Prosecutors favor Santa Clara County location for murder trial

Scott Peterson's prosecutors have urged a Stanislaus County judge to move the upcoming trial to the Bay Area's Santa Clara County, but also have asked that Sacramento County be considered.

In court documents released over the weekend, prosecutor David Harris said Santa Clara County in the South Bay has a large enough jury pool, is close to Modesto and has had less media coverage of the disappearance and slaying of Laci Peterson and her unborn son.

Harris compared Santa Clara County to Alameda, Orange and San Mateo counties, which the state Administrative Office of the Courts suggested could host the trial of Scott Peterson on charges accusing him of killing his wife.

Harris said prosecutors preferred San Mateo second followed by Alameda and Orange counties. He added, however, that Orange should be excluded from the list because costs associated with flying in upward of 175 expected witnesses, among other things, would be huge.

Harris also asked Judge Al Girolami to once again consider holding the trial in Sacramento County. At a hearing earlier this month, Girolami eliminated that location along with other San Joaquin Valley counties, saying there has been too much publicity surrounding the case there.

But new evidence suggested that a poll cited by defense attorneys in their request to change the trial venue was fabricated. Students of a California State University professor who oversaw the study have told reporters for the Modesto Bee that they made up the results.

The study, a class project that accounted for 20 percent of a final grade, had indicated Scott Peterson could not be tried in front of a fair and impartial jury in Central Valley counties, such as Merced, Fresno, Sacramento and Stanislaus.

Professor Stephen Schoenthaler has been subpoenaed to a Tuesday court hearing in Modesto, where the judge and lawyers are expected to address the issue. A final decision on where to move the trial also is anticipated.

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Peterson Prosecutors Make Santa Clara Co. Top Choice
Harris Says Orange County Should Not Be Considered

MODESTO, Calif. -- Prosecutors say in court papers that if Scott Peterson's capital murder trial can't be held in Stanislaus or Sacramento counties, they would prefer that it be held in Santa Clara County.

A document filed by Stanislaus County Senior Deputy District Attorney David Harris late Friday does not say why he prefers Santa Clara County over Alameda and San Mateo counties, the two other Bay Area counties that Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami is considering as venues for Peterson's trial.

Harris said only that San Mateo is his second choice and Alameda is his third. Orange County also is being considered, but Harris said it should be rejected because it's too far away.

Girolami will hold a hearing in his courtroom in Modesto Tuesday morning on the issue of where Peterson should be tried on charges that he murdered his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn son, Connor, in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve 2002. If convicted, Peterson faces the death penalty.

Earlier this month, Girolami said the trial shouldn't be held in Stanislaus or Sacramento counties because the nationally watched case has received so much publicity there that Peterson could not receive a fair trial.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts has suggested that the trial could be moved to Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in the Bay Area as well as to Orange County.

Peterson's defense lawyer, Mark Geragos of Los Angeles, hasn't said which of those four counties is his first choice.

In his court filing, Harris said Orange County is the most distant site of the four, as the possible site in Santa Ana is 340 miles away from the Stanislaus County courthouse in Modesto.

The proposed site in Alameda County, in Oakland, is the closest at a distance of 81 miles, followed by the San Jose site in Santa Clara County at 87.2 miles and the Redwood City site in San Mateo County at 88.4 miles.

Harris said Girolami should reject Orange County as a possible site because of the distance issue, saying that county is "cost prohibitive" and would "pose an undue hardship to witnesses and citizens of Stanislaus County."

The prosecutor said San Mateo seems to have had the least amount of media coverage of the counties being considered, while Alameda and Orange seem to have had the most.

In a separate but related motion, Harris asked Girolami to reconsider his decision to move the trial out of Stanislaus County because of new evidence suggesting that a poll defense attorneys cited in their change-of-venue request was fabricated.

Students of a California State University, Stanislaus professor who oversaw the study have said that they made up the results because of time and money pressures.

The study claimed that Peterson could not get a fair and impartial jury in Central Valley counties, including Merced, Fresno, Sacramento and Stanislaus counties.

However, when Girolami made his ruling he said the primary factor in his decision was media coverage and that the survey was used only in part to help him make his choice.

Harris' motion says an unidentified witness has come forward to tell prosecutors that she has known the professor who oversaw the study for a long time, has worked for him for a number of years and "has personal knowledge of the professor falsifying research data in the past." ..........

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Going Postal
A&E's Between the Lines is a slow-going treat for epistolary geeks.

By what felicitous gift of gab did the developers of Between the Lines (Fridays, 10 p.m. ET) manage to convince the money people to throw down for a four-part miniseries consisting entirely of celebrities reading aloud from the correspondence of famous people? A&E's new series, an investigation of letters throughout history, hosted by Robert Downey Jr., originates from a belief in the power of the written word—not exactly a box-office goldmine. I can see the concept working on PBS or C-SPAN, but this is Arts & Entertainment, the channel whose January lineup has already given us the baffling new reality show Airline, as well as tonight's thoughtful one-hour special Who Killed Laci Peterson? As the national attention span grows ever shorter, the epistolary nerd in me—the one who still sends the occasional paper letter and bids on typewriters on eBay—finds something irresistible about the singularly poky prospect of watching Hilary Clinton don reading glasses and dip into Eleanor Roosevelt's mailbag. (And on a Friday night, yet!)

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A hearing will be held Tuesday in Modesto, California, to decide where to conduct the murder trial for Scott Peterson. A judge has ruled that Peterson couldn't get a fair trial in his hometown because of pre-trial publicity. He's accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn child. A court administrator has suggested four other possible locations. Prosecutors prefer Santa Clara County if the judge doesn't reconsider Sacramento. Other possibilities are Alameda, Orange and San Mateo counties. Prosecutors say they have several hundred witnesses and the cost of transporting them to Orange County in Southern California could be nearly 100-thousand dollars. Defense attorney Mark Geragos has said repeatedly that he wanted Los Angeles County, where he practices. ........

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Jurors guilty of conservatism

By Yunmi Choi, Daily Journal Staff

The verdict is in: jurors in San Mateo County are known across the state for their conservatism.

“The common belief is that juries in San Mateo County are generally more inclined to the prosecution side of the case,” said Jim Hartnett, a Redwood City Councilmember and attorney with Hartnett, Smith & Associates.

Whether that will impact the outcome of the Scott Peterson case is yet to be seen.

From his regular discussions with local attorneys, however, Hartnett said the general consensus is that county jurors tend to be tough on plaintiffs and don’t like to reward big settlements in civil cases. In criminal cases, he said jurors are more likely to side with prosecutors.

“There’s a reason why [Scott] Peterson’s attorneys didn’t put San Mateo County at the top of their list,” Hartnett said.

The county was particularly known for its conservative juries about 20 years ago, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

“It’s the nature of the community,” Wagstaffe said. “People here are hard working and highly educated. But they don’t just accept what prosecutors put forth.”

The reasons reach back to the area’s history.

Although it’s a wealthy area today, Hartnett said San Mateo County was historically a blue-collar community used to working hard for whatever it got. Residents also tend to be family-oriented, have a healthy respect for police and value quality of life issues, he said.

Over the years, Hartnett said the county has grown considerably more diverse. At the same time, he said its core values have remained intact.

“Clearly it’s a very top-heavy Democratic county,” Hartnett said. “But in basic values, people here tend to be more conservative.”

Redwood City Councilmember Barbara Pierce said there’s a strong sense of civic responsibility among county residents. But Pierce said there’s no way to predict the character of the Peterson jury.

“I don’t think you can guess a thing like that,” she said.

Earlier this month, the judge in the Peterson case ruled that the trial had to be moved out of Modesto to ensure that Peterson got a fair trial in the slaying of his wife, Laci, and unborn son. ........

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Peterson will face trial in Bay Area on Peninsula

Posted on Wed, Jan. 21, 2004

Peterson will face trial in Bay Area on Peninsula
MODESTO JUDGE PICKS REDWOOD CITY COURT

By Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury News

MODESTO - Brace yourself, Redwood City. Scott Peterson's double-murder trial -- and the storm of celebrity media, hotshot lawyers and gawkers that comes with it -- is coming to town.

A Modesto judge, who ruled earlier this month that Peterson couldn't get a fair trial in his wife's hometown, passed over front-runner Santa Clara County on Tuesday because court officials needed more time to prepare. Instead, he chose San Mateo County.

Jury selection for the 31-year-old fertilizer salesman accused of killing his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son could begin in mid-February. A San Mateo County judge likely will hear the case and could be selected today. Scott Peterson's defense lawyer raised the possibility he might want to sequester the jurors during the four- to six-month trial while they decide if he is guilty and, if so, should be put to death.

Santa Clara County officials said it would take six weeks to assemble a large jury pool, it didn't have enough courtroom staff, and the largest courtroom was booked until March. San Mateo County, however, is ready, willing and able to take the case.

When the news hit the San Mateo County Convention & Visitors Bureau, ``everybody screamed,'' said Anne LeClair, the organization's president and chief executive. ``We're all excited.''

The trial could bring in upward of $16 million in revenue to county businesses, particularly hotels and restaurants, said LeClair, who sent a packet of information to court officials in Modesto to distribute to attorneys and the media.

``We're going to get the kind of publicity that money can't buy,'' she said.

San Jose's loss

The San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau couldn't help but be disappointed. Dan Fenton, president and CEO of the bureau, also had sent a packet to Modesto and was planning shuttles and office space for legal teams and the media.

``We were ready, and we had thought through a lot of ideas of how we could service them well and make it a smooth operation,'' he said. ``If there's anything positive about this, we hope people in the legal world realize San Jose is ready to step up. Bring on the next one.''

Santa Clara County had been the first choice of Stanislaus County Judge Al Girolami, who grew up in downtown San Jose, and prosecutors, who said in court Tuesday that ``San Jose would be a wonderful choice.''

Alameda and Orange counties had also been in the running. Orange County had been the defense's first choice, with San Mateo County being a second choice for the defense, prosecution and the judge.

During Peterson's preliminary hearing in November, more than 250 press credentials were issued, and the Stanislaus County visitors bureau set up a table alongside the row of media tents offering soft drinks and fresh-baked cookies.

While San Mateo County is promising a fine experience for visitors, less certain is the reception the defendant will get in this county that has sent at least 16 people to death ........

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San Mateo County to host Peterson trial
Judge says he chose site because it could hold proceedings right away

Henry K. Lee and Kelly St. John, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 20, 2004

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Scott Peterson will be tried in San Mateo County in the deaths of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, a Modesto judge ruled Thursday.

Stanislaus County Judge Al Girolami ruled earlier this month that extensive pretrial publicity would prevent Peterson, 31, from getting a fair trial in Laci Peterson's home county. The judge said he selected San Mateo over Santa Clara, Alameda and other counties because officials there could host the trial immediately.

Peterson's trial has been set for Monday and is expected to be one of the most intensively publicized murder cases since the prosecution of O.J. Simpson eight years ago. Girolami said he will preside over the case if another judge cannot be found.

The former fertilizer salesman is accused of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Laci Peterson and the couple's son, whose bodies washed ashore in Richmond in April, four months after the mother-to-be was reported missing. Peterson faces the death penalty if convicted.

San Mateo has seen its share of infamous trials. In 1990, a San Mateo jury convicted Ramon Salcido of the murders of seven people in Sonoma County and sentenced him to death. The county was also the site of the 1987 trial of Joe Hunt and two other members of the cult-like investment group called the "Billionaire Boys' Club," who were sentenced to life in prison for murder.

Stanislaus County prosecutor James Brazelton had argued that the judge consider moving the case to Sacramento County, while Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, named Orange County as his top choice.

San Mateo County is an ethnically diverse county that has one of the most educated populations in the country, said Anne LeClair, president and chief executive of the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"I think they’ll get quite a variety of people on the jury. It might be a skycap from San Francisco International Airport next to a senior officer from Siebel or Oracle," LeClair said.

According to the 2000 census, 49.8 percent of the county’s residents are white, 21.9 percent are Hispanic, 19.8 are Asian, 3.4 percent ..........

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Judge Orders Peterson Murder Trial Moved

Posted on Tue, Jan. 20, 2004 Judge Orders Peterson Murder Trial Moved

BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press

MODESTO, Calif. - The judge in the murder case against Scott Peterson moved the trial about 90 miles away to the San Francisco Bay area Tuesday because of hostility toward Peterson in his dead wife's hometown.

Judge Al Girolami ruled earlier this month that the trial had to be moved out of Modesto to make sure Peterson got a fair trial in the slaying of his wife, Laci, and unborn son.

Four counties had offered to host the trial, and the judge picked San Mateo County, situated south of San Francisco. Girolami had said he wanted a county close enough to Modesto that witnesses could drive there.

"I'm satisfied we can get a fair and impartial jury in San Mateo," Girolami said, adding that he wants San Mateo County appoint a judge to handle the trial.

The trial is scheduled to start Monday but will probably be postponed. A hearing is scheduled later this week to discuss a delay. Prosecutors asked for two weeks to move their operation to San Mateo County.

Peterson, 31, is charged with two counts of murder for allegedly killing his pregnant wife just before Christmas 2002 and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. In April, her remains and those of the fetus she was carrying washed ashore in the bay two miles from where her husband said he was fishing when she vanished. Peterson could get the death penalty.

Peterson's lawyers argued that he had been demonized in Modesto's Stanislaus County, citing vandalism of his house, crowds yelling "Murderer!" outside the jail and T-shirts sold with Peterson's likeness and the motto: "Modesto, a killer place to live." Blood drives have been held in honor of Laci Peterson and 3,000 people attended her internationally televised memorial service.

Seeing a potential economic windfall, San Mateo County's tourism bureau had sent a letter to the judge offering to host the trial.

Anne LeClair, president and chief executive of the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said her office was "screaming with great excitement" upon hearing the news.

Restaurants, hotels, car rental services and other businesses could see an influx of $8 million to $16 million, she said.

"There's just under 500 media people in attendance for .............

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Judge moves Peterson trial to San Mateo

Scott Peterson's attorney Mark Geragos and partner Pat Harris walk to the Stanislaus County Courthouse for a hearing on Tuesday morning. MARTY BICEK/THE BEE

By GARTH STAPLEY and JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITERS

Last Updated: January 20, 2004, 11:03:48 AM PST

Scott Peterson's double-murder trial is headed to San Mateo County in the Bay Area, a judge ruled this morning.

Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami has not said whether he will hear the case in San Mateo. He said he would prefer not to. Officials are asking the Administrative Office of Courts to appoint another judge, and if the office is unable to do that, Girolami said he will stay with the case. A decision is expected sometime this week.

Peterson, a 31-year-old Modesto man, is charged with murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Another hearing is scheduled for Friday to try to hash out scheduling. Prosecutors indicated in court today that they will ask for a two-week delay in the trial, now scheduled to start Monday. The delay would allow the district attorney time to move files and personnel to San Mateo County, prosecutors said.

San Mateo County has courthouses in South San Francisco and Redwood City. Local officials are checking with the office of courts to find out which one will take the Peterson case.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos and prosecutor Dave Harris agreed that San Mateo County was the second pick for both sides. It has room to accommodate the trial and would be able to start proceedings at any time, according to an office of courts report discussed in court.

Redwood City is about equal distance between San Francisco to the north and San Jose to the south. It's almost 90 miles from Modesto. South San Francisco is 94 miles from Modesto.

The disadvantages of San Mateo County include a further drive from Modesto than Alameda County, Harris said. Oakland and Modesto are 81 miles apart.

Alameda County, however, is undergoing courthouse renovations that would delay the trial, the office of courts report said.

This morning, Geragos continued to argue to move the trial to Orange County.

The office of courts indicated that Orange County was best place to go because the trial could start immediately, he said. Also, Orange County could provide all court staff and the services of a public-information officer to handle the media rush, he added.

Geragos pointed out that a major expansion of Orange County's airport would make travel convenient for witnesses. He also said that Jackie Peterson, Scott Peterson's mother, is on a waiting list for an organ transplant, and having the trial in Orange County, about an hour for her home, would be more convenient for her.

Prosecutors continued to argue to move the trial to Santa Clara County, but proceedings couldn't get under way there until March 1.

Before Girolami ruled, prosecutors asked him to reconsider moving the trial because of the scandal surrounding California State University, Stanislaus, Professor Stephen Schoenthaler's survey.

Schoenthaler oversaw a 10-county, 1,175-person survey conducted by about 65 criminal-justice students in November and December. Nine have said they fabricated some or all answers to the survey, which measured bias against Peterson, because they were short on time and money for lengthy, long-distance telephone calls.

The survey suggested that more jurors without bias could be found in the Bay Area and Southern California than in Stanislaus County. Geragos submitted the survey as an official case exhibit, and Girolami cited it when explaining his decision to move the trial.

According to court documents that prosecutors filed late Friday, a district attorney's investigator found someone who had worked with Schoenthaler on other surveys until 1991. She said Schoenthaler ordered her to falsify data so survey conclusions would more closely match his projected outcome, the documents said. Those surveys were part of nutrition studies, not potential jury bias in trials.

Girolami noted that the woman had worked with Schoenthaler a long time ago and asked if prosecutors were able to find any students who had worked on the Peterson survey. Harris said they hadn't, because Schoenthaler refused to give them a list of his students. He asked Girolami to order the professor to do so.

Girolami refused, saying Stanislaus State should handle the investigation.

For the full story, see The Bee or www.modbee.com on Wednesday..........

Court document cites allegation on past research

By JOHN COTÉ and GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITERS

Last Updated: January 21, 2004, 06:03:41 AM PST

A professor at the center of a Peterson trial survey scandal ordered a researcher to falsify data on an unrelated poll several years ago, according to a witness cited in a court document.

The allegation did not change Superior Court Judge Al Girolami's decision to move Scott Peterson's double-murder trial out of Stanislaus County. Tuesday, Girolami reaffirmed his decision, and selected San Mateo County as the trial site.

Also on Tuesday, university officials said they are pressing forward with investigations into the scandal. They are targeting at least 65 criminal justice students at California State University, Stanislaus, and their professor, Stephen Schoen- thaler.

"There is nothing I would like to deliver more than a quick, appropriate, fair action," university President Marvalene Hughes said.

Hughes, other administrators and a California State University attorney declined to comment on Schoenthaler's history at Stanislaus State. Incidents include:

Sexual harassment allegations brought in 1990 by two female researchers; one was Justine Pinto.

Schoenthaler's demotion from full professor to associate professor pending investigation into those allegations.

Schoenthaler's exoneration and reinstatement in 1993.

Schoenthaler's $3 million lawsuit against the university and the two researchers in 1996. He said they hurt his research grant and chance at a Nobel Prize by spreading word about the 1990 allegations.

Schoenthaler's attorney, Ernie Spokes of Modesto, said his client fired Pinto many years ago after determining that she falsified data.

Pinto recently told an investigator working with Peterson prosecutors that Schoenthaler directed her to delete data that did not support his projected outcome on a project before 1992, the investigator wrote in a court document.

Investigator Kevin Bertalotto wrote that Pinto came forward after news broke two weeks ago that Girolami, in agreeing to move the Peterson trial, cited Schoen-thaler's survey on potential jurors' opinions about the Peterson trial.

Nine students eventually admitted that they had fabricated data, saying they were short on time and money. The university launched a formal investigation that could take months.

On Tuesday, prosecutors asked Girol-ami to reconsider moving the trial from Modesto, saying his decision was based in part on a "fraudulent survey."

But Girolami said he could not recon-sider, based on unidentified sources who spoke with The Bee but not investigators.

Bertalotto said he had not been able to track down any of the 65 students who compiled data for Schoenthaler. The professor, citing student privacy laws and advice from his attorney, last week refused to give authorities class lists.

Pinto, however, told Bertalotto that she worked for Schoenthaler until "about 1991." He ordered her to omit data that he thought were "anomalies" in research on whether vitamins and supplements increase intelligence, she told Bertalotto.....

Peterson case finds court

By JOHN COTÉ
and GARTH STAPLEY

BEE STAFF WRITERS
Last Updated: January 21, 2004, 06:03:40 AM PST

Scott Peterson's double-murder trial is going to San Mateo County, and a new judge is likely to take over.

After ordering the move to the Bay Area, Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami said Tuesday that he would prefer not to accompany the case.

San Mateo County's presiding judge later said the trial will be in Redwood City, the county seat. The city of 75,000 is on the San Francisco Peninsula, about 90 miles west of Modesto.

The presiding judge also said San Mateo County could provide a judge, if necessary.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George is scheduled to announce today whom he will assign to the case, according to a statement from the state Administrative Office of the Courts. The statement came after Girolami's announcement, during a hearing in his court, that the case would move to San Mateo County.

Also during the hearing, Girolami denied a last-ditch prosecution request to hold Peterson's trial in Modesto or Sacramento.

The 31-year-old Modesto man is charged with murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

In asking Girolami to keep the trial in Modesto, or move it to Sacramento, Sen-ior Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris pointed to a survey of potential jurors' opinions -- a survey in which students allegedly fabricated data.

Girolami denied the request, saying the survey and testimony from the professor who oversaw it "were not given much weight" in his decision.

"I have moved venue mainly because of the extent of media coverage in this area and the amount of community involvement," Girolami said.

The defense had requested the move, saying Peterson could not get a fair jury in Stanislaus County.

Peterson's trial is scheduled to begin Monday, although prosecutors said in court that they would seek a two-week delay to move files and personnel to San Mateo County.......

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