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Laci Peterson Case
Aired May 27, 2003 - 13:09 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about this with our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
He's in New York today.
Overall thoughts right now, Jeffrey, what's happening behind closed doors right now?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYSIS: Well,this is really a classic fight between free press and fair trial. The judge is -- has heard the general arguments, particularly from the law for the newspaper, saying, look, the rule in California is that documents like these autopsy documents, these search warrant affidavits, they should be public, unless there is no alternative, but -- except keeping them secret. And what the judge is doing now is listening to the lawyers argue specifically about what's in these affidavits, what's in these documents, that makes them so sensitive. And that's something that has to be done in private or else the contents of the document would be disclosed.
So he's heard the general legal points. Now the judge is deciding hearing the specific arguments about these documents and why they should remain secret.
PHILLIPS: Jeffrey, what could be in these search warrants or the autopsy reports -- could it potentially jeopardize this whole case?
TOOBIN: Well, you can imagine scenarios where that might be the case. Just to use a hypothetical example, one of the things that is always put in a search warrant -- in the affidavit, is why we think we'll find something important. So a law enforcement official might say in an affidavit, well, on previous searches of the Peterson household, we found x, we found y, we found z. Now, we don't know for a fact what in fact they've found in this house. These affidavits will certainly disclose what progress has been made in the investigation. This investigation has been fairly closely held by the Modesto police, despite all our efforts to find stuff out. So I think a lot could be disclosed that hasn't been disclosed before.
PHILLIPS: What do you make of this attorney being hired for the media? This is kind of an interesting twist to this whole scenario.
TOOBIN: Well, those of us who had the good fortune -- and I think it was good fortune -- to cover the O.J. Simpson case, remember there was a lawyer for the media in the court all the time, where Judge Ito was having disputes about cameras in the courtroom, about what should be show and what shouldn't, and there was a lawyer there representing the press. And I'm sure, in a high-profile case like this one, if it continues to be followed as closely, there will be a lawyer for the media in -- with all these disputes, coming forward in the future. So I think it's, I guess, a sign of the times. We have our very own lawyer.
PHILLIPS: Isn't that -- there's always a lawyer for something, right? that's why we have you. You're very important to us.
TOOBIN: That's what we like, we have a lawyer for CNN.
PHILLIPS: Jeffrey Toobin, thank you.
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 May 27, 2003 - 13:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk more about this with our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
He's in New York today.
Overall thoughts right now, Jeffrey, what's happening behind closed doors right now?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYSIS: Well,this is really a classic fight between free press and fair trial. The judge is -- has heard the general arguments, particularly from the law for the newspaper, saying, look, the rule in California is that documents like these autopsy documents, these search warrant affidavits, they should be public, unless there is no alternative, but -- except keeping them secret. And what the judge is doing now is listening to the lawyers argue specifically about what's in these affidavits, what's in these documents, that makes them so sensitive. And that's something that has to be done in private or else the contents of the document would be disclosed.
So he's heard the general legal points. Now the judge is deciding hearing the specific arguments about these documents and why they should remain secret.
PHILLIPS: Jeffrey, what could be in these search warrants or the autopsy reports -- could it potentially jeopardize this whole case?
TOOBIN: Well, you can imagine scenarios where that might be the case. Just to use a hypothetical example, one of the things that is always put in a search warrant -- in the affidavit, is why we think we'll find something important. So a law enforcement official might say in an affidavit, well, on previous searches of the Peterson household, we found x, we found y, we found z. Now, we don't know for a fact what in fact they've found in this house. These affidavits will certainly disclose what progress has been made in the investigation. This investigation has been fairly closely held by the Modesto police, despite all our efforts to find stuff out. So I think a lot could be disclosed that hasn't been disclosed before.
PHILLIPS: What do you make of this attorney being hired for the media? This is kind of an interesting twist to this whole scenario.
TOOBIN: Well, those of us who had the good fortune -- and I think it was good fortune -- to cover the O.J. Simpson case, remember there was a lawyer for the media in the court all the time, where Judge Ito was having disputes about cameras in the courtroom, about what should be show and what shouldn't, and there was a lawyer there representing the press. And I'm sure, in a high-profile case like this one, if it continues to be followed as closely, there will be a lawyer for the media in -- with all these disputes, coming forward in the future. So I think it's, I guess, a sign of the times. We have our very own lawyer.
PHILLIPS: Isn't that -- there's always a lawyer for something, right? that's why we have you. You're very important to us.
TOOBIN: That's what we like, we have a lawyer for CNN.
PHILLIPS: Jeffrey Toobin, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
