Posted on 03/01/2004 5:35:24 AM PST by runningbear
Haggling Over Evidence in Peterson Trial
Haggling Over Evidence in Peterson Trial
Monday March 1, 2004 10:46 AM
By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press Writer
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - Just days before jury selection is set to begin, attorneys in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial continue to haggle over the admissibility of evidence.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi has already made several key rulings in the case, including a decision to allow prosecutors to use evidence police gathered with electronic devices used to track Peterson after his wife disappeared.
But still at issue is the admissibility of monitored phone calls, which was set to be the topic when court hearings resume Monday. Peterson is charged in the deaths of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son.
Peterson attorney Mark Geragos was prepared to challenge the wiretap evidence, which was gathered by police in the weeks after Laci Peterson's disappearance. Geragos claims investigators violated Scott Peterson's attorney-client privilege when they listened to bits of conversations with his first attorney, Kirk McAllister.
During the first months of 2003, investigators monitored about 3,000 calls Peterson made or received, including 76 between the former fertilizer salesman and his first attorney.
With both sides bound by a gag order, it's unclear exactly what evidence prosecutors plan to use from the wiretaps, but authorities have maintained they followed all federal guidelines when using the listening devices.
The bodies of Laci Peterson and the baby washed ashore in April along the shores of San Francisco Bay, not far from where Scott Peterson claims he was fishing on the day his wife vanished - Christmas Eve, 2002.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Thursday, with court officials summoning 200 potential jurors for questioning.
In other crucial decisions, Delucchi ruled last week that only one jury will be seated for the trial and that panelists will not be sequestered. Geragos had sought two juries - one to decide guilt or innocence and one to levy a sentence if Peterson is convicted. He could face the death penalty.
Delucchi has yet to rule on what could be the most damaging ...........
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House Passes Unborn Victims Of Violence Act
House Passes Unborn Victims Of Violence Act
( ABP) -- The U.S. House of Representatives voted Feb. 26 to treat an attack on a pregnant woman as two separate crimes against her and the fetus she is carrying. Critics say the bill would undermine abortion rights by giving fetuses new legal status.
The measure would be applicable only to federal crimes, such as terrorism or drug trafficking. But supporters said Congress needs to bring federal law in line with state statutes. Twenty-nine states already have laws that recognize crimes against fetuses.
Passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act is backed by President Bush and conservative religious groups. It is the major legislative objective of abortion opponents this year, after Congress banned partial-birth abortions last year. A similar bill awaits action in the Senate. Although the House has twice passed bills recognizing crimes against fetuses, the Senate has yet to do so.
Bush urged the Senate to follow the House's lead. "Pregnant women who have been harmed by violence, and their families, know that there are two victims -- the mother and the unborn child -- and both victims should be protected by federal law," he said in a statement.
Before passing the bill 254-163, House members easily rejected a Democratic substitute that would have increased penalties for attacks on pregnant women in which the fetus is injured or killed without recognizing the fetus as a victim. .........
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Demographics less important than attitudes in Peterson jury
Posted on Sun, Feb. 29, 2004
Demographics less important than attitudes in Peterson jury
KIM CURTIS
Associated Press
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Attitudes about the death penalty and extramarital affairs may be more important than demographics when it comes to picking a jury for Scott Peterson's double-murder trial, experts say.
Jury selection is slated to begin later this week, as the first 200 questionnaires are handed out to San Mateo County residents. After the judge dismisses people for hardship reasons, the next step will be further questioning, or voir dire. Jurors will be questioned one by one in the courtroom by lawyers and Judge Alfred A. Delucchi.
"Demographics are not the controlling factors," said Lois Heaney of the San Francisco-based National Jury Project, the nation's oldest trial consulting firm. "It's people's attitudes, their life experiences, what life has taught them."
Authorities allege Peterson, 31, murdered his pregnant wife, Laci, in their Modesto home on Dec. 24, 2002 because he was having an affair with a massage therapist, then drove her body to San Francisco Bay and dumped it overboard from his boat.
On Monday, attorneys will continue arguing over the admissibility of wiretap evidence gathered in the weeks after Laci Peterson's disappearance.
In addition to age, occupation, marital status and other demographic data, prosecutors and defense lawyers will ask potential jurors on the 30-page questionnaire whether they've had an extramarital affair, how they feel about people who have affairs, whether they've ever lost a child or been a victim of a violent crime, whether they've ever considered a career in law enforcement and if they own a gun.
"The prosecution is looking for people who are more conservative, more conventional and who are deeply, personally offended by things like people having an affair," Heaney said.
Prosecutors also will likely favor "authoritarians," or judgmental people who tend to discriminate, according to David Graeven, president of the San Francisco-based Trial Behavior Consulting. "They're very black and white. They tend to follow authority. They respect that which is above them, but not what's below them."
However, people who work in the hard sciences, such as engineers, would be ideal for the defense, Graeven said.
"Engineers rely on evidence," he said, adding that the prosecution has an extremely high burden of proof in a double-murder capital case.
The defense also wants jurors with "a high tolerance for ambiguity," Heaney said. "People who can tolerate just not knowing if the prosecution can't prove his guilt."
On the other hand, prosecutors want people who say "good enough," she said. "There's enough smoke here."
In most capital cases, the real issue isn't guilt, but whether to sentence the defendant to death, said Edward Bronson, who teaches at Chico State University and has studied juries for 40 years.
"There are exceptions, and this arguably is going to be one," Bronson said. "A lot of the evidence is kind of hokey. Some of it's barely admissible. This could be a close case on guilt."
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos failed in his attempt to empanel two separate juries - one to determine guilt and another to impose sentencing. Now, all 12 jurors and six alternates will need to proclaim their willingness to sentence a person to death.
That means trouble for the defense, experts agree.
Talking to people about the death penalty before the person is convicted, means "placing in people's minds that he's guilty," Heaney said.
And the more questions you ask, and the more you talk about the death penalty, "the worse it gets for the defense," Bronson said. "This is an absolutely atypical capital case. This ain't no Charles Manson. He's white, he's middle class ... This isn't what you typically find.".......
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Posted on Fri, Feb. 27, 2004
DEVELOPMENTS:
Judge Alfred Delucchi denied a defense request Thursday to sequester the jury for the six-month trial. He also denied a defense motion to select two juries, one for the guilt phase and one for the penalty phase.
The supervisor of a dog handler testified that Laci Peterson's sunglasses used by the dogs to recognize Laci's her scent were not contaminated by Scott Peterson's scent from his brown slipper.........
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Wiretap, dog tracking evidence to be challenged by defense
Wiretap, dog tracking evidence to be challenged by defense
Redwood City, California-AP -- Attorneys in Scott Peterson's murder trial will be back in court today to haggle over what can be admitted as evidence.
One issue is the wiretapping of three-thousand phone calls. Peterson's attorney says investigators violated attorney-client privilege when they listened to calls between Peterson and his first lawyer. Authorities say they followed federal guidelines when using the listening devices.
The judge has yet to rule on evidence from police who say tracking dogs picked up Laci Peterson's scent on her husband's boat and at a marina. Laci Peterson's......
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The People of the State of California vs Scott Lee Peterson
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
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