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CNN Live Saturday
Former Montgomery County Police Chief's Book Causes Concern
Aired September 13, 2003 - 18:33 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, even before its official release, a much different kind of book is sparking controversy. Former Montgomery County, Maryland police chief, Charles Moose, wrote the book after last year's deadly string of sniper attacks in the Washington area. And as our Jeanne Meserve reports, the book's first excerpts are already causing concern.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hailed as a hero after the capture of the sniper suspects, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose left his job to write a book for a reported $170,000 advance. Now the first excerpts in "PEOPLE" magazine.
CHARLES MOOSE, FMR. MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE CHIEF: Someone is so mean spirited that they shot a child.
MESERVE: Moose writes that the sniper was sending a message with the shooting of 13-year-old middle-schooler Iran Brown. "We had been saying that children were safe. This shooting was an 'F-U' to that."
When the case bogged down and the killings continued to mount, he writes, "I figured we had one more week before people started saying, 'Dump Chief Moose.'" And when the sniper suspects were apprehended, Moose writes, he felt no jubilation. "I wished I could have ended it before all those victims had to die."
The book will be in stores Monday, almost a month before the first sniper trial begins. One former prosecutor says it undermines the prosecutions of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.
JOSEPH DIGENOVA, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: This is unimaginable, unthinkable, incomprehensible, outrageous. It's an embarrassment to law enforcement.
MESERVE: But Moose's former boss says such criticism is groundless.
DOUGLAS DUNCAN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE: I have not read the book, I haven't seen it. But knowing Chief Moose the way I do, I can't imagine there would be anything in it that would jeopardize the prosecution.
MESERVE (on camera): John Muhammad's lawyers fought the book's publication, saying it would taint the jury pool. But the man who will press the case against Lee Malvo is more worried about the effect of an upcoming book by two "Washington Post" reporters. (voice-over): For now, Robert Horan is withholding judgment on Moose's book, though he would have liked to have read it before it was published.
ROBERT HORAN, FAIRFAX COUNTY PROSECUTOR: I read that the book was going to be vetted by the prosecutor. Well, it wasn't vetted by this prosecutor. I've not heard a peep from anybody. I'm going to wait until Monday and see what it says.
MESERVE: Along with everyone else. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Concern>
Aired September 13, 2003 - 18:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, even before its official release, a much different kind of book is sparking controversy. Former Montgomery County, Maryland police chief, Charles Moose, wrote the book after last year's deadly string of sniper attacks in the Washington area. And as our Jeanne Meserve reports, the book's first excerpts are already causing concern.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hailed as a hero after the capture of the sniper suspects, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose left his job to write a book for a reported $170,000 advance. Now the first excerpts in "PEOPLE" magazine.
CHARLES MOOSE, FMR. MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE CHIEF: Someone is so mean spirited that they shot a child.
MESERVE: Moose writes that the sniper was sending a message with the shooting of 13-year-old middle-schooler Iran Brown. "We had been saying that children were safe. This shooting was an 'F-U' to that."
When the case bogged down and the killings continued to mount, he writes, "I figured we had one more week before people started saying, 'Dump Chief Moose.'" And when the sniper suspects were apprehended, Moose writes, he felt no jubilation. "I wished I could have ended it before all those victims had to die."
The book will be in stores Monday, almost a month before the first sniper trial begins. One former prosecutor says it undermines the prosecutions of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.
JOSEPH DIGENOVA, FMR. U.S. ATTORNEY: This is unimaginable, unthinkable, incomprehensible, outrageous. It's an embarrassment to law enforcement.
MESERVE: But Moose's former boss says such criticism is groundless.
DOUGLAS DUNCAN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY EXECUTIVE: I have not read the book, I haven't seen it. But knowing Chief Moose the way I do, I can't imagine there would be anything in it that would jeopardize the prosecution.
MESERVE (on camera): John Muhammad's lawyers fought the book's publication, saying it would taint the jury pool. But the man who will press the case against Lee Malvo is more worried about the effect of an upcoming book by two "Washington Post" reporters. (voice-over): For now, Robert Horan is withholding judgment on Moose's book, though he would have liked to have read it before it was published.
ROBERT HORAN, FAIRFAX COUNTY PROSECUTOR: I read that the book was going to be vetted by the prosecutor. Well, it wasn't vetted by this prosecutor. I've not heard a peep from anybody. I'm going to wait until Monday and see what it says.
MESERVE: Along with everyone else. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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