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Scott Peterson Set for Arraignment Today

Aired April 21, 2003 - 11:36   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: Scott Peterson is set for arraignment today on charges that he killed his wife and his son. Let's talk about the legal steps ahead in this case with our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining us from New York.
Jeff, good morning.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: First I want to get to the issue of two counts of murder that as I understand, the prosecutors will go after. Legally, how do you do that when the baby technically had not been born yet? How do you get a murder charge out of that?

TOOBIN: Well, what's so unusual about this case is that they are charging two separate murders, it looks like, and California is one of a handful of states that makes murder of a fetus a separate crime from murder of the mother.

As you can imagine, that law has been very much caught up in abortion politics, and the disputes over those laws have been caught up in abortion politics, because it goes to the question of is a fetus a person, which of course, a relevant question in abortion, as well.

KAGAN: And it also leads us towards a different question, too, whether or not prosecutors will go for the death penalty. They have not said if they're going to, but don't you need special circumstances in order to be able to do that?

TOOBIN: Right, one of the special circumstances that makes a case eligible for the death penalty until California is double homicide. Prosecutors are saying that this they believe, is a double homicide, murder of Laci Peterson and of her unborn child. That directly implicates that law. So if the prosecutors go that way, it will meet a legal test of that law that it really hasn't had yet.

KAGAN: I want to look at some of the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Scott Peterson, first of all the timing last week coinciding not just with the bodies washing ashore, but also the DNA match.

TOOBIN: Well, it is sort of a peculiar timing thing, given what the police have said. They feel they have this very strong case, but then they didn't arrest Scott Peterson for months and months. It does seem to me that they are going to make a point of the issue of possible flight. He was arrested we now know with this very transformed appearance, apparently with his brothers, travel documents and perhaps with $10,000 in cash, all suggesting he might be trying to flee the country. That seems to be -- the transformed appearance seems to be a very much one reason why they decided to pull the trigger on the arrest.

KAGAN: And then on the indictment issue, do you go for a grand jury, or do you go for a preliminary hearing?

TOOBIN: You know, I don't know what the prosecutors are going to do. I don't think in either case, they will have any trouble getting a, you know, getting the charges brought forward. The prosecution in California and in any other state, they never lose in front of a grand jury. They never lose in front of a preliminary hearing. If you want to keep your evidence more secret, you use a grand jury. This has been a fairly tightly held investigation. My guess is they don't want to expose any more evidence than they have to. That might suggest using a grand jury instead of a preliminary hearing, which of course is public.

KAGAN: Jeffrey Toobin, we'll go to the questions of how you pull together a fair jury, but we'll do that another time, because we're out of time now. Thank you so much for your help.

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 April 21, 2003 - 11:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Scott Peterson is set for arraignment today on charges that he killed his wife and his son. Let's talk about the legal steps ahead in this case with our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining us from New York.
Jeff, good morning.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: First I want to get to the issue of two counts of murder that as I understand, the prosecutors will go after. Legally, how do you do that when the baby technically had not been born yet? How do you get a murder charge out of that?

TOOBIN: Well, what's so unusual about this case is that they are charging two separate murders, it looks like, and California is one of a handful of states that makes murder of a fetus a separate crime from murder of the mother.

As you can imagine, that law has been very much caught up in abortion politics, and the disputes over those laws have been caught up in abortion politics, because it goes to the question of is a fetus a person, which of course, a relevant question in abortion, as well.

KAGAN: And it also leads us towards a different question, too, whether or not prosecutors will go for the death penalty. They have not said if they're going to, but don't you need special circumstances in order to be able to do that?

TOOBIN: Right, one of the special circumstances that makes a case eligible for the death penalty until California is double homicide. Prosecutors are saying that this they believe, is a double homicide, murder of Laci Peterson and of her unborn child. That directly implicates that law. So if the prosecutors go that way, it will meet a legal test of that law that it really hasn't had yet.

KAGAN: I want to look at some of the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Scott Peterson, first of all the timing last week coinciding not just with the bodies washing ashore, but also the DNA match.

TOOBIN: Well, it is sort of a peculiar timing thing, given what the police have said. They feel they have this very strong case, but then they didn't arrest Scott Peterson for months and months. It does seem to me that they are going to make a point of the issue of possible flight. He was arrested we now know with this very transformed appearance, apparently with his brothers, travel documents and perhaps with $10,000 in cash, all suggesting he might be trying to flee the country. That seems to be -- the transformed appearance seems to be a very much one reason why they decided to pull the trigger on the arrest.

KAGAN: And then on the indictment issue, do you go for a grand jury, or do you go for a preliminary hearing?

TOOBIN: You know, I don't know what the prosecutors are going to do. I don't think in either case, they will have any trouble getting a, you know, getting the charges brought forward. The prosecution in California and in any other state, they never lose in front of a grand jury. They never lose in front of a preliminary hearing. If you want to keep your evidence more secret, you use a grand jury. This has been a fairly tightly held investigation. My guess is they don't want to expose any more evidence than they have to. That might suggest using a grand jury instead of a preliminary hearing, which of course is public.

KAGAN: Jeffrey Toobin, we'll go to the questions of how you pull together a fair jury, but we'll do that another time, because we're out of time now. Thank you so much for your help.

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