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CNN Live At Daybreak
Judge Has Agreed to Move Trial of Teenage Sniper Suspect Lee Boyd Malvo
Aired July 03, 2003 - 06:21 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A Virginia judge has now agreed to move the trial of teenage sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo far from the Washington area. Malvo and alleged accomplice are accused of terrorizing the D.C. suburbs during a three week long shooting spree last October. The sniper shootings killed 10 people and wounded four others. Malvo's case goes on trial in Chesapeake, Virginia in November.
Time for a little Coffey talk on this sniper case now.
Live on the phone from Miami, our legal analyst Kendall Coffey.
Good morning, Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, they're going to move this trial some 200 miles away to a conservative small town. Isn't Chesapeake just as bombarded with pretrial publicity?
COFFEY: Well, no doubt. In fact, the whole country is. But this decision was more than about pretrial publicity. The concern was that because of the sniper's rampage concentrated throughout the communities of northern Virginia and D.C., the same local residents who might become potential jurors were, in effect, potential victims of the crime, in effect, again, part of the communitywide crime scene experiencing those fears day in, day out. And according to the judge, not the most appropriate place to be drawing a panel of jurors.
COSTELLO: Can you imagine how expensive this is going to be? I mean why not go out and find a jury pool in Chesapeake and bring it to northern Virginia? Wouldn't that be cheaper than transporting everybody on down the road 200 miles?
COFFEY: Well, there's certainly going to be expense. But it's also expensive to have to try a case a second time and I think the judge's decision to assure the fairest possible trial is something that very likely might avoid a serious appeal concern.
COSTELLO: So how might this affect his alleged accomplice, John Muhammad?
COFFEY: I don't see how you find any real differences. The same kind of concerns, in fact, both cases also involve the same anti- terrorism law charging each defendant with attempting to terrorize the community, to extort $10 million. So if the judge denies the transfer motion in the Muhammad case, it's going to certainly build in an appellate issue.
COSTELLO: Got you.
Let's talk about pretrial publicity. You know, if that's the problem, I was just curious as to how that might affect the Scott Peterson case.
Could his trial be moved?
COFFEY: Well, it's certainly something that the defense is seeking. But in a nationwide, high profile case, you've got to show more than that potential jurors heard something about the case. You may recall in the John Walker Lindh case the judge denied a transfer motion, saying you'd have to be living on the planet Pluto to not have heard about the case.
Here, the defense needs to show a specific and distinctive impact. There may be enough. There's a poll locally showing that 75 percent of the people in the area have already made up their mind about whether or not Scott Peterson is innocent or guilty.
COSTELLO: OK, having said all that, does a change of venue matter at all?
COFFEY: Well, it certainly is something that the defense believes might help. The defense looks for every percentage. To take Malvo's case, to take Muhammad's case, it's not going to matter at all. There you have overwhelming evidence.
But as Scott Peterson's case is, in fact, a relatively close one, and there's some indications indicating that it's not a slam dunk, perhaps, after all. Then a change of venue could be the critical difference.
COSTELLO: We'll see.
Kendall Coffey live on the phone from Miami.
Thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Lee Boyd Malvo>
Aired July 3, 2003 - 06:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A Virginia judge has now agreed to move the trial of teenage sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo far from the Washington area. Malvo and alleged accomplice are accused of terrorizing the D.C. suburbs during a three week long shooting spree last October. The sniper shootings killed 10 people and wounded four others. Malvo's case goes on trial in Chesapeake, Virginia in November.
Time for a little Coffey talk on this sniper case now.
Live on the phone from Miami, our legal analyst Kendall Coffey.
Good morning, Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, they're going to move this trial some 200 miles away to a conservative small town. Isn't Chesapeake just as bombarded with pretrial publicity?
COFFEY: Well, no doubt. In fact, the whole country is. But this decision was more than about pretrial publicity. The concern was that because of the sniper's rampage concentrated throughout the communities of northern Virginia and D.C., the same local residents who might become potential jurors were, in effect, potential victims of the crime, in effect, again, part of the communitywide crime scene experiencing those fears day in, day out. And according to the judge, not the most appropriate place to be drawing a panel of jurors.
COSTELLO: Can you imagine how expensive this is going to be? I mean why not go out and find a jury pool in Chesapeake and bring it to northern Virginia? Wouldn't that be cheaper than transporting everybody on down the road 200 miles?
COFFEY: Well, there's certainly going to be expense. But it's also expensive to have to try a case a second time and I think the judge's decision to assure the fairest possible trial is something that very likely might avoid a serious appeal concern.
COSTELLO: So how might this affect his alleged accomplice, John Muhammad?
COFFEY: I don't see how you find any real differences. The same kind of concerns, in fact, both cases also involve the same anti- terrorism law charging each defendant with attempting to terrorize the community, to extort $10 million. So if the judge denies the transfer motion in the Muhammad case, it's going to certainly build in an appellate issue.
COSTELLO: Got you.
Let's talk about pretrial publicity. You know, if that's the problem, I was just curious as to how that might affect the Scott Peterson case.
Could his trial be moved?
COFFEY: Well, it's certainly something that the defense is seeking. But in a nationwide, high profile case, you've got to show more than that potential jurors heard something about the case. You may recall in the John Walker Lindh case the judge denied a transfer motion, saying you'd have to be living on the planet Pluto to not have heard about the case.
Here, the defense needs to show a specific and distinctive impact. There may be enough. There's a poll locally showing that 75 percent of the people in the area have already made up their mind about whether or not Scott Peterson is innocent or guilty.
COSTELLO: OK, having said all that, does a change of venue matter at all?
COFFEY: Well, it certainly is something that the defense believes might help. The defense looks for every percentage. To take Malvo's case, to take Muhammad's case, it's not going to matter at all. There you have overwhelming evidence.
But as Scott Peterson's case is, in fact, a relatively close one, and there's some indications indicating that it's not a slam dunk, perhaps, after all. Then a change of venue could be the critical difference.
COSTELLO: We'll see.
Kendall Coffey live on the phone from Miami.
Thanks for waking up early with DAYBREAK this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Lee Boyd Malvo>
