atticus finch represents the last republican lawyer. and i mean republican in the sense of the republic, of thomas jefferson, those kinds of people. the last lawyer who really believes that to enunciate the important principles of america is going to work. this is in a town where their first reaction -- i mean, tom ewell is an incredibly evil, disgusting person. everybody in town knows that. but they believe him. you know, they're willing to take his word even though they know he's lying completely, they're willing to take his word. they're willing to go out and try to lynch tom robinson, right? they have taken one of their upstanding citizens, bo radley, and locked him in the attic. he's been there for god knows how many years. has anybody in town done anything about it? no. lock your kids in the attic. that's the kind of town you're dealing with. as we're seeing this through the idse of scout, a child, we have -- through the eyes of scout, a child, we have to dig into it ourselves to see what's going on and once you do you realize tha

. >> atticus finch. >> this ring that belonged to your mother. you want to tell us what really happened? >> i got nothing to say. do nothing about it. you coward! >> gentlemen, i shall be brief but i would like to use the remaining time i have with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one. it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant. to begin with, this case should never have come to trial. this case is as simple as black and white. the state has produced not one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime tom robinson is charged with ever took place. it has relied instead on the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence is not only been called into serious question on cross-examination but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. the defendant is not guilty. but somebody in this courtroom is. i have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her puttin

some people call him jane louise finch. but she insists on scout. and that's her brother, gym. just a boy until the day he learns there is evil in the world. and atticus finch, the father, whose devotion of justice places him and his children in jeopardy. and party to the defense, john robinson.

finch, tony serra, who is here and has motivated so many of us to do what we do. our second panel looks at abuse of power, abuse of power and how it happens and why it happens and most importantly what we can do and need to do to prevent it. whether it's a prosecutor or a judge or a defender render ineffective assistance to counsel or a police officer violating constitutional rights. this is not something we can tolerate, yet it happens each and every day. and our panel is going to delve deep into the issues that we're seeing not only here in the bay area but throughout the country and throughout the world. our third panel after lunch will talk about the future of the death penalty and hopefully its demise. you might be surprised that we are having a conversation here in san francisco about the death penalty. as you know, our district attorney has indicated that he may seek the death penalty in appropriate cases in san francisco, and that has not been the case for the past decade. but he's coming today to talk about his views. we also have a former warden at san q

mockingbird" isn't that atticus finch is a great lawyer or the lawyer that we should follow. the moral of the book and the movie is that the republican lawyer won't work any more. we need a new kind of lawyer. the only way to clean up a town like this is to bring in the federales. you know, everybody's got to go to jail. i mean, these -- you know, if you think about it, who is the real hero of "to kill a mockingbird"? who's the one who sees clearly? it's not atticus finch. he's not even a very intelligent father. i love him. i love him. but who lets your kids out in the middle of the night wearing -- dressed as farm animals and fruit when there's a craze killer who's vowed to get them? you say, fine, you don't need me to walk you home. you can do it yourself. is that -- is that smart? is that a good dad? bo radley is the one who actually has it straight, right? he knows those kids are going to get into trouble. he's out there and he does something about it. he's the one who gets justice in the book. you know, and so when you really think about it, if you can put through this

>> mary played scout, the daughter of atticus finch who bears witness to the story. >> very honored toe been a part of this film. and have such relevance to what we're dealing with today. >> the author, harm he lee, was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 2007. to kill a bird was her only book. >> that was nbc's lester holt reporting. >>> we are just seconds away from an all new snl. tonight's host is from modern family. during the show, she has a little fun with her accent. >> you might have noticed that i have a bit of an accent sometimes. i love it. this accent can make anything sound sexy. listen. gonorrhea! >> this is the colombian native's first time hosting snl. she is joined by musical guest one direction. she is a very funny lady. and we want to take a last look because a lot of folks will be heading out. >> we are going to be as cold. tomorrow we'll wake up into the 40s. a little bit better. inland to the 60s off the coast of a beautiful day across the board. even from monday, not too bad. the showers will move into the north bay on monday and it looks like we'll be

aties cuss finch -- atticus finch didn't have to deal with a 24-hour news cycle. tony serra didn't have to deal with bloggers in his career. i think what's going on in new york city where the head of the i.m.f. was arrested for doing some untorrid things in a big hotel. i found it ironic last night that eliot spitzer was interviewing people talking about these sorts of activities, and that cycle is going on and on. if you want to play a drinking game, you know, who wants to take bets of when we're going to have the first appearance of gloria allred? it's inevitable. i'm getting off the point a little bit here. but at some point i think it was around the time of the o.j. case where you had this confluence of a big public figure, it was a juicy trial, and cable news was just becoming a force. it changed the environment in which we operate, at least criminal system operates. because it's not just cases anymore, it's entertainment. it's a whole media frenzy on big cases. and i don't think that's a very good thing, but that is the environment in which we operate. and l

speaks publicly, this week she said she was proud to know that gregory peck's portrayal of atticus finch in a world that needs him now more than of. >>> again that special broadcast, on the usa network. >>> that's "nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today," then right back here tomorrow evening. have a good night, everyone. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

>> mary battam played scout, the daughter of atticus finch who bared witness to the story. >> it has so much relevance to what we're dealing with today. . >> the author, harper lee was given the medal of honor in 2007. she said she was proud to know that gregory peck's portrayal of atticus finch lives on in a world that needs him now more than ever. and that airs tonight on the usa network. that's n"nbc nightly news" for this saturday. i'll see you tomorrow morning on "today" and then right back here tomorrow evening. have a good night, everyone. >>> good evening i'm kris sanchez in for diane dwyer tonight. we begin in concord where a father an a daughter are dead and a teenager is behind

. >> that, of course, is gregory peck as atticus finch in "to kill a mockingbird" in 1970s alabama.use tonight for an introduction in theaters on saturday. clarence page and michael join me now. michael, this resonated so much with my wife that atticus made the short list for first names for our firstborn, but economist and atticus just didn't roll off the tongue. why does it have so much staying power? >> i think it rules for the first economist in the struggle of black and white over right and wrong and america as a great nation able to rise above the weight of legendary and an often storied path and sorry path to go into a great future. i think when martin luther king, jr. spoke about this, atticus finch was speaking volumes about the way to treat one's brother and sister regardless of color as an equal. i think in this case it appeals to so many white people, and it appealed to them because it wasn't a message coming from the outside, from an african-american, but from the culture itself. >> did that make it easy to broach some of these subjects given that harper lee who wrote i

we have a real-life atticus finch, tony serra, who is here and has motivated so many of us to do what we do. our second panel looks at abuse of power, abuse of power and how it happens and why it happens and most importantly what we can do and need to do to prevent it. whether it's a prosecutor or a judge or a defender render ineffective assistance to ineffective assistance to counsel or a police officer

. >> that was gregory peck in his 1962 oscar winning role of finch in "to kill a mocking bird." the feeling you get watching atakis finch where he knew the deck was stacked against him. the white house movie theater was filled with that feeling earlier this evening not just because the president was there but also because finch was there. at the child-friendly hour of 5:00 p.m., the newly released 50th anniversary dvd of "to kill a mockingbird" was shown in the white house with gregory peck's beloved wife and the peck family in attendance along with a group of students from a public high school in washington. anyone who knew gregory peck, as i did, can tell you that he would be honored that the president watched his film tonight and he would be overjoyed that those young students saw it. that those young students watched it with the president on april 5th, greg's 96th birthday would be an extra delight for him. i know today was a very happy birthday for his family. >>> democrats asked gregory peck to run for office more than once. who knows what might have been if he said yes. d

the pulitzer prrze-winning novel by harper lee.it staas gregory eck as whiteesouthern lawyer atticus finch... who defends a black man wrongfully accused oo rape. aanew studd out of chhna... finds more reasons to eat those veggies!research finds that eatinggbroccoli, cauliflower, arugula, collard greens and other vegetables inn the cabbage family... may improve your odds of breast cancer surviial.previous studies have shownna higher intake of these vegetables an reduce the risk oo developing breast cancer... but thhs is the first study to examine women aftee a breast cancer diagnnsis. this year, u.s. residentss will consume 120 million pounds of easter candy confectioners association. and mary sue candies in baltimore is providing plenty of itt it. joel d. smith is live there noo as thhy prepare for the easter bunny, and all of his "hhlpers". good 3 3 3 3 poliie are called to an say a female guest got violent. violent. itnessesssay it all started when she wanted &ptoodance with the groom. 36-year old brooke burke is charged with misdemeanor assault nd disorderly conduct. police say an argum

finch and the warriors.fantastic. >> i love the scene in the movie you are looking at the yearbook the wish list you had where you would be 10, 15 years down the line if you look at the first movie you ever did what would be a quote where i would be 15 years down the line in my career. >> just hoping to be alive. >> yeah. >> we shalling that that was my wish. >> the first movie i did, bill town. >> that was a good one. >> did you see that? >> yeah. >> okay. and i was a heroin dealer who got shot. >> hilarious. >> i would still be dead. still a dead heroin dealer. >> you? >> my first movie was american pie. >> you had the quote. >> it would be here. >> yeah, i was hoping that 12 years later i would be doing american pie four. >> that would be your exact quote. >> exactly >> well, as for the review of the film kevin really liked american reunion in fact he said this is his favorite from the franchise the director was able to relive classic moments creating new ones for the viewer kevin gave it 4 out of 5 stars

finch. she's the chair of our math, physics and astronomy division. really? she's easy to talk to. yeah, she is, a little bit. so, anyway, how do we figure out what this is? well, we have applications that can help analyze unlabeled sets of numbers. it's called meta-data. it's information about data. for instance, the numbers one, two, three, four and five are data. they may refer to anything. but let's say you found out that they refer to a zip code. well, then they mean something specific-- in this case, schenectady, new york. so we use that to figure out what rachel's numbers are talking about. yeah, and then we may be able to figure out why she died. if you want a spooky guy to mastermind a conspiracy, j. everett tuttle is your pick. why do you say that? we told him that three of his former employees died in the last couple of weeks, didn't seem to care, didn't even ask how. no concern for them, nothing for the families? not at all. no, in fact, the only time he expressed any interest at

one was king james version of the bible, the other was bull finch's mythology. it was that thick and on the mantle. i can see it as clearly as i am looking at them now. keu remember looking at the pictures and beginning to pick through some of the stories. and i learned to love those stories and if you read my books as a collection, and some people have, you will see that those 2 books inform most of my writings in subtle ways, not overt, in subtle ways you can see those books and the influence that they have on my writing. daddy james would tell store reus about little girls named sara and pat and little boy named nollin and one he told in particular was one of my favorites. the 3 kids had a chore for the grandmother. take a basket of eggs to a neighbor's house. along the way they were confronted by a wolf, bear, snake, and fox. is they tricked that fox, and the bear and got them to the woods. it is a long, long summer and i don't have a contract, i said, maybe i'll try to write something, never written a picture book before. i sat at the word processor, i'll w

they would instead divert over to the 17th hole, where ian baker-finch continues to wait for to it comes way. maybe it will be decided here. ernie on the tee. nick: same again. try and get it in that perfect spot three times in a row. and i sense -- jim: a little left. oh. nick: uh-oh. that first bunker -- it's out there -- the middle bunker is out there 280. jim: maybe that's the way you make four, though. you come to a lay-up number. nick: that's the most important thing to say to yourself in a playoff. it doesn't matter how. peter: he's pretty far up in that second bunker and probably won't be able to advance it more than 160, 1 0 yards. jim: now dufner. nick: a shorter backswing. ooh. scrapes it down the right side. peter: it's ok. jim: you saw a little anything in that snufe nick: definitely. he didn't get that all the way back. jim: that's ernie's situation. jim: that's ernie's situation. not pretty. with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just li

not because atticus finch is the smartest guy on the block, but because the movie makers are the smartest guys on the block. [applause] >> once again we have all the books by our novelists here and our writers here in the front. or you can find them on amazon.com. i'd like to thank mary mcdonagh murphy, who joined us from new york via skype, and john -- john is actually a descendant of the first chief justice of the u.s. supreme court. paulette frankl, "lust for justice," tony serra, and sheldon siegal. so before we take a break, i do have a surprise. a few years ago, i guess six or seven years ago, i met an amazing artist. i was visiting his home. and he had created this wonderful sculpture. i immediately recognized it as being clarence. it turned out that he had created a number of just amazing sculptures of trial lawyers. and he went on to do one of clara fults, the first woman attorney in california and became the leader of the public defender movement. and just by happenstance, he called me and had this idea of encapsulating one of the greatest trial attorneys of our times. so, bill?

plus olympic softball gold medalist jennie finch is here. brian how to throw like a girl. he won't like that. still miss it. we're cracking down on medicare fraud. to fight it... to investigate it... ...prosecute it... and stop criminals. our senior medicare patrol volunteers... are teaching seniors across the country... ...to stop, spot, and report fraud. you can help. guard your medicare card. don't give out your card number over the phone. call to report any suspected fraud. we're cracking down on medicare fraud. let's make medicare stronger for all of us. i don't want a pluer anywhere near my coffee. not in my house. with maxwell house french roast, you let gravity do the work. [ male announcer ] maxwell house french roast. always good to the last drop. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually se arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. bec

warren finch, bush president 41. i'll be the funny guy. and mark updegrove of the lyndon johnson library right up the road. we have an awesome historian. i read a lot of history when i was president. i can hear people saying, we paid you all that money and all you did was read? sit around reading? it was fascinating. i didn't watch much tv. it was fascinating to read history while i had the honor of making history. and no better historian to help a president understand the past and future by the way, than for is kearns goodwin. we're honored you are here. [ applause ] and so the other thing that impressed me about doris kearns goodwin, she raised a son who became a united states marine. volunteered to be a united states marine after september the 11th. i have the honor of introducing the best first lady ever. mom, would you take a tie? obviously, i don't mind being surrounded by strong women. i was raised by one, i married one, and i believe we're raising two. welcome former first ladies, barbara and laura bush. >> thank you very much. >>

gregory peck who played atticus finch will also attend.arper lee says she is, quote, deeply honored president obama will be celebrating her book and her film. >>> in that intriguing but elusive quest for life on mars, scientists still haven't hit the mother lode. take a look at this. a massive martian dust devil. this is actually just an animation. but the dust devil is about 12 miles high, about the width of a football field. the density of mars' atmosphere is so very low, even a high-velocity des devil unlikely to be powerful enough to actually knock you over. kind of cool. >>> time now for another check on our weather. let's go back to meteorologist, christina loren, who is here to let us know what's going to be like over the easter holiday. >> a lot of kids still off for spring break, taking a live look at the golden gate bridge, speaking of which, take a look at a lot of people out there enjoying that crystal clear sky. beautiful, sunny day. but that sunshine rather deceptive. temperatures are still mostly in the 50s in the city and s

the other person i was also very privileged and fortunate to talk to was alice finch, harper lee's older sister. alice is one of the first women in alabama who was ever admitted to the bar. she -- at 99 she's the oldest practicing attorney in the state. she continues to practice every day, and she hopes to celebrate her 100th birthday in september at her law desk. she was quite a character and told me quite a bit about how the lee girls were raised. and her answer to that question is, she quoted her sister saying, she couldn't top what she had done. she had nowhere to go but down. and i think the combination of this kind of overwhelming thing, the somewhat autobiographical nature of what was written about and not to disappoint yourself let alone the other people out there waiting for a second book, all of that -- she writes about the fact that we don't -- that we don't get second novels from such a wonderful writer. >> thank you. and your film is opening nationwide, you're premiering in new york. we'll be looking for your film and your book is available. we have it here in the lobby. it'