gave a major speech, you see there, on the year anniversary of Powell's presentation this past February. And Tenet says there, that there is no consensus in the intelligence community over whether these mobile trailers were indeed ever used for biological weapons.
So Powell's confession it seems to be yet another in a series of the administration moves to be more candid, they may have been wrong about their central case for war, weapons of mass destruction, which, Catherine, of course, have not yet been found in Iraq.
CALLAWAY: All right, Dana, thank you very much.
BASH: Thank you.
CALLAWAY: Dana Bash in Washington this morning.
Renay?
SAN MIGUEL: Military officials investigating whether Wednesday's attack in Fallujah that killed four civilian contractors was part of an elaborate plot. Officials say there are signs of suspicion. Just before the ambush the normally busy streets were empty. Shops were closed. Local media also happened to be in the area. Officials say most residents apparently were not involved, but there was talk that trouble might erupt.
Fallujah has long been a hot bed of pro-Saddam enthusiasm and anti-American sentiment. Soldiers who have been there say the hazardous mix makes it one of the most dangerous places in Iraq.
CNN's David Mattingly reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): His limp is so slight it's hard to notice. But it's the only outward sign that Combat Medic Sergeant Chris Drolette carries two pieces of two-pieces of shrapnel in his left leg. Painful reminders of his hazardous duty in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.
SGT. CHRISTOPHER DROLETTE, U.S. ARMY 82ND AIRBORNE: Long periods of boredom followed by short periods of terror.
MATTINGLY: Drollette and others from the Army's 82nd Airborne just returned home from Fallujah, only to find the dangers they left behind, again making headlines.
DROLLETTE: You hate that another person had to die like that, you know, just trying to do their job.
MATTINGLY: The soldiers describe Fallujah as a place so dangerous that convoys drive-through town at break-neck speeds. You never venture out except in large groups. And you never, never close your eyes.
DROLLETTE: You are looking at the ground, you are looking at the buildings, you're looking for people that just make you feel uncomfortable.
MATTINGLY: Contact with Iraqi civilians is frequent, and soldiers say, almost always pleasant, but the sporadic and unpredictable attacks make true friendships difficult and unwise.
(on camera): Do you know who to trust while you are there?
DROLLETTE: You trust the ones wearing American uniforms.
MATTINGLY (voice over): But despite the unrelenting tension, these photographs are among the memories they bring home. Waving children, busy markets and lines at local gas stations, signs of a nation struggling to recover.
MATTINGLY (on camera): From what they could see, soldiers from North Carolina's Fort Bragg say that life for Iraqis in Fallujah seems to be getting better. The same could not be said, however, for American troops still there. Despite their best efforts soldiers returning home say that for American soldiers Fallujah is not getting any safer.
(voice over): Three of these soldiers are combat medics. In their line of work they say Fallujah remains the busiest place in Iraq.
PFC TOBEY WHITNEY, U.S. ARMY 82ND AIRBORNE: The unknown, you just kind of become -- you expect the unexpected. You just wait for something to happen.
MATTINGLY: And the months of stress have taken a toll. Loud noises, even thunder takes them back to the front lines.
DROLLETTE: I would hear thunder and -- my adrenalin, I can feel the butterflies and the adrenalin started happening.
MATTINGLY: The future of Fallujah will now be in the hands of U.S. Marines, who are taking over the mission as the Army rotates out. The departing soldiers leave with this simple advice, never let down your guard.
David Mattingly, CNN, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And a warning from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. They agencies say that terrorists may try to bomb buses and railways in major U.S. cities this summer. That warning says the intelligence is uncorroborated and doesn't name any specific targets.
SAN MIGUEL: Now to the story that sparked national attention all week, as well as a measure of skepticism. Police in Madison, Wisconsin now believe a 20-year-old college student's claim that she was abducted last Saturday, is not true. Audrey Seiler told police she was kidnapped at knife-point and held for several days. But police say there are inconsistencies with her story. Larry King talked with a friend of Seiler's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM MORRIS, FRIEND OF SEILER: I don't want to really comment on the subject too much. She's always been an amazing girl. I never noticed anything strange about her. I know her pretty well and she is just an amazing girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAN MIGUEL: The district attorney has not said yet whether charges will be filed against Seiler.
CALLAWAY: It was one of the biggest corporate fraud cases in history so is the jury solely to blame for the Tyco trial falling apart? Our legal eagles will deliberate all of that.
SAN MIGUEL: Plus, planning on spending your weekend catching on your ZZs? You may not be getting as much rest as you think. On "Weekend House Call" Strategies for a good night's sleep.
You are watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We will be right back.
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SAN MIGUEL: A six-month trial, 11 days of deliberation, and perhaps on the verge of a verdict, but judge in the corruption case against ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski declared a mistrial, citing external pressure on one of the jurors. Trial watchers believe the decision may involve the woman who ignited juror furor by allegedly taking positions in favor of the defense. Two other jurors spoke with CNN's Paula Zahn about the woman known as juror No. 4.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a tough old lady. She had her ideas. And it was up to us to convince her that maybe our ideas were maybe more likely than hers.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: There has been a lot of discrepancy in the reporting about what she represented, what she didn't do in the courtroom, what she did. Did you see the apparent "OK" sign flashed to the defense?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think any of us saw it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't see it, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of us saw that.
ZAHN: Did you see any other indication that she overtly was supporting the defense?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't.
ZAHN: Was it your belief that juror No. 4 wanted these two men acquitted?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think originally we thought that. And I don't think, actually, even going through the true negotiations that we were going through, at the beginning of deliberations, anyone thought that. I think towards the end some of us did think that.
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SAN MIGUEL: So, welcome to the hot new reality show "Jurors Gone Wild". This week's headlines could make a case for such a program. As we told you, the lone holdout in the fraud trial of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski leads the judge to declare a mistrial.
Also a juror in the Martha Stewart case is accused of misconduct for allegedly lying on his selection questionnaire. And a prospective juror in the Scott Peterson is accused of judging the suspect before the trial begins.
Time convene our legal round table now to break down each case. With us from Houston, former prosecutor Nelda Blair, and from Miami, we have civil liberties attorney Lida Rodriguez-Tassef.
Ladies, thanks for being with us this morning.
NELDA BLAIR, FMR. PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF, CIVIL LIBERTIES ATTORNEY: Good morning.
SAN MIGUEL: I know you guys have been dying to get to this all week.
BLAIR: Oh, yes.
SAN MIGUEL: So, let's get to the Tyco case, but before we talk about juror misconduct, let's talk about media misconduct. Two major publications naming juror No. 4, one of them plastering her picture on it's Front Page.
What do you think, Nelda?
BLAIR: It's not a good idea. It is not against the law. But it is not a good idea. In fact, it prompted the defense to file motions for mistrial before this last one, because the juror was named. But you know, it is the juror herself that -- she's standing up for what she thinks, and jurors are allowed to do that. So, that's not illegal, either.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, what do you think about the judge in the case saying this is going to have an impact on future jury selection?
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: It absolutely is. Big casualty here is going to be the openness of the process. Judges in the future are going to use this as exhibit A to close off proceedings from the media and the public. That's a disaster.
The real culprit here is the media for having named a juror during deliberations, and not allowed the deliberations to proceed without this external force.
SAN MIGUEL: Nelda, doesn't the jury also kind of heap some of this blame on itself because they sent out these competing notes, last weekend. You know, one saying we can't -- we think we are deadlocked. Another one saying well, I -- the other jurors are not being open- minded. I mean, the media just jumped on that?
BLAIR: Well, it's the media that jumped on that. A jury should be allowed to do that. They should be free to make their own definitions, make their own decisions, ask the judge whatever they need to ask, send out notes, whatever they want to say. This is the jury system.
They are supposed to be able to have all the information that they should legally have in front of them. And they should be able to converse with the judge. Unfortunately, it's the media that made that public. I honestly don't think that helped things at all.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, help me out here, because I'm not sure if this applied to this particular case or with any of the other cases we're going to be talking about, Martha Stewart, Scott Peterson. What about alternates? I mean they pick alternates for a reason on some of these juries. Was that an option for the judge in this case?
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: You never want to use alternates once the jury starts deliberating. You dismiss the alternates right before deliberation. Once deliberations starts you want to stick to your panel, because it's very hard to bring in an alternate in the middle of deliberations. And, in fact, it does happen, but when it happens, it forces the entire jury to go back to square one, begin deliberations once again. And frankly, criminal defense lawyers don't think it's fair.
SAN MIGUEL: All right. The Martha Stewart case now, the defense says a juror did not come clean on his questionnaire. Talking about a possible criminal record here, and also the prejudgment of Martha before this case. Now, you know, this was the whole issue, whether or not anybody was going to be able to find a completely unbiased case with a high-profile celebrity, with a case that had gotten so much attention. Nelda?
BLAIR: That's right. That wasn't the question in the first place. But people have to come in and use their experiences to be jurors. And we understand that. But we ask them to do is to be unbiased when they get in there. This is not, so far, proven that this particular juror was unbiased when he came in.
You know, what Lida said is that the defense doesn't think that's fair. The defense never thinks anything is fair. The defense is going to use this to get Martha Stewart a new trial? I don't think so.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, do you think there is going to be a new trial because of this?
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: You know, I don't think so either. I hate to agree with Nelda, but the truth is ...
(LAUGHTER)
BLAIR: Hey!
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: ...you have biased jurors all the time. As long as they keep their opinions to themselves and as long as the biases do not infect the deliberation process, biases usually do not play a role.
You see it every once in a while with people who are racially biased, and bring in racial prejudice into the jury process and the deliberations. But that's not what happened here. It doesn't appear so far.
SAN MIGUEL: Talk about dangerous precedent, you two guys agreeing on this topic. I think that's -- we may have to bring a jury in on this one.
The Scott Peterson here, Mark Geragos, the defense attorney, saying that some juror told someone I'm going to get him. He's guilty as hell. I guess this goes back to the question about the voir dire process and whether or not, if this did indeed happen, how this juror was able to get through the process, Nelda?
NELDA: You do wonder that, because you are supposed to be saying yes, I can listen to all the evidence. And yes, I can then make my decision. If this juror has made the decision ahead of time, it's not good thing.
But let me say this, there's people all over California that either think Scott Peterson is guilty or innocence, it's not a need to move the trial somewhere else. Geragos is grasping at straws.
SAN MIGUEL: Lida, I mean, you know the idea that it is kind of heresy to go by Geragos' word that this juror did say this. Unless he's got some kind of evidence or somebody else did hear him say this.
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: Well, even if they don't have evidence, the juror has been bounced, the problem is solved. The issue that Nelda is raising is whether or not this stealth jeer problem is going a infect the jury in Northern California and whether this trial needs to be moved.
Mark Geragos is sure making himself a good case that the only way to get an unbiased jury is to move this to another part of California. And the reality is the judge kind of agreed with him when he said, you know, I'm pulling my hairs out here, because I've been trying to get a jury seated by May and it may not happen. So, yes, I think that this is a great possibility that this stealth juror just ruined it for the prosecution.
SAN MIGUEL: Two of these cases already completed, one of them not even started yet, and here we are talking about, just used up five minutes talking about juries in these particular cases.
Former prosecutor Nelda Blair, civil liberties attorney Lida Rodriguez-Tassef, thank you so much ladies. We'll see you next time.
BLAIR: Thank you.
RODRIGUEZ-TASSEF: Take care.
SAN MIGUEL: What do you think? Should jurors be completely shielded from media scrutiny, send us your thoughts at wam@cnn.com. We will read your responses later on in the program.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you at school when you were back home in El Salvador?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You weren't? What were you doing?
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CALLAWAY: One girl's incredible journey to be with her father. And now an order to take it all away when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
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(WEATHER FORECAST) SAN MIGUEL: Checking our top stories, Secretary of State Colin Powell says prewar claims about Iraq were based on flawed intelligence. Powell says the information he presented to the U.N. Security Council about weapons of mass destruction appears not to have been solid.
It's our e-mail question for this week, should jurors be completely shielded from media scrutiny this is, of course, brought on by the mistrial in the Tyco trial.
CALLAWAY: Well, this is what Ed had to say: "I don't think that anything should be available to the public. That is somewhat like putting them on trial, at least in public opinion."
SAN MIGUEL: Cindy in South Carolina says, "I think the jurors should be shielded from the media before and during trials for two reasons. They're being identified, interviewed, etc cetera, could bring undue pressure from litigants and their supporters. And their attention, 15 seconds of fame, could sway the way they could hear, deliberate, the merits of the trial."
Our address is wam@cnn.com, please write in.
CALLAWAY: We will put them on the air.
Well, it is safe to say that you and I probably can't imagine walking 1,200 miles for any reason, yet that's the incredible journey of an El Salvadoran girl to get to this country, only to face an uncertain fate. Here's CNN Jason Bellini with her story.
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JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Eleven-year-old Erika Cruz and her father, Hector, are legally speaking, living on borrowed time. And Immigration has just given Erica until June 11th to go back to El Salvador or face deportation.
HECTOR CRUZ, ERIKA'S FATHER: I don't think it is going to be a good future for her being there.
BELLINI: Erika's father says if she went back to El Salvador she'd face a life on the street.
BELLINI (on camera): Were you at school when you were back home in El Salvador?
ERIKA CRUZ, FACING DEPORTATION: No.
BELLINI: You weren't?
ERIKA CRUZ: Uh-uh.
BELLINI: What were you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thinking about going back and the possibility of going back upsets her, so I basically just took a minute to reassure her that the adults are working very hard to make sure she can stay here.
BELLINI: Erika's teachers and classmates now know the story of her incredible journey. It started 1,200 miles away in Acajutla, El Salvador.
BELLINNI (on camera): Erika's family situation is this. When she was two years old, her father left El Salvador to come into the United States, when she was eight years old, her mother, she says, abandoned her and her two half brothers. Then for the next year she took care of both of them while living with family friends.
(voice over): Lead by human smugglers, who hoped to exhort money from her father, she traveled by bus to Guatemala. She was forced to walk long sections of the way through Mexico to the U.S. border.
"I was very alone", she says, "There was nothing on the roads."
Then she had to cross the Rio Grand River. She couldn't swim, so she floated across in a tire tube. Afterwards her smugglers abandoned her, she hiked alone for days, no food or water, before the U.S. Border Patrol found her.
HECTOR CRUZ: She has never known me, since she was a little girl.
BELLINI: Her father says no matter what, he won't let her leave him now.
It will be up to Immigration and Customs officials to enforce the judge's deportation order.
BELLINI (on camera): One of your friends?
ERIKA CRUZ: Yeah.
BELLINI (voice over): And they say, no matter what the courts decide, they wouldn't go after her.
LARRY ORTON, U.S. CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: We have discretion as to how those orders are carried out, when they are carried out. And we have priorities, so...
BELLINI (on camera): Meaning you prioritize who you chase down to deport. And she would be rank lower on that list?
ORTON: Well, I wouldn't even put her on the list. As I said, we're not in the business of deporting children.
BELLINI (voice over): Erika Cruz just may be home free.
Jason Bellini, CNN, Durham, North Carolina.
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CALLAWAY: That was certainly encouraging to hear him say that. I'm sure Jason will continue to follow this story and we'll keep you update on the case.
SAN MIGUEL: And we should because that is the personal side of the immigration issue. You know, a lot of folks just talking about the policy side, but never about the stories, the humans behind this particular issue.
CALLAWAY: That child has suffered enough.
SAN MIGUEL: Exactly. We have more CNN SATURDAY MORNING coming your way. Sleep deprived? "Weekend House Call" has strategies you need to get a good night's rest. That is coming up next.
At 9:00 a.m. Eastern, a brutal week in Fallujah. What needs to be done to secure that Iraqi city and what retaliation might look like.
Plus school bullies, this is an age-old problem, but at 9:40 a.m. Eastern, new ways to deal with the issue. That's all ahead when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
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