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CNN Live Today
Malvo to Appear in Court Today
Aired March 03, 2003 - 10:01 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo in a Virginia courtroom this hour as attorneys battle over the framework for his murder trial. And for the first time, prosecutors reveal they are going to march into those proceedings with confessions that they say, they call them boastful and containing a fantastic amount of detail.
Our Patty Davis is outside Fairfax County Circuit Court, and she has more -- Patty, good morning.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Daryn. A judge to hear more than a dozen motions today in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo. Malvo, of course, suspected in that string of sniper-style shootings that took place in the Washington, D.C. area last October.
Now, Malvo, prosecutors say, has admitted to several of the shootings, and that includes one in which he is charged. That is the murder of 47-year-old FBI analyst Linda Franklin outside of a Home Depot. She was gunned down, shot in the head as she was coming out of that Home Depot store in Falls Church, Virginia on October 14, shot once in the head and killed. Now he is charged specifically with her murder here in this county.
Some of the motions today include a request by the defense for five investigators to help them with their case. Malvo's lawyers also challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's death penalty laws.
Malvo faces the death penalty here, even though he was just 17 at the time of his alleged involvement in these murders. Prosecutors, in their motion back, the response said that they called it 68 pages of diatribe against the Virginia supreme court. Malvo's lawyers also want to limit the number of officers that stand around Malvo.
It is interesting in the court. You see about five or six of these sheriff's deputies standing around Malvo, basically guarding him, guarding people in the courtroom as well. And the defense lawyers are arguing here that it makes him look guilty. They say that it makes him look like the jury needs to be protected from him, and they want to limit the number of officers that will be around him.
As for that alleged confession, Malvo's attorneys do, at some point, plan to argue that that should be kicked out, knocked out. It was not obtained legally, they say, but that will not come today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And what about the status of the other suspect, John Muhammad? DAVIS: Well, John Muhammad is going to stand trial. That is in October -- October 14, in fact the same day Linda Franklin was killed, but he is charged in the slaying of Dean Meyers. That was outside a gas station in Manassas, Virginia. That trial will come before Malvo's trial, which is scheduled for November.
KAGAN: All right. Patty Davis in Virginia. Thank you.
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 March 3, 2003 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo in a Virginia courtroom this hour as attorneys battle over the framework for his murder trial. And for the first time, prosecutors reveal they are going to march into those proceedings with confessions that they say, they call them boastful and containing a fantastic amount of detail.
Our Patty Davis is outside Fairfax County Circuit Court, and she has more -- Patty, good morning.
PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Daryn. A judge to hear more than a dozen motions today in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo. Malvo, of course, suspected in that string of sniper-style shootings that took place in the Washington, D.C. area last October.
Now, Malvo, prosecutors say, has admitted to several of the shootings, and that includes one in which he is charged. That is the murder of 47-year-old FBI analyst Linda Franklin outside of a Home Depot. She was gunned down, shot in the head as she was coming out of that Home Depot store in Falls Church, Virginia on October 14, shot once in the head and killed. Now he is charged specifically with her murder here in this county.
Some of the motions today include a request by the defense for five investigators to help them with their case. Malvo's lawyers also challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's death penalty laws.
Malvo faces the death penalty here, even though he was just 17 at the time of his alleged involvement in these murders. Prosecutors, in their motion back, the response said that they called it 68 pages of diatribe against the Virginia supreme court. Malvo's lawyers also want to limit the number of officers that stand around Malvo.
It is interesting in the court. You see about five or six of these sheriff's deputies standing around Malvo, basically guarding him, guarding people in the courtroom as well. And the defense lawyers are arguing here that it makes him look guilty. They say that it makes him look like the jury needs to be protected from him, and they want to limit the number of officers that will be around him.
As for that alleged confession, Malvo's attorneys do, at some point, plan to argue that that should be kicked out, knocked out. It was not obtained legally, they say, but that will not come today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And what about the status of the other suspect, John Muhammad? DAVIS: Well, John Muhammad is going to stand trial. That is in October -- October 14, in fact the same day Linda Franklin was killed, but he is charged in the slaying of Dean Meyers. That was outside a gas station in Manassas, Virginia. That trial will come before Malvo's trial, which is scheduled for November.
KAGAN: All right. Patty Davis in Virginia. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
