ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
Who Will Pay the Price for Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners?; Family, Friends Remember Pat Tillman
Aired May 3, 2004 - 19:00 ET
...
COOPER: Well, it's a couple thousand miles from Neverland Ranch to Asbury Park, New Jersey, but that's where investigators have gone to search for evidence in his child molestation case. And, as it turned out it is not just a long trip in miles but a long trip back in time as well.
Here's CNN National Correspondent Frank Buckley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities in Monmouth County, New Jersey confirm that items believed to have belonged to Michael Jackson were seized by Santa Barbara County authorities, among them a pair of underwear. They were found in a wardrobe box with Michael Jackson's name on it, according to Henry Vaccaro, who says a court seized it in 1999 during a legal fight with the Jackson family.
HENRY VACCARO, SR., NEW JERSEY BUSINESS OWNER: One single pair of soiled white Calvin Klein size 28 underpants just thrown in a corner and nobody even bothered. I mean who cared? It was just a pair of dirty underpants as far as I was concerned.
BUCKLEY: In 2002, a company Vaccaro represents purchased a number of items of Jackson family memorabilia from that seizure and later sold them. Some of the items were even displayed for a while on a pay-per-view Web site.
VACCARO: This entire room was full of Jackson memorabilia from the floor to the ceiling.
BUCKLEY: Vaccaro says and New Jersey authorities confirm Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies seized the underwear, two photos of Michael Jackson with young boys, a note to "Rubbers," how Jackson reportedly referred to kids who stayed at Neverland, a note to the late "Dee Dee" Jackson, Tito Jackson's wife warning her about child molesters, a Neverland Ranch welcome kit and a Neverland "Do Not Disturb" sign.
No one has verified the ownership of the underwear, so what relevance could it and other items from five years ago have in the current case?
LAURIE LEVINSON, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL PROFESSOR: I think that the D.A. is hoping that either the underwear itself has some type of physical DNA evidence that will help their case or that the other evidence that comes with it provides some leads to molestation.
BUCKLEY: Jackson attorneys did not return calls from CNN. Santa Barbara County authorities had no comment.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, covering the case for us tonight, 360 Legal Analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle-Newsom, good to see you again. All right, let's talk about this underwear not in too much detail because I really don't want to get into all the gory details of it but I mean is this thing ever going to end up in court?
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it has the potential, right, because if it a viable source of DNA, keep in mind it has not been determined it is, in fact, Michael Jackson's, but my prediction this pair of Calvin Klein's is never going to see a day in court.
I think basically there's other ways for them to get a source of DNA from Michael Jackson. They can petition the court and get a search warrant and have him provide a sample.
COOPER: Because, I mean, who knows how many people have touched this thing or, you know, where it's been.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Quite a few people have so that really interrupts the chain of evidence in terms of it being introduced as a viable piece of evidence if so many different people have handled it. And, again, we still don't know that it is, in fact, his. We know some of the items that it was found with are Michael Jackson's.
COOPER: Searching this warehouse, I mean does it seem like a little bit of a fishing expedition to you?
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Well, it seems to me that the prosecution has cast a very wide net in this case from the beginning, you know, putting up the phone line to call in if anyone has had any contact with Michael Jackson, looking for other victims, going back ten years, et cetera. So, this is not surprising in that sense and there were some other items found in there as well.
COOPER: Right. There was a letter that Michael Jackson allegedly wrote to the wife of Tito Jackson, I guess she has passed away, warning her about child molesters.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Sure and now, of course, the prosecution is going to say that this could be some kind of consciousness of guilt or some kind of admission or it takes one to know one. Why would he be advising or warning her about that?
COOPER: In fact, he says in the letter like it could be an uncle. It could be an aunt.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: It could be (unintelligible) relative, et cetera. So, the prosecution would love to put this into evidence. If they can authenticate that it is, in fact, Michael Jackson that penned it, maybe it could have some relevance in the case.
Of course, the defense is going to say, look, this has no meaning whatsoever except that Michael Jackson loves children and looks out for his family and his family's children.
COOPER: All right, Kimberly Guilfoyle-Newsom thanks very much.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Thanks, Anderson.
Source: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/040.../03/acd.00.html
Who Will Pay the Price for Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners?; Family, Friends Remember Pat Tillman
Aired May 3, 2004 - 19:00 ET
...
COOPER: Well, it's a couple thousand miles from Neverland Ranch to Asbury Park, New Jersey, but that's where investigators have gone to search for evidence in his child molestation case. And, as it turned out it is not just a long trip in miles but a long trip back in time as well.
Here's CNN National Correspondent Frank Buckley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities in Monmouth County, New Jersey confirm that items believed to have belonged to Michael Jackson were seized by Santa Barbara County authorities, among them a pair of underwear. They were found in a wardrobe box with Michael Jackson's name on it, according to Henry Vaccaro, who says a court seized it in 1999 during a legal fight with the Jackson family.
HENRY VACCARO, SR., NEW JERSEY BUSINESS OWNER: One single pair of soiled white Calvin Klein size 28 underpants just thrown in a corner and nobody even bothered. I mean who cared? It was just a pair of dirty underpants as far as I was concerned.
BUCKLEY: In 2002, a company Vaccaro represents purchased a number of items of Jackson family memorabilia from that seizure and later sold them. Some of the items were even displayed for a while on a pay-per-view Web site.
VACCARO: This entire room was full of Jackson memorabilia from the floor to the ceiling.
BUCKLEY: Vaccaro says and New Jersey authorities confirm Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies seized the underwear, two photos of Michael Jackson with young boys, a note to "Rubbers," how Jackson reportedly referred to kids who stayed at Neverland, a note to the late "Dee Dee" Jackson, Tito Jackson's wife warning her about child molesters, a Neverland Ranch welcome kit and a Neverland "Do Not Disturb" sign.
No one has verified the ownership of the underwear, so what relevance could it and other items from five years ago have in the current case?
LAURIE LEVINSON, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL PROFESSOR: I think that the D.A. is hoping that either the underwear itself has some type of physical DNA evidence that will help their case or that the other evidence that comes with it provides some leads to molestation.
BUCKLEY: Jackson attorneys did not return calls from CNN. Santa Barbara County authorities had no comment.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, covering the case for us tonight, 360 Legal Analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle-Newsom, good to see you again. All right, let's talk about this underwear not in too much detail because I really don't want to get into all the gory details of it but I mean is this thing ever going to end up in court?
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM, 360 LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it has the potential, right, because if it a viable source of DNA, keep in mind it has not been determined it is, in fact, Michael Jackson's, but my prediction this pair of Calvin Klein's is never going to see a day in court.
I think basically there's other ways for them to get a source of DNA from Michael Jackson. They can petition the court and get a search warrant and have him provide a sample.
COOPER: Because, I mean, who knows how many people have touched this thing or, you know, where it's been.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Quite a few people have so that really interrupts the chain of evidence in terms of it being introduced as a viable piece of evidence if so many different people have handled it. And, again, we still don't know that it is, in fact, his. We know some of the items that it was found with are Michael Jackson's.
COOPER: Searching this warehouse, I mean does it seem like a little bit of a fishing expedition to you?
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Well, it seems to me that the prosecution has cast a very wide net in this case from the beginning, you know, putting up the phone line to call in if anyone has had any contact with Michael Jackson, looking for other victims, going back ten years, et cetera. So, this is not surprising in that sense and there were some other items found in there as well.
COOPER: Right. There was a letter that Michael Jackson allegedly wrote to the wife of Tito Jackson, I guess she has passed away, warning her about child molesters.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Sure and now, of course, the prosecution is going to say that this could be some kind of consciousness of guilt or some kind of admission or it takes one to know one. Why would he be advising or warning her about that?
COOPER: In fact, he says in the letter like it could be an uncle. It could be an aunt.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: It could be (unintelligible) relative, et cetera. So, the prosecution would love to put this into evidence. If they can authenticate that it is, in fact, Michael Jackson that penned it, maybe it could have some relevance in the case.
Of course, the defense is going to say, look, this has no meaning whatsoever except that Michael Jackson loves children and looks out for his family and his family's children.
COOPER: All right, Kimberly Guilfoyle-Newsom thanks very much.
GUILFOYLE-NEWSOM: Thanks, Anderson.
Source: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/040.../03/acd.00.html