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American Morning

Opening Statements in Capital Murder Trial of John Allen Muhammad

Aired October 20, 2003 - 08:04   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From Virginia, today's opening statements in the capital murder trial of John Allen Muhammad. He's being tried in the killing of Dean Meyers, gunned down a year ago at a Manassas, Virginia gas station.
Jeanne Meserve is covering the trial for us.

She's live outside the courthouse in Virginia Beach -- Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Today is the day the battle over John Muhammad's guilt and innocence and perhaps his life and death begins. We will have opening statements this morning, first from prosecutor James Willett, then from defense attorney Peter Greenspun. It will be their first efforts to sway the jury and it will be our first look particularly at the defense case for John Muhammad.

Peter Greenspun, the defense attorney, arrived here at the courthouse just a short time ago for probably what is one of the biggest days of his career. He had little to say to us beyond, "I feel good."

Also here in the Virginia Beach municipal complex this morning is Lee Malvo, the other man charged in the sniper slayings. He was moved here from Fairfax County yesterday. He is expected to make an appearance in the courtroom some time in the next several days, probably for identification purposes.

Also in the courtroom today, the family of Dean Meyers. He was the man shot October 9, 2002 at a Manassas gas station. His murder is central to this case. However, evidence of many of the other 13 sniper shootings will be introduced in this case as prosecutors try to build their case against John Muhammad -- back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks, live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

As the prosecution begins to lay out its case against Muhammad, members of the victim's family will be in court today.

Bob Meyers is one of Dean Meyers' three brothers. In this picture here that is Dean in the -- actually, that's the incorrect picture there.

Bob is with us, though.

He's live in the courthouse in Virginia Beach.

Good morning to you, Bob, and thanks for sharing with us this morning.

I know your brother Greg said he would not attend that trial. He said, and we'll show our viewers his comment, "None of it's going to bring Dean back. I don't need to see the defendant. I don't care what they have to say."

You, however, and your older brother Larry, have chosen to go.

Tell us why.

BOB MEYERS, BROTHER OF DEAN MEYERS: We'll receive a certain measure of closure by becoming intimately familiar with whatever details are available about what really happened on October 9, 2002. And as a result of that, we'll take steps toward closure. But the truth is closure will probably never fully come.

HEMMER: Yes. I want to show the correct picture now of your family and your brother Dean in the upper right hand column here. And as we look at this photo, do you believe John Allen Muhammad should die if found guilty?

MEYERS: That's a difficult question to answer today. We certainly recognize that there's been an awful lot that's come forth. But we'll wait until the -- all the aggravating and mitigating circumstances are developed before we make a final determination on anything. But certainly someone who ultimately is determined to have caused the difficulties that have happened certainly is in that category.

HEMMER: Part of the case for the prosecution in getting the death penalty is trying to determine whether or not John Muhammad was the actual triggerman.

Does that matter to you?

MEYERS: No, not particularly. I think that when there's multiple people involved in a situation such as this that all share guilt. But, again, we're not jumping to any conclusions until all the evidence is in.

HEMMER: About a year ago you were with us here on AMERICAN MORNING and we talked about the struggles you have endured over the past few years. You've lost your brother and a few years back you lost your wife in a car accident.

MEYERS: Yes.

HEMMER: You talked about your strength then. Tell us, where do you get that strength.

MEYERS: Relationship with god is the key to all of that. There's certainly no strength within myself to deal with situations such as that. But god is the one that pours the grace on and carries us through. And we trust that we've been good examples in that respect, because he certainly has been doing that for us.

HEMMER: Yes, the other comment you talked about was trying to recall only the good memories and not dwell on the bad. How do you do that?

MEYERS: Well, the truth is that we've made the determination to choose to not question god or criticize him. We know that he allowed this to happen, or it would have been different. And so we choose to trust him through it, even though we don't understand.

The other decision that we've had to make is the point about missing all the future involvement with the ones that died and we've determined that we're going to focus on the wonderful times and full life that we had with them and trust god for the future and just let that go.

HEMMER: Thank you, Bob.

Good luck to you.

Bob Meyers in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

MEYERS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Log onto cnn.com/law, a special report on the sniper attacks and the trial now under way today. Also, a profile of the sniper suspects, John L. Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.

Thanks again to Bob Meyers in Virginia Beach.

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





Muhammad>


Aired October 20, 2003 - 08:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From Virginia, today's opening statements in the capital murder trial of John Allen Muhammad. He's being tried in the killing of Dean Meyers, gunned down a year ago at a Manassas, Virginia gas station.
Jeanne Meserve is covering the trial for us.

She's live outside the courthouse in Virginia Beach -- Jeanne, good morning.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Today is the day the battle over John Muhammad's guilt and innocence and perhaps his life and death begins. We will have opening statements this morning, first from prosecutor James Willett, then from defense attorney Peter Greenspun. It will be their first efforts to sway the jury and it will be our first look particularly at the defense case for John Muhammad.

Peter Greenspun, the defense attorney, arrived here at the courthouse just a short time ago for probably what is one of the biggest days of his career. He had little to say to us beyond, "I feel good."

Also here in the Virginia Beach municipal complex this morning is Lee Malvo, the other man charged in the sniper slayings. He was moved here from Fairfax County yesterday. He is expected to make an appearance in the courtroom some time in the next several days, probably for identification purposes.

Also in the courtroom today, the family of Dean Meyers. He was the man shot October 9, 2002 at a Manassas gas station. His murder is central to this case. However, evidence of many of the other 13 sniper shootings will be introduced in this case as prosecutors try to build their case against John Muhammad -- back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks, live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

As the prosecution begins to lay out its case against Muhammad, members of the victim's family will be in court today.

Bob Meyers is one of Dean Meyers' three brothers. In this picture here that is Dean in the -- actually, that's the incorrect picture there.

Bob is with us, though.

He's live in the courthouse in Virginia Beach.

Good morning to you, Bob, and thanks for sharing with us this morning.

I know your brother Greg said he would not attend that trial. He said, and we'll show our viewers his comment, "None of it's going to bring Dean back. I don't need to see the defendant. I don't care what they have to say."

You, however, and your older brother Larry, have chosen to go.

Tell us why.

BOB MEYERS, BROTHER OF DEAN MEYERS: We'll receive a certain measure of closure by becoming intimately familiar with whatever details are available about what really happened on October 9, 2002. And as a result of that, we'll take steps toward closure. But the truth is closure will probably never fully come.

HEMMER: Yes. I want to show the correct picture now of your family and your brother Dean in the upper right hand column here. And as we look at this photo, do you believe John Allen Muhammad should die if found guilty?

MEYERS: That's a difficult question to answer today. We certainly recognize that there's been an awful lot that's come forth. But we'll wait until the -- all the aggravating and mitigating circumstances are developed before we make a final determination on anything. But certainly someone who ultimately is determined to have caused the difficulties that have happened certainly is in that category.

HEMMER: Part of the case for the prosecution in getting the death penalty is trying to determine whether or not John Muhammad was the actual triggerman.

Does that matter to you?

MEYERS: No, not particularly. I think that when there's multiple people involved in a situation such as this that all share guilt. But, again, we're not jumping to any conclusions until all the evidence is in.

HEMMER: About a year ago you were with us here on AMERICAN MORNING and we talked about the struggles you have endured over the past few years. You've lost your brother and a few years back you lost your wife in a car accident.

MEYERS: Yes.

HEMMER: You talked about your strength then. Tell us, where do you get that strength.

MEYERS: Relationship with god is the key to all of that. There's certainly no strength within myself to deal with situations such as that. But god is the one that pours the grace on and carries us through. And we trust that we've been good examples in that respect, because he certainly has been doing that for us.

HEMMER: Yes, the other comment you talked about was trying to recall only the good memories and not dwell on the bad. How do you do that?

MEYERS: Well, the truth is that we've made the determination to choose to not question god or criticize him. We know that he allowed this to happen, or it would have been different. And so we choose to trust him through it, even though we don't understand.

The other decision that we've had to make is the point about missing all the future involvement with the ones that died and we've determined that we're going to focus on the wonderful times and full life that we had with them and trust god for the future and just let that go.

HEMMER: Thank you, Bob.

Good luck to you.

Bob Meyers in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

MEYERS: Thank you.

HEMMER: Log onto cnn.com/law, a special report on the sniper attacks and the trial now under way today. Also, a profile of the sniper suspects, John L. Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.

Thanks again to Bob Meyers in Virginia Beach.

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





Muhammad>