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American Morning

Prosecutors from Several Jurisdictions Meeting Today

Aired October 25, 2002 - 09:07   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: Prosecutors from several jurisdictions are meeting today to sort out what charges will be brought against the sniper suspects, which court will try them first. Yesterday in Baltimore, John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo made separate court appearances.
Bob Franken is standing by outside the federal courthouse. He joins us now.

Bob, good morning. Who does have jurisdiction here?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is really a good question. There are so many jurisdictions involved that the meeting that was scheduled here in any case has been postponed, because there are really a lot of tangles that they have to untangled, not the least of which is which jurisdiction has the strongest legal claim. Will it be in Montgomery County, where, of course, more of the murders were committed than anywhere else? Will it be in some of the Virginia counties, Prince George's County where the young child was hit at the school? Will the federal government have the initial jurisdiction? Those are very difficult, tangled questions.

As we approach the trials of the people who are alleged, and it's a word we have to repeatedly say, alleged to have committed these various shootings. They have not, by the way, of course been officially charged with that.

ZAHN: Walk us through, Bob, if you would, some of the very complicated issues these various jurisdictions will have to plow through to make a decision where this case ultimately gets tried.

FRANKEN: The fundamental issue seems to be, one of the fundamental issues, is which jurisdiction would have the strongest likelihood of resulting, if there is a guilty verdict, in a death penalty sentence. If Montgomery County, Maryland, which on the face would have the initial claim here, if it was held there or in Maryland, the people who favor the death penalty have a fear that it would be least likely imposed here. Although both candidates for governor say, by the way, they would support it. But Maryland has only had three executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In fact, none since 1998. There is a moratorium now. As opposed to Virginia, where there have been 86 in the same period of time and a federal government might have a death penalty case, then comes the question, whether it would be the Maryland federal court system or in Virginia. These are very tricky questions, the kind of thing they have to unraveled before they move forward. ZAHN: You mentioned some of the meetings postponed today. I wonder what kind of timetable you're looking at here for any of this to be resolved.

FRANKEN: They could have a meeting. They could have a meeting somewhere else, perhaps in Montgomery County. Remember, that was where the investigation first occurred. The timetable, by the way, includes a court appearance next Tuesday here in Baltimore. But the timetable is another thing. You don't just automatically say we are going to do this, this and this and this. You then get into the question of defense attorneys. All of that, motions that might be filed to continue things. The complications of these are here for a reason, but they do tend to slow things down.

ZAHN: Appreciate the update, Bob Franken, thank you. Maybe this weekend, you will be able to grab sleep. We've been running this guy all over the place this week.

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 October 25, 2002 - 09:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Prosecutors from several jurisdictions are meeting today to sort out what charges will be brought against the sniper suspects, which court will try them first. Yesterday in Baltimore, John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo made separate court appearances.
Bob Franken is standing by outside the federal courthouse. He joins us now.

Bob, good morning. Who does have jurisdiction here?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is really a good question. There are so many jurisdictions involved that the meeting that was scheduled here in any case has been postponed, because there are really a lot of tangles that they have to untangled, not the least of which is which jurisdiction has the strongest legal claim. Will it be in Montgomery County, where, of course, more of the murders were committed than anywhere else? Will it be in some of the Virginia counties, Prince George's County where the young child was hit at the school? Will the federal government have the initial jurisdiction? Those are very difficult, tangled questions.

As we approach the trials of the people who are alleged, and it's a word we have to repeatedly say, alleged to have committed these various shootings. They have not, by the way, of course been officially charged with that.

ZAHN: Walk us through, Bob, if you would, some of the very complicated issues these various jurisdictions will have to plow through to make a decision where this case ultimately gets tried.

FRANKEN: The fundamental issue seems to be, one of the fundamental issues, is which jurisdiction would have the strongest likelihood of resulting, if there is a guilty verdict, in a death penalty sentence. If Montgomery County, Maryland, which on the face would have the initial claim here, if it was held there or in Maryland, the people who favor the death penalty have a fear that it would be least likely imposed here. Although both candidates for governor say, by the way, they would support it. But Maryland has only had three executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In fact, none since 1998. There is a moratorium now. As opposed to Virginia, where there have been 86 in the same period of time and a federal government might have a death penalty case, then comes the question, whether it would be the Maryland federal court system or in Virginia. These are very tricky questions, the kind of thing they have to unraveled before they move forward. ZAHN: You mentioned some of the meetings postponed today. I wonder what kind of timetable you're looking at here for any of this to be resolved.

FRANKEN: They could have a meeting. They could have a meeting somewhere else, perhaps in Montgomery County. Remember, that was where the investigation first occurred. The timetable, by the way, includes a court appearance next Tuesday here in Baltimore. But the timetable is another thing. You don't just automatically say we are going to do this, this and this and this. You then get into the question of defense attorneys. All of that, motions that might be filed to continue things. The complications of these are here for a reason, but they do tend to slow things down.

ZAHN: Appreciate the update, Bob Franken, thank you. Maybe this weekend, you will be able to grab sleep. We've been running this guy all over the place this week.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com