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Change of Venue for Malvo Granted to Moderate Town in Virginia
Aired July 02, 2003 - 10:00 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: Just in to the CNN newsroom within the past 30 minutes, a change of venue has been granted for teen sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo. His trial will move to 200 miles away to Chesapeake, Virginia. Our Jeanne Meserve joins us now, she is in our D.C. bureau with details on this. Jeanne, good morning.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning. The ruling came just moment ago from Jane Marum Roush. She said that "In my best judgment, the defendant's right to a fair trial requires that venue in this case be transferred from Fairfax County, Virginia. Indeed, I believe the venue should be transferred to a jurisdiction outside the Washington/Richmond corridor where many citizens lived in fear during the month of October 2002 as a result of the crimes with which the defendant is charged." And so she is moving this case to Chesapeake, Virginia.
Now, Lee Boyd Malvo's lawyers had argued for this change in venue. They claimed that because so many of the crimes took place in the area of Fairfax County that this had tainted the jury pool and in fact had made every citizen of Fairfax County, Virginia a member of the victim class in this case.
Prosecutors opposed the move. They called this a preposterous argument. They pointed out that no case has been moved out of Fairfax County, Virginia for 25 years, that even the shooter who shot several CIA employees outside CIA headquarters was able to receive what was considered a fair trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. The judge obviously disagreeing.
I can tell you, Daryn, that I spoke with several attorneys at the time that arguments were made in this case, attorneys in Virginia. they believed it was quite probable that the judge would move this case. They said no judge has ever been overturned for moving a trial. A judge has been overruled for not moving a trial. Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: Jeanne, thank you for that.
More on this case. Let's bring in our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin who is standing by in our New York bureau. Jeff, good morning. You surprised by this ruling?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Not at all. This was really an extraordinary case and such a perfect opportunity for a change of venue argument, because, as the judge said in her ruling, you're not just dealing with potential jurors who got a lot of publicity about the case, because that's often happens in high-profile cases. But potential jurors were potential victims in the case. Everybody in that Washington/Richmond corridor was terrified. And that's what really, I think, tipped the scales to get this case moved as far away as possible.
KAGAN: But this spread outside of the metro area, that shooting at the Ponderosa Steakhouse, that was over 100 miles away from the metro area, as I remember it.
TOOBIN: That's right. And that gets closer to Chesapeake. But, you know under the Constitution the crime has to be tried somewhere in the state of Virginia. It's not a very big state. The judge moved it about as far away as she could. Clearly the people in Chesapeake will have heard of the crime, will have been familiar of it. In fact, some may even have been scared of being victims.
But I think she did as best she could in moving as far away as she could. And this is certainly a victory for the defense because 200 miles away is pretty far.
KAGAN: So that might help. But certain things are still going to stand. As we said, it still stays in the state of Virginia, you still have Lee Boyd Malvo being tried as an adult, even though he was 17 when the crimes took place. And he still faces a death penalty.
TOOBIN: , Oh, yes. I mean he's a long way from acquitted. And you have the overwhelming fact that when these two people were arrested all the attacks stopped, which is something everyone knows.
So he is a long way from an acquittal. But in many respects, this is probably in a perverse way a victory for the prosecution, because it takes away an appeal issue, because this really would be an appeal issue if this case was tried in the heart of where everybody was terrified.
Now, that issue goes away. They can try their case. And looks to me, at least based on what's available out so far, a pretty strong case.
KAGAN: All right, Jeff, hang on a second. Let's bring Jeanne back in. You had a point about Chesapeake?
MESERVE: Yes. In her ruling, Judge Roush says that she was aware of opposition from the mayor and the city council in the city of Chesapeake. She said they expressed their concerns that the trial may disrupt the ability of employees and citizens to transact business at the municipal complex that houses the courthouse in Chesapeake. In addition, the mayor and city council are concerned about the anticipated expense to the city of Chesapeake. But she said despite all of that she made the decision to move this case.
We should say that the defense attorney Michael Arif did say earlier that they agonized over this decision whether or not to move this case. They realized there was a high risk that the case could ultimately be moved to a part of Virginia considerably more conservative than Fairfax County. They went ahead and did it. Given the possible places this case could have gone in Virginia, Chesapeake may not be such a bad option. If it had moved to the western part of the state, I think we probably could predict the a jury there would be perhaps more hostile to Lee Boyd Malvo.
KAGAN: Interesting information there, Jeanne.. On that note, Jeff, how does it work when you put in for a change of venue? Do you just put it in the hands of the judge? Or can you put like some nominations? Say, Hey, I think this community would be nice.
TOOBIN: It varies by state. California, where there have been many changes of venue, they always look for a county that is comparable demographically. If you recall the dog mauling case from San Francisco to Los Angeles, big city to big city.
In Virginia because it's a smaller state, you can't really make those kinds of transplants. Here, the judge had, you know, pretty much cart blanche to move it where she wanted. And it seems like she picked a place that is about as fair as any other.
I think as Jeanne said, it's not as conservative as some places in the western part of the state, but I don't think you're going to find anyplace in Virginia or anywhere else in the country that's going to be particularly sympathetic to what was obviously one of the worst crimes we've seen in a long time.
KAGAN: Excellent points. Jeff Toobin, Jeanne Meserve, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Virginia>
Aired July 2, 2003 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just in to the CNN newsroom within the past 30 minutes, a change of venue has been granted for teen sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo. His trial will move to 200 miles away to Chesapeake, Virginia. Our Jeanne Meserve joins us now, she is in our D.C. bureau with details on this. Jeanne, good morning.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning. The ruling came just moment ago from Jane Marum Roush. She said that "In my best judgment, the defendant's right to a fair trial requires that venue in this case be transferred from Fairfax County, Virginia. Indeed, I believe the venue should be transferred to a jurisdiction outside the Washington/Richmond corridor where many citizens lived in fear during the month of October 2002 as a result of the crimes with which the defendant is charged." And so she is moving this case to Chesapeake, Virginia.
Now, Lee Boyd Malvo's lawyers had argued for this change in venue. They claimed that because so many of the crimes took place in the area of Fairfax County that this had tainted the jury pool and in fact had made every citizen of Fairfax County, Virginia a member of the victim class in this case.
Prosecutors opposed the move. They called this a preposterous argument. They pointed out that no case has been moved out of Fairfax County, Virginia for 25 years, that even the shooter who shot several CIA employees outside CIA headquarters was able to receive what was considered a fair trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. The judge obviously disagreeing.
I can tell you, Daryn, that I spoke with several attorneys at the time that arguments were made in this case, attorneys in Virginia. they believed it was quite probable that the judge would move this case. They said no judge has ever been overturned for moving a trial. A judge has been overruled for not moving a trial. Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: Jeanne, thank you for that.
More on this case. Let's bring in our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin who is standing by in our New York bureau. Jeff, good morning. You surprised by this ruling?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Not at all. This was really an extraordinary case and such a perfect opportunity for a change of venue argument, because, as the judge said in her ruling, you're not just dealing with potential jurors who got a lot of publicity about the case, because that's often happens in high-profile cases. But potential jurors were potential victims in the case. Everybody in that Washington/Richmond corridor was terrified. And that's what really, I think, tipped the scales to get this case moved as far away as possible.
KAGAN: But this spread outside of the metro area, that shooting at the Ponderosa Steakhouse, that was over 100 miles away from the metro area, as I remember it.
TOOBIN: That's right. And that gets closer to Chesapeake. But, you know under the Constitution the crime has to be tried somewhere in the state of Virginia. It's not a very big state. The judge moved it about as far away as she could. Clearly the people in Chesapeake will have heard of the crime, will have been familiar of it. In fact, some may even have been scared of being victims.
But I think she did as best she could in moving as far away as she could. And this is certainly a victory for the defense because 200 miles away is pretty far.
KAGAN: So that might help. But certain things are still going to stand. As we said, it still stays in the state of Virginia, you still have Lee Boyd Malvo being tried as an adult, even though he was 17 when the crimes took place. And he still faces a death penalty.
TOOBIN: , Oh, yes. I mean he's a long way from acquitted. And you have the overwhelming fact that when these two people were arrested all the attacks stopped, which is something everyone knows.
So he is a long way from an acquittal. But in many respects, this is probably in a perverse way a victory for the prosecution, because it takes away an appeal issue, because this really would be an appeal issue if this case was tried in the heart of where everybody was terrified.
Now, that issue goes away. They can try their case. And looks to me, at least based on what's available out so far, a pretty strong case.
KAGAN: All right, Jeff, hang on a second. Let's bring Jeanne back in. You had a point about Chesapeake?
MESERVE: Yes. In her ruling, Judge Roush says that she was aware of opposition from the mayor and the city council in the city of Chesapeake. She said they expressed their concerns that the trial may disrupt the ability of employees and citizens to transact business at the municipal complex that houses the courthouse in Chesapeake. In addition, the mayor and city council are concerned about the anticipated expense to the city of Chesapeake. But she said despite all of that she made the decision to move this case.
We should say that the defense attorney Michael Arif did say earlier that they agonized over this decision whether or not to move this case. They realized there was a high risk that the case could ultimately be moved to a part of Virginia considerably more conservative than Fairfax County. They went ahead and did it. Given the possible places this case could have gone in Virginia, Chesapeake may not be such a bad option. If it had moved to the western part of the state, I think we probably could predict the a jury there would be perhaps more hostile to Lee Boyd Malvo.
KAGAN: Interesting information there, Jeanne.. On that note, Jeff, how does it work when you put in for a change of venue? Do you just put it in the hands of the judge? Or can you put like some nominations? Say, Hey, I think this community would be nice.
TOOBIN: It varies by state. California, where there have been many changes of venue, they always look for a county that is comparable demographically. If you recall the dog mauling case from San Francisco to Los Angeles, big city to big city.
In Virginia because it's a smaller state, you can't really make those kinds of transplants. Here, the judge had, you know, pretty much cart blanche to move it where she wanted. And it seems like she picked a place that is about as fair as any other.
I think as Jeanne said, it's not as conservative as some places in the western part of the state, but I don't think you're going to find anyplace in Virginia or anywhere else in the country that's going to be particularly sympathetic to what was obviously one of the worst crimes we've seen in a long time.
KAGAN: Excellent points. Jeff Toobin, Jeanne Meserve, thank you for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Virginia>
