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CNN Live At Daybreak
Legal Grounds: Morning Coffey
Aired November 11, 2002 - 06:10 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And we do want to talk about the legal aspects of this revelation in the sniper suspect's case.
Let's go ahead and bring in legal analyst Kendall Coffey. He's the -- on the phone for us from Miami this morning.
Kendall, good morning to you.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Malvo's defense lawyer is saying he will seek to suppress any of those statements made during that interrogation. Does he have a leg to stand on here?
COFFEY: Well it's certainly round one in what's going to be a series of battles. The reality is that although courts examine confessions with special care when juveniles are involved, the 17- year-old's statement to police can and will be used against him as long as the authorities were careful in complying with Miranda. Younger people than Malvo have been convicted on the statement of their confessions. So assuming the police were careful, you assume they would be in a case like this, it's going to be an uphill battle to try to get the statements to police thrown out.
COLLINS: Do you think it's possible for Malvo and Muhammad to receive a fair trial in Virginia or anywhere for that matter?
COFFEY: Well the reality is anywhere in the country there is already a great deal of information about this. What I think the defense attorneys will focus on is the fact that there is a state terrorism charge, which says that communities were intimidated and terrorized by what they did, and in effect saying that the jurors in Fairfax and Prince William are victims of sort of this crime. That gives them a little bit of a stronger argument than usual. They'll work very hard to get this moved somewhere in Virginia as far away as possible from the beltway.
COLLINS: All right. Kendall Coffey this morning, we do appreciate your insight on the case.
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 11, 2002 - 06:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And we do want to talk about the legal aspects of this revelation in the sniper suspect's case.
Let's go ahead and bring in legal analyst Kendall Coffey. He's the -- on the phone for us from Miami this morning.
Kendall, good morning to you.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Malvo's defense lawyer is saying he will seek to suppress any of those statements made during that interrogation. Does he have a leg to stand on here?
COFFEY: Well it's certainly round one in what's going to be a series of battles. The reality is that although courts examine confessions with special care when juveniles are involved, the 17- year-old's statement to police can and will be used against him as long as the authorities were careful in complying with Miranda. Younger people than Malvo have been convicted on the statement of their confessions. So assuming the police were careful, you assume they would be in a case like this, it's going to be an uphill battle to try to get the statements to police thrown out.
COLLINS: Do you think it's possible for Malvo and Muhammad to receive a fair trial in Virginia or anywhere for that matter?
COFFEY: Well the reality is anywhere in the country there is already a great deal of information about this. What I think the defense attorneys will focus on is the fact that there is a state terrorism charge, which says that communities were intimidated and terrorized by what they did, and in effect saying that the jurors in Fairfax and Prince William are victims of sort of this crime. That gives them a little bit of a stronger argument than usual. They'll work very hard to get this moved somewhere in Virginia as far away as possible from the beltway.
COLLINS: All right. Kendall Coffey this morning, we do appreciate your insight on the case.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
