NEWS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT / CNN
CNN BREAKING NEWS
O.J. Simpson Arrested
Aired September 16, 2007 - 15:00 ET
CHO: Former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey also on the line with us.
Kendall, I want to know from you, given the fact that O.J. Simpson is a household name, famous, or some would say infamous, how possible, how likely is it he's able to get a fair trial?
KENDALL COFFEY, FMR U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, I think it would be very tough to find a jury that hasn't heard of O.J. Simpson, and in fact, most people have an idea one way or another as to whether he got away with murder, and that's got to make it very tough, during jury selection. The other thing that his extraordinary visibility does, is it gives the police a clear picture on who the big target is here.
And so we can expect a divide and conquer strategy where they hit some of the other alleged accomplices, try if they can to push them to whatever it takes to pressure them to get testimony against O.J., because at the end of the day, I think police authorities would be very happy if the one that's really on the firing line is O.J. Simpson, and they make relatively modest deals with the others in order to bag what would be a huge prize from a law enforcement standpoint.
ALINA CHO, CNN HOST: Right. He certainly is the big fish in your words. Kendall Coffey, thank you. We want you to stand by along with Jeffrey Toobin but we want to bring in B.J. Bernstein, defense attorney, handled many high-profile cases. Given Simpson's notoriety, how do you defend a guy like this? Especially given the fact that he's made several statements to reporters, perhaps already perjured himself in the eyes of a potential jury?
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CHO: Those charges are pending. Ted, you're watching this very closely. We want you to stand by and get back to us with new details. Meantime, we want to go to former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey on the line with us. Kendall, given what you know about the case, charges pending what can we expect going forward?
COFFEY: I think the police have, in light speed, put together a case against O.J. Simpson. The immediate thing is going to be processing the probable charge cause. Within a few days, the prosecutors will file formal charges. Meanwhile, the thing that's got to have O.J. Simpson very, very concerned, and everyone should be watching is, what happens with the three or four alleged accomplices? Have them decide to cooperate against O.J.? That could take this from a he said/they said, to everybody says he's guilty and O.J.'s hanging out by himself. The fact that the police recovered two weapons has a huge amount of credibility to the allegations of the victims that this was, in effect, a home invasion robbery.
CHO: Kendall, I want to ask you this. Because we are just getting word from the Associated Press out of Las Vegas, police say I'm quoting, "O.J. Simpson facing multiple felony charges including robbery with a deadly weapon." How serious is this?
COFFEY: Well, we talked a little before. If that charge were to be the subject of -- you're looking at least four years of prison. The upside could be several decades. So it's very, very serious stuff. And if he's charged even a plea deal is not likely to keep him out of prison. This isn't house arrest. This isn't months in the county jail. This is years in state, if a conviction were to result.
CHO: Kendall Coffey former U.S. Attorney, we thank you for joining us. We have also got Ted Rowlands standing by in front of the police station where we are awaiting a news conference at the top of the hour, in the next couple of minutes, if the Las Vegas authorities are on time. The headline being, O.J. Simpson, ex-football star, under arrest in Las Vegas. Much more on the other side of the break. Stay with us.
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