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Virginia Prosecution Of Muhammad

Aired November 08, 2002 - 10:12   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: We want to continue to talk about the D.C.-area sniper prosecutions now.
Let's bring in our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, who has been listening in as well.

Jeffrey, what do you know about this new statute that we just heard talked about?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it was passed in the wake of 9/11. So, it's a very new law. And I think its primary benefit to prosecutors here is that it will allow them not only to prosecute the murder in Prince William, but there won't be any question that evidence of the whole spree, whether it's just the D.C. area or perhaps, you know, all of the other -- Alabama, Georgia, Washington state -- murders. It will be able -- it will allow prosecutors to introduce evidence of all of the alleged crimes, not just the one that took place in Prince William County.

HARRIS: And as you notice on the screen here, we're showing some photos from John Allen Muhammad's first appearance there in court in Virginia, and we didn't get any word on whether or not he had anything to say when he was interrogated at all; that that's something all of us would really like to know.

TOOBIN: Well, I...

HARRIS: But -- Jeffrey, go ahead.

TOOBIN: Well, I just think -- I think it's very unlikely that he said anything yesterday. The issue was on his arrest, did he say anything? But yesterday, when you're being transferred from one jurisdiction to another, it's pretty much assumed that if you invoked your Fifth Amendment rights in one, you invoked it in the other. So, I wouldn't hold out much hope he said anything yesterday.

HARRIS: Yes, but we also learned that he did not -- he was not assigned an attorney by the state of Virginia that would be advising him on something like that.

TOOBIN: All the more reason why you would think that the prior understanding that he wasn't talking anymore would continue. I mean, I can't say what happened for sure, but I think prosecutors generally respect a decision to invoke Fifth Amendment rights, that it continues unless an attorney informs you otherwise.

HARRIS: Now, let me ask you about the other thing that we heard Mr. Ebert say was that the other crimes that these two men are accused of having committed across the country are going to play a key part in the evidence presented in court here and in making the case against them in Virginia. What do you make of that?

TOOBIN: Well, I think that's part of the benefit to prosecutors of invoking this terrorism law, because that law explicitly allows prosecutors to put the murder in the context of the larger terroristic enterprise, if they can prove it.

So, I think, you know, it's a tremendous, tremendous advantage to prosecutors to say, well, you know, here is this evidence regarding this murder. But look at everything else he did.

HARRIS: Yes.

TOOBIN: I mean, it makes the case much, much more devastating.

HARRIS: All right, Jeffrey, we're going to have to leave it there, because we see now that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has entered the chamber there at the Security Council, and we're going to listen in now as they prepare to take this vote on the resolution forcing Iraq to disarm.

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 November 8, 2002 - 10:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to continue to talk about the D.C.-area sniper prosecutions now.
Let's bring in our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, who has been listening in as well.

Jeffrey, what do you know about this new statute that we just heard talked about?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it was passed in the wake of 9/11. So, it's a very new law. And I think its primary benefit to prosecutors here is that it will allow them not only to prosecute the murder in Prince William, but there won't be any question that evidence of the whole spree, whether it's just the D.C. area or perhaps, you know, all of the other -- Alabama, Georgia, Washington state -- murders. It will be able -- it will allow prosecutors to introduce evidence of all of the alleged crimes, not just the one that took place in Prince William County.

HARRIS: And as you notice on the screen here, we're showing some photos from John Allen Muhammad's first appearance there in court in Virginia, and we didn't get any word on whether or not he had anything to say when he was interrogated at all; that that's something all of us would really like to know.

TOOBIN: Well, I...

HARRIS: But -- Jeffrey, go ahead.

TOOBIN: Well, I just think -- I think it's very unlikely that he said anything yesterday. The issue was on his arrest, did he say anything? But yesterday, when you're being transferred from one jurisdiction to another, it's pretty much assumed that if you invoked your Fifth Amendment rights in one, you invoked it in the other. So, I wouldn't hold out much hope he said anything yesterday.

HARRIS: Yes, but we also learned that he did not -- he was not assigned an attorney by the state of Virginia that would be advising him on something like that.

TOOBIN: All the more reason why you would think that the prior understanding that he wasn't talking anymore would continue. I mean, I can't say what happened for sure, but I think prosecutors generally respect a decision to invoke Fifth Amendment rights, that it continues unless an attorney informs you otherwise.

HARRIS: Now, let me ask you about the other thing that we heard Mr. Ebert say was that the other crimes that these two men are accused of having committed across the country are going to play a key part in the evidence presented in court here and in making the case against them in Virginia. What do you make of that?

TOOBIN: Well, I think that's part of the benefit to prosecutors of invoking this terrorism law, because that law explicitly allows prosecutors to put the murder in the context of the larger terroristic enterprise, if they can prove it.

So, I think, you know, it's a tremendous, tremendous advantage to prosecutors to say, well, you know, here is this evidence regarding this murder. But look at everything else he did.

HARRIS: Yes.

TOOBIN: I mean, it makes the case much, much more devastating.

HARRIS: All right, Jeffrey, we're going to have to leave it there, because we see now that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has entered the chamber there at the Security Council, and we're going to listen in now as they prepare to take this vote on the resolution forcing Iraq to disarm.

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