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CNN Live At Daybreak

Legal Grounds with Kendall Coffey

Aired October 14, 2002 - 06:18   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.


CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The actions of the so-called Tarot Card Killer prompted a host of legal questions. And for some answers, we're going to turn to legal analyst Kendall Coffey who's joining us by phone from Miami.
Good morning, Kendall, are you wide awake?

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Catherine, wide awake.

CALLAWAY: I'm going to ask you a question that a lot of people are wondering at this point because you know are these murders considered acts of -- these acts of violence, rather, they're committed -- that create such widespread fear like this, could they be considered a form of terrorism under the new antiterrorism laws?

COFFEY: Well certainly the local authorities see this increasingly as something that is terrorism. It's terrifying a community. People are living in fear. Technically under the statute it requires a couple of things, intimidating or coercing a civil population. And beyond that, terrorism is normally seen as requiring some kind of agenda. That doesn't mean there has to be an organization or certainly not even a foreign organization, but that there is something more being undertaken than violence for its own sake, some kind of purpose to influence a government policy or to influence the conduct of a government. So far we haven't seen those kind of circumstances yet, but it's obviously something authorities are watching very closely for. They're not ruling anything out at this point.

CALLAWAY: Now these crimes have cut across the jurisdiction of different states as well as the federal government. So if the sniper is caught, or we should say when the sniper is caught, how would the perpetrator be prosecuted?

COFFEY: Well there'd -- we'd clearly be charging theories under federal laws, under Maryland laws, under Virginia laws. In a certain sense, Virginia represents the greatest source of victims and a Maryland -- I'm sorry, Maryland is where most of the killings took place and so there would be some -- the jurisdiction that would have a very strong interest in it.

But what prosecutors usually do is they look at a couple of things. They look at what states have perhaps the strongest cases because in some of the incidences, there's going to be better forensics, there may be witnesses. And so they try to figure out which of the cases is going to be the easiest to prove. And they also look at the sentencing systems because some of the states are going to have death penalty structures that make it an easier, stronger case for the death penalty. And believe me, the prosecutors in this case are going to be seeking nothing less once this perpetrator is found.

CALLAWAY: Yes, they are going to be looking at the laws very closely as they usually do in a big case like this, but do you think we could see perhaps any new laws come out of this?

COFFEY: Well cases like this always bring out questions or stronger gun control and a controversy on that. But there is a specific technology that some concerned people are raising and that is whether or not this is time to take another look at developing a national ballistic fingerprint system so that literally gun manufacturers would keep on record, an electronic record of the markings from the bullets and the shells of guns as they're being sold, in effect like a fingerprint system for a particular gun by a serial number. Right now there is legislation in effect that prohibits that from being done on a national level.

But at some point, especially if it becomes more and more difficult to solve this horrendous series of shootings, there may be more interest in getting in effect fingerprint-type information on every gun that's sold in America so that when you get the forensics showing a particular bullet or casing at the scene of the crime, you might be able to match it up to in effect some records that are on file with the gun manufacturers.

CALLAWAY: Interesting. Let's just hope the sniper is caught soon so we can see if any new laws are developed.

All right, Kendall, thank you very much for being with us. Kendall Coffey in Miami this morning.

COFFEY: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: Have a good day, Kendall.

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 October 14, 2002 - 06:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The actions of the so-called Tarot Card Killer prompted a host of legal questions. And for some answers, we're going to turn to legal analyst Kendall Coffey who's joining us by phone from Miami.
Good morning, Kendall, are you wide awake?

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Catherine, wide awake.

CALLAWAY: I'm going to ask you a question that a lot of people are wondering at this point because you know are these murders considered acts of -- these acts of violence, rather, they're committed -- that create such widespread fear like this, could they be considered a form of terrorism under the new antiterrorism laws?

COFFEY: Well certainly the local authorities see this increasingly as something that is terrorism. It's terrifying a community. People are living in fear. Technically under the statute it requires a couple of things, intimidating or coercing a civil population. And beyond that, terrorism is normally seen as requiring some kind of agenda. That doesn't mean there has to be an organization or certainly not even a foreign organization, but that there is something more being undertaken than violence for its own sake, some kind of purpose to influence a government policy or to influence the conduct of a government. So far we haven't seen those kind of circumstances yet, but it's obviously something authorities are watching very closely for. They're not ruling anything out at this point.

CALLAWAY: Now these crimes have cut across the jurisdiction of different states as well as the federal government. So if the sniper is caught, or we should say when the sniper is caught, how would the perpetrator be prosecuted?

COFFEY: Well there'd -- we'd clearly be charging theories under federal laws, under Maryland laws, under Virginia laws. In a certain sense, Virginia represents the greatest source of victims and a Maryland -- I'm sorry, Maryland is where most of the killings took place and so there would be some -- the jurisdiction that would have a very strong interest in it.

But what prosecutors usually do is they look at a couple of things. They look at what states have perhaps the strongest cases because in some of the incidences, there's going to be better forensics, there may be witnesses. And so they try to figure out which of the cases is going to be the easiest to prove. And they also look at the sentencing systems because some of the states are going to have death penalty structures that make it an easier, stronger case for the death penalty. And believe me, the prosecutors in this case are going to be seeking nothing less once this perpetrator is found.

CALLAWAY: Yes, they are going to be looking at the laws very closely as they usually do in a big case like this, but do you think we could see perhaps any new laws come out of this?

COFFEY: Well cases like this always bring out questions or stronger gun control and a controversy on that. But there is a specific technology that some concerned people are raising and that is whether or not this is time to take another look at developing a national ballistic fingerprint system so that literally gun manufacturers would keep on record, an electronic record of the markings from the bullets and the shells of guns as they're being sold, in effect like a fingerprint system for a particular gun by a serial number. Right now there is legislation in effect that prohibits that from being done on a national level.

But at some point, especially if it becomes more and more difficult to solve this horrendous series of shootings, there may be more interest in getting in effect fingerprint-type information on every gun that's sold in America so that when you get the forensics showing a particular bullet or casing at the scene of the crime, you might be able to match it up to in effect some records that are on file with the gun manufacturers.

CALLAWAY: Interesting. Let's just hope the sniper is caught soon so we can see if any new laws are developed.

All right, Kendall, thank you very much for being with us. Kendall Coffey in Miami this morning.

COFFEY: Thank you.

CALLAWAY: Have a good day, Kendall.

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