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American Morning

Sound Off: Fair Trial For Lindh?

Aired January 25, 2002 - 08:46   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Our Sound-Off this morning, can John Walker Lindh get a fair trial? Well, in federal court yesterday, the American Taliban said he understood the charges against him, which include conspiring to kill Americans abroad, but his lawyer cautioned against a rush to judgment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BROSNAHAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: John Lindh is presumed innocent under rules that are no mere technicalities, but find their origin actually in Virginia with people who understood the Constitution.

There has been no trial. There have been no witnesses, and there have been no documents. No one should be talking as though they understand what will happen at the trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Is it possible though to find an impartial jury for this case? Joining us now for our Sound-Off segment, from Washington, syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux...

JULIANNE MALVEAUX, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Hi, Paula.

ZAHN: Welcome back. And in New York, constitutional lawyer Ann Coulter. Good to see you as well.

ANN COULTER, CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER: Hi, there.

ZAHN: All right, hi. We have been debating for many weeks now with many attorneys as to what they think should happen to John Walker. Ann Coulter, what do you think should happen to him?

COULTER: Well, of course he'll get a fair trial. This is America. It's very rare. I'm second to none in my skepticism of the government, but it is extremely rare that an innocent person will ultimately be found guilty. You are more likely to be struck by lightning or hit by a car.

But this idea that criminal defense lawyers have that you can't even talk about a case until you've had the grand jury indictment, and until you've had witnesses and a trial -- no, you can't go to jail, you can't be thrown in the hoosegow until there's a conviction by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, but that doesn't mean people can't talk about it. I mean, we do know some things that have gone on, and yes, he'll get a fair trial.

ZAHN: And do you understand why, Julianne Malveaux, why much of the American public has already leapt to a conclusion, based on what little we've heard about the FBI interrogation, and a lot of what we've heard from that exclusive interview with CNN. John Walker said a lot in that interview.

MALVEAUX: He said a lot. Did he have the advice of counsel, is that so-called confession going to be admitted? I sit here and chafe when I hear Ann Coulter say that an innocent person is as likely to be struck by lightning as convicted. I'm a Black Panther, baby. I recall the FBI's actual collusion in the trials of people like Geronimo Pratt and others.

The fact is that it's not a given that John Walker Lindh is going to get a fair trial, especially if the jury pool is somewhere outside of the Pentagon area in Northern Virginia where people have been affected, and where people are calling him the American Taliban, and he is being basically tarred and feathered every day.

I mean, the skepticism for government Ann and I share, but certainly I would not say that a fair trial is a given. People are going to have to be extraordinarily vigilant, and I'm only skeptical (ph), just as...

ZAHN: So, wait, wait, wait. Julianne. Julianne, hang on. Are you saying that you don't think you can get an impartial jury?

MALVEAUX: I have questions about it. I have major questions, Paula. I think that his defense team is going to have to be very careful.

I think that the question of peremptory challenges is one that's going to have to be examined here. How could you get a fair trial in Northern Virginia when all of us who live here in Washington know somebody who was in that Pentagon building? How are you going to be able to judge impartially when you're calling this man the American Taliban?

The government has to prove a case. They have to prove that he did something, that he deliberately gave aid and comfort to the Taliban, and that CNN confession, I have to say, is something that ought to be exculpatory and ought to be excluded.

ZAHN: Why?

COULTER: You know, could I say --

ZAHN: You -- you weigh in here, Ann.

COULTER: The idea of getting a fair trial doesn't mean that you have a 50/50 shot of getting off necessarily. What it means is that the truth will come out. It's not like the government is randomly dragging people in off the street and trying them for crimes they're looking for. We do know something about John Walker, or Abdul Suleyman, as he calls himself. We certainly know that he was -- it has to be proved in a court of law, that much is true, but that doesn't mean that we can't talk about it, and we know --

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: And what about the point that Ann made about the fact that this guy has been defined as an American Taliban since we knew of his existence? Does that not affect the potential to get a good jury pool out there?

COULTER: No, I don't think so. I mean, all it says is that he is probably going to be found guilty, because he is guilty. And there's nothing wrong with people saying that on TV. My saying that, lawyers saying that, I mean, American people saying that, doesn't put him in jail.

MALVEAUX: Please wait, why don't you please wait, and let his attorneys prove this. It's the government who has to prove the case, let his attorneys defend him. I find it so objectionable that people have rushed a judgment on this man.

I don't support him at all, necessarily, I've objected to the fact that some people want to make this naive adolescent wandering through the Middle East, but I still think that we certainly have to hear the evidence and I think that we've -- you know, gone around the evidence because we want some kind of villain.

We don't have bin Laden, and so we want a villain. Don't let this kid be the villain.

ZAHN: We have got to leave it there this morning. Ann Coulter, hold on to that thought for another week, won't you? Thank you both for dropping by, Ann Coulter, Julianne Malveaux.

MALVEAUX: Thanks, Paula. Thanks, Ann.

COULTER: Bye-bye.

ZAHN: Always nice to have both of your perspectives.

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