Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

N.Y. Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage; Casey Anthony Trial Resumes This Hour; Nick Charles Dies at 64; Flooding Record in North Dakota

Aired June 25, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

A major victory overnight for the Gay Rights Movement. New York becomes the sixth state to approve same sex marriage.

Also, the Casey Anthony murder trial has just gotten underway again this morning, just started about 10 minutes ago, and already, as you see in these live pictures, the attorneys have gone to the side for a huddle with the judge. Not exactly sure who might take the stand today, but we could be hearing from the man who found two-year- old Caylee Anthony's body.

We will be dipping back into that for you throughout the morning when the relevant testimony does come up.

But, again, good morning to you all from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm T.J. Holmes.

We do need to start with that major victory overnight for the Gay Rights Movement now that New York is the sixth state to approve gay marriage. Listen now to the reaction you saw last night in the Senate after they approved the bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-three, nays 29. (INAUDIBLE).

(CROWD CLAPPING AND CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, you can see here the reaction from the gallery in New York last night after the bill passed. It passed the Republican- controlled state Senate.

Four Republicans joined with Democrats to pass it. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it last night, and now this makes New York the sixth state to approve same-sex marriage. It's also the most populous state to do so.

There's also a lot more significance to what happened last night. But still, it has a lot of cheers but it also comes with some criticism.

Here's a statement from New York's Catholic bishops last night, saying, quote "We worry that both marriage and the family will be undermined by this tragic presumption of government in passing this legislation that attempts to redefine these cornerstones of civilization."

We will have much more on the significance of New York's new law a little later in this show.

But also, Casey Anthony, as I mentioned a moment ago, back in court. Back in court right now. She, as you know now, accused of killing her two-year-old daughter Caylee and dumping her body.

We will be bringing you some of today's trial and some of the testimony as it happens. Forgive me as I look over to the side here. I'm looking at the live picture of what's happening inside the courtroom.

But, right now, joining me, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Holly Hughes. Also our David Mattingly is at the courthouse for us in Orlando.

David, well, let me start with you. What has the reaction around there been to what some will tell you has been some of the most dramatic testimony we have seen in this trial, the testimony we've seen in the past couple of days?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was dramatic, indeed, T.J. Yesterday we saw two family members, two people who know Casey Anthony best, come to the stand and both of them break down in tears.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Could this be the photograph of a tragedy in the making? A young Caylee Anthony, assisted by her grandmother, climbing the ladder of the family's aboveground pool. The defense would like the jury to believe that later in 2008 the child drowned accidentally, and they used her grandmother's tears to drive the point home.

CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S MOTHER: It's a picture of Caylee walking up the ladder, and I'm behind her, holding her.

MATTINGLY: Casey Anthony herself getting emotional during testimony and while watching this video, memories of happier times. The pain of an entire family on display. Casey's brother, Lee, apparently still upset about being left in the dark during his sister's pregnancy six years ago.

LEE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S BROTHER: I was - I was very angry at my mom, and I was also angry at my sister. I mean, I was just angry at everyone in general that they didn't - they didn't want to include me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And, T.J., immediately after that the prosecution stepped in and asked the brother, why are you so emotional? When you talked to us back in 2009, we didn't see this kind of reaction from you. And they're trying to suggest to the jury that this family is now trying to keep Casey Anthony from getting the death penalty.

HOLMES: And, on that point, David, let me bring in attorney Holly Hughes, who's in the studio, here with me.

Holly, on that point he's just making, are they making any kind of movement? Are they - are they able, so far from what you've been able to see, maybe convince a juror or two of that?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think, at this point, what they are convincing the jury of is this is a very dysfunctional family, which is what lead defense attorney Jose Baez got up in his opening and said this isn't normal. They don't do things the way everybody else does.

So it may help keep Casey off of death row. I'm not sure that it's going to help her avoid a conviction, because there's so much evidence that's already been entered.

You know, yesterday we saw the mother, Cindy Anthony, take the stand, T.J., and she was crying and showing pictures of, you know, poor little Caylee walking up the ladder. But, remember, there was a visit to the jail by Cindy and George Anthony, Casey's parents, a few years ago where drowning was mentioned on that video between them and none of them said anything about it. They just said oh, yes. Surprise, surprise.

HOLMES: Well, Holly, on - on that point you just made, and you said they're trying to set it up, and they have in the past couple of days, to show that this is a dysfunctional family. Why is that so important to show that these - these folks are a little off?

HUGHES: Well, that's the understatement of the year, T.J. The award goes to you.

What they're trying to do, Jose Baez, lead defense attorney, again, stood up in opening and said the reason that they're so dysfunctional is because they keep secrets. They have all these secrets they need to keep, and the big secret, he alleged, is that George Anthony, the father, molested Casey, his daughter, from the time she was eight years old. He then said that the brother, Lee, also did.

He's using that abuse excuse, as it's termed, to excuse the ridiculous behavior of his client in the 31 days that little girl was missing. She was out partying, and so he needs to explain why that is, and he says, well, it was an accident, and the reason she just put it in the back of her mind and acted like it never happened is because she's used to keeping secrets, she's used to hiding things, and it's all the father's fault.

HOLMES: Well, David, let me - David Mattingly is still with us down in Orlando. He's been covering this.

David, what do we expect to see today? Do we know who's going to be on the stand first this morning?

MATTINGLY: We don't know exactly because the defense doesn't reveal that ahead of time. We can only get clues by who's waiting outside the courtroom, in the area where the witnesses wait before they take the stand.

This morning we've made - we've been able to see several investigators from the Orlando Sheriff's Department, so expect to hear more testimony from these investigators, and probably the defense trying to put - put the point home that - about certain questions that were not asked, about certain possible witnesses that were not questioned regarding this other scenario that Caylee Anthony drowned instead of being murdered. They want to show that there's another story here that was not fully investigated.

HOLMES: All right. David Mattingly there for us. Always good to have you. We'll be checking back in with him and also Holly Hughes, the attorney here with us to help us navigate some of this testimony we're going to see this morning.

And to our viewers, I want to remind you, we will be dipping in. Nothing is happening in the courtroom right now necessarily as far as testimony but we're keeping an eye on it. Holly Hughes will have her ear to it throughout the morning, so we will be dipping in and letting you hear some of the more relevant testimony, and again, which has been dramatic testimony over the past couple of days. So you could stay right here with us for that.

Let's turn now to bets turn to James "Whitey" Bulger. He is back in his hometown of Boston this morning, and his attorneys said the alleged mob boss is looking forward to answering the charges against him, and there's a lot of them. He's facing dozens of charges, from money laundering to murder.

In his first court appearance in Boston yesterday, he did not enter a plea, didn't ask for bail. He's been on the run for 16 years, finally was captured in California this week.

At least 35 people are dead following a suicide attack at a maternity hospital in Afghanistan. You can see where it happened, in the Logar Province of the country. As many as 60 others were injured in the truck bomb attack.

In a separate attack in Northern Afghanistan, 10 people were killed. The U.S. and Afghan governments both condemn these attacks. All comes just days after President Obama announced plans to withdraw 33,000 U.S. service members by next fall.

More reports of deaths among anti-government demonstrators in Syria as well. An activist group says at least 20 people were killed in clashes Friday, CNN not able to independently confirm that.

The state news agency there says seven civilians and one police officer were killed. The U.S. is among several countries putting pressure on Syria's government to stop the deadly crackdown on protesters. And at least two people killed after a tractor-trailer hit a moving Amtrak train near Reno, Nevada. The train caught fire. Some people jumped from train, trying to get away from the fire. Authorities trying to figure out if there's more - if there could be more victims in the burned out train cars.

This was a California Zephyr. He was traveling from Chicago to the San Francisco area.

And, as we have been telling you, we're just getting a short time go, that long time CNN sports anchor - there he is - Nick Charles has died. He has been dealing with bladder cancer for the past couple of years.

His story was brought to you - it released recently. You may have seen this in a CNN Sanjay Gupta special, his story about how he's preparing for the end of life, how he was preparing himself, preparing his family. Just an inspirational story that really touched you, the viewers. We got your reaction to it.

But just - here we are, a couple of weeks after bringing you that story, we are getting news that, in fact, Nick Charles has died at the age of 64.

We do have this statement now from Jim Walton. He is the president of CNN Worldwide, and he says, "As a journalist and sports personality, Nick Charles helped put CNN on the map in its early days. He brought intelligence, style and heart to his work - qualities that translated to our company and inspired those of us who were fortunate to work alongside him.

His passing is a loss to CNN, to the sports world, and to the fans and friends everywhere who were with him to the end of his extraordinary life. Like them, our thoughts today are with Nick and with his family."

Nick Charles, dead at the age of 64.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: So, about a quarter past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

For the first time ever, a Republican-dominated state Senate voted yes to same-sex marriage. This happened in New York, after millions of dollars were spent to defeat the measure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ayes 33, nays 29.

(CROWD CLAPPING AND CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Governor Mario Cuomo signed the Marriage Equality Act into law early this morning. It does give same-sex couples the right to get married. The law will go into effect in 30 days.

Lawmakers agreed on some key amendments that would help protect religious institutions from potential lawsuits. That was kind of the sticking point, but after they got past that, Republicans joined Democrats - or at least four Republicans did - to vote for this.

Joining me now, CNN contributor LZ Granderson. LZ is openly gay. LZ, we appreciate having you with us on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Now, would it be a mistake for people to see this and say, OK, we've got six states now who OK same-sex marriage, but is New York not just any other state?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

HOLMES: LZ, are you there? This is T.J. in Atlanta. Are you hearing me all right?

Well, it sounds like LZ is not hearing me this morning. We'll try to work on getting him back up.

But again, what happened in New York was significant for a number of reasons, not just because this is the most populous state but also this is the state now that does not have residency requirements. So a lot of people believe that people could flock to New York to try to get married.

But, again, because it is the most populous state to have done this, the third most populous state in the union, people are looking at this as this is not just another state to approve this. Many people are looking at this as a significant milestone in the whole Gay Rights Movement.

We'll try to get LZ back on the line. Meanwhile, our Reynolds Wolf is going to be coming up next.

We told you about this town. You might not know it well, but Minot, North Dakota right now is threatened with being wiped out by floodwaters. Quick break, but right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Nineteen minutes past the hour now on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING, joined once again by Reynolds Wolf.

Reynolds, what are you keeping an eye on right now? Is it the fires? The flooding? It's a little bit of everything, but what's the biggest problem right now?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So I - I got to tell you, the last couple of weekends has been almost like a ping pong match.

HOLMES: Yes.

WOLF: Watching, you know, from floods to fires, back and forth. Now, this week it disappeared. It is mostly the - the flooding we're watching in Minot.

HOLMES: Starting to get the fires under control a little bit, (INAUDIBLE) -

WOLF: A little bit. Yes. Over 50 percent contained.

But - but, I got to tell you, the men and women who've been battling these fires have just done a heroic, heroic job.

And now we've had a lot of people up in the Northern Plains have been putting out sandbags, trying to protect their communities, and it's been really a very difficult thing, the worst yet to come. The latest we have for you, the expected crest happening later tonight or either tomorrow morning, around 1:00. It's about 6.5 feet above the record stage. Record setback in 1881, so, again, this is truly going to be a horrific thing.

The rain and terrain are going to be really not helping matters much. They do expect some scattered showers there, maybe a few embedded thunderstorms.

About a quarter of the population in Minot has been evacuated. They - again, we talked about how it's been exceeding the - the old record setback in 1881.

There is going to be one good break that we are going to get from this, though, is that we expect most of the rain now to move out this morning, a little bit more into parts of the Corn Belt and into, say, the mid-Mississippi Valley. We have had some strong thunderstorms in spots like Des Moines, southward to St. Joe's.

Kansas City, you've had a few embedded thunderstorms, possibly a little bit more developing back to the west. That going to be (INAUDIBLE) down there, I'd say within the next hour or so. From St. Louis southward (INAUDIBLE) to Paduca you've had a rumble of thunder. In Paris, Tennessee, some storms popping up, and in Nashville. Not a whole lot now, but if you look back to the west, further development all driving off towards the east.

Now, one of the big stories we're going to follow today of course, it's going - it will be the steamy conditions in parts of the southeast, very humid. Maybe a thunderstorm in Atlanta, perhaps some in Florida, but the best chance will be in the Central Plains and back into parts of the Upper Midwest. So just keep that in mind.

High temperatures today, as you can imagine. Very warm, very muggy. For you in Memphis, 93 degrees the expected high; 99 in Albuquerque; 87 in Denver; 75 in Billings; 67 in Seattle, with a chance of - of scattered showers back into the hills along the coast. It should be fairly nice in places like San Francisco with 67; 69 in Los Angeles; and 66 in Boston; and New York with 81 your expected high.

All right, T.J., that's a wrap. Let's pitch it back to you.

HOLMES: Reynolds, appreciate you, as always. Now I don't know if a lot of you all were watching the NBA draft this week. Well, one of the players who was drafted, he might not be the best player in the draft, but he certainly has one of the best stories.

Coming up next, he goes from homeless to the NBA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Now, we have been telling you that for the first time ever a Republican-dominated state Senate voted yes to same-sex marriage.

This happened in New York. We know that millions of dollars were spent on this campaign on both sides. You're seeing and hearing some of the reaction last night after the Senate approved this.

This happened late last night. Governor Cuomo went ahead and signed it into law. It's going to take effect in the next 30 days.

But I do want to bring in now LZ Granderson, who's a CNN contributor. Also, LZ is openly gay, has been speaking on this issue and also one of our fabulous contributors here. LZ on the line with me now. I appreciate you being here.

Would it be a mistake for people to think that just another state OK-ed same-sex marriage or is there a huge significance for that state being New York?

LZ GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, it's absolutely a huge difference with this being New York because Manhattan, New York City is the media capital of the world. So whereas the previous states could have been viewed as something that was impacting the nation, this is something that's making a global statement, and the impact of that cannot be underestimated.

HOLMES: And we know as well, and you were - you've been in New York, and the president, President Obama, happened to be there on Thursday night for a fundraiser that had been previously planned, but a lot of gay donors were in the crowd. Some of them heckled him a bit, saying that you supported - he wouldn't necessarily say one way or another. He just said he supports equality for gay couples, wouldn't go as far as saying marriage.

But are you one, and should more be resigned to the fact that this president cannot or either will not come out and say he supports gay marriage before Election Day?

GRANDERSON: You know, I was going to say no until you said the ending part, before Election Day.

HOLMES: Yes.

GRANDERSON: I think that, you know, he is in a difficult situation because while the (INAUDIBLE) of Manhattan. I actually lived very close to a city that just voted against having same-sex discrimination and written into the local law. So there's still a lot of work to be done in the heartland of the country. So he's cognizant of that and that's the reason why he have to do this game (ph).

HOLMES: He has to do it, you said?

GRANDERSON: I think he does. I think because even if people who are independent voters believe that he privately supports same-sex marriage, marriage equality, not having him on the record, not having that sound bite available is important because those are the sort of things that Republicans and his opponents will use to help get their message across.

HOLMES: Last thing - I mean, I got to let you go here, LZ, but how - how significant is it that there was a Republican - a Senate that approved it this time around?

GRANDERSON: Well, it just proves that, you know, when you strip away the rhetoric of people's religious beliefs, you just deal strictly with the law, you will find that the 14th Amendment is a - is pretty solid, that no state should deny anyone equality. And I was really happy to see the logic, especially just opposed to Senator Ruben Diaz who (INAUDIBLE) an idiot.

HOLMES: All right, LZ Granderson for us. Always good to talk to you. Again, one of our CNN contributors here.

LZ, we appreciate you hopping on the line with us this morning. Thanks so much, buddy.

GRANDERSON: OK. Thank you.

HOLMES: All right. We're getting close to the bottom of the hour now.

Meanwhile, we want to let you know, we are standing by. The Casey Anthony trial is resuming this morning, some activity in the courtroom. We will give you the very latest. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A look at the stories making headlines.

The defense in the murder trial of Casey Anthony has resumed presenting its case in Orlando. We are watching these live pictures from inside the courtroom. Court has resumed this morning.

You see her - actually her parents in the back row. That's her dad there, you see. But her mother and brother, each took the stand, both in tears yesterday. Some of the most dramatic testimony we have seen.

We will be dipping into this throughout the morning for you.

Also this morning, a death in the family to tell you about. Nick Charles, the face of CNN Sports for nearly two decades. He has lost his battle with bladder cancer at the age of 64. More on this throughout the morning.

Right now, time for "YOUR BOTTOM LINE."