Posted on 05/08/2003 5:39:31 AM PDT by runningbear
Laci Peterson's kin back fetal protection
Excerpted:
Laci Peterson's kin back fetal protection
By Amy Fagan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Legislation that would make it a crime to kill or injure a fetus while committing certain federal offenses against the mother received a strong endorsement yesterday from the family of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner.
"This bill is very close to our hearts," read a letter signed by the slain woman's parents and siblings. "We have not only lost our future with our daughter and sister, but with our grandson and nephew as well."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, yesterday said he plans to bring the bill straight to the Senate floor instead of putting it through his committee, where it could get "bogged down."
"Knowing that perpetrators who murder pregnant women will pay the price not only for the loss of the mother, but the baby as well, will help bring justice for these victims and hopefully act as a deterrent to those considering such heinous acts," read the letter by Mrs. Peterson's family, which has asked that the proposal be named "Laci and Conner's Law."
Prosecutors in California have charged Scott Peterson, 30, with separate counts of murder in the deaths of Mrs. Peterson, 27, and Conner, whose decomposing bodies were found in Richmond, Calif., April 13 and April 14 on rocks above the high-tide marks of San Francisco Bay.
Under California law, intentionally killing a fetus is murder, with an exception for surgical abortions. About half the states have similar laws, but there is no equivalent in federal law, which recognizes a crime only against the pregnant woman, not her unborn child.
Sen. Mike DeWine, Ohio Republican, is the Senate sponsor of the bill designed to close that gap. Rep. Melissa A. Hart, Pennsylvania Republican, is sponsoring the companion bill in the House.
"This gap in the law leads to glaring injustices because current law only recognizes one victim when a pregnant woman is attacked or murdered," Mr. DeWine said. "Clearly there are two victims in these crimes. ... We must close this loophole."
The House has passed the bill twice, and probably will again this year. The Senate has never considered the measure, but Mr. Hatch and other supporters say they are confident the Senate will pass it.
The legislation would make it a separate crime to hurt a fetus at any stage of pregnancy during the commission of federal crimes of violence, crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or crimes committed on federal land. The proposal would exclude legal abortion.
Under the proposal, the perpetrator would not have to know that the woman was pregnant when he acted with criminal intent.
Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, yesterday criticized the bill and the lawmakers who are pushing for it in light of the Peterson case.
P.M. Update: ’Laci and Conner’ bill would make it a federal crime to killl a fetus
Excerpted:
P.M. Update: ’Laci and Conner’ bill would make it a federal crime to killl a fetus
By Michael Doyle
Bee Washington Bureau
(Published Wednesday, May 7, 2003, 5:04 PM)
WASHINGTON - Laci Peterson’s family has now entered the political arena, lending their names to legislation that would make killing a fetus a distinct federal crime. Peterson’s mother, father, stepfather and siblings consider the bill introduced in the House Wednesday, and re-introduced in the Senate, a fitting tribute to a beloved woman who was eight months pregnant when murdered.
“As the family of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, this bill is very close to our hearts,” the Peterson family stated in a letter made public on Capitol Hill. “We have not only lost our future with our daughter and sister, but with our grandson and nephew as well.”
Support from the Peterson family also represents a considerable public relations coup for the conservative lawmakers who’ve been pushing the so-called Unborn Victims of Violence Act for several years.
“This case really illustrates the need for this law,” said Amanda Flaig, spokeswoman for Republican Sen. Michael DeWine of Ohio. “It puts a human face on the fact that there were two people killed.”
The legislation would empower the federal government to charge people with killing a fetus, if the fetus dies in the commission of another federal crime. California and 25 other states already have similar statutes, and it’s under this existing state law that Laci’s husband Scott Peterson is being charged with two counts of murder in her and Conner’s deaths.
The federal legislation goes further than California’s law, though; California’s law protects a fetus that has passed the “embryonic stage,” pegged at seven or eight weeks, while the more ambitious federal legislation would protect a fetus “at any stage of development.”
The House passed similar legislation in 1999 and 2001 by relatively comfortable margins, but it did not win Senate approval. Though the legislation specifically exempts abortion, opponents dismiss it as a backdoor strategy to ultimately undermine abortion rights.
“It is a sad statement that anti-choice leaders are willing to use a family’s tragedy to continue their campaign to steadily take away a women’s right to choose,” declared Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro Choice America. “The only thing new about this bill is the length to which anti-choice lawmakers and advocates are willing to go to exploit a family’s pain in order to move their own political agenda.”
Merced Democrat Dennis Cardoza, describing himself as “a hawk on people who commit crimes,” said in an interview Wednesday that he would support the legislation so long as it does not infringe on a woman’s right to choose. He said that determination can only be made with a careful review of the legislative language.
Others have been rendered temporarily gun-shy by the notoriety of the Peterson case. Spokeswomen for the National Organization for Women, for instance, say they won’t discuss the issue out of “respect for the Peterson family” even though they have traditionally opposed the legislation.
A Fox News poll from late April spotlighted by the National Right to Life Committee on Wednesday found that 84 percent of the 900 registered voters surveyed thought Scott Peterson could properly be charged with double homicide. About the same time as the poll was released, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was reiterating President Bush’s support for the measure.
“The President does believe that when an unborn child is injured or killed during the commission of a crime of violence, the law should recognize what most people immediately recognize, and that is that such a crime has two victims,” Fleischer said.
Capitalizing on the revived attention, senators on Wednesday joined their House counterparts at a Capitol Hill news conference in which senators “reintroduced” their own version of the bill that had been put in the hopper three months ago. Nineteen senators, including the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, now support the measure.
Both sides want warrants in Peterson case kept secret
Excerpted:
Both sides want warrants in Peterson case kept secret
By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER
Published: May 7, 2003, 07:22:11 AM PDT
Investigators obtained a search warrant after Scott Peterson's arrest, but it may not be known for some time where they searched or what they found.
On Tuesday, prosecutors and defense attorneys both asked Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami to seal the warrant.
Judges have ordered eight other search warrants sealed in the murder case against Peterson.
Attorneys for both sides also want the judge to seal the document outlining investigators' justification for arresting the 30-year-old
Modestan on April 18 in La Jolla, north of San Diego. The arrest warrant was issued the previous day. The Modesto Police Department has possession of the affidavit, prosecutors said.
Girolami will hold a hearing Friday on the latest request, then is expected to announce whether he will seal all the documents pending a May 27 hearing. That hearing likely will take place during a pretrial conference slated for the same day.
Attorney Kirk McAllister appeared Tuesday for the defense. Lead defense attorney Mark Geragos was not in court.
Peterson, whom Girolami has allowed to appear in court wearing civilian clothes, was clad in a red jail jumpsuit, but without handcuffs or ankle chains. Girolami did not allow cameras in the courtroom.
At the request of the defense and prosecution, Girolami ordered that copies of all the search warrants be given to both teams.
Prosecutors had not gotten a copy of the warrants from police before a judge ordered the warrants held at the court, Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold said.
The judge also ordered that the copies could not be released to anyone else and that the warrants would be resealed.
Court records show that the warrants sealed in the case dealt with the Peterson home, a warehouse that Peterson used for his business, a storage unit, phone records, multiple vehicles and an envelope found in one of those vehicles.
Another warrant was for a DNA sample from Scott Peterson.
The 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno on Monday overturned Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger M. Beauchesne's ruling that those warrants should be unsealed when an arrest was made.
After The Bee sought in March to have the warrants opened, Beauchesne ordered them sealed because the documents could reveal "investigation techniques, clues and focus on future avenues of inquiry" as well as "alert any potential suspect."
In the unanimous ruling, the three-judge panel noted that the arrest of a suspect does not constitute "an accurate identification of a perpetrator."
Peterson Trial, Remains Search Continue
Excerpted:
Posted: May 7, 2003 at 6:33 p.m.
MODESTO (KRON) -- Everyone is interested in the search warrants and arrest warrant affadavit in the Laci Peterson case, because they may indicate what evidence police have, or were looking for, to link Scott Peterson to the killing of Laci Peterson. Meanwhile the search for more body parts may be about to resume in San Francisco Bay.
Did investigators search Scott Peterson's parents home in San Diego six days after he was arrested? That may not be known any time soon, if attorneys from both sides have their way.
Yesterday, in Modesto, prosecutors and defenders asked judge Al Girolami to seal an April 24th search warrant and an affadavit in support of the April 17th arrest warrant for Scott Peterson. Girolami will hear arguments Friday. Eight other documents are already under seal.
Over the past several months, investigators returned time and again to search the waters of San Francisco Bay for Laci Peterson. Today, investigators were talking with sonar expert Gene Ralston about a new search off Point Richmond for more of Laci Peterson's remains.
Reportedly, a sonar image showed what some believe was Laci's body on the bottom of a ship channel near the Chevron docks on March 12th. But when they went back later to recover it, it was gone, perhaps churned up by a passing ship. A month later the broken, headless body of Peterson and that of her unborn son washed up seprately on a Richmond shoreline. But sonar man Ralston told KRON 4 News, "The image we saw was one piece."
Meanwhile, in Modesto, funds are being raised to benefit Laci's family members. A spokeswoman said that since Laci was reported missing, they've been unable to work and have encountered many extra expenses.
To make a donation to Laci Peterson's family, make your check payable to the Laci Peterson Fund and send it to:
Laci Peterson Fund
c/o AG Edwards Co.
1549 McHenry Ave.
Modesto, CA 95350
For more information, call the Modesto office of AG Edwards at (209) 529-0211.
Laci Peterson's body and that of unborn son Conner remain in the custody of the Contra Costa County Coroner who has been attempting to determine a cause of death.
Unborn baby has key role in Peterson case
Excerpted:
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2003
Unborn baby has key role in Peterson case
By Scott Herhold
Mercury News
MODESTO - The case has always been about the baby. Nailed to a tree outside Laci Peterson's green-shingled home is a collage showing Laci holding a blurry infant, being welcomed into heaven via PhotoShop. ``Welcome Home, Laci and Conner,'' says the inscription.
Laci's unborn child was 7 1/2-months along, old enough to survive with help from intensive care. But in the popular retelling, in the tears that came at the memorial service last Sunday, he's achieved a personality, almost a sainthood. Prosecutors and cops use the first name. You won't hear a mumble about the fetus. We even know the nautical decor of the nursery.
If Scott Peterson were charged only with killing his wife, he would almost certainly not be facing the death penalty. Jurors understand that spouses can entertain murderous rage toward one another.
No, the case is about the unborn baby. As Assistant San Jose Police Chief Tom Wheatley explains, ``Laci Peterson was pregnant, way pregnant.''
And to fathom why the Peterson case has such resonance in America, you need to understand the groups that have seized on this case and made it their own.
Domestic abuse
Some of these groups see the crime through the prism -- or prison -- of domestic abuse: At www.misfit tings.com, where a woman named Loretta holds sway, there's been much talk about why Laci got pregnant at all. (One popular theory is that the baby was a last-ditch attempt to curb Scott's errant ways.)
Other bloggers have a religious bent, noting that Laci disappeared on Christmas Eve and the two bodies were recovered just before Easter. To some, this is evidence of a double Resurrection. ``I know that God has two more beautiful angels with him today,'' wrote one.
The prosecution and media have more workaday interests. Any lawyer bringing a capital case wants to personalize the victims, particularly given the huge political pressure to get a death-penalty conviction. And the media wants above all to tell a compelling story. Therefore, it's Conner, not unborn baby Peterson.
Anti-abortion
But of all the groups, the most important and influential is the anti-abortion movement.
Just as other famous cases have resulted in laws -- Megan's Law, the Polly Klaas case -- you can bet the deaths of Laci and her unborn child will benefit those who want ``fetal protection'' laws in all states. Citing the Peterson case, the anti-abortion people have already been sending out press releases and information to state legislators.
In California, the death of a fetus used to bring no extra penalty. Then, in 1969, an angry man named Robert Keeler kneed his 8-month-pregnant ex-wife in the stomach on a mountain road near Stockton, angry that she had conceived by another man. The child, a girl, was stillborn with a fractured skull.
Another Missing mother of five case from Sacramento:
Police Searching For Missing Mother Of Five
Woman Last Seen Friday
Latrenda Mangram, 34
VIDEO CLIP:
Police Searching For Missing Mother Of Five
Woman Last Seen Friday
POSTED: 4:24 p.m. PDT May 7, 2003
UPDATED: 5:36 p.m. PDT May 7, 2003
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A Sacramento woman known for her constant cell phone contact with friends and family has not been heard from for five days, and now authorities and volunteers are working to find her.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
“As the family of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, this bill is very close to our hearts,” the Peterson family stated in a letter made public on Capitol Hill. “We have not only lost our future with our daughter and sister, but with our grandson and nephew as well.”
Support from the Peterson family also represents a considerable public relations coup for the conservative lawmakers who’ve been pushing the so-called Unborn Victims of Violence Act for several years.
It was the ROCHA FAMILY----NOT----the Peterson family.....get your facts straight, Mr. Doyle!!!.....The Peterson family probably agrees with the Connecticut judge that Conner was merely a "body part"....grrrr
Appetite for Laci's Story Endures
Snip its:
"MODESTO — Most of the media gypsies had moved on Tuesday in search of the next story of the moment. On 11th Street adjacent to the courthouse — which the day before was blocked by thickets of sound trucks, coils of electrical cable and rows of stand-up reporters made up like porcelain dolls — only Ted Rowlands of KTVU-TV Channel 2 in the Bay Area was left behind."
"There was Rowlands at his post, microphone in hand, ready to file his next report for an audience nationwide.
"I've gotten more response to this story than any other," said Rowlands, a friendly, youthful-looking man whose feeds have been picked up by CNN. "People are contacting me from Texas and all over to leave tips and explain their theories" about the murder.
And with the Peterson case expected to drag on for two years, it's likely the hubbub will not subside any time soon. That leaves people in this onetime cow town, now numbering some 200,000, with a few questions: Why Laci? And why here?"
"The ceaseless focus on Laci has been questioned outside Modesto as well.
Experts note that Laci Peterson is hardly the only woman suspected of being killed by her lover. Some 1,247 women were killed in the U.S. by intimate partners in 2000. Even the victim's pregnancy does not make her unusual. Homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women.
"These cases happen all over, all the time," said Juley Fulcher, public policy director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Some say the answer is that Laci has become a cultural symbol — a stand-in for every woman threatened by a man or trapped in a bad marriage. Abuse can occur, the story seems to confirm, even in neighborhoods of backyard pools and barbecues.
to read more...go to the LA Times if the link screws up...;o)Published: May 7, 2003
Street Racers Face Murder Convictions
Two Teens Died, One Injured From Street Racing Accident
Illegal street racers faces murder charges
Video clip
RULING ON PETITION TO UNSEAL WARRANTS
Dated: 4/10/2003
Laci Peterson
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