GPS use on Peterson in question
By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER
Published: September 5, 2003, 05:05:13 AM PDT
The use of electronic devices by investigators to track Scott Peterson's movements was an unorthodox move, observers said Thursday.
Prosecutors intend to introduce evidence from a global positioning system tracking device, Senior Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso said at a hearing this week. Defense attorney Mark Geragos countered that he would seek to have the evidence excluded, indicating that there were problems with the GPS equipment.
The issue is likely to be hashed out at an Oct. 20 hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to put Peterson on trial on charges of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and the couple's unborn son, Conner.
Authorities used "wiretaps on phones, tracking vehicles, all of the technology available" as they probed Peterson's death, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said at a news conference April 18 the day that her husband was arrested in La Jolla.
Peterson, 30, could receive the death penalty if convicted of both murder counts.
His wife was almost eight months pregnant when she was reported missing Christmas Eve. Her body and that of her son were found in mid-April along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, several miles from where her husband said he went fishing Dec. 24.
During a four-month probe, investigators employed a range of tactics, including "hypnosis techniques" on a witness. Police also attached a tracking device to Peterson's pickup, Lockyer said at the April news conference. Such tracking equipment usually is employed by state and federal law enforcement in major drug cases, according to experts.
"The fact that they used one in this case shows law enforcement were being very resourceful," said James Hammer, San Francisco assistant district attorney. "They were doing things that are not particularly done in a homicide case."
Most police and sheriff's departments do not have the budgets for tracking equipment, Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Sharon Chow said.
"That's out of our league," Chow said. "Tracking devices for vehicles are very expensive."
During the 20-minute hearing in Stanislaus County Superior Court, prosecutors, who have been tight-lipped about their case, referred to "mitochondrial DNA" they plan to introduce at the hearing. They did not specify what the genetic material was, but mitochondrial testing, a less exact method than traditional nuclear DNA testing, is often used on old, degraded or extremely small samples of hair, fingernails or bone. It is rarely used for blood evidence.
The defense also may attack the DNA results. Mitochondrial DNA testing is routinely used in court cases and was used to identify the remains of Sept. 11 victims. According to San Diego prosecutor Woody Clark, who specializes in DNA evidence and worked on the prosecutions of O.J. Simpson and David Westerfield, nuclear testing reveals genetic profiles that occur only one in a "quadrillion" people while mitochondrial results are often described to juries as occurring once or perhaps twice in a scientific data bank of 5,000 people.
Gee, seems I remember they said the Mit-DNA was one in qaudrillion, during the Westerfield trial.