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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Chris Toth

Aired September 21, 2002 - 12:33   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.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The apparent videotaped beating of a 4-year-old girl, by her mother, outside an Indiana department store has shocked the nation. Now, the child's mom is getting ready to surrender to police, that word from the woman's attorney. CNN's Gary Tuchman is with us now from Mishawaka, Indiana.
And Gary, obviously, the woman was the focus of this search during the latter part of this week. But obviously, the first question also is how is, how is the little girl doing?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Renay, I can answer that question at least according to the mother's attorney's viewpoint. The mother's attorney told us on the telephone a short time ago the child is doing fine. But of course, here, the authorities want to look at the child firsthand themselves. And that's expected to happen 90 minutes from now.

The attorney for the mother who we have seen in the videotape repeatedly hitting her 4-year-old daughter, Martha, is expected to surrender here at the Mishawaka, Indiana police department at 2:00 Eastern Time, 1:00 local time here in Northern Indiana.

Now, we have seen the videotape a lot. It's very hard to look at. But prosecutors, police and the attorney for this mother are all crediting the repeated showing of the videotape on CNN and other national news media as helping to create the atmosphere to decide for the mother to surrender on these charges.

So, they're very delighted here at the police department, the officials, that this mother will be coming in an hour and a half from now. But the most important thing for the prosecutors and the police is to see firsthand how this little girl is doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ANTHONY HAZEN, MISHAWAKA POLICE DEPT.: And we'll obviously deal with the prosecutor and the members of the CPS, child protection. And from there, we'll take steps to ensure that she is in good condition and she is not in any kind of medical harm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know anything about her state of mind today? Did you see anything about her willingness to come forward?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's worried about losing her child. That's all I'll comment on that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there going be child welfare people be here, with her, during the interview?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll talk about that later, but they'll be brought in on the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: With us right now is the prosecuting attorney for St. Joseph County, Chris Toth. Chris, the man who will be in charge of the prosecution of this woman.

The first question I want to ask you, any deals made to get her here?

CHRIS TOTH, PROSECUTOR: No. There were no negotiations that were going to be had. Basically we have a child that was hurt, that was beaten, and we want to get that child back. The only arrangements we made were to try to get the mother back here in an orderly fashion.

TUCHMAN: The attorney tells us, for the mother, that the child is in good shape. To most people watching that videotape that seems hard to believe, that there are not some kind of injuries on that little girl.

TOTH: I tell you, I really hope that that is true. We would be thrilled if she is safe and she's not hurt. But, obviously we want to make sure of that ourselves.

TUCHMAN: If she comes here, surrenders, what is the next step in the legal process for this woman?

TOTH: Well, what we're going to want to do, first, is to see if she's willing to be interviewed. Her attorney obviously will have a role in the say of that. After that happens, then she will be booked at the county jail. She has a $5,000 bond that she can post to get out. We had asked for $50,000 but the judge has set it at five. At that point, if she does bond out, as I suspect she will, then another hearing date will be set, probably early this coming week.

TUCHMAN: And that would be an arraignment?

TOTH: That would be an arraignment, yes.

TUCHMAN: What is the possible sentence for this woman on the felony battery charge if she's found guilty of it?

TOTH: The sentence for the felony that she's charged with is six months to three years.

TUCHMAN: Now the lawyer for this woman is telling us that she is aware that she's not going to be able to have her child with her at the home for the time being. But they are hoping to get the child into the custody of another family member. Is that something that's likely to happen, or what do you see happening with this child? TOTH: Once the child arrives, obviously, we're going to want to make sure that the little girl is safe, that she's not hurt. At that point, child protective services will take over. They are a separate agency. They will be working with the judge who has jurisdiction over these matters to ensure that the little girl is safe.

And obviously, there's going to be a lot of evaluations done about the mother/child relationship because we want to be sure the child is not returned to a situation where she may be hurt again.

TUCHMAN: Chris Toth, thank you very much for joining us.

TOTH: You're welcome.

TUCHMAN: Appreciate your help.

So, we expect the surrender to take place very shortly. And not surprisingly, there's a lot of security here at this police station for this woman, because they are afraid that there are some people out there who would want to do this woman harm.

Renay, back to you.

SAN MIGUEL: CNN's Gary Tuchman reporting live from Mishawaka, Indiana. Thank you very much for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 21, 2002 - 12:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: The apparent videotaped beating of a 4-year-old girl, by her mother, outside an Indiana department store has shocked the nation. Now, the child's mom is getting ready to surrender to police, that word from the woman's attorney. CNN's Gary Tuchman is with us now from Mishawaka, Indiana.
And Gary, obviously, the woman was the focus of this search during the latter part of this week. But obviously, the first question also is how is, how is the little girl doing?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Renay, I can answer that question at least according to the mother's attorney's viewpoint. The mother's attorney told us on the telephone a short time ago the child is doing fine. But of course, here, the authorities want to look at the child firsthand themselves. And that's expected to happen 90 minutes from now.

The attorney for the mother who we have seen in the videotape repeatedly hitting her 4-year-old daughter, Martha, is expected to surrender here at the Mishawaka, Indiana police department at 2:00 Eastern Time, 1:00 local time here in Northern Indiana.

Now, we have seen the videotape a lot. It's very hard to look at. But prosecutors, police and the attorney for this mother are all crediting the repeated showing of the videotape on CNN and other national news media as helping to create the atmosphere to decide for the mother to surrender on these charges.

So, they're very delighted here at the police department, the officials, that this mother will be coming in an hour and a half from now. But the most important thing for the prosecutors and the police is to see firsthand how this little girl is doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ANTHONY HAZEN, MISHAWAKA POLICE DEPT.: And we'll obviously deal with the prosecutor and the members of the CPS, child protection. And from there, we'll take steps to ensure that she is in good condition and she is not in any kind of medical harm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know anything about her state of mind today? Did you see anything about her willingness to come forward?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's worried about losing her child. That's all I'll comment on that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are there going be child welfare people be here, with her, during the interview?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll talk about that later, but they'll be brought in on the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: With us right now is the prosecuting attorney for St. Joseph County, Chris Toth. Chris, the man who will be in charge of the prosecution of this woman.

The first question I want to ask you, any deals made to get her here?

CHRIS TOTH, PROSECUTOR: No. There were no negotiations that were going to be had. Basically we have a child that was hurt, that was beaten, and we want to get that child back. The only arrangements we made were to try to get the mother back here in an orderly fashion.

TUCHMAN: The attorney tells us, for the mother, that the child is in good shape. To most people watching that videotape that seems hard to believe, that there are not some kind of injuries on that little girl.

TOTH: I tell you, I really hope that that is true. We would be thrilled if she is safe and she's not hurt. But, obviously we want to make sure of that ourselves.

TUCHMAN: If she comes here, surrenders, what is the next step in the legal process for this woman?

TOTH: Well, what we're going to want to do, first, is to see if she's willing to be interviewed. Her attorney obviously will have a role in the say of that. After that happens, then she will be booked at the county jail. She has a $5,000 bond that she can post to get out. We had asked for $50,000 but the judge has set it at five. At that point, if she does bond out, as I suspect she will, then another hearing date will be set, probably early this coming week.

TUCHMAN: And that would be an arraignment?

TOTH: That would be an arraignment, yes.

TUCHMAN: What is the possible sentence for this woman on the felony battery charge if she's found guilty of it?

TOTH: The sentence for the felony that she's charged with is six months to three years.

TUCHMAN: Now the lawyer for this woman is telling us that she is aware that she's not going to be able to have her child with her at the home for the time being. But they are hoping to get the child into the custody of another family member. Is that something that's likely to happen, or what do you see happening with this child? TOTH: Once the child arrives, obviously, we're going to want to make sure that the little girl is safe, that she's not hurt. At that point, child protective services will take over. They are a separate agency. They will be working with the judge who has jurisdiction over these matters to ensure that the little girl is safe.

And obviously, there's going to be a lot of evaluations done about the mother/child relationship because we want to be sure the child is not returned to a situation where she may be hurt again.

TUCHMAN: Chris Toth, thank you very much for joining us.

TOTH: You're welcome.

TUCHMAN: Appreciate your help.

So, we expect the surrender to take place very shortly. And not surprisingly, there's a lot of security here at this police station for this woman, because they are afraid that there are some people out there who would want to do this woman harm.

Renay, back to you.

SAN MIGUEL: CNN's Gary Tuchman reporting live from Mishawaka, Indiana. Thank you very much for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com