Cleveland, Detroit Hit by Spring Snowstorm; Prosecution To Rest Tomorrow In Michael Jackson Case
O'BRIEN: Look across the nation this hour. It's been officially spring for more than a month, but try telling that to this poor guy, digging out from beneath a foot of fresh snow dumped into Northeastern Ohio. Thousands of Cleveland area households without power tonight. Temperatures should be around 60 this time of year. The high today in Cleveland, all of 34. More on this curious storm and a full forecast that is coming up very shortly. Authorities in Campbell, Wisconsin report finding human remains in a basement freezer. The discovery came after an overnight standoff with a man accused of shooting and wounding a neighbor. Sheriff's deputies believe the body in the freezer may be that of his mother. Authorities in eastern Georgia are investigating the disappearance of a two-year old girl and her three-year old brother. Searchers using dog teams and helicopters looked in vain today for Nicole and Joe McCain. The mother reported them missing from their home last night. All right, rap sheet time. The Michael Jackson trial, the prosecution's about to wrap up its case. We're waiting to see if Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Roe will be called as a witness this week. And there's speculation former child movie star McCauley Culkin will testify on the pop star's behalf. For some insight into this rather bizarre case, we turn to Broward County prosecutor Stacey Honowitz and defense attorney Jayne Weintraub. Good to have you both with us. And the bell is on. Off they go, battling pugilistically verbally anyhow. All right, let's start off with Michael Jackson. Before we talk about what's going to come up this week, the possibility of Michael Jackson's former wife getting involved, how has the prosecution done so far? How about you - Stacey, you go first.</s>STACEY HONOWITZ, BROWARD COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Well, I think so far, the prosecution did a very good job. I know Jayne will probably disagree with me because of course we heard...</s>O'BRIEN: That's what she's supposed to do. She's supposed to disagree in this whole segment, right? So yes...</s>HONOWITZ: Yes, I guess she's supposed to. But you know what? It's been going pretty well. It really has. And I think this next week is really going to be the tell tale sign...</s>O'BRIEN: The accuser's mother is nuts, isn't she? I mean, she really - she's...</s>HONOWITZ: I'm not going to tell you that she's nuts.</s>O'BRIEN: Inconsistent testimony to say the least.</s>HONOWITZ: Well, she was a runaway witness, as we call it. A runaway witness.</s>O'BRIEN: Yes.</s>HONOWITZ: It's hard to reign in.</s>O'BRIEN: OK. That would be one way of putting it. Jayne, how would you put it?</s>JAYNE WEINTRAUB, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Not supposed to be this corroboration, this mother that they call of the accuser, who can't tell a straight story to save her life.</s>O'BRIEN: There's nothing consistent about her, right?</s>WEINTRAUB: She is a money grubbing woman, who's a wack job.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. And is - how important is that, Jayne, to this case? Because there are many other people who have testified?</s>WEINTRAUB: At the end, I don't think it will be that important, because in closing argument, each lawyer, each side, will wrap up the highlights for their own respective side. So I don't think it really matters.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. So what...</s>HONOWITZ: You can say she's a wack job all you want, but you'd have to say that she's smart enough to have masterminded all of this. Just because she's a wack job and a weirdo...</s>WEINTRAUB: If she was smart enough to go to the lawyer...</s>HONOWITZ: ...she's sophisticated enough to mastermind this whole...</s>O'BRIEN: Wait a minute. What did she mastermind though?</s>WEINTRAUB: She masterminded this prosecution. She masterminded by going to the same lawyer that in 1993, the accuser went to, and got a $20 million settlement. So I would say that this mom has 20 million good reasons of how to manipulate litigation.</s>O'BRIEN: OK, all right. Let's talk about what lies ahead for the prosecution as they wrap it up. A former wife of Michael Jackson, what's - what testimony - what's that going to do?</s>HONOWITZ: Big time. She's a big time weakness.</s>WEINTRAUB: She's in the middle of a very bitter custody battle.</s>O'BRIEN: Wait, wait, wait, one at a time. Jayne, you go first, I guess.</s>WEINTRAUB: You know, embittered custody battle.</s>O'BRIEN: Right.</s>WEINTRAUB: She has sold her children already to Michael Jackson. And what would be a better way to get them back? Get him convicted. So I don't think she'll...</s>HONOWITZ: Well, I don't know if this - you know what?</s>O'BRIEN: Wow, that's...</s>HONOWITZ: The prosecution must think that there's some kind of bombshell that she's going to drop, because they're saving her for the very end. And Jayne, you know as well as I do, in the prosecution's case, you better save your strongest points for your last points. And especially in a prosecution that's gone this long. She's going to say something on the stand tomorrow that's going to blow this case.</s>O'BRIEN: Like what? What? What could she possibly say at this point?</s>HONOWITZ: She's going to testify, Miles, she's going to testify. She's going to corroborate the testimony of the mother, who said that it was scripted as to what she was supposed to say on that tape. And that's the testimony...</s>O'BRIEN: Right.</s>HONOWITZ: ...that she's going to testify.</s>O'BRIEN: Well, there is that whole issue of...</s>HONOWITZ: She was forced to say...</s>O'BRIEN: There is the whole issue, Jayne, of the intimidation by Jackson's machine, and whether that somehow has brought to bear here. And she could testify in that regard, couldn't she?</s>WEINTRAUB: Well, she could, but the only thing that would matter is whether or not it was orchestrated by Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson's people, security, or whatever, might have different reasons for doing and ordering different people to do things. For example, they know that if this woman gets loose and gets to sell her story to "The National Inquirer" or any other tabloid, then their butts are in a sling as the security trying to be in charge of her. So they don't want her loose. The tabloids...</s>HONOWITZ: Jayne, they're working for him. They are working for him. Directions are coming from Michael Jackson.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. I want to catch you both to be on record on this. Where is the jury, do you think, right now? Are they, you know, are they just scratching their heads, wondering how superstars live? And could this be the way it is behind closed doors? Or what could possibly be on their minds right now? Jayne, you go first.</s>WEINTRAUB: I think my fear would be that they have - the prosecution has thrown so much dirt on the wall, it's like spaghetti on the wall, and you hope something sticks. And I think that's what happening here.</s>O'BRIEN: Is that a good attitude, though? Is that a good - Stacey, is that a good strategy, just throw it on the wall and see what sticks?</s>HONOWITZ: Well, I don't believe that's their strategy. I think they're bringing in all the evidence that they have. And I think really the jury is waiting now to see what Mesereau's going to do. And they want to see if he's going to deliver.</s>O'BRIEN: All right. One round only.</s>HONOWITZ: What he said in his opening statement.</s>O'BRIEN: Apparently one round only. Jayne Weintraub, Stacey Honowitz, thank you very much. A very civil discourse, you might say.</s>WEINTRAUB: Thank you, Miles. Have a nice week.</s>O'BRIEN: Stacey, joining us...</s>HONOWITZ: Thank you, Miles. Have a good night.</s>O'BRIEN: ...</s>O'BRIEN: Taking a look at headlines tonight and tomorrow, allegations against President Bush's nominee for the U.N. mounting. "Newsweek" reporting high-ranking officials in Britain didn't like working with John Bolton. The magazine says British officials complained in the past that Bolton was hurting nuclear disarmament negotiations with Iran and wanted him kept off of talks with Libya. The crew of the international space station back on earth tonight. A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying an Italian, a Russian and an American touched down safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan. A Russian and American remain on board the space station right now. Connecticut's decision to sanction same sex civil unions upsetting both conservatives and gay right activities. About 3,000 conservative opponents rallied against the law at the state capital today. Nearby about 80 gay activists took part in a fake wedding ceremony to mock what they call a half measure. They say gay couples should enjoy full marriage rights. No matter what kind of car you drive, you'll be getting a bit of relief from high gas prices. The average price of a gallon of regular now $2.24. That's a drop of nearly a nickel in two weeks. We're well into spring supposedly, but don't tell that to many Midwesterners who are now digging out from a heavy snowstorm. Up to a foot of snow fell this weekend. Parts of Michigan, but the Detroit suburbs bearing the brunt of this rare spring storm. Ohio also got slammed. Jonathan Kostin (ph) from our affiliate WEWS takes a looks at the wintry conditions in Cleveland.</s>JOHN KOSTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's almost May and the plows still can't get a break and just when you thought it was safe to put away your snow blower, old man winter comes back to life like a monster that refuses to die. Tim Cheney (ph) cut his lawn not once, but twice this season.</s>TIM CHENEY: The yard's already for summer, picked up all the twigs and all of the leaves and everything was - the lawn's ready, the earliest it's been ready in years, thanks to the nice weather.</s>KOSTIN: But now?</s>CHENEY: Now nice back to winter, but that's Cleveland for you.</s>KOSTIN: The weight of all this snow is a bit too heavy to bear, especially for power lines and trees. Annette Petroff (ph) was held hostage at her home by a fallen trees.</s>ANNETTE PETROFF: Not a huge crash, but now an inconvenience. It's not in the schedule to take down a tree today.</s>KOSTIN: And on days like this, you can learn who your true friends are.</s>PETROFF: Now here comes my great neighbor Vic Miller, who's going to help with bringing (ph) in the tree.</s>KOSTIN: And the folks who ran in the 10 mile race from downtown need to be congratulated. Some runners were overcome with emotion. Michelle was talked into running her first marathon by her kid sister Stacey.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The wind was like blowing me backwards. I mean I literally couldn't run at some of the spots because I was little - my feet out from underneath me. I ran into somebody because the wind blew me into him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I bought a nice little tank top and cute shorts. I was expecting to run in them. I picked up my shorts and this morning that's not exactly what I got.</s>O'BRIEN: That came from Jonathan Kostin of our affiliate WEWS. While the Midwest has gotten the worst of it, there are plenty of other places that are shivering this spring weekend. For a whole explanation of the wild weather, we turn to CNN meteorologist Orelon Sidney. Hello Orelon.</s>ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Thanks a lot Miles. This is the low pressure system responsible for all the problem. Remember this one too from the middle of the week? Actually started off in the Rockies, moved across the southern plains, produced 22 separate reports of tornadoes on Thursday, produced severe weather in the southeast on Friday and now it's working its way up the eastern seaboard and bringing snow. But this is the last gasp. You can see that some drier air is starting to come in because of all these breaks here in the radar. Still snowing though across parts of Michigan and Ohio. Here are some of the Michigan totals. These are mostly in the thumb of Michigan. That is northeast of Flint, north of Detroit. White Lake with 13 inches, Grand Blanc with 10 1/2, Detroit itself just got four inches and there's reason for that, very close to the coast. You've got quite a bit of warmth from Lake Huron, so that kept your snow amount low, but this certainly isn't the latest snow you've seen in Detroit. May 31st, 1910, you managed to pick up a trace. Here we go in Ohio, just about all of these locations now are suburbs of Cleveland, right along the Cleveland shoreline only six inches, but as you get into the southeastern suburbs, that's where you really racked up the amounts. Broadview Heights about 14 inches. It's going to come to an end later on tonight from the southwest to the northeast. By tomorrow, clouds linger, but you'll start to see those warmer temperatures. Highs tomorrow will be in the 40s and the 50s across the northeast. Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: Thank you very much Orelon, appreciate that. There's always partisan bickering in Washington, but as we mentioned, these days it's an all-out battle with Democrats and Republicans locking horns on two pressing issues at the moment, the ethics question surrounding House majority leader Tom DeLay and the future of the judicial filibuster. For some perspective on the matter, we turn to our senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Dr. Schneider, good to have you in the house. We appreciate it.</s>BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mr. O'Brien, good to be here.</s>O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the filibuster issue, turned even uglier over the weekend with the whole religious injection into all this, essentially saying that Democrats who favor the current filibuster rules, these are conservatives saying this, are against people of faith. Help us understand how that argument will play.</s>SCHNEIDER: Well, conservatives have been chaffing for decades really ever since the Roe v. Wade decision gave constitutional protection to abortion rights back in 1973, arguing that their personal religious liberties were - are being violated by an aggressive Federal judiciary. That fight has now broken out into the open. The key player in the incident you're talking about is the Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who made a broadcast with some religious groups in Kentucky and in the broadcast, the argument was made that the courts and their democratic allies are the enemies of Americans of faith. Well, that is a very inflammatory statement and it's gotten a lot of other religious figures not aligned with the religious right very upset.</s>O'BRIEN: Well and up to this point, the Democrats were a tough position on this one, weren't they?</s>SCHNEIDER: Yeah, they were.</s>O'BRIEN: Has that been shifting? Do you detect a little shift because of this and perhaps if we wanted to throw in the whole upshot of the Terry Schiavo.</s>SCHNEIDER: Terry Schiavo, right exactly. The Democrats were in the position of defending the filibuster. The filibuster doesn't sound very democratic. You think of an old crusty southern senator and a racist defending the south's traditions of segregation.</s>O'BRIEN: Or you think of Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."</s>SCHNEIDER: Well, that's not the prevailing views. That's the heroic image of the filibuster. But most people think of it as a racist tactic and the Democrats were arguing for that and they are still threatening to shut down the Senate and not allow it to operate if the Republicans pass a rule barring the filibuster for judicial nominations. That's a very tough position to uphold. I think the tide's shifted as you just said with the Terry Schiavo case because then Congress met in that extraordinary session about a month ago and passed a law to try to force the courts to save Terry Schiavo which most Americans thought was over reaching and an aggressive move by Congress to inject politics into a private family matter and then the leaders of Congress, most notably Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, started threatening the courts and saying that he wanted the Congress to make war on the courts and to take care of the justices, somehow punish them for not acting in the Terry Schiavo case. So now the Democrats have the advantage because they can say we need the filibuster to protect the integrity of the courts against congressional aggression.</s>O'BRIEN: Turning that debate inside out, you deftly led us to Tom DeLay. You gave me the segue. Tom DeLay, who has other issues that he is focusing on right now, the latest that came out today in the "Washington Post" Sunday edition talking about yet another trip, yet another paid for trip by lobbyists against House rules and given the circumstances this one pretty difficult for DeLay and his staff to deny he was not aware, correct?</s>SCHNEIDER: Well, they say he was not aware and the evidence that came out in the "Post" was the expenses for his trip were put on the charge card, the credit card of a lobbyist. That is strictly illegal. The only defense he can make is, he didn't know anything about it and that's very suspicious, because a lobbyist obviously paid for the trip and even if the lobbyist were reimbursed by a nonprofit foundation which he might have been, that still violates House rules and in point of fact, the House ethics rules say that if you're a member of the House, you have to take the initiative. You have to be proactive and make an inquiry about the real source of the funds, even if it ostensibly comes from a nonprofit foundation. So there's some really serious questions.</s>O'BRIEN: Bill, quick final thought here. Up to this point, it seems as if the leaders' strategy in this case has been to lash out against Democrats and the liberal media. Is that strategy a strategy that's going to work for him in the long run here?</s>SCHNEIDER: Not if these revelations keep coming out, drip, drip, drip, bigger, bigger, bigger, more, more, more. I mean people are suspicious of all politicians, whether it's a democrat like Jim Wright back in 1989 or a Republican like Tom DeLay and as these revelations continue to snowball, then I think he's going to be really thrown on the defensive and his days may be numbered.</s>O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider joining us from Washington on this Sunday night. Thank you very much, appreciate it.</s>SCHNEIDER: Sure.</s>O'BRIEN: Imagine being accused and convicted of a crime you never committed. That's what happened to this man, one of the Central Park five as you recall. But his ordeal was a learning experience as it turns out and now he's teaching others. It's an amazing story you'll see next. And still to come, a story of inspiration through tragedy. Mashida Ali (ph) on her father and some important lessons learned.