Battle Over Terri Schiavo Continues; Judge Deals Blow to Michael Jackson's Defense Team
Aired March 28, 2005 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, HOST: Good evening again, everyone. The battle over Terri Schiavo's life returned to Washington, D.C. again today where about a dozen supporters of her parents protested across the street from the White House. They were led by Christian activist, the Reverend Patrick Mahoney, who called on Congress to take new steps in the case. This is Florida Governor Jeb Bush, said he has done all he can do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JEB BUSH, (R) FLORIDA: My heart is broken about this. It just breaks my heart that we're not -- we've not erred on the side of life. While I'm respectful of the judiciary's decisions, it just seems that having a fresh look, a de novo look, if you will, would have made sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: It's now been 10 full days since Miss Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. And for all their bitter differences, her parents and her husband Michael seem to agree on this much tonight -- Terri Schiavo is getting weaker, the end drawing closer. The lawyer for Michael Schiavo said today that Terri Schiavo's nurses have described her pulse as thready. They also said that Miss Schiavo has no urine output, has not had any urine output since last night, a sign of kidney failure. He described her appearance as calm, relaxed, and very peaceful. He said his client wants an autopsy performed after his wife dies.
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GEORGE FELOS, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: He's requested this very strongly. He believes it's important to have the public know the full and massive extent of the damage to Mrs. Schiavo's brain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Yesterday the Schindler lawyer said the family believed Terri Schiavo had passed the point of no return, but today the family framed it differently. Her father saying, quote, "it's not too late for someone to save her." Whatever privately they may think, say to one another, or to people around them, publicly they say they are hopeful and that she is doing okay, all things considered. We spoke with her brother, Bobby Schindler, a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Mr. Schindler, give me a sense of how your sister's condition has changed over the last 24, 48 hours, or so.
BOBBY SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: Well, you know, my sister's being dehydrated and starved to death. So she is deteriorating. But she is still fighting hard. She is, from what we can tell, alert, responsive, and just showing an incredible desire to live.
BROWN: When you say she's alert and responsive, can you give viewers a sense of what that means?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, she's still trying very hard to speak to us when we go see her. But it is -- you know, it has taken its toll on her physically. But you know, as I said earlier, I think my sister is fighting to live, and we're going to keep fighting for her.
BROWN: And -- which leads to my next question. I think there's a sense that with the legal options apparently over that the family is essentially resigned to the fact that she is now going to pass away. Is that untrue?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Yes. No, no. We're not giving up on Terri yet. We're still trying to, you know, find a way to get her out of this mess, and we're going to keep fighting. And as I said, we're just so inspired by my sister's desire to live, and she's kind of keeping us inspired to keep fighting for her.
BROWN: Where does this fight go? If not the courts, how do you in your words get her out of this mess?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: I don't know, sir. But there's a lot of people praying for her. We're going to pray for her. And we're just hoping for a miracle.
BROWN: The governor has pretty much said he has -- there's nothing he can do. There doesn't seem to be any indication the White House can do anything, even if it wanted to. I think it probably does want to. So short of hope and short of prayer, and I don't mean to minimize prayer here, but how -- what can happen?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, you know, we've heard from some of the attorneys that the governor may still have a few options left. We're praying that if in fact that is true that the governor is able to do something. And we just don't know. You know, we're a very -- we're a family that has a lot of faith, and we're going to keep praying, and as I said, we're going to pray for a miracle.
BROWN: At the risk of being incredibly indelicate here, Mr. Schiavo's attorney said a few hours ago that they would ask that an autopsy be performed after your sister dies. I assume that is -- that you would agree with that.
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, you know, as I just said, you know, we're dealing with reality here, but right now our family isn't going to think about that. We're not going to focus on that. And we're just going to do everything we can, you know, over these next hours and days to see that we can exhaust every possible way to help save my sister. So that's really what our focus is on right now.
BROWN: I understand that. You said earlier today that you were concerned that something might be happening in the hospice, that the hospice itself may be trying to hasten your sister's death. Can you tell me what your concern is there?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, we do know that at some point a morphine drip is started. We understand that that has not begun yet. But we're hopeful that my -- you know, that she doesn't have to undergo something like that. But it is interesting that they try to describe my sister's experience as painless and something that is a pleasant experience and it's kind of contradictory when they say that they're going to eventually have to start administering a morphine drip.
BROWN: But when you said that earlier, it wasn't that you had any specific reason to believe they might be hastening your sister's death, it was just a general concern that that might happen?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: That's correct.
BROWN: On balance is there anything, you know, for a week or more now as I'm sure you're painfully aware, the country has been focused on your family and your sister and her husband and all the rest. Is there anything you wish people knew that you worry that they do not know about your sister?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, yes. Two things in particular. One is that my sister's condition is being mischaracterized today. And my sister's condition has been mischaracterized for the last, well, over a decade now. She is very much alive. She just needed help. She needs help. She needs rehabilitation. She needs therapy. And this notion that she's brain dead, a vegetable, that she's in this PVS condition, is absolutely misleading and false.
BROWN: And doctors, independent doctors who have looked at her, doctors appointed by the courts who have looked at her and reached that conclusion, are, what, simply wrong?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, there's a lot of controversy over my sister's condition. There are more doctors that have filed affidavits with the court. There's doctors that have examined my sister that all believe that she's not in this condition, than doctors that believe she is. And I urge people, there are 33 affidavits out there. Most of them -- or not most of them. There's close to a dozen, I believe now, that are neurologists that all believe Terri is not in a PVS, and I just urge people to read what these doctors have to say about my sister's condition.
BROWN: And believe me, you're the last person on the planet I want to argue with. Okay?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Sure.
BROWN: Really. But would you agree that the doctors who feel that way are doctors who by and large have either been retained by your family or have an interest on your family's side as opposed to retained by the court, independent of either side in this?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, it's interesting you say that. Because the doctors that Michael has brought in have been paid and the doctors that have testified on my sister's behalf have all volunteered. And there's more doctors out there. So this notion that Terri is in this condition because all these doctors believe she is is really misleading. There are more doctors that believe she's not than believe she is. And all our family is saying, with all this controversy out there, with -- you know regarding her condition, you know why would you err on the side of death and not err on the side of caution? Which would be life.
BROWN: And just -- I think that's a question a lot of people have. Just a final question.
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Sure.
BROWN: Do you believe that if the feeding tube were reinserted tonight that she would still have the capacity to recover, that the week-plus that she's been without hydration has not further damaged her to a point where she could not recover?
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Well, I'm not a medical doctor, but I'm hopeful if something happens quickly that Terri would, you know, over some time recuperate from what she's been through so far.
BROWN: We appreciate your time again. Thank you.
BOBBY SCHINDLER: Thank you.
BROWN: Thank you, sir.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Bobby Schindler. We talked with him just a short time ago. Language, as much as anything -- and you heard it there as an example -- has shaped the way we see this case. Many words, all carefully chosen have been used to tell this story, depending on people's point of view. Here's our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield.
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JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN ANALYST (voice-over): How do we describe what happened here? Here's what Charles Gibson said on "Good Morning America."
CHARLES GIBSON, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": Almost a week now since her feeding tube was removed.
GREENFIELD: Here's John Roberts on the "CBS Evening News."
JOHN ROBERTS, "CBS EVENING NEWS": The case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman whose life-sustaining feeding tube was removed on Friday.
GREENFIELD: But this is Joe Scarborough on MSNBC last Thursday.
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: Terri Schiavo, starving to death by judicial decree.
GREENFIELD: And this is House Majority Leader Tom DeLay during the floor debate a week ago Sunday.
REP. TOM DELAY, (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: A young woman in Florida is being dehydrated and starved to death. For 58 long hours her mouth has been parched and her hunger pains have been throbbing.
GREENFIELD: The first two describe a clinical medical procedure. The last two describe something closer to a sadistic crime. How do we label the story? In the New York tabloids the "Post" covers Terri's final hours with a picture of a vibrant young woman. The "News" covers the Schiavo family fight with a now famous picture of her a decade after her severe brain injury.And how to describe her condition? Persistent vegetative state evokes an image of someone who has lost all meaningful connection to life. But her parents' supporters use a very different term.
REV. PAT MAHONEY, FAMILY ADVISER: If we cannot protect the rights of a disabled woman who needs our help and advocacy, then what have we become as a nation?
GREENFIELD: That word, "disabled," seems to put Terri Schiavo in the same camp as millions of men and women clearly living lives worth leading.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Al Terri needs is a wheelchair and a tube.
GREENFIELD: And indeed many in the disability rights community support her parents. And Congressman Barney Frank, a stalwart liberal, says some federal legislation may be need to protect the disabled from a pull the plug philosophy deriving from the cost of medical care.
REP. BARNEY FRANK, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: I've spoken a lot with disability groups who are concerned that even where a choice is made to terminate life it might be coerced by circumstance.
GREENFIELD (on camera): Debates about public policy often involve a battle to seize the high ground of language. Do you support the right to life or the right to choose? Is Social Security reform more appealing than Social Security privatization? But rarely does the choice of words pack so much emotional weight. This time it literally is a matter of life and death. Jeff Greenfield, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Any semblance of normalcy being so thin on the ground in Pinellas Park you can easily lose sight of a fact in this case, a simple one -- this is a horrible moment for all concerned. It is also for some outside of Terri Schiavo's family an opportunity, a chance to advance a cause, an agenda. Which also means a chance to raise money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): By invoking the Terri Schiavo case, right to life groups in particular say they are seeing an increase in donations. Some of the money going to the Schindler family and some of it going to the organizations themselves.
ANNE LAFFERTY, TRADITIONAL VALUES COALITION: We sent out an e- mail in February and again in March that specifically linked to Terri's Web site. We're sending the money there. All of the groups, including ours, need to raise money and do raise money.
BROWN: This is a Web site for a group called the Traditional Values Coalition, known mostly for campaigning against gay marriage. The Schiavo case still dominates its headlines. But the group has removed a specific request seeking, quote, "a monthly gift for the organization," after news reports cited that solicitation and its direct link to the Schiavo case.
LAFFERTY: I'm a Christian first. I'm a conservative second. And we need to show compassion for a woman. In the United States of America in the 21st century we should not be starving someone to death.BROWN: Another organization calling itself rightmarch.com has widely publicized the Schiavo case. On its Web site, the group seeks donations to, quote, "pay for its efforts and our nationwide ad to save Terri." The Alliance Defense Fund, according to one newspaper account, has sent $300,000 to help pay for legal costs incurred by the Schindler family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly, money has to be raised to support her defense. This is a poor, disabled lady who has no one to stand up for her. Her mom and dad are, of course. And if non-profit ministries like the Alliance Defense Fund don't do it, then nobody will.
BROWN: And the Florida ACLU has paid for two of its lawyers to work on behalf of Michael Schiavo since 2003. But beyond specific direct involvement the ACLU says the Schiavo case should be out of bounds for fund-raising.
HOWARD SIMON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLORIDA ACLU: People have a right to make that contribution. I'm really talking about a political organization using this case to increase the size of their own coffers for their other political work. That I think is really unseemly.
BROWN: But a spokeswoman for one of the largest conservative Christian groups, Focus On the Family, says the Schiavo case is ready- made for the cause in general. Terri, she said, is a person we can see and we can rally around her. And so they have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Much more to come in the hour ahead, including the mother of all scams, a guy paying child support for a child who never existed.Also tonight, another earthquake in what's already a disaster area.They've been here before. What was different this time, and what was the same? A late report tonight from Indonesia.For Michael Jackson it's bad.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's going to put him in that bedroom, which makes it more than just sort of oh, let's have an impromptu sleepover. That's a relationship.
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BROWN: Skeletons in the closet, coming to life in court.And then there is this guy ...
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just thought he was very honest in his poetry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's hear it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Or is it this guy?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't let anyone kid you. He's a cold- blooded killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The answer is yes. A poet, a killer, and a fugitive to boot. But in the end, poetic justice. Because this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: In a moment, did the Michael Jackson case just turn into a disaster for the defense? But first, at about a quarter past the hour, time for other headlines of the day. Erica Hill joins us from Atlanta. Good evening, Ms. Hill.
ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: And good evening to you, Aaron.
The Indonesian vice president says as many as 2,000 people now may be dead on the island of Nias after a massive earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia. Hundreds more are believed injured or trapped. The quake's magnitude is estimated between 8.7 and 8.5. Now, initially there were fears the tremor would trigger another powerful tsunami like the one in December.
Might want to start looking for that loose change in the car because you might need it. The national average for regular unleaded gas now $2.15 a gallon. Officials say that's thanks to higher crude oil prices. Regular unleaded is up about 4 1/2 cents, almost 40 cents higher than it was a year ago.
A registered sex offender is charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of a 10-year-old Iowa girl. Thirty seven- year-old Roger Bentley could face life in prison if convicted. Authorities say Bentley took Jetseta Gage from her home Thursday night. The girl's body was found in an abandoned mobile home the next day.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist is back on the bench after being briefly hospitalized on Sunday. A court spokesman says, quote, "problems developed with the 80-year-old's tracheotomy tube" and he had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. Rehnquist returned to the Supreme Court last week for the first time since last October when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent a tracheotomy.
Three million truck drivers across the U.S. will soon be fingerprinted and have criminal background checks in the coming months. Federal officials say they want to prevent the use of trucks in possible terrorist attacks. The truckers' information will be cross-checked with terrorism databases. Of the greatest concern here, people who haul flammable, radioactive, or other dangerous loads.
And that is the latest from Headline News" at this hour.
Aaron, back to you.
BROWN: Erica, thank you.
Michael Jackson spoke out over the weekend. In addition to comparing himself to Nelson Mandela, he told a radio audience that he is at the emotional low point of his life. Which means he can't be feeling any better now. Not after a judge in his molestation trial opened the door today to Mr. Jackson's potentially damaging past. Normally unproven accusations are not allowed in court, but the law is different in California, where child molesting is concerned. In a moment the ramifications. First the facts and CNN's Ted Rowlands.
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TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Jackson is now at the center of not one but six allegations of sexual abuse. In addition to the accuser he is facing in his current trial, the judge's ruling allows prosecutors to detail what they claim are examples of sexual abuse against five other boys ages 10 to 13. One of the alleged victims is actor Macaulay Culkin, who Jackson befriended in the early 1990s. Culkin himself is not expected to testify. In fact, he has publicly stated that no abuse took place.
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: What happened at the house? That's what all these people are concerned about.
MACAULAY CULKIN, ACTOR: You know, that's what's so weird.
KING: What did happen?
CULKIN: Nothing happened. I mean, nothing really. We played videogames, you know. We, you know, played at the amusement park.
ROWLANDS: Prosecutors say in fact only one of the alleged victims will actually testify. Instead the judge is allowing other witnesses, not the children, to detail the alleged cases of abuse. Prosecutors say their witnesses will describe seeing Jackson in bed with four of the children and on some occasions allegedly they saw underwear, apparently the child's and Jackson's, on the floor beside the bed. Another witness is expected to testify that her son slept in the same bed with Jackson dozens of times. In 1993 that child was the subject of abuse allegations against Jackson, which resulted in a financial settlement. While the alleged victim is not expected to testify, the mother's testimony could be very damaging to Jackson.
RAYMOND CHANDLER, ALLEGED VICTIM'S RELATIVE: She is going to put him in that bedroom, which makes it more than just sort of, oh, let's have an impromptu sleepover. That's a relationship. Fifty, 60 nights, night after night, in about ten locations around the world.
ROWLANDS: Jackson's lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, argued that allowing these allegations without direct testimony from the alleged victims is unfair. Mesereau told the judge that the prosecution has a, quote, "weak case" and this testimony could hurt Jackson's right to a fair trial. Michael Jackson, who was not in court when the ruling was made, did show up later, but had no comment.(on camera): Prosecutors say it'll take at least two weeks before they start introducing evidence of prior sexual abuse allegations. One clear effect of this ruling is that the estimated five-month long trial will be extended. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Santa Maria, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Maureen Orth joins us now from Santa Maria. She's covering the case for "Vanity Fair" magazine. And with us here in New York, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. And we're glad to see you both. Maureen, the first -- the early stage of the trial seemed not to go terribly well for the prosecution. Has it turned?
MAUREEN ORTH, "VANITY FAIR": Well, yes. Because allowing these patterns of past abuse, alleged abuse, is going to be very, very damaging to Michael Jackson because the prosecutor said today all of the children were age 10 to 13. The way he kind of wooed them and showered them with gifts is very similar to what the accuser in this case has testified. So -- and this is emotional testimony that the jury's going to hear. And that's what Tom Mesereau said to the judge. Once this kind of emotion is unleashed, it's very hard to combat it. And sparks really flew in the courtroom today between these two lawyers. It was very kind of exciting to watch.
BROWN: I turn to my lawyer. Jeffrey, normally you can't get in two past speeding tickets, but California law makes an exception on child molesting.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: They changed the law in '95 to make it easier to prosecute pedophile priests. But this to me is just a shocking use of the law. Because remember, there are five kids at issue here. Three of them to this day claim that nothing happened inappropriate. Only one of the five will actually testify in court. So Michael Jackson is going to have to answer accusations when the victims don't even say they're victims. That to me seems like a very peculiar use of the law.
BROWN: Maureen, is the point of the law here that particularly children who might find themselves in this situation are too embarrassed to talk about it don't want to talk about it, don't want to be known as the Michael Jackson kid?
ORTH: That's right. And that's why I think a lot of these people who have alleged -- who have said that in fact nothing happened aren't going to come to take the stand on his behalf. They just want -- Everybody wants to run away from this and not be known as anything remotely like that. But there have been many employees at Neverland and relatives of some of these victims who are supposedly going to say what they saw, whether or not the victims want to admit it.
BROWN: Jeffrey, here's where I'm a little -- normally I get why we keep previous bad actions or allegations out. But if you've paid someone -- oh let's just pick a number out of the sky-- $20 million to settle a civil case and part of the settlement is not -- is not to testify in any criminal case, that does have -- it makes me a little uncomfortable about whether the criminal justice system is being thwarted. So maybe this law isn't such a terrible idea.
TOOBIN: Oh, I don't think the law is a terrible idea at all. And ...
BROWN: Then what's your problem here?
TOOBIN: Well, the problem is there are two of these kids, there was money paid. And I don't have any problem with their being allowed to testify, or testimony about them. It's the three others. No criminal charges, no civil case, no complaint by the kids, but Michael Jackson still has to defend himself against those accusations? That just seems ...
BROWN: Well, where do these allegations come from if they ...
TOOBIN: Well, apparently, witnesses, guards at Neverland, perhaps family members. That seems to me a little tenuous when, you know, people are only supposed to be tried for one thing at a time.
BROWN: Any idea how they're going to defend against these, Maureen?
ORTH: Well, you know, it's very interesting. For example, in the case of the accuser from 1993, he was able to draw Michael Jackson's genitalia that had special markings on it, discolorations of skin, and those markings were then later proved to be true. His drawings were later proved to be true because the prosecution took pictures of Michael Jackson.
I would assume all of that evidence still is around. And so they don't really need the corroboration, actually, of the victims if they've got that kind of evidence.He did not detail in court today specifically what these employees were going to say, but a lot of them have said it before. Some of them have sold their stories. But they allege the same kind of groping, the same kind of touching, the same kind of masturbatory techniques that this current accuser has stated in court.
BROWN: Jeffrey, I'll give you the final word here. Is this a huge blow for the Jackson side, and is it ripe for appeal should he be convicted?
TOOBIN: Certainly, nothing in the case compares in terms of bad news and nothing is as appealable ...
BROWN: Not even the child's testimony?
TOOBIN: Oh, absolutely. This is worse, I think. Because the child's testimony had a lot of problems. The number and extent of these witnesses is worse, and -- but it is a legally questionable ruling, I think, and will be the focus of his appeal if he's convicted.
BROWN: Do you know if this law has been tested?
TOOBIN: Yes, it has been tested several times, and they've never thrown out a conviction. But I don't believe there's ever been a case with the use to this extent.
BROWN: Jeffrey, nice to see you.
TOOBIN: Nice to see you.
BROWN: Maureen, good to see you. Thank you, both.
ORTH: Thank you.
BROWN: Still to come on the program forget No Child Left Behind. Try no child at all. How a woman managed to collect thousands of dollars in child support in what turned out to be a beauty of a scam.Never a doubt where the rooster is concerned. "Morning Papers" always arrive, and you know why. Because this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: OK. At about half past the hour, these are the facts of life. There are ways of making a baby, and there are ways you cannot possibly make a baby. Bear that in mind as the story you're about to see unfolds. It is the story of a father who couldn't be and a mother who shouldn't have. And, as for the child, here's CNN's Sean Callebs.
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SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Viola Trevino, dashing into an Albuquerque, New Mexico, courtroom in 2004 with a small child in tow. It was another skirmish in a long battle over child support payments with her ex-husband. It started in 1999. As their divorce became final that year, Trevino said she was pregnant and that the father was her soon-to-be-ex-husband Steve Barreras.
STEVE BARRERAS, PRISON GUARD: I couldn't believe it at first.
CALLEBS: Barreras, a prison guard, agreed to talk only if we masked his appearance for his own security. Medical records show he had a vasectomy two years before Viola Trevino said he made her pregnant. Still, in 2002, a court ruled against Barreras and forced him to pay more than $20,000 in child support. Trevino was a very convincing witness.
SHELLY BARRERAS, WIFE OF STEVE: She's very good at what she does, and she makes people believe her.
CALLEBS: Shelly is Steve Barreras' current wife. For years, the two battled bureaucracy without success. Court records show that Trevino presented a birth certificate, Social Security number, baptismal records, and two DNA tests that showed Barreras was the father of a young girl named Stephanie Renee (ph).
SHELLY BARRERAS: No one would believe with us two DNA documents. No one would believe us.
CALLEBS: They sought help from New Mexico's Child Support Enforcement Division. The response, a one-paragraph statement. "We cannot help you any further in getting a copy of the birth certificate, but your daughter does exist, as I am sure you already knew."
BETINA GONZALES MCCRACKEN, NEW MEXICO HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT: We felt that that was sufficient evidence to say that there was a child and that child indeed was the child of Mr. Barreras.
CALLEBS: Finally, this December, Steve and Shelly won a round. The courts demanded Trevino produce the child who by now should have been 5 years old. That's when she came to court accompanied by this child. But the little girl wasn't 5. She was 2. Her name isn't Stephanie. It's Delilah (ph). And it turned out that she wasn't Steve Barreras's child. She wasn't even Viola Trevino's child. Trevino had found the little girl with her grandmother on an Albuquerque street and lured them to the courthouse with a promise of seeing Santa Claus and $50 for presents. Once outside, the courthouse Trevino grabbed the child, dashed inside, leaving the confused grandmother in the streets.
GEORGIA CHAVEZ, GRANDMOTHER: Oh, God, I thought I'd never see my granddaughter again. That was the most scariest thing that ever happened to me.
CALLEBS: But Mrs. Chavez did follow her granddaughter to the courtroom and, finally, Trevino admitted the 2-year-old little girl was not Stephanie Renee. The judge ruled she had seen enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is no child named Stephanie Renee Trevino.
STEVE BARRERAS: It was a great burden taken off of me, because for so long we had gone into courts trusting, thinking that the courts are going to take care of this problem, because that's what the courts do. We trusted in justice here.
CALLEBS: Court records show Trevino made the whole story up, the documents faked, even the DNA information phony. (on camera): The case has now made it onto the radar of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. He says it is unbelievable that one person could spin such an apparent web of deceit and deception. Richardson is now demanding to know how state officials were duped.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: This is the most egregious example of a bureaucracy abuse and negligence that I've ever heard of.
CALLEBS: Because of Trevino's ability to manipulate the system, the governor has launched an investigation. Richardson says it will soon be state policy that child welfare employees sign affidavits stating they have seen the children they work with. Steve and Shelly are relieved and now planning several lawsuits. Trevino has an attorney as well, who says that she never said Barreras fathered a child. The courts had it wrong. But now she claims her ex-husband hasn't paid enough alimony. Sean Callebs, CNN, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Well, she doesn't lack for chutzpah. Still to come on the program, the words of a poet that failed to tell the true story about the man. We'll take a break first. From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: We live by the rule of law, however imperfect. It's a line from a poem written by a man named J.J. Jameson, a poet with some notoriety among poets in Chicago. We live by the rule of law. What makes this particular verse intriguing is what police a half a continent away in Massachusetts have to say about its author, that he did everything except live by the rule of the law. The story tonight from CNN's Keith Oppenheim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Chicago, he would often stand before fellow poets and recite.
NORMAN A. PORTER, POET: To this day, I maintain that very same such politeness. Thank you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OPPENHEIM: Just weeks ago, ChicagoPoetry.com named him poet of the month.
C.J. LAITY, CHICAGOPOETRY.COM: I just thought he was very honest in his poetry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: J.J. Jameson, let's hear it.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OPPENHEIM: One side of the man Chicagoans called J.J. Jameson.
LT. DET. KEVIN HORTON, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE: Don't let anyone kid you. He's a cold-blooded killer.
OPPENHEIM: His real name, according to the police, is Norman Porter Jr. The 65-year-old has been extradited to Massachusetts, where he's confined to a maximum security jail cell. Back in 1960, Norman Porter was convicted for the murder of a Boston-area clothing store clerk, John Pigott.
HORTON: Mr. Pigott was 20 years old, just got out of college. He was engaged. And he blew his head off. I mean, he shot him in cold blood and killed him.
OPPENHEIM: One year later, Porter assaulted the head jailer at a county lockup, while another inmate fatally shot the man. For both crimes, he was sentenced to two terms of life in prison. (on camera): But, as Massachusetts detectives tell it, Norman Porter's circumstances would change. His first life sentence was commuted by then Governor Michael Dukakis, and Porter, getting his undergraduate degree from Boston University while in prison, was ultimately transferred to a minimum security work release program. In 1985, Norman Porter found a way to slip out of that prison, an escape that made him one of the most wanted fugitives in the United States.
PORTER: And where in the blue blazes do I now go?
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): By the early '90s, Porter had gone to Chicago, turned into a poet, wrote two collections of verse, and changed his name.
LAITY: When he read, everybody -- he had everybody's attention, and people just loved him. So if he could -- anyone could con prison guards into trusting him enough to allow him just to walk out, it was J.J. Jameson. He really had sort of a power over people like that.
OPPENHEIM: He earned a living at a handyman. In fact, it was at this church where Porter, AKA Jameson, did odd jobs that police finally caught up with him again. He hadn't completely given up his old life. He'd been arrested for theft in 1993. Then police took fingerprints, but when they checked for possible matches to other crimes, they only compared them to cases in Illinois. Years later, the prints were run against a national data base. It was only a month ago that Massachusetts detectives linked those prints to J.J. Jameson, an easy name to find as it turned out.
LAITY: What kind of person who's living as a fugitive, running from the law, wants to be in the public spotlight and wants to become a notable poet and wants to get their picture on my Web site and be poet of the month? So, I think there was a certain aspect in his poetry and in his life as a poem -- as a poet that he wanted to get caught.
OPPENHEIM: Now that he is caught, his poet friends are convinced that, while his freedom is over, his writing isn't and this man with two names will still write poetry in prison. Others just want to make sure he stays there. Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Coming up on the program, we'll update some of the other stories that made news tonight, and our continuing anniversary series "Then and Now." In focus tonight, the woman who was at the center of the disputed vote count in Florida during the 2000 presidential campaign. We take a break first. Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: I believe this is the third week we've been on the same day, January 26, and that terrible helicopter crash in Iraq. Coming up, a woman who made a name for herself in the 2000 election. First, at about a quarter to the hour, time for other stories that made news tonight. Erica Hill joins us from Atlanta -- Erica.
HILL: Hi again, Aaron.
Police say the juvenile son of the tribal chairman of a Minnesota Indian reservation is now in custody in connection with last week's school shootings. The Associated Press reports the boy was arrested on Sunday as part of an investigation into a potentially wider plot; 10 people died in last Monday's rampage at the Red Lake Indian Reservation, including the suspected gunman, 16-year-old Jeff Weise. Last week, an FBI agent said it appeared Weise acted alone.
In a report due out on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to be cleared of any conflicts of interest in the now defunct oil-for-food program in Iraq. A U.N. investigative committee will find that Annan did not exert any influence over the multimillion-dollar annual contract awarded to a Swiss company that employed his son Kojo. But the panel will also fault Kofi Annan for management lapses and failing to correct bureaucratic flaws in the program.
A federal judge says she is close to setting a trial date for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the U.S. in connection with the September 11 attacks. The government and Moussaoui's lawyers have agreed on a trial schedule. The Supreme Court ruled last week that Moussaoui could not have access to three al Qaeda prisoners he said would help his defense. The government plans to seek the death penalty in the case.
A report ordered by Congress finds serious gaps in a new system of computerized background checks for airline passengers. Officials say the system doesn't protect the privacy of travelers and the Transportation Security Administration hasn't met nine of the 10 criteria it must meet before launching it. The project, known as flight secure -- or Secure Flight, rather -- is aimed at identifying passengers who should get additional security attention.
And that is the latest from Headline News -- Aaron, back to you.
BROWN: Erica, thank you. An obscure office within the state government of the state of Florida was quite literally thrust into the spotlight overnight, as the dispute over the 2000 presidential vote count unfolded. So was the woman who occupied the office of Florida secretary of state, Katherine Harris. Her role in the most contested election of our time now as we continue our 25th anniversary series "Then and Now."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHERINE HARRIS (R), FLORIDA SECRETARY OF STATE: But please understand.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): She was the first lady of the election night that lasted 36 days, when the Sunshine State was in the spotlight. As Florida's secretary of state, Katherine Harris ended the 2000 vote recount.
HARRIS: I hereby declare Governor George W. Bush the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes.
AL GORE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And many thousands of votes that were cast on Election Day have not yet been counted at all.
O'BRIEN: Her decision was challenged and overturned by the state Supreme Court, but later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Throughout the election debacle, Harris endured ridicule about everything from her right-leaning politics to her hair and makeup.
HARRIS: I think they had to learn that I really wasn't Cruella De Vil. I think that was a learning curve.
O'BRIEN: Harris is now in her second term as a U.S. congresswoman representing Florida's 13th District. She keeps a bronze statue of the famous Florida ballot in her office on Capitol Hill, complete with pregnant and dangling chads.
HARRIS: No. 1, it's in my office, so that people don't feel awkward about bringing it up. It's just sort of -- it kind of takes the edge away.
O'BRIEN: She has written a book called "Center of the Storm" about her experiences during election 2000.
HARRIS: It was a remarkable experience. I learned a great deal.
O'BRIEN: Harris makes her home in Sarasota, Florida with her husband and stepdaughter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: This year, CNN marks 25 years, 25 years of bringing you the news. This series gives us a chance to look back at some of the major stories of our time and the newsmakers who played a role in those stories. Morning papers, however, just allow us to look ahead until tomorrow. And we will after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(ROOSTER CROWING)
BROWN: OK, time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world.
We'll start with "The Christian Science Monitor." A couple of things to mention. "Iraqi Troops Training: Signs of Progress. Critics Say Pentagon Keeps Revising Numbers of Trained Forces, Proving U.S. Has No Exit Strategy, But Military Sees Gains." I hope the military's right on this. Down here, Ed, if you will, "Oil Prices Spread To Grapes, TVs, and Pizzas." I guess the cost of getting a pizza delivered is going up as gas prices have gone up. That's true in New York. But they deliver them by bicycle here. Go figure.
This is actually today's "Minneapolis Star Tribune," but I like the headline. And this story, I think, by and large, has probably been undercovered. "We Don't Want to Sing" is the headline out of Red Lake, the Red Lake Indian reservation. "Prayers But Not Song Come Easily, as Community Mourns." The paper's done wonderful coverage on a very bad story.
Couple of other things on the page. Down here, "A Rousing Repeat for Gophers." That's the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers women's hockey team, NCAA champs again.
"The Oregonian" out West in Portland, Oregon. Down here, please. "Potter Rebuffs Pageant, Saying It's Not Open to All. Mrs. Oregon must be married to a man, and that excludes other living relationships," the mayor says. You know, there's controversy wherever you look. They also put the earthquake -- I would, too -- on the front page. "Major Quake Off Indonesia Kills Hundreds." It actually may run into the thousands now.
"The Detroit News" leads auto, as it often does. "Memo" -- or "Memos: Ford Made Explorer Roof Weaker." Uh-oh. "Automaker Says SUV Exceeds Federal Safety Standards and Is a Safe Vehicle."
"Philadelphia Inquirer" puts Michael Jackson on the front page. "Jackson Jurors Can Hear of Five Other Boys." Puts Michael Schiavo, or the Schiavo case, on the front page, too. "Husband Plans Autopsy. Michael Schiavo Says It Would Show the Extent of Brain Damage."
"The Chicago Sun-Times" ends it, as it always does. Up top, "Desperate for House Wipes," a little word play there. "America's Wild For Disposable Cleaning Cloths. Manufacturers Hoping to Clean Up." Get it?
Weather for Chicago tomorrow, "finally," 65 tomorrow.
We'll wrap it up in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Before we go, Bill Hemmer looks ahead at tomorrow's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Aaron, tomorrow on "AMERICAN MORNING," April 15 getting closer and closer. And for millions of Americans, the quickest way to get taxes out of the way is to go online. And now the government's making it easier than ever to file over the Internet. We'll take you through the process step by step, everything you need to know to do it right and to do it safe. See you tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time -- Aaron.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Bill.And we'll see you tomorrow at 10:00 Eastern time. Until then, good night for all of us.
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