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CNN Live At Daybreak
May be New Clue in Washington Area Sniper Attacks
Aired October 21, 2002 - 05:29 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: There may be a cryptic new clue in the Washington area sniper attacks. The shooter may have left a message for police at the scene of Saturday's shooting in Ashland, Virginia.
In a brief news conference late yesterday, police issued a direct plea to the person who left a note.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: To the person who left us a message, we do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: The latest victim, a 37-year-old man. He was shot once in the abdomen as he left a restaurant with his wife in Ashland. Doctors say that man in critical condition at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. They say the bullet did some extensive damage to his upper abdomen and internal organs. He has undergone surgery twice and a hospital spokeswoman says more surgery is likely.
And a funeral service will be held this morning in Arlington, Virginia for one of the sniper victims, 47-year-old Linda Franklin. She was shot in the head last Monday while loading packages into her car at a Home Depot in Falls Church. Franklin was an FBI intelligence specialist.
Well, you may recall law enforcement authorities went off on a wild goose chase in the Franklin shooting. A man said that he saw the sniper shoot the woman in the Home Depot parking lot and the description of the sniper and his vehicle turned out to be bogus. Police say that Matthew Dowdy was in the store when the shooting occurred. He's now been charged with giving false information and is scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Fairfax County, Virginia on a misdemeanor.
We're going to talk about all of this and the sniper related shooting stories on legal grounds with our legal expert Kendall Coffey, who is with us in Atlanta this morning.
Thanks for being here.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Good morning. You know, I worked this weekend. It was amazing some of the e- mail that we received from people just furious with this Matthew Dowdy. Of course, we know he has to be, I guess, officially convicted. He apparently has said that he did it.
COFFEY: Well, and it's really heartless and dangerous and recklessness at its worst when you're talking about a race against time by the authorities to get this sniper before someone else is killed and someone is sidetracking investigators with bad information. I think he's lucky to be charged with a misdemeanor, frankly.
CALLAWAY: Yes, what is it, six months in jail, a thousand dollar fine is the maximum that he can receive, right?
COFFEY: A six month misdemeanor. You look at the anthrax hoaxes where federal grand juries were indicting felonies. I think the key thing here is that frankly authorities don't want to waste a lot of time on this guy. Time is too precious right now so they've gone with a simple misdemeanor charge. They've got him in jail. They're sending a message and going back to the search for the sniper.
CALLAWAY: Kendall, would could be the possible motive for something like this?
COFFEY: It's hard to say. Is it 15 minutes of fame seeking? Does somebody think they want a reward? But from the standpoint of the impact on law enforcement, it doesn't matter. Whether you view this guy as a flake or an enemy of the state, he has hurt investigators at a time when time was absolutely critical.
Now, they've got enough resources to keep it going, but this is the kind of thing that really could have dangerous consequences.
CALLAWAY: We had Judge Matthis on and Michael Smerconish this weekend talking also about some of the ramifications of the Pentagon announcing that the spy plane, I guess you would call it, the surveillance plane was being used in this case.
What are the ramifications of that?
COFFEY: Well, it's something that I think is not going to, at this point, create legal problems, because the military is just being involved in surveillance in a backup role. But there is a very significant tradition in this country sharply separating the role of military from domestic police. It goes back to the 1878 laws passed during the Reconstruction to keep Union soldiers from being involved in Southern state elections.
CALLAWAY: Right.
COFFEY: So I think while this is something that is being closely watched, it's not going to violate the law because bottom line in this country, we really cherish and maintain that separation between military authorities and military power and domestic police investigations. CALLAWAY: But, and perhaps it was announced by the Pentagon to try to ease some of the concern that the U.S. government is paying attention to what's going on in Washington, D.C.
COFFEY: And I think that's important and that's heartening. Because everyone is bewildered. Everyone is mystified.
CALLAWAY: Right.
COFFEY: And I think it's important to know that we are doing everything we can do within the law.
CALLAWAY: You know, it's funny, though, Kendall, we received a lot of e-mail this weekend of people basically saying we don't want to know everything, they're giving away too much information. They're afraid the sniper is getting too much information.
COFFEY: Well, we're in a free society. But we also can be assured that there are things going on, from an investigative standpoint, that aren't being disclosed. For example, the Pentagon hasn't given a timetable or an indication of how and where they're going to deploy these military surveillance planes.
CALLAWAY: Right.
On a much lighter note, I want to ask you about one more thing, and that's the Winona Ryder trial. I still can't believe this is going to trial.
COFFEY: Well, it seems like the kind of case that really calls out for a plea deal. Celebrities have an awful lot to risk and who knows what a jury is going to do? But so far no deal and it looks like a trial is going to be going forward.
CALLAWAY: Only in Hollywood for shoplifting. Amazing.
All right, Kendall Coffey, thank you.
It's good to see you.
COFFEY: Well, good to see you, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Yes, all right.
COFFEY: Thanks for having me.
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 21, 2002 - 05:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: There may be a cryptic new clue in the Washington area sniper attacks. The shooter may have left a message for police at the scene of Saturday's shooting in Ashland, Virginia.
In a brief news conference late yesterday, police issued a direct plea to the person who left a note.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF CHARLES MOOSE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE: To the person who left us a message, we do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: The latest victim, a 37-year-old man. He was shot once in the abdomen as he left a restaurant with his wife in Ashland. Doctors say that man in critical condition at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. They say the bullet did some extensive damage to his upper abdomen and internal organs. He has undergone surgery twice and a hospital spokeswoman says more surgery is likely.
And a funeral service will be held this morning in Arlington, Virginia for one of the sniper victims, 47-year-old Linda Franklin. She was shot in the head last Monday while loading packages into her car at a Home Depot in Falls Church. Franklin was an FBI intelligence specialist.
Well, you may recall law enforcement authorities went off on a wild goose chase in the Franklin shooting. A man said that he saw the sniper shoot the woman in the Home Depot parking lot and the description of the sniper and his vehicle turned out to be bogus. Police say that Matthew Dowdy was in the store when the shooting occurred. He's now been charged with giving false information and is scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Fairfax County, Virginia on a misdemeanor.
We're going to talk about all of this and the sniper related shooting stories on legal grounds with our legal expert Kendall Coffey, who is with us in Atlanta this morning.
Thanks for being here.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Good morning. You know, I worked this weekend. It was amazing some of the e- mail that we received from people just furious with this Matthew Dowdy. Of course, we know he has to be, I guess, officially convicted. He apparently has said that he did it.
COFFEY: Well, and it's really heartless and dangerous and recklessness at its worst when you're talking about a race against time by the authorities to get this sniper before someone else is killed and someone is sidetracking investigators with bad information. I think he's lucky to be charged with a misdemeanor, frankly.
CALLAWAY: Yes, what is it, six months in jail, a thousand dollar fine is the maximum that he can receive, right?
COFFEY: A six month misdemeanor. You look at the anthrax hoaxes where federal grand juries were indicting felonies. I think the key thing here is that frankly authorities don't want to waste a lot of time on this guy. Time is too precious right now so they've gone with a simple misdemeanor charge. They've got him in jail. They're sending a message and going back to the search for the sniper.
CALLAWAY: Kendall, would could be the possible motive for something like this?
COFFEY: It's hard to say. Is it 15 minutes of fame seeking? Does somebody think they want a reward? But from the standpoint of the impact on law enforcement, it doesn't matter. Whether you view this guy as a flake or an enemy of the state, he has hurt investigators at a time when time was absolutely critical.
Now, they've got enough resources to keep it going, but this is the kind of thing that really could have dangerous consequences.
CALLAWAY: We had Judge Matthis on and Michael Smerconish this weekend talking also about some of the ramifications of the Pentagon announcing that the spy plane, I guess you would call it, the surveillance plane was being used in this case.
What are the ramifications of that?
COFFEY: Well, it's something that I think is not going to, at this point, create legal problems, because the military is just being involved in surveillance in a backup role. But there is a very significant tradition in this country sharply separating the role of military from domestic police. It goes back to the 1878 laws passed during the Reconstruction to keep Union soldiers from being involved in Southern state elections.
CALLAWAY: Right.
COFFEY: So I think while this is something that is being closely watched, it's not going to violate the law because bottom line in this country, we really cherish and maintain that separation between military authorities and military power and domestic police investigations. CALLAWAY: But, and perhaps it was announced by the Pentagon to try to ease some of the concern that the U.S. government is paying attention to what's going on in Washington, D.C.
COFFEY: And I think that's important and that's heartening. Because everyone is bewildered. Everyone is mystified.
CALLAWAY: Right.
COFFEY: And I think it's important to know that we are doing everything we can do within the law.
CALLAWAY: You know, it's funny, though, Kendall, we received a lot of e-mail this weekend of people basically saying we don't want to know everything, they're giving away too much information. They're afraid the sniper is getting too much information.
COFFEY: Well, we're in a free society. But we also can be assured that there are things going on, from an investigative standpoint, that aren't being disclosed. For example, the Pentagon hasn't given a timetable or an indication of how and where they're going to deploy these military surveillance planes.
CALLAWAY: Right.
On a much lighter note, I want to ask you about one more thing, and that's the Winona Ryder trial. I still can't believe this is going to trial.
COFFEY: Well, it seems like the kind of case that really calls out for a plea deal. Celebrities have an awful lot to risk and who knows what a jury is going to do? But so far no deal and it looks like a trial is going to be going forward.
CALLAWAY: Only in Hollywood for shoplifting. Amazing.
All right, Kendall Coffey, thank you.
It's good to see you.
COFFEY: Well, good to see you, Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Yes, all right.
COFFEY: Thanks for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
