Peterson prosecutors point to crucial lie

SignonSanDiego.com ^ | 09/15/04 | Brian Skoloff

[runningbear]

Peterson prosecutors point to crucial lie

REDWOOD CITY – Scott Peterson lied about a crucial element in the murder case against him when he told police he used cement mix to repair his driveway, prosecutors implied during testimony from an expert Wednesday.

Prosecutors claim Peterson used the cement to make five anchors, one of which was found in his boat. The others, which they allege he used to sink his wife's body into San Francisco Bay, have not been discovered.

Peterson told police he made only one anchor and used the remainder of a 90-pound bag of cement to repair his driveway. Jurors have also heard Peterson tell the same story to his dead wife's brother, Brent Rocha, on a wiretapped telephone call. .....

[runningbear]

MORE FROM YESTERDAY'S COURT HEARING:

Could Geragos skip a defense?

Some legal analysts speculated outside the courtroom Tuesday that Mark Geragos might not put on any defense case at all. The prosecution is expected to rest its case by the end of the month.

Janey Peterson, Scott Peterson's sister-in-law, commented briefly on those rumors during a court recess.

"The fact that people are even discussing that indicates how poor the prosecution's case is," she said. "It just points out there is no evidence."

Prosecutor asks too many questions

Defense attorney Pat Harris was caught on tape by a television crew chatting with Mark Geragos about the morning's ........

Mark Geragos (left) and Patrick Harris, the defense team for Scott Peterson (news - web sites) look over notes as they wait for the elevator after returning from a lunch break at the San Mateo County Courthouse in Redwood City, California for the ongoing trial of Scott Peterson on Wednesday September 15, 2004. Peterson is the Modesto man who is charged with the murders of his wife Laci and their unborn son and could face the death penalty if convicted. (Photo by David Paul Morris,pool)...

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Jurors view graphic autopsy photos of Laci Peterson

"The head was missing, the neck was missing, the forearms were missing, the left lower leg was missing," forensic pathologist Brian Peterson said as gory images flashed on a large projection screen across from panelists.

Scott Peterson, who stands accused of murdering his 27-year-old wife and the child she was carrying, stared down at the defense table as the physician, no relation to the couple, described the condition of her body as it was pulled from the San Francisco Bay.

"There was very little soft tissue remaining and the ribs were exposed," the pathologist said, gesturing to a photo of the victim's gaping chest cavity.

Story continues .......

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Testimony focuses on cement, anchors

2:08 p.m.: REDWOOD CITY - A geologist’s testimony this morning supported the theory that Scott Peterson made multiple concrete anchors before his pregnant wife vanished on Christmas Eve 2002. Police found only one homemade anchor in the boat he purchased two weeks earlier. He must have used the others to help sink Laci Peterson’s body to the bottom of San Francisco Bay, prosecutors contend.

Scott Peterson told police he used a 90-pound bag of concrete to make the anchor in his boat, according to previous testimony. The rest went into a repair job on the driveway to his Modesto home, a detective said Peterson told him.

Robert O’Neill, a petographer who examines concrete with a microscope, said chunks and powder found in Peterson’s warehouse, pickup bed, boat, boat cover and a plastic pitcher matched the material in the single anchor. They also matched a pea-sized pebble police found in his living room, O’Neill testified.

But none matched a sample from Peterson’s driveway, O’Neill said.

Detectives initially thought Peterson......

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More tests come up empty
None of Laci Peterson’s blood or tissue found, witnesses say

REDWOOD CITY — Prosecution witnesses in Scott Peterson’s murder trial this week continued confirming what his attorney told jurors three months ago: Authorities hoping to find blood or other bodily fluids “tested everything” and turned up “zip, nothing, nada.” His pregnant wife’s blood wasn’t found in items tested from their Modesto home, witnesses said.

No blood or tissue turned up in the boat police think her husband used to transport her body, nor on a boat cover.

Nothing but detergent came from mops and a bucket detectives thought Peterson used to sanitize the scene.

Laboratory experts scrutinized a folded-over corner of duct tape adhered to Laci Peterson’s remains and recovered some DNA. But it wasn’t good enough to test.

And a government fingerprint expert exposed duct tape to heated superglue fumes in an airtight chamber and examined it with a laser, a process designed to yield stubborn prints — but likewise came up empty......

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WEDNESDAY'S DEVELOPMENTS

Four witnesses testified

WHAT'S NEXT

Brian Peterson will resume testimony......

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Doctor says fetus expelled naturally

MATERIAL IN ANCHOR NOT USED IN DRIVEWAY, CONCRETE EXPERT SAYS

By Julia Prodis Sulek

Mercury News

Little was left of Laci Peterson when she washed up along the edge of San Francisco Bay.

The only internal organ left was her womb -- the uterus that held her baby tightly through at least weeks or months of decomposition and animal feeding at the bottom of the bay, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified Wednesday.

The fetus, which washed up about a mile away from its mother along the Richmond shoreline in April 2003, had been expelled from the top of the uterus, pathologist Brian Peterson testified. ``I didn't see evidence of tool marks or cutting.''........

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Laci Peterson's doctor testifies in Scott Peterson's murder trial

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - Laci Peterson's doctor took the stand this morning in the Peterson murder trial.

Doctor Esther Tow-Der told the court that Laci was expected to give birth to a healthy baby boy in early February of 2003. Her due date was about six weeks after she disappeared.

The doctor also said that she gave her patient a prenatal exam on December 23rd. The next day Laci was reported missing.

Judge Alfred Delucchi has indicated jurors will soon be hearing the grim details of autopsies performed on the remains of Laci Peterson and the couple's ........

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Concrete in Peterson's driveway didn't match anchor, expert testifies

A piece of Scott Peterson's story to police was put into question this morning when an expert witness testified that concrete taken from the defendant's driveway after his wife disappeared didn't match the concrete found in the anchor he made for his boat.

Peterson told police he made a single anchor for his newly purchased boat and used the remainder of an 80-pound bag for repairs on his driveway at his Modesto home. Prosecutors maintain the extra cement was used to pin his pregnant wife's body to the bottom of San Francisco Bay.

The body of Laci Peterson and the couple's unborn son washed up on the Richmond shoreline four months after she disappeared just before Christmas 2002. Despite repeated searches of the bay, authorities have never found the anchors they were looking for.

Peterson, a 31-year-old former fertilizer salesman who is charged with the double murder, is being tried in Redwood City. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Robert O'Neill, a licensed ..........

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[runningbear]

PINGING.........

[runningbear]

PINGING.........

[runningbear]

PINGING.........

[runningbear]

PINGING....

this is how you get to keep up on this topic thread as being pinged. ;o)

[Jackie-O]

Mornin' bear...thanks for the ping...
Here is an EXCELLENT thread from a poster that was in the courtroom yesterday.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
http://board2.courttv.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=161753&perpage=10&pagenumber=1

[runningbear]

Macabre Peterson pictures stun jury
Doctor contradicts theory that baby was born alive, later killed with mother

REDWOOD CITY — Laci Peterson’s remains indicated she had not given birth nor had a standard Caesarean section, the doctor who conducted her autopsy testified Wednesday.

The testimony in Scott Peterson’s murder trial dealt a blow to a defense theory that the couple’s child had been born alive.

It came after a geologist undercut Peterson’s account that he made only one concrete anchor. Prosecutors have suggested Peterson made five anchors and used them to moor his pregnant wife’s body to the San Francisco Bay floor after murdering her and their unborn son, Conner.

The 31-year-old fertilizer salesman could receive the death penalty if convicted.

The condition of his wife’s remains — found along the bay’s shoreline almost four months after her Christmas Eve 2002 disappearance — stunned jurors as they viewed graphic autopsy photos.

An alternate juror .......

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Peterson Prosecutors Focus on Potential Lie Surrounding Cement Mix

KCBS/AP) - During today's testimony in the Scott Peterson double murder trial, prosecutors focused on cement debris found in Peterson's boat and at his warehouse, implying to the jury that he lied about using the cement for a driveway repair project.

KCBS reporter Bob Melrose at the courthouse in Redwood City says prosecutors believe Peterson used the cement to make five anchors, one of which was found in his boat. The others, which they allege he used to sink his wife's body into San Francisco Bay, have not been discovered.

Peterson told police he made only one anchor and used the remainder of a 90-pound bag of cement to repair his driveway. Jurors have also heard Peterson tell the same story to his dead wife's brother, Brent Rocha, on a wiretapped telephone call.

However, a prosecution witness testified Wednesday the concrete samples taken by police from Peterson's driveway did not match the concrete in the anchor discovered on the boat.

Robert O'Neill, president of Micro-Chem Laboratories, which analyzed the concrete, said the material from the driveway was inconsistent with the material in the anchor......

[runningbear]

thanks...reading now....;o)

[Jackie-O]

I read from the eyewitness account of yesterday's proceedings that MG tried to use photos that he took the other day of the concrete work around the Peterson home with the State's expert and the Judge had the jury removed for a hearing.
MG pleaded to use the photos and the Judge refused, saying, "your about a year too late, buddy."
HA!
Reports saying MG was sweating and a bit frazzled by the concrete expert.
Also, when the pics of the bodies were shown, Snott tried to cry, looked like he was prompted to do so by MG, but couldn't manage to squirt a few....
Heavy body language from Snotty when the anchor was hoisted in court....
All of this just quick hits from the link I posted just prior to this one.

[runningbear]

EXCERPTED:

"Dr. Peterson, the ME, then went on to say that the challenge for him was that the external exam was "internal." The joints of the legs were left, but with no tool marks. Indicates that tools did not remove extremeties or that tools were used very carefully and not evident.

How does a body disarticulate? The body floats down--arms and legs hang down--tidal action, and current moves the body along bottom: rocks, debris, ship parts, other possibilities: animal activity. barnacles on femur, the thigh bone. mineralization (stony deposit on body. No heart, lungs, liver, spleen, brain--only organ: uterus.

her uterus was larger than one who hadn't had baby which would be the app. size of a golfball. Her uterus was 10 in long, not pregnant, no previous delivery, about 1 1/2". Non-pregnant uterus almost solid muscle. Hers was thin. the top was open. the lower portion, the birth canal was closed. baby did not pass that way. baby exited top of uterus. no incision to indicate c-section.

Then I drew a picture of the photo. Sort of a mass, with arm shapes (top part of arm) extended up over where head should be..., her right fibula--that's the thigh bone, may be wrong somewhere else. the surface of the body material was crumply white (drs. description). You could see her ribs. you could see part of the waistband.

her ribs were injured (shot of ribs close-up) rib #9 on Laci's right seemed frayed fractures of left ribs 5 & 6. So, figure (his words) rib #1 on top, the nipple at 5 (let's use a man for this example), and the ribs get shorter.

Now is when Scott is trying to cry, and people are crying. Two jurors (that I could see) are crying.

Photo of uterus. no tool marks, uterus may be there since uterus and prostrate in men are smooth muscle these organs often help pathologist determine gender of a body. Nothing was in her uterus; no baby, no placenta.

In marine environment every movement can damage body. decomposition can cause the separation of the limbs."

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Court TV board

Much info on that thread of yesterday's hearing/tesitmony

Oh yeah, Scotty couldn't look, and looked away and TRIED to cry!!!!HA!

[Jackie-O]

Isn't that an excellent report??? I'm still going thru it.
None of the TH's had as much info and insight.
I understand that most of last nights coverage had to be the storm watch....but Greta could have managed to jump off MG's wagon for a bit....(nope, she didn't)

[runningbear]

yeah, I tuned out by 730 pm.... Greta was going on and on and on and on on IVAN!

[Searching4Justice]

~~~thought I heard the fat lady singin ~~~~~it's all over Snottyboy say goodbye to the light of day, welcome to H*LL

[Sacajaweau]

I find it interesting that of the the things missing, her uterus was intact. I believe the cord was also present with Connor's body. God has funny ways of pointing sometimes.

And Scott did the rest of the pointing...his trip to the Bay on the web, a two day license, a new boat and the fact that NO ONE in the family knew ANYTHING about his whereabouts until AFTER he returned home despite the fact that he had made several phone calls during his "Plan of Deception".

[Sacajaweau]

Another point, Scott had a fishing license for Dec 23 & 24th which he had purchased on Dec. 20th I believe. The 23rd passed and as of that day, he planned to go golfing so WHY did he even buy the license AND NEVER MENTION IT TO ANYONE?
It sounds as if the 23rd was too busy. Wasn't that the day of her doctor's appointment?.

[Spunky]

From CTV: "Be on the lookout for a report from persefunny...first hand."

What page number does her report come on? I don't have time to wade through all the comments before her report.

[Searching4Justice]

it also shows premeditation ....he cooked his own goose

[Spunky]

"Wasn't that the day of her doctor's appointment?."

Yes it was, and I read that Scotty went with her and the doctor reported that if the baby was born now it would be viable.

Now Scotty couldn't have a live baby so time to get rid of it.

[Sacajaweau]

Wonder if they ever plugged in the word "abortion" or "fetus" in ALL of Scott's computers? I know they said they plugged in certain key words. Wonder when he FIRST bought Viagra AND how many he used?

[Annie03]

Glad you put that up! I knew the pros would end their case with all the good stuff....I speculate they will be "piling it on" for the remainder of their presentation. Geragos sweating and the judge chiding him were some real highlights of that thread. The cement is now officially unaccounted for, and the defense theory that Connor was born alive is also debunked. Boo hoo Geragos...