Posted on 05/29/2003 5:34:23 AM PDT by runningbear
Laci Peterson family seeks items from home
Laci Peterson family seeks items from home
Relatives hire lawyers to retrieve wedding dress, baby crib, other personal belongings.
By John Coté
The Modesto Bee
(Published Thursday, May 29, 2003, 4:15 AM)
MODESTO -- Laci Peterson's family has hired attorneys in an attempt to retrieve her wedding dress, a baby crib and other personal items from her Modesto home, according to a statement released Wednesday.
In the murder case against her husband, court documents made available Wednesday assert the defense team's contention that investigators violated the law by monitoring privileged communications and that Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso "misled" defense attorneys and the judge about it. Scott Peterson, 30, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in the deaths of his 27-year-old wife and their unborn son, Conner.
Scott Peterson's parents and his attorney have prevented his wife's family from entering the couple's Covena Avenue home and retrieving personal items, according to the statement from attorneys Adam J. Stewart and Albert G. Clark.
The statement came with a 22-point list of items that family members want, including Laci's diplomas and journals, and a watering can that says "Laci's Garden." But family members said that being inside the home that Laci decorated and lived in was more important than retrieving personal items.
According to the statement, lead defense attorney Mark Geragos wrote a letter in response to the request for access. The Laci Peterson family attorneys, in their statement, say that Geragos said it would be "unthinkable to allow anything to be moved or disposed of" until his team had completed its investigation.
Meanwhile, the newly available court documents show that defense attorneys have requested a closed hearing to question prosecutors about wiretaps used to intercept calls between Scott Peterson and his defense team.
The defense drafted the documents before Superior Court Judge Al Girolami on Tuesday ordered prosecutors to turn over "all calls intercepted involving defense counsel or the defense investigator." Also, the defense has asked for a transcript of a Jan. 17 wiretap discussion among Judge Wray Ladine, prosecutors and investigators, the documents reveal.
Defense attorneys have a Friday deadline to file a motion on the wiretap issue.
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Laci Peterson's Family Hires Lawyers to Collect Mementos
Laci Peterson's Family Hires Lawyers to Collect Mementos
MODESTO — A Modesto law firm says it has been hired to help Laci Peterson's family visit their daughter's house and collect her wedding dress, jewelry and other mementos.
Lawyers Adam Stewart and Albert Clark say they were hired after Scott Peterson's family prevented his in-laws from entering the house the couple shared before Laci Peterson vanished just before Christmas.
Scott Peterson has pleaded innocent to murdering his wife and unborn son. The remains of the 27-year-old pregnant substitute teacher and the infant they planned to name Conner were found on the shore of San Francisco Bay last month.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos says he has worked out an agreement to let Laci Peterson's family visit the house and remove her journals, a food processor and a watering can that said "Laci's Garden."
Copyright © 2003 KABC-TV and the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Last Updated: May 28, 2003
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DEFENSE LAWYER TO GET PETERSON PHONE LOGS
DEFENSE LAWYER TO GET PETERSON PHONE LOGS
(05-27-2003) - The judge overseeing the murder case of Scott Peterson ordered Tuesday that police records of telephone calls made between Peterson and his lawyer and investigator be turned over to his new defense attorney.
Prosecutors had not contested the release of the conversations, which they said they had not heard or seen and had ordered sealed when they realized police investigators had been listening to or recording calls.
At least two of the 69 calls between Peterson and Modesto attorney Kirk McAllister were included in the widespread monitoring that also taped Peterson's calls with reporters. Police also listened in on a call between Peterson and a private investigator.
Peterson's new attorney, Mark Geragos, said he expected to receive the police records Tuesday afternoon.
"Once we see exactly what was taped, we'll file the appropriate motions," the Los Angeles attorney said.
Peterson, 30, is accused of killing his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and unborn son, Conner, last Dec. 23 or 24. Stanislaus County prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.
Peterson, arrested April 18, maintains his innocence, saying he last saw his wife when he left for a Christmas Eve fishing trip.
Stanislaus County prosecutors this month notified McAllister, private investigator Gary Ermoian and 64 other people that their conversations were intercepted from Jan. 10 to Feb. 4 under a court-ordered wiretap to gather evidence in the Peterson investigation.
Police are not supposed to listen to talks between attorneys and their clients, which are considered privileged conversations. McAllister said earlier this year he was skeptical of claims that police recording equipment was turned off when it became clear that Peterson was talking with his lawyer.
But John Goold, a chief deputy district attorney for Stanislaus County, told reporters Tuesday that prosecutors have never seen or heard anything from the Peterson-McAllister calls monitored by police.
"Our requirement is to not listen in on privileged phone calls," Goold said.
Also Tuesday, Judge Al Girolami said he was also considering a gag order on lawyers in the case to prevent leaks fueling news stories, and indicated he would wait until July to decide whether to unseal court records reporters are seeking.
Girolami said he would rule by the end of the week whether to unseal police reports and arrest warrants, as well as autopsy results of Laci Peterson and her unborn son.
But the Modesto judge told Charity Kenyon, a Sacramento lawyer representing The Modesto Bee and four other California newspapers, that he would most likely order that the documents remain impounded until a July 15 preliminary hearing, held to determine whether Peterson should go to trial.
Girolami wondered aloud, given the great amount of publicity in the case, whether 12 fair jurors could be found anywhere in California if the information was unsealed.
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Another Peterson trial
Nurse becomes seventh member of Peterson jury
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(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
Is this woman heavily medicated or just naturally whacked?
REmember (before the bodies were found) when Scott was taking boxes of stuff to the trash? Wonder if that was Laci's stuff. Also, on Greta last night, Greta kept asking Jackie if she would let Sharon in the house. Did Jackie EVER say "yes"? If so, I didn't hear it.
Naturally whacked ...
That got a laugh. ;)
I'll pose nude for $500,000. I don't think anybody want to see the results tho.
Laci's family seeking belongings
Snip it
Scott Peterson's parents and his attorney have prevented his wife's family from entering the couple's Covena Avenue home and retrieving personal items, according to the statement from attorneys Adam J. Stewart and Albert G. Clark.
"The statement that you have is the absolute truth," said Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother. "I'm not going to comment beyond that."
The statement came with a 22-point list of items that family members want, including Laci's diplomas and journals, and a watering can that says "Laci's Garden."
But family members said that being inside the home that Laci decorated and lived in was more important than retrieving personal items.
Her family members need to "sit in Conner's room in the rocking chair Laci had purchased to rock him in, and just to have the opportunity to feel her presence," the statement reads.
According to the statement, lead defense attorney Mark Geragos wrote a letter in response to the request for access. The Laci Peterson family attorneys, in their statement, say that Geragos said it would be "unthinkable to allow anything to be moved or disposed of" until his team had completed its investigation.
Jackie Peterson, Scott's mother, confirmed that members of her family had been in the house. She said nothing had been disturbed.
"We keep it clean," she said from her San Diego County home. "It was sitting there for four months getting overrun, and people were taking things from the grounds."
Missing are two glass hurricane lanterns, loose bricks from a pile near the patio, and a patio chess and checkers board that had marble frog figurines for the playing pieces, she said.
Geragos said in an interview: "It's an awful situation, and we're going to work our way through it with as much dignity as we can. There are two families here who have lost a grandson."
Geragos said he had been working with the Stanislaus County district attorney's office and police investigators to log evidence and anticipated reaching an "ami-cable solution" about the personal items within 10 days.
Geragos also said that he and prosecutors had agreed on an "accelerated process" to release Laci and Conner's remains to her family.
The bodies were found last month about a mile apart along the eastern shoreline of San Francisco Bay. A judge has ordered them held in the Contra Costa County coroner's office until further notice.
According to the statement from the Laci Peterson family attorneys, Jackie Peterson informed Rocha on Sunday that the locks and the alarm code on the house had been changed.
The statement further says that Rocha previously had a key to the house, and requested a new alarm code and a key from Peterson on Sunday, but had yet to receive a response.
Peterson said she previously had left phone messages for Rocha that went unreturned. "She has a lot going on, I can imagine," Peterson said, lamenting that attorneys were involved.
"Since they initiated going through a lawyer, we were advised to go through a lawyer," Peterson said. "We hadn't done that before. We had always talked."
The Laci Peterson family attorneys, in their statement, say Rocha had been watering the lawn and backyard potted plants for several weeks at the Covena Avenue home.
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Scaughty divorcing from the Rocha's! That is what I call the latest bunch of crap from the Petersons!
sw
Who would of thought this would happen on a crime victim Laci Peterson, family
2 charged in ID theft ring
By GARTH STAPLEY
and BLAIR CRADDOCK
Published: May 29, 2003, 06:22:05 AM PDT
People pretending to be members of Laci Peterson's family ran up hotel bills and paid with stolen credit cards, authorities reported Wednesday.
The scheme was one part of an identity theft ring that operated around Northern California and claimed at least 12 victims, authorities said.
Two Modestans have been charged, said Carol Shipley, assistant district attorney for Stanislaus County. "We believe there are others still involved in the ring," she added.
Investigators said they do not think that ring members actually stole credit cards from any of Peterson's relatives.
Instead, the ring members claimed to be family while charging hotel rooms, along with telephone calls, meals and movies, from Feb. 27 through March 6. That was shortly after hundreds of volunteers joined Laci Peterson's family for the last in a series of Saturday searches.
The thieves were likely playing on sympathy, an investigator said, at a time when Peterson, 27 and pregnant, was still missing.
"They probably believed that in dropping those names, they would get less scrutiny" when paying with stolen credit cards, said Marc Burrell, an investigator with the district attorney's office.
He said hotel personnel might not have done everything possible to verify the accounts and the identities of the cardholders. For example, he said, hotels could have asked for identification to see if it matched the account information.
Shipley said she could not immediately provide the names of the hotels that incurred fraudulent charges in the Peterson impersonation scam.
The identity theft ring dealt in more than credit cards, Shipley said.
In victimizing a charity, she said, the ring falsely registered two cars -- a 1986 Nissan Sentra and a 1988 Lincoln Mark VII -- in the charity's name. Shipley said she could not immediately provide the charity's name.
The ring also allegedly used stolen credit card information to buy auto parts and to rent trucks.
The investigation led to a search warrant and three arrests May 2 at a Modesto home, though authorities said one of the arrests was unrelated to the ID theft ring.
Shipley identified Kimberly Sue Brown, 33, and Samuel Torres, 40, as the two suspects arrested in the identity theft case. She said they face charges that include conspiracy and unauthorized credit card use. Both are free on bail.
While serving the search warrant, investigators seized "stacks of fraudulent and stolen ID cards, credit cards and DMV documents," as well as computers, according to a press release from the district attorney's office.
Investigators also reported finding credit card authorization forms, which appeared to have been used to rent hotel rooms, and at least one form carried the wording "family of Laci Peterson."
Shipley said investigators found computer printouts, taken from hotels, that listed guests' names and credit card numbers.
Investigators had not determined whether someone working at one or more hotels was involved in the ring or whether the records were taken from trash, she said.
The district attorney's office is asking to hear from potential victims or anyone with information about the case. Calls should be directed to investigators Marc Burrell or Ken Reid, 558-4495.
Speaking of that, Geragos stated the other day, that he want people to call in the "TIP LINE"! Wonder which one? The MPD OFFICIAL POLICE TIP LINE, OR jackie peterson's tip line?
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