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[NEWSMAN 1] HealthSouth CEO
Richard Scrushy was indicted on...
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[NEWSMAN 2] Scrushy built Birmingham-based
HealthSouth into a Fortune 500...
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[NEWSWOMAN] Richard Scrushy
was indicted on charges
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he orchestrated one of the biggest
accounting frauds in US corporate history.
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[WATKINS] High-profile cases,
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there are two trials:
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Outside the courthouse and inside.
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Court of public opinion is very important.
That's the first trial.
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People generally get their view
of trials
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and... and law and all that stuff off TV.
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Lawyers in the Richard Scrushy case
have a big job ahead of them
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even before they can present their cases.
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They need a barometer
of how things are going in the courtroom.
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We had a good day yesterday.
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And, uh, I expect us to have
a similar day today.
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And so, when they hear on the street...
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Today they had a good day.
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Then they get the sense
that this is not gonna be the lynching
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that everybody thought it was.
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"Wait a minute.
Maybe the guy actually has a defense."
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Wow, maybe he's gonna get off.
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"Maybe he deserves to get off."
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Inside the courtroom,
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decisions by jurors
are based on the human connection.
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So during the trial,
you make love to everybody.
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You get to know everybody.
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You want to know how their children are.
"What was your son's name again?"
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[LAUGHTER]
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Because if the building likes you,
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everybody feeds off of that.
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Everybody in the building
likes these guys.
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They must be the good guys, right?
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I'm not saying the trial's a theater,
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but once you know what you're working with
and what's not an issue anymore,
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the rest of it is just all-out offense.
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[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
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[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]
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[TYPEWRITER BELL DINGS]
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[DISTORTED SOUNDS]
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[FARRELL] Birmingham was the past.
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It was the center
in terms of civil rights in Alabama
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back in the 1960s.
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There was not much modern industry.
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Whatever old-line industries were there
had gone.
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And it was pretty clear
that better days were behind
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until HealthSouth came along.
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We're on our way.
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[MAN] As the fastest-growing
health care company in the world,
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with the commitment
of health care professionals
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that share our chairman's vision,
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the momentum of the past decade
is taking us right into the 21st century.
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[FARRELL] You have a company
that suddenly is at the forefront
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of a medical health care revolution,
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and you've got the chief executive,
Richard Scrushy,
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who became the evangelist for the company.
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He was the center of it.
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He was the charismatic leader.
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There was absolutely no one like him.
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- Richard Scrushy.
- Richard Scrushy.
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- [NEWSMAN 1] Financial wonder boy...
- [BROKAW] Richard Scrushy...
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[NEWSMAN 2] ...CEO of HealthSouth,
a Fortune 500 health care company.
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[NEWSMAN 3] Starting with nothing
and building a health care empire
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spread around all 50 states.
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It's a great day for Birmingham,
a great day for this metropolitan area.
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[SMITH] Richard was a motivator.
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He could take a room full of people,
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turn on the charm and the charisma,
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and by the end of the meeting,
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you're ready to knock the doors down
and conquer the world.
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This company is the best
health care company in the world.
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[CHEERING]
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He really was a visionary
in the health care field.
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We grew so fast and were so successful.
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We were a hundred million dollar company
in five years.
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[ANNOUNCER] Ladies and gentlemen,
Richard Scrushy.
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[FARRELL] The bigger HealthSouth became,
the bigger Richard became.
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Richard Scrushy very much wanted to be
someone like Steve Jobs,
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where he would be the center of attention,
he would be the front man.
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Now, not all businessmen stay
in their three-piece suits after work.
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In fact, this particular businessman
turns into a rock star.
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[WHITMIRE] When I say he wanted to be
a rock star CEO,
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he actually wanted to be a rock star.
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He wanted to do something next level.
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Who will survive
in this fierce health care landscape?
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That is for each of us to decide.
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[FARRELL] Certainly by the 1990s,
Richard was very well paid.
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He's a very prominent,
successful citizen in Birmingham,
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and he gives money to all sorts
of great causes.
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I have a check that was...
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I'm presenting to you 100,000 dollars,
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which is the first check
we're gonna present today.
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[APPLAUSE]
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He was certainly
a "local boy makes good" story.
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[WALLACE] You can drive on
the Richard Scrushy Parkway
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to the Richard Scrushy Campus.
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There's the Richard Scrushy Building,
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the Richard Scrushy Library,
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the Richard Scrushy ball field.
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[NEWSWOMAN] Scrushy captured
the American dream
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and is helping others do the same.
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[ALL] Thank you, HealthSouth!
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[MAN] Good morning.
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Earlier this morning
in Birmingham, Alabama,
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an indictment was unsealed
charging Richard Scrushy,
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the former CEO of HealthSouth Corporation,
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with fraud, money laundering,
and other offenses,
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based on his participation
in a multi-billion dollar scheme
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that defrauded members of the public
who invested in HealthSouth.
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[NEWSMAN] Federal prosecutors today
accused Richard Scrushy
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of personally directing one of the largest
financial scams in corporate history.
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Another flamboyant CEO
accused of multiple federal fraud charges,
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including overstating
his company's earnings
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by billions of dollars.
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[MARTIN] This was major.
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One of the largest financial frauds
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in the history
of the Department of Justice.
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[NEWSMAN 1] With that money,
investigators say, he bought four houses,
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one visited today by the FBI,
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and spent millions on himself.
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Racing and leisure boats,
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fine art by Picasso, Renoir, and Miró.
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[NEWSMAN 2] And now
Scrushy could lose it all.
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All told, Scrushy could be
looking at 650 years in prison.
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[NEWSMAN 3] Federal prosecutors
had major help building this case
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from former top officers of HealthSouth.
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[NEWSMAN 4] Five former
chief financial officers at HealthSouth
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already have pleaded guilty
and will testify against Scrushy.
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I was confident that Richard Scrushy
knew about the fraud.
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It was a classic case of greediness.
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Richard Scrushy was a poster boy
for "it's not enough."
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[WALLACE] There used to be
a Richard Scrushy statue,
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but after someone spray-painted
the word "thief" on it
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and a radio DJ urged people
to pull it down
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like Saddam's statue in Baghdad,
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workers removed it.
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There was a lot of schadenfreude
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and a lot of anger in Birmingham
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when the fraud became public
at HealthSouth.
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I moved from Atlanta to here
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to take a wonderful job
with a wonderful company,
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and Richard Scrushy screwed it up.
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It makes me angry.
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I think that he should've upheld
higher standards.
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He's guilty to everybody in this town.
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[WHITMIRE] We had national attention.
We had lots of local outlets
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that were focusing on it.
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It was every bit as big a story
as Enron was.
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I started writing a column
called Scrushy Watch,
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which was just sort of this,
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you know, a little bit gossipy,
a lot of voice to it.
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We made it very much about Scrushy.
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All of this conspicuous wealth
that he had.
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People like watching the mighty fall.
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[NEWSMAN] A lifestyle fueled by greed.
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[NEWSWOMAN 1] Homes, boats, jewels.
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[MAN] He was new money
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in a way that would make Donald Trump
look like a pauper.
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[NEWSWOMAN 2] Ten boats, including
the 92-foot luxury yacht Chez Soirée.
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Over 30 cars, including two Rolls Royces
and two Hummers.
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Here in Birmingham, Alabama,
where the median family income is $48,000,
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Richard Scrushy's outsized wealth
put him on a pedestal.
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I wonder if they'll let him, uh,
move his car collection down to prison.
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[SCRUSHY] When I look at the entrepreneur
and the visionary,
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that's somebody who can see opportunity.
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You've got to have the right vision.
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You've got to have the fire in your belly.
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You cannot be afraid of the risk.
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HealthSouth was
very, very important to me,
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and I did live and breathe it every day.
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Once I was indicted,
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I was accused of things
that I would never do.
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The media took everything
that I ever bought in my life
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and put it in the newspaper
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to make me out
like I'm some horrible criminal guy
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because I had a boat and a few nice cars
and a couple of houses.
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I mean, come on.
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I'm innocent, right? Until proven guilty?
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I needed somebody now that believed in me.
Somebody who would fight for me.
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The first group of attorneys I had said,
"I don't want you talking to the press.
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I don't want you doing anything."
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That... That didn't sound right.
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I mean, I'm getting beat up every day
in the press.
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Alice Martin's out there
saying all these horrible things
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that are not true,
and I can't say anything?
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Along came Donald Watkins who said,
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"Public opinion is as important
as anything.
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And if you don't say anything,
you're really gonna look bad."
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[WHITMIRE] Early on in this case,
Richard Scrushy has a choice to make.
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"Do I go the conventional route?"
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Abbe Lowell, big shot,
nationally prominent defense lawyer.
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"Or do I put my life
in the hands of Donald Watkins?"
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One never loses sight of the struggle
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that black people have undertaken
for decades in this city.
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He is a different type of lawyer.
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Someone who's not afraid to say
whatever he feels needs to be said
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in the press, in the public,
in courtrooms.
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Richard Scrushy chose Donald Watkins.
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And everything that happened after that
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happened because of that decision.
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[WATKINS] I knew 85 counts.
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Man, that's a tall order.
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I'd done criminal cases,
maybe ten counts, 20 counts,
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nothing of the magnitude of 85.
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I saw it as a challenge.
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Richard Scrushy was the most hated man
in Birmingham.
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He was the devil.
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Your jury pool is coming
from regular folks out here
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who are exposed
to all this mainstream media.
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So, we need to hit back
in the same news cycle,
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put our story out there all of the time.
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That's when the mobilization began.
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[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
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Donald Watkins said, "You've got to go out
and talk to these people."
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You've gotta tell the press the truth.
You and your wife need to get out there."
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We were fully on top of the situation
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and... and reported everything we knew
as soon as we knew it.
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And that's what the facts are,
and anything else is just not true.
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"Wall Street Journal calls,
you talk to them.
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Somebody calls you, they want
an interview? You talk to them.
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You tell them you're innocent.
Tell them you didn't do it.
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"Let's get it out there. Let's work it."
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You say you didn't keep track
of the accounting.
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- CEOs don't do that. CFOs do that.
- [WALLACE] I know that.
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Chief Financial Officer means
he is the chief financial officer.
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You've gotta understand the incentives
that people have.
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Look, we're gonna give our side
of the story.
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First of all,
there's no evidence against me,
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and I believe that 12 reasonable people
will rule in our favor.
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I just think he's an amazing man.
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I'm so thankful to be married to him.
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- You're not going to jail?
- No... No, I'm not going to jail.
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I'm an innocent man.
I'm not going to jail.
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[PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]
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[WATKINS] This is not defending a lawsuit.
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This is a rescue mission.
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You cannot win any case
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if you don't understand
the forces that you're fighting.
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The white community hated him
for the most part.
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00:13:39,860 --> 00:13:42,154
But the black community was neutral.
240
00:13:42,988 --> 00:13:45,491
And so, I told Richard,
241
00:13:45,950 --> 00:13:49,078
"That community may run to you
when you're in trouble"
242
00:13:49,161 --> 00:13:50,663
and not run from you.
243
00:13:50,746 --> 00:13:55,584
"And it may make a difference in your life
and the outcome of this circumstance."
244
00:13:56,293 --> 00:13:59,171
And he... he was quick
to pick up on that lesson.
245
00:14:00,631 --> 00:14:03,592
You need to realize.
I need to keep focusing on what God say.
246
00:14:03,676 --> 00:14:04,844
God's word will stand.
247
00:14:04,927 --> 00:14:06,762
If God's word says I'm healed,
I keep saying,
248
00:14:06,846 --> 00:14:09,241
"I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healed.
I'm healed. I'm healed,"
249
00:14:09,265 --> 00:14:10,599
until the manifestation comes.
250
00:14:10,683 --> 00:14:14,353
Because if I expect it, God will bring it
as a manifestation.
251
00:14:14,436 --> 00:14:16,897
[LOWE] Richard Scrushy,
he came to me and he said,
252
00:14:16,981 --> 00:14:18,732
"Bishop, I've been hurt."
253
00:14:18,816 --> 00:14:21,777
I've been hurt
by what people said about me
254
00:14:21,861 --> 00:14:23,320
and about my family.
255
00:14:23,779 --> 00:14:26,282
I need a place
where my family can worship.
256
00:14:26,866 --> 00:14:28,993
"I felt like this is where
the Lord told me to come."
257
00:14:33,247 --> 00:14:35,367
[SCRUSHY] There were white churches
I couldn't go into
258
00:14:35,416 --> 00:14:39,336
because the congregation
was made up of many of the white haters.
259
00:14:39,420 --> 00:14:42,339
You know, they wanted to believe
that I was the monster
260
00:14:42,423 --> 00:14:44,967
that the media was trying
to make me out to be.
261
00:14:48,345 --> 00:14:50,222
The black community welcomed us,
262
00:14:50,306 --> 00:14:53,934
and maybe it's because of the persecution
that they went through.
263
00:14:54,018 --> 00:14:56,103
For some reason,
they understood persecution
264
00:14:56,186 --> 00:14:57,866
a lot better than a lot of white churches.
265
00:14:59,899 --> 00:15:00,983
During this period of time,
266
00:15:01,066 --> 00:15:04,528
Leslie and I got deep
into studying scriptures
267
00:15:04,612 --> 00:15:06,238
and the Bible and theology.
268
00:15:07,197 --> 00:15:11,035
[LOWE] And Richard said, "Bishop,
I got caught up in the business world."
269
00:15:11,702 --> 00:15:13,245
He said, "I've been hurt."
270
00:15:13,329 --> 00:15:15,080
I've cried many times, and...
271
00:15:15,581 --> 00:15:18,918
"and I believe that God
had another purpose for my life."
272
00:15:19,001 --> 00:15:20,878
say God help me.
273
00:15:20,961 --> 00:15:23,005
[NEWSMAN] From the corner office
to the pulpit.
274
00:15:23,088 --> 00:15:27,176
When he's not proclaiming his innocence
after being charged with fraud,
275
00:15:27,259 --> 00:15:31,013
Richard Scrushy spends a lot of time
praying and preaching.
276
00:15:31,096 --> 00:15:33,724
Sometimes we're not sure
277
00:15:33,807 --> 00:15:36,143
about what we're seeing
and what we're hearing,
278
00:15:36,226 --> 00:15:38,395
and sometimes we miss things.
279
00:15:41,357 --> 00:15:43,901
[LOWE] After a period of time,
the news media found out,
280
00:15:43,984 --> 00:15:45,361
and they showed up.
281
00:15:45,444 --> 00:15:48,781
They said Richard Scrushy
joins an African-American church,
282
00:15:48,864 --> 00:15:53,160
and they said it was all manipulative
to poison the jury pool.
283
00:15:53,243 --> 00:15:56,330
And they asked me how did I feel
that he might have done that?
284
00:15:56,956 --> 00:15:59,583
And I said, "Hold on.
You don't understand something."
285
00:15:59,959 --> 00:16:01,835
We're talking about the word of God here."
286
00:16:02,419 --> 00:16:04,880
I saw him speaking
what was from his heart.
287
00:16:05,547 --> 00:16:07,383
[REFLECTIVE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS]
288
00:16:20,062 --> 00:16:23,649
[WATKINS] Scrushy had a foundation,
a philanthropic foundation.
289
00:16:24,108 --> 00:16:26,986
You know, he used to give to stuff
like the symphony and...
290
00:16:27,069 --> 00:16:27,945
and, you know,
291
00:16:28,028 --> 00:16:30,447
museum kind of stuff, you know.
292
00:16:31,407 --> 00:16:36,996
And he was persuaded that that is fine
and that's deserving and all that stuff,
293
00:16:37,079 --> 00:16:41,792
but you might want to redirect
some philanthropic money
294
00:16:41,875 --> 00:16:45,212
to communities that are
not used to getting your kind of money
295
00:16:45,295 --> 00:16:46,547
in any significance.
296
00:16:48,007 --> 00:16:51,010
[WHITMIRE] So Richard Scrushy starts
going around in Birmingham
297
00:16:51,093 --> 00:16:52,678
from church to church to church,
298
00:16:53,637 --> 00:16:56,223
speaking, talking about his story,
299
00:16:56,306 --> 00:16:58,767
talking about his... his faith,
300
00:16:58,851 --> 00:17:02,479
and, you know, leaving money behind
when he leaves.
301
00:17:04,940 --> 00:17:07,109
[LOWE] Richard did a lot
for a lot of churches.
302
00:17:07,693 --> 00:17:09,820
Provided roofs, carpets.
303
00:17:10,988 --> 00:17:12,197
He was very generous.
304
00:17:12,698 --> 00:17:15,367
He gave a lot
to the African-American community.
305
00:17:18,662 --> 00:17:21,832
I told him,
"These churches and these people"
306
00:17:21,915 --> 00:17:24,126
need to hear the word of God
that you've got.
307
00:17:24,710 --> 00:17:27,504
Give to them the greatest thing
that you have,
308
00:17:27,588 --> 00:17:30,424
"and that's your ability
to minister God's word."
309
00:17:31,133 --> 00:17:32,342
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS]
310
00:17:40,642 --> 00:17:42,728
[RANDALL] One day,
I get a call from Richard.
311
00:17:42,811 --> 00:17:45,564
And he goes, uh, "I bought a TV show",
312
00:17:45,647 --> 00:17:47,900
and, um, I want you to run it."
313
00:17:48,525 --> 00:17:49,525
I went,
314
00:17:50,069 --> 00:17:50,903
"What?"
315
00:17:50,986 --> 00:17:53,530
Welcome to Viewpoint.
I'm your host, Richard Scrushy,
316
00:17:53,614 --> 00:17:56,075
and with me today
is my wife and cohost, Leslie.
317
00:17:56,158 --> 00:17:59,161
On Viewpoint, we allow our guests
to present their views and opinion
318
00:17:59,244 --> 00:18:00,954
without negative media spin.
319
00:18:01,038 --> 00:18:05,084
We believe the truth and positive views
will have a great impact on our community.
320
00:18:05,167 --> 00:18:07,461
We are honored to have
Chief Justice Roy Moore
321
00:18:07,544 --> 00:18:08,544
in our studio today.
322
00:18:08,587 --> 00:18:10,839
We will speak with him
about his past tribulations,
323
00:18:10,923 --> 00:18:12,841
present trials, and future victories.
324
00:18:13,550 --> 00:18:16,512
If you watched the local media,
everything was bad.
325
00:18:16,595 --> 00:18:19,723
He said, "I've gotta do something
to try to defend myself."
326
00:18:19,807 --> 00:18:21,934
No weapon forged against you will prevail,
327
00:18:22,017 --> 00:18:24,520
and you will refute every tongue
that accuses you.
328
00:18:25,020 --> 00:18:28,565
This is my buddy that was getting, uh,
you know, hammered.
329
00:18:28,649 --> 00:18:31,151
We had to create
our own little Fox Network,
330
00:18:31,235 --> 00:18:33,112
if you will, to do something.
331
00:18:33,195 --> 00:18:34,863
We told the people the truth.
332
00:18:34,947 --> 00:18:38,784
A central figure in one of this country's
biggest corporate corruption scandals
333
00:18:38,867 --> 00:18:44,623
is dealing with his post-indictment,
pretrial life in a most unusual way.
334
00:18:44,706 --> 00:18:47,126
[NEWSMAN] The alleged mastermind
of one of the worst cases
335
00:18:47,209 --> 00:18:49,044
of corporate fraud in history
336
00:18:49,128 --> 00:18:52,840
has gone from CEO
to religious talk show host,
337
00:18:52,923 --> 00:18:54,174
with his wife at his side.
338
00:18:54,258 --> 00:18:55,592
I'm working very hard to,
339
00:18:55,676 --> 00:18:57,511
and Leslie and I, to get closer...
340
00:18:58,137 --> 00:18:59,555
closer in our relationship to God.
341
00:19:00,097 --> 00:19:02,516
[WHITMIRE] Richard buys time on television
342
00:19:02,599 --> 00:19:06,145
so that he can
put on a morning religious program,
343
00:19:06,228 --> 00:19:08,105
like a morning religious talk show.
344
00:19:08,188 --> 00:19:09,815
Be sure to choose God's path
345
00:19:09,898 --> 00:19:13,277
because the path you choose
will determine where you spend eternity.
346
00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,613
Nobody had really seen this side of him
before he got indicted.
347
00:19:16,697 --> 00:19:19,950
He reinvented himself
as a sort of televangelist.
348
00:19:20,033 --> 00:19:22,762
- Ever seen anything like this before?
- Never seen anything like this.
349
00:19:22,786 --> 00:19:24,872
[NEWSWOMAN] Some saw it
as an attempt to influence.
350
00:19:24,955 --> 00:19:27,166
Birmingham's Bible Belt jury pool.
351
00:19:27,249 --> 00:19:31,962
A lot of people see this for what it is,
basically a Richard Scrushy infomercial,
352
00:19:32,045 --> 00:19:33,297
uh, and they resent that.
353
00:19:33,380 --> 00:19:35,716
Is this an effort to soften the jury pool?
354
00:19:35,799 --> 00:19:38,468
If the jury pool's been tainted,
it's been tainted the other way,
355
00:19:38,552 --> 00:19:41,013
and it's been tainted
by those that have spread the lies,
356
00:19:41,096 --> 00:19:43,307
said the things about us
that are just simply not true.
357
00:19:44,474 --> 00:19:46,977
[WATKINS] The South
is a big religious deal.
358
00:19:47,644 --> 00:19:49,605
No matter what the jury composition,
359
00:19:49,688 --> 00:19:52,608
there are gonna be churchgoers
and there are gonna be people of faith.
360
00:19:52,691 --> 00:19:53,691
[INAUDIBLE]
361
00:19:53,734 --> 00:19:57,446
[WATKINS] We knew he needed to be on TV,
in his own words, he and Leslie.
362
00:19:58,405 --> 00:20:00,616
This is a different way of messaging.
363
00:20:01,325 --> 00:20:04,494
Twelve people gonna decide your fate.
You never know. You never know.
364
00:20:04,578 --> 00:20:06,698
If you'd like to get the latest
and most accurate news
365
00:20:06,747 --> 00:20:08,874
regarding my situation,
please visit my website,
366
00:20:08,957 --> 00:20:11,752
www.RichardMScrushy.com.
367
00:20:23,805 --> 00:20:27,434
[WHITMIRE] When Donald Watkins
was building the defense team,
368
00:20:27,517 --> 00:20:29,186
everyone expected
369
00:20:29,269 --> 00:20:32,814
400-dollar-an-hour defense lawyers
370
00:20:32,898 --> 00:20:35,525
from New York or DC.
371
00:20:36,652 --> 00:20:41,240
But Donald knew the value
of a home-field advantage.
372
00:20:42,366 --> 00:20:45,535
They needed somebody
who could talk to an Alabama jury.
373
00:20:46,954 --> 00:20:49,456
[WATKINS] You know, we tried
the out-of-state lawyers,
374
00:20:49,539 --> 00:20:50,791
Washington and New York guys.
375
00:20:50,874 --> 00:20:53,460
We brought 'em down,
and it wasn't working out.
376
00:20:54,795 --> 00:20:58,465
Alabama requires a down home talent level.
377
00:20:58,548 --> 00:21:02,427
You just need to be baptized
in the Alabama experience.
378
00:21:03,387 --> 00:21:05,264
You gotta have a Southern drawl.
379
00:21:05,931 --> 00:21:07,099
You gotta go to church.
380
00:21:07,891 --> 00:21:11,478
You have to know about the Crimson Tide,
the Auburn Tigers.
381
00:21:12,980 --> 00:21:14,773
It's hard to come in
from outside the state
382
00:21:14,856 --> 00:21:16,400
and... and have that.
383
00:21:16,483 --> 00:21:18,694
And if you don't have that,
you don't have a connection
384
00:21:18,777 --> 00:21:20,529
with the people sitting on the jury.
385
00:21:23,156 --> 00:21:24,783
Scrushy had a guy,
386
00:21:24,866 --> 00:21:26,118
I didn't know who he was.
387
00:21:26,201 --> 00:21:28,161
His name was Jim Parkman.
388
00:21:28,245 --> 00:21:29,871
The guy was in DUI court,
389
00:21:29,955 --> 00:21:32,916
like, maybe two weeks
before he came up to see us.
390
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,126
He was a good ol' boy.
391
00:21:34,584 --> 00:21:35,584
A good ol' boy.
392
00:21:43,218 --> 00:21:45,470
[PARKMAN] Donald said
that he had heard about me.
393
00:21:45,554 --> 00:21:49,266
And they felt
like they needed a lot more personality
394
00:21:49,349 --> 00:21:51,226
than what the government generally brings.
395
00:21:51,310 --> 00:21:53,520
And I agreed with that.
And we talked about that.
396
00:21:54,021 --> 00:21:56,398
At the end of it,
he and Richard talked for a minute,
397
00:21:56,481 --> 00:21:58,734
and Donald came back in
and said, "You're hired."
398
00:22:00,277 --> 00:22:02,070
[WATKINS] The guy didn't have
a big profile.
399
00:22:02,154 --> 00:22:06,074
He hadn't had any landmark cases
that went to the Supreme Court.
400
00:22:06,158 --> 00:22:08,869
But if he was capturing my attention
401
00:22:08,952 --> 00:22:10,746
and had me spellbound,
402
00:22:10,829 --> 00:22:13,457
I knew he could do that with a jury.
403
00:22:15,125 --> 00:22:17,165
[PARKMAN] I had a dream
of doing a big case one day,
404
00:22:17,210 --> 00:22:18,879
from the day I was in law school.
405
00:22:19,713 --> 00:22:21,673
I knew. "This is it, Jim."
406
00:22:21,757 --> 00:22:25,177
Here's your pressure, buddy.
Let's see if you can do it."
407
00:22:36,688 --> 00:22:38,857
[WATKINS] It seemed like
this was the perfect case
408
00:22:38,940 --> 00:22:43,153
with all five CFOs confessing,
pleading guilty,
409
00:22:43,236 --> 00:22:45,989
pointing the finger up
at the guy at the top.
410
00:22:46,073 --> 00:22:51,244
I knew that it was a political event
of presidential magnitude.
411
00:22:53,330 --> 00:22:54,581
Ninety days out now,
412
00:22:55,707 --> 00:23:00,504
the government dumped these six million,
or maybe nine million pages of records,
413
00:23:00,587 --> 00:23:02,047
computer records, just...
414
00:23:02,130 --> 00:23:03,298
It was a data dump.
415
00:23:04,299 --> 00:23:07,094
Our team went through those documents
three times,
416
00:23:07,177 --> 00:23:10,013
looking for anything to corroborate
417
00:23:10,097 --> 00:23:12,808
the testimony of any one
of those five CFOs,
418
00:23:12,891 --> 00:23:14,851
and there was nothing there.
419
00:23:17,729 --> 00:23:21,108
[PARKMAN] The government's case
is what we refer to in the law
420
00:23:21,191 --> 00:23:24,277
as a "Swiss cheese case."
421
00:23:24,361 --> 00:23:28,240
That means, "Boy, folks,
there are a lot of holes in it."
422
00:23:29,658 --> 00:23:33,161
The government relied
on the CFOs' testimony.
423
00:23:33,829 --> 00:23:36,748
And so, what we'll do is take them down
424
00:23:36,832 --> 00:23:39,418
and show another hole,
and we'll show another hole,
425
00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:42,963
and at the same time, make it fun.
426
00:23:43,046 --> 00:23:45,132
Now that... that... that's the key to this.
427
00:23:45,215 --> 00:23:47,634
Jurors like good stuff.
428
00:23:48,051 --> 00:23:51,012
They don't want to hear all this stuff
about a fraud.
429
00:23:51,096 --> 00:23:54,182
That would drive you up a wall
had to listen to all that crap.
430
00:23:54,766 --> 00:23:58,311
We had to make it that when I stood up
to do cross-examination,
431
00:23:58,395 --> 00:24:00,772
they leaned forward in the pew
getting ready. You know,
432
00:24:00,856 --> 00:24:03,418
"What's he gonna do? What's he gonna say?
How's he gonna do this?"
433
00:24:03,442 --> 00:24:04,484
That's what we wanted.
434
00:24:06,445 --> 00:24:08,947
[MARTIN] Our narrative was
that Richard Scrushy
435
00:24:09,030 --> 00:24:11,408
has taken advantage of people
436
00:24:11,491 --> 00:24:14,536
that trusted the numbers that he put out
437
00:24:14,619 --> 00:24:16,204
when they were false,
438
00:24:16,288 --> 00:24:18,540
and they lost their life savings.
439
00:24:19,207 --> 00:24:21,418
And all because somebody was too greedy
440
00:24:21,501 --> 00:24:24,087
and wanted the company to grow too fast.
441
00:24:24,671 --> 00:24:27,090
He needed the stock to perform
442
00:24:27,174 --> 00:24:28,675
so he could make money.
443
00:24:30,135 --> 00:24:31,761
Richard Scrushy was a visionary.
444
00:24:31,845 --> 00:24:34,264
He had a great business idea.
445
00:24:34,723 --> 00:24:36,349
But he didn't want to fail.
446
00:24:36,433 --> 00:24:38,435
And he always told his officers,
447
00:24:38,518 --> 00:24:40,395
"I'm not gonna report
448
00:24:40,479 --> 00:24:43,356
that we have missed
our projected earnings."
449
00:24:43,982 --> 00:24:47,027
You know, so, what are you gonna do?
450
00:24:48,904 --> 00:24:50,447
Commit fraud. [LAUGHS]
451
00:24:52,073 --> 00:24:55,577
[ANNOUNCER] This is ABC 33/40
News at 05:00.
452
00:24:55,994 --> 00:24:59,498
[NEWSWOMAN] Former HealthSouth CEO
Richard Scrushy gets his day in court.
453
00:24:59,581 --> 00:25:02,751
After much anticipation,
this trial is about to get underway.
454
00:25:02,834 --> 00:25:05,086
And the jury is ready to hear
the testimony
455
00:25:05,170 --> 00:25:08,215
in the trial of former HealthSouth CEO
Richard Scrushy.
456
00:25:15,639 --> 00:25:18,391
We've been waiting a long time
for the trial to start,
457
00:25:18,475 --> 00:25:20,310
and we're ready
to get the show on the road.
458
00:25:21,228 --> 00:25:24,481
[WATKINS] The government comes in
with all these guys, big briefcases,
459
00:25:24,564 --> 00:25:27,859
and titles that I can't even remember,
the titles are so long.
460
00:25:28,693 --> 00:25:33,281
Parkman comes in with the brown,
beat-up, expandable folder,
461
00:25:33,365 --> 00:25:36,993
you know, with the yellow legal pad
with sticky notes all over it.
462
00:25:38,036 --> 00:25:41,122
[PARKMAN] There were butterflies
from the time I got up that morning.
463
00:25:41,206 --> 00:25:44,960
Richard had passed
on the best of the best in Washington,
464
00:25:45,502 --> 00:25:47,712
the best of the best in New York City,
465
00:25:47,796 --> 00:25:49,839
and decided to run with me.
466
00:25:51,216 --> 00:25:53,176
This was a case of a century.
467
00:25:53,260 --> 00:25:55,387
And here I was, cast in the middle of it.
468
00:25:59,558 --> 00:26:01,278
[REPORTER] Are you confident
going in today?
469
00:26:01,351 --> 00:26:03,520
- [MAN] Richard!
- [APPLAUSE]
470
00:26:05,230 --> 00:26:07,375
- [SCRUSHY] Thank you so much.
- [WOMAN] You're welcome.
471
00:26:07,399 --> 00:26:09,319
- We're praying for y'all.
- [SCRUSHY] Thank you.
472
00:26:11,236 --> 00:26:14,614
[MARTIN] Our opening statement told,
through the use of PowerPoint,
473
00:26:14,698 --> 00:26:16,324
of when the company was founded,
474
00:26:16,992 --> 00:26:18,660
the names of the founders,
475
00:26:18,952 --> 00:26:21,580
the business of HealthSouth,
how it made money.
476
00:26:22,038 --> 00:26:24,749
These reports, these 10-Ks and 10-Qs
477
00:26:24,833 --> 00:26:27,794
that the Securities
and Exchange Commission requires,
478
00:26:27,877 --> 00:26:31,006
those are statements
that if you lie on them,
479
00:26:31,089 --> 00:26:34,926
that's a federal crime,
essentially giving the jury a road map
480
00:26:35,010 --> 00:26:39,139
for what the testimony would be
over the next couple of months.
481
00:26:39,889 --> 00:26:40,932
I'm sitting there,
482
00:26:41,016 --> 00:26:44,019
I'll be honest with you,
making faces to the jury, like,
483
00:26:44,102 --> 00:26:45,562
"Oh, God," you know.
484
00:26:45,645 --> 00:26:47,480
"Let's get this thing. Come on."
485
00:26:47,939 --> 00:26:49,357
Now comes our point.
486
00:26:52,110 --> 00:26:53,110
[WATKINS] "Hi."
487
00:26:53,528 --> 00:26:54,696
I-I'm Jim.
488
00:26:55,614 --> 00:26:56,906
I don't have no title.
489
00:26:57,490 --> 00:26:58,575
I'm from Dothan.
490
00:26:59,117 --> 00:27:02,037
And for those you
who don't know where Dothan is,
491
00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:04,789
when you're leaving Birmingham
and going down to the beach,
492
00:27:04,873 --> 00:27:06,916
"that's where you stop
to fill up with gas."
493
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,879
And then everybody
breaks into laughter in the jury box.
494
00:27:10,962 --> 00:27:14,674
I could see the jury
falling in love with him.
495
00:27:16,593 --> 00:27:18,803
And I said, "Wow, folks",
496
00:27:19,387 --> 00:27:23,099
do you hear all this stuff
that this government said in this case?
497
00:27:23,183 --> 00:27:25,268
Good gracious alive.
498
00:27:25,352 --> 00:27:27,896
"It doesn't sound like
we stand much of a chance."
499
00:27:27,979 --> 00:27:29,022
Stop right there.
500
00:27:29,564 --> 00:27:32,942
So now I'm playing to that role
501
00:27:33,026 --> 00:27:35,153
of "we're the underdog."
502
00:27:35,236 --> 00:27:37,572
And because everybody likes an underdog.
503
00:27:37,656 --> 00:27:39,616
Nobody likes the New England Patriots.
504
00:27:39,699 --> 00:27:41,159
So now I've given them that.
505
00:27:41,242 --> 00:27:43,036
"We don't have much of a chance,"
506
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,497
except for something
my grandmama used to tell me
507
00:27:45,580 --> 00:27:47,666
when I was growing up as a young boy.
508
00:27:47,749 --> 00:27:49,250
'Remember this, Grandson.
509
00:27:49,334 --> 00:27:51,378
No matter how thin they make a pancake,
510
00:27:51,461 --> 00:27:53,672
it still has two sides to it.'
511
00:27:53,755 --> 00:27:56,675
So what I'd like to do
is you've just heard
512
00:27:56,758 --> 00:27:58,551
the side from the government.
513
00:27:59,135 --> 00:28:03,223
What I want you to do is
let's flip that pancake over, okay?
514
00:28:03,306 --> 00:28:04,683
"And let's cook the other side."
515
00:28:04,766 --> 00:28:07,352
You would be surprised
how many jurors you see nodding,
516
00:28:07,435 --> 00:28:10,522
going, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see that."
517
00:28:11,523 --> 00:28:14,109
So that started the pancake thing.
518
00:28:15,276 --> 00:28:18,279
Yes, what was that pancake spatula?
519
00:28:18,363 --> 00:28:20,115
The two sides... Oh, God.
520
00:28:20,699 --> 00:28:22,992
"My grandmother used to always say..."
521
00:28:23,076 --> 00:28:25,912
"It's like a pancake," he said.
"There are two sides to every issue."
522
00:28:25,995 --> 00:28:29,916
"No matter how thin you pour a pancake,
it always has two sides."
523
00:28:29,999 --> 00:28:34,045
He said, "Now we're gonna show you
the other side of the pancake."
524
00:28:34,129 --> 00:28:36,798
He says, "No matter how thin a pancake is",
525
00:28:36,881 --> 00:28:38,133
it has two sides."
526
00:28:38,216 --> 00:28:41,177
I think someone gave him a spatula
at one point.
527
00:28:41,261 --> 00:28:43,513
[STEWART] It reads,
"No matter how thin you make it,
528
00:28:43,596 --> 00:28:45,276
there are always two sides
to the pancake."
529
00:28:45,348 --> 00:28:47,892
Of course, we will stand by
and continue to find out
530
00:28:47,976 --> 00:28:50,061
just what is on the other side
of that pancake.
531
00:28:50,145 --> 00:28:53,857
Reporting live from downtown Birmingham,
Kevyn Stewart, ABC 33/40.
532
00:28:55,358 --> 00:28:56,985
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
533
00:29:03,658 --> 00:29:06,202
[FARRELL] Richard's wealth,
the flaunting of the wealth,
534
00:29:06,286 --> 00:29:10,498
the public displays of the wealth,
became a bad fact during the trial.
535
00:29:11,916 --> 00:29:15,086
Details would be filed in court
about his lifestyle,
536
00:29:15,170 --> 00:29:17,255
and that very much became the story.
537
00:29:17,338 --> 00:29:19,466
Instead of building HealthSouth,
it was about,
538
00:29:19,549 --> 00:29:22,469
"Oh, my God. Look at all this wealth.
What has he done with it?"
539
00:29:22,552 --> 00:29:23,636
The boats,
540
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:24,846
the paintings,
541
00:29:24,929 --> 00:29:27,640
his own personal fantasy
of becoming a country music star.
542
00:29:27,724 --> 00:29:29,809
This is all funded by shareholder money.
543
00:29:29,893 --> 00:29:32,353
And, uh, these were some of the best facts
the government had.
544
00:29:32,437 --> 00:29:34,147
It was just like, "Look at all this."
545
00:29:35,231 --> 00:29:37,984
[WATKINS] Look, the man's reputation
has been trashed.
546
00:29:38,526 --> 00:29:40,862
You know, think what you may about him,
547
00:29:40,945 --> 00:29:43,156
but one thing
people cannot take from him
548
00:29:43,239 --> 00:29:45,617
is that he led this company from nothing
549
00:29:45,700 --> 00:29:48,077
to a Fortune 500 global leader.
550
00:29:48,828 --> 00:29:50,371
It takes a little skill to do that.
551
00:29:50,455 --> 00:29:53,708
It just doesn't happen to you
because God shines on you that day.
552
00:29:54,542 --> 00:29:57,086
[PARKMAN] The government was showing
all these cars that he had
553
00:29:57,170 --> 00:29:59,923
and these houses and pictures
and money and all this.
554
00:30:00,006 --> 00:30:01,216
But we wanted to show them
555
00:30:01,299 --> 00:30:04,594
that he started from the same roots
they came from.
556
00:30:04,677 --> 00:30:06,805
Yes, he had these things,
557
00:30:06,888 --> 00:30:07,931
but he earned them.
558
00:30:13,394 --> 00:30:15,314
[SCRUSHY] I grew up
in a very humble environment.
559
00:30:16,397 --> 00:30:17,816
Our house was small.
560
00:30:18,650 --> 00:30:21,194
The neighborhood was not
the best neighborhood.
561
00:30:22,278 --> 00:30:23,780
My parents instilled in me
562
00:30:23,863 --> 00:30:26,241
that I could achieve any goal
I wanted to achieve.
563
00:30:27,826 --> 00:30:30,328
I had my first job
when I was ten, 11 years old.
564
00:30:30,411 --> 00:30:31,830
I was working in a hamburger joint.
565
00:30:32,247 --> 00:30:34,791
I always had money in my pocket
'cause I was willing to work.
566
00:30:36,876 --> 00:30:37,710
I remember the day
567
00:30:37,794 --> 00:30:40,713
that Martin Luther King
marched over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
568
00:30:41,756 --> 00:30:43,675
My father looked at that and said,
569
00:30:43,758 --> 00:30:46,386
"Come on. We're going down there.
This is historic.
570
00:30:46,803 --> 00:30:48,888
I want you to be able to say you saw it."
571
00:30:50,265 --> 00:30:52,600
And I was just a young kid,
12 or 13 years old,
572
00:30:52,684 --> 00:30:54,769
and I watched the whole march.
573
00:31:01,192 --> 00:31:04,696
[WATKINS] Richard Scrushy did not come
from the country club crowd
574
00:31:04,779 --> 00:31:05,822
in Selma, Alabama.
575
00:31:06,906 --> 00:31:08,950
This guy took the time to go to school.
576
00:31:09,701 --> 00:31:11,286
He was a respiratory therapist.
577
00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:13,705
Not a highfalutin job, right?
578
00:31:14,289 --> 00:31:15,289
Worked hard.
579
00:31:15,915 --> 00:31:17,333
Saved his money.
580
00:31:17,750 --> 00:31:20,295
Got with three or four of his buddies
and said,
581
00:31:20,378 --> 00:31:23,131
"You know what?
We oughta try to do a rehab business."
582
00:31:26,009 --> 00:31:28,761
[SCRUSHY] That company was
very, very important to me.
583
00:31:28,845 --> 00:31:31,514
It came from 20 years of building,
and working,
584
00:31:31,598 --> 00:31:34,309
and sweating blood,
and traveling all over the world.
585
00:31:34,392 --> 00:31:35,810
Just... I mean, it's hard.
586
00:31:39,355 --> 00:31:42,525
If you make enough money, you can buy
your own airplane, have your own boat.
587
00:31:42,609 --> 00:31:44,402
You can have exotic cars.
588
00:31:45,111 --> 00:31:47,363
Yeah, I mean, I did all those things.
Everybody does.
589
00:31:48,865 --> 00:31:51,284
What makes people get up
and go throw themselves
590
00:31:51,367 --> 00:31:53,244
after a vision like I did?
591
00:31:54,037 --> 00:31:56,039
To end up with nothing?
592
00:31:56,122 --> 00:31:57,206
No, I don't think so.
593
00:31:59,208 --> 00:32:02,503
Now, if you're envious
because somebody worked their butts off,
594
00:32:03,254 --> 00:32:05,840
and took a chance on their own dreams,
595
00:32:05,924 --> 00:32:09,135
and realized to some degree
their own dreams,
596
00:32:09,218 --> 00:32:12,430
and enjoyed the fruits of their labor,
597
00:32:12,931 --> 00:32:15,058
you're not mad at him.
You're mad at yourself
598
00:32:15,141 --> 00:32:17,936
because you didn't take a chance
on yourself.
599
00:32:24,359 --> 00:32:29,489
The defense story was
that Richard's a victim too.
600
00:32:29,572 --> 00:32:32,283
And he's just
a little ol' respiratory therapist
601
00:32:32,367 --> 00:32:33,743
who made it good on an idea,
602
00:32:33,826 --> 00:32:36,371
but he was depending
on these sophisticated people,
603
00:32:36,454 --> 00:32:40,416
and they... and they, uh,
led him down the wrong path,
604
00:32:40,500 --> 00:32:42,293
and so that became the narrative.
605
00:32:44,212 --> 00:32:46,005
I had no doubt in my mind
606
00:32:46,089 --> 00:32:49,217
that Richard Scrushy was guilty
of the financial fraud
607
00:32:49,300 --> 00:32:50,635
occurring at HealthSouth.
608
00:32:51,511 --> 00:32:57,183
We had five CFOs that could tell you
what Richard Scrushy had said to them.
609
00:32:57,892 --> 00:32:59,936
And they said, from the very beginning,
610
00:33:00,019 --> 00:33:01,437
when it was on the NASDAQ,
611
00:33:01,521 --> 00:33:04,399
that HealthSouth
never reported true numbers.
612
00:33:07,193 --> 00:33:09,904
[BELL DINGING]
613
00:33:15,827 --> 00:33:18,204
[SMITH] The financial world
back in the '80s and '90s
614
00:33:18,287 --> 00:33:19,567
is really a bit different today.
615
00:33:19,622 --> 00:33:21,457
It was a bit more
of the Wild West back then.
616
00:33:21,541 --> 00:33:22,667
[EXCITED CHATTER]
617
00:33:22,750 --> 00:33:25,253
People were paid well,
but at the same time,
618
00:33:25,336 --> 00:33:29,007
they knew their real pot of gold
was in the stock options.
619
00:33:30,133 --> 00:33:34,804
That definitely tied into this need
to meet the Wall Street expectations.
620
00:33:34,887 --> 00:33:37,306
[BELL DINGING]
621
00:33:38,725 --> 00:33:40,205
[BEAM] We started the company in '84,
622
00:33:40,268 --> 00:33:44,230
and by September of '86,
we were a public company.
623
00:33:45,231 --> 00:33:47,567
We had an aggressive, aggressive plan.
624
00:33:48,526 --> 00:33:50,778
But in the summer of 1996,
625
00:33:50,862 --> 00:33:53,656
we had missed our second quarter
pretty badly.
626
00:33:53,740 --> 00:33:54,574
[INDISTINCT]
627
00:33:54,657 --> 00:33:56,951
Bill Owens, my chief accountant, and I
628
00:33:57,035 --> 00:33:59,829
prepared ourselves
to go into Richard's office
629
00:34:00,288 --> 00:34:02,623
and tell him
that we had to report bad numbers.
630
00:34:03,249 --> 00:34:05,585
His face turned red,
and he started trembling.
631
00:34:05,668 --> 00:34:07,045
[YELLS] "Get out of my office!"
632
00:34:07,712 --> 00:34:10,089
We're not going to report bad numbers.
633
00:34:10,715 --> 00:34:13,051
Have you guys lost your minds?
634
00:34:13,843 --> 00:34:15,178
Get back into your office
635
00:34:15,261 --> 00:34:17,764
"and get these numbers
to where they need to be."
636
00:34:20,141 --> 00:34:23,394
I didn't have the courage
to stand up to Richard and say no.
637
00:34:24,854 --> 00:34:28,149
That night,
Bill Owens just bogeyed up numbers,
638
00:34:28,232 --> 00:34:29,400
cooked the books.
639
00:34:30,193 --> 00:34:31,861
And that's how the fraud started.
640
00:34:32,779 --> 00:34:34,405
Our year-end earnings per share
641
00:34:34,489 --> 00:34:37,575
exceeded the analysts' expectations
on Wall Street,
642
00:34:37,658 --> 00:34:40,536
and we had increases
in all business lines.
643
00:34:40,620 --> 00:34:42,330
So, net result,
644
00:34:42,413 --> 00:34:44,999
we had an incredible year,
so give yourself a hand.
645
00:34:46,959 --> 00:34:51,714
Bill Owens moved up and opened the way
for me to become CFO of the company.
646
00:34:53,382 --> 00:34:55,218
HealthSouth was growing,
647
00:34:55,301 --> 00:34:56,928
bonuses were starting to flow,
648
00:34:57,011 --> 00:34:59,305
and Richard bought his first yacht.
649
00:35:00,515 --> 00:35:02,183
Everything is looking good financially,
650
00:35:02,683 --> 00:35:03,684
at least on paper.
651
00:35:04,435 --> 00:35:05,645
But, at the same time,
652
00:35:05,728 --> 00:35:08,481
the fraud is growing out of control.
653
00:35:10,399 --> 00:35:14,278
It had gotten so large,
they were paying more in taxes
654
00:35:14,362 --> 00:35:16,531
than they were actually making.
655
00:35:17,073 --> 00:35:18,866
It was that upside down.
656
00:35:18,950 --> 00:35:20,493
[INAUDIBLE]
657
00:35:20,576 --> 00:35:22,703
[SMITH] Richard was pushing people
to their limits,
658
00:35:22,787 --> 00:35:25,581
pushing people to work
as hard as they possibly could
659
00:35:25,665 --> 00:35:26,833
to make things happen.
660
00:35:27,375 --> 00:35:29,460
It wasn't a question of right or wrong.
661
00:35:29,544 --> 00:35:34,966
It was just this mindset
of "we have to hit the numbers."
662
00:35:36,676 --> 00:35:39,095
His fortune and fame
was tied to the options.
663
00:35:39,178 --> 00:35:41,806
It was tied to the price
of the stock of the company.
664
00:35:42,473 --> 00:35:45,059
So as long as the company's
being promoted,
665
00:35:45,143 --> 00:35:46,978
as long as it's "hitting its numbers,"
666
00:35:47,562 --> 00:35:48,980
Richard is the king.
667
00:35:53,151 --> 00:35:55,319
Donald and I got a comment. Y'all want it?
668
00:35:55,403 --> 00:35:56,547
- [REPORTER] Yes, sir.
- Okay.
669
00:35:56,571 --> 00:35:59,407
You're continuing to see
the chapters unfold in this book,
670
00:35:59,490 --> 00:36:01,159
and there are a lot of chapters to come.
671
00:36:01,242 --> 00:36:04,829
We have a lot of our own witnesses,
and plus, we intend to...
672
00:36:04,912 --> 00:36:07,790
to vigorously cross-examine
each one of the government's witnesses,
673
00:36:07,874 --> 00:36:11,294
so just stay tuned
and follow us through each chapter.
674
00:36:12,003 --> 00:36:14,839
Jurors, they don't have
a long attention span
675
00:36:14,922 --> 00:36:18,050
for detail kind of stuff, you know,
a lot of records and stuff,
676
00:36:18,134 --> 00:36:20,303
but what they do understand well
677
00:36:21,137 --> 00:36:23,973
is whether a person is truthful.
678
00:36:25,266 --> 00:36:28,644
And if the witness is not truthful
and the testimony is disregarded,
679
00:36:28,728 --> 00:36:31,147
you have no case, government.
You have no case.
680
00:36:33,191 --> 00:36:36,277
So, with those five CFOs,
681
00:36:36,944 --> 00:36:39,697
what we have to do
is make each one of those people confess
682
00:36:39,780 --> 00:36:41,866
that they are basically liars.
683
00:36:43,201 --> 00:36:46,662
[POTEAU] Former HealthSouth founder,
CFO Aaron Beam,
684
00:36:46,746 --> 00:36:48,164
picks up his testimony today.
685
00:36:48,247 --> 00:36:49,957
The co-founder of HealthSouth says
686
00:36:50,041 --> 00:36:53,628
Richard Scrushy knew every move
that was made in his company,
687
00:36:53,711 --> 00:36:55,046
especially financially.
688
00:36:55,129 --> 00:36:57,131
Aaron Beam has told the court
HealthSouth began
689
00:36:57,215 --> 00:36:59,008
"aggressive accounting techniques
690
00:36:59,091 --> 00:37:01,886
to meet Wall Street's
financial expectations in the early '90s."
691
00:37:01,969 --> 00:37:04,972
He swore Scrushy told he
and HealthSouth's Bill Owens,
692
00:37:05,056 --> 00:37:07,516
"It's not an option to miss the numbers.
693
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:09,185
You need to fix the numbers."
694
00:37:09,268 --> 00:37:11,729
Aaron Beam concerned me
695
00:37:11,812 --> 00:37:15,858
because he was, in actuality,
a long-time friend of Richard Scrushy.
696
00:37:17,443 --> 00:37:20,321
And then we found out
that during the time period
697
00:37:20,404 --> 00:37:22,281
that this fraud was being committed,
698
00:37:22,782 --> 00:37:24,242
Aaron had a girlfriend.
699
00:37:24,325 --> 00:37:26,535
He was spending a lot of time with her.
700
00:37:26,619 --> 00:37:28,955
In fact, it was so much time
701
00:37:29,038 --> 00:37:32,833
that he brought her into the corporation,
gave her a desk, and hired her.
702
00:37:33,417 --> 00:37:35,544
Well, of course, Aaron was married.
703
00:37:36,045 --> 00:37:40,258
So, a lot of what started
on cross-examination with Aaron
704
00:37:40,758 --> 00:37:44,887
was he's been lying to people
all of his life.
705
00:37:47,682 --> 00:37:49,433
[BEAM] Day one,
the government asked me,
706
00:37:49,517 --> 00:37:52,895
and I'm explaining to the jury
how the fraud took place,
707
00:37:52,979 --> 00:37:56,232
and they're immediately falling asleep.
708
00:37:56,315 --> 00:37:57,984
They're bored out of their mind.
709
00:37:59,527 --> 00:38:02,530
The next day, the defense got me:
Jim Parkman.
710
00:38:03,281 --> 00:38:04,824
He almost immediately says,
711
00:38:04,907 --> 00:38:08,911
"Mr. Beam, you've had
an extramarital affair, haven't you?"
712
00:38:08,995 --> 00:38:11,789
And I looked over at the jurors,
and their eyes were that big.
713
00:38:13,374 --> 00:38:17,378
Then he got in my face. He says,
"Mr. Beam, when you went to New York City"
714
00:38:17,461 --> 00:38:20,923
and you presented numbers
to the investors, you lied.
715
00:38:21,007 --> 00:38:23,759
When you presented the numbers
to the accountants and auditors
716
00:38:23,843 --> 00:38:26,220
and the board of directors, you lied.
717
00:38:26,304 --> 00:38:27,722
You are a liar.
718
00:38:27,805 --> 00:38:29,223
You lie so much,
719
00:38:29,307 --> 00:38:31,392
"you don't know
when you're telling the truth."
720
00:38:33,102 --> 00:38:35,354
It's true. I mean, I did have an affair.
721
00:38:37,315 --> 00:38:40,192
At the time, my daughter was a maitre d'.
722
00:38:41,110 --> 00:38:43,362
A lady came in one night and said,
723
00:38:43,446 --> 00:38:46,657
"Your father is going to prison,
and I hope he rots there."
724
00:38:47,742 --> 00:38:49,243
[VOICE BREAKING] She broke down.
725
00:38:49,827 --> 00:38:50,661
[CRYING]
726
00:38:50,745 --> 00:38:51,745
I'm sorry.
727
00:38:56,834 --> 00:38:58,874
[PARKMAN] As soon as I said,
"No further questions,"
728
00:38:58,919 --> 00:39:02,757
the judge said, "You're through,"
he jumped up and ran out of the courtroom.
729
00:39:04,467 --> 00:39:07,762
Somebody said he went and called his wife
and told her before...
730
00:39:07,845 --> 00:39:08,888
before the news broke.
731
00:39:10,097 --> 00:39:11,158
- [REPORTER] Jim?
- Yes, sir.
732
00:39:11,182 --> 00:39:13,768
[REPORTER] Was it necessary to go so hard
after his character
733
00:39:13,851 --> 00:39:16,562
in terms of his personal life?
734
00:39:17,396 --> 00:39:19,899
I-I don't see any other way
that... that... that I...
735
00:39:19,982 --> 00:39:22,443
to do it but that way
and be a gentleman about it,
736
00:39:22,526 --> 00:39:26,405
but yet get into evidence
that I believe we needed for the case.
737
00:39:28,532 --> 00:39:30,201
[PARKMAN] I really liked Aaron Beam.
738
00:39:30,284 --> 00:39:32,912
Uh, and... and I tell you right now,
I hated doing it,
739
00:39:33,371 --> 00:39:35,373
but the guy's up there.
740
00:39:35,456 --> 00:39:38,209
He's trying to... to kill your client.
741
00:39:38,292 --> 00:39:41,796
So I've got to try to kill him.
So that's just the way it worked.
742
00:39:41,879 --> 00:39:43,422
Listen, thank y'all a lot.
743
00:39:43,506 --> 00:39:45,633
I'm going to get a drink. See y'all later.
744
00:39:45,716 --> 00:39:47,009
[LAUGHTER]
745
00:39:51,764 --> 00:39:53,307
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
746
00:39:53,766 --> 00:39:56,977
[CHURCH BELL RINGING]
747
00:40:03,567 --> 00:40:05,837
[SCRUSHY] You know, I just think
God blesses us every day.
748
00:40:05,861 --> 00:40:07,113
I'm just glad to be alive,
749
00:40:07,196 --> 00:40:10,032
and, you know, just thank Him
for everything we've got.
750
00:40:11,325 --> 00:40:12,660
[WATKINS] During the whole trial,
751
00:40:12,743 --> 00:40:16,080
Richard Scrushy was
a community kind of guy.
752
00:40:16,163 --> 00:40:18,416
He was at all these churches.
753
00:40:18,499 --> 00:40:20,835
He was on... He had his TV program.
754
00:40:21,252 --> 00:40:25,464
Uh, his philanthropic stuff,
redirected philanthropic giving.
755
00:40:25,923 --> 00:40:28,259
He had a good vibe
throughout the whole trial.
756
00:40:28,342 --> 00:40:29,342
He had a good vibe.
757
00:40:29,385 --> 00:40:31,178
- He is God's son.
- That's beautiful.
758
00:40:31,262 --> 00:40:32,847
- He can lay it down.
- Beautiful.
759
00:40:32,930 --> 00:40:35,015
And he has the authority
to pick it up again.
760
00:40:35,099 --> 00:40:37,017
- That's beautiful.
- Mmm. Amen.
761
00:40:37,101 --> 00:40:39,645
[WATKINS] You know, you need prayer
in whatever you're doing,
762
00:40:39,728 --> 00:40:42,273
especially when
you're navigating difficult seas
763
00:40:42,356 --> 00:40:44,108
and if you're a person of faith.
764
00:40:44,608 --> 00:40:48,320
And to have prayer leaders with you
is never a bad thing.
765
00:40:49,613 --> 00:40:52,825
[WHITMIRE] At one point during the trial,
there's this small gaggle
766
00:40:52,908 --> 00:40:55,369
of black ministers who started showing up.
767
00:40:56,036 --> 00:40:58,456
Prayed with Scrushy during breaks.
768
00:40:58,539 --> 00:41:00,249
Prayed with the family before.
769
00:41:00,833 --> 00:41:03,627
We in the media sort of nicknamed them
the Amen Corner.
770
00:41:04,170 --> 00:41:06,589
This man has done a lot of good
in the community.
771
00:41:06,672 --> 00:41:07,923
He helped a lot of people.
772
00:41:08,007 --> 00:41:11,343
[WHITMIRE] Because Scrushy
had put so much effort
773
00:41:11,427 --> 00:41:15,139
into trying to make inroads
in the black churches,
774
00:41:15,639 --> 00:41:18,684
the focus immediately shifted to,
775
00:41:18,767 --> 00:41:20,686
"He's bought
the African-American community."
776
00:41:21,103 --> 00:41:23,783
[REPORTER] A lot has been made out
that Richard Scrushy, some think,
777
00:41:23,814 --> 00:41:26,859
was doing an underhanded appeal
to the black community.
778
00:41:28,110 --> 00:41:30,154
[SCRUSHY] They tried to make out the fact
779
00:41:30,237 --> 00:41:33,199
that I had friends
that were in the ministry,
780
00:41:33,282 --> 00:41:35,576
that there was something wrong with that.
781
00:41:35,659 --> 00:41:37,203
If I had been just with white people,
782
00:41:37,286 --> 00:41:40,326
they probably would've said I was racist
because I didn't have black friends.
783
00:41:41,207 --> 00:41:44,793
[FARRELL] I had never, ever seen
anything like this in any other trial.
784
00:41:45,169 --> 00:41:49,465
He had successfully transformed himself
into a member of an oppressed community.
785
00:41:50,049 --> 00:41:52,593
[REPORTER] Speculation is
Richard Scrushy joined your church
786
00:41:52,676 --> 00:41:53,844
just to influence jurors.
787
00:41:53,928 --> 00:41:56,931
What's the issue about a white man
joining a black church?
788
00:41:57,014 --> 00:41:59,266
I got other white members
of my congregation.
789
00:41:59,725 --> 00:42:03,145
That me and my people are dumb enough
790
00:42:03,229 --> 00:42:07,650
to be lied to in this manner
and... and manipulated and controlled,
791
00:42:08,317 --> 00:42:09,610
what are you trying to say?
792
00:42:09,693 --> 00:42:12,821
It's offensive to me for you to even
make that kind of statement.
793
00:42:13,948 --> 00:42:16,700
[SCRUSHY] They saw it as another avenue
to attack me.
794
00:42:17,326 --> 00:42:18,494
"So he's a godly man now.
795
00:42:18,577 --> 00:42:22,081
He wasn't a godly man when he did all that
horrible stuff, but he's a godly man now."
796
00:42:23,541 --> 00:42:24,833
It's not a pleasant thing
797
00:42:25,668 --> 00:42:27,419
to have people attack your faith.
798
00:42:39,181 --> 00:42:40,224
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
799
00:42:42,017 --> 00:42:45,813
[REPORTER] You guys are looking forward
to getting more CFOs up on that stand?
800
00:42:45,896 --> 00:42:48,732
Can't get into that, but, uh,
whenever they want to put 'em up there,
801
00:42:48,816 --> 00:42:50,317
I hope we'll be ready for 'em.
802
00:42:50,859 --> 00:42:54,697
The defense strategy was
to take these five CFOs,
803
00:42:55,197 --> 00:42:57,199
sort of burnish their reputations,
804
00:42:57,658 --> 00:42:59,868
and then, in the minds of the jury,
805
00:42:59,952 --> 00:43:01,787
condense them down to one.
806
00:43:02,871 --> 00:43:04,373
And that was Bill Owens.
807
00:43:04,456 --> 00:43:07,459
He may be the prosecution's
most important witness.
808
00:43:07,543 --> 00:43:11,964
Now, Bill Owens is one of five
former HealthSouth CFOs under Scrushy
809
00:43:12,047 --> 00:43:13,047
who pleaded guilty.
810
00:43:13,090 --> 00:43:16,343
Saying his boss told him,
"Fix the numbers,"
811
00:43:16,427 --> 00:43:17,928
related to the company's earnings.
812
00:43:18,012 --> 00:43:19,930
He is described
as the government's key witness
813
00:43:20,014 --> 00:43:22,558
because he is the one
who wore the FBI wire,
814
00:43:22,641 --> 00:43:24,893
secretly recording Richard Scrushy.
815
00:43:24,977 --> 00:43:27,521
[NEWSWOMAN] Bill Owens described Scrushy
as a master salesman
816
00:43:27,605 --> 00:43:30,774
who ruled HealthSouth with fear
and enough intimidation
817
00:43:30,858 --> 00:43:32,735
to make others go along with the scam.
818
00:43:33,902 --> 00:43:37,865
[MARTIN] Bill Owens was
an essential witness in this case.
819
00:43:37,948 --> 00:43:41,201
He was the only CFO
820
00:43:41,285 --> 00:43:46,206
that was privy to the entire scheme
from day one.
821
00:43:46,624 --> 00:43:47,875
Bill is the person
822
00:43:47,958 --> 00:43:52,463
who physically made the first
several million dollars in entries.
823
00:43:52,546 --> 00:43:55,591
So I do believe
that Bill Owens was the orchestrator,
824
00:43:55,674 --> 00:43:59,637
if you talk about who was pulling
all the strings and making it work,
825
00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:02,431
but who directed him to play that part,
826
00:44:02,514 --> 00:44:04,850
uh, in our opinion, was Richard Scrushy.
827
00:44:04,933 --> 00:44:07,978
Uh, as Richard said
when he read the press release,
828
00:44:08,062 --> 00:44:09,813
you see our revenue went up two percent,
829
00:44:09,897 --> 00:44:12,107
uh, over the prior year
in the same quarter.
830
00:44:12,900 --> 00:44:15,361
[PARKMAN] Now, I knew a lot
about Bill Owens
831
00:44:15,444 --> 00:44:17,363
because I had an inside source,
832
00:44:17,863 --> 00:44:20,699
Richard Scrushy,
that knew a lot about Bill Owens.
833
00:44:22,159 --> 00:44:23,702
Bill wanted Richard's job.
834
00:44:24,203 --> 00:44:25,871
He wanted it big-time.
835
00:44:26,455 --> 00:44:31,877
And he believed in his mind
he was so smart that he could pull it off.
836
00:44:32,711 --> 00:44:35,255
Richard assured me
that he wasn't gonna change,
837
00:44:35,798 --> 00:44:38,926
that what is a scorpion
is gonna be a scorpion.
838
00:44:41,470 --> 00:44:44,098
When he was on the stand, I asked him,
839
00:44:44,181 --> 00:44:48,602
"Bill, in the past, you've gotten up
in front of HealthSouth employees,"
840
00:44:49,103 --> 00:44:50,354
and you have made the statement
841
00:44:50,437 --> 00:44:52,981
that you are the smartest man
on the planet.
842
00:44:53,941 --> 00:44:55,150
"Is that right?"
843
00:44:55,234 --> 00:44:57,361
And he went, "Yes."
844
00:44:59,905 --> 00:45:02,950
"You're so smart,
you're the one that developed this fraud."
845
00:45:03,033 --> 00:45:05,285
You know, you figured...
You got it through E&Y.
846
00:45:05,369 --> 00:45:08,080
You got it through the compliance
committee, the fraud committee,
847
00:45:08,163 --> 00:45:10,249
because you are the smartest man
on the planet.
848
00:45:10,666 --> 00:45:13,252
You hid it from everybody.
849
00:45:15,212 --> 00:45:16,797
"Including Richard Scrushy."
850
00:45:20,801 --> 00:45:23,011
[WHITMIRE] He came off as...
851
00:45:23,762 --> 00:45:24,847
shifty.
852
00:45:25,264 --> 00:45:27,349
And I don't think anybody on that jury
853
00:45:27,433 --> 00:45:30,811
loved Bill Owens
by the time he came off the stand.
854
00:45:39,486 --> 00:45:40,487
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
855
00:45:44,742 --> 00:45:47,453
Well, I'd say it's a great day
for the people of the United States
856
00:45:47,536 --> 00:45:49,288
because the justice system has worked.
857
00:45:49,371 --> 00:45:50,914
A defendant has been charged.
858
00:45:50,998 --> 00:45:52,291
He's had his day in court.
859
00:45:52,374 --> 00:45:55,669
He's had 55 days in court,
and now the case is rested,
860
00:45:55,753 --> 00:45:58,589
and we will prepare over the next few days
for our closing argument.
861
00:45:58,672 --> 00:46:01,508
[REPORTER] Are you satisfied with the case
you put on?
862
00:46:01,592 --> 00:46:03,260
Very pleased with the case we put on.
863
00:46:03,343 --> 00:46:07,055
The evidence came in just as we expected,
and I think it's overwhelming.
864
00:46:07,139 --> 00:46:09,475
[REPORTER] Fifty-five days of testimony.
865
00:46:09,558 --> 00:46:12,478
Complex, tedious, expert witnesses
from both sides.
866
00:46:12,561 --> 00:46:14,161
How do you put it in a nutshell for 'em?
867
00:46:14,229 --> 00:46:15,105
Talk fast.
868
00:46:15,189 --> 00:46:17,608
[LAUGHTER]
869
00:46:17,691 --> 00:46:20,611
[PARKMAN] So we get to where
we're working on closing.
870
00:46:20,694 --> 00:46:22,738
All the lawyers are sitting
around the table,
871
00:46:22,821 --> 00:46:24,156
and I said, "You know",
872
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:26,366
I think we oughta stay
with the same theme:
873
00:46:26,825 --> 00:46:28,202
The Swiss cheese thing.
874
00:46:28,660 --> 00:46:30,621
I wish we could come up with something,
875
00:46:31,163 --> 00:46:32,206
you know, graphic,
876
00:46:32,289 --> 00:46:37,127
"because a picture beats a thousand words.
I wish we could come up with something."
877
00:46:37,211 --> 00:46:39,630
And so, one of the young lawyers
that was there,
878
00:46:39,713 --> 00:46:41,590
a real smart young guy,
879
00:46:41,673 --> 00:46:45,677
he's got his computer and he's figuring.
He goes, "Hey, let me show you something."
880
00:46:46,178 --> 00:46:49,014
Uh, what about using a rat?"
881
00:46:49,681 --> 00:46:52,267
You know, when the ship starts going down,
882
00:46:52,684 --> 00:46:54,978
the first thing off a boat is a rat.
883
00:46:55,062 --> 00:46:56,313
They jump ship,
884
00:46:56,897 --> 00:46:59,066
just like the CFOs.
885
00:46:59,775 --> 00:47:01,485
It fit in with our theory
886
00:47:01,568 --> 00:47:03,529
that the rat is the person
887
00:47:03,612 --> 00:47:07,658
that cares less about the ship
and the people on it.
888
00:47:07,741 --> 00:47:10,536
They care about themselves
and saving their life.
889
00:47:11,870 --> 00:47:15,332
So I said, "I think I like this.
What can you give me?"
890
00:47:15,415 --> 00:47:18,295
And he looked through some stuff,
and then he turned the computer around,
891
00:47:18,627 --> 00:47:22,798
and I said, "That's it. Is there any way
you can blow this up for me?"
892
00:47:22,881 --> 00:47:24,721
He says,
"I'll have it for you in the morning."
893
00:47:29,096 --> 00:47:30,973
I felt a lot of pressure that day.
894
00:47:31,557 --> 00:47:33,642
I knew this closing argument
895
00:47:33,725 --> 00:47:36,812
is gonna make or break you
as a lawyer in this business.
896
00:47:37,646 --> 00:47:39,022
Let's see if you can do it.
897
00:47:41,191 --> 00:47:43,569
I got up for the closing argument.
898
00:47:44,653 --> 00:47:46,280
We had two big boards which were hidden.
899
00:47:47,364 --> 00:47:50,075
So when I got to the end
of my closing statement,
900
00:47:50,158 --> 00:47:54,621
I said, "And now, let's just get down
to the real brass tacks about this case."
901
00:47:54,705 --> 00:47:56,498
Let's talk about the rat.
902
00:47:56,582 --> 00:47:59,751
Who's the rat?"
And I pulled off something in front,
903
00:47:59,835 --> 00:48:04,172
and there was my poster of a cartoon rat
with the cheese.
904
00:48:05,007 --> 00:48:06,842
And I looked at the jury.
905
00:48:06,925 --> 00:48:09,636
And they all of a sudden
started smiling and laughing.
906
00:48:10,387 --> 00:48:15,517
And I knew that they recognized
that that rat was Bill Owens.
907
00:48:16,935 --> 00:48:19,146
And my comment then was,
908
00:48:19,813 --> 00:48:22,274
"You'd recognize him anywhere,
wouldn't ya?"
909
00:48:22,900 --> 00:48:24,776
And they all just started laughing.
910
00:48:25,944 --> 00:48:29,865
We've got Bill Owens,
who is the architect of everything.
911
00:48:29,948 --> 00:48:32,993
And here he is,
carrying the government's case,
912
00:48:33,410 --> 00:48:34,745
full of holes.
913
00:48:37,414 --> 00:48:39,374
[WHITMIRE] And then he starts crying.
914
00:48:39,958 --> 00:48:42,085
And he says, "Now..."
915
00:48:45,172 --> 00:48:46,172
I'm just...
916
00:48:46,965 --> 00:48:48,216
a simple lawyer
917
00:48:49,176 --> 00:48:50,719
from Dothan, Alabama.
918
00:48:52,220 --> 00:48:54,765
And if I've done anything
to embarrass Richard,
919
00:48:54,848 --> 00:48:56,850
I don't want you to hold it against him.
920
00:48:58,769 --> 00:48:59,978
I want you...
921
00:49:00,979 --> 00:49:03,231
to listen to the man
that's coming up after me
922
00:49:03,315 --> 00:49:04,983
"to finish the closing statement."
923
00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:08,195
And everybody thought,
"Nobody can top this."
924
00:49:08,278 --> 00:49:10,656
And then Donald Watkins gets up,
925
00:49:10,739 --> 00:49:14,034
walks over to the American flag,
picks it up,
926
00:49:14,117 --> 00:49:16,119
and wraps it around himself.
927
00:49:16,828 --> 00:49:19,623
I really wasn't sure
that what I was seeing was real.
928
00:49:22,209 --> 00:49:25,629
[WATKINS] What I found
that has worked consistently
929
00:49:25,712 --> 00:49:29,716
throughout my legal career
is an appeal to patriotism.
930
00:49:30,467 --> 00:49:33,595
I said, "Look, the protection
of that flag",
931
00:49:33,679 --> 00:49:35,597
it means a lot to me.
932
00:49:35,681 --> 00:49:40,143
It lifted me from where I was as a child
to where I am today.
933
00:49:40,769 --> 00:49:43,647
"And you guys and people like you
made that happen."
934
00:49:44,648 --> 00:49:48,402
That's when he got into, uh,
one of the greatest stories
935
00:49:49,277 --> 00:49:51,113
that I've ever heard on closing argument.
936
00:49:52,572 --> 00:49:56,702
When he grew up in Montgomery
as a young boy, he'd go to town,
937
00:49:56,785 --> 00:49:59,413
and his mother would give him
a peppermint.
938
00:50:00,372 --> 00:50:02,582
It wasn't to keep our breath fresh.
939
00:50:02,666 --> 00:50:04,543
It was, if the water fountain
940
00:50:04,626 --> 00:50:09,464
from which we were designated to drink
was not working,
941
00:50:09,548 --> 00:50:12,509
it would keep our mouths moist long enough
942
00:50:12,592 --> 00:50:16,096
till my mother could find one
that was working.
943
00:50:16,179 --> 00:50:19,224
And then, one day, 12 people like you,
944
00:50:19,307 --> 00:50:23,395
who were strangers to each other
and strangers to my family,
945
00:50:23,854 --> 00:50:25,313
and many like me,
946
00:50:25,397 --> 00:50:28,942
said, "No. Miss Watkins' little kids"
947
00:50:29,026 --> 00:50:32,362
can drink out of any water fountain
that worked."
948
00:50:32,446 --> 00:50:34,990
Then another group, just like you guys,
said that...
949
00:50:35,073 --> 00:50:37,367
use any bathroom...
He can sit at a lunch counter...
950
00:50:37,451 --> 00:50:39,661
buy a hamburger, French fries,
and a small Coke...
951
00:50:39,745 --> 00:50:42,164
go to any school
he's qualified to get into...
952
00:50:42,247 --> 00:50:44,727
said he can go to law school
at the University of Alabama...
953
00:50:44,791 --> 00:50:46,551
Twelve people, just like you,
sat in a box...
954
00:50:46,585 --> 00:50:50,338
But I don't think
that's what the 680,000 Americans...
955
00:50:50,422 --> 00:50:53,842
They had them jumping on top of grenades,
taking bullets in the head...
956
00:50:53,925 --> 00:50:58,180
made it possible for me to be here
in front of you today...
957
00:50:58,805 --> 00:51:00,682
to represent Richard Scrushy.
958
00:51:02,142 --> 00:51:04,561
This is your Iwo Jima moment.
959
00:51:04,644 --> 00:51:06,480
You were summoned to duty.
960
00:51:07,647 --> 00:51:10,108
It is our duty for the country,
961
00:51:11,109 --> 00:51:14,071
for the Constitution, and for truth.
962
00:51:14,738 --> 00:51:15,738
"Thank you."
963
00:51:18,283 --> 00:51:21,387
[REPORTER 1] Sixteen weeks of presenting
evidence that started in late January.
964
00:51:21,411 --> 00:51:23,830
How do you feel now that
that section of the trial is over?
965
00:51:23,914 --> 00:51:25,850
Well, we're... we're happy
to have it to the jury.
966
00:51:25,874 --> 00:51:28,168
Very happy and very pleased
with how things came in.
967
00:51:28,251 --> 00:51:30,545
[REPORTER 2] And again,
assessing the attackers,
968
00:51:30,629 --> 00:51:32,547
the prosecution more matter of fact,
969
00:51:32,631 --> 00:51:35,509
going by the evidence
that's been presented here. The defense...
970
00:51:35,592 --> 00:51:36,992
Yeah, we talked about the evidence.
971
00:51:37,052 --> 00:51:40,222
The defense talked about,
let's see, Montgomery, civil rights,
972
00:51:40,305 --> 00:51:42,974
wrapping themselves in the flag, Iwo Jima.
973
00:51:43,058 --> 00:51:44,643
If you've got an irrelevant subject,
974
00:51:44,726 --> 00:51:46,686
it was probably in the closing
you heard today.
975
00:51:46,770 --> 00:51:49,450
- [MAN] So you're the government...
- [MARTIN] We're the government.
976
00:51:49,523 --> 00:51:51,358
[MAN] But he's wrapped in the flag.
977
00:51:51,733 --> 00:51:52,734
Securely.
978
00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:56,696
[MAN] How do you beat that?
979
00:51:57,072 --> 00:51:59,282
Uh, we didn't. [LAUGHS]
980
00:51:59,366 --> 00:52:00,366
We didn't.
981
00:52:00,826 --> 00:52:03,787
In a federal courtroom
in Birmingham, Alabama today,
982
00:52:03,870 --> 00:52:05,580
the verdict was not guilty.
983
00:52:05,664 --> 00:52:06,498
Not guilty.
984
00:52:06,581 --> 00:52:09,292
Not guilty of any of the charges
against him.
985
00:52:09,751 --> 00:52:11,545
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]
986
00:52:14,923 --> 00:52:17,634
[PARKMAN] I turned to one of the lawyers,
and I went,
987
00:52:17,717 --> 00:52:18,969
"Did we win?"
988
00:52:20,011 --> 00:52:21,972
And he said, "We won, Jim."
989
00:52:22,931 --> 00:52:24,558
[SCRUSHY] I look up and Donald's crying.
990
00:52:24,641 --> 00:52:26,101
I'm like, "Wow.
991
00:52:27,686 --> 00:52:28,812
"This is powerful."
992
00:52:29,271 --> 00:52:32,149
Tears were coming out.
They were real. They weren't fake.
993
00:52:32,232 --> 00:52:34,234
I was glad for Richard.
994
00:52:34,317 --> 00:52:36,778
I was glad for his family.
I was glad for his wife.
995
00:52:37,404 --> 00:52:39,364
And I'll tell you this,
I was glad for Jim.
996
00:52:39,948 --> 00:52:40,949
It worked.
997
00:52:41,575 --> 00:52:44,536
And it was like, "I'm validated now."
998
00:52:44,619 --> 00:52:47,247
What we had to do is
we had to combine all the CFOs
999
00:52:47,330 --> 00:52:49,791
and put 'em under the wing of Bill Owens
1000
00:52:49,875 --> 00:52:52,210
and let that case
ride on Bill Owens alone.
1001
00:52:52,294 --> 00:52:55,338
And... And like the cheese and the rat,
you know...
1002
00:52:55,422 --> 00:52:58,633
Uh, that's right. And I think...
I think we did that too.
1003
00:53:00,385 --> 00:53:02,053
[WATKINS] I was happy that we won
1004
00:53:02,137 --> 00:53:06,057
because I wanted to establish
a certain standard
1005
00:53:06,141 --> 00:53:08,310
for an African-American lawyer
1006
00:53:08,393 --> 00:53:11,479
on a mainstream, high-profile case
1007
00:53:11,563 --> 00:53:14,691
that will never be broken
in American jurisprudence,
1008
00:53:14,774 --> 00:53:17,110
and I think I did that
with Scrushy's case.
1009
00:53:17,194 --> 00:53:20,572
Every case can be won, period.
1010
00:53:20,655 --> 00:53:22,782
We never start out with the philosophy
1011
00:53:22,866 --> 00:53:25,118
that it's gonna be "you can't win it."
1012
00:53:25,202 --> 00:53:31,458
It's... We start out, we gotta have
36 or 46 or 58 not guilty counts.
1013
00:53:31,541 --> 00:53:32,584
We start from there...
1014
00:53:32,667 --> 00:53:34,770
- [PARKMAN] How do we get there?
- How do we get there?
1015
00:53:34,794 --> 00:53:36,171
[WATKINS] Why hang around?
1016
00:53:36,254 --> 00:53:38,465
I knew that that was, you know,
pretty much it for me.
1017
00:53:38,548 --> 00:53:41,468
I left, uh, Birmingham the next day,
moved to Miami.
1018
00:53:42,093 --> 00:53:43,637
[REVEREND] Let's go home, baby.
1019
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:46,389
- Jesus taught us how to love each other.
- That's it. That's it.
1020
00:53:46,473 --> 00:53:48,183
We gotta have compassion, folks,
1021
00:53:48,266 --> 00:53:51,811
'cause you don't know who's next,
who's gonna be attacked next.
1022
00:53:52,312 --> 00:53:54,064
I was... You know, I was in that trial.
1023
00:53:54,147 --> 00:53:56,566
I saw the circus that they made of it
every single day.
1024
00:53:56,650 --> 00:53:58,902
I saw that ridiculous defense.
1025
00:53:58,985 --> 00:54:02,197
But I still thought this jury
is gonna see this and go,
1026
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:05,116
"Okay. Well, this has been
wildly entertaining, but come on.
1027
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:06,534
This guy's guilty as sin."
1028
00:54:06,618 --> 00:54:08,787
I couldn't believe the verdict.
1029
00:54:10,288 --> 00:54:14,793
It was just another case of,
"Damn! Richard is really smart."
1030
00:54:14,876 --> 00:54:16,002
[LAUGHING]
1031
00:54:17,545 --> 00:54:18,630
He pulled it off.
1032
00:54:19,214 --> 00:54:20,214
Yeah.
1033
00:54:20,966 --> 00:54:23,260
He should have to pay like I had to pay.
1034
00:54:24,135 --> 00:54:26,721
I mean, I went to prison.
I lost all my stuff.
1035
00:54:27,347 --> 00:54:28,848
[POTEAU] Alice Martin would only say
1036
00:54:28,932 --> 00:54:30,767
that she was disappointed
with the outcome.
1037
00:54:30,850 --> 00:54:33,270
We think that we did present
overwhelming evidence,
1038
00:54:33,353 --> 00:54:34,813
but the jury saw differently.
1039
00:54:35,397 --> 00:54:36,439
[WHITMIRE] In the end,
1040
00:54:36,523 --> 00:54:40,068
the thing that the prosecution
struggled with from the beginning
1041
00:54:40,151 --> 00:54:42,153
was to tell a story.
1042
00:54:42,237 --> 00:54:43,597
[REPORTER] Alice, what went wrong?
1043
00:54:43,655 --> 00:54:45,490
Do you think you made the case
too complicated
1044
00:54:45,573 --> 00:54:46,693
for this jury to understand?
1045
00:54:46,741 --> 00:54:49,744
I don't know.
Again, our job is to present the evidence,
1046
00:54:49,828 --> 00:54:51,997
and we'll need to hear some feedback
from the jurors
1047
00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:53,873
to know what were the problems,
1048
00:54:53,957 --> 00:54:57,669
uh, that they encountered
with, uh, their... their deliberations.
1049
00:54:58,336 --> 00:55:02,799
[MARTIN] Every loss is, uh, personal,
but the system is beautiful.
1050
00:55:02,882 --> 00:55:04,718
And it's one that I stand by,
1051
00:55:05,385 --> 00:55:06,385
win or lose.
1052
00:55:22,777 --> 00:55:25,196
[LOWE] The purposes of God
will always be fulfilled,
1053
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:27,532
regardless of what the plans of man are.
1054
00:55:27,615 --> 00:55:30,827
Richard had a spiritual umbrella over him
1055
00:55:30,910 --> 00:55:33,163
that covered him, that protected him.
1056
00:55:34,706 --> 00:55:36,958
After the trial, I told him,
1057
00:55:37,042 --> 00:55:39,210
"The reason you were found not guilty"
1058
00:55:39,294 --> 00:55:41,671
is because God gave you grace.
1059
00:55:42,422 --> 00:55:43,673
This is your church home.
1060
00:55:43,757 --> 00:55:44,924
This is where you belong,
1061
00:55:45,592 --> 00:55:47,344
"and you must always remember that."
1062
00:55:47,969 --> 00:55:49,429
We did not see him
1063
00:55:50,096 --> 00:55:51,765
too much more after that at all.
1064
00:55:59,939 --> 00:56:02,942
[PARKMAN] I had a conversation with him
right after the trial.
1065
00:56:03,693 --> 00:56:06,654
And I told him, I said,
"Richard, you know, I hate to say this,"
1066
00:56:06,738 --> 00:56:09,908
but maybe it's best that you pick up
1067
00:56:10,575 --> 00:56:12,369
and just move somewhere else.
1068
00:56:12,452 --> 00:56:14,704
Take the family and go somewhere else.
1069
00:56:14,788 --> 00:56:15,788
Start over.
1070
00:56:16,915 --> 00:56:22,212
You know? Because there's just
too much opinions left in this case here.
1071
00:56:23,046 --> 00:56:24,381
I don't care where you go.
1072
00:56:24,464 --> 00:56:25,548
Go buy an island.
1073
00:56:26,132 --> 00:56:27,550
"Just... Just move on."
1074
00:56:28,301 --> 00:56:29,969
And, of course, he didn't do it.
1075
00:56:33,973 --> 00:56:35,975
[PROSECUTOR] We're here
to announce the indictment
1076
00:56:36,059 --> 00:56:38,436
of former governor Don Siegelman,
1077
00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:41,147
his former chief of staff, Paul Hamrick,
1078
00:56:41,231 --> 00:56:44,818
and Richard Scrushy,
former CEO of HealthSouth.
1079
00:56:45,819 --> 00:56:48,822
When they came out and indicted him
1080
00:56:48,905 --> 00:56:52,200
for the bribery scandal
against the governor,
1081
00:56:52,283 --> 00:56:54,327
it seemed like a lot of poetic justice.
1082
00:56:54,744 --> 00:56:56,788
Don't believe
what the government is saying.
1083
00:56:57,080 --> 00:56:58,289
They're gonna twist the truth,
1084
00:56:58,373 --> 00:57:00,250
and they're gonna say things
that are lies.
1085
00:57:00,333 --> 00:57:01,751
[SMITH] The charges themselves,
1086
00:57:01,835 --> 00:57:04,796
I could see that as maybe
some manufactured charges
1087
00:57:04,879 --> 00:57:06,464
because they blew the first trial.
1088
00:57:07,257 --> 00:57:09,134
However, too bad, Richard.
1089
00:57:09,592 --> 00:57:11,261
Payback can be hell sometimes.
1090
00:57:13,930 --> 00:57:17,034
I got a call one day, and Richard said,
"I want you to come back and talk to me.
1091
00:57:17,058 --> 00:57:19,727
I've just gotten indicted
on this Montgomery case."
1092
00:57:21,896 --> 00:57:24,983
I kind of had a feeling
the government was gonna come after him,
1093
00:57:25,066 --> 00:57:27,360
but this wasn't that big a case.
1094
00:57:28,903 --> 00:57:30,071
I called Donald.
1095
00:57:30,572 --> 00:57:32,073
Now, Donald moved on.
1096
00:57:32,157 --> 00:57:32,991
He's in Miami.
1097
00:57:33,074 --> 00:57:36,536
He's... He's highfalutin it down there
with all the millionaires.
1098
00:57:36,619 --> 00:57:38,204
And Donald said, uh,
1099
00:57:38,288 --> 00:57:39,288
"Don't do it."
1100
00:57:39,998 --> 00:57:43,668
You've already won one
of the biggest cases in the United States.
1101
00:57:43,751 --> 00:57:46,212
"You need to put this behind you
and move on."
1102
00:57:47,046 --> 00:57:48,673
And so, I said to Richard,
1103
00:57:48,756 --> 00:57:52,093
I gave him a fee
that was a little high maybe.
1104
00:57:52,594 --> 00:57:54,345
And, uh, he said, uh,
1105
00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:57,056
"Jim, I ain't paying that."
1106
00:57:57,599 --> 00:57:59,893
And he said, "I've already seen
how you do it."
1107
00:58:00,727 --> 00:58:02,167
So I'll just get some other lawyers,
1108
00:58:02,228 --> 00:58:05,356
"and we'll fit your plan in with them,
and we'll do it."
1109
00:58:07,317 --> 00:58:10,111
Okay. Well, good day for the defense.
1110
00:58:10,195 --> 00:58:11,613
[LAUGHTER]
1111
00:58:13,031 --> 00:58:15,843
[WHITMIRE] Local prosecutors wanted
to give Richard Scrushy the proffer.
1112
00:58:15,867 --> 00:58:18,745
The folks in DC said, "No.
1113
00:58:18,828 --> 00:58:21,706
We get another bite at the apple.
We get another shot."
1114
00:58:21,789 --> 00:58:23,666
We just want the truth.
That's all we want.
1115
00:58:23,750 --> 00:58:27,670
We've been praying, this team of pastors.
We've got a pretty large group here today.
1116
00:58:27,754 --> 00:58:29,464
We've been praying for the truth.
1117
00:58:29,839 --> 00:58:31,966
It's hard fighting the federal government,
1118
00:58:32,383 --> 00:58:33,968
even if you're Richard Scrushy.
1119
00:58:34,469 --> 00:58:35,720
They're gonna find a way.
1120
00:58:35,803 --> 00:58:36,803
[CHUCKLES]
1121
00:58:37,180 --> 00:58:38,180
And they did.
1122
00:58:39,140 --> 00:58:40,725
[NEWSMAN] Guilty as charged.
1123
00:58:40,808 --> 00:58:42,477
Former governor Don Siegelman
1124
00:58:42,560 --> 00:58:46,773
and HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy
are now convicted felons.
1125
00:58:46,856 --> 00:58:49,484
It's a message to, you know,
Don Siegelman,
1126
00:58:49,567 --> 00:58:51,778
and to Richard Scrushy in particular,
1127
00:58:51,861 --> 00:58:54,739
'cause we just wanted this jury
to hold them accountable
1128
00:58:54,822 --> 00:58:55,907
for what they did.
1129
00:58:55,990 --> 00:58:58,535
[NEWSWOMAN] Richard Scrushy
was convicted of bribery
1130
00:58:58,618 --> 00:59:01,621
and was sentenced to seven years
in a federal prison.
1131
00:59:15,009 --> 00:59:17,428
[SCRUSHY] They took everything away
while I was in prison.
1132
00:59:20,056 --> 00:59:22,517
They took clothes. They took jewelry.
1133
00:59:22,600 --> 00:59:24,561
They took college degrees off the wall.
1134
00:59:24,644 --> 00:59:26,813
They took everything that I had.
1135
00:59:27,689 --> 00:59:30,525
It was very, very devastating to us,
1136
00:59:30,608 --> 00:59:33,361
that that could even happen in America.
1137
00:59:38,032 --> 00:59:41,911
After five years in prison, you come out,
and you don't have a job.
1138
00:59:42,537 --> 00:59:43,788
You have no income.
1139
00:59:44,706 --> 00:59:45,706
You have nothing.
1140
00:59:46,541 --> 00:59:47,667
Yeah, I started over.
1141
00:59:48,334 --> 00:59:50,128
Totally started over again.
1142
00:59:53,756 --> 00:59:55,091
[REFLECTIVE MUSIC PLAYS]
1143
00:59:59,429 --> 01:00:01,931
[SCRUSHY] ...for I do not want you
to be ignorant of the fact.
1144
01:00:02,015 --> 01:00:04,618
He said, "Look, don't be stupid of this.
Don't be ignorant of this."
1145
01:00:04,642 --> 01:00:09,689
Don't act like you don't know this.
I want you to know that God was there."
1146
01:00:18,031 --> 01:00:19,831
[WATKINS] A lot of people thought
he got away.
1147
01:00:19,866 --> 01:00:22,368
The United States government
thought he got away with it.
1148
01:00:22,744 --> 01:00:26,539
And I think that's a disservice
by those people toward everybody.
1149
01:00:27,665 --> 01:00:29,834
He went through the system.
1150
01:00:29,917 --> 01:00:34,005
He didn't make this system up.
He just was an unwilling participant
1151
01:00:34,088 --> 01:00:36,674
who was drug through the system.
1152
01:00:36,758 --> 01:00:38,092
And he prevailed.
1153
01:00:42,138 --> 01:00:44,223
[NEWSMAN] The big news today
out of federal court,
1154
01:00:44,307 --> 01:00:46,684
a jury finding Donald Watkins Sr.
1155
01:00:46,768 --> 01:00:50,104
And his son Donald Watkins Jr.
Both guilty of fraud.
1156
01:00:50,188 --> 01:00:52,690
The senior Watkins guilty on all counts:
1157
01:00:52,774 --> 01:00:55,276
Seven of wire fraud,
two counts of bank fraud
1158
01:00:55,360 --> 01:00:57,070
and one count of conspiracy.
1159
01:01:10,792 --> 01:01:15,129
[PARKMAN] I found out early on in life
that, generally, when you look at the law,
1160
01:01:15,797 --> 01:01:18,132
90 percent of the time, it's against you.
1161
01:01:19,384 --> 01:01:21,844
Well, doesn't matter about the law.
1162
01:01:22,970 --> 01:01:26,641
It's about being able to tell a story.
1163
01:01:27,850 --> 01:01:29,352
I'm here to please that jury.
1164
01:01:29,435 --> 01:01:32,397
I want them to stay with something
they'll remember the rest of their life.
1165
01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:36,484
If you ask them about the Richard Scrushy
case 20 years from today,
1166
01:01:36,567 --> 01:01:37,902
I want them to say, [CHUCKLES]
1167
01:01:37,985 --> 01:01:41,406
"Man, that rat poster was great,"
or... or something. That's what I want.
1168
01:01:47,036 --> 01:01:49,706
[MAN] Did your grandma really say that
about the pancake?
1169
01:01:51,666 --> 01:01:52,709
Uh, no.
1170
01:01:54,168 --> 01:01:56,337
I made that up years ago.
1171
01:01:57,588 --> 01:01:58,840
She could have,
1172
01:01:59,298 --> 01:02:00,298
but she didn't.