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American Morning
Will Jury Buy Lee Boyd Malvo's Insanity Defense?
Aired December 17, 2003 - 07:38 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: So, will the jury buy Lee Boyd Malvo's insanity defense? And if he's convicted, can he avoid the death penalty?
Joining us again with his insights, CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin.
You know, the prosecution really had great material to go forward and present to a jury. So let's talk a little bit about the defense. Rate for me the job that you think they did with the material that they had and, frankly, the defendant that they had.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think they did probably as well as could be expected. But I thought the most interesting thing said in summation was when Arif said don't add another pile to the death -- to the pile of bodies in this case. Because what he was really talking about was the death penalty.
What this defense has been all about is not so much avoiding a guilty verdict, which I think is almost inevitable, but avoiding the death penalty, the penalty phase. That's where the arguments that he's been making in this phase of the trial may actually be more useful to him.
O'BRIEN: How long, I mean, as we mentioned, the jury now heads into deliberation. How long do you think it'll take for this case? Or maybe a better way to put it is do you think it'll take them longer to come to a decision or less time to come to a decision than they did in John Muhammad's trial?
TOOBIN: You know, Virginia is famous for doing everything fast. I think a verdict by the end of the week is quite likely and I think the -- a conviction is quite likely.
O'BRIEN: So if there is a conviction, and I don't think you're alone in predicting that, what do you think about, from all that you've heard in this trial, about the chances of Lee Boyd Malvo being put to death?
TOOBIN: I think he has a lot better chance than John Muhammad did, because of the difference in age, because of his unusual background, because of the degree to which he was clearly influenced by Muhammad.
But this crime was so horrible and there was so much death and carnage, that I think any jury that supports the idea of the death penalty will be very tempted to impose it here. O'BRIEN: All right, Jeff Toobin, we're going to continue to check in with you because we've got lots of legal cases and legal issues that we're following.
TOOBIN: OK. Very good.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.
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 December 17, 2003 - 07:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: So, will the jury buy Lee Boyd Malvo's insanity defense? And if he's convicted, can he avoid the death penalty?
Joining us again with his insights, CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin.
You know, the prosecution really had great material to go forward and present to a jury. So let's talk a little bit about the defense. Rate for me the job that you think they did with the material that they had and, frankly, the defendant that they had.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think they did probably as well as could be expected. But I thought the most interesting thing said in summation was when Arif said don't add another pile to the death -- to the pile of bodies in this case. Because what he was really talking about was the death penalty.
What this defense has been all about is not so much avoiding a guilty verdict, which I think is almost inevitable, but avoiding the death penalty, the penalty phase. That's where the arguments that he's been making in this phase of the trial may actually be more useful to him.
O'BRIEN: How long, I mean, as we mentioned, the jury now heads into deliberation. How long do you think it'll take for this case? Or maybe a better way to put it is do you think it'll take them longer to come to a decision or less time to come to a decision than they did in John Muhammad's trial?
TOOBIN: You know, Virginia is famous for doing everything fast. I think a verdict by the end of the week is quite likely and I think the -- a conviction is quite likely.
O'BRIEN: So if there is a conviction, and I don't think you're alone in predicting that, what do you think about, from all that you've heard in this trial, about the chances of Lee Boyd Malvo being put to death?
TOOBIN: I think he has a lot better chance than John Muhammad did, because of the difference in age, because of his unusual background, because of the degree to which he was clearly influenced by Muhammad.
But this crime was so horrible and there was so much death and carnage, that I think any jury that supports the idea of the death penalty will be very tempted to impose it here. O'BRIEN: All right, Jeff Toobin, we're going to continue to check in with you because we've got lots of legal cases and legal issues that we're following.
TOOBIN: OK. Very good.
O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
