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American Morning

Sniper John Muhammad Expected to Make Appearance at Trial of Alleged Accomplice

Aired December 02, 2003 - 07:33   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: Well, let's turn now to the D.C. area. Sniper John Muhammad expected to make an appearance at the trial of his alleged accomplice. Lee Boyd Malvo's lawyers are presenting their case to the jury. They want Muhammad brought to court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL ARIF, ATTORNEY FOR MALVO: We would certainly like to have John Muhammad there so that the jury can get the full flavor of John Muhammad, the size difference, what the measure of the man is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It might not actually happen, though. Malvo's lawyers claim the teenager was manipulated by Muhammad. It's important to their case.

"Washington Post" reporters Sari Horwitz and Michael Ruane are the co-authors of the book "Sniper."

They join us from Washington, D.C. to talk about that and much more.

Good morning to both of you.

Nice to see you again.

MICHAEL RUANE, CO-AUTHOR, "SNIPER": Good morning.

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

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

I guess part of the reason to bring John Muhammad into Malvo's trial is to just make an out and out size comparison.

Explain why that's important to the case.

HORWITZ: Well, Soledad, there is a 500 pound elephant in the room in this trial, and that is the Malvo confession, where he basically takes credit for taking all these shots and brags about it. What the defense team has to do is switch this case over, move it away from Malvo and focus on Muhammad. And so they want to bring Muhammad into the trial to show he's a 42-year-old man, he's a big guy, he's older, more mature, whereas Malvo's a little guy. He's 5'5," he's a skinny teenager. And they want to say this small teenager couldn't have come up with this plot to be the sniper by himself. Muhammad was the captain of this killing team, that's what they're trying to do.

O'BRIEN: The judge seems less than thrilled with the prospect of having John Muhammad in her courtroom. In addition, are the defense attorneys hoping that at some point John Muhammad would sort of say, even though you've heard this 500 pound gorilla in the -- of the confession, they want him to say listen, I did it, I was in charge?

HORWITZ: Well, they would like him to do that, but he's already said -- his attorneys have said he is not going to talk about the case. He's not going to take the stand. He's going to plead the fifth. He will not be engaged at all. He may show up in court if he has to for a size comparison, but he's not going to say anything.

O'BRIEN: All right, Michael, a quick question for you.

Mildred Muhammad was on the stand. She talked a little bit about how her husband, ex-husband, was a child magnet.

Give me a sense of how important that was to this trial and what the reaction was when jurors heard that.

RUANE: Well, they're trying to show that Muhammad was the kind of person who had influence over kids. We heard at the Muhammad trial that he and his wife often took in foster children -- this was in another life -- and that he liked to be around children, he liked to sort of mentor children and, in the end, like to control children. And he did that with Malvo and gave Malvo a sort of complete code of conduct, including politics and philosophy and everything Malvo needed to be his acolyte.

O'BRIEN: Sari, I want to ask you a question about the defense's theory. The theory, to some degree, is that Mildred Muhammad was the target of John Muhammad, which would explain a lot from the perspective of why John Muhammad would do the shootings, but sort of, to some degree, free up Lee Boyd Malvo.

Is that fair to say? And is anyone expecting that that's going to work?

HORWITZ: Well, Soledad, that's exactly what they're trying to do is, again, take the focus off of Malvo, say -- and they're saying if Mildred Muhammad was the focus, if, in fact, Muhammad wanted to kill her and killed all these other people as a cover, then, of course, it was Muhammad's idea. It was Muhammad's plot, not Malvo's.

And I think one interesting thing that you're going to see coming up in coming days, according to the defense, is a letter that Malvo allegedly wrote to a cousin of Muhammad's saying that Muhammad wanted to kill him, that his father wanted to kill him for a righteous society. He had this feeling that he was going to be a victim himself.

O'BRIEN: It's a complicated case.

HORWITZ: It is complicated.

O'BRIEN: Sari Horwitz, Michael Ruane, as always, nice to check in with you and get a little clarification.

We'll, of course, keep talking to you as this case moves forward.

Thanks, you guys.

RUANE: You're welcome.

HORWITZ: Thanks, 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





of Alleged Accomplice>


Aired December 2, 2003 - 07:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let's turn now to the D.C. area. Sniper John Muhammad expected to make an appearance at the trial of his alleged accomplice. Lee Boyd Malvo's lawyers are presenting their case to the jury. They want Muhammad brought to court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL ARIF, ATTORNEY FOR MALVO: We would certainly like to have John Muhammad there so that the jury can get the full flavor of John Muhammad, the size difference, what the measure of the man is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It might not actually happen, though. Malvo's lawyers claim the teenager was manipulated by Muhammad. It's important to their case.

"Washington Post" reporters Sari Horwitz and Michael Ruane are the co-authors of the book "Sniper."

They join us from Washington, D.C. to talk about that and much more.

Good morning to both of you.

Nice to see you again.

MICHAEL RUANE, CO-AUTHOR, "SNIPER": Good morning.

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

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

I guess part of the reason to bring John Muhammad into Malvo's trial is to just make an out and out size comparison.

Explain why that's important to the case.

HORWITZ: Well, Soledad, there is a 500 pound elephant in the room in this trial, and that is the Malvo confession, where he basically takes credit for taking all these shots and brags about it. What the defense team has to do is switch this case over, move it away from Malvo and focus on Muhammad. And so they want to bring Muhammad into the trial to show he's a 42-year-old man, he's a big guy, he's older, more mature, whereas Malvo's a little guy. He's 5'5," he's a skinny teenager. And they want to say this small teenager couldn't have come up with this plot to be the sniper by himself. Muhammad was the captain of this killing team, that's what they're trying to do.

O'BRIEN: The judge seems less than thrilled with the prospect of having John Muhammad in her courtroom. In addition, are the defense attorneys hoping that at some point John Muhammad would sort of say, even though you've heard this 500 pound gorilla in the -- of the confession, they want him to say listen, I did it, I was in charge?

HORWITZ: Well, they would like him to do that, but he's already said -- his attorneys have said he is not going to talk about the case. He's not going to take the stand. He's going to plead the fifth. He will not be engaged at all. He may show up in court if he has to for a size comparison, but he's not going to say anything.

O'BRIEN: All right, Michael, a quick question for you.

Mildred Muhammad was on the stand. She talked a little bit about how her husband, ex-husband, was a child magnet.

Give me a sense of how important that was to this trial and what the reaction was when jurors heard that.

RUANE: Well, they're trying to show that Muhammad was the kind of person who had influence over kids. We heard at the Muhammad trial that he and his wife often took in foster children -- this was in another life -- and that he liked to be around children, he liked to sort of mentor children and, in the end, like to control children. And he did that with Malvo and gave Malvo a sort of complete code of conduct, including politics and philosophy and everything Malvo needed to be his acolyte.

O'BRIEN: Sari, I want to ask you a question about the defense's theory. The theory, to some degree, is that Mildred Muhammad was the target of John Muhammad, which would explain a lot from the perspective of why John Muhammad would do the shootings, but sort of, to some degree, free up Lee Boyd Malvo.

Is that fair to say? And is anyone expecting that that's going to work?

HORWITZ: Well, Soledad, that's exactly what they're trying to do is, again, take the focus off of Malvo, say -- and they're saying if Mildred Muhammad was the focus, if, in fact, Muhammad wanted to kill her and killed all these other people as a cover, then, of course, it was Muhammad's idea. It was Muhammad's plot, not Malvo's.

And I think one interesting thing that you're going to see coming up in coming days, according to the defense, is a letter that Malvo allegedly wrote to a cousin of Muhammad's saying that Muhammad wanted to kill him, that his father wanted to kill him for a righteous society. He had this feeling that he was going to be a victim himself.

O'BRIEN: It's a complicated case.

HORWITZ: It is complicated.

O'BRIEN: Sari Horwitz, Michael Ruane, as always, nice to check in with you and get a little clarification.

We'll, of course, keep talking to you as this case moves forward.

Thanks, you guys.

RUANE: You're welcome.

HORWITZ: Thanks, 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





of Alleged Accomplice>