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CNN Live At Daybreak
Coffey Talk: Michael Jackson Arrest
Aired November 21, 2003 - 06:07 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: Jackson's brother, Jermaine, called CNN and angrily blasted the media coverage of his brother since the news of the allegations broke.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JERMAINE JACKSON, BROTHER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: I am sick and tired of everybody saying these things about my family, and we will fight and we will stand up. And everybody that knows this family around the world will support us, because at the end of the day, this is nothing but a modern day lynching.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LIN: Oh, strong words indeed.
Legal analyst, Kendall Coffee, joins us now by telephone from Miami for some "Coffey Talk" on the case.
Good morning -- Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.
LIN: All right, so taking a look at this case, why haven't formal charges been filed yet?
COFFEY: Well, they're still gathering the evidence. Obviously, fascinating to see what they're going to find at the massive search of Neverland. Is it going to be videos of "Sesame Street" and "Teletubbies," or perhaps obscene materials involving young children?
The other thing that's critical is will other alleged child victims come forward? Once a prosecution has a little more evidence, they'll go with charges. We know it's going to be child molestation, but there could be other theories as well.
LIN: You don't think it's unusual that there's been a delay?
COFFEY: I don't think so. There is everything about this case is unusual to some extent, but it wouldn't be unusual at all for the prosecution to want to get the benefits of the search in order to finalize the charges.
LIN: What about the nature of how Michael Jackson was able to set the terms of how he would turn himself in? You take a look at the pictures yesterday. He was allowed to turn himself in behind closed doors at a private airplane hangar. He was allowed to return to Las Vegas after posting bail, and he still has custody of his children in this case.
COFFEY: Well, the custody of the children really isn't for the prosecutor to deny. That's going to require a separate proceeding by the Child Protective Services.
And as to the obvious cooperation with the defense lawyers to minimize exposure to TV cameras, Carol, I think what we're seeing in some of these high-profile cases is the prosecutors want to make it clear that they are not doing anything at all to increase pretrial publicity. In fact, they're cooperating with defense counsel to minimize it. That can become a valuable thing for prosecutors down the road as pretrial publicity becomes a bigger and bigger issue.
LIN: But does that mean that a celebrity, in a situation like Michael Jackson, he's getting special treatment then?
COFFEY: You're going to get special treatment as we're seeing, I think, in the sense of prosecutors and defense lawyers arm in arm to minimize pretrial publicity that could be a problem down the road. On the other hand, Carol, he got a whopping $3 million bond. That isn't a favor. He went in, in handcuffs, photo-op for a mug shot.
So, they tried to do some things normally while dealing with pretrial publicity with very special treatment and considerations.
LIN: All right, well, from all of our legal experts, we're expecting that this will probably go to some form of trial, so we'll be talking to you in the future, Kendall.
COFFEY: Hey, thanks, Carol.
LIN: You have a great day, Kendall Coffey.
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 November 21, 2003 - 06:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Jackson's brother, Jermaine, called CNN and angrily blasted the media coverage of his brother since the news of the allegations broke.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JERMAINE JACKSON, BROTHER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: I am sick and tired of everybody saying these things about my family, and we will fight and we will stand up. And everybody that knows this family around the world will support us, because at the end of the day, this is nothing but a modern day lynching.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LIN: Oh, strong words indeed.
Legal analyst, Kendall Coffee, joins us now by telephone from Miami for some "Coffey Talk" on the case.
Good morning -- Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.
LIN: All right, so taking a look at this case, why haven't formal charges been filed yet?
COFFEY: Well, they're still gathering the evidence. Obviously, fascinating to see what they're going to find at the massive search of Neverland. Is it going to be videos of "Sesame Street" and "Teletubbies," or perhaps obscene materials involving young children?
The other thing that's critical is will other alleged child victims come forward? Once a prosecution has a little more evidence, they'll go with charges. We know it's going to be child molestation, but there could be other theories as well.
LIN: You don't think it's unusual that there's been a delay?
COFFEY: I don't think so. There is everything about this case is unusual to some extent, but it wouldn't be unusual at all for the prosecution to want to get the benefits of the search in order to finalize the charges.
LIN: What about the nature of how Michael Jackson was able to set the terms of how he would turn himself in? You take a look at the pictures yesterday. He was allowed to turn himself in behind closed doors at a private airplane hangar. He was allowed to return to Las Vegas after posting bail, and he still has custody of his children in this case.
COFFEY: Well, the custody of the children really isn't for the prosecutor to deny. That's going to require a separate proceeding by the Child Protective Services.
And as to the obvious cooperation with the defense lawyers to minimize exposure to TV cameras, Carol, I think what we're seeing in some of these high-profile cases is the prosecutors want to make it clear that they are not doing anything at all to increase pretrial publicity. In fact, they're cooperating with defense counsel to minimize it. That can become a valuable thing for prosecutors down the road as pretrial publicity becomes a bigger and bigger issue.
LIN: But does that mean that a celebrity, in a situation like Michael Jackson, he's getting special treatment then?
COFFEY: You're going to get special treatment as we're seeing, I think, in the sense of prosecutors and defense lawyers arm in arm to minimize pretrial publicity that could be a problem down the road. On the other hand, Carol, he got a whopping $3 million bond. That isn't a favor. He went in, in handcuffs, photo-op for a mug shot.
So, they tried to do some things normally while dealing with pretrial publicity with very special treatment and considerations.
LIN: All right, well, from all of our legal experts, we're expecting that this will probably go to some form of trial, so we'll be talking to you in the future, Kendall.
COFFEY: Hey, thanks, Carol.
LIN: You have a great day, Kendall Coffey.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
