Michael Jackson Changes Attorneys; Australian Prime Minister Visits Iraq
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: CNN SUNDAY is just ahead but first these headlines. Cosmetics queen Estee Lauder has died at her Manhattan home. She was 97. She created her empire out of a family recipe for skin cream and a passion for helping women look their best. Lauder once said beauty is an attitude. The motto helped her build a multibillion- dollar empire. Hundreds of thousands of women's rights supporters marched in Washington today. Many demonstrators say President Bush's personal beliefs could determine whether Roe v. Wade is ultimately overturned. Activists from 60 countries were also on the National Mall. We are going to have a live report in just a moment. Authorities in Arkansas are searching for a little boy swept away in flooding near Huntsville. His sister was killed when their mother's car stalled on a low bridge inundated by floodwaters. The mother and another child escaped. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is expected to declare part of the state a disaster area. Well, we begin with the sudden shakeup of Michael Jackson's defense team. The entertainer and his attorneys have agreed to go their separate ways. CNN has learned Jackson is replacing Mark Geragos and Benjamin Brafman with another high profile criminal defense attorney, Thomas Mesereau Jr. CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, is on the story. He joins us right now by telephone. Jeffrey, what do you make of this outcome? What's going on here?</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this was the week that Michael Jackson got indicted in Santa Barbara County. And he, like most people, probably didn't like being indicted very much. And in the tradition of clients for a long time, he seems to have blamed his lawyers, and he's making a change.</s>LIN: Well, a change that seems a little mysterious in the wording of Benjamin Brafman's quote here that I'm going to share with you. He says, "Based on recent developments and discussions with various persons in the Jackson camp, it became clear that it would be best if Mark and I decided to step down." All right that's fine. But Jeff, listen to this: "And that's what we elected to do, for reasons we choose not to discuss publicly. We both wish Michael well." What are the possibilities here, other than just a disagreement over the outcome and the fact that he's been indicted?</s>TOOBIN: Well, I think there are always issues about control, who is really in charge of the defense. Michael Jackson has been surrounded by a large and changing group of advisers, some of whom are from the Nation of Islam, some of whom are not. Some are new; some are old. And in dealing with an entourage like that, it's very difficult for a lawyer. I just have to say, Carol, I don't think it's all that surprising that Mark Geragos left the team. He, after all, is about to start a long and difficult trial of Scott Peterson. But Benjamin Brafman is, if I can voice my own opinion, about the best lawyer I have ever seen. And to lose him is a big loss for Michael Jackson.</s>LIN: All right. With the lawyer he is hiring, Thomas Mesereau Jr., what do you make of him? He worked on the Robert Blake case but parted ways there, as well.</s>TOOBIN: And it's an example of how high profile clients sometimes go through a lot of lawyers. Thomas Mesereau has an absolutely excellent reputation. He is not, perhaps, as well known as, say, a Mark Geragos or a Johnnie Cochran, but Tom Mesereau is a superb lawyer. This is not a big change in level of lawyering, quality of lawyer. But obviously, it's new personnel, it's new person. And it could mean different things for the defense.</s>LIN: Jeff, any chance that these lawyers were exposed to something that was so disturbing to them that they felt that they needed to leave the case?</s>TOOBIN: I doubt that. You know, just to be blunt about it. High profile -- And all defense lawyers represent people they know to be guilty all the time, and the system requires them to represent them. So I doubt that it was any new information. These changes tend to come from power struggles rather than any squeamishness about the evidence.</s>LIN: All right. A lot of egos as well as lives on the line here. Jeff, thank you very much.</s>TOOBIN: Bye, Carol.</s>LIN: CNN reporter Miguel Marquez is following this story from Los Angeles, and we're going to bring you the details later this hour. In the meantime, we want to move on to Washington, where the abortion rights debate hit center stage today. Hundreds of thousands of activists descended on the National Mall for a massive women's rights rally. Abortion opponents were there, too. Our Elaine Quijano reports on today's protests.</s>ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirty-one years after the Supreme Court legalized abortion, a sea of abortion rights activists descended on Washington for what they call the March for Women's Lives. Their main message, to keep abortion legal. Organizers say roughly 1,400 groups mobilized activists for the event, which focused on broader women's healthcare issues.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not only abortion. It's sex education in the schools. It's providing condoms. It's the full reproductive healthcare program.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's about more than just pro-choice and abortion -- the abortion question. It's about women -- women's rights, women's access to healthcare. It is about women's health and lives and safety.</s>QUIJANO: The marchers made clear their opposition to President Bush in this election year, whose policies, they say, have undermined reproductive rights. Dozens of lawmakers and actors like Whoopi Goldberg and Cybill Shepherd joined in the march and rally and appealed to younger generations of abortion rights supports.</s>JULIANNE MOORE, ACTRESS: It's important for them to realize that these rights are not a given, that we're going to have to fight for them.</s>QUIJANO: The March also drew about 200 anti-abortion activists, who lined part of the route in a counter demonstration. One prompted to action by an abortion she says she had.</s>ANTOINETTE CARR, ANTI-ABORTION ACTIVIST: I regret every second. There's not a second that doesn't go by that I don't think about when I took a life. I have no right. There is no choice. The choice is if you don't want a baby, then you should do something to prevent pregnancy.</s>QUIJANO: U.S. Park police say 16 of the anti-abortion activists were arrested for protesting without a permit.</s>QUIJANO: As for the abortion rights activists, most hope their showing here will be enough to win swing voters come November and galvanize support behind President Bush's Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry -- Carol.</s>LIN: Elaine, did they give you a sense of how big a deal this really is going to be in the presidential race?</s>QUIJANO: Well, they certainly want to keep it at the forefront with things like the Iraq war, the war on terror. They are concerned that perhaps this is not getting the attention that it deserves. They want to make sure, as we heard Julianne Moore, the actress, say in the piece that especially those voters who don't necessarily feel they have to come out and vote, because they feel their rights are protected, they want to reach those people. And so they are making every effort. There were voter registration drives going on here on the mall, as well. People encouraging the folks who came up to go ahead and register to vote. And they plan to vote against President Bush, most of these people saying that they feel their rights are under attack.</s>LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Elaine Quijano, live on the National Mall. Well, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has been in the hot seat lately for his support of a women's right to choose. His daughter attended today's march in Washington.</s>VANESSA KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S DAUGHTER: The decision is really about pro-choice and pro-privacy. You know, we need to be talking about -- abortion should be rare overall and I want -- you know, we have to think about this in the big picture of making sure that civil liberties overall are being protected. There's a number of issues on the table again. And I think that we need to be careful that Americans have the ability make choices in their life and not to have choices made necessarily for them.</s>LIN: Vanessa Kerry says that, while many people get caught up in the emotional side of the debate, the real issue, for her at least, is the bigger picture of protecting civil liberties. A soldier killed today in a roadside bombing is the latest reported U.S. casualty in Iraq. And a U.S. Coast Guard member has died from wound suffered in the oil terminal attack that also killed two U.S. sailors yesterday. Jim Clancy recaps a weekend of bloodshed and tension throughout the country.</s>JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A U.S. Military Humvee burned furiously, churning up clouds of black smoke Sunday after a roadside bomb attack that sent the toll of dead and wounded higher in Iraq. One American soldier was killed and two others injured. Iraqi police reported one schoolboy killed and eight others injured when they gathered around the burning vehicle. The wounded boys told police they had been fired on by U.S. troops. That version of events could not be confirmed. Iraqi civilians and coalition troops came under fire from insurgents across Iraq, creating an atmosphere of insecurity, even as the capital welcomed a staunch supporter of the war, Prime Minister John Howard. Australia's prime minister laid a wreath during a short visit to Baghdad, a visit kept secret until he landed at the capital's international airport. John Howard's trip coincided with Anzac Day, when Australia remembers its war dead and those who serve in its armed forces.</s>JOHN HOWARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: I want to say from the bottom of my heart to the men and women of the Australian defense force who are serving in the name of their nation, here in Iraq, thank you for the wonderful work that you are doing.</s>CLANCY: Howard's political opponents at home want the remaining 850 Australian troops back by Christmas, saying their work as air traffic controllers at the airport is not critical to the Iraq mission. Apparent suicide bombers attempted to hit Iraq's main oil terminal overnight about 10 kilometers offshore in the gulf. The al-Amayah (ph) terminal is Iraq's main oil export route for loading crude onto tankers. The troubled town of Fallujah was relatively quiet west of Baghdad Sunday as coalition troops said they would allow more than 60 families to return as part of the uneasy truce there. That truce has been extended, although coalition commanders threaten until progress is made, U.S. Marines could storm the city. At the same time, the coalition has been straining to reinforce that truce and get gunmen off the street and Iraqi police back in control. (on camera) The coalition is trying to diffuse the situation in Fallujah and the surrounding area through talks. They're also holding out the carrot of tens of millions of dollars in reconstruction aid. Still, the problem remains, getting the gunmen to lay down their arms in return. Jim Clancy, CNN, Baghdad.</s>LIN: The soldiers' death in that roadside bombing in Baghdad today brings to 110 the number of U.S. troops killed so far in April. This month is the deadliest period yet for Americans in Iraq. At least 719 service members have died there since the March 2003 invasion began. Now, today would have been U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant's Elmer Krause's 41st birthday, but instead of celebration, there is sorrow today. Krause had been missing since an attack on a fuel convoy two weeks ago. His remains were recovered Friday. Krause's family says he wasn't afraid to serve. He was actually looking forward to helping younger soldiers.</s>JIM KRAUSE, BROTHER OF SGT. ELMER KRAUSE: The fact that it presented the opportunity to serve. He really didn't have an opportunity to serve in his life, other than himself. And when he went into the service, he realized that he not only served himself, but the military served him and that they -- that he had a place to belong. And that's, I feel that's the reason that drove him to continue in the service.</s>LIN: There's still a number of people believed to be held hostage in Iraq. And among them, an U.S. soldier and an American contractor. But for one Canadian man, the ordeal is over. Humanitarian aid worker Fadi Fadel was a captive for two weeks before his release last week, and he joined CNN live in morning from Montreal.</s>FADI FADEL, FORMER HOSTAGE: A couple of times, I thought, "I'm going to die." I was sort of trusting God. I was praying a lot, and I was hoping that, you know, my government and the organization that I worked for, the International Rescue Committee, are doing what they can to get me out.</s>LIN: So how is the Bush administration responding to this weekend's widespread insurgent attacks in Iraq and the standoff in Fallujah? Let's go to Washington and CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. Good evening, Suzanne.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Carol. Well, coalition as well as military officials say that they are pursuing the political track here. They are giving insurgents inside of Fallujah two more days to cooperate.</s>BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS: There have been some further agreements between the representatives in Fallujah and coalition representatives.</s>MALVEAUX: Those agreements center around the next critical benchmark, Tuesday. It's the new deadline for insurgents to turn in their weapons and the day coalition forces and Iraqi police will begin joint patrols inside the troubled city.</s>KIMMITT: If, in fact, that bears fruit that means that we have coalition control back inside the city of Fallujah.</s>MALVEAUX: But coalition officials and some members of Congress are skeptical such a high profile pitched battle can be resolved peacefully.</s>SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I don't think ultimately that we have a choice but to go in if they don't lay down their heavy arms. Because if you don't crack that nut and you don't control that -- particularly that city, it becomes a symbol for all of Islam.</s>KIMMITT: If we see foot dragging, if we see a slow down, if we see a lack of adherence to some of the terms that have been set out, we certainly have more than sufficient military capability.</s>MALVEAUX: And while coalition officials expressed cautious optimism about Fallujah, they expressed dire warnings about the city of Najaf, where the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is holed up.</s>DAN SENOR, CPA SPOKESMAN: A dangerous situation is developing in Najaf, where weapons are being stockpiled in mosques and in shrines and in schools.</s>MALVEAUX: Lawmakers from both parties chided the Bush for failing to get the international community on board sooner to share in the burden of rebuilding Iraq.</s>SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), MICHIGAN: I don't think we've been given a straight story at all. And I don't think that they have expressed to the public what the true costs are going to be in this war, including the nature of the insurgency itself.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The United States will carry the burden and bear the majority of the casualties.</s>MALVEAUX: With the deadline to transfer power to the Iraqi people only ten weeks away, U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi acknowledged the conditions are far from ideal to pulling this off.</s>LAKHDAR BRAHIMI, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY TO IRAG: Time is certainly a problem. We are working against the clock. We started on this job a little bit too late.</s>MALVEAUX: Brahimi also urged the U.S. to tread carefully in Fallujah or risk alienating Iraqis. This echoes what some feel in the administration, as well. They are concerned about alienating moderate Arab states -- Carol.</s>LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Suzanne Malveaux, live at the White House. Saving lives in Iraq now.</s>SGT. KRISTEN SKETCHLEY, U.S. ARMY: You can just hear this bam, bam, bam. And we just hit the ground. We thought we were being attacked. We didn't know what was happening. And the sound that I will never forget for as long as I live of just crunching metal.</s>LIN: Up next, a hero's story. Plus, the death toll continues to rise after a train explosion. We'll have the latest from North Korea.