Attorneys for Lee Boyd Malvo in Court This Morning
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Attorneys for Lee Boyd Malvo are in court this morning. They are presenting motions, including one that challenges the death penalty statute in Virginia. Our Patty Davis joins us. She is live in Fairfax, Virginia. And, Patty, we understand, even as we come to you, there are some developments taking place.</s>PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, motions being decided, one of them the judge has decided to go with the defense argument that the number of police officers, the law enforcement officers inside the trial for Lee Boyd Malvo should be limited, she said to about six. That's what you see now in these hearings, these pretrial hearings that take place. Now, the defense had argued in this case that lots of uniformed officers would send is a signal to the jury that Malvo is dangerous and the jury would need to be protected from him. They didn't want that signal being sent. The judge, though, saying that if there is a threat, if there is a disturbance, the sheriff has the right to increase the number of officers. The judge also ruling in a motion that cameras, television cameras and still cameras, will not be allowed to cover this trial, but there will be closed circuit, a feed into an overflow room. John Lee Malvo has been charged here in Fairfax County with the murder of 47-year-old Linda Franklin. She was gunned down outside of a Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia, on October 14th in the middle of that spree of sniper shootings and killings here in the Washington D.C. area. Prosecutors say he has not only admitted to her murder, but other shootings during that spree as well. Prosecutors say in a filing that he was boastful, that he had a big smile on his face, and that he said he worked with another individual whom he did not name, but said one acted as the shooter, one acted as the spotter. Now Malvo's trial scheduled for November. Prosecutors say they expect to take about three weeks. The defense is saying that this could run as long as 12 weeks. Malvo in the courtroom today wearing his green prison jumpsuit, listening intently to the proceedings. His hair a little shorter than it has been in the past -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Patty, meanwhile, a man on the other side of this case in the spotlight, police Chief Charles Moose, getting a little bit of attention, unwanted attention, it looks like.</s>DAVIS: Well, that's right. Tonight there is a hearing by Montgomery County ethics commission, and it's to look at a book deal that Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose cut after the two men, John Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested in October. He cut a book deal to talk about basically the capture, what happened during that whole sniper killing spree. And the commission wants to look at whether or not it meets the ethics rules in the county. Now the county says you cannot profit from anything associated with your job, and so they'll be looking carefully as to whether he will be allowed to go forward with this or not.</s>KAGAN: I thought it would be interested, he not only has a book deal, he has an outside consulting company that's separate from his duties as police chief, Patty.</s>DAVIS: Well, that's a good question actually. You know something that I don't know, if you know about an outside consulting company.</s>KAGAN: All right, did not mean to put you on the spot there, just you and I spent so much time outside of that police department back in October, thought you might have some insight on that. Thank you for the latest on Malvo's case. Appreciate it. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com