DEFENSE FLOATS 'CULT' THEORY IN LACI MURDER

New York Post ^ | 5/17/03 | MARSHA KRANES

[kattracks]

May 17, 2003 -- Police divers returned to San Francisco Bay to search for clues in the Laci Peterson murder case yesterday as lawyers for her husband - and accused killer - revealed that they're looking into the possibility that she and her unborn son were victims of a satanic cult.

[Trust but Verify]

Fieger. He's fascinating to me in the same way that people slow down to look at the scene of a accident. I know he's disgusting , but I watch him anyway. Go figure. It is funny how he's not buying anything trotted out by the defense team. Even Fieger won't risk his reputation trying to make excuses for a murderer.

[Billy_bob_bob]

"IMHO if a lawyer uses lies to get his client off he ought to be disbarred."

If a law such as that existed and were to be enforced, the number of lawyers would quickly drop by %90. Not a bad idea!

[Joe 6-pack]

Feiger's defense of Kevorkian was indeed, fascinating in a train wreck sort of way.

The whole cult smoke screen here will be about as effective as it was when used by Jefferey McDonald of Fatal Vision fame.

[EllaMinnow]

I believe it was the judge who sealed the autopsy report.

[PLMerite]

"If a satanic cult doesn't do anything illegal or doesn't do anything to get caught, why would you hear about them?"

The implication was that they *are* doing illegal (child abuse, sacrifices, etc.). The whole fantasy behind the Satanic Ritual Abuse hysteria was that there was this huge network of Satanists coordinating things. But to my knowledge, no one has ever come up with any credible evidence.

[MattAMiller]

Geragos is shooting himself in the foot here. You think he'd know better. Nobody is going to buy this.

[MattAMiller]

I was told by a friend who's a city attorney that the worst thing you can do in a town like this is to bring in a "New York Lawyer" to defend you--apparently the local judges see it as a 'city lawyer trying to teach the hayseeds a thing or two'.

I dunno. Almost all of California is pretty suburban in nature. Most towns see themselves as part of a larger metro area no matter how ridiculously far away they are. So you don't get the as much of the Country Mouse/City Mouse divide you get elsewhere.

I'm thinking that this is what Geragos doesn't understand. He may be thinking that Modesto is like some backwater Arkansas town full of superstitious types he can whip into a frenzy over Satanic cults.

[magdalene]

Not to mention, I don't think Modestans will appreciate Geragos' portraying their town on the national news as a haven of Satanists.

[Publicus]

With the exception of information related to our national security, there is no benefit in concealing information pertaining to legal/judicial matters since the viability of our legal system depends on transparency as a public venue.

[Publicus]

I didn't know Scott Peterson was a member of a satanic cult.

[EllaMinnow]

Spectre thought I was gloating about the guilty verdict in the Westerfield case, and she took it personally.
It wasn't meant as a personal attack on anyone - except maybe Martin Sheen or Janeane Garafolo, and I doubt they hang out on FR.

[UCANSEE2]

Yep. Taint the jury pool and sway public opinion to the favor of his client. I don't think it's gonna work.

Why not? It worked for the Prosecution in the Westerfield case.

[UCANSEE2]

FUNNY. No one finds any wrongdoing on this lawyer's part, defending Roger Clinton, Susan McDougal, etc.

Even though we KNOW that the tactics are those of a lawyer defending a client HE KNOWS is GUILTY.

BUT, Everyone in the country wanted to have FELDMAN put in jail for attempting to defend his client, David Westerfield, because they CLAIMED Feldman knew Westerfield was guilty. O'Reilly even (supposedly) filed a lawsuit against Feldman and had it rejected.

CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN THIS DIFFERENCE ??????????

[UCANSEE2]

Usually information is sealed to prevent 'contamination' of the jury during the trial. At least this is the excuse used.
In many cases, it is to hide information that would damage those not on trial. Sometimes it is to protect the innocent, most times it is to protect the guilty. It can be (and has been ) used to influence jury decision during trial.

[UCANSEE2]

It is used for personal attacks by those used to making personal attacks.

[EllaMinnow]

But it didn't work for Feldy, did it?

[Poohbah]

McMartin was not B.S. The media bought the B.S. line because it was easy to sell. There is much the D.A. kept secret.

Because it was even more unbelievable than what DID get reported--secret tunnels, cross-country airplane trips, animal sacrifices in the preschool.

However, there was ZERO forensic evidence of any such thing. No tunnels found. No blood traces (the forensic sciences people can find microscopic traces of blood no matter HOW much the area gets scrubbed.)

The kids were HEAVILY coached by the "counselors" and "therapists."

[UCANSEE2]

If it worked for the prosecution, it is an obvious fact that the defense in the same case would lose. Are you just acting dumb, or what?