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American Morning

John Walker Lindh Detention Hearing Scheduled Later This Morning

Aired February 06, 2002 - 07:04   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: Up front this morning, John Walker Lindh. His lawyers want him released pending a trial, arguing that the accused Taliban American soldier has no history of violence and is not a flight risk. A detention hearing is scheduled later this morning for the 20-year-old Californian who was formally indicted yesterday.

CNN's Jonathan Aiken is standing by outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia with more -- good morning, Jonathan. What do you expect to happen today?

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Paula.

Actually, there's some activity taking place on the right side of the courthouse behind my right shoulder now. Federal marshals have blocked off the streets on that side. There's an entrance on that side of the building so it's possible that John Walker Lindh may be arriving from the city lockup, which is located about two blocks off to my left.

What's going to happen here this morning, at about 10 o'clock, lawyers for John Walker Lindh are going to head into one of the courtrooms in the courthouse behind me. They're going to ask a federal judge, as you said, to set bail for their client, let him free so that he can work with them on his defense and also spend time with his family. Walker has been behind bars in an Alexandria city jail since January 23, when he was brought to the United States from Afghanistan.

We have a picture to show you from that date, as well. This is a mug shot of a clean shaven John Walker Lindh, a shot that was taken the evening of the 23rd as he arrived at the city lockup in Alexandria. Gone the long hair and the beard that you see from the videos that were shot by producers in Afghanistan, and that video shown often here on CNN.

Now, when the lawyers appear in court, Paula, they're going to argue three things. They're going to say our client is not a flight risk, this is a man who is not a menace to society, nor has he shown any propensity toward violence.

Now the federal prosecutors are going to counter with a 10 count indictment that was brought up yesterday by a federal grand jury sitting here at the court. In those 10 counts, Walker is going to face five charges he knew he was going to face already, including the most serious, conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals abroad.

As for these new charges, these five new charges, the most serious is one that says "using or carrying firearms and destructive devices during crimes of violence." Now, if you're charged with that, under the way the federal law is written now, you cannot be given bail and you must stay behind bars. And federal prosecutors are going to use that as the linchpin for their argument that Walker should stay right where he is until his trial begins, and the date for that has yet to be set.

Now, when the indictment was announced yesterday, Attorney General John Ashcroft made a point of saying two things, that John Walker Lindh knew that Osama bin Laden had assigned suicide squads to perform tasks in the United States and he also said that Walker made his choices and knew all along which side he was on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: He met with Osama bin Laden. He chose to go to the front lines to fight with the Taliban. In the summer of 2001, John Walker Lindh swore allegiance to jihad after being told that Osama bin Laden had sent some 50 people to carry out multiple suicide operations against the United States and Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AIKEN: Hoping to strike a sympathetic chord with the judge, Paula, Walker Lindh's lawyers are going to be saying that their client was held under the threat of death and torture and under duress. And it was under those circumstances, as well as two to three nights of being, going without sleep, that he waived his legal rights to an attorney and submitted to an FBI interrogation -- Paula.

ZAHN: Jonathan, I need a quick answer to this one. What are the chances he'll actually get bail today?

AIKEN: Not great, especially under this charge of using and carrying firearms in the commission of a crime of violence. That's pretty much a dead cert that he's going to stay behind bars. The judge is not likely to be sympathetic to the argument. They tend to err on the side of caution and go along with federal prosecutors -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Jonathan, thanks so much for that update. We'll be counting on you to steer us through the rest of the day from down there.

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