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California Family Killed: Suspect Released

Aired July 10, 2003 - 11:19   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to our Mike Brooks, analyst here. Let's talk about this here.
What do you make out of what we just seen and heard?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You heard from Elizabeth City they arrested him, as the captain said, on good faith from information received from Bakersfield. We heard from the U.S. attorney, who said they were waiting for the paper, but they never got the paper. Being arrested on good faith is basically saying they had probable cause to arrest him, from the information they received from Bakersfield. So Bakersfield can basically pick up the phone and say, Elizabeth City, we know he's there, he's coming to turn himself in, or then can call him after he turned himself in, and say, what do we do with him? They say, we have enough probable cause to arrest him, go ahead and hold him there, we'll send you a warrant, and then for some unknown reason, they did not send any warrant to them.

I told yesterday, I tried to contact the FBI office, the resident agency in Elizabeth City -- it's a resident agency of the Charlotte FBI office, and asked them if they had a UFAP warrant, which is a warrant, unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, which in many times, especially in cases like this, are issued after they believe someone is going to flee to another jurisdiction. FBI wouldn't tell me whether or not there was a UFAP warrant, but from hearing the things this morning, Leon, it doesn't sound like there was a UFAP warrant, or any other kind of warrant.

Now he evoked his Fifth Amendment privilege not to not answer any questions. He lawyered up, as the reporter in Bakersfield said, so they let him go. For what reason they let him go, that's fine. But there are some other things, too, you let someone go, do you have a Title III or a legal wiretap to listen to his cell phone conversations? That could be a possibility. These are some things as a formal investigator they might be doing.

HARRIS: There's talk of new evidence, or some new information that's come in. That was the word this morning.

BROOKS: Right, yesterday we heard, remember we heard from Bakersfield. We remember the one press conference we heard from Bakersfield, where the authorities there were saying, he was free to go, he is not under arrest, not being held, and they said they had two search warrants. They did a search warrant that they executed at the home, and they said they had a second search warrant. They didn't say whether or not they had a search warrant to search his car, which they found at the airport. that may have been the second search warrant. What did they glean from that? We don't know.

This could also have been some of the information that led to them calling Elizabeth City to say they wanted to talk to him. They say he is still one of the main suspects in the murder of the five. Again, unusual circumstances, Leon. Your family, if it was your family, you'd be back in Bakersfield, and same thing with me. It's just very unusual.

HARRIS: At the same time, usually, in cases like this, the husband, in cases like this, we've seen it happen time and time again. It will be the first place that the officials will start looking when they look for persons of responsibility.

Thanks, Mike.

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 July 10, 2003 - 11:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to our Mike Brooks, analyst here. Let's talk about this here.
What do you make out of what we just seen and heard?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You heard from Elizabeth City they arrested him, as the captain said, on good faith from information received from Bakersfield. We heard from the U.S. attorney, who said they were waiting for the paper, but they never got the paper. Being arrested on good faith is basically saying they had probable cause to arrest him, from the information they received from Bakersfield. So Bakersfield can basically pick up the phone and say, Elizabeth City, we know he's there, he's coming to turn himself in, or then can call him after he turned himself in, and say, what do we do with him? They say, we have enough probable cause to arrest him, go ahead and hold him there, we'll send you a warrant, and then for some unknown reason, they did not send any warrant to them.

I told yesterday, I tried to contact the FBI office, the resident agency in Elizabeth City -- it's a resident agency of the Charlotte FBI office, and asked them if they had a UFAP warrant, which is a warrant, unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, which in many times, especially in cases like this, are issued after they believe someone is going to flee to another jurisdiction. FBI wouldn't tell me whether or not there was a UFAP warrant, but from hearing the things this morning, Leon, it doesn't sound like there was a UFAP warrant, or any other kind of warrant.

Now he evoked his Fifth Amendment privilege not to not answer any questions. He lawyered up, as the reporter in Bakersfield said, so they let him go. For what reason they let him go, that's fine. But there are some other things, too, you let someone go, do you have a Title III or a legal wiretap to listen to his cell phone conversations? That could be a possibility. These are some things as a formal investigator they might be doing.

HARRIS: There's talk of new evidence, or some new information that's come in. That was the word this morning.

BROOKS: Right, yesterday we heard, remember we heard from Bakersfield. We remember the one press conference we heard from Bakersfield, where the authorities there were saying, he was free to go, he is not under arrest, not being held, and they said they had two search warrants. They did a search warrant that they executed at the home, and they said they had a second search warrant. They didn't say whether or not they had a search warrant to search his car, which they found at the airport. that may have been the second search warrant. What did they glean from that? We don't know.

This could also have been some of the information that led to them calling Elizabeth City to say they wanted to talk to him. They say he is still one of the main suspects in the murder of the five. Again, unusual circumstances, Leon. Your family, if it was your family, you'd be back in Bakersfield, and same thing with me. It's just very unusual.

HARRIS: At the same time, usually, in cases like this, the husband, in cases like this, we've seen it happen time and time again. It will be the first place that the officials will start looking when they look for persons of responsibility.

Thanks, Mike.

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