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American Morning

Gag Order Issued in Peterson Case

Aired June 13, 2003 - 07:08   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Both sides in the Scott Peterson murder case are being told in no uncertain terms to clam up. The judge hearing the case imposed a gag order yesterday, saying it's needed to protect Peterson's right to a fair trial. But Peterson's lawyers are actually opposed to the order.
More now on the case with our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, who we tracked down in Washington, D.C. this morning.

Jeff -- good morning.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: So, the judge puts a gag order on, but actually the defense didn't want it.

TOOBIN: No. And you can draw your own conclusions about who that means is responsible for all of the leaks that have been coming out of this case for quite a few weeks.

Basically, what happened here is Judge Girolami, who is the judge in the criminal case, just got fed up with how much publicity this case is getting, and he did what he could. He said, look, the lawyers cannot discuss the evidence, they cannot discuss the witnesses, they cannot essentially have any communications with the press outside of what they say in the courtroom. Whether that has any actual impact -- gag orders are notoriously ineffective -- we'll see. But that's at least what the judge is trying to do.

KAGAN: Well, even the prosecution here wanted a limited gag order, so this isn't great news for them either, is that right?

TOOBIN: Well, I think they're certainly more happy than the defense is, because they wanted a certain amount of flexibility. But basically the judge told everybody to shut up and, you know, clearly fed up, especially after the week before last we had that partial autopsy report. We've heard sources apparently from the defense talking about satanic cults. This is what the judge really wanted to stop.

KAGAN: All right, another judge ruled on the search warrants. They have been sealed, but they will be, we come to find out, unsealed in a couple of weeks now. What do we expect to learn from those?

TOOBIN: Well, it's funny. You know, these are almost completely contradictory rulings, a separate case, separate judge. A judge who said, look, these are supposed to be public documents, there has been a lot of publicity already, go ahead and release them.

These are the affidavits in support of the search warrant of the Peterson home, and those will be actually very favorable to the prosecution, because they will have say the -- they will have the police justification for going into the house. They will say, we have found the following evidence in the past; we believe the following evidence will be found in the house. It's all coming from the police. It will all be incriminating to Scott Peterson. Those will actually be highly interesting new developments in the case, and the judge said they should be released probably on July 7.

KAGAN: And finally, when is this trial actually going to begin?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, Daryn if you're going to be asking me these hard questions...

KAGAN: I am. That's what I intend to do.

TOOBIN: I don't think anybody really knows for sure. This is California, land of the very long pretrial delay. I think next year is probably a safe bet. The preliminary hearing is still scheduled for July, although there is now talk of a delay there. I think it probably will be delayed at least a month or so. I would say next year for the actual trial is a guess, but it's really no better than a guess.

KAGAN: And Scott Peterson can plan on staying behind bars until then?

TOOBIN: This is a death penalty case. There is no bail in death penalty case in California. He is going nowhere. His hairstyle will probably remain the same, because the grooming options in prison are somewhat limited.

KAGAN: No access to any of that blonde hair dye.

TOOBIN: No more of that.

KAGAN: Jeffrey Toobin in Washington, D.C., 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 June 13, 2003 - 07:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Both sides in the Scott Peterson murder case are being told in no uncertain terms to clam up. The judge hearing the case imposed a gag order yesterday, saying it's needed to protect Peterson's right to a fair trial. But Peterson's lawyers are actually opposed to the order.
More now on the case with our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, who we tracked down in Washington, D.C. this morning.

Jeff -- good morning.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: So, the judge puts a gag order on, but actually the defense didn't want it.

TOOBIN: No. And you can draw your own conclusions about who that means is responsible for all of the leaks that have been coming out of this case for quite a few weeks.

Basically, what happened here is Judge Girolami, who is the judge in the criminal case, just got fed up with how much publicity this case is getting, and he did what he could. He said, look, the lawyers cannot discuss the evidence, they cannot discuss the witnesses, they cannot essentially have any communications with the press outside of what they say in the courtroom. Whether that has any actual impact -- gag orders are notoriously ineffective -- we'll see. But that's at least what the judge is trying to do.

KAGAN: Well, even the prosecution here wanted a limited gag order, so this isn't great news for them either, is that right?

TOOBIN: Well, I think they're certainly more happy than the defense is, because they wanted a certain amount of flexibility. But basically the judge told everybody to shut up and, you know, clearly fed up, especially after the week before last we had that partial autopsy report. We've heard sources apparently from the defense talking about satanic cults. This is what the judge really wanted to stop.

KAGAN: All right, another judge ruled on the search warrants. They have been sealed, but they will be, we come to find out, unsealed in a couple of weeks now. What do we expect to learn from those?

TOOBIN: Well, it's funny. You know, these are almost completely contradictory rulings, a separate case, separate judge. A judge who said, look, these are supposed to be public documents, there has been a lot of publicity already, go ahead and release them.

These are the affidavits in support of the search warrant of the Peterson home, and those will be actually very favorable to the prosecution, because they will have say the -- they will have the police justification for going into the house. They will say, we have found the following evidence in the past; we believe the following evidence will be found in the house. It's all coming from the police. It will all be incriminating to Scott Peterson. Those will actually be highly interesting new developments in the case, and the judge said they should be released probably on July 7.

KAGAN: And finally, when is this trial actually going to begin?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, Daryn if you're going to be asking me these hard questions...

KAGAN: I am. That's what I intend to do.

TOOBIN: I don't think anybody really knows for sure. This is California, land of the very long pretrial delay. I think next year is probably a safe bet. The preliminary hearing is still scheduled for July, although there is now talk of a delay there. I think it probably will be delayed at least a month or so. I would say next year for the actual trial is a guess, but it's really no better than a guess.

KAGAN: And Scott Peterson can plan on staying behind bars until then?

TOOBIN: This is a death penalty case. There is no bail in death penalty case in California. He is going nowhere. His hairstyle will probably remain the same, because the grooming options in prison are somewhat limited.

KAGAN: No access to any of that blonde hair dye.

TOOBIN: No more of that.

KAGAN: Jeffrey Toobin in Washington, D.C., 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.