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Change of Venue Requested Again in Peterson Murder Trial; Muhammad Sentenced to Death in Sniper Case

Aired March 09, 2004 - 14:00   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: A sniper sentence, a judge gives the ultimate penalty while the convicted declares that he had nothing to do with the shootings.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: I'm John Zarrella in Broward County, Florida, no lines, no waiting. Democrats turn out in low numbers for the presidential primary.

PHILLIPS: Infertility, pioneering research that could stop the biological clock for older women and cancer patients.

And, amazing images, the deepest look into the universe, Miles O'Brien will be along to give us a glimpse.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips this hour. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

(BREAKING NEWS)

PHILLIPS: And this just in to CNN, the judge in the Scott Peterson case considering a change of venue. CNN's Ted Rowlands in San Francisco now with the latest, Ted what do you know?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this isn't unexpected by any means. Peterson's defense attorney Mark Geragos had sort of hinted that he would again ask this judge for another change of venue. He characterized Redwood City as a "way station" in open court a few times.

But today he is basically asking this judge for either one of three remedies for what he says is juror bias that is already coming in off of these questionnaires that potential jurors have been filling out for the last few days.

There have been 400 potential jurors and Geragos says that what he is seeing is bias that is something that needs to be addressed. He's asking this judge to intervene here and either grant another change of venue or, at least, grant another change of venue motion and had a hearing on it.

Or, he's asking that two separate juries be seated in this case, one for the guilt phase, one for the penalty phase. This is something that this judge has already ruled on and said that there will be just one jury.

Geragos thinks that that could be a remedy or he's asking something that is really out of the norm and that is that he be given extra preemptory challenges as they seat the jurors in this case.

Each side gets 20 of these challenges. For no reason you can just throw somebody off of the jury pool. Geragos is saying basically that he'll take extra preemptory challenges given that there seems to be so much -- a number of jurors basically think that his client is guilty. He says I'll take the challenges if you will keep this jury.

This is something that needs to be ironed out obviously. What they're going to do is they're going to continue this week polling potential jurors. They're going to take next week off and the reconvene in court in Redwood City on the 22nd and they'll hear all of this but, basically, Mark Geragos would like to see this in Southern California and we're seeing an indication of it right now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ted, of course, this means a delay in the jury selection while this gets hammered out, correct?

ROWLANDS: Yes. They're going to continue to question people, have them fill out this questionnaire for the rest of the week and then they're going to stop things down.

Geragos will officially file his motion and they'll hear this before they continue on with the voir dire process, the individual questioning of potential jurors. They want to work this out and then move on to that step if this judge does not grant Geragos' motion for another change of venue.

PHILLIPS: All right, CNN's Ted Rowlands. By the way, welcome aboard Ted, good to see you.

ROWLANDS: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: All right.

(BREAKING NEWS)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures now out of London, this is actually in Northholt. That's just north of London, live pictures here of the aircraft. Five of the nine Britons whose detention by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay has been a bit of a sticking point between allies for more than two years.

Well they're flying home, as you can see here, to a bit of an uncertain future. The five left the Navy prison in Cuba aboard a British military jet, this very jet here, after months of talks between British and American officials, of course including President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

They've been talking about it quite a bit as both presidents, well president and prime minister have visited each other in each of their home countries discussing the detentions, of course, when Bush visits London and vice versa.

Four British detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay. Negotiation over their fate will continue but right now five of the nine via this military jet landing north of London in Northholt right now. Well, defeated, defiant and destined to die, convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad today heard a judge in Virginia roundly endorse a jury's recommendation of the ultimate punishment.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judge Leroy Millet confirmed the jury's verdict and sentenced John Muhammad to die. He said these offenses were so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension.

(voice-over): John Muhammad also stood and addressed the court. He said, "Like I said at the beginning of this trial, I had nothing to do with this." He also told the court to do what it needed to do and "I will do what I need to do to defend myself." There were more than 50 victim family members in the courtroom. Afterwards, they expressed their relief and happiness at the judge's decision.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice has been served today. I can go to my son's grave and wish him a happy birthday on Sunday. Conrad would have been 37 this Sunday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no winners today. This was not a victory but yet it was something that had to be done and it was done right.

MESERVE: Attorneys for John Muhammad called this a sad day. They had asked the judge to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole. "We shouldn't be so God-like or bitter to turn our back on anyone" said defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro, arguing that Muhammad has led a good life for 40 years before the crimes and that he could again.

However, prosecutor Paul Ebert said Muhammad had shown no remorse. He said the death penalty is the appropriate sentence here and the judge agreed. He set an execution date of October 14, 2004 but this case will be automatically appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court and there will quite possibly be appeals beyond that that will push any execution date further back.

Jeanne Meserve CNN, Manassas, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)


Aired March 9, 2004 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A sniper sentence, a judge gives the ultimate penalty while the convicted declares that he had nothing to do with the shootings.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: I'm John Zarrella in Broward County, Florida, no lines, no waiting. Democrats turn out in low numbers for the presidential primary.

PHILLIPS: Infertility, pioneering research that could stop the biological clock for older women and cancer patients.

And, amazing images, the deepest look into the universe, Miles O'Brien will be along to give us a glimpse.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips this hour. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

(BREAKING NEWS)

PHILLIPS: And this just in to CNN, the judge in the Scott Peterson case considering a change of venue. CNN's Ted Rowlands in San Francisco now with the latest, Ted what do you know?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this isn't unexpected by any means. Peterson's defense attorney Mark Geragos had sort of hinted that he would again ask this judge for another change of venue. He characterized Redwood City as a "way station" in open court a few times.

But today he is basically asking this judge for either one of three remedies for what he says is juror bias that is already coming in off of these questionnaires that potential jurors have been filling out for the last few days.

There have been 400 potential jurors and Geragos says that what he is seeing is bias that is something that needs to be addressed. He's asking this judge to intervene here and either grant another change of venue or, at least, grant another change of venue motion and had a hearing on it.

Or, he's asking that two separate juries be seated in this case, one for the guilt phase, one for the penalty phase. This is something that this judge has already ruled on and said that there will be just one jury.

Geragos thinks that that could be a remedy or he's asking something that is really out of the norm and that is that he be given extra preemptory challenges as they seat the jurors in this case.

Each side gets 20 of these challenges. For no reason you can just throw somebody off of the jury pool. Geragos is saying basically that he'll take extra preemptory challenges given that there seems to be so much -- a number of jurors basically think that his client is guilty. He says I'll take the challenges if you will keep this jury.

This is something that needs to be ironed out obviously. What they're going to do is they're going to continue this week polling potential jurors. They're going to take next week off and the reconvene in court in Redwood City on the 22nd and they'll hear all of this but, basically, Mark Geragos would like to see this in Southern California and we're seeing an indication of it right now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ted, of course, this means a delay in the jury selection while this gets hammered out, correct?

ROWLANDS: Yes. They're going to continue to question people, have them fill out this questionnaire for the rest of the week and then they're going to stop things down.

Geragos will officially file his motion and they'll hear this before they continue on with the voir dire process, the individual questioning of potential jurors. They want to work this out and then move on to that step if this judge does not grant Geragos' motion for another change of venue.

PHILLIPS: All right, CNN's Ted Rowlands. By the way, welcome aboard Ted, good to see you.

ROWLANDS: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: All right.

(BREAKING NEWS)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures now out of London, this is actually in Northholt. That's just north of London, live pictures here of the aircraft. Five of the nine Britons whose detention by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay has been a bit of a sticking point between allies for more than two years.

Well they're flying home, as you can see here, to a bit of an uncertain future. The five left the Navy prison in Cuba aboard a British military jet, this very jet here, after months of talks between British and American officials, of course including President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

They've been talking about it quite a bit as both presidents, well president and prime minister have visited each other in each of their home countries discussing the detentions, of course, when Bush visits London and vice versa.

Four British detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay. Negotiation over their fate will continue but right now five of the nine via this military jet landing north of London in Northholt right now. Well, defeated, defiant and destined to die, convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad today heard a judge in Virginia roundly endorse a jury's recommendation of the ultimate punishment.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judge Leroy Millet confirmed the jury's verdict and sentenced John Muhammad to die. He said these offenses were so vile that they were almost beyond comprehension.

(voice-over): John Muhammad also stood and addressed the court. He said, "Like I said at the beginning of this trial, I had nothing to do with this." He also told the court to do what it needed to do and "I will do what I need to do to defend myself." There were more than 50 victim family members in the courtroom. Afterwards, they expressed their relief and happiness at the judge's decision.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice has been served today. I can go to my son's grave and wish him a happy birthday on Sunday. Conrad would have been 37 this Sunday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no winners today. This was not a victory but yet it was something that had to be done and it was done right.

MESERVE: Attorneys for John Muhammad called this a sad day. They had asked the judge to reduce his sentence to life in prison without parole. "We shouldn't be so God-like or bitter to turn our back on anyone" said defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro, arguing that Muhammad has led a good life for 40 years before the crimes and that he could again.

However, prosecutor Paul Ebert said Muhammad had shown no remorse. He said the death penalty is the appropriate sentence here and the judge agreed. He set an execution date of October 14, 2004 but this case will be automatically appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court and there will quite possibly be appeals beyond that that will push any execution date further back.

Jeanne Meserve CNN, Manassas, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)