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CNN Live At Daybreak
'Coffey Talk'
Aired October 27, 2003 - 06:38 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Some big court cases to talk about in this morning's "Coffey Talk."
Legal analyst Kendall Coffey is live from New York this morning.
Kendall -- nice to see you once again.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: Let's go ahead and begin, if we could, with the Schiavo case. What is Terri Schiavo's husband likely to do now?
COFFEY: Well, in addition to arguing privacy rights, he's likely to argue separation of powers -- that is, the dividing lines between different branches of government. His argument will be that just as judges can't tell the president how to conduct foreign policy, he'll say the Florida legislature had no business putting on judicial robes, issuing, in effect, a judicial decree overruling years of litigation and agonizing and difficult decision-making that had already been done by Florida's courts.
COLLINS: All right, let's move on to the sniper trial. We're going into week two now. What are we going to see this week?
COFFEY: Well, John Muhammad is at least letting his real lawyers represent him, and given the strength of the prosecution's case, that's very important. It's all going to be about the death penalty. And to avoid the death penalty, Muhammad's lawyers are going to try to put as much of the responsibility as they can on teenager Malvo, saying he was the shooter, he was the triggerman, that whatever Muhammad did he isn't the actual gunman.
COLLINS: And Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing is set for tomorrow. Are we going to be hearing any testimony about the satanic cult that we heard about before?
COFFEY: I don't think so. This is going to be all-out defense the old-fashioned way, attacking every part of the prosecution's case. Does, for example, the autopsy report raise more questions than answers? And where is the physical and forensic evidence actually to support the prosecution's theory, be it in the boat of Scott Peterson or coming from the bays and waters of San Francisco Bay?
COLLINS: All right, former U.S. attorney and our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey. Thanks so much this morning, Kendall.
COFFEY: Thanks, Heidi. 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 October 27, 2003 - 06:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Some big court cases to talk about in this morning's "Coffey Talk."
Legal analyst Kendall Coffey is live from New York this morning.
Kendall -- nice to see you once again.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Heidi.
COLLINS: Let's go ahead and begin, if we could, with the Schiavo case. What is Terri Schiavo's husband likely to do now?
COFFEY: Well, in addition to arguing privacy rights, he's likely to argue separation of powers -- that is, the dividing lines between different branches of government. His argument will be that just as judges can't tell the president how to conduct foreign policy, he'll say the Florida legislature had no business putting on judicial robes, issuing, in effect, a judicial decree overruling years of litigation and agonizing and difficult decision-making that had already been done by Florida's courts.
COLLINS: All right, let's move on to the sniper trial. We're going into week two now. What are we going to see this week?
COFFEY: Well, John Muhammad is at least letting his real lawyers represent him, and given the strength of the prosecution's case, that's very important. It's all going to be about the death penalty. And to avoid the death penalty, Muhammad's lawyers are going to try to put as much of the responsibility as they can on teenager Malvo, saying he was the shooter, he was the triggerman, that whatever Muhammad did he isn't the actual gunman.
COLLINS: And Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing is set for tomorrow. Are we going to be hearing any testimony about the satanic cult that we heard about before?
COFFEY: I don't think so. This is going to be all-out defense the old-fashioned way, attacking every part of the prosecution's case. Does, for example, the autopsy report raise more questions than answers? And where is the physical and forensic evidence actually to support the prosecution's theory, be it in the boat of Scott Peterson or coming from the bays and waters of San Francisco Bay?
COLLINS: All right, former U.S. attorney and our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey. Thanks so much this morning, Kendall.
COFFEY: Thanks, Heidi. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
