Posted on 06/24/2004 9:17:38 PM PDT by CurlyDave
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - In a blow to prosecutors, a police investigator conceded Thursday that he deliberately failed to mention a witness who contradicts crucial elements of the murder case against Scott Peterson (news - web sites).
Detective Allen Brocchini admitted that he excluded from his reports any reference to a woman who recalled seeing Laci Peterson (news - web sites) at the warehouse where her husband stored his small boat.
Prosecutors have claimed that Peterson hid the recently purchased boat from his pregnant wife as part of his plan to kill her and dispose of the body in San Francisco Bay.
The woman's story provides an alternate explanation for why a strand of hair that DNA testing indicates might have come from Laci Peterson turned up on a pair of pliers in the boat. That hair is one of the few pieces of physical evidence prosecutors have presented in Scott Peterson's trial.
Prosecutors allege the hair fell from Laci Peterson while her body was in the boat after Scott Peterson murdered her in their Modesto home on or around Christmas Eve morning, 2002. They charge he then weighted down the body and tossed it into the bay, only to have the remains of Laci and the couple's fetus wash ashore four months later.
The bodies were found two miles from where Peterson, 31, claims he was fishing alone the day his wife vanished. Defense lawyers assert someone else abducted Laci Peterson while she walked the dog, then acted on Scott Peterson's widely publicized alibi to frame him.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos on Thursday played for jurors an audio tape on which Brocchini dictated notes from a police interview with the witness, who said Laci Peterson used the bathroom at the warehouse the day before she was reported missing.
Geragos implied Brocchini left out the woman's account because it did not fit with the police theory that Laci Peterson had never been near the boat.
"Can you tell me how that particular piece of information got excised out of your police report?" Geragos asked.
"I excised it," Brocchini replied.
"You did?" Geragos replied, seemingly shocked.
"I guess I did," a flustered Brocchini said.
Prosecutors will have a shot at damage control when they get the chance to question Brocchini again, likely next week.
However, experts say his admission could be tough to counter.
"The prosecution is self-destructing much the same way we saw in the O.J. case where you have police officers just doing stupid things," said Loyola University Law Professor Laurie Levenson. "One good hit like this can cause jurors to question the remainder of the prosecution's evidence."
Geragos spent the day attacking the police investigation as a sloppily executed effort to implicate Peterson, regardless of the evidence.
In a roaming cross examination of Brocchini, Geragos picked apart the prosecution's case — from faulty paperwork to outright omissions of critical details from witnesses.
One witness reported seeing a pregnant woman walking a dog near Peterson's home on Christmas Eve — the day Laci Peterson was reported missing — yet police did not exhaust the lead, Geragos charged during his second day questioning Brocchini.
Geragos asked Brocchini if he had ever shown the man a picture of Laci or the couple's golden retriever, the same kind of dog the witness said he saw in a park near the Petersons' home.
"He said he couldn't see her face," Brocchini said.
"What about the dog, he saw the dog didn't he?" Geragos persisted. "Did you ask him specifically what the golden retriever looked like?"
"No," Brocchini said quietly.
"Wouldn't it have been the prudent thing to do ... to have actually driven to the guy's house and shown him a picture of Laci and shown him a picture of the dog ... to eliminate that lead?" Geragos continued.
"No," Brocchini again replied. "He said he couldn't ID her."
It is a thread defense attorneys have tried to weave throughout the four-week-old trial — that police latched onto Peterson from the beginning while ignoring other leads.
Geragos' cross-examination of Brocchini also yielded an innocent explanation for one of the items police deemed suspicious when they entered the Petersons' home on Christmas Eve.
Police officers have testified that, among other things, a pile of dirty towels on the washing machine struck them as suspicious — that Peterson could have used them to clean up a murder scene. But on Thursday, Brocchini acknowledged the rags were inconsequential, that the Petersons' housekeeper told him she used them to clean the home's windows and fireplace.
Police know about witness. Police lie & cover up witness.
Same issue with the time of phone calls earlier.
Plus we still haven't gotten to who pawned Laci's watch--quite a while after she disappeared.
Someone buy those cops a clue.
This is looking interesting. I am uncomfortable with the way this has been tried in the media. It undermines our system of justice. He may be guilty as sin, but he is an American citizen and has the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. I think the media corrupted the investigation of the disappearance and the murder. The parties involved all played to the media. What a circus.
There was also Juror #5 being dismissed, because the judge caved in to media distraction. The juror said that he hadn't seen any convincing evidence that Peterson is quilty.
An event like that may not be allowed in courts, but the media do often have effects, unfortunately.
"What a circus."
Yep. I remember when Rita Cosby, of Fox News, said that she just had a feeling that Peterson was guilty. Therefore, she knew for sure that he was.
I'm sure we'll see the Roman Spectacle crowd here, shortly, too.
Yeah, it bothers me a bit that the press tries prominent cases before the courts do. But Rita Cosby can't put a man in jail, so there is a certain degree of excusability there. I think Scott Peterson is guilty too, but my guess (and that's all it is) doesn't cost this man his life or his freedom.
So what frankly pisses me off is when cops & D.A.'s do such a sloppy job of doing their jobs. So Mr. Peterson may very well be innocent---but what's going to happen now is that we'll all assume that he got off because we have totally incompetent law enforcement. I'd rather that we as a society learn to put up with the fact that some people are just going to get away with it, then have these folks feel so pressured to get a conviction that they cut corners.
FYI!!!
This is a lot more than just a "sloppy job".
This is lies and cover-ups.
He may be guilty, but I am beginning to doubt it. It is really starting to look like the police developed a theory of what happened and ignored anything which did not fit that theory.
A lot of this case revolves around the cops "feelings" that Scott was not acting "properly" whatever that might be.
For that to hold up the actions of the cops have to be above reproach.
He is guilty, but the prosecution will not be able to prove it.
I would post here but I would be preaching to the choir! LOL!
They only get one chance. They should have waited until they had a better case.
Yup!
Sad but true!
Of course it isn't the kind of republic we want.
It is the kind of republic we have.
This is as big an event in this trial as the non-fitting gloves were at O.J.'s. Geragos will pound on it and the prosecution will be hard-pressed to restore Brocchini's credibility.
Are you sure about that?
Somehow it seems to me that since the prosecution can use the unlimited resources of the state against any individual it wants, there has to be a pretty high standard to hold the government to. Otherwise, they cold get a very high conviction rate by accusing people without the resources to fight back of any convenient crime.
...France, Since Jun 22, 2004?
What's disturbing is that your words are much like the actions often occurring in our own US judicial system--especially in Southern California.
The Scott Peterson case is not a reasonable case. It's a another feminazi lynching.
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