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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview with Nelda Blair
Aired August 09, 2003 - 08:20 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A lawyer for alleged sex abuse victims calls it an important first step. He's talking about the $55 million offer to settle lawsuits against the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The offer comes just nine days after the installation of Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley. The settlement would resolve claims by adults who say they were sexually abused as children by priests in the Boston Archdiocese.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, now we're going to get some legal feedback on the settlement offer from the Boston Archdiocese. And we want to talk about some other big court moves going on this week.
Civil liberties attorney -- actually, we're going to be talking with Nelda Blair. She is a former Texas prosecutor.
NELDA BLAIR, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
CALLEBS: Nelda, can I call you that?
Thanks very much for coming in this morning.
We appreciate it.
BLAIR: Absolutely.
CALLEBS: Let's talk about that. Now, the diocese before had kicked around coming up with some $30 million to try and settle this, said they didn't have the money, and now it can come up with $55 million. Already attorneys for the -- for -- are saying that's not enough.
BLAIR: Well, they're saying...
CALLEBS: That the plaintiffs are going to...
BLAIR: But they're saying it's a good start, it's a move in the right direction, and I really agree with that. You know, this case from the beginning, the church has sort of gone from denial and then into well, we really don't have any money, and probably their lawyers have sat them down and said look, this is a serious case, you need to get serious about settling it.
I think it's a great move.
CALLEBS: And using history as a yardstick, there have been big settlements already. Do you think that -- what is it going to take to settle this and get this out of the news for Boston?
BLAIR: Well, you know, right now they're at approximately $100,000 a person. I believe there's about 500 people in this particular suit. It's probably going to take somewhere between the 55 they're offering and up to, you know, maybe 75, 100. I'm sure that the lawyers are, for the prosecu -- for the people who are suing are right now saying look, that's a good start, but we're going to need to get up there a little more.
CALLEBS: OK. Where is the money going to come from? Because the diocese has always said we are not going to take it from our parishioners, people making contributions to us.
BLAIR: Well, that's how the church is funded. So I feel sure that the church -- they're going to find it somewhere, but...
CALLEBS: Insurance, maybe?
BLAIR: Possibly insurance. In fact, there's got to be some insurance, but, you know, there's always a limit to that, too.
CALLEBS: Indeed.
BLAIR: So the church is going to have to reach into its own pockets at some point.
CALLEBS: Well, let's move on to Colorado, Kobe Bryant. You saw what unfolded there last Wednesday.
BLAIR: Right.
CALLEBS: Now, coming up, of course, October 9, is the preliminary hearing...
BLAIR: Right.
CALLEBS: ... where we will learn a lot about the state's case. But perhaps more significant, in mid-August, the judge has already indicated that he may unseal these documents that could give us some insight already.
BLAIR: Right.
CALLEBS: How explosive do you think this could be?
BLAIR: Oh, I think it could make or break the prosecution's case once we know exactly what that evidence is because the prosecution obviously feels Ike it has a strong case. We don't know what kind of physical evidence there is. But once we do, if the judge unseals those records, I think that the public opinion could turn really heavily one way or the other on this case.
CALLEBS: As a former prosecutor, put yourself in the D.A.'s place out there. What do you have to worry about at this point, where public opinion seems to be split along racial lines, according to a CNN Gallup poll that just came out?
BLAIR: Well, and not only that, but the supporters of Kobe Bryant tend to be a little more vocal than those who are not his supporters. I mean those people that waited for him outside the courtroom, the cheers, they wrote on their cars "not guilty." I mean they're really making themselves known.
As a prosecutor, what you worry about is that that public opinion wave starts in Kobe's favor and you've got 12 people that's part of that public that you've got to make part of your jury.
CALLEBS: Right. Right. OK. Let's move on. This case, what do you think about the breast feeding issue, the women driving through Ohio, Michigan, she gets off without child endangerment. This seems to go, fly right in the face of logic.
BLAIR: Well, my understanding is what happened is there was no direct eyewitness evidence that she had been breast feeding the child. The policemen, evidently they were chasing her, only saw her holding the baby and not actually breast feeding it. And so they could not prove the child endangerment. It doesn't mean that she wasn't endangering that child.
You know, religious rights have every place in this country, but driving is a privilege, it is not a right.
CALLEBS: Right.
BLAIR: And she certainly has no right to practice her religion endangering other people, including her own child.
CALLEBS: And we're talking about that because she's a member of the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty.
BLAIR: That was her excuse, right.
CALLEBS: That was her excuse.
BLAIR: That she says it's part of my religion to do what my husband tells me to do and my husband told me to do this.
CALLEBS: OK, Nelda Blair, thanks very much for coming in.
BLAIR: Absolutely.
CALLEBS: We appreciate it.
Thanks again.
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 August 9, 2003 - 08:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A lawyer for alleged sex abuse victims calls it an important first step. He's talking about the $55 million offer to settle lawsuits against the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The offer comes just nine days after the installation of Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley. The settlement would resolve claims by adults who say they were sexually abused as children by priests in the Boston Archdiocese.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, now we're going to get some legal feedback on the settlement offer from the Boston Archdiocese. And we want to talk about some other big court moves going on this week.
Civil liberties attorney -- actually, we're going to be talking with Nelda Blair. She is a former Texas prosecutor.
NELDA BLAIR, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
CALLEBS: Nelda, can I call you that?
Thanks very much for coming in this morning.
We appreciate it.
BLAIR: Absolutely.
CALLEBS: Let's talk about that. Now, the diocese before had kicked around coming up with some $30 million to try and settle this, said they didn't have the money, and now it can come up with $55 million. Already attorneys for the -- for -- are saying that's not enough.
BLAIR: Well, they're saying...
CALLEBS: That the plaintiffs are going to...
BLAIR: But they're saying it's a good start, it's a move in the right direction, and I really agree with that. You know, this case from the beginning, the church has sort of gone from denial and then into well, we really don't have any money, and probably their lawyers have sat them down and said look, this is a serious case, you need to get serious about settling it.
I think it's a great move.
CALLEBS: And using history as a yardstick, there have been big settlements already. Do you think that -- what is it going to take to settle this and get this out of the news for Boston?
BLAIR: Well, you know, right now they're at approximately $100,000 a person. I believe there's about 500 people in this particular suit. It's probably going to take somewhere between the 55 they're offering and up to, you know, maybe 75, 100. I'm sure that the lawyers are, for the prosecu -- for the people who are suing are right now saying look, that's a good start, but we're going to need to get up there a little more.
CALLEBS: OK. Where is the money going to come from? Because the diocese has always said we are not going to take it from our parishioners, people making contributions to us.
BLAIR: Well, that's how the church is funded. So I feel sure that the church -- they're going to find it somewhere, but...
CALLEBS: Insurance, maybe?
BLAIR: Possibly insurance. In fact, there's got to be some insurance, but, you know, there's always a limit to that, too.
CALLEBS: Indeed.
BLAIR: So the church is going to have to reach into its own pockets at some point.
CALLEBS: Well, let's move on to Colorado, Kobe Bryant. You saw what unfolded there last Wednesday.
BLAIR: Right.
CALLEBS: Now, coming up, of course, October 9, is the preliminary hearing...
BLAIR: Right.
CALLEBS: ... where we will learn a lot about the state's case. But perhaps more significant, in mid-August, the judge has already indicated that he may unseal these documents that could give us some insight already.
BLAIR: Right.
CALLEBS: How explosive do you think this could be?
BLAIR: Oh, I think it could make or break the prosecution's case once we know exactly what that evidence is because the prosecution obviously feels Ike it has a strong case. We don't know what kind of physical evidence there is. But once we do, if the judge unseals those records, I think that the public opinion could turn really heavily one way or the other on this case.
CALLEBS: As a former prosecutor, put yourself in the D.A.'s place out there. What do you have to worry about at this point, where public opinion seems to be split along racial lines, according to a CNN Gallup poll that just came out?
BLAIR: Well, and not only that, but the supporters of Kobe Bryant tend to be a little more vocal than those who are not his supporters. I mean those people that waited for him outside the courtroom, the cheers, they wrote on their cars "not guilty." I mean they're really making themselves known.
As a prosecutor, what you worry about is that that public opinion wave starts in Kobe's favor and you've got 12 people that's part of that public that you've got to make part of your jury.
CALLEBS: Right. Right. OK. Let's move on. This case, what do you think about the breast feeding issue, the women driving through Ohio, Michigan, she gets off without child endangerment. This seems to go, fly right in the face of logic.
BLAIR: Well, my understanding is what happened is there was no direct eyewitness evidence that she had been breast feeding the child. The policemen, evidently they were chasing her, only saw her holding the baby and not actually breast feeding it. And so they could not prove the child endangerment. It doesn't mean that she wasn't endangering that child.
You know, religious rights have every place in this country, but driving is a privilege, it is not a right.
CALLEBS: Right.
BLAIR: And she certainly has no right to practice her religion endangering other people, including her own child.
CALLEBS: And we're talking about that because she's a member of the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty.
BLAIR: That was her excuse, right.
CALLEBS: That was her excuse.
BLAIR: That she says it's part of my religion to do what my husband tells me to do and my husband told me to do this.
CALLEBS: OK, Nelda Blair, thanks very much for coming in.
BLAIR: Absolutely.
CALLEBS: We appreciate it.
Thanks again.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
