Wesley Snipes Headed to Prison?; Accused Terrorist's Day in Court
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There is Turkey Creek itself. Let's just kind of zoom in. This is Kansas City proper. You have Kansas City, Kansas, and, then, obviously, Kansas City, Missouri. We will take you into Turkey Creek and the flood control project that they were working on here. And you will be able to see that this area here is kind of a ditch. And they have taken this ditch and they have tried to take this what's now a tunnel. You can see the tunnel right above the word "Just in," and then they're trying to take this water and take it all the way up into the Kansas River. Well, that's the interstate that you have been seeing on all the live shots here, as the people going under it, they are looking for the people. And here is the radar picture from last night adding up all of the rainfall that occurred. So, we're looking at really this area here kind of in the southwestern Kansas City, almost the Mission area. And an inch, maybe inch-and-a-half at the very most, up here by the airport, up toward Leavenworth, these orange and yellow areas. That's two to three inches. But that water would not have been in this creek, into the Turkey Creek, to get into the Kansas River. That would have actually been in the Missouri and already probably running off anyway. So, here you go, guys. Just you know that these guys are working as hard as they can to get these guys out of here, two guys out.</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.</s>MYERS: Two guys out, two guys still in there. We will keep you advised.</s>LEMON: And, again, Chad, as we hang on...</s>MYERS: There's the interstate I was talking about there, yes.</s>LEMON: Yes. We're trying to get some official or someone involved in this rescue operation on the phone here to talk about this. But there you go. We're telling you about two of those workers who had been brought out. And it appears -- I'm not exactly sure -- we don't have control of these pictures because they're coming from our affiliate. But it appears that they were laying something on the ground here. This is new video just in from KMBC, Chad Myers. I'm not exactly sure. That may have been a piece of equipment there, actually, and not a person. But it's good at least that they got two of those guys out. And we're hoping to get some new information in here. But, again, just to update the viewers, Chad has been talking about flooding in that area for the last couple of days. But he's saying it wouldn't have been in the Turkey Creek there. It would have been more in the Missouri River. So, that may not have played a factor in this. But they said the water was too high. And so that caused the boat that they were in to capsize. And then of course they called for help and the rescue workers were hanging on. And I just wanted to linger on these pictures a little bit, because it's new video. Not exactly sure what we're going to get here. But it appears we don't see any of the actual rescue -- or people who were rescued from that tunnel. So, as soon as we get more information on that, we will bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And, KMBC, thank you so much for those pictures there in Kansas City.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Prosecutors in Florida are hoping to make an example of Wesley Snipes. They're pushing a judge to give the action star the maximum sentence for three tax convictions. And we should know soon what that judge thinks. Meantime, CNN's Susan Candiotti joining us now from Miami to tell us what is going on -- Susan.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna. Well, this is a hearing, a sentencing hearing, that's been going on since 9:30 this morning, with the exception of lunch break, much longer than most sentencing hearings occur. But it is going on at a federal court in Ocala today. And as you indicated, the government is saying, look, Wesley Snipes may be wealthy, may be famous. But they're saying he's defiant and thinks he's above the law for failing to pay his taxes. And a jury, in fact, did convict him of three misdemeanor accounts of tax evasion. And the government says he owes from like $14 million up to $40 million. And they want to put him behind bars for at least three years and pay a fine of $5 million. But Snipes' defense attorneys have said all along that he's an innocent victim in all this, that he got bad advice from tax advisers, that he wasn't trying to defraud the IRS by not paying his taxes, but instead, as they put it, engage the IRS in a dialogue about why he didn't think he had to pay taxes. In any case, it's now sentencing day. And Snipes, among the -- other his two other co-defendants, have been entering letters of reference, for example. And that's very commonplace. Hollywood pitching in, in this case. Judge Joe Brown, who has his own TV show, is in court providing some support for Snipes and saying things like, he means well, but perhaps sometimes he's too trusting. Denzel Washington has stepped up, sent a letter to the judge comparing Snipes to a mighty oak tree, saying that he's a man of principle. And his co-star in the movie "White Men Can't Jump," Woody Harrelson, he also wrote a letter on Snipes' behalf saying that he's a role model, a caring father and doesn't deserve to be sent to prison. In fact, Snipes is asking for probation. But no one is quite sure whether he will be going to prison or back to a movie set -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: Very interesting, Susan Candiotti. And Sunny Hostin, our legal analyst, expecting that he's going to get time. So, we're going to see what the judge says. We know you're keeping an eye on things there from Miami for us. Thanks.</s>LEMON: All right. This one takes place in another courtroom. This is New York City. Tomorrow, a judge in New York hands down a verdict in a manslaughter involving cops and an unarmed man. Sean Bell is his name. And he was shot dead by the NYPD outside a strip club back in November 2006. Whatever the verdict here, cops don't want to be caught understaffed on the streets. And CNN's Deborah Feyerick is in New York. And they don't want that because they're afraid that there may be some possible violence or rioting, Deb.</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's always a risk of that happening. But right now, it's not clear that there's any evidence that that will indeed happen. The community activists who has been following this case and been lending support to the family, they're urging calm. Reverend Al Sharpton yesterday on the steps of city hall saying that this was nonviolent, that they're not going to be doing anything. Of course, everyone surrounding the family and the victims want these three detectives to be found guilty. The judge tomorrow at about 9:00 scheduled to hand down his verdict.</s>FEYERICK (voice-over): Nicole Paultre-Bell, has waited more than a year-and-a-half for this day, justice for Sean, she says, killed by NYPD detectives the morning the two were to marry .</s>NICOLE PAULTRE-BELL, FIANCEE OF VICTIM: I think about my wedding day every day.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired.</s>FEYERICK: Everything collided just before dawn that morning, November 25, 2006. Sean Bell and friends were winding up his bachelor party at this strip club in Queens. They didn't know a team of undercover NYPD detectives was inside investigating complaints of drugs, guns and prostitution. At closing time, Bell and his friends left, but not before witnesses say an argument broke out. Believing one of Bell's friends was going to get a gun from the car, one of the undercover officers followed the men. What happened next is at the heart of this trial.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm an undercover police officer. There are shots fired, shots fired.</s>FEYERICK: Police opened fire 50 times. Detective Michael Oliver, who reloaded his semiautomatic, fired 31 shots. Detective Gescard Isnora fired 11 times, Detective Marc Cooper four times. Their lawyers say the detectives thought their lives were in danger when Bell at the wheel tried, they say, to run down one of the detectives. But witnesses, including the two friends in the car, say they never heard undercover detectives identify themselves as police when they drew their weapons, and that Bell, in a panic, was trying to get away from the armed men.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For those naysayers that say that the police officers was just doing their jobs, they should imagine their child in that car being shot by the police for no reason.</s>FEYERICK: No gun was found around Bell or his friends. Prosecutors charged detectives Oliver and Isnora with manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment. Cooper was charged with reckless endangerment. As for the bereaved bride, she legally changed her name to Bell and is now raising the couple's two small daughters alone.</s>PAULTRE-BELL: I tell that her daddy is in heaven. He's watching over us. He's our guardian angel.</s>FEYERICK: Now, federal authorities have been watching this case very closely. If the three detectives are acquitted, not found guilty, then in fact federal authorities will step in to see whether in fact there were any civil rights violations. And they will do that by examining all of the evidence that was presented at that trial -- Don.</s>LEMON: All right, CNN's Deborah Feyerick in New York -- Deb, thanks.</s>KEILAR: Hillary Clinton has a couple of campaign events today in North Carolina. That's the state that is sharing the spotlight with Indiana on May 6, the next primaries. Now, she also has extra cash for the road ahead. Her campaign says it's brought in $10 million in new money since Tuesday's victory in Pennsylvania.</s>LEMON: Barack Obama is taking a breather today. He's home in Chicago with no public events on his schedule. Aides, though, are no doubt taking note of Clinton's claim that she's pulled ahead in the nationwide popular vote. She's right, but only if you count results from Florida and Michigan. Neither state's delegates are being counted because their primaries were held too early. In Michigan, Obama wasn't even on the ballot. Without those states, Obama has almost 300,000 more votes than Hillary Clinton.</s>KEILAR: And presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, he is in New Orleans. It's the latest stop on a weeklong tour of what his campaign calls forgotten areas of the country. He got a look this morning at the flood-ravaged and still struggling Lower Ninth Ward.</s>LEMON: Well, they're young, they're tuned in and they're American Muslims. Our Rick Sanchez talking with some first-time voters.</s>KEILAR: And the rocketing price of food. If the richest nations are feeling the pinch, imagine the impact on the developing world. If there's barely enough to eat today, what about tomorrow?