Legal questions in the D.C.-area sniper case

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(CNN) -- The arrest early Thursday morning of two men in connection with the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings has raised several significant legal questions. Prosecutors in Rockville, Maryland, were to meet Friday to map out charges to bring against the suspects.

Former state and federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne, and former Timothy McVeigh attorney Stephen Jones joined Crossfire hosts Paul Begala and Robert Novak to discuss the legal options in the case.

NOVAK: Mr. Jones, a couple of weeks ago, we had flown in Ted Williams, who is a former cop, and presently a defense lawyer. We asked him if he could defend whoever was the killer in this, the sniper shootings. And he said he couldn't, he couldn't bring himself to.

How did you bring yourself to defend Timothy McVeigh?

JONES: I was drafted.

NOVAK: Was it tough?

JONES: It was tough. But you know, nobody forced me to go to law school. I voluntary entered, and when I raised my hand and took the oath as a lawyer, I knew that someday that time might come. And it did.

NOVAK: Do you think it's going to be very tough on any lawyer to try to present a case for these people if these indeed are the sniper killers?

JONES: Of course it's tough, but let me tell you something. If I can do that for Tim McVeigh at age 55, and effectively leave my law practice for 2.5 years in a state like Oklahoma, and I live in a small town of 50,000 people, and he was convicted of killing 168 people in this state, and I can come back to that same community, go to church with those people, live with them, send my children to school, and they honor me by choosing me to be their lawyer, no lawyer has a reason to turn down such a challenge.

BEGALA: Well, Cynthia, let me ask you about the broad-mindedness of people here in our national capital region, not so much toward lawyers, but toward these defendants.

You talked before, and I hope you're right, that any good jury is going to be just perfectly fair. But there's a lot of case law that suggests with media saturation coverage particularly in a region, the way we've had it here -- it's been nationwide, but it's been non-stop in Washington -- it may be impossible to get these guys a fair trial in Washington.

Are we going to see a change in venue? Stephen Jones had his case removed to Denver. Are we going to see that here?

ALKSNE: We might have it changed from a different county in Maryland.

You know this case not only had a saturation of the media, but also a level of fear that I've never really experienced before, not only as a lawyer, but as a mother. And that will affect jurors ...

But remember, this isn't going to happen tomorrow. There's not going to be a trial anytime soon. It's down the road. And maybe as we go down the road, people will be more able to be sure that they're going to be able to look at it fairly. And we'll have to wait and make that determination then.

BEGALA: And if it's a state trial, it has to be within the confines of the state of Maryland, right, which has been -- there's not a spot in Maryland I suspect that hasn't gotten non-stop coverage of this since the first tragic day these shootings began.

ALKSNE: Well, there's not a spot in the United States of America.

BEGALA: That's right.

ALKSNE: I mean, that's the point. You have to make sure that you're not just wasting the county taxpayer's money to move the trial if it's going to be the same everywhere.

So it will be -- it's not a flit process, and I think they'll take it seriously.

BEGALA: Mr. Jones?

JONES: I was just going to say, remember that Terry Nichols was acquitted of murder in a case that had the same type of non-stop publicity. John Connally was acquitted in one of the Watergate trials. One of the Watergate defendants was acquitted.

So, you can have controversial cases and still be acquitted.

NOVAK: He didn't kill anybody though, did he?

ALKSNE: Well, sure, O.J. (Simpson) was acquitted.

BEGALA: He certainly was.

NOVAK: Surely, if you got fingerprints and the gun and the car, how you can have -- how can this guy be acquitted?

I mean, I don't understand it. I have a vivid imagination, but it's not that vivid.

JONES: I assure you it can be done, Bob. There is no case that can't be won, and there's no case that can't be lost. It's a mistake to ever think that it's over until the fat lawyer sings. You'd be surprised what juries do.

BEGALA: Cynthia?

ALKSNE: I would agree with that. But you have to agree with it, or otherwise you look like a fool. But I'll tell you what, it's probably not going to happen.

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