Posted on 01/09/2004 5:36:03 AM PST by runningbear
Distaso attacks defense motion
Distaso attacks defense motion
By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: January 8, 2004, 08:14:12 AM PST
Prosecutors Wednesday countered a defense effort to dismiss double-murder charges against Scott Peterson. They argued that there was only one reasonable explanation for the bodies of his wife and unborn son washing ashore along San Francisco Bay:
"The evidence leads only to the conclusion that Laci was killed at the hands of another (the defendant)," Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso wrote in documents filed in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
The defense contends prosecutors failed to show at a November 2003 preliminary hearing that Laci Peterson's death involved a crime or provide evidence Scott Peterson killed her.
Peterson was ordered held for trial on charges he murdered his wife and their unborn son, Conner, following the 12-day hearing. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Prosecutors need only establish probable cause -- a low threshold of proof -- at the preliminary hearing.
Legal observers have said the defense motion has little chance of success. A hearing on it is set for Wednesday.
The defense maintains prosecutors failed to establish that Laci Peterson's death was a homicide. Her nearly skeletal remains were found in April 2003. A medical examiner listed the manner of death as a homicide but was unable to determine the cause of death.
Prosecutors contend there are three possible explanations for how Laci and Conner Peterson's bodies found their way to San Francisco Bay: foul play, an accident or suicide........
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Judge: Try Peterson in bigger city
Judge: Try Peterson in bigger city
Mark Geragos and Pat Harris, attorneys for Scott Peterson, arrive at the Stanislaus County Court house on Thursday. By MARTY BICEK/THE BEE
Lee and Jackie Peterson, the parents of Scott Peterson, speak to the press as they arrive at the Stanislaus County Courthouse on Thursday. By MARTY BICEK/THE BEE
By JOHN COTÉ and GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITERS
Last Updated: January 8, 2004, 03:57:27 PM PST
Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda counties are on the short list of where Scott Peterson's trial on double-murder charges will be held. Superior Court Judge Al Girolami ruled this afternoon that the trial should be moved out of Stanislaus County because of massive pre-trial publicity.
Girolami directed the prosecution and defense to suggest three options each. He told them to consider the following criteria for those locations:
They must be larger metropolitan areas.
They must be communities within driving distance to Modesto.
They must be near a major airport.
Girolami and the attorneys came up with the three Bay Area options. The judge will send the list to the state Administrative Office of the Courts, which will then issue its own list, based on which counties have the available space and personnel for the case.
Girolami said he regretted the inconvenience and hardship the move will cause for witnesses in the case, and the significant cost for the county.
Peterson, 31, is accused of murdering his wife, Laci and their unborn son. Their bodies washed ashore along the San Francisco Bay in April, near where Peterson told police he went fishing on Christmas Eve 2002, the day he reported his .......
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Trial site on docket; if it moves, costs climb
Trial site on docket; if it moves, costs climb
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: January 8, 2004, 08:44:23 AM PST
The cost to move a high-profile trial -- which can be exorbitant -- isn't supposed to enter a judge's mind when he or she makes the big decision.
But there is no way around this fact: It's expensive.
And inconvenient.
"The expense just builds and builds," said Thomas Testa, a San Joaquin County prosecutor who handled two multiple-murder trials moved to Santa Clara County.
In many cases, the extra costs amount to several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And the Peterson proceeding isn't a run-of-the-mill case. The preliminary hearing alone stretched across three weeks, and the trial is expected to last six months.
Judge Al Girolami today is set to hear arguments from both sides over Peterson's request to move the much-anticipated trial. It is scheduled to begin Jan. 26 but could be postponed, particularly if Girolami says a fair trial in Modesto is unlikely.
Peterson, 31, is charged in the slayings of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors seek the death penalty.
Costs of moving proceedings can stack up quickly -- for everyone involved.
"Little things you don't think about: paper clips, fax machines, a courier service, socks," Testa said. "You've got to orchestrate things that now are on automatic pilot. One night I was driving around in the rain at 11:30, getting lost, looking for a
Magic Marker for an exhibit for the next day."
Aside from attorneys, trials require judges, clerks, bailiffs and stenographers, as well as witnesses, including experts who might need to fly in from anywhere in the United States..........
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Bay Area may get Peterson trial
Posted on Fri, Jan. 09, 2004
Bay Area may get Peterson trial
By Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury News
MODESTO - The fate of Scott Peterson may end up in the hands of 12 people from Santa Clara County.
Stanislaus County Judge Al Girolami ruled Thursday that the trial should be moved from Modesto, preferably to Santa Clara County, because overwhelming publicity and the community's connection to the case would make it difficult to find a fair and impartial local jury. Peterson is accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son.
Santa Clara County is Girolami's top choice, with San Mateo and Alameda counties next on his list. Girolami grew up in downtown San Jose and attended Santa Clara University School of Law.
In court Thursday, Girolami said he prefers that the trial be held within driving distance of Modesto and near a major airport. A panel of judges across the state will take the judge's recommendation and survey counties to determine whether they have the time and space to host a trial that could last as long as six months and attract scores of national journalists.
Santa Clara County appears poised to take it on.
``If the venue is changed to Santa Clara County, we are more than willing to accept it and do what we need to do,'' Kim V. Kelly, assistant chief executive officer for Santa Clara County Superior Court, said Thursday afternoon.
Santa Clara County has a history of inheriting high-profile cases -- from Cary Stayner's Yosemite murder trial in 2002 to the case of Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered Polly Klaas, and even back to the 1970 trial of black activist Angela Davis, who was acquitted of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.
In court Thursday, Girolami said he regretted the ........
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State court revisits murder of a fetus
What if attacker is unaware of pregnancy?
State court revisits murder of a fetus
What if attacker is unaware of pregnancy?
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, January 8, 2004
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The state Supreme Court returned to the stormy issue of fetal murder for the first time in a decade Wednesday with arguments over whether a Northern California man who killed his ex-girlfriend could be convicted of a double murder if he didn't know she was pregnant.
In a ruling that is due within 90 days, the court must define a law it was instrumental in passing. The court ruled in 1970 that a man who stomped on his pregnant ex-wife, deliberately killing her fetus, was not guilty of murder because the state's murder law applied only to the killing of a human being.
The California Legislature immediately expanded the state's murder law to cover the killing of a fetus without the woman's consent. Wednesday's hearing, in a case from Mendocino County, concerned the scope of the law: whether a defendant unaware of the intended victim's pregnancy can be convicted of fetal murder.
A ruling in the state's favor could lead to more prosecutions under the law, possibly including some death penalty cases.
Nationally, the issue of crimes against a fetus has become a battleground in Congress, where opposing sides in the abortion debate are battling over legislation that would make it a crime to injure or kill a fetus during a violent federal crime on a pregnant.........
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Laci Peterson's mother endorses Kentucky's 'fetal homicide' bill
Laci Peterson's mother endorses Kentucky's 'fetal homicide' bill
By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The mother of Laci Peterson urged Kentucky lawmakers Thursday to act in the "interests of true justice" and pass a "fetal homicide" bill that has been stymied for years.
Sharon Rocha, whose daughter and unborn grandson were found dead along the California coast last year, wrote a letter endorsing a bill that would apply homicide statutes to a fetus from the time of conception.
The bill also picked up support from Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who told a Capitol rally, "It is time that we pass this legislation."
Under rulings by the Kentucky Supreme Court, a fetus is not a person until a live birth occurs. In one defining case, the court overturned a murder indictment against a man who attacked his pregnant wife and killed the fetus.
In her letter, Rocha said if her daughter and unborn grandson had died in Kentucky, it would have resulted in a single homicide charge.
She said if a mother survives an assault but loses her fetus, Kentucky law doesn't recognize any loss of human life. She said "this injustice would be cured" by enactment of the bill, named the Caleb-Haley Act to memorialize two babies .......
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Peterson Trial To Move Out Of Modesto
Scott Peterson
Peterson Trial To Move Out Of Modesto
Judge Cites Pre-Trial Publicity In Ruling
POSTED: 9:50 AM PST January 8, 2004
UPDATED: 2:56 PM PST January 8, 2004
A Superior Court judge has granted a change of venue in the Scott Peterson murder trial.
NBC11 reporter Karen Brown said the judge pointed to the inordinate amount of publicity given to the case in Modesto and that so many residents sympathized with victim Laci Peterson in her own hometown.
He also pointed the small size of Stanislaus County, with a population of 500,000 -- thus reducing the pool of potential jurors, as a reason for his decision.
The judge's decision denied arguments by county prosecutors that news coverage of the case, which gained national notoriety as Laci Peterson's disappearance went unsolved for nearly five months last year, is so widespread in California that there is no point in moving the trial.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos argued in court papers that Peterson has been demonized and that the prosecution's argument "can be boiled down to the old adage, 'Sure we can give him a fair trial, then we will take him out and hang him."'........
(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
IMO this fool attorney made a mockery of the justice system. For what, a possible killer off the hook, and put the public at risk for another potential other victim? You bet, Geragos should be severely disiplined. :o)
Peterson defense alleges police violated gag order
Peterson defense alleges police violated gag order
By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: January 11, 2004, 05:23:12 AM PST
Scott Peterson's attorney contends that police violated a judge's order and leaked documents to a tabloid magazine, part of an "orchestrated campaign to publicly convict" Peterson.
The allegation, filed in court Thursday, is the latest salvo in a case in which each side blames the other for fueling news coverage that was a primary factor in moving the double-murder trial.
"Both sides leak to impact the jury pool and public perception," said Laurie Levenson, a law professor and director of Loyola Law School's Center for Ethical Advocacy.
How effective such attempts are is hard to tell, legal observers said.
"It's almost impossible to know because jurors themselves may not know," Levenson said. "The impact is on their subconscious."
Judge Al Girolami last week ordered Peterson's trial moved, saying "the nature and extent of the publicity this case has received has rendered Stanislaus County an inappropriate venue."
A destination could be determined at a Jan. 20 hearing.
The case has saturated the media since a pregnant and photogenic Laci Peterson was re-ported missing on Christmas Eve 2002. Prosecutors say they intend to introduce TV interviews as evidence, and among their list of 400 witnesses are at least three media representatives who had contact with Scott Peterson.
In an effort to stem the media tide early in the case, Girolami issued a sweeping gag order, sealed normally public documents and forbade the release of documents or photographs that could be introduced in court.
The defense contends that prosecutors violated that order within the past two weeks by leaking a transcript of Peterson's police interview conducted early Dec. 25, 2002.
Peterson, 31, is charged with murdering his wife and their unborn son. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
They have suggested that the defense could have sold the interview transcript to The National Enquirer to help pay for Peterson's defense.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris noted in court documents that the Enquirer showed two photographs of the document, "both of which clearly hide the lower right-hand corner of the document -- the place where the traditional discovery stamp is placed on documents released to the defense."
Geragos said in court Thursday that photographs of the documents indicate that police leaked them.
"What Mr. Harris doesn't realize is that the lower right-hand corner on my defense discovery doesn't have anything in it," Geragos said. "In fact, the reason I know that this is a police leak is because the numbering system that is released to the defense is not on the top. I know that that came -- for a fact that that came -- from the police. And the police have done this week in, week out."
Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold said the photos did not indicate where the documents came from.
"I don't see how you can draw any conclusions from anything that's put in The National Enquirer," Goold said.
He said the gag order pre-vented him from commenting on whether prosecutors or police were leaking documents and misinformation about Peterson.
"I would love to reply to that, but I think the protective order stops me from doing so," Goold said.
Enquirer isn't telling
Charlie Montgomery, an Enquirer editor who worked on the story, refused to say who pro- vided the transcript but dismissed the suggestion that the defense sold the documents.
"That seems kind of absurd to me," Montgomery said. "For something like that, they would want extremely big money, and I don't think we'd be paying that money for something they'd want."
He also rebutted the defense argument that police had routinely leaked documents to the tabloid.
"I've been dealing with a number of people on this, and we have not gotten any leaks directly or indirectly from any police authorities," Montgomery said.
Montgomery said there are "an awful lot of people who would have copies of that," including clerks and other personnel in the district attorney's office, Police Department and "then there's the defense people."
The judge could hold either side in contempt of court if he determines who leaked the documents.
The leak is not the first. Prosecutors in May sought to have.........
Survey inflicts poll-ax damage
By JEFF JARDINE
BEE LOCAL COLUMNIST
Last Updated: January 11, 2004, 04:13:16 AM PST
And the survey says
Never mind. We made it up.
The bogus poll local college students conducted likely did more to harm their school than it affected Judge Al Girolami's decision to move Scott Peterson's murder trial outside Modesto.
By their actions, the students have cast doubt on any survey overseen by California State University, Stanislaus, Professor Stephen Schoenthaler.
While the district attorney wants to interview the students involved -- hoping to get Girolami to reconsider his decision -- don't expect the judge to repeat the hearing. Even before Schoenthaler presented his survey to the court, Girolami indicated he felt the vast media coverage merited moving the trial.
As he has done with past surveys, Schoenthaler offered his latest results to The Bee, which detailed them in a story Jan. 4. The survey indicated Peterson could not get a fair trial in Stanislaus County.
Schoenthaler told reporters John Coté and Garth Stapley the 10-county, 39-question effort would become the standard for future surveys.
"Others will look at this and compare their cases to this," he boasted.
Let's hope not.
Some of the 65 students in Schoenthaler's class admit they fabricated information. That he detected no red flags in their work gives him a Pete Rose-sized credibility issue for years to come. And Schoenthaler needs to accept the responsibility.
After the Jan. 4 story was published , defense attorney Mark Geragos snagged the survey as evidence and called the professor to the stand during Thursday's hearing. Schoenthaler testified voluntarily and for free, no subpoena necessary.
Schoenthaler has been the driving force behind these types of surveys for years.
His students receive class credit. This time, 20 percent of their grade depended on working on a survey project. They not only paid tuition for the privilege of being a well-educated telemarketer, they also got stuck with long-distance charges.
Schoenthaler grabs the public credit -- the media attention .......
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