Posted on 07/06/2004 5:29:41 AM PDT by runningbear
PETERSON LAWYER SET FOR TIRADE
PETERSON LAWYER SET FOR TIRADE
By HOWARD BREUER
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July 6, 2004 -- REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — When Scott Peterson's double-murder trial resumes today, defense attorney Mark Geragos is expected to go on another rant and ask the judge to dismiss the case due to prosecutorial misconduct.
Geragos' ire revolves around the testimony of a police detective who recounted for the jury a tip he had received just after Scott Peterson's arrest but dismissed as implausible.
Modesto Detective Allen Brocchini told the jury that a college classmate of Peterson's told him how the defendant had once described how he'd commit the perfect murder.
"He said he would tie a bag around the neck with duct tape, put weights on the hands and throw it into the sea," Brocchini testified.
Geragos is expected to accuse prosecutors of letting Brocchini embellish his account to explain an error or omission made at Peterson's expense.
Brocchini said there were other statements by the classmate.......
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Duct tape is a sticky detail for Det. Brocchini
Duct tape is a sticky detail for Det. Brocchini
Officer's statement surrounding a tip to police turns out to be inaccurate
By Jason Dearen, STAFF WRITER
REDWOOD CITY -- When Laci Peterson's body washed up on a shore of the San Francisco Bay in April 2003, a line of duct tape was wrapped around the lower torso.
The grisly detail was first seen by jurors in the Scott Peterson double-murder trial in a photograph displayed during the prosecution's opening statement. Duct tape was mentioned in the courtroom last week by Modesto police Det. Al Brocchini -- the lead investigator in Laci Peterson's disappearance and murder -- who described a phoned-in tip he received a week after her body was found.
The tip came from one of Peterson's former acquaintances. According to Brocchini's report, the acquaintance said Peterson gave a detailed account in 1995 of how he would dispose of a corpse by tying "a bag around the neck with duct tape, put weights on the hands, and throw it into the sea" where fish could eat away at it, making it hard to identify. ......
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AXED LACI JUROR: 'I GET DEATH THREATS'
AXED LACI JUROR: 'I GET DEATH THREATS'
By HOWARD BREUER
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July 4, 2004 -- EXCLUSIVE
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The juror who got kicked off the Scott Peterson jury claims he's received hate mail and death threats for criticizing the prosecution — and says he's so scared, he's moving to another state.
Justin Falconer, 28, told The Post that after saying he believed prosecutors haven't proven Peterson's guilt, he became a lightning rod for trial-watchers.
He said he's complained to the San Mateo Police Department about the threats, and he and his girlfriend are arranging to get out of Dodge........
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Peterson prosecutors still looking for that damning detail
Peterson prosecutors still looking for that damning detail
Monday, July 5, 2004
By BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press Writer
REDWOOD CITY -- It's the prosecution's disjointed story, legal experts say, that likely has jurors in the Scott Peterson double-murder trial questioning what really happened to his pregnant wife.
But there may be a good reason for their failure to weave the cohesive tale.
Prosecutors don't have enough hard evidence to be forceful in their claim that Peterson committed the crime -- neither cause nor time of death, no weapon and no witnesses who saw him do it.
"Those things are the heart of their story and they just don't have it," said Robert Talbot, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
Defense lawyers are confident they can pick apart the alleged motive -- an affair with a woman Peterson had only known a short while.
But they aren't without their own challenge: how to explain, convincingly, why the bodies of Laci Peterson and the couple's fetus surfaced just two miles from where Scott Peterson claims he fished alone the day his wife vanished.
The defense says he was..........
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Peterson trial resumes after holiday break
((subscription is needed to read this online article))
Posted on Tue, Jul. 06, 2004
Peterson trial resumes after holiday break
BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Prosecutors spent the bulk of last week portraying Scott Peterson as a lying cheat who maintained a relationship with his mistress even after his pregnant wife, Laci, had vanished.
The woman who introduced Peterson to his mistress testified that when she first met him, Peterson never mentioned he was married and told her he had "lost" his first love.
Shawn Sibley said she later set him up with massage therapist Amber Frey, the same woman who prosecutors claim was Peterson's motive to murder his wife........
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
This guy is BURIED in lies!! I think I've said it a few times, it's worth repeating, Peterson is going to bury himself with his own mouth!!
I've never heard that her maternity pants had a pocket. In fact, though I've owned them, I've never seen maternity pants with a pocket.
Of course, she could've put the house key in the pocket of her coat... aw, but, darn it, Scott says she didn't wear a coat that day, didn't he?
Can't wait till they play all the TV interviews he stupidly did!
IF the neighbourhood were that bad, I'm sure they would have moved. BULLchit!! Again more of Peterson's bullchit!
And coincidentally, her purse and keys were hanging in the closet!!
And wouldn't it be funny if there was no pepper spray in the purse?
FYI-
Key Vote (Laci and Conner's Bill)
Fetal Protection - Passage
Bill Number: HR 1997
Issue: Abortion Issues
Date: 03/25/2004
Sponsor: Bill sponsored by Representative Hart, R-PA
Roll Call Number: 0063
Bill Passed
Full Member List
Senator John Reid Edwards voted NO.
Senator John Forbes Kerry voted NO.
Vote to pass a bill that would make it a criminal offense to harm or kill a fetus during the commission of a violent crime.
HR 1997 Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004
Vote to pass a bill that would make it a criminal offense to harm or kill a fetus during the commission of a violent crime. The measure would set criminal penalties, the same as those that would apply if harm or death happened to the pregnant woman, for those who harm a fetus. It is not required that the individual have prior knowledge of the pregnancy or intent to harm the fetus. This bill prohibits the death penalty from being imposed for such an offense. The bill states that its provisions should not be interpreted to apply a woman's actions with respect to her pregnancy.
(Bill sponsored by Representative Hart, R-PA)
Bill Passed 61-38: R 48-2; D 13-35;I 0-1 on 03/25/2004.
Bill Status
Bill Number: HR 1997 -108th Congress (2003-2004)
House Passage Vote: 02/26/2004- Outcome: Passed
Senate Passage Vote: 03/25/2004-Outcome: Passed
Presidential Action: Signed on 04/01/2004
Thanks Maggie!! Interesting huh?
Douglas Mansfield and Jeannie Overall know when you're lying.
Both have spent 20 years watching for the telltale signs: a jumpy pulse, a sweaty palm or a pause before a breath.
As polygraph examiners for the California Department of Justice, they spend most of their time asking questions about murder, kidnapping and child molestation. Combined, they average about 400 tests a year, traveling from one city to the next.
The recent disappearance of former intern Chandra Levy in Washington, D.C., and her connection with Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, have increased focus on the polygraph field as the merits of lie-detector machines are debated.
The state attorney general's office has provided a polygraph exam service to law enforcement agencies across the state since the 1970s. Without the service, many of the state's small police departments couldn't afford such an exam.
Polygraphs aren't perfect, authorities say. But when combined with proper interview techniques, they can provide criminal investigators with key clues and confessions.
"You would be surprised how many people just confess ... during interviews," Mansfield said. "The interview is just as important as the test itself."
Douglas Mansfield and Jeannie Overall don't know when you're lying. They can only guess. The article goes on to note that the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has adopted the cheaper competing pseudoscience of voice stress analysis.
Dev just listen to THIS red herring. You know Catherine Crier's BIG NEWS TODAY. A Deanna Renfro pawned a croton watch on December 31, 2004. She is married to "Donnie" Renfro of the tan van with barbeque stains fame. HOWEVER, Robyn Rocha was already shown THIS watch that was pawned in Court and COULD NOT identify it as the one belonging to Laci's inherited one. It is SO OBVIOUS GeragGAG is behind this. DISingenuious, DISceitful, DISgusting, and on and on!! HOW could Catherine Crier, KNOWING full well that the Rocha's could NOT identify THIS watch as the one Laci had, DARE TO come up with this as a BIG DEFENSE SCOOP??????? She is on my IGNORE list from now on.
Hopefully she will have the opportunity to testify how she obtained the watch. And who instructed her to pawn it. Dalton is gone but not forgotten.
WHOOPS, make that December 31, 2002.!! Just read that Catherine Crier has a psychiatrist on who is rather tearing Peterson to shreds. There is a statement that there is a phone call (wiretap) where Scott is talking to his mother and wants to give all the baby stuff to a family member who is about to have a baby. He then phones back and says he better wait a bit cause it might not "look right"!! I wish I knew WHEN this conversation took place.
Oh yes, Mr. Dalton!! All I know is read that Robyn Rocha could NOT identify the watch as the one that Laci had inherited. IMO ANOTHER RED HERRING!!
Thank you, Maggie!
As much as I deplore the murders of the innocent Laci and Connor, I have mixed feelings about this bill. This bill has already been used, or attempted to be used, by a woman seeking to keep from being deported when she was due to be deported. It had to do with the fact that she was pregnant.
Also, I am distrustful of too many sweeping federal laws. The arrogance of our lawmakers is disgusting; they think they can solve every problem just by making yet another law, and they can't.
I am, of course, against the killing of the unborn (and of the born!)
I'm so glad you wrote your last sentence. *grin*
Thanks for the info, RG! Sounds like Scott didn't want to protest too vehemently against taking a polygraph, so he probably let them lead him along until it came down to taking it--at that point, he refused. (And he had spoken to McAllister, hadn't he?)
The state has to walk a fine line on the questioning of this witness, if, as I speculate, he was originally brought in to administer a polygraph. Any indvertant mention of a polygraph is going to send Geragos back into orbit.
We must admit that after interviewing so many people, he probably MUST know quite a bit about deceptive behavior and how to spot it, don't you think?
LOL... I thought you sounded rather skeptical!
Oh, brother. Well, let's see how close they get to magically changing this unknown watch into LACI'S watch.
The DA will simply deal with this through cross-examination and his rebuttal case. We haven't gotten to see these DA's cross-examine yet. Hope they're good.
Even though Catherine Crier is reporting on this, I fail to see how this could have come in as "evidence" yet. Enough of Geragos' innuendo and secret "tips" to the media--let's see HIM have to put HIS evidence through the ringer in court!
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