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American Morning

Malvo Hearing

Aired April 28, 2003 - 09:04   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: One of the other top stories that court hearing later today in Fairfax County, Virginia could go a long way in determining the fate of sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo. The issue here is whether or not an alleged confession that Malvo made should be allowed as evidence at trial.
Patty Davis now live in Fairfax, Virginia with more on this case there.

Patty, good morning.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Bill.

Lee Boyd Malvo's attorneys are asking a Virginia judge today that she throw out statements that he made to a Fairfax County detective and an FBI agent. Now those statements came during more than six hours of interrogation, after he'd been transferred to Virginia, federal charges had been dropped and he was sent to Virginia to stand trial.

Prosecutors say in those statements, Malvo admits to being the triggerman in the sniper-style murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia, and to being involved in other sniper-style shootings. Malvo's lawyers claim his rights were violated, that he was tricked into giving those statements, that he had no attorney present, and there should have been more consideration to the fact he was a juvenile. Prosecutors say that he did make those statements voluntarily, that police in this case acted extremely properly -- Bill.

HEMMER: Patty Davis in Fairfax. Patty, thanks .

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more on this from our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, offering his perspective about this critical juncture in the sniper case.

Good morning once again. How much is the judge on the hot seat here?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This a tough, tough issue, because in an ordinary case, what the cops did here was really bizarre, and I can see judges being offended by it, because it sounds like it is gamesmanship. The guy has a lawyer in Maryland, but he doesn't have one in Virginia, so they question him in Virginia, during the period transition. There's something that doesn't sit right about that.

KAGAN: However...

TOOBIN: However in high-profile cases, there's sometimes a separate legal standard involved, even though it's not on the books. You have a situation where here you have a guy confessing to absolutely horrendous crimes, and you know, it's not a question of coercion, they didn't beat him with a rubber hose, they sort of played games with his mind. So I can see a judge saying, you know what, I'm uncomfortable with this, but I am not going to deny a jury access to this obviously critical information.

KAGAN: I don't like it, but I'm not going to -- but what you're saying is perhaps in a less high-profile case...

TOOBIN: This is the kind of thing, evidence that might get tossed out, but I don't believe it's going to get tossed out here .

KAGAN: We watched this transit so many times, from the time that these two people were taken into custody, the beginning, the focus, the spotlight so much on John Allen Muhammad, and now, it seems like all we hear about is Malvo.

TOOBIN: It's so interesting, all of us, and I think I'm guilty of this as well, we sort of assumed that because there was this sort oft father/son relationship...

KAGAN: An adult in charge.

TOOBIN: That Muhammad was the triggerman, that Malvo sort of came along for the ride. But here we have Malvo confessing to three of the murders himself.

He obviously seems to have been a very important participant. Whether psychologically he's as fully responsible, as fully culpable as Muhammad, I don't know if we can know at this point. But this does not appear to be some sort of reluctant child; he was obviously a full participant.

KAGAN: And so two defense attorneys, I would like to see inside their mind, first of all, the defense attorney of Malvo, what do you do if these statements are allowed? And then also the defense attorney of Muhammad, does this work out well for your client? Oh, you have that guy confessing?

TOOBIN: I don't think either defense attorney has it easy. I mean, this crime is so monstrous, and the proof looks overwhelming at this point. What you'll hear more from Malvo's lawyer is the fact they was a juvenile. He was 17 years old, the idea that he is not fully responsible for what he was doing, the coercion, implicit, explicit, it of being involved with Muhammad, that is the focus if you are Malvo's lawyer. As of Muhammad, I guess what you do, I don't pretend know the answer is, is just focus on narrow facts of maybe he wasn't the trigger man. Maybe he didn't fire the gun. Maybe that is what you focus on. But both lawyers have their work cut out for them.

KAGAN: They definitely do. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you. We'll be watching what comes out of Fairfax County. TOOBIN: All day today.

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 28, 2003 - 09:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: One of the other top stories that court hearing later today in Fairfax County, Virginia could go a long way in determining the fate of sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo. The issue here is whether or not an alleged confession that Malvo made should be allowed as evidence at trial.
Patty Davis now live in Fairfax, Virginia with more on this case there.

Patty, good morning.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Bill.

Lee Boyd Malvo's attorneys are asking a Virginia judge today that she throw out statements that he made to a Fairfax County detective and an FBI agent. Now those statements came during more than six hours of interrogation, after he'd been transferred to Virginia, federal charges had been dropped and he was sent to Virginia to stand trial.

Prosecutors say in those statements, Malvo admits to being the triggerman in the sniper-style murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin at a Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia, and to being involved in other sniper-style shootings. Malvo's lawyers claim his rights were violated, that he was tricked into giving those statements, that he had no attorney present, and there should have been more consideration to the fact he was a juvenile. Prosecutors say that he did make those statements voluntarily, that police in this case acted extremely properly -- Bill.

HEMMER: Patty Davis in Fairfax. Patty, thanks .

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more on this from our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, offering his perspective about this critical juncture in the sniper case.

Good morning once again. How much is the judge on the hot seat here?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This a tough, tough issue, because in an ordinary case, what the cops did here was really bizarre, and I can see judges being offended by it, because it sounds like it is gamesmanship. The guy has a lawyer in Maryland, but he doesn't have one in Virginia, so they question him in Virginia, during the period transition. There's something that doesn't sit right about that.

KAGAN: However...

TOOBIN: However in high-profile cases, there's sometimes a separate legal standard involved, even though it's not on the books. You have a situation where here you have a guy confessing to absolutely horrendous crimes, and you know, it's not a question of coercion, they didn't beat him with a rubber hose, they sort of played games with his mind. So I can see a judge saying, you know what, I'm uncomfortable with this, but I am not going to deny a jury access to this obviously critical information.

KAGAN: I don't like it, but I'm not going to -- but what you're saying is perhaps in a less high-profile case...

TOOBIN: This is the kind of thing, evidence that might get tossed out, but I don't believe it's going to get tossed out here .

KAGAN: We watched this transit so many times, from the time that these two people were taken into custody, the beginning, the focus, the spotlight so much on John Allen Muhammad, and now, it seems like all we hear about is Malvo.

TOOBIN: It's so interesting, all of us, and I think I'm guilty of this as well, we sort of assumed that because there was this sort oft father/son relationship...

KAGAN: An adult in charge.

TOOBIN: That Muhammad was the triggerman, that Malvo sort of came along for the ride. But here we have Malvo confessing to three of the murders himself.

He obviously seems to have been a very important participant. Whether psychologically he's as fully responsible, as fully culpable as Muhammad, I don't know if we can know at this point. But this does not appear to be some sort of reluctant child; he was obviously a full participant.

KAGAN: And so two defense attorneys, I would like to see inside their mind, first of all, the defense attorney of Malvo, what do you do if these statements are allowed? And then also the defense attorney of Muhammad, does this work out well for your client? Oh, you have that guy confessing?

TOOBIN: I don't think either defense attorney has it easy. I mean, this crime is so monstrous, and the proof looks overwhelming at this point. What you'll hear more from Malvo's lawyer is the fact they was a juvenile. He was 17 years old, the idea that he is not fully responsible for what he was doing, the coercion, implicit, explicit, it of being involved with Muhammad, that is the focus if you are Malvo's lawyer. As of Muhammad, I guess what you do, I don't pretend know the answer is, is just focus on narrow facts of maybe he wasn't the trigger man. Maybe he didn't fire the gun. Maybe that is what you focus on. But both lawyers have their work cut out for them.

KAGAN: They definitely do. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you. We'll be watching what comes out of Fairfax County. TOOBIN: All day today.

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