Letourneau, Fualaau Allowed to See Each Other; Rick James Dies
MESERVE: There's a group often overlooked when we talk about fighting in Iraq: The U.S. military personnel who have been injured. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has been looking into their stories. Today, we follow-up on a soldier from Virginia who was wounded last year.</s>JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Witnesses clearly say one American soldier was shot in the head this morning while on patrol in Baghdad.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Manassas, Virginia, an army officer gave Jay Briseno's father the news...</s>JOSEPH BRISENO, FATHER OF WOUNDED SOLDIER: I asked him if Jay was OK. And he said, as we speak, he was in the operating room during that time.</s>STARR: Jay wanted to join the FBI someday. Now, 13 months later, a family in heartbreak. Jay is paralyzed from the neck down, blind and suffering massive brain injury. He is 21 years old. His parents now telling his story, but protecting his privacy, asking his face not be shown. Joseph Briseno was determined to bring his wounded son home. But then a fight to get the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay $13,000 for a special bed.</s>BRISENO: One day I get this phone call from the Army, thank you, Mr. John Radke. Then, he said he offer us help.</s>STARR: John Radke is part of a new Army effort to ensure wounded soldiers get the help they need for years to come, long after they take off the uniform. Radke went to the Briseno's house where Joseph took him down to the basement.</s>JOHN RADKE, CHIEF ARMY RETIREMENT SERVICES: Where he had his son staying and talked about a bed that -- his hope was that he would get a better bed that his son could lay in.</s>STARR: Working with Veterans Affairs which overseas Jay's care, Radke got the bed. The army will now track Iraq war vets for years.</s>RADKE: We do not want them to become forgotten.</s>STARR: For Jay and his parents, the war may never end.</s>BRISENO: I just want help from any doctors. I know there's doctors out there.</s>STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.</s>MESERVE: A dramatic development in the Mary Kay Letourneau case. A judge rules on whether she can be reunited with the former student with whom she had two children. A doctor may be under scrutiny in the ongoing investigation into the 2001 anthrax investigation. Also...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other people go on vacations and spend their days just laying around. This is a story we're going to be telling for the rest of our lives.</s>MESERVE: There's a new movie about a sea diver's worst nightmare. Could it happen to you? (</s>COMMERCIAL BREAK MESERVE: Welcome back. A developing story out of Washington State, Mary Kay Letourneau, a registered sex offender, learns if she can see her ex-student. We'll have a live report. But first, a quick check of stories now in the news. Law enforcement sources have identified a doctor with a background in bioterror response planning as the common thread to three properties searched yesterday. Residences in New York and New Jersey were searched in connection with the investigation into the deadly anthrax- laced letters of 2001. Attorneys representing Private First Class Lynndie England are asking for permission to call senior military officers to testify on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. The judge presiding over England's preliminary hearing says she'll decide tomorrow whether Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the former commander of U.S. troops in Iraq and others will be called. A Walt Disney World employee acquitted of fondling a teenage girl while dressed as Tigger the Tiger has been reinstated to his job. A union official says the worker was given other employment options, but opted to continue playing costumed characters. 1980's pop music icon Rick James has been found dead in his Hollywood home. James helped pioneer of the punk, funk style of that decade. And his "Signature Street Songs" album sold more than 3 million copies. There is no official on the cause of death. Rick James was 56-years-old. Keeping you informed CNN, the most trusted name in news. There is a new development in the case of Mary Kay Letourneau and her young lover Vili Fualaau. Letourneau was recently released from prison after serving 7 years for rape. CNN's Kimberly Osias joins us by phone from Seattle. Kimberly, fill us in.</s>KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hell, Jane. Well, Mary Kay Letourneau has done her time, more than seven years, in fact, behind bars convicted of raping then sixth grader Vili Fualaau. Now, the same judge who sentenced the former teacher, says the two can be together again, without violating the law. At 21, Vili Fualaau is still working on his GED, and was treated for deep depression while Letourneau was behind bars. But he says his feelings about her haven't changed. He says he still loves her. * feelings about her hasn't changed and he still loves her. The court ruling today from King County Superior Judge Linda Lau lifted the lifetime no-contact ban between the former teacher and her former student, this, of course, at Fualaau's request through his attorney. The district attorney didn't challenge his motion since, at 21, Fualaau is now a consenting adult. The Corrections Department also declined to object. Her former jail companions say Letourneau is interested in a future with her former student and may seek custody of their two daughters, Alexis and Audrey, now 5 and 7. No word yet as to when the couple will get together -- Jeanne.</s>MESERVE: Kimberly Osias, thank you for the latest. When the judge lifted the order barring contact between Letourneau and Vili Fualaau, she in effect gave the star-crossed lovers legal permission to be together. With me now from Miami Beach is former federal prosecutor Kendall Coffey. Mr. Coffey, did the judge have any other option here? Wasn't this sort of the common sense thing to do, given the fact they're both now adults?</s>KENDALL COFFEY, ATTORNEY: Well, that's exactly it, Jeanne. No other option. It couldn't have made the judge happy. It certainly couldn't have made the prosecutor happy. But he's 21. He asked for it. He got it. They'll be together again, to be sure.</s>MESERVE: What about the children? There are these two children. Apparently, Vili Fualaau's parents have been looking out for them. If these two stay together, is there a custody issue at stake here?</s>COFFEY: Certainly, this is an issue that can get looked at legally in a couple different ways. Obviously, if in some fashion, Mary Kay Letourneau petitions to have a greater degree of custody, then a lot of these issues are going to get replayed again. Meanwhile, if there's any abuse or harm to the children, with or without either of the parents getting involved, obviously, child welfare agencies can step in. But, frankly, up to now, there's no evidence that Mary Kay has done anything abusive to any of her own children. As a teacher, as a child molester, that's a different story.</s>MESERVE: Well, she is a registered sex offender. How does that come into play here. Can she have contact with her own children, given that fact?</s>COFFEY: The court addressed that issue during her appeal and said very specifically, whatever she's done, there's no evidence that she is a pedophile and while we're going to keep her away from other minor children, she can have access to her own children and has regular -- has had regular visitation during the course of her time in jail.</s>MESERVE: OK, here's a what-if question for you. What if the roles had been reversed? What if the teacher had been a male, having an affair with a younger female student? Do you think that the court would have ruled the same way?</s>COFFEY: Well, apparently, there is a case in Washington involving that role reversal. A male teacher served his time, got out, and wound up after some legal hurdles with getting reunited with the victim. The frustrating thing about all this, Jeanne, is, it's a perverse way of saying, crime and pay. She molested this child. Now, with his life turned upside down, she may be getting back to him. If this were a bank robber who served seven years and walked in and was able to then enjoy his $5 million, everyone would be outraged. Somehow this is playing out in a way that's very frustrating. But everyone's hands are tied and it's up to these two people to see what happens next with their lives.</s>MESERVE: Is this precedent-setting or this really -- this case just an oddity?</s>COFFEY: Well, I'm happy to say I think this is freaky rather than trendy. But the reality is that it does point to some limitations that the criminal justice system is going to have after somebody serves their sentence. As the appeals court said when they liked at it, the rest of this chapter, if there needs to be intervention, is going to come from the child welfare agencies or perhaps from the family courts.</s>MESERVE: Does the law have to be reevaluated in this case, do you think?</s>COFFEY: I don't think so. I think that it's so aberrational that there isn't a need to go and do any kind of significant reform. What we would hope would happen is that the child welfare agencies is going to keep a very close look on these two children. And, frankly, we have to wonder if whether there was a failure after this broke out, while in fact the young child victim was still young, still impressionable, could have had his life turned around, whether there was enough intervention at that time. Maybe there was. Maybe there wasn't. But it's certainly strange and tragic in some ways the way this is playing out now that he's 21.</s>MESERVE: We've addressed some of the limitations on registered sex offenders. What are some of the rights a registered sex offender would have?</s>COFFEY: Well, at some point, they can petition the court to release them from the requirement of registering as a sex offender if under the laws of Washington it's seen that the purposes are not served. In the meantime, everywhere that Mary Kay goes, with or without her child victim by her side, she will have to register with the sheriff's office, give some specific information. The media, public, will be able to follow her around in effect. And if she doesn't do that, it's a crime and ultimately she could be charged for failing to register and wind up back in jail.</s>MESERVE: But would it put her back in jail? Are the penalties that severe?</s>COFFEY: Well, it depends on the crime. It depends on the extent of the violation. But the reality is that I think that's one part of the law she's going to adhere to. What happens next is anyone's guess. Is there going to be another book attempt, made-for-TV movie? We should stay posted.</s>MESERVE: If she wants to have this status reviewed, and I can imagine she would, how long a period of time has to pass?</s>COFFEY: Well, she can actually proceed sooner rather than later on, rather than wait for the full term of the requirement of sexual offense registration. The key thing is she would have to show that she is no way any kind of a threat of being a predator again. And, frankly, what is so strange about this case is, the court reviewed it. And she didn't have any of the indicia of a pedophile. This was simply sort of this one-time freakish, obsessive, ultimately criminal transaction that as we know continues until this day. But there's no real evidence from any source that she's a harm or a threat to anyone else.</s>MESERVE: OK, Kendall Coffey, thanks so much for your insight on this. Appreciate it.</s>COFFEY: Thanks, Jeanne.</s>MESERVE: Police describe her as stone-cold and a manipulator. She is suspected of orchestrating the murders of her grandparents with the help of her girlfriend. And she's just 15 years old.</s>MESERVE (voice-over): Holly Harvey and her 16-year-old alleged lesbian lover, Sandy Ketchum, wept during their first court appearance facing charges many find hard to fathom. Police say the pair stabbed Harvey's grandparents to death in their suburban Atlanta home Monday, stealing jewelry and a truck, then fleeing to the coast.</s>LT. COL. BRUCE JORDAN, FAYETTE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: The motive was to gain freedom and to be able to stay together forever.</s>MESERVE: Relatives say Harvey's mother is in prison on drug charges and the teen had been living with her grandparents. Police say the elderly couple had ordered Harvey to stop seeing Ketchum and to stop using drugs. Harvey's uncle, the victim's son, says his father had alerted him there was trouble.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were talking about things at work and he came up and said that she had threatened to kill him. And I could see a little concern in his face.</s>MESERVE: The girls were arrested Tuesday on Georgia's Tybee Island, where 22-year-old Brian Clayton had befriended them, not knowing of the killings.</s>BRIAN CLAYTON, BEFRIENDED SUSPECTS: They didn't have nowhere to go. And I figured, since we just moved here, my mom might be nice enough to let them stay. They had jewelry and they were trying to get me to go pawn it. And I was like, why do you want to pawn your grandma's jewelry?</s>MESERVE: Police describe Harvey as callous and headstrong as she was arrested. They say they found bloodstained knives and clothes and, more chillingly, a to-do list they Harvey had inscribed on herself.</s>JORDAN: Holly had written four notes on her arm of things she wanted to remember to do. The first word was kill.</s>MESERVE: Police say the other words Harvey wrote on her arm were keys, money and jewelry. She and Ketchum are being held in separate facilities. Both are on suicide watch. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 31. Also in our justice report, police in central Florida say a mass murderer may be on the loose. The bodies of four men and two women were found in a house in an Orlando suburb. Police aren't confirming how they died, but say they believe the deaths were not accidental or suicide. Down on the farm. Kerry curries favor in the heartland, but who will carry these key states? Carlos Watson will have "The Inside Edge." Also ahead: (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "OPEN WATER") DANIEL TRAVIS, ACTOR: Do you honestly, seriously, honey, do you honestly think that we got left behind because we were late?</s>MESERVE: Alone in the ocean with sharks for company. It happened. But could it happen to you? And the X Games. The trick of the day is our picture of the day. But, first, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.</s>MESERVE (voice-over): Israel has reopened the Rafah border crossing, the only crossing between Gaza and Egypt. When Israel closed the crossing for security reasons three weeks ago, thousands of Palestinians were stranded away from home. Cemetery vandalized. For the second time in three weeks, Jewish graves in New Zealand have been desecrated. Almost 100 headstones were pulled out and smashed near Wellington, and the chapel there was burned down. Plague of locusts. West Africa is fighting its worst locust invasion in more than a decade. The swarms can devastate entire fields in minutes and there are fears of food shortages. Somber anniversary. Thousands gathered in Hiroshima, Japan, to mark the 59th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack. The mayor of Hiroshima called for a global ban on nuclear arms by 2020. And that's our look around the world.