Day One: "DNA 101"

Oct. 29 (AP) — A hair found in a pair of pliers on the boat Scott Peterson took fishing the day his wife disappeared matched a genetic sample from Laci Peterson's mother, an FBI expert testified Wednesday, as prosecutors sought to have him tried in the murder of his wife and unborn son.

Major Players
Amber Frey's Impact
Laci, Conner Buried
Hearing To Remain Open
Satanic Evidence?
Talk About This Story
Full Coverage

For much of the day inside a packed courtroom, FBI lab supervisor Constance Fisher testified about the disputed method of DNA analysis she specializes in that can show a genetic match between a mother and child.

She testified that a one-inch strand of hair found on pliers in the boat did not match Scott Peterson, but did match a swab of DNA taken from the mouth of his mother-in-law, Sharon Rocha.

Defense lawyer Mark Geragos is challenging the admissibility of the testimony, saying the analysis was the subject of a "raging debate" in the scientific community and suggesting that the hair sample may have been contaminated or tampered with by law enforcement.

The technique has not been widely accepted in courts, and it was only ruled admissible once in a California state court, in the case of an accused murderer in San Diego.

With the exception of a brief mention of Laci Peterson's family at the start of the hearing, the 27-year-old substitute teacher's name was never uttered again during the daylong hearing in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

The hearing is expected to last into next week, after which Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami will decide if Peterson is tried on two counts of murder that could lead to the death penalty. ..........

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Peterson evidence set to be revealed
The public will hear at least some at the preliminary hearing.

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MODESTO -- The public's first real look at evidence against double-murder suspect Scott Peterson is expected Wednesday, when prosecutors begin laying out a legal case that has been under wraps for 10 months. "Everything will be a revelation to us," said Ruth Jones, a criminal law professor at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and a former prosecutor. "This case is unique in that sense."

Peterson's preliminary hearing, which likely will last five days, could demonstrate the strength of the prosecution's case and outline the possible trial. The hearing that begins Wednesday is to determine whether there is enough evidence to try Peterson in the deaths of his 27-year-old wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

It's unclear how much evidence the prosecution will unveil at the hearing, because it's relatively easy to have a defendant held for trial. For that reason, the defense rarely calls witnesses, protecting them from cross-examination.

But this case is different, legal observers said, pointing to widespread public scrutiny that has influenced legal tactics and might affect the trial.

"There are two battles going on here," said San Francisco Deputy District Attorney James Hammer. "The legal battle and the PR battle."

In the legal battle, attorneys are poised to spar over an array of evidence the defense wants kept out of court, including information from wiretaps, electronic tracking devices, DNA testing and scent-tracking dogs.

The judge also is to hear a defense argument that a potentially key piece of evidence -- a single hair found attached to a pair of needle-nose pliers in Peterson's boat -- likely was "altered" while in police possession.

The hair could be a critical piece of physical evidence linking Laci Peterson to the boat her husband said he took fishing on Christmas Eve, the day she was reported missing.

The defense's challenge of the evidence signals a wider tactic of trying to show that investigators acted improperly, echoing the O.J. Simpson murder trial, legal observers said. A jury acquitted the former football star in 1995 of killing his ex-wife and her friend.

"It's a very important strategy," said Professor George Bisharat, a criminal procedure specialist at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. "You really saw the potential impact in the sense that there was law enforcement wrongdoing in the O.J. Simpson case."

Like the Simpson case, the disappearance of Laci Peterson, a pretty substitute teacher with deep dimples and a captivating smile, has become staple fare for cable television, supermarket tabloids and newspapers on both coasts.

For months, hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement personnel scoured fields, reservoirs and waterways from the Sierra foothills to San Francisco Bay for Laci Peterson.

In April, passers-by discovered Laci Peterson's decomposed body and that of her son about a mile apart along the eastern shore of the bay, several miles from where Peterson said he had gone fishing.

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Dec. 24, 2002: Laci Peterson, 8 months pregnant, is reported missing from her Modesto, Calif. home by husband, Scott Peterson. He says he came home from a fishing trip to Berkeley Marina and his wife was nowhere to be found.

Dec. 31: Modesto police shift their focus in case to foul play. "We have not ruled out other possibilities," homicide detective Jon Buehler says.

Jan. 3, 2003: Modesto police ask public for help verifying whereabouts of Scott Peterson in days before Christmas. In Berkeley, police spend hours combing waters near marina.

Jan. 9: Sonar search in water near marina reveals object authorities think is a body. It turns out to be an anchor.

Jan. 17: Laci Peterson's family and friends hold news conference to demand Scott Peterson tell authorities everything he knows about the case.

Jan. 18: As suspicion of Scott Peterson grows, authorities investigate his whereabouts in connection with the disappearance of a San Luis Obispo woman in 1996, when Scott and Laci Peterson lived there. Authorities later determine he had nothing to do with the second missing woman.

Jan. 19: Scott Peterson brings search for missing wife to Los Angeles, where he and his family distribute fliers to volunteers at a hotel.

Jan. 23: Laci Peterson's family says Scott Peterson told authorities he had been involved with another woman.

Jan. 24: Amber Frey, a massage therapist from Fresno, comes forward and confirms she had an intimate romantic relationship with Scott Peterson.

Jan. 28: In a televised interview, Scott Peterson admits he had a relationship with Frey and says he told his wife about it. "It wasn't anything that would break us apart," he says.

Feb. 5:Laci Peterson's family steps up their criticism of Scott Peterson, saying he sold his pregnant wife's car and considered selling the couple's house.

Feb. 10: Laci Peterson's expected due date. "Everybody's aware of it," says Modesto police Sgt. Ron Cloward.

Feb. 17: Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie, tells The Associated Press her family believes kidnappers abducted Laci Peterson with intentions of holding her captive until she delivered the baby.

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Lorin McLain
Staff Columnist
My folks take Halloween very seriously. Every year, in early October, they set out to convert their nice Walnut Hills home into a bastion of evil by adorning every room with dark lights, nightmarish knick-knacks, voodoo accessories and whatever it takes to make the devil feel at home. They bring the ghouls out of the basement and turn the lawn into a graveyard.

All of this culminates in a big bash that occurs on a Saturday night around Halloween. My sister won't come, though, because several members of her church "wouldn't agree with it." Really, she's just scared, but won't admit it. I'm willing to bet that it's not a matter of this particular demonization, I mean denomination not agreeing with these aspects of the holiday in question, but really they're just scared.

After centuries gone by, the devil still gets a bad shake. We may have come a long way from burning at the stake those under suspicion of his influence, but still when a puzzling situation arises where we have no logical conclusion, we must have the devil at hand to blame.

Take the Laci Peterson case, for instance. The preliminary hearing to determine if Scott Peterson will stand trial for the murder of his wife just started. Scott Peterson has been held without bail since authorities arrested him at the Mexican border with his hair bleached and $10,000 in cash.

The defense is trying to prevent prosecutors from being able to present certain evidence to the court, such as DNA analysis of hair clippings from Peterson's wife found on pliers in his boat and information gathered from wiretaps and global positioning systems. The defense has implied that the "real killers" are worshippers of the dark lord.

That's right, Peterson died at the hands of a satanic cult, according to this theory.

Clearly there must be real compelling evidence to support this claim. The defense is unable to indicate that there are bad people at large other than Peterson himself, but merely a "satanic cult." California murders often seem due to circumstances resulting from a "satanic cult."

The Son of Sam is an instance of incriminating the devil. Lucifer was blamed for the psycho that randomly went out and killed people that summer of seventy something. David Berkowitz wasn't in league with the devil, as many have assumed, because of satanic associations made with the case, that he was possessed by some evil power. He didn't say "the devil made me do it," but he was forced to kill by his "father," who he ........

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Scott Peterson, right, and defense attorney Mark Geragos listen as FBI DNA expert Constance Fisher testifies Wednesday before Judge Al Girolami. LAURIE McADAM/THE BEE

Wiretaps secretly recording Scott Peterson's telephone conversations while he was under police surveillance will not be used in his double-murder preliminary hearing, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Nor will they present evidence from GPS tracking devices placed on his vehicles to monitor his movements, Senior Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso said moments after the long-awaited hearing got under way in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

The defense, however, still wants to raise the issue that the wiretaps were improperly conducted.

The bulk of Wednesday's proceedings was dedicated to an FBI expert's detailed testimony about mitochondrial DNA testing.

An afternoon of technical cross- examination by defense attorney Mark Geragos was aimed at showing the mitochondrial DNA testing process was unreliable and the results should not be admissable in court.

Geragos also contends that police mishandled a single strand of hair found attached to pliers in Peterson's boat.

Mitochondrial DNA tests showed that the hair did not come from Peterson but could have come from his wife, Laci, according to the prosecution.

Peterson told police he took the boat on a fishing trip to San Francisco Bay on Dec. 24, and his wife was missing when he returned to Modesto that evening. She was almost eight months pregnant at the time.

Her body and that of her son, Conner, were found in April along the bay's eastern shore, several miles from where Peterson said he went fishing. Police arrested Peterson on April 18 in the San Diego area, where his family lives.

Peterson, 31, is charged with murdering his wife and their unborn son, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Prosecutors are presenting some of their evidence during the preliminary hearing, slated to last five days, and Judge Al Girolami will decide whether there is enough evidence to hold Peterson for trial.

At the outset of the hearing, Geragos asked Girolami to order attorney Gloria Allred out of the courtroom. Allred represents Amber Frey, who was Peterson's girlfriend when Laci Peterson disappeared.

Frey, 28, of Fresno has cooperated with authorities since she contacted police on Dec. 30. She said she did not know that Peterson was married when they began their relationship.

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Are Lee and the other shills PAID each time they appear on talk shows??? Seriously???

SO even with a gag order in place, they will pay Lee to come on and garble the language into useless twisted DNA strands while saying that, of course, "he canna say anyting" about the case???

Why can't my husband have a job like that? $20K for wearing a nice suit and saying that he is not allowed to talk?

I like Bernie--after weeks of thinking (every time I saw him on TV), "that guy, he must KNOW somebody". But I've decided I like Bernie okay. He has that Barney Fife charm. And he has a good sense of humor.

Do you like Geraldo?

Did anyone ever tell you that you were too clever?

And I guess if Amy said that Laci did not have an outfit like the one he described, Scott would simply say that she had recently bought clothes. There goes my theory. Hope Geragos doesn't read this thread. You are giving him ideas!

I was just sitting here thinking, what if I'd had to describe what my kids had been wearing today?

I did get a break on my oldest son. He was wearing a clown outfit and a hideous mask today. Costumes were allowed today, for Halloween. Said he was a "killer clown from outer space". From that movie. Puh-leeze. We were watching him out the window this morning as he took the dog out to do its business. There he stood, wearing that ridiculous outfit, as the dog squatted at the end of the leash. The kid is un-embarrassable.

just b/c someone has him tapped as their expert,

Yeah, what a drag to be a professional expert witness and have to actually testify in a court proceeding. Guess they have to do one every once in awhile just to keep the television gravy train on track, though.

Exactly! In the past few weeks--up until yesterday, when she actually SAID something--Gloria Allred has been going on these shows, and every time they asked her something, all she would say was, "I'm not allowed to comment on that". And for THAT she was getting paid! No wonder these lawyers end up preferring the airwaves to the courtroom!

That is a good point. Plus, I've read that pathological liars actually keep their lies very close to the truth. So if he consciously reversed her outfit, he was "close to the truth" in saying when he last saw her she was wearing black and white.

Your favorite? Well, let's not get too carried away here...

Thank goodness you passed the Geraldo test. "Madam, your Geraldo reading is normal."

Whoa, wait! It didn't even cross my mind that Laci might not even OWN a black-pants-white-longsleeved-shirt outfit!

Naw, if that happens, he can't get away with saying she'd recently gone shopping! What woman goes out shopping for more maternity clothes in her 7th-8th month of pregnancy?? Unless there is an actual season change and she is caught off guard? And there wasn't, not in December!

Exactly! Just, I imagine, as those TV lawyers have to strut into a courtroom every 6 months or so, just so the public will be sure and remember that they "play a lawyer on TV".

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