REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Attorneys for Scott Peterson will begin presenting their case at his double-murder trial next week.
Prosecutors rested their case yesterday. Legal analysts say they effectively portrayed Peterson as a man capable of killing his pregnant wife Laci.
The prosecution called more than 170 witnesses over 19 weeks but produced no smoking gun evidence linking Peterson to the deaths of his wife and unborn child.
Analysts expect Peterson's attorneys to call experts who will contradict scientific evidence like the age of the fetus.
More from yesterday's testimony:
Prosecution rests case in double-murder trial
After 19 weeks and 174 witnesses, it's the defense's turn
Scott and Laci Peterson appeared to have the perfect life together. But according to prosecutors, their marriage was fraught with infidelity, secrets and lies.
For 19 weeks, prosecutors have told the couple's story through the eyes of a battery of witnesses. And day after day, prosecutors have attempted to give the jury a glimpse into what they have described as the cheating, devious and pathological mind of Scott Peterson.
On Tuesday, after calling 174 witnesses to the stand and presenting volumes of evidentiary exhibits, Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorneys Rick Distaso, Dave Harris and Birgit Fladager rested their case against the 31- year-old former fertilizer salesman.
The prosecution's story line is simple: By early December 2002, Peterson had fallen in love with another woman and wanted his wife and soon-to-be-born son out of the way. So he began plotting a murder scheme that would rid him of his entanglements and open the door to a new life -- filled with sex and money.
Next Tuesday, Peterson's attorneys ......
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peterson Prosecution Finishes its Case
After 19 weeks and more than 170 witnesses, the prosecution in the Scott Peterson trial wrapped up its case Tuesday.
"This truly is fizzling out," said legal analyst Michael Cardoza. "It doesn't leave the jurors with a strong feeling towards the prosecution case."
Cardoza and other analysts said that the prosecution team failed to finish with a flourish -- there was no testimony from ex-girlfriend Amber Frey, no testimony about where the bodies could have been placed in the bay, and no testimony about the exact date Laci and Conner died. Instead the prosecution chose to leave the jury with what was found in the Mercedes Scott bought under his mother's name when he was arrested: $14,932.25 in cash, camping equipment, and clothes to last a couple of weeks. The prosecution was trying to make the point that Scott was getting ready to make a run for it. It was perhaps a good point, but not a new point.......
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Witness: Peterson Used Mom's Name To Buy Car
Laci Peterson And Unborn Son Were Murdered In 2002
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- In the weeks before he was arrested, Scott Peterson bought a car using his mother's name and lied about why his hair had turned from brown to blonde, according to testimony at his double-murder trial.
Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his 8-months pregnant wife, Laci, in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her body into the bay. Her badly decomposed remains -- and that of their unborn son -- washed up in April 2003, not far from the marina where Peterson launched his boat that Christmas Eve morning for what he said was a solo fishing trip.
Defense lawyers maintain someone else abducted and killed Laci, then framed their client after learning of his widely publicized alibi.........
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prosecution closes with arrest details
WITH DEFENSE SET TO TAKE OVER NEXT WEEK, LEGAL ANALYSTS DISCUSS STRENGTH OF CASE
Prosecutors rested their case against Scott Peterson on Tuesday by portraying him on the day of his arrest as a man in disguise and on the run -- with bleached hair and nearly $15,000 cash, survival gear and a letter from Amber Frey.
Whether they've proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt after 19 weeks and more than 170 witnesses will be up to the jury, which won't begin deliberations until at least the end of the month after the defense presents its case starting Tuesday.
But that didn't stop legal analysts outside the courthouse Tuesday from weighing in with their best guesses.
Paula Canny, a former San Mateo County pro.........
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Developments Tuesday in the Scott Peterson case
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS: Prosecutors on Tuesday questioned their final witness, Modesto Police Detective Jon Buehler, who investigated Laci Peterson's disappearance from the beginning. He testified about working with Scott Peterson's mistress Amber Frey, searching the Petersons' home and examining what investigators found in Peterson's car the day he was arrested in April 2003. Prosecutors presented 174 witnesses during the first 19 weeks of the trial.
---
WHAT'S NEXT: Defense attorneys will call their first witness in the case when court resumes next Tuesday. It's unclear who will be called as the list is sealed and attorneys are bound by a gag order.......
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prosecution's case is expected to close soon
1:45 p.m.: REDWOOD CITY - Three days before telling him to buzz off in February 2003, Amber Frey apparently sent Scott Peterson a note reading in part, “This has been so hard. I can only hope that this all comes to an end soon,” according to evidence revealed this morning.
The prosecution’s case in his double-murder trial, in its 19th week of testimony, is expected to close soon - perhaps today, the judge said.
Prosecutors’ last witness, Modesto police Detective Jon Buehler, began testifying this morning; defense attorney Mark Geragos got in about 10 minutes of cross-examination before the lunch break.
Buehler served as the police handler for Frey, Peterson’s girlfriend right before his pregnant wife disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Buehler said Frey would report to him after secretly taping phone conversations with Peterson from Dec. 30, 2002, to Feb. 19, 2003.
Frey’s Los Angeles attorney, Gloria Allred, scribbled notes from her seat in the audience this morning. Frey testified in August, when recordings were played for jurors.
The romance supports a motive for murder, authorities say. Defense attorneys don’t dispute the infidelity, but say it doesn’t prove their client killed Laci Peterson and the couple’s unborn son, Conner........
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tidal expert links fetus to fishing route
Peterson bought car using his mother's name, witness says
REDWOOD CITY — Scott Peterson's unborn son was likely submerged in San Francisco Bay along a route corresponding with Peterson's fishing alibi the day his pregnant wife disappeared, a tidal expert testified Monday.
But the expert, Ralph Cheng of the U.S. Geological Survey, acknowledged that his calculations were inconsistent with Laci Peterson's body washing ashore where it did.
That testimony came before two of Scott Peterson's close friends took the stand, one testifying that Peterson explained his lighter hair and goatee shortly before his arrest on swimming at another friend's pool.
That friend said he had never seen Peterson use the pool, but acknowledged Peterson had once stayed in his town house while he wasn't there.........
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMBER 'SLAY PLOT'
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Wife-slay suspect Scott Peterson may have been planning to abduct and kill former lover Amber Frey, too, her lawyer charged yesterday.
Frey's lawyer, Gloria Allred, cited yesterday's testimony from Modesto Detective Jon Buehler in which the cop revealed that when Peterson was arrested, he had in his car a map to Frey's work place, as well as a shovel, rope and duct tape.
"That does concern me, and all I could say is I'm glad [Peterson] was arrested when he was," Allred said outside court.
"I don't know what was in Scott's mind. I can ........
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prosecution Rests; Did It Prove Peterson Killed His Wife?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I see the Peterson clan writing a slew of books or a few made for TV deals to foot the bill for a 2nd trial. Maybe solicitation on the Scottisinnocent web site???
