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Coffey Talk: Peterson Venue Change
Aired January 08, 2004 - 06:32 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: On the move? Maybe. But where? Scott Peterson's attorneys will be in court today to ask for a change of venue -- that is, they want to move the trial out of Modesto, California. Peterson's lawyer says his client would have a better shot at a fair trial in Los Angeles County.
Peterson, as you know, is charged with murdering his wife and their unborn son, a topic we want to talk about over coffee this morning.
Our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, joins us live from Miami.
Good morning -- Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, this case is already being made into a made- for-TV movie. Where in the world could you move this trial and get a fair trial and an impartial jury?
COFFEY: Well, certainly you're not going to find anyplace in the state, probably no place in the country, where people have not read about it, heard about it and, frankly, formed opinions.
What the defense is attempting to argue is that the impact is uniquely intense in the Modesto area, and they cited statistics showing that 98 percent of the residents were aware of the case, 75 percent may have already reached opinions. That would normally be a pretty strong motion, except for the fact that everyone everywhere has been talking about this case.
COSTELLO: Well, I guess part of the argument here is if you move it to a place where there are more people, there is more chance to pull an impartial jury out of a large population, like Los Angeles County, which has what? Nine million people or so?
COFFEY: Yes, the prosecution has countered in saying, well, you've got close to 500,000 people in this county. And I think what the defense really needs to show more than anything is that there is an investment of this community in the case. Three thousand people went to Laci's memorial service. There were 300 people basically screaming murder when Scott Peterson showed up for jail, when he was brought into the trial.
So, they've got to establish that there is something very distinctive about the attitudes in that community. COSTELLO: Well, it's interesting to me that the prosecution blames the defense attorneys for the pretrial publicity, because they made such a big deal of it in the papers.
COFFEY: Well, I think there is blame enough to share everywhere. We recall that the case began with the attorney general of California pronouncing this case a slam dunk. Since then, everyone on the judicial side has been trying to limit pretrial publicity. Ultimately, some of that worked and some of that hasn't worked.
But a lot of times these cases come down to public opinion polls. It's not just political candidates that study them. And what the prosecution believes they have done is shown that the attitudes in other counties, including Los Angeles County, are pretty similar to the attitudes in Modesto. And they cited the Charles Manson case from the '70s, saying, hey, if the publicity is about the same and it's bad everywhere, it's useless to move the case.
COSTELLO: Yes, and the Charles Manson case was not moved, if I remember correctly.
COFFEY: It was not moved. It stayed in Los Angeles. The defense says that that shows that, hey, Los Angeles is the place this trial ought to be. The prosecution says it really underscores the reality that with this much publicity, this much negative publicity, it really can't justify a move, because you're going to have the same problems anywhere else in the state.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens later today. Kendall Coffey live from Miami this morning.
COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.
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 January 8, 2004 - 06:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On the move? Maybe. But where? Scott Peterson's attorneys will be in court today to ask for a change of venue -- that is, they want to move the trial out of Modesto, California. Peterson's lawyer says his client would have a better shot at a fair trial in Los Angeles County.
Peterson, as you know, is charged with murdering his wife and their unborn son, a topic we want to talk about over coffee this morning.
Our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, joins us live from Miami.
Good morning -- Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, this case is already being made into a made- for-TV movie. Where in the world could you move this trial and get a fair trial and an impartial jury?
COFFEY: Well, certainly you're not going to find anyplace in the state, probably no place in the country, where people have not read about it, heard about it and, frankly, formed opinions.
What the defense is attempting to argue is that the impact is uniquely intense in the Modesto area, and they cited statistics showing that 98 percent of the residents were aware of the case, 75 percent may have already reached opinions. That would normally be a pretty strong motion, except for the fact that everyone everywhere has been talking about this case.
COSTELLO: Well, I guess part of the argument here is if you move it to a place where there are more people, there is more chance to pull an impartial jury out of a large population, like Los Angeles County, which has what? Nine million people or so?
COFFEY: Yes, the prosecution has countered in saying, well, you've got close to 500,000 people in this county. And I think what the defense really needs to show more than anything is that there is an investment of this community in the case. Three thousand people went to Laci's memorial service. There were 300 people basically screaming murder when Scott Peterson showed up for jail, when he was brought into the trial.
So, they've got to establish that there is something very distinctive about the attitudes in that community. COSTELLO: Well, it's interesting to me that the prosecution blames the defense attorneys for the pretrial publicity, because they made such a big deal of it in the papers.
COFFEY: Well, I think there is blame enough to share everywhere. We recall that the case began with the attorney general of California pronouncing this case a slam dunk. Since then, everyone on the judicial side has been trying to limit pretrial publicity. Ultimately, some of that worked and some of that hasn't worked.
But a lot of times these cases come down to public opinion polls. It's not just political candidates that study them. And what the prosecution believes they have done is shown that the attitudes in other counties, including Los Angeles County, are pretty similar to the attitudes in Modesto. And they cited the Charles Manson case from the '70s, saying, hey, if the publicity is about the same and it's bad everywhere, it's useless to move the case.
COSTELLO: Yes, and the Charles Manson case was not moved, if I remember correctly.
COFFEY: It was not moved. It stayed in Los Angeles. The defense says that that shows that, hey, Los Angeles is the place this trial ought to be. The prosecution says it really underscores the reality that with this much publicity, this much negative publicity, it really can't justify a move, because you're going to have the same problems anywhere else in the state.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens later today. Kendall Coffey live from Miami this morning.
COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
