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Judge Orders Osbourne Held in Connection With D.C. Sniper Shootings

Aired October 27, 2002 - 17:15   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Beltway sniper shootings around the nation's capital. A judge has ordered a third man held in connection with the case. With the very latest developments, CNN's Daryn Kagan from the police command center in Rockville, Maryland -- hello, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, hello to you.

One thing for is for certain, Nathaniel Osbourne will soon be on his way here to Maryland. Officials here want to talk to him about what he knows about John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo. They already do know that Osbourne is a co-owner of a 1990 blue Chevy Caprice, the car that officials believe was used in the sniper shootings that have plagued this area over the last month.

He was arraigned in Flint, Michigan, where he was picked up today. He is not a suspect, officials say, he is a material witness and they want to talk with him. So there are a lot of questions ahead for Osbourne.

The spotlight this week, however, will be on the prosecution and who is going to get to go first. Spotsylvania County in Virginia, prosecutors there are expected tomorrow to file capital murder charges against Muhammad and also against Malvo. They say they are in a hurry, they want to file those charges before the federal government does. There's a situation with state law in Virginia where that could supersede any charges in the prosecution by Virginia officials.

Meanwhile, as you know, there also is a rivalry going on with Montgomery County, where I sit right here. This was the first jurisdiction to file capital murder charges against Muhammad and Malvo at least in the Washington, D.C. area. And the D.A. here, Doug Gansler, taking some heat for that.

Some people pointing out that this doesn't have the strongest of death penalty situation. And also criticizing possibly Gansler for doing this for political gain. Gansler was with our Wolf Blitzer earlier today on "LATE EDITION." Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS GANSLER, MONTGOMERY COUNTY STATE ATTORNEY: Our community, Montgomery County, was disproportionately effected by these shootings. And we feel that we need to begin the healing process as soon as possible. We actually also feel that we're in a better position to get the death penalty because we're...

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Only for John Muhammad.

GANSLER: Only for John Muhammad, because we're able to prosecute seven of the crimes at one time because we had seven of the 14 shootings in our jurisdiction. The Virginia jurisdictions can only do one of the cases at a time. So we're actually in a better position to seek and get the death penalty against Mr. Muhammad.

As for Mr. Malvo, he would be -- after we do our prosecution, we would send them to Virginia, they would do their prosecution, and they can carry out the punishment that they feel as a community is appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: There are some people that think that Gansler wants to use this as a platform to run for attorney general of Maryland. He says he might indeed do that one day, but he says that's not his first priority right now.

Meanwhile, while we have just a couple seconds left, let's show you a little bit about how life is getting back to normal and some of the thanks being given to this police department and others around the county and around the D.C. area. If you up and drive down Rockville Pike -- that's the main drag through Rockville, Maryland -- you will see just regular signs. You can see that gas station. This is typical -- "Thank you, Chief Moose, from all of us." I was driving down this street just last night and noticed all the signs and wanted to share the thanks with you, the people who have been following the story across the country.

Also, when we were here at Montgomery County Police headquarters, about 3:00 PM Eastern today a church group showed up from Washington, D.C. They came by to pray and give thanks to the police department. These are the folks from Rema (ph) Christian Center Church in Washington, D.C.

And Heidi, I can tell you this, I don't care what religion you are, to see those people praying and singing on the very site where those briefings took place day after day for so many weeks, it was a sign of frustration and a lot of fear. And to see hope and thanks being given on that very spot today was very inspirational. Back to you.

COLLINS: The healing process just now beginning. All right, Daryn Kagan, thank you so much from Montgomery County today.

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




Shootings>


Aired October 27, 2002 - 17:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Beltway sniper shootings around the nation's capital. A judge has ordered a third man held in connection with the case. With the very latest developments, CNN's Daryn Kagan from the police command center in Rockville, Maryland -- hello, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, hello to you.

One thing for is for certain, Nathaniel Osbourne will soon be on his way here to Maryland. Officials here want to talk to him about what he knows about John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo. They already do know that Osbourne is a co-owner of a 1990 blue Chevy Caprice, the car that officials believe was used in the sniper shootings that have plagued this area over the last month.

He was arraigned in Flint, Michigan, where he was picked up today. He is not a suspect, officials say, he is a material witness and they want to talk with him. So there are a lot of questions ahead for Osbourne.

The spotlight this week, however, will be on the prosecution and who is going to get to go first. Spotsylvania County in Virginia, prosecutors there are expected tomorrow to file capital murder charges against Muhammad and also against Malvo. They say they are in a hurry, they want to file those charges before the federal government does. There's a situation with state law in Virginia where that could supersede any charges in the prosecution by Virginia officials.

Meanwhile, as you know, there also is a rivalry going on with Montgomery County, where I sit right here. This was the first jurisdiction to file capital murder charges against Muhammad and Malvo at least in the Washington, D.C. area. And the D.A. here, Doug Gansler, taking some heat for that.

Some people pointing out that this doesn't have the strongest of death penalty situation. And also criticizing possibly Gansler for doing this for political gain. Gansler was with our Wolf Blitzer earlier today on "LATE EDITION." Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS GANSLER, MONTGOMERY COUNTY STATE ATTORNEY: Our community, Montgomery County, was disproportionately effected by these shootings. And we feel that we need to begin the healing process as soon as possible. We actually also feel that we're in a better position to get the death penalty because we're...

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Only for John Muhammad.

GANSLER: Only for John Muhammad, because we're able to prosecute seven of the crimes at one time because we had seven of the 14 shootings in our jurisdiction. The Virginia jurisdictions can only do one of the cases at a time. So we're actually in a better position to seek and get the death penalty against Mr. Muhammad.

As for Mr. Malvo, he would be -- after we do our prosecution, we would send them to Virginia, they would do their prosecution, and they can carry out the punishment that they feel as a community is appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: There are some people that think that Gansler wants to use this as a platform to run for attorney general of Maryland. He says he might indeed do that one day, but he says that's not his first priority right now.

Meanwhile, while we have just a couple seconds left, let's show you a little bit about how life is getting back to normal and some of the thanks being given to this police department and others around the county and around the D.C. area. If you up and drive down Rockville Pike -- that's the main drag through Rockville, Maryland -- you will see just regular signs. You can see that gas station. This is typical -- "Thank you, Chief Moose, from all of us." I was driving down this street just last night and noticed all the signs and wanted to share the thanks with you, the people who have been following the story across the country.

Also, when we were here at Montgomery County Police headquarters, about 3:00 PM Eastern today a church group showed up from Washington, D.C. They came by to pray and give thanks to the police department. These are the folks from Rema (ph) Christian Center Church in Washington, D.C.

And Heidi, I can tell you this, I don't care what religion you are, to see those people praying and singing on the very site where those briefings took place day after day for so many weeks, it was a sign of frustration and a lot of fear. And to see hope and thanks being given on that very spot today was very inspirational. Back to you.

COLLINS: The healing process just now beginning. All right, Daryn Kagan, thank you so much from Montgomery County today.

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




Shootings>