Posted on 03/15/2004 5:37:18 AM PST by runningbear
MISS STRESS: Amber Frey has been busy preparing for the birth of her baby while dreading the inevitable call to ex-lover Scott Peterson's trial, her dad says. - ZUMA Press
DREAD 'TAKING TOLL' ON AMBER
By HOWARD BREUER
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March 15, 2004 -- LOS ANGELES - Scott Peterson's former mistress Amber Frey is carrying two burdens these days: the baby boy that's due within a few weeks and her obligation to take the witness stand in her ex-lover's double-murder trial, her father says.
Frey, 29, and her live-in boyfriend, Dr. David Markovich, a chiropractor, are due to become parents in late April. The judge wants to have a jury by April, but defense efforts to move the trial a second time could slow things down.
Although Frey doesn't expect to be forced to testify before she delivers her baby, she's still stressed over the trial, her father said.
"She has to testify and confront the person she was in love with once," Ron Frey, 52, said. "It takes its toll on her."
Trial observers expect that defense attorney Mark Geragos will leave no stone unturned in trying to discredit her. Although she didn't know Scott was married or that his wife was about to give birth to a boy, prosecutors say Peterson was so in love with Frey that he murdered his wife to be with her.
Days after Laci's disappearance on Christmas Eve 2002, Frey became an informant and tried to get Peterson to explain his actions as the cops bugged their phones.
Lately, Ron Frey said, his daughter has been leading a very busy life.
She's about to graduate from an esthetician program so she can do facials and hair removal. She still works as a massage therapist. She spends the latter part of the day with her 3-year-old daughter and with Markovich.
Although the pregnancy was unplanned, "she's just tickled pink," her dad said. "So's Dr. Markovich."
Although she's a fitness nut, Frey is too far along to get to the gym these days, her father said, adding that she's planning to stop working within a couple of weeks and focus on feathering her nest.
Her dad said he's impressed with the way Markovich carries himself, with his abilities as a chiropractor, and with his parenting skills.
"He has the patience and what it takes to be a high-quality father," said Frey, who hopes .....
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PAGING DR. SHEPPARD: SCOTT'S 'FUGITIVE' DEFENSE
PAGING DR. SHEPPARD: SCOTT'S 'FUGITIVE' DEFENSE
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SCOTT PETERSON Lawyer looks to the past.
March 15, 2004 -- LOS ANGELES - As Scott Peterson's attorneys prepare to argue for another change of venue, they're hoping the case of Dr. Sam Sheppard - whose claim that he was wrongfully accused of his wife's murder inspired "The Fugitive" - will aid in their cause.
"This case is Sheppard redux," a source close to the defense said this week.
Jury consultant William DeHaven, who consults with Peterson attorney Mark Geragos, said he's currently reading books about the Sheppard case and is astounded by the similarities - a factor that should work heavily in Geragos' favor.
For example:
* Attractive suburban housewife Marilyn Sheppard and Laci Peterson were pregnant when they were murdered.
* Hours after Marilyn Sheppard was discovered dead in 1954, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Coroner Samuel Gerber assumed that her husband killed her, causing police to focus their investigation on him. Geragos has waged the same complaint against Modesto, Calif., police.
* During Sheppard's retrial, Coroner Cyril Wecht of Pittsburgh said Gerber botched the original probe. Wecht has been retained to testify for Peterson's defense
* Prosecutors in each case focused on the fact that the victim's husband was having an affair. One newspaperman observed that Sheppard was tried for murder but convicted of adultery.
* Sheppard quickly lost the battle in the court of public opinion, which reached its own verdict long before the trial. Geragos said last week that the judge must take steps to ensure that Peterson's jury isn't tainted by pretrial publicity.Howard Breuer ..........
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Peterson video contains no case clues, man told
Peterson video contains no case clues, man told
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By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: March 14, 2004, 07:56:27 AM PST
A videocassette with footage Scott or Laci Peterson likely took in 2002 was stolen from their home shortly after she disappeared, the man who found it said police told him.
Whether the film contains evidence or will be used in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial remained unclear Friday.
Eddie Gibson of Modesto said Thursday that police Detective Doug Ridenour told him the videotape revealed no link to the pregnant woman's Christmas Eve 2002 disappearance.
But authorities on Friday stayed silent about a burglary of the home shortly after Laci Peterson disappeared. Gibson found the camera a day later.
Gibson described footage of household items on the tape, including jewelry -- a topic of apparent interest to Scott Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos. He questioned two witnesses about Laci Peterson's jewelry during her husband's preliminary hearing in October.
The 31-year-old fertilizer salesman faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering his wife and unborn son. Possible jurors are being screened in Redwood City, where the trial was moved after crushing media coverage in Modesto.
Gibson said he can't remember if the footage of the jewelry showed a date. That portion of the tape appeared to be consistent with an inventory of valuables for a homeowner policy, he said.
At Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing, the Petersons' housecleaner confirmed seeing jewelry on a bedroom counter the day before Laci Peterson went missing. That testimony came under questioning by Geragos. The housekeeper, Margarita Nava, said she could not remember if Laci Peterson wore jewelry that day.
Also at the hearing, Amy Rocha, Laci Peterson's sister, agreed under Geragos' questioning that the sisters had inherited a "substantial amount" of jewelry from their paternal grandmother three weeks before Laci Peterson vanished.
Geragos' intent regarding the jewelry was unclear. He called no witnesses during the hearing.
"The Perfect Husband," a made-for-television movie that first appeared last month on the USA Network and was supposedly based on the Modesto case, indicated that Scott Peterson had given some of his wife's jewelry to his girlfriend. However, sources have told The Bee that account is not accurate.........
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
So then John Kerry asked Amber, "Why the long face?"
I call it the HITA disease.
(Helium in the ankles)
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