Margarita Nava, the Petersons' housekeeper, leaves court after her testimony. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted on 06/03/2004 5:50:30 AM PDT by runningbear
ALL SNIP ITS:
First full day of testimony in Laci Peterson murder case
Redwood City, California-AP _ The first full day of testimony gets under way today in Scott Peterson's murder trial in Redwood City, California.
He's accused of murdering his wife and their unborn son.
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Geragos deconstructs prosecution's case against Peterson
Article Last Updated: Thursday, June 03, 2004 - 3:09:35 AM PST
Geragos deconstructs prosecution's case against Peterson
Defense attorney: Fetus was born full-term therefore defendant's not responsible for murders
By Jason Dearen, STAFF WRITER
REDWOOD CITY -- Scott Peterson is a cad not a killer, his defense attorney said Wednesday as he began an assault on the very essence of the evidence against Peterson -- when his wife and child died.
In the scenario cast by attorney Mark Geragos, the child was born alive weeks after Christmas Eve 2002, the date prosecutors say his mother, Laci Peterson, had been killed.
"If this baby was born alive, clearly Scott Peterson had nothing to do with this murder," Geragos explained to the six men and six women of the jury. .......
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Peterson's lawyer attacks investigators' work
"Posted on Thu, Jun. 03, 2004
Peterson's lawyer attacks investigators' work
By Brian Anderson
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
REDWOOD CITY - Saying Scott Peterson was "stone-cold innocent," defense attorney Mark Geragos blasted the police detectives Wednesday who investigated the murder of Laci Peterson and the thin case he said they cobbled together against her husband.
In his first chance to lay out his side of the case, Geragos said Modesto police believed early on that Peterson had something to do with his wife's Dec. 24, 2002, disappearance and they worked to prove only that. Through slipshod detective work, lies and far-fetched theories, they built a laughable case from circumstantial evidence that led to the prosecution of an innocent man, he said.
"The evidence is going to show beyond any doubt that not only is Scott Peterson not guilty.""......
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Circus talk pans out
First day draws media, gawkers and other crazies.
Circus talk pans out
First day draws media, gawkers and other crazies.
Published on Wednesday, June 2, 2004
URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/060204n_peterson2
REDWOOD CITY -- The same gravity that is holding together the "12 galaxies" apparently had enough pull to draw San Francisco's eccentric sign-toting icon, Frank Chiu, and others looking for a little collateral publicity, to the Redwood City Courthouse on Tuesday for the start of the Scott Peterson murder trial.
Parked near the courthouse in a van covered with biblical and anti-abortion messages, Ronald Brock of San Diego sought attention for his message that killing an unborn child, through abortion or any other means, is a crime.
"Murder is murder, give Conner justice," read a banner on the van. Conner was the name Scott and Laci Peterson planned to give their unborn child before a pregnant Laci disappeared in late 2002. Her husband is facing two counts of murder for their deaths.".....
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Geragos: Peterson didn't do it
Geragos: Peterson didn't do it
By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: June 2, 2004, 01:32:27 PM PDT
1:23 p.m., PDT: REDWOOD CITY - Scott Peterson had nothing to do with his pregnant wife’s murder - and his legal team will prove it, defense attorney Mark Geragos declared dramatically this morning during his opening statement.
“The evidence is going to show clearly, beyond any doubt, that not only was Scott not guilty, but stone-cold innocent,” Geragos told jurors.
Peterson, 31, of Modesto, came under media and police scrutiny after Laci Peterson vanished Dec. 24, 2002. But Peterson had no opportunity to kill her and their unborn son, Conner, Geragos said.
Evidence will show the baby was born alive, the Los Angeles lawyer announced in a series of revelations. They include:
Laci Peterson knew that her husband bought a fishing boat shortly before she vanished - and “was in the boat Dec. 20.”
The Petersons didn’t talk about the boat, even during......
(Excerpt) Read more at whnt19.com ...
Pinging ........ yesterday's court events.....
Pinging ........ yesterday's court events.....
Not for nothing, but HOW LONG IS THIS FREGGIN THING GONNA GO ONNNN???? Is Foxnews deliberately prolonging this thing so Greta VanSustern can have a show and Rita Cosby can continue to go into epileptic seizures every time she talks about it? I mean why does murder trials that are publicized seem to go on forever? Every murder trial I read about is done with in a month, even the Sante and Kenneth Kimes one where they didn`t even find a body was done 1 2 3. I`m sick of seeing this pompous moron everyday in court with his new look or his permed hair like he`s some sort of movie star. The worst was Dean Cain making a movie about this doofus, I mean what the hell was that all about? The thing is ranted about 24 hours a day on the news and we need re-enactments? This case makes Aru Gharib seem like a page 116 story in the media
I think I said my bit all on the old thread last night...I'll wait for others insights...
Margarita Nava, the Petersons' housekeeper, leaves court after her testimony. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Do we know who the first witness is yet?
crime drama..... At least Aru Gharib is passed on, hopefully. Democrats politics, sooooo negative.... change of news drama...Don't worry, be happy, it'll be done within 5 months, not withstanding delays... ;o)
for today? Not sure...
"WHAT'S NEXT: Prosecutors will call their second witness who has not been identified. The witness list is sealed and lawyers are operating under a sweeping gag order. Judge Alfred A. Delucchi promised jurors a full day of testimony."
The prosecutor said he wasn't sure yesterday...
Six to eight months is predicted for this debacle.
Off topic, but been trying to remember the name of family (Husband, Wife, and Son) who were killed earlier this year. Last I heard it was a family member who was left out of adopted(?) dad's will. Family was taken from house where husband's dad had been killed years earlier. Wanted to research current status of that case....
Maybe AMBER is the next witness!!!
Here's the latest thread with links to articles.
All Geragos has to do is convince ONE juror to accept the "reasonable doubt" junk he's spewing. At this point all he can hope for is a hung jury to keep Scot breathing awhile longer as the DA prepares to retry him.
I hope you don't mind, but I'm posting Andrea Peyser's article. She is doing a great job on this trial. Even though I think she's wrong about taking MG's claims so seriously, she "gets" Scott.
http://www.nypost.com/commentary/22234.htm
HORROR IN THE COURT: PHOTOS TOO MUCH FOR KIN
By ANDREA PEYSER
June 3, 2004 -- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Conner Peterson lived. The startling claim emerged yesterday from the lips of Scott Peterson's lawyer. Until now, little Conner, who died before he was to talk, sing, or know the warmth of his mother's arms, was presented to the courtroom here as nothing more than a fetus without a face.
Yesterday, Conner was brought to life.
And it was awful.
The man who's defending Conner's father against charges that he murdered the child along with his mother, Laci, faced the jury. Mark Geragos spoke slowly, carefully, pausing at each syllable for dramatic effect.
Little Conner did not die within his mother, he declared, but was "removed" by force from her body, then managed to survive, perhaps for a few weeks. And with that, little Conner was no longer a fetus, but a boy who knew the feeling of air in his lungs.
"The evidence is going to show this baby lived beyond Dec. 24," Geragos pronounced.
"The evidence will show this baby was born alive."
As he spoke, sickening autopsy photographs appeared on two screens, showing the baby's corpse, gray and nearly unrecognizable as a human being. The prosecution showed us these the previous day.
But now, the knowledge that the child did not always look this way — that he might have come into the world pink and crying — bathed the courtroom in a new kind of horror.
Laci's father, Dennis Rocha, who would have been Conner's grandfather, was the first to march out of the room. Laci's mom, Sharon Rocha, stepped out quietly behind him, eyes trained on the floor. Tears threatened to spill from the eyes of a woman named Lori, who, despite working in law enforcement, couldn't take it, and left.
And Scott Peterson — the Ice Man of Modesto — merely bore his eyes into a table until the boy was gone.
Until that moment, Geragos seemed content to concentrate his opening statement on his client's character, using a version of what I call the Slut Defense. Scott is a slut, Geragos conceded. He lied. He cheated on his pregnant wife.
"He did have an affair," said Geragos. "If you want to call him a cad, if you want to say his behavior was boorish, we're not going to dispute that."
And Scott Peterson, the sleazy Ice Man, did not wince, cry or as much as scowl.
He did, on occasion, crack a smile.
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