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American Morning

Interview With Angelique Nedera

Aired December 24, 2003 - 07:22   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: The eight women and four men on the jury spoke with one voice after Malvo's trial, when it was decided he was guilty. But when it came time to decide whether the teenager should live or die for his crime, jurors were said to be deeply divided.
In fact, one juror, Angelique Nedera, said she voted for the death penalty. But when it became clear that the panel would deadlock, the jurors who favored death for Malvo relented.

Angelique Nedera joins us this morning from Chesapeake, Virginia to talk about just what went on inside that jury room.

Angelique, good morning.

Thanks for being with us.

You've just heard the...

ANGELIQUE NEDERA, MALVO TRIAL JUROR: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: You've heard from some of the family members now a day later, very upset with the way that the jury went.

What's your response to them, since you're one of the jurors who wanted Malvo to be put to death?

NEDERA: I did. And I did feel that the death penalty would be the right choice, in my mind. And I do feel deep sorrow for the families and I will always feel that way. And I'm -- I have to accept what the decision was. But I can say that in my own mind, I did feel sorrow for them and I deeply considered them and my death -- my choice was for the death penalty.

O'BRIEN: Some have said, the jurors, you're included, obviously, in that group, it was a cop out.

Do you feel you let them down to some degree, the family members?

NEDERA: The families? Well, of course I have a bit of satisfaction -- un-satisfaction with the verdict and it's hard for me to come to terms with that because in all honesty that wasn't the way that I wanted it to be. And I can say that if I let them down, then I can understand where they would be coming from in that regard. And I can understand that because I did see their side in many of the ways during deliberation. I saw them in my mind and I considered them very deeply. O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what it was like in the jury room. Because obviously we're hearing and we've seen now that the jurors, yourself included, were deeply divided.

Was it sort of calm arguments? Were people yelling? Were people screaming? Give me a feel of what it was like and how the numbers kind of went, who was on what side.

NEDERA: Well, one thing that I can say that did happen in the jury room, and I haven't truly understood this portion -- I was the youngest juror on the jury and I think that that did have a lot to do with my decision and the way that I felt. And I do also believe that many things happened in that jury room under heated debate. And I completely kept an open mind and I did respect that. And I thought it was interesting that the youngest juror on the jury was willing to give the death penalty and in the fact that I am the closest one to his age and I can vividly remember being 17 and 18 years old. And that did have an impact on me and...

O'BRIEN: So -- forgive me for interrupting you there...

NEDERA: Of course that was...

O'BRIEN: ... but I'm curious to know, did you feel then, when the other jurors said no, let's spare his life, did you say well, you know, I remember better than the rest of you being that age and I have a different perspective? Were you trying to sell your side, your perspective? Did you feel that people were listening to what you had to say?

NEDERA: You know, I'm truly glad that you brought that up and that was something that I felt like I needed to bring up, also. I also felt within me that life does tell you to respect your elders and I did. And I felt like I kept an open mind and I respected them.

But I don't feel like that that I received that same satisfaction in the fact that there were everyone else on that jury older than me and because of that, I don't feel that my opinions and my statements and my inputs were all considered like I considered the others in the people who were older than me on there.

O'BRIEN: Angelique, did you feel that people were pressuring you and -- because of your age, into sort of coming to the other side that you sort of morally disagreed with? Is that what you're saying?

NEDERA: No, I can't speak for anybody else. I can't. I can only tell you what I have felt and what I saw and how I responded to that. And, no, I did not, I did not feel that they pressured me. I know how -- I knew how I felt. But I also knew that, you know, among a group of 12 people, that you do have to make one choice. And I do understand the reason that it came to the way it did.

O'BRIEN: Angelique Nedera, thank you so much for joining us.

I know, I can tell from the emotion in your voice it's still really hard to talk about. But you've given us a lot of insight into what happened in there and we really appreciate it.

NEDERA: Thank you very much for allowing me to speak.

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 24, 2003 - 07:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The eight women and four men on the jury spoke with one voice after Malvo's trial, when it was decided he was guilty. But when it came time to decide whether the teenager should live or die for his crime, jurors were said to be deeply divided.
In fact, one juror, Angelique Nedera, said she voted for the death penalty. But when it became clear that the panel would deadlock, the jurors who favored death for Malvo relented.

Angelique Nedera joins us this morning from Chesapeake, Virginia to talk about just what went on inside that jury room.

Angelique, good morning.

Thanks for being with us.

You've just heard the...

ANGELIQUE NEDERA, MALVO TRIAL JUROR: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: You've heard from some of the family members now a day later, very upset with the way that the jury went.

What's your response to them, since you're one of the jurors who wanted Malvo to be put to death?

NEDERA: I did. And I did feel that the death penalty would be the right choice, in my mind. And I do feel deep sorrow for the families and I will always feel that way. And I'm -- I have to accept what the decision was. But I can say that in my own mind, I did feel sorrow for them and I deeply considered them and my death -- my choice was for the death penalty.

O'BRIEN: Some have said, the jurors, you're included, obviously, in that group, it was a cop out.

Do you feel you let them down to some degree, the family members?

NEDERA: The families? Well, of course I have a bit of satisfaction -- un-satisfaction with the verdict and it's hard for me to come to terms with that because in all honesty that wasn't the way that I wanted it to be. And I can say that if I let them down, then I can understand where they would be coming from in that regard. And I can understand that because I did see their side in many of the ways during deliberation. I saw them in my mind and I considered them very deeply. O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what it was like in the jury room. Because obviously we're hearing and we've seen now that the jurors, yourself included, were deeply divided.

Was it sort of calm arguments? Were people yelling? Were people screaming? Give me a feel of what it was like and how the numbers kind of went, who was on what side.

NEDERA: Well, one thing that I can say that did happen in the jury room, and I haven't truly understood this portion -- I was the youngest juror on the jury and I think that that did have a lot to do with my decision and the way that I felt. And I do also believe that many things happened in that jury room under heated debate. And I completely kept an open mind and I did respect that. And I thought it was interesting that the youngest juror on the jury was willing to give the death penalty and in the fact that I am the closest one to his age and I can vividly remember being 17 and 18 years old. And that did have an impact on me and...

O'BRIEN: So -- forgive me for interrupting you there...

NEDERA: Of course that was...

O'BRIEN: ... but I'm curious to know, did you feel then, when the other jurors said no, let's spare his life, did you say well, you know, I remember better than the rest of you being that age and I have a different perspective? Were you trying to sell your side, your perspective? Did you feel that people were listening to what you had to say?

NEDERA: You know, I'm truly glad that you brought that up and that was something that I felt like I needed to bring up, also. I also felt within me that life does tell you to respect your elders and I did. And I felt like I kept an open mind and I respected them.

But I don't feel like that that I received that same satisfaction in the fact that there were everyone else on that jury older than me and because of that, I don't feel that my opinions and my statements and my inputs were all considered like I considered the others in the people who were older than me on there.

O'BRIEN: Angelique, did you feel that people were pressuring you and -- because of your age, into sort of coming to the other side that you sort of morally disagreed with? Is that what you're saying?

NEDERA: No, I can't speak for anybody else. I can't. I can only tell you what I have felt and what I saw and how I responded to that. And, no, I did not, I did not feel that they pressured me. I know how -- I knew how I felt. But I also knew that, you know, among a group of 12 people, that you do have to make one choice. And I do understand the reason that it came to the way it did.

O'BRIEN: Angelique Nedera, thank you so much for joining us.

I know, I can tell from the emotion in your voice it's still really hard to talk about. But you've given us a lot of insight into what happened in there and we really appreciate it.

NEDERA: Thank you very much for allowing me to speak.

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