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.

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.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(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.

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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ABC News learned today that tape was found around the neck of Laci Peterson's baby Conner, as well as around Laci's torso. NBC reports that this was plastic tape, wrapped 1 1/2 times around Conner's neck like a noose, and that a section of his chest was cut out. This seems to support the prosecution claim that the crime was actually a double murder, but it also supports the defense claim that Scott Peterson was not involved and this could have been the work of a satanic cult.

Neither of these reports has been officially confirmed, or is likely to be (press release from Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton).

This caps a week in which both the prosecution and the defense acknowledged that Scott had had "relationships" with at least two other women, and the defense claimed to have found a woman who will testify that she knows who abducted and killed Laci: The defense is moving her to "a safe location", and she's reportedly "days away" from proving Scott's innocence.

There was a mixed set of conclusions from the revelation that there was another pregnant woman in the neighborhood who resembled Laci and whose dog resembled hers as well. She, therefore, could have been the woman two witnesses saw walking her dog on December 24, thereby eliminating any real evidence that Laci was still alive that day. Except... She says she's "99.9% sure" she wasn't walking her dog that morning. And she gave birth in October.

I saw a key question here: "How likely is it that a woman might still appear to be pregnant two months after childbirth?" The fact that she might still be wearing maternity or loose clothing for comfort would certainly add to that possibility. I went to our resident expert, Robin Elise Weiss of pregnancy.about.com, who told me "It is absolutely possible to still look fairly pregnant, plus we don't know how pregnant Laci looked standing/walking. If the other woman was slightly heavier it even more supports the theory that she was the one seen rather than Laci, or at least as likely."

Scott's phone calls to girlfriend Amber Frey after Laci's disappearance offered more conflicting information: Her phone was tapped (there seem to be conflicting reports about whether she was actively working with prosecutors to coax a confession out of Scott), and he was heard to say he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. After Scott's arrest, Frey was described as "an enthusiastic prosecution witness" and her high-profile attorney, Gloria Allred, referred to her as another one of Scott's victims, but there doesn't seem to be anything in the phone conversations that would implicate Scott (he told her he wasn't guilty, but would soon be able to tell her who was).

True, there could be vital part of the phone logs that haven't been revealed to the public -- but investigators haven't been very successful at keeping information concealed lately.

Another thing to think about: One popular motive for Scott killing Laci was his unwillingness to accept the responsibilities of fatherhood. Amber Frey is a single mother.

Finally, and least importantly, Ron Frey -- the father of the girlfriend of the husband of the victim -- complained that he's become so well known that he has to "go incognito to avoid attention." I'm sure Mr. Frey started out with the best of intentions, to be a spokesman for his daughter and try to shield her from the media, but I quickly saw a man a man who was getting far too caught up in his own 15 minutes of fame. This is a story that carries with it a great number of tragedies: Ron Frey's public image isn't one of them.

Preliminary hearing: July 16

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the evening of December 24, 2002, Scott Peterson told Modesto, California police that his 27-year-old wife -- eight months pregnant -- was missing. He'd left her around 9:30 that morning to go on a fishing trip to Berkeley Marina (part of San Francisco Bay), 85 miles away. She was about to walk to a nearby park to walk their dog. He tried phoning Laci when he finished, but got no answer. When he got home, Laci was gone, and the dog was in their backyard, its leash still attached.

At first, all police investigation of Scott's story was for the purpose of "eliminating him as a suspect". By mid-January, partly because police learned of Scott's extramarital affair, he became a suspect in Laci's disappearance.

We analyzed the evidence for and against Scott's guilt in a January 18, 2003 editorial, here.

The first week in March, the Modesto PD announced that they were no longer investigating Laci's disappearance as a missing-persons case, but rather as a murder. Since then, there's been strong speculation that whoever stands trial for Laci's murder will be charged with the murder of Conner -- the Petersons' unborn child -- as well. The significance here is that "multiple murder" is one of the special circumstances under California law that allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

(The key defense issue in the penalty phase of David Westerfield's trial for the murder of Danielle van Dam was whether he'd actually kidnapped her before killing her: If he'd killed her in her room, then the "kidnapping" special circumstance would not have applied and Westerfield wouldn't have been sentenced to death).

On April 13, the body of a full-term male fetus -- with its umbilical cord still attached --was found along the shoreline Point Isabel Regional Park, in Richmond, California: about 80 miles from the Petersons' Modesto home, but only a few miles from where Scott claimed to have been fishing on December 24. During an April 18 press conference, California Attorney General Bill Lockyear announced that the bodies were indeed those of Laci and Conner: Laci was identified by comparing bone samples with DNA samples drawn from her family, while Conner was identified by comparing his DNA to Scott's.

This also, of course, silences speculation that Conner might not have been Scott's baby (which was suggested by some as a possible motive for her murder.

Earlier on April 18, Scott was arrested in San Diego, where he's been spending much of his time over the past few weeks. At the time of the arrest, he had $10,000 in cash and his brother's identification in his possession, and his arrest was hastened by the fear that he might have been planning to flee to Mexico. Mexico will not extradite a suspect who faces the death penalty in the United States. The Stanislaus County District Attorney announced tonight that Scott will be charged with capital murder of both Laci and Conner, making him eligible for the death penalty.

Scott pleaded not guilty on April 21, to counts of capital murder. The prosecutor listed the Peterson home as the scene of Laci's murder, and added that "during the commission of the murder of Laci Denise Peterson, the defendant with knowledge that [she] was pregnant did inflict injury on [her] resulting in the termination of her pregnancy." He could face the death penalty if convicted.

The cause of death remains unknown.

Regarding the fact that Laci and Conner were found separately, though she was only in her eighth month of pregnancy (not "eight months pregnant" as generally reported) when she disappeared: Doctors describe a phenomenon known as "Coffin Birth", by which a fetus can be expelled from a woman's body after death.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.