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Jeffrey Toobin: Murder trial of Florida boys poses legal troubles
(CNN) -- In early September, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin discussed the trial of Alex and Derek King, who were accused of killing their father. Three people were charged in the slaying of Terry King -- Alex, Derek and family friend Ricky Chavis. Chavis was acquitted, and in a separate trial, the King brothers were convicted on September 6. Just prior to the verdict against the King brothers, Toobin analyzed the case with CNN anchor Daryn Kagan. DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jeff, good morning. JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, Daryn. KAGAN: This seems to me more of the work of a defense attorney, when you try to prove that somebody else did it, there is your burden proof, or at least enough doubt. And that's how you get somebody off of a case, it's not how you convict them. TOOBIN: Daryn, I have to say, I have some real reservations about the prosecutorial ethics involved in what was done here. I mean, I used to be a prosecutor, and one of the things I was always taught, and I think most prosecutors are taught, is that you are not like a defense attorney. The defense attorney represents his client, whether you think they're guilty -- your client is guilty or innocent. It's your job to defend the client.
But prosecutors have a different obligation. You only bring a case if you truly believe that person is guilty. Here, if the prosecutors succeed in both of these cases, someone will be in jail for life who is clearly innocent, because both of these scenarios cannot be true. It can't be that Chavis killed the father, and it can't be that the two boys killed the father. I think it's really a chilling possibility that the prosecution will win both of these cases. KAGAN: Well, and not just someone, but, Jeff, to look at these pictures, it's more like a back-to-school story. These boys -- I mean, they don't look like cold-hearted murderers. I'm not saying they didn't do it. I don't know. But clearly, you have some kind of victim of child abuse as well that has gone on here, and it almost seems like prosecutors are just doing whatever they can to make something stick. TOOBIN: Well, Daryn, the one thing I agree with you 100 percent is, I mean, you've got to look at those kids. It is just astonishing how young they are. They even look young for 13 and 14. But, you know, it is not clear that there was child abuse here. I think that's one of the things in issue, and there is evidence against these kids. There is, for example, on their shoes, there was the paint thinner that was the accelerant on the fire. There is also an arson charge, because they burned -- someone burned down the house after King was killed. But the thing that is so chilling about this is that the charge here carries a penalty of mandatory life without parole. So if you look at those baby-faced kids now, if they are convicted, they will both die of old age in prison. And you know, I don't -- I mean, I think sometimes the law allows for that, but for -- you know, within the same week, the prosecutor is saying, no, it wasn't them, it was another guy, I just think it's just not how these trials should be done. KAGAN: And logistically, I mean, clearly, they are being tried as adults. That's why we are able to have cameras in the courtroom here. I understand, right now, they are being held -- having to be held in a separate part of the jail just to protect them from the general jail population. Where do you send a kid like this? TOOBIN: Well, there are juvenile detention facilities, but you know, one of the trends in law recently has been a great reluctance on the part of prosecutors to try anybody as a juvenile anymore. That, you know, because of the seriousness of crimes that kids do commit, there is this tendency to want to try virtually all teenagers, or sometimes here you have even younger people, as adults. But you know, you're talking about the stakes here of 70, 80 years in prison for these kids for a crime that the prosecutors last week said someone else did. KAGAN: Well, and on that note, and just this final legalese question here. The prosecutors are trying to do something to make something stick. But really, aren't they setting themselves up for failure? If you're the defense attorney in either of these cases, there is your natural point for an appeal. Of course, my client didn't do it, the guy across the street did it. TOOBIN: Well, I'll tell you, you know, no one -- no defense lawyer wants to win on appeal. They don't want to be charged in the first place, and juries do unusual things. Remember, it's separate juries here, so it's not like the same people are hearing the same evidence. And you know, you never know what a jury is going to do. You never know what an appeals court is going to do. And also, the time for this to be resolved was before the charges were brought. ... KAGAN: Yes. TOOBIN: ... or the trial judge was certainly someone who could have forced the prosecutors to pick one or the other. But it hasn't been done so far, and we don't know whether it's going to be done yet. KAGAN: We will be watching it with your help out of Pensacola, Florida. TOOBIN: Interesting case. KAGAN: Jeffrey Toobin, thank you so much. TOOBIN: Certainly.
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