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American Morning

Three Heavily Armed Teenagers Arrested on Sunday

Aired July 08, 2003 - 08:02   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to the story of the three heavily armed teenagers who were arrested on Sunday. One witness said the trio was ready for war. They were wearing trench coats, carrying shotguns, knives and lots of ammunition. A potential massacre was easy to imagine, according to police.
But then how did the alleged mastermind, 18-year-old Matthew Lovett, go from being an A student to now being held on a million dollar bond?

His father, Ron Lovett, and the boy's attorney, Craig Mitnick, join us now from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Gentlemen, thanks for joining us.

Appreciate it.

RON LOVETT, FATHER OF MATTHEW LOVETT: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Ron, let's begin with you.

How are you holding up? Have you had an opportunity to speak to your son?

LOVETT: No, I have not. I'm holding up, but it's been a nightmare.

O'BRIEN: When you spoke to us yesterday by phone you said that the weapons the police got their hands on were your weapons. Do you have an idea now exactly how the boys were able to get to your weapons, which you said at the time were locked up?

LOVETT: I really don't know. They've -- Matthew has never touched any of my weapons. He knew he should never both with them, and his brother, also, from the time they were toddlers. And Matthew -- no one ever did touch them until Matt became an adult. It's -- I don't know how they got the key.

O'BRIEN: You mentioned yesterday that your wife, Matthew's mother, died years ago, that his little brother was teased pretty mercilessly by classmates. This classmates at school describe Matthew as an angry, dark, troubled kid. Did you miss all these signs?

LOVETT: Well, the classmates may give their opinion of what their relationship was with him. Matthew was fine at home and he -- he didn't like a lot of his peers just because of the teasing that he got used to. So he wasn't a person to easily go out and make friends with other people because of, I guess, what he had gone through with his brother when they were younger.

O'BRIEN: I want to turn to Craig Mitnick for just a moment.

Craig, the guns we've heard are outdated and you've said that they could not have been used in an attack even if the boys had wanted to. Will this be your defense if this goes to trial?

CRAIG MITNICK, MATTHEW LOVETT'S ATTORNEY: No, absolutely not. You know, I'm not sure at this point in time whether those guns could have been fired or other news today. Probably the guns were in working order. It's the ammunition that was 25 to 30 years old.

But in no way is that a defense. These guns were loaded. Under the New Jersey State law, carrying a loaded weapon is illegal without a permit and if you intend to use that for any sort of unlawful purpose, that's even a higher degree crime.

Those charges are appropriate right now. What we're really concerned with and what I'm suspect of right now is the carjacking charge and the possibility of attempted murder charges being additionally filed against the three individuals.

O'BRIEN: So when this goes to trial, what would you potentially argue? I mean the police say they saw the boys with weapons strapped to their chests. What would your -- what's your plan?

MITNICK: Well, right now, as I said, there are appropriate charges. Matthew and I have discussed, he walked out of the home with a loaded weapon. He understands he's going to need to take responsibility for that. But in regards to a carjacking, in regards to attempted murder, those charges are on a whole another level.

Matthew says he never, ever intended to hurt anyone. He's never pulled a trigger on a gun before and he never intended to pull a trigger when he left the home. Some people would ask the question then why did he leave the home with the guns loaded? And sometimes logic doesn't always make sense with teenagers.

O'BRIEN: We heard that Matthew laughed when he heard that his bail was $1 million. Give me a sense of his mental state in your mind.

MITNICK: Well, I don't know that he laughed. I asked him if he knew what his bail was and he thought it was $75,000, and 10 percent, which would be $7,500. And when I said no, Matthew, it's a million dollars, he looked at me with almost a look as to say hey, I'm not worth a million dollars. I definitely got and impression there was a very fragile psyche there and there were some definite issues with his own self-esteem. And he'll be evaluated psychologically and psychiatrically within the next week.

O'BRIEN: Ron, we mentioned that the computer has been seized. You have said that the Internet was a bad thing for your son.

What's on his computer? LOVETT: Well, I don't know what was on his computer, so, and I didn't watch him while he was on the Internet most of the time. Most of the time he listened to music and watched small movie clips. So I can't really comment about what was on his computer. I don't know what he had stored on it.

O'BRIEN: All right, Ron Lovett and also Craig Mitnick, thanks for joining us this morning, gentlemen.

We appreciate your time.

LOVETT: Thank you very much.

MITNICK: 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 July 8, 2003 - 08:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to the story of the three heavily armed teenagers who were arrested on Sunday. One witness said the trio was ready for war. They were wearing trench coats, carrying shotguns, knives and lots of ammunition. A potential massacre was easy to imagine, according to police.
But then how did the alleged mastermind, 18-year-old Matthew Lovett, go from being an A student to now being held on a million dollar bond?

His father, Ron Lovett, and the boy's attorney, Craig Mitnick, join us now from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Gentlemen, thanks for joining us.

Appreciate it.

RON LOVETT, FATHER OF MATTHEW LOVETT: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Ron, let's begin with you.

How are you holding up? Have you had an opportunity to speak to your son?

LOVETT: No, I have not. I'm holding up, but it's been a nightmare.

O'BRIEN: When you spoke to us yesterday by phone you said that the weapons the police got their hands on were your weapons. Do you have an idea now exactly how the boys were able to get to your weapons, which you said at the time were locked up?

LOVETT: I really don't know. They've -- Matthew has never touched any of my weapons. He knew he should never both with them, and his brother, also, from the time they were toddlers. And Matthew -- no one ever did touch them until Matt became an adult. It's -- I don't know how they got the key.

O'BRIEN: You mentioned yesterday that your wife, Matthew's mother, died years ago, that his little brother was teased pretty mercilessly by classmates. This classmates at school describe Matthew as an angry, dark, troubled kid. Did you miss all these signs?

LOVETT: Well, the classmates may give their opinion of what their relationship was with him. Matthew was fine at home and he -- he didn't like a lot of his peers just because of the teasing that he got used to. So he wasn't a person to easily go out and make friends with other people because of, I guess, what he had gone through with his brother when they were younger.

O'BRIEN: I want to turn to Craig Mitnick for just a moment.

Craig, the guns we've heard are outdated and you've said that they could not have been used in an attack even if the boys had wanted to. Will this be your defense if this goes to trial?

CRAIG MITNICK, MATTHEW LOVETT'S ATTORNEY: No, absolutely not. You know, I'm not sure at this point in time whether those guns could have been fired or other news today. Probably the guns were in working order. It's the ammunition that was 25 to 30 years old.

But in no way is that a defense. These guns were loaded. Under the New Jersey State law, carrying a loaded weapon is illegal without a permit and if you intend to use that for any sort of unlawful purpose, that's even a higher degree crime.

Those charges are appropriate right now. What we're really concerned with and what I'm suspect of right now is the carjacking charge and the possibility of attempted murder charges being additionally filed against the three individuals.

O'BRIEN: So when this goes to trial, what would you potentially argue? I mean the police say they saw the boys with weapons strapped to their chests. What would your -- what's your plan?

MITNICK: Well, right now, as I said, there are appropriate charges. Matthew and I have discussed, he walked out of the home with a loaded weapon. He understands he's going to need to take responsibility for that. But in regards to a carjacking, in regards to attempted murder, those charges are on a whole another level.

Matthew says he never, ever intended to hurt anyone. He's never pulled a trigger on a gun before and he never intended to pull a trigger when he left the home. Some people would ask the question then why did he leave the home with the guns loaded? And sometimes logic doesn't always make sense with teenagers.

O'BRIEN: We heard that Matthew laughed when he heard that his bail was $1 million. Give me a sense of his mental state in your mind.

MITNICK: Well, I don't know that he laughed. I asked him if he knew what his bail was and he thought it was $75,000, and 10 percent, which would be $7,500. And when I said no, Matthew, it's a million dollars, he looked at me with almost a look as to say hey, I'm not worth a million dollars. I definitely got and impression there was a very fragile psyche there and there were some definite issues with his own self-esteem. And he'll be evaluated psychologically and psychiatrically within the next week.

O'BRIEN: Ron, we mentioned that the computer has been seized. You have said that the Internet was a bad thing for your son.

What's on his computer? LOVETT: Well, I don't know what was on his computer, so, and I didn't watch him while he was on the Internet most of the time. Most of the time he listened to music and watched small movie clips. So I can't really comment about what was on his computer. I don't know what he had stored on it.

O'BRIEN: All right, Ron Lovett and also Craig Mitnick, thanks for joining us this morning, gentlemen.

We appreciate your time.

LOVETT: Thank you very much.

MITNICK: 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