Retired judge chosen to preside over Scott Peterson murder trial

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Wednesday, January 21, 2004 | Kim Curtis

[runningbear]

I was going to note scotty's over-bite, but grizz beat me too it.. and a few others...lol...

[drjulie]

"So why waste time arguing? Buying more time, that's why."

I sometimes wonder if MG is pushing this forward because of Scott and/or his parents. I think if it was completely up to him, he would waive the right to a speedy trial (JMO). I suppose, too, he could be trying to put various arguments on the record to lay the ground work for appeals.

[Canadian Outrage]

Geragos may be trying to lay a foundation for some appeal later. So far, I see NOTHING appealable as yet. In fact, in Death Convictions, appeals are automatic as I understand it. I can hardly wait for this trial to really get going. I think Peterson is only going to be able to take so much degrading testimony before he blows!! He's a man who is used to being praised and I could see him absolutely vibrating with rage the other day when Distaso let go. I do believe that the Defense is going to concentrate mostly on the baby's age (which was always given as approximate anyway). The theory that Laci was kidnapped and killed and thrown in the bay (weighted down of course), and then the baby was allowed to live for weeks, then killed and thrown in the bay and Laci and the baby just happen to wash up at the same time in roughly the same place - ludicrous!! OR maybe he's going to have some airhead woman say Snotty was with her. That won't fly either because of his cell phone tracking records, his Bay receipt, etc. etc. PLUS, the dogs led the police from the Peterson home to the warehouse to the Bay!! Why else does Geragos want the dog information kept out? and Finally, I think Jo Ellen Demetrius is a little high on herself. Conservative or Liberal, the utter Brutality of this crime will cross those lines imo

[Sandylapper]

Thanks for the pings and updates, All! I'm just ready to get this trial underway. Don't know what to think or believe anymore.

[runningbear]

same here.... saw the cover of NE today... a picture of the ?witness? enquiring minds.... ;o)

[Devil_Anse]

Oh, absolutely. That stuff about the tech jobs being farmed out to India has been in the news.

Did the techs you spoke to use less contractions than the average American does? LOL.

[runningbear]

Reporter's Notebook: Fog, Furor in Modesto

Reporter's Notebook: Fog, Furor in Modesto

Monday, January 26, 2004

by Adam Housley

Modesto, CALIF. — The winter fog envelops the Modesto (search) courthouse, giving it a grayish London look.

The air is crisp and burns the lungs a bit as we walk from our nearby hotel to our live location just across from the front door of the court.

This is our second winter season covering the Peterson murder case, and after today's hearing we will all move 90 miles to the west, where the salty bay breezes will mix with the famous Bay Area fog.

Redwood City, Calif., is the new home for Scott Peterson's (search) double-murder trial. In the meantime, the legal wrangling continues between the prosecution and the latest fashionable defense attorney, Mark Geragos, over who will preside over this case.

A retired judge is the battlefront today, the honorable Richard Arnason (search), famous for presiding over the activist Angela Davis (search) case back in the 1970s. Davis, an admitted communist at the time, was acquitted of helping prisoners escape from the Marin County California jail.

The District Attorney says Arnason is prejudiced, and under California law the prosecutors get one removal, so Arnason is out. But Geragos argues the prosecution already used its removal several months ago, and in any case, it waited too long to oust the new judge.

This is a carnival for the legal eagles who watch every move coming from the courthouse. There has been a plethora of motions and hearings, and the trial itself could last as long as six months when it does get started.

When asked about the intense interest the case brings to Modesto, a county spokesman says, "I'll be happy no one calls me anymore asking what kind of jail dinner Scott ate, or...is Scott's suit Armani."

Outside, the scene is controlled chaos. As at many major court hearings, the streets around the courthouse are shut down. Big-rig satellite trucks, their mushroom tops pointed toward the sky, are intermixed with microwave vans and their two-story limbs marking the Modesto skyline. Cables run in all colors and all directions across 11th Street, which is now closed by barriers usually used in a street fair.

Makeshift white canopies cover the cameras, microphones, photographers and reporters, keeping the weather away at least a little and the sun dulled. This is a village within a village. Everyone knows everyone else, they ask about respective families, kids and potential vacations.

When someone appears from the courthouse, the cameras are quickly switched on, and a brief moment of calmness is lost, as everyone runs into place to deliver a report.

Such is the day covering one of America's most interesting court battles, and so it will go roughly two hours west of here for a trial set to begin on Feb. 2 that could last well into the summer. ........

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COURT ALMOST IN ORDER FOR PEOPLE V. PETERSON

Article Last Updated: Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 3:48:43 AM PST

COURT ALMOST IN ORDER FOR PEOPLE V. PETERSON

By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER

AYOUNG, PRETTY, PREGNANT WIFE. A husband with a secret lover. A Christmas Eve disappearance. An awful discovery on an East Bay shoreline.

The deaths of Laci Peterson and her unborn son are familiar to most people -- the Modesto homicide's unusual melodrama has drawn attention and emotion worldwide -- and soon fertilizer salesman Scott Peterson, 31, will go on trial for his life.

Prosecutors will accuse, a defense attorney will argue, the world will watch, and ultimately 12 people will decide whether he did it -- and if he did, whether he should live or die.

Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Aldo Girolami on Tuesday chose San Mateo County to host the trial; he'd decided earlier to grant the defense's motion for a change of venue, finding Stanislaus County's jury pool has been tainted by heavy publicity and the greater Modesto community's deep involvement in the case.

But the case that will be heard in Redwood City might sound quite different from what was heard during Peterson's preliminary hearing late last year in Modesto.

"There's probably more evidence that we have not seen than evidence we have seen," said Loyola Law School Professor Laurie Levenson. "If there isn't, then it's not going to be much of a trial."

Not much of a trial, that is, because almost all the evidence presented at Peterson's preliminary hearing -- the proceeding in which a judge decided there was enough evidence to put him on trial -- was circumstantial. There is, as far as the public knows, no crime scene, no murder weapon and no cause of death for Laci and and the fetus.

Alameda County Assistant District Attorney James Anderson, one of Northern California's most seasoned death-penalty prosecutors, is confident "there's going to be other evidence" at trial that was held back from the preliminary hearing.

"Stanislaus County has done their homework, and I think they've presented a case that's going to get by an 1118 motion," he said, referring to a defense motion made at the end of the prosecution's evidence asking for acquittal if the state hasn't made an adequate case. "And day by day, little things are coming out that show more and more the motivation for Scott Peterson to want his wife dead." <> The prosecution's case ........

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[Tijeras_Slim]

That Scotty! Such a naughty boy! I sold him a slushie on his way back from the marina.

[Devil_Anse]

LOL, kind of off the subject, but the other day in a mall, I asked the lady who wipes the tables in the food court, "Where is the bathroom?"

She looked at me like I was a newly landed Martian. I then said, "The restroom?" Finally, I managed to spit out the word "baño" and like magic, she pointed to where it was. Interestingly, she was able to say, "Over there."

[Devil_Anse]

LOL, his overbite is also apparent in one of those pictures he took with Amber, where he is grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I can see him now, petitioning the jail authorities for orthodontist visits, so he can get his teeth straightened before his big trial!

[runningbear]

on taxpayer's money... that demorat commie he might be....;o)

[runningbear]

ROFL...... giggling....

[Devil_Anse]

I sold him a slushie on his way back from the marina.

Oh, YEAH??? Where's the RECEIPT????

[Devil_Anse]

LOL, if the jailhouse medical care is anything like it is in these parts, he'd be lucky to get someone to treat him if he had cancer--much less crooked teeth!

[Jackie-O]

Yeah, now that I have had the experience, I have been reading about it .
I kept finding myself apologizing to the tech because I kept having to say, "excuse me, pardon me, I didn't understand you!!"

[Jackie-O]

LOL!! A slushy made from Red Bull??

[Jackie-O]

LOL, funny how we have to adjust to language barrier, usually it's the immigrant that is struggling to find the English word!

[Devil_Anse]

I'm sure you've tried reading directions for equipment or appliances. Sometimes I see an operating manuel that looks impossibly long, and think that there is no way I am going to read that whole thing. Then I am pleasantly surprised to see that the English part adds up to only a page or two--the rest is in French, Spanish, Chinese, and probably Sri Lankan...

[Jackie-O]

I find the same thing applies with instructions for assembling pre-fab furniture! I usually just take a quick look at the picture, and toss the instructions!
Another off topic item...
I heard yesterday that Debbie Rowe is filing to regain custody of her children. She has come foreword saying now that they are NOT the biological children of Jacko. (well DUH!)
She says she was artificially inseminated with a donors sperm, even had a six month no-sex ban imposed on her so not to have her body contaminated by any other sperm.
She has said that she is now seeking to gain custody because of the repeat molestation allegations and Jacksons new alliance with the Nation of Islam.

[Devil_Anse]

Yeah, I saw that about Debbie Rowe. Why did she have these children in the first place? (Answer: greed makes people do strange things.)

How is her having these children, then essentially selling them to Michael Jackson, any different from SLAVERY?

And... ain't artificial insemination just great? It guarantees that the child will never know at least one of his/her biological parents. Talk about Orwellian!!!