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CNN Live Today
Deal Made Between Government and John Walker Lindh
Aired July 15, 2002 - 13:04 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: First this hour, though, the deal between the government and John Walker Lindh. Reaction is coming in this hour to the plea agreement that was reached overnight.
First, new details of that arrangement.
CNN's Bob Franken is outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the -- we're hearing right now, of course a lot of noise in the background, but I wanted to tell you that the story here, is as you pointed out, that John Walker Lindh has copped a plea. The negotiations occurred over the weekend. They intensified -- actually the first smidgens of them came about six weeks ago, but they really heated up starting about Wednesday of this week.
John Walker Lindh will not face life in prison. The government is dropping charges that would have had that happen. He instead faces 20 years in prison, pleading guilty to providing surfaces to the Taliban illegally, the services being his actions as a soldier and carrying explosive devices in the process of doing that. Two charges, 10 years each without parole is the sentence for each of that.
This happened in court in very secret negotiations that were concluded so late that even the judge didn't know about them until he came into court this morning. The U.S. Attorney said that there's much more to the sentence. Not only the 20 years but there's much more to the sentence. Not only is their the 20 years, but there is a requirement that John Walker Lindh cooperate with the government debriefings, polygraph test, that he makes no profits off of this, and even when he's through with the sentence, his sentence really isn't over.
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PAUL MCNULTY, U.S. ATTORNEY: After he's released from prison, if at anytime for the rest of his life he should engage in any behavior that constitutes a terrorist offense, then the United States government will have the right to seek to apprehend him and to hold him as an enemy combatant, and in this plea agreement, he acknowledges that right.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: Government attorneys say they believe they had gotten what they wanted out of this cased, an acknowledgement of the charges they were making. As far as defense attorneys were concerned, they were saying that the environment, the political environment, made the legal effort very, very chancy and, in fact, there was some truth to the charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BROSNAHAN, LEAD DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He forthrightly this morning described what he did to the judge. He was a soldier in the Taliban. He did it for religious reasons. He did it as a Muslim. And history overcame him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Now, in the courtroom, John Walker Lindh walked in this morning and had a great big smile for the members of his family who were there to watch what was happening. They did not even know when they first flew to Washington that that would be what was going to happen. As he left, he looked straight ahead. It was a much more somber moment reflected outside by family members.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I can say is that I love my brother very much. I just want him to come home, but I know it's not going to happen. And he's been so strong, and we had to be strong for him. And I just love him very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK LINDH, FATHER: I told John when he came back from Afghanistan, when I first met him, that Nelson Mandela served 26 years in prison. He's a good man, like John. And I told John he needed to be prepared for something along those lines. Someday I hope, I hope that the government will come around even further, and say that even 20 years is wrong for this boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: So the fact of the matter is, is that 20 years comes without parole, although officials will tell you that there is a good behavior factor. The truth of matter is that John Walker Lindh is going to spend many years in prison, but, Kyra, he will not be spending life in prison.
PHILLIPS: Bob Franken, thank you. We are going to bring in our CNN legal analysts now Jeffrey Toobin.
Jeffrey, I got to bring this up. I mean, comparing John Walker Lindh to Mandela, I mean, that's a little bit of a far stretch, wouldn't you say. JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Sure made me jump. It isn't an association that I would have made. But this is really a classic plea bargain. It's got good points for both sides.
For John Walker Lindh, obviously, this means he will be out of prison by the time he's 40 years old. It means he gets essentially a good part of his life where if he went to trial, he very well might have been looking at life in prison. For the government, they get to avoid a trial that while they certainly are likely to have wanted, this was going to be a problem. The defense had already been granted permission by the judge to interrogate certain prisoners on Guantanamo Bay to develop defense evidence. They would have been allowed to rummage in the government's files to a certain extent.
The government gets to put all that away now. No more disclosures, and the case goes away with a real victory for both sides.
PHILLIPS: The defense had a lot of reasons to agree with this, though, wouldn't you say?
TOOBIN: Oh, sure. I mean, this is, the defense has got to be delighted with this deal, because this trial was going to take place in the eastern district of Virginia, perhaps the most pro-government jurisdiction in the country, the rocket docket, as it's known, where the cases are tried fast and almost everyone's convicted. There would have been enormous pressure on the judge to sentence John Walker Lindh to the maximum, which was life in prison. He now gets to get out of jail before he's 40 years old. That, presumably, will leave him a long life ahead of him, and that's got to be very satisfying for the defense.
Obviously, they'd like him to go home today, but that's just not going to happen.
PHILLIPS: Do you think the DA's office in any way had any weaknesses. We were talking 10 counts. Eight were dropped. Do you think that this deal came about because there was just no way to win on 10 counts?
TOOBIN: I don't think so. I think the U.S. attorney could have proven its case. Remember, what was supposed to happen today was a hearing on whether the statements that John Walker Lindh made to the FBI were going to be admissible. That was going to be a somewhat tricky hearing for the government, because John Walker Lindh was in pretty bad shape when he made those statements to the FBI. It might have been somewhat embarrassing to show how he was interrogated under those conditions. This way, the government gets to avoid that hearing all together. It gets a win in this case.
But you're right, the government did give something up here, gave up about 40 years of John Walker Lindh's life, and that's something that Walker Lindh and his family are very lucky to have back.
PHILLIPS: Jeffrey, does this eliminate any possibility of him being charged with treason? TOOBIN: Yes, it does. This is it. His case is over.
PHILLPS: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, our CNN legal analyst.
Thanks again, Jeffrey.
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