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American Morning
Interview With Karen Russell
Aired July 18, 2003 - 09:25 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: All right, let's see if we can go back to Karen, now, Russell. She's a trial attorney, as I mentioned. And she joins us from Seattle to talk a little more about the Kobe Bryant case. Good morning to you, Karen. Can you hear me now?
KAREN RUSSELL, ATTORNEY: I can hear you now, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Oh, terrific. Good. Glad to hear that.
It seems like there certainly are issues between the district attorney and the sheriff in this Kobe Bryant case. But let's start with the sheriff. Do you think he issued an arrest warrant just too soon in this case?
RUSSELL: I certainly do. I mean, I think the sheriff has gone out of his way to say, just because Kobe is a celebrity, we're not going to give him special treatment.
But I actually think in this case that the sheriff gave him reverse special treatment by doing an end-run around the D.A. and going directly to a judge on a holiday weekend. And I wonder what the rush was? It's not like Kobe Bryant was going to disappear or he wasn't going to be able to find him.
O'BRIEN: Now normally the way it would work is that the sheriff would go to the D.A., the D.A. would take a look at all the evidence and basically decide if they should go forward with the case. It seems like the sheriff went around the D.A., went directly to the judge.
How unusual is this? And in the cases you've seen this happen, what's the reason behind it?
RUSSELL: Well, it is unusual for this county. And I think that's what's most significant. And it is pretty easy for sheriffs and other law enforcement to get an arrest warrant based on probable cause which is a much, much lower standard than reasonable doubt. So if you sort of wanted to get somebody, this would be the way you would go about getting them.
O'BRIEN: Friends of the young woman who has come forward with these charges who are coming to her defense have made it pretty clear that they think she's star-struck. How closely do you think the prosecutor is watching those comments in this case, and how much will that influence what his next step's going to be?
RUSSELL: Well I think it's all going to come down to the evidence, Soledad. And I think we'll find out a lot this afternoon. Is there evidence of sexual contact? And if there is evidence of sexual contact, it turns into then a he said/she said.
And I think then you have to worry about the credibility of the witnesses involved. Here's a girl who is rumored to be star-struck, she named her dog after Mariah Carey, she's auditioning for "American Idol." And I think when you have a possible he said/she said situation, that gets problematic.
O'BRIEN: Karen Russell is a trial attorney. Thanks for joining us this morning with your insight. We certainly appreciate it.
RUSSELL: Thank you, Soledad.
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 18, 2003 - 09:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's see if we can go back to Karen, now, Russell. She's a trial attorney, as I mentioned. And she joins us from Seattle to talk a little more about the Kobe Bryant case. Good morning to you, Karen. Can you hear me now?
KAREN RUSSELL, ATTORNEY: I can hear you now, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Oh, terrific. Good. Glad to hear that.
It seems like there certainly are issues between the district attorney and the sheriff in this Kobe Bryant case. But let's start with the sheriff. Do you think he issued an arrest warrant just too soon in this case?
RUSSELL: I certainly do. I mean, I think the sheriff has gone out of his way to say, just because Kobe is a celebrity, we're not going to give him special treatment.
But I actually think in this case that the sheriff gave him reverse special treatment by doing an end-run around the D.A. and going directly to a judge on a holiday weekend. And I wonder what the rush was? It's not like Kobe Bryant was going to disappear or he wasn't going to be able to find him.
O'BRIEN: Now normally the way it would work is that the sheriff would go to the D.A., the D.A. would take a look at all the evidence and basically decide if they should go forward with the case. It seems like the sheriff went around the D.A., went directly to the judge.
How unusual is this? And in the cases you've seen this happen, what's the reason behind it?
RUSSELL: Well, it is unusual for this county. And I think that's what's most significant. And it is pretty easy for sheriffs and other law enforcement to get an arrest warrant based on probable cause which is a much, much lower standard than reasonable doubt. So if you sort of wanted to get somebody, this would be the way you would go about getting them.
O'BRIEN: Friends of the young woman who has come forward with these charges who are coming to her defense have made it pretty clear that they think she's star-struck. How closely do you think the prosecutor is watching those comments in this case, and how much will that influence what his next step's going to be?
RUSSELL: Well I think it's all going to come down to the evidence, Soledad. And I think we'll find out a lot this afternoon. Is there evidence of sexual contact? And if there is evidence of sexual contact, it turns into then a he said/she said.
And I think then you have to worry about the credibility of the witnesses involved. Here's a girl who is rumored to be star-struck, she named her dog after Mariah Carey, she's auditioning for "American Idol." And I think when you have a possible he said/she said situation, that gets problematic.
O'BRIEN: Karen Russell is a trial attorney. Thanks for joining us this morning with your insight. We certainly appreciate it.
RUSSELL: Thank you, Soledad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
