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Prosecutors in New Jersey Appear to Have Scored Some Points Against Former NBA Star

Aired April 26, 2002 - 10:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Prosecutors in New Jersey appear to have scored some points against the former NBA star. A friend of his now says that Williams orchestrated a cover up in the fatal shooting of a limo driver.

Our Deborah Feyerick has the details. She joins us now live.

Hello, Deborah.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.

Well, Jayson Williams' friend, Ken Cluko (ph), is admitting to wiping fingerprints off the shotgun used to kill the 55-year-old limo driver. That's the story he's going to be telling in court if and when this goes to trial. Yesterday, Ken Cluko pleading guilty to tampering with evidence and witnesses.

CNN has exclusively obtained a copy of the tape. In it, you will see the Huntington County prosecutor Steven Lember (ph) questioning Ken Cluko, who squarely pointing the finger at Jayson Williams.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Did you know that a shotgun, shotgun that was used in the shooting was important to that investigation?

KEN CLUKO (ph): Yes.

QUESTION: And did you alter that shotgun by wiping the shotgun clean of fingerprints and moving it before investigators arrived at the scene?

CLUKO: Yes.

QUESTION: And did do you so upon the instruction by anyone?

CLUKO: Yes.

QUESTION: By whom's instruction?

CLUKO: Jayson Williams.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FEYERICK: Cluko's lawyers describes the scene that night. He says it was a state of chaos, people were panicking. Someone called 911. They tried to administer any sort of CPR. But when they realized it was a hopeless situation, that's allegedly when Jayson Williams came up with the cover up, trying to make this look like a suicide.

Cluko's lawyer says there was only one person who was handling the gun that night. He said it was not his client. Now, Cluko apparently spoke to Williams recently, at Williams, that time told his friend that he should -- quote -- "cooperate truthfully."

Williams faces charges of manslaughter, witness tampering, evidence tampering and obstruction. A spokesperson for him says that Williams plans to plead innocent to all the charges. The prosecutor saying this case is ready to go to the grand jury.

As for Ken Cluko, well he will serve no jail time under the deal he has cut with prosecutors, as long as he tells the full truth. All he has to do, not that it is all he has do, but he will serve 250 hours of community service -- Leon.

HARRIS: Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much.

Well, there is one less element of mystery in the Hollywood murder case involving actor Robert Blake. Prosecutors in Los Angeles say that Blake will not be facing the death penalty if he is convicted of killing his wife. District attorney's office in L.A. announced yesterday that it will instead seek a life sentence without possibility of parole. Blake's attorney applauded that decision, and the speed with which it was made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLAND BRAUN, ROBERT BLAKE'S ATTORNEY: I don't think it's a tactical decision. I mean, I know Mr. Coolly, and I disagree with Mr. Coolly on certain things. But I know that on this decision, it was based a hundred percent on the merits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The 68-year-old Blake is accused of shooting Bonny Lee Bakley. He is also accused and two counts of solicitation of murder, conspiracy and the special circumstance of lying in wait.

Now let's get some legal perspective this morning on these cases, both involving Blake and Jayson Williams, as well as the accused killer for little Danielle Van Dam as well.

For that, let's turn now to CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Good to see you this morning, Jeffrey. How are you?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Leon.

HARRIS: All right, listen, here is one to stump you. If you were a defense attorney, which one of these two guys would you want to represent right about now, Robert Blake or Jayson Williams? Tough days in court for both of these men.

TOOBIN: Well, I think Jayson Williams is in big trouble, but it is a less serious crime. I'm getting a little feedback in my microphone, so bear with me for a second. But Jayson Williams is in a world of trouble. But manslaughter and obstruction of justice, bad as it is, is not as bad as murder, which is what Robert Blake faces. So give me Jayson Williams.

HARRIS: All right, so then let's start with Jayson Williams. Any possible way you can counteract this testimony that we are hearing from one of his friends, a person admitting to being a friend, admitting to being there when all of this happened.

TOOBIN: Defense attorneys work with what they are given. And certainly, when have you a cooperator make a deal like this, in return for no jail time, you -- as a defense attorney, you can say, look, he cut a deal, he's not facing any consequences, he's just blaming someone else for what may be his own misdeeds. You know, it may not be the best argument in the world, but it's made many times in courtroom, and sometimes it works.

HARRIS: Would you expect now that finger has taken out of the dike, so to speak, that perhaps more of the people that were there at the party that night will come forward and testify?

TOOBIN: Certainly the prosecutors in New Jersey are using standard techniques, which is work your way up the chain. Start with lower level people. Work your way up to the more celebrated defendant, to the gunman, and you can be sure that they are having very similar conversations with other guests at the party who may say much the same thing.

HARRIS: Let's turn now to the Robert Blake case, and now that the word came out yesterday and rather quickly so, as Harland Braun, the defense attorney, said in this case, that the prosecution has decided that they not would not be pursuing the death penalty, even though they said -- they thought going in that there were these special circumstances, which would have called for it. What do you make of that development?

TOOBIN: I don't think it's surprising at all. You know, since the United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the oldest person executed was 66 years old. Robert Blake is 68 today, and he hasn't even been tried yet, and the California judicial system is one of the slowest in the nation. He would he never be executed in this case. I think the L.A. district attorney made a decision that is actually very good for the district attorney, as well as for Robert Blake.

HARRIS: Why is that?

TOOBIN: Well, because it will move more expeditiously. It's very long. It's a very complicated process to try a death penalty case. This way, he gets to move the case to trial much faster. It's the right decision for all concerned.

HARRIS: You wouldn't say, or guess at all that his celebrity had anything at all to do with that decision.

TOOBIN: You know, I really don't think so. Yes, it is true that special circumstances were listed on the complaint, but that only begins the process of considering whether to apply the death penalty. There are a lot of other factors that are special circumstances, things like multiple murder, murder for financial gain. Those were not factors in this case, and those were the ones that really usually generate calls for the death penalty. This didn't seem to me anyway like much of a death penalty case from the get go.

HARRIS: So what's the next step in this case.

TOOBIN: The next step is May 1st. There is going to be a hearing to determine when the preliminary hearing will be. The preliminary hearing is the first time the prosecution will present evidence in court. They have to meet a very low standard there, just probable cause, more probable than not. But May 1st we'll learn when evidence will be presented in a courtroom for the first time.

HARRIS: We have to wrap it up right there. We have to move on right now to some news coming in this morning, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey Toobin, legal analyst, thank you. Talk to you later now.

TOOBIN: Sure, Leon.

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