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American Morning

Tale of Two Trials

Aired November 13, 2003 - 07:16   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: The fate of accused sniper John Muhammad may be in the hands of the jury by day's end. Closing arguments are said to begin later today in that murder trial. The defense rested its case yesterday, and if you blinked you might have missed it. It was brief, and that's an understatement.
Jeanne Meserve live in Virginia Beach this morning.

Good morning there -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

The defense had estimated its case could take two or three days, but in the end, it was much less than that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): The defense case was stunning for its brevity: just five witnesses in less than three hours, a striking contrast with the prosecution, which called 136 witnesses over 14 days.

PAUL BUTLER, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: It's a very surprising development. The defense seems to be not that Mr. Muhammad is innocent, but that the government doesn't have enough evidence to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

MESERVE: The defense tried to undermine prosecution witnesses, who had placed Muhammad and Malvo, or their car, near the Iran Brown shooing at a middle school in Bowie, Maryland, the Dean Meyers shooting in Manassas, and the Kenneth Bridges shooting in Fredericksburg.

They also attempted to discredit the testimony of Muhammad's cousin, Charlene Anderson (ph). She had testified that Muhammad showed her a gun during a visit in the months before the sniper slayings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

This morning, the prosecution will put on two witnesses to rebut the testimony of defense witnesses yesterday. The jury will receive its instructions. There will be closing arguments, and then the future of John Muhammad goes to the jury -- Bill.

HEMMER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks, in Virginia Beach. "Washington Post" reporters Sari Horwitz and Michael Ruane wrote the book, "Sniper." They are co-authors. They've been watching both trials. Sari is in Washington this morning. Good morning to you there. Nice to have you back with us.

SARI HORWITZ, CO-AUTHOR, "SNIPER": Good morning.

HEMMER: And Michael is in Virginia Beach, the same location as Jeanne Meserve.

Michael, what was your reaction yesterday with this defense being so brief as it was?

MICHAEL RUANE, CO-AUTHOR, "SNIPER": Well, we were wondering all along what the defense -- who the defense was going to bring to the stand. So, everybody was a little surprised in the beginning when they said it was going to take two to three days. So, when it was as brief as it was yesterday, it wasn't entirely a surprise. We just couldn't exactly figure out what they were going to -- how they were going to put on a defense.

HEMMER: And now, we're wondering if the threshold has changed, Sari. Listen to some of the comments the judge made yesterday in this ruling that could be very significant in the fate of John Muhammad. He concludes Muhammad and accused conspirator Lee Boyd Malvo perfected the ability to shoot people and escape -- adding that there's evidence to support that Mr. Muhammad was the principal instigator, whether the jury concludes so or not. His comments and ruling from yesterday.

How will that impact deliberations now?

RUANE: Well, it's not clear. You know, the jury was not in the room. Everybody was pretty stunned. I mean, the judge basically subscribed to the commonwealth's case from start to finish. That was kind of striking. Again, the jury was not in the room, and the judge said, you know, that he doesn't know whether the jury will subscribe to it, but he does.

HEMMER: Yes, but, Sari, if you read "The Washington Post" column this morning, it makes it quite clear that we had thought that you had to tie a fingerprint on that gun, but apparently the judge is not ruling that way. Is that a fair interpretation?

HORWITZ: Well, that's right, the judge is not ruling that way. And, you know, Bill, it's really interesting the juxtaposition of the Muhammad trial and Malvo trial, the Muhammad winding down and the Malvo trial beginning is just fascinating, because although they're on parallel tracks, these two are very different cases.

In the Muhammad case, the prosecutor is arguing that, you know, he's the captain of the killing team, that he manipulated, that he controlled, that he kind of came up with this whole plot, which, of course, the defense in the Malvo team agrees with. But the defense and the Muhammad team argues that he did not fire a shot. And the prosecutor in the Malvo team will argue that Malvo was actually a willful participant, that he was very smart, that he knew what he was doing -- a complete contrast to the prosecutor in the Muhammad case.

HEMMER: Thanks to both of you, Michael Ruane, Sari Horwitz. You've been with us from the beginning. Appreciate it. We'll watch it again today.

HORWITZ: Thank you, Bill.

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 November 13, 2003 - 07:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The fate of accused sniper John Muhammad may be in the hands of the jury by day's end. Closing arguments are said to begin later today in that murder trial. The defense rested its case yesterday, and if you blinked you might have missed it. It was brief, and that's an understatement.
Jeanne Meserve live in Virginia Beach this morning.

Good morning there -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

The defense had estimated its case could take two or three days, but in the end, it was much less than that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): The defense case was stunning for its brevity: just five witnesses in less than three hours, a striking contrast with the prosecution, which called 136 witnesses over 14 days.

PAUL BUTLER, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: It's a very surprising development. The defense seems to be not that Mr. Muhammad is innocent, but that the government doesn't have enough evidence to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

MESERVE: The defense tried to undermine prosecution witnesses, who had placed Muhammad and Malvo, or their car, near the Iran Brown shooing at a middle school in Bowie, Maryland, the Dean Meyers shooting in Manassas, and the Kenneth Bridges shooting in Fredericksburg.

They also attempted to discredit the testimony of Muhammad's cousin, Charlene Anderson (ph). She had testified that Muhammad showed her a gun during a visit in the months before the sniper slayings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

This morning, the prosecution will put on two witnesses to rebut the testimony of defense witnesses yesterday. The jury will receive its instructions. There will be closing arguments, and then the future of John Muhammad goes to the jury -- Bill.

HEMMER: Jeanne Meserve, thanks, in Virginia Beach. "Washington Post" reporters Sari Horwitz and Michael Ruane wrote the book, "Sniper." They are co-authors. They've been watching both trials. Sari is in Washington this morning. Good morning to you there. Nice to have you back with us.

SARI HORWITZ, CO-AUTHOR, "SNIPER": Good morning.

HEMMER: And Michael is in Virginia Beach, the same location as Jeanne Meserve.

Michael, what was your reaction yesterday with this defense being so brief as it was?

MICHAEL RUANE, CO-AUTHOR, "SNIPER": Well, we were wondering all along what the defense -- who the defense was going to bring to the stand. So, everybody was a little surprised in the beginning when they said it was going to take two to three days. So, when it was as brief as it was yesterday, it wasn't entirely a surprise. We just couldn't exactly figure out what they were going to -- how they were going to put on a defense.

HEMMER: And now, we're wondering if the threshold has changed, Sari. Listen to some of the comments the judge made yesterday in this ruling that could be very significant in the fate of John Muhammad. He concludes Muhammad and accused conspirator Lee Boyd Malvo perfected the ability to shoot people and escape -- adding that there's evidence to support that Mr. Muhammad was the principal instigator, whether the jury concludes so or not. His comments and ruling from yesterday.

How will that impact deliberations now?

RUANE: Well, it's not clear. You know, the jury was not in the room. Everybody was pretty stunned. I mean, the judge basically subscribed to the commonwealth's case from start to finish. That was kind of striking. Again, the jury was not in the room, and the judge said, you know, that he doesn't know whether the jury will subscribe to it, but he does.

HEMMER: Yes, but, Sari, if you read "The Washington Post" column this morning, it makes it quite clear that we had thought that you had to tie a fingerprint on that gun, but apparently the judge is not ruling that way. Is that a fair interpretation?

HORWITZ: Well, that's right, the judge is not ruling that way. And, you know, Bill, it's really interesting the juxtaposition of the Muhammad trial and Malvo trial, the Muhammad winding down and the Malvo trial beginning is just fascinating, because although they're on parallel tracks, these two are very different cases.

In the Muhammad case, the prosecutor is arguing that, you know, he's the captain of the killing team, that he manipulated, that he controlled, that he kind of came up with this whole plot, which, of course, the defense in the Malvo team agrees with. But the defense and the Muhammad team argues that he did not fire a shot. And the prosecutor in the Malvo team will argue that Malvo was actually a willful participant, that he was very smart, that he knew what he was doing -- a complete contrast to the prosecutor in the Muhammad case.

HEMMER: Thanks to both of you, Michael Ruane, Sari Horwitz. You've been with us from the beginning. Appreciate it. We'll watch it again today.

HORWITZ: Thank you, Bill.

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