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Scott Peterson
Found this interesting news
Thursday, February 12, 2004
The perfect juror
Jury summonses already are showing up in people's mailboxes, asking them to appear in Superior Court on Feb. 26, presumably for the Peterson trial. One source described herself as the perfect potential juror. "I am so bored by the thing by now that I'd be totally impartial," she said.
--Tim Hay posted by John @ 8:43 PM.....AND THIS:
Mystery letter update
At Wednesday's hearing Judge Alfred Delucchi was handed a letter marked "evidence," and the court took a quick recess to discuss it. Rumors swirled that a woman had confronted Scott Peterson's mother, Jacqueline, in the bathroom and told her that the woman had witnessed Laci's murder. Upon returning from the short conference defense attorney Mark Geragos leaned over the railing to Jacqueline Peterson and said: "This is what bothers me. It scares the hell outta me." Outside the hearing, Laci's stepfather Ron Grantski told a group of reporters that he didn't think the letter was anything "too important."
--Jason Dearen posted by John @ 4:41 PM
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Guess Geragos is re-trying to get already admitted evidence contested again?
Lawyers Debate Wiretaps in Peterson Trial
Article Last Updated: Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 5:08:53 AM PST
Lawyers Debate Wiretaps in Peterson Trial
By KIM CURTIS - ASSOCIATED PRESS
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Lawyers haggled Wednesday over whether wiretapped phone conversations of Scott Peterson after his wife disappeared can be used as evidence at his murder trial.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos argued the conversations should be inadmissible because investigators violated the attorney-client privilege when they listened to calls between Peterson and his former attorney, Kirk McAllister.
But prosecutors presented investigator Steven Jacobson, who testified he and others followed federal guidelines when they briefly monitored parts of 76 recorded calls.
Prosecutors must convince Judge Alfred A. Delucchi the phones were properly tapped before the recordings can be used as evidence.
The content of the taped calls was not discussed in open court, but lawyers joined Delucchi in his chambers to begin listening to them. Delucchi did not make a ruling, and lawyers were to return Thursday for more closed-door meetings.
Peterson is charged with murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Investigators for Stanislaus County prosecutors tapped Peterson's phones in early 2003 as they began to scrutinize the former fertilizer salesman.
Authorities monitored Peterson's home and cell phones from Jan. 10-Feb. 4, 2003, Jacobson said. They bugged his cell phone again briefly from April 15-18. .......
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Geragos: Prosecutors slow to hand over evidence
Mark Geragos, attorney for Scott Peterson , who is accused of the double murder of his wife Laci and their unborn son, arrives at the San Mateo County Courthouse in Redwood City, California, for a court session, February 18, 2004. A northern California judge warned he might postpone the Peterson murder trial to ensure that defense attorneys have seen all of the evidence against the Modesto fertilizer salesman. (Pool/Reuters)
Article Last Updated: Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 3:43:52 AM PST
Geragos: Prosecutors slow to hand over evidence Defense tries to get judge to throw out recorded conversations
By Jason Dearen, STAFF WRITER
REDWOOD CITY -- Scott Peterson's attorney complained Wednesday that prosecutors have lagged in turning over key evidence that he believes could exonerate his client.
Before Wednesday's hearing on the admissibility of evidence obtained by wiretapping, Mark Geragos told the court that he had only just received a large amount of evidence from the prosecution, including forensic tests of hair found on pieces of duct tape that were on Laci's body.
"I'm getting items, pages upon pages (of evidence) including hair tests. Hair tests that exclude my client," Geragos said. Geragos also said he has just received tests of blood on Peterson's boat that tested negative for human blood.
"All of that material gets dumped on me in the last few days on a piecemeal basis," he said. "They have reports of interviews with witnesses that have come from as far back as October that they have just dumped on us," an annoyed Geragos told the court. "There are 10 different instances that point to other people who may have committed this crime."
Stanislaus Deputy District Attorney David Harris blamed the delays on the fact that much of the evidence involved obtaining reports from the FBI, which has been slow in turning over information, he said.
"You can't wait for the last minute before we start picking the jury," Delucchi told prosecutors. "I thought this was ready for trial, but if it's not, I'll give Mr. Geragos a continuance."
Evidence examined
Prosecutor Rick Distaso spent Wednesday morning questioning a Modesto investigator who supervised the eavesdropping of more than 3,000 of Peterson's phone calls between the time of Laci's disappearance and his April 2003 arrest.
Geragos filed a motion in August to suppress all evidence obtained by wiretapping, mainly because, he argues, 76 of the calls in question violated attorney-client privilege, among other things.
More than 3,000 calls between Peterson and others were recorded and monitored to some extent between January and April 2003, according to Steven Jacobson, the investigator who oversaw the wiretapping. .........
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Geragos: Hair samples exclude Peterson
Geragos: Hair samples exclude Peterson
By GARTH STAPLEY and JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITERS
Last Updated: February 18, 2004, 05:52:28 PM PST
5:18 p.m., PST: REDWOOD CITY - Hair taken off duct tape as part of the investigation into Laci Peterson’s death does not match her husband’s, his defense attorney said in court today while relaying a series of allegedly new information contained in prosecution documents turned over Tuesday to the defense.
"I've got pages on pages of hair comparison that are very detailed that exclude my client at every single point," attorney Mark Geragos said, charging that prosecutors this week turned over about 800 pages of documents from the state Department of Justice and the FBI containing information that could help his client.
"Hair was taken off duct tape that excludes my client," Geragos said, referring to tape found with Laci Peterson's remains in April after her body washed ashore in San Francisco Bay.
Five stains in Peterson's boat that police thought were blood turned out to be something else, according to Geragos.
Prosecutors contend Scott Peterson murdered his pregnant wife on or just before Christmas Eve 2002 and then ferried her body out to San Francisco Bay in a recently bought 14-foot aluminum boat.
Her body and that of her unborn son, Conner, were found separately along the bay's eastern shoreline, within a few miles of where her husband said he went fishing the day she was reported missing.
Peterson has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in their deaths. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Geragos charged that the documents revealed an "extensive" investigation into four unnamed people, one of whom allegedly claimed responsibility for the killings.
Prosecutor Dave Harris suggested the defense was trying to resurrect its theory that suspicious people in a brown van were connected to the case. Authorities later found a van the defense was seeking and questioned and cleared its occupants.
"It's not the brown van," Geragos replied. "There is a series of seven witnesses who have a complete separate connection to this."
Harris argued that the newly provided information was largely "notes" by lab technicians and other witnesses and did not exonerate Peterson.
"There isn't anything exculpatory in there because there is no connection between that work and this particular case," Harris said. ....
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Humm, is there a spin on these hair samples? Were not these hairs findings Laci, and not Scott's? I got confused here. ;o)