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American Morning

Martha Stewart Case

Aired January 05, 2004 - 09:37   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 judge in the Martha Stewart case is warning reporters to stay away from prospective jurors. Questionnaires for those who might be empaneled are going out tomorrow.
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us this morning to talk about that.

Happy New Year. Nice to see you.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Happy New Year SOB.

O'BRIEN: I love those initials. Some people don't, but I do.

Let's start talking about this case, got a lot of legal stuff to get to. Judge says the media cannot contact the prospective jurors. Is that very unusual, or is that typical?

TOOBIN: It's pretty common in high-profile cases. This is the one thing all of us who cover these cases know -- stay away from those jurors until there's a verdict. At that point, no problems, but it's both commonsense, and I think a fair restriction.

O'BRIEN: All right, the case is supposed to begin -- trial, rather, January 20th, takes about six weeks most people are predicting. Do you expect we're going to see Martha Stewart on the stand. Do you think she has to take the stand?

TOOBIN: I think she probably does. In high-profile cases with high-profile defendants, the jurors, even though they're instructed, don't hold it against the defendant not to take the stand. She is such a public person, she is probably going to take the witness stand, I would expect. Unless the government's case really falls apart in the beginning of the case, I think we'll see Martha Stewart on the stand. And I can't wait, for one.

O'BRIEN: You, obviously, have interviewed her before. So it will be interesting, I'm sure, from your perspective.

TOOBIN: I have. And she has a story to tell. This is about a single transaction. That's what this whole case is about, this one sale of ImClone stock. She says she had a pre-existing agreement to sell the stock. The government says she sold it, because she knew it was about to drop. That's the whole case.

O'BRIEN: Doug Daniel (ph), of course, is the young assistant trader who basically, I guess, said that he, in exchange for giving this misleading information to investigators, thought a week's vacation and an airline ticket.

TOOBIN: A very weak -- a very peculiar plea bargain. He was the assistant to Peter Bocanovich (ph), the stock broker who was her co- defendant, and he sort of implicates Martha Stewart. He does implicate Peter Bocanovich considerably.

But I think the thing to watch in the next couple weeks is what Peter does. Peter Bochanovich, the stockbroker, the co-defendant, if he flips against Martha Stewart, you know he has been given every incentive in the world to plead and cooperate -- he wouldn't go to jail. But he hasn't, he has not flipped, and that may suggest she's innocent, and he's innocent. So that's the thing that I will be keeping an eye on.

O'BRIEN: We could be talking about this for an hour.

TOOBIN: And we will.

O'BRIEN: But we're going to move on and talk about the Laci Peterson case. Mark Geragos is arguing for a change of venue. Here's what he has say, "Laci Peterson has become a posthumous celebrity, loved and cherished by the community, whereas Mr. Peterson has been demonized as an evil outsider to the community." One, do you think it's true? And two, do you think this sort of sentiment is enough to actually get a change of venue?

TOOBIN: That's lawyers rhetoric, but I think he does have a point. This is the best change of venue motion I have ever seen, because if you recall, Laci Peterson wasn't just a missing person, she was a community project. Hundreds of people in Modesto went looking for her when she was missing. And even though, as the government points out, the Laci Peterson case got tremendous publicity all across California, it was really concentrated in Modesto. And I think In a state like California, where change of venues are not common, but not unheard of, I think he probably will get it.

O'BRIEN: Jeff Toobin, as always, nice to see you.

TOOBIN: Nice to be back.

O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess we'll keep talking about these.

TOOBIN: You bet.

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 January 5, 2004 - 09:37   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 judge in the Martha Stewart case is warning reporters to stay away from prospective jurors. Questionnaires for those who might be empaneled are going out tomorrow.
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us this morning to talk about that.

Happy New Year. Nice to see you.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Happy New Year SOB.

O'BRIEN: I love those initials. Some people don't, but I do.

Let's start talking about this case, got a lot of legal stuff to get to. Judge says the media cannot contact the prospective jurors. Is that very unusual, or is that typical?

TOOBIN: It's pretty common in high-profile cases. This is the one thing all of us who cover these cases know -- stay away from those jurors until there's a verdict. At that point, no problems, but it's both commonsense, and I think a fair restriction.

O'BRIEN: All right, the case is supposed to begin -- trial, rather, January 20th, takes about six weeks most people are predicting. Do you expect we're going to see Martha Stewart on the stand. Do you think she has to take the stand?

TOOBIN: I think she probably does. In high-profile cases with high-profile defendants, the jurors, even though they're instructed, don't hold it against the defendant not to take the stand. She is such a public person, she is probably going to take the witness stand, I would expect. Unless the government's case really falls apart in the beginning of the case, I think we'll see Martha Stewart on the stand. And I can't wait, for one.

O'BRIEN: You, obviously, have interviewed her before. So it will be interesting, I'm sure, from your perspective.

TOOBIN: I have. And she has a story to tell. This is about a single transaction. That's what this whole case is about, this one sale of ImClone stock. She says she had a pre-existing agreement to sell the stock. The government says she sold it, because she knew it was about to drop. That's the whole case.

O'BRIEN: Doug Daniel (ph), of course, is the young assistant trader who basically, I guess, said that he, in exchange for giving this misleading information to investigators, thought a week's vacation and an airline ticket.

TOOBIN: A very weak -- a very peculiar plea bargain. He was the assistant to Peter Bocanovich (ph), the stock broker who was her co- defendant, and he sort of implicates Martha Stewart. He does implicate Peter Bocanovich considerably.

But I think the thing to watch in the next couple weeks is what Peter does. Peter Bochanovich, the stockbroker, the co-defendant, if he flips against Martha Stewart, you know he has been given every incentive in the world to plead and cooperate -- he wouldn't go to jail. But he hasn't, he has not flipped, and that may suggest she's innocent, and he's innocent. So that's the thing that I will be keeping an eye on.

O'BRIEN: We could be talking about this for an hour.

TOOBIN: And we will.

O'BRIEN: But we're going to move on and talk about the Laci Peterson case. Mark Geragos is arguing for a change of venue. Here's what he has say, "Laci Peterson has become a posthumous celebrity, loved and cherished by the community, whereas Mr. Peterson has been demonized as an evil outsider to the community." One, do you think it's true? And two, do you think this sort of sentiment is enough to actually get a change of venue?

TOOBIN: That's lawyers rhetoric, but I think he does have a point. This is the best change of venue motion I have ever seen, because if you recall, Laci Peterson wasn't just a missing person, she was a community project. Hundreds of people in Modesto went looking for her when she was missing. And even though, as the government points out, the Laci Peterson case got tremendous publicity all across California, it was really concentrated in Modesto. And I think In a state like California, where change of venues are not common, but not unheard of, I think he probably will get it.

O'BRIEN: Jeff Toobin, as always, nice to see you.

TOOBIN: Nice to be back.

O'BRIEN: I'm going to guess we'll keep talking about these.

TOOBIN: You bet.

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