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Life & Times Transcript

08/01/06

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Expanding the scope of DNA evidence. Should the techniques used to catch killers be used on burglars?

Mike Carona>> The summons is going to spread across America, so it's a great heads-up for criminals. This is coming. Change your way of doing business.

William Thompson>> People who evaluate DNA evidence need to realize that it's not infallible and that problems can occur.

Val Zavala>> And then, the story behind the garden paradise of Lotusland, its glamorous owner and her quest for enlightenment.

These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times.

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> DNA evidence has sent hundreds of murderers to death row. It's also gotten plenty of innocent inmates off of death row. Well, now DNA evidence is expanding. Orange County law enforcement will be using it to catch thieves and burglars. That's good news for crime victims, but as Roger Cooper tells us, not all DNA evidence is foolproof.

Roger Cooper>> At this lab in Orange County, they're trying to open a new front in the battle against crime. DNA revolutionized the investigation of major crimes like murders and rapes. Now the Orange County Sheriff's Department is trying to see if DNA techniques can be expanded to solve property crime like home burglaries and car thefts.

Mike Carona>> They are huge. One, property crimes are the types of things that historically are more difficult to come up with a suspect on.

Dean Gialamas>> Well, we're looking at residential and commercial burglaries which typically we're looking at trace evidence or fingerprints.

Roger Cooper>> Orange County's crime lab headed up by Dean Gialamas is one of six in the nation to be selected for a pilot program. Using a half million dollar federal grant, this lab will spend more than a year trying to catch property criminals using the DNA calling cards they leave behind.

Dean Gialamas>> And those are things like touched or handled objects or cups or soda cans left behind in crime scenes. Just the mere fact that individuals have handled, touched or consumed something out of some beverage container leaves enough DNA behind for us to successfully be able to determine the genetic profile.

Roger Cooper>> To determine those genetic profiles, the federal funding allowed Orange County's crime lab to add on seven new DNA examiners. Those examiners check crime scene objects and extract samples for analysis. DNA is so omnipresent and the tests for it so sensitive that the mere act of talking in a DNA lab can introduce contamination. That's why in some rooms masks must be worn at all times.

After careful preparation, tiny tubes containing DNA from skin, hair or saliva are spun in a centrifuge and then placed in this genetic analyzer. The results that could place a suspect at a crime scene appear as spikes on a graph. Sheriff Mike Carona says the project has already cracked some cases.

Mike Carona>> Yes, we've had several cases that have been solved as a result of this pilot project. We have one case that's actually gone through to prosecution.

Dean Gialamas>> And what it entailed was a residential burglary that we were able to resolve through DNA.

Elizabeth Thompson>> DNA came from a jewelry box from the victim's apartment. Apparently the jewelry box contained some jewelry, but coins as well, and he went and took the coins out and that's where we found his DNA.

Dean Gialamas>> And that DNA led us back through the database to an individual and eventually led to that individual's conviction.

Roger Cooper>> The sheriff says that's just the start.

Mike Carona>> The summons is going to spread across America, so it's a great heads-up to criminals. This is coming. Change your way of doing business. Get out of the crime business and get into something that is legal and ethnical and moral because the reality is that we're coming after you and we're coming after you by using technology.

Roger Cooper>> The lab also sees this as a way to prevent crime by getting property criminals off the street earlier before they move up to bigger crimes.

Dean Gialamas>> Studies in the United Kingdom have shown that, for every one crime that is solved with DNA and a conviction is obtained so that person is rightfully held accountable for that crime, you're preventing eight future crimes from happening.

Roger Cooper>> Results from the DNA pilot project will be watched with great interest by this man a few miles away at UC Irvine.

William Thompson>> We leave DNA behind us all the time.

Roger Cooper>> William Thompson is Chairman of UCI's Department of Criminology, Law and Society and he's cautious, knowing DNA is not infallible if there's human error.

William Thompson>> In property crimes, things like auto thefts or burglaries, it's often the case that the quantity of DNA left at the scene by the perpetrator is very small. When processing and drawing conclusions from very small quantities of DNA, those are the cases where we most often see errors and other problems such as contamination creating uncertainty.

Roger Cooper>> Thompson knows a bit about DNA himself as a member of the "Dream Team" that defended O.J. Simpson. And he was asked by Houston television station KHOU to examine the DNA evidence that sent Texas man, Joshua Sutton, to prison for rape. It was Thompson who discovered Sutton's DNA results had been misread and were not a solid match for the rapist.

William Thompson>> That led the District Attorney's office in Houston to have Mr. Sutton retested and the retests proved that he was in fact innocent and he was released.

[Film Clip]

Roger Cooper>> Thompson's criticism of sloppy lab work also got the Houston Police DNA lab shut down for a time.

William Thompson>> I'm all for the use of scientific evidence to solve crime and I think DNA testing has a lot of potential as a crime-fighting tool. I'm just saying that it needs to be done carefully and that the people who evaluate DNA evidence need to realize that it's not infallible and that problems can occur.

Roger Cooper>> And on the subject of infallible evidence, you might want to check in with Professor Thompson's UCI colleague down the hall, Simon Cole. He studies fingerprints.

Simon Cole>> We have accepted fingerprints for nearly a century on the assumption that they were infallible and the highest form of evidence and I think we've over-valued fingerprints over that time. That's not to say that it's not valuable evidence, but we built up this mystique around them as infallible that turns out not to be true.

Roger Cooper>> Simon Cole has researched errors in matching fingerprints all the way back to the twenties.

Simon Cole>> They're basically just opinions by somebody with experience looking at fingerprints. It's not a scientific measurement toward determination.

Roger Cooper>> Based on his research, Cole has tried to calculate the error rate for matching fingerprints in the United States.

Simon Cole>> So with that error rate, that would be approximately nineteen hundred erroneous identifications a year, if that is indeed the error rate.

Roger Cooper>> Cole cites as an example the Madrid train bombing in which American Brandon Mayfield was, for a time, falsely accused on grounds that his prints were at the scene.

Simon Cole>> In terms of forensic science, the significance of that case was that it was the first error that's known to have been made by the FBI laboratory, which had a good reputation within the fingerprint world. The error was made by three FBI-linked print examiners and then was corroborated by an independent examiner hired by the court to examine the evidence on Mr. Mayfield's behalf and even that independent examiner corroborated the error.

Roger Cooper>> Back at Orange County's crime lab, technicians say that their marching orders are to get it right. Sheriff, you're leaving behind your DNA right now just by the fact that you're here. What steps are you taking to be sure that innocent people who may have passed through a crime scene don't get mistakenly targeted?

Mike Carona>> Well, you have to remember that DNA isn't the end all and be all. It doesn't prove a case. It is part and parcel of an investigation.

Dean Gialamas>> Our primary goal is to answer a question and that question could be either to connecting a perpetrator to a crime scene or perhaps freeing an innocent person who's been connected to a crime erroneously and that's the power of DNA to do both.

Roger Cooper>> Based on success so far, the Sheriff's Department is already recommending that County Supervisors continue the program even when federal pilot funds end. In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times.

Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times".

Val Zavala>> They're calling it an historic agreement between California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Their aim is to cut greenhouse gases and global warming. So why did the British Prime Minister leapfrog over Washington and come to California? Jim Hill has our story from the Port of Long Beach.

Jim Hill>> British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and more than a dozen business leaders say their agreement is a long-range plan to fight climate change. Their roundtable created a partnership between a state, a nation, businesses and nonprofit groups to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Tony Blair>> "This is of immense importance, I think. Sometimes this issue is always portrayed as Europe wants one thing and America wants another. Actually, there is a tremendous amount of commitment and dedication to getting this issue resolved.

One of the things that we're launching today is a United Kingdom-California partnership which will allow us to explore how both of us, California as a state and the United Kingdom, as leaders in this area, can combine together in research and technology, but also in trying to evolve market mechanisms that allow us to reduce CO2 emissions."

Arnold Schwarzenegger>> "The agreement that we're signing here is a promise of fair means that we will share best practices on emission trading, to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy and we will share our economic data so we both can deepen our understanding of the economics and of climate change and we will collaborate also on technological research so that the United Kingdom benefits from our work and our initiative if it is the Million Solar Roofs Initiative or the Hydrogen Highway, and we can benefit from them from their work on issues such as renewable fuels or, for instance, the Cap and Trade system."

Jim Hill>> The governor said he is not sidestepping President Bush by signing the agreement, but he's not waiting for the White House either.

Arnold Schwarzenegger>> "There are a lot of issues that the federal government and the state agree on and there are some issues that we disagree on. I think that we see that there is not great leadership from the federal government when it comes to protecting the environment, so this is why we as a state move forward with it because we want to show leadership.

I think the debate is over. I think there is so much scientific evidence that there is global warming and it is created by us and that, if we don't do something about it, we will be going into a disastrous situation."

Tony Blair>> "I wouldn't like to be the political leader when, in fifteen, twenty or thirty years' time, people look back and say, "Well, what on earth were they doing at this time? They had the evidence and they didn't act."

Jim Hill>> The Governor and Prime Minister were hosted at BP's facility in Long Beach. The energy giant is the world's second biggest company and says it's committed to cutting the use of carbon-based fuels.

Lord John Browne>> "I think, from the business leaders' viewpoint, there is no disagreement that this climate change is something which requires action to be taken. And secondly, that there are actions that can be taken. In my own industry and in the company I lead, we are driving heavily increases in the scale or in the way in which electricity is generated through solar, through wind, through fuels which no longer have carbon in them because carbon is removed, as well as inventing and creating new types of fuel."

Jim Hill>> Some businesses have worried that moving to a low-carbon economy will cost many workers their jobs, but business people here say that the agreement they've signed will use market principles and not harm them.

Charles Holliday, Jr.>> "Government leaders, NGO and a broad cross-section of businesses from Google to Virgin Atlantic to Interface came together and saw different kinds of ideas and that's what's important going forward. We must do that on a global basis.

Second, science is our friend. The Prime Minister described a framework that, when implemented, will give us the freedom so that DuPont and other companies around the world can put their creativity to use, particularly biotechnology, a technology that we know can make a big difference, and plays a big role in cooperation that DuPont has with BP today."

Tom King>> "PG&E is committed to remaining the nation's leader in energy efficiency and it's why we're investing an additional billion dollars in energy efficiency over the next two years. PG&E provides customers today with electricity that is over fifty percent free of greenhouse gas emission and we're committed to add more wind, solar and renewables to that energy mix.

So then, again, it's so important that we all take action, we stand up, we move forward and we thank the leadership that we have with the Governor and the Prime Minister for helping us do that."

Jim Hill>> The London-based nonprofit organization called The Climate Group coordinated the meeting here. Its sole focus is on achieving a low-carbon economy by teaming environmentally aware businesses with equally motivated governments.

Tony Blair>> "If we took the commitment that was there from the business leaders in really strong sectors together with what I think is an increasing commitment by those in government, then we are at least on our way to putting in place the framework that will resolve this problem. There couldn't be anything more important for our children and for generations to come. It's a very heavy responsibility that we have at this time, knowing what we now know. With science as certain as it is, we have to act and that's the purpose of what we're doing today."

Arnold Schwarzenegger>> "In the end, it's going to take leadership to conquer, of course, the challenges of global warming and we're all going to work together on this. Leadership we will provide in California, leadership that Tony Blair will be providing in the United Kingdom, and leadership like these companies that all participated here today and are providing around the world, which has been really terrific.

So I am very optimistic about the future. I'm really looking forward to this great, great agreement that we are signing here today and I want to thank the Prime Minister very much for being here and for being such a great partner."

Jim Hill>> California has long considered itself a leader in energy conservation and fighting global warming. This will surely further that and give the state a chance to do better. In spite of its environmental advances, California's huge economy still makes it one of the world's top emitters of so-called greenhouse gases. If the state were a nation, it would rank number twelve. I'm James Hill for Life and Times.

Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:

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You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Val Zavala>> She was an opera singer in search of spiritual fulfillment and the result? A garden paradise just south of Santa Barbara. I kept hearing about this place called Lotusland, so I thought I'd head north to Montecito to see it for myself.

Thirty-seven acres of botanical splendor. Sixteen different garden scenes, among them a water garden. Spectacular cacti. Roses, of course. Topiary, and even something called a Blue Garden. I got a tour of Lotusland from Nancy Wood, a trustee and long-time docent. The roots of Lotusland go back to the 1880's when it was a nursery, but it bloomed into Lotusland under the careful guidance and imagination of a Polish opera singer named Madame Ganna Walska who purchased the property in 1941 for forty thousand dollars.

Nancy Wood>> She was quite a star of her time, yes.

Val Zavala>> Tell us about her.

Nancy Wood>> She was very petite and beautiful and extremely charismatic and she was an opera singer, sort of by choice, and had a number of husbands.

Val Zavala>> About half a dozen of them (laughter).

Nancy Wood>> About half a dozen husbands, one of whom was Harold McCormick of the McCormick Reaper fame. She was not a botanist or horticulturalist, but she was very creative and had an idea of what she wanted. So she would be in the garden daily with the gardeners telling them what to do and helping them with the planting, so this became her philosophy of just enlightenment for herself.

[Film Clip]

Nancy Wood>> She loved jagged plants, very dramatic plants, and she was sort of the instigator of massing plants where, if one great dramatic plant was something, if you had seventy-five of them, it was even better.

Val Zavala>> Madame Walska's singing career was a mix of success, failure, triumph and dashed hopes and, along the way, men would fall madly in love with her, most of them rich. But underlying her beauty, charm and singing career was a desire to find spiritual truth and enlightenment.

Nancy Wood>> What drew her to Santa Barbara was her sixth husband who was a Yogi and who was known as the Great White Llama of Tibet and he was from Arizona. He convinced Madame to come to Santa Barbara to find a place of spiritual enlightenment and a retreat for visiting scholars.

Val Zavala>> The newest and most stunning landscape is the Desert Garden. Hundreds of cacti and all of them transported from a cactus lover's garden in San Diego.

Nancy Wood>> All of these plants belonged to one gentleman who lived outside of San Diego.

Val Zavala>> It's phenomenal.

Nancy Wood>> And he met Madame and said, "I'd like to give you my collection when I die." He turned ninety-four about five years ago. The most amazing thing about these plants is most of them he'd been growing since 1929 and forty percent of the collection he'd started from seed. So he would write to places, research stations like on the Galapagos Islands and they'd send him seeds of particular cacti. These are all cacti from the Galapagos. It took over two years for us to just move the plants from San Diego to Santa Barbara (laughter).

Val Zavala>> So he grew them down there and he moved them up here?

Nancy Wood>> And moved them up here in toto and he had them lining. They were just cheek by jowl, a quarter mile driveway. You can imagine how packed they were. We have right now over five hundred plants and three hundred different species of cacti.

Val Zavala>> And they survived the moving.

Nancy Wood>> They did and they're even happier now that they're finally in the ground. Isn't that something?

Val Zavala>> It takes sixteen full-time gardeners and ninety volunteers to keep Lotusland looking beautiful and it's all done organically.

Nancy Wood>> We don't use any toxics or inorganics here at Lotusland. We're a totally sustainable garden, so we want to bring in nature's beneficial insects who are the best predators for us. So we bring in all kinds of wonderful ladybugs and lacewings and wasps. We'll vacuum them up every couple of weeks and release them in other parts of the gardens. As a side light, we've got monarchs visiting us for the nectar, so we planted the monarch host plant, the milkweed, and now the monarchs spend the winter here and we have a monarch nursery.

Val Zavala>> Did you say you vacuum up the insects?

Nancy Wood>> Very gently in a great big like power-driven butterfly net, very, very gently so we don't hurt them, and then we release them in other parts of the gardens (laughter).

Val Zavala>> So everything here is done naturally? No pesticides, no insecticides?

Nancy Wood>> No, no. We use things like vinegar which is great for killing weeds. Corn gluten, from what I understand, to help prevent weeds in the lawn, although someone just told me one day that there's no such thing as corn gluten, but that's what the gardeners called it. Lots of composting, compost tea. We have pumps that will "fertigate" plants. They feed and irrigate at the same time. The plants have responded just fabulously well.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Madame Walska also saw Lotusland as a place to conserve and preserve endangered plants. In fact, the thousands of species on this thirty-seven acres of land represent one percent of the world's plant population, some of which are extinct in nature or very rare, like these Cycads which date back to the Jurassic era, just one of hundreds of tree species at Lotusland.

Nancy Wood>> What's really nifty about the trees is the first owner who was the plantsman would invite officers from ships up to dinner because trains didn't come into Santa Barbara in the 1880's and the only way to get supplies in was via ship. So when the officers would come back as a return visit to, you know, thank him for the wonderful meal, they brought him trees and plants and seeds and cuttings from around the world. So that's why we have Chilean Wine Palms, Norfolk Island Pines, Dracaena Dracos from the Canary Islands that are all about a hundred twenty years old.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Madame Walska spent the last half of her life at Lotusland. Before she died in 1984, she established a foundation to maintain the property. If she were to see it today, would it be different?

Nancy Wood>> I think she'd be very happy. I really do. She probably wouldn't like the plant signs because she didn't like them interrupting the landscape. And I think she'd be especially pleased with our school outreach program we have with the fourth graders in Santa Barbara County. That's a marvelous token and it ties in with their science curriculum. It gets the kids very interested in sustainable gardening and how important plants are to our livelihood and they become junior botanists when they visit us and they just love it.

Val Zavala>> Ganna Walska. Did she ever find enlightenment?

Nancy Wood>> Actually, she did. She studied spirituality and all kinds of different religions throughout her life. After she came here, she discovered true happiness and serenity and her real passion in life was gardening, so she considered herself the head gardener and she lived here forty-three years. She died at the wonderful age of ninety-seven. Gardening is good for your health (laughter).

Val Zavala>> (Laughter) Clearly.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Lotusland is open to the public, but not all year round, so you should go to their website or give them a call for details and information. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


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