CNN TRANSCRIPT
NEWS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT / CNN
CNN BREAKING NEWS
O.J. Simpson Arrested
Aired September 16, 2007 - 14:15 ET
But in the meantime, we are going to get to Kendall Coffey, former U.S. attorney. He is with us, as well.
Kendall, tell me, are you surprised by this arrest? And also, what kind of charges could Simpson be facing?
KENDALL COFFEY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: It's not a surprise at all. And, of course, once the police made a determination and found some guns, could find no reason to perceive why the alleged victims in the room would be making up the story about Simpson and others coming in, barging in with guns, threatening them and taking their stuff. It was pretty clear there was a crime.
The charges that O.J. faces are very serious. This is not a house arrest or a few months in a county jail kind of a thing. You are talking armed robbery, you're talking about armed assault, conspiracy. These are charges, if a conviction were to result, that typically would put somebody into state prison for years.
CHO: Wow. Let's talk a little bit about armed robbery. You mentioned armed in more than one of the charges. Kendall, let's talk a little bit about that, because by all accounts it does appear that members of Simpson's entourage may have had guns, but not Simpson himself. Yet he could still be charged with armed robbery and other various charges, as well, correct?
COFFEY: Essentially, yes. He'd be charged -- you can be fully as responsible if you are directing it walking in with the others. You don't have to be holding a gun yourself and you can be charged either as an accomplice, as aiding and abetting, or conspiracy theory. So he is in this every bit as deep as whoever walked in with a gun, if in fact that's what happened. And apparently, the police think that there was an armed robbery here.
CHO: Let's talk a little about O.J. Simpson's star power. Clearly, everyone knows who he is. What does that say about the likelihood of a fair trial and the possibility of a plea deal?
COFFEY: I think it creates tremendous problems in getting a fair trial. His trial was maybe the most famous trial in recent times. We have all seen the data seeing that plenty of people thought he got away with murder. How could somebody in that situation get a fair trial now? Not an easy thing.
And O.J.'s immediate concern has got to be what happened in the Michael Vick case. Three of the co-defendants almost immediately made plea deals, turning against Michael Vick. O.J. faces the same risk here, because because of his star power, the police are going to be looking to get the other defendants to make deals, get real light kind of treatment, and then turn against O.J., because he is a giant prize if you are law enforcement.
CHO: That's right. So let's talk about this, some possible scenarios. How quickly would this proceed, do you think? And what do you see as a possible scenario in terms of moving forward?
COFFEY: Well, I mean the starter is going to be the police have to finalize charges. And if arrests are going to be made over the weekend, there still has to be a decision to make formal charges by the prosecutors themselves. That's something that coul
d be a matter of days. Sometimes it's a few weeks. And then it goes from there, and the usual procedures we see. If that happens, there is an arraignment, there could be a bail bond hearing. It gets set for trial. Certainly, if O.J. Simpson is arrested, it's not going to be resolved in 2007. And it's a matter that could be getting a lot of attention, O.J. back in the news again, for months. Maybe the trial could be a year away if, indeed, he is arrested.
CHO: Well, certainly this will drive sales of his book, no doubt about that.
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