In memo, mayor says Peterson lacked grief at Jan. 3 meeting

In a memo dated January 3, 2003 to Police Chief Roy Wasden, Modesto Mayor Carmen Sabatino details a meeting with Scott Peterson at a local cafe. View the letter in PDF format. Illustration by Eric Johnston/Modbee.com

Modesto Mayor Carmen Sabatino said this week that he did not detect "much grief" from Scott Peterson when the two met 10 days after Peterson's pregnant wife, Laci, was reported missing.

Sabatino said Peterson showed "anxiety" when they met for about 25 minutes at Starbucks Coffee near Tenth Street Place on Jan. 3.

By then, hundreds of volunteers had joined in the search effort in and around East La Loma Park, and more than 1,000 people had attended a New Year's Eve candlelight vigil for the missing woman.

Recalling his chat with Peterson, Sabatino said: "I guess I was impressed that there wasn't much grief."

But Sabatino said Peterson told him that evenings and mornings were difficult compared to daytime hours, when he busied himself with efforts to find his wife.

Later that day, Sabatino summarized the meeting in a one-page report to Police Chief Roy Wasden. The Bee obtained a copy of the memo this week; Sabatino's signature does not appear on The Bee's copy, but the mayor confirmed that he wrote it.

The mayor was under criminal investigation at that time, and still is. He said he was not asked to write the memo, but volunteered the information "in case anybody ever questioned me about it."

"At no time did I ask, nor did (Peterson) volunteer, his activities on Dec. 24," Sabatino wrote, referring to the day that Laci Peterson's family reported her missing from her Modesto home.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Peterson in the slayings of his wife and unborn son, Conner. Their bodies were recovered along the San Francisco Bay shoreline a few days before Peterson was arrested April 18.

Sabatino said he ran into Peterson at the volunteer search headquarters in the days following his wife's disappearance. Peterson asked if they could meet privately, Sabatino said, and the mayor agreed.

He said Peterson thanked him for the city's efforts to find his wife. He praised "the community" for staging the candlelight vigil, and he praised Wasden, according to Sabatino.

Lee Peterson, Scott Peterson's father, joined the two about halfway into the conversation. The elder Peterson said he wanted to thank Wasden and reached for his cellular phone, but Sabatino suggested waiting, the mayor wrote in the memo.

The mayor generated widespread media interest when he said in April that he felt Peterson could not get a fair trial in Modesto.

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MODESTO - When CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin showed up in town to add his voice to the Laci Peterson murder case, he didn't expect he'd be just one of many reporters.

As Toobin reported on a routine hearing -- a judge refused to unseal an autopsy report and considered a gag order and arguments about wiretaps -- he was standing in front of one of 28 TV cameras outside the small courthouse.

"Of the cases that I've covered, only O.J. (Simpson) had more cameras," Toobin said. "And unlike the others, this one is more mystifying in the core of its appeal because no one is a celebrity."

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks knocked the names of Chandra Levy and Rep. Gary Condit out of the news, some media executives pronounced that an entire summer would never again be devoted to covering the case of one missing woman.

Things have not only not turned out that way, but after a full winter and spring covering the killing of Peterson and her unborn son, reporters have returned to Modesto, Levy and Condit's hometown, in droves for a story that has talk show hosts, tabloids and the national news media hanging on every development, no matter how small.

Barring another national tragedy, there's little question that the case of Scott Peterson, the fertilizer salesman accused of killing his pregnant wife and their unborn son, will dominate broadcasts and headlines this summer.

"The media shows all the symptoms of an addict, all the way down to denial," said Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit research group. "Despite their protestations and navel gazing, they are and remain scandal-story junkies, waiting for the next fix. They'll swear backward and forward that they're going to get better but restraint is lost with the opportunity to go one more time into the abyss."

Despite the large volume of what he calls very important news, ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider said the Peterson story is one of those that captivates people's attention.

"There will always be room to cover other stories that are gripping the nation," Schneider said. "This is a story that has fascinated the American people."

On days Scott Peterson is in court, the Stanislaus County Courthouse is mobbed with reporters, including cameos by well-known personalities such as Toobin, Greta Van Susteren and Geraldo Rivera.

The street out front is fenced off to traffic and full of TV trucks. Reporters take cover from the sun under tents as photographers jockey for position to capture the players in the case as they emerge from court. Electrical cables and camera cords snake along the hot pavement to trucks that beam audio and video skyward by aerials and satellite dishes.

Coverage that spans the globe has prompted a judge to clamp down in an attempt to protect Peterson's right to a fair trial. Judge Al Girolami has sealed search and arrest warrants, wiretap information and muzzled lawyers, investigators and witnesses with the threat of contempt if they speak publicly.

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When CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin showed up in town to add his voice to the Laci Peterson murder case, he didn't expect he'd be just one of many reporters.

As Toobin reported on a routine hearing a judge refused to unseal an autopsy report and considered a gag order and arguments about wiretaps he was standing in front of one of 28 TV cameras outside the small courthouse.

"Of the cases that I've covered, only O.J. (Simpson) had more cameras,' Toobin said. "And unlike the others, this one is more mystifying in the core of its appeal because no one is a celebrity.'

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks knocked the names of Chandra Levy and Rep. Gary Condit out of the news, some media executives pronounced that an entire summer would never again be devoted to covering the case of one missing woman.

Not only have things not turned out that way, but after a full winter and spring covering the killing of Peterson and her unborn son, reporters have returned to Modesto Levy and Condit's hometown in droves for a story that has talk show hosts, tabloids and the national news media hanging on every development no matter how small.

Barring another national tragedy, there's little question that the case of Scott Peterson, the fertilizer salesman husband accused of killing his pregnant wife and their unborn son, will dominate broadcasts and headlines this summer.

"The media shows all the symptoms of an addict, all the way down to denial,' said Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit research group. "Despite their protestations and navel gazing they are and remain scandal- story junkies, waiting for the next fix. They'll swear backward and forward that they're going to get better but restraint is lost with the opportunity to go one more time into the abyss.'

Despite the large volume of what he calls very important news, ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider said the Peterson story is one of those that captivates people's attention.

"There will always be room to cover other stories that are gripping the nation,' Schneider said. "This is a story that has fascinated the American people.'

On days when Peterson is in court, the Stanislaus County Courthouse is mobbed with reporters, including cameos by well-known personalities such as Toobin, Greta Van Susteren and Geraldo Rivera.

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Scott Peterson's defense camp asked a judge on Friday to punish Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton for allegedly violating a gag order by discussing parts of the case with The Bee. Brazelton should be held in contempt of court for "wantonly and brazenly" ignoring the June 12 order, lead defense counsel Mark Geragos wrote in a court document.

Attached as an exhibit was The Bee's Friday account of Brazelton discussing strategy, including a decision to unveil evidence in an upcoming public hearing, to counter what he called inaccurate reports and wild rumors.

"Brazelton's brazen disregard of this court's order should shock the court's conscience," Geragos wrote. He charged Brazelton's office with "almost pathological trampling of this innocent defendant."

Peterson, 30, faces murder charges in the slayings of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. The district attorney's office is seeking the death penalty.

Geragos has pushed for gag-order violation sanctions twice since it was imposed last week.

He wants Gloria Allred, an attorney representing potential witness Amber Frey, to face discipline for talking on television about the case. Frey and Peterson had an affair in the weeks before a pregnant Laci Peterson was reported missing from her Modesto home on Christmas Eve.

Allred contends that she is exempt from the gag order because it names prosecutors, defense attorneys, investigators and witnesses. She said she does not fall into any of those categories.

The Bee's lawyer, who is representing four other newspapers and two television outlets as well, filed court papers on Friday asking Superior Court to reconsider the gag order because it "has already proved unworkable."

Brazelton objected in Friday's Bee to legal analysts guessing at myriad aspects of the case, saying, "95 percent is pure fiction and fabrication." He decried some reports and irresponsible speculation, saying, "We spend all our time running down this phony baloney stuff they throw up."

The district attorney also complained about television "talking heads" who have criticized his strategy, and he said evidence at a preliminary hearing "might open some eyes."

Those comments, Geragos charged in court papers, violate three sections of the gag order imposed by Judge Al Girolami, who has sought to curb publicity as a way to protect Peterson's right to a fair trial.

"Express outside of court an opinion or make any comment for public dissemination as to the weight, value or effect of any evidence as tending to establish guilt or innocence."

"Make any out-of-court statement as to the nature, source or effect of any purported evidence."

"District Attorney Brazelton is not only a prosecutor involved in this case, he is the district attorney in whose name this death-penalty prosecution has been brought," Geragos wrote.

Brazelton's comments to The Bee show that he "obviously is trying to disseminate the weight of the evidence establishing guilt against Mr. Peterson," Geragos wrote. "This is nothing less than outrageous."

In addition, Geragos charged that Brazelton violated attorneys' Rules of Professional Responsibility, which prevent lawyers from saying things that could taint a jury pool.

"One would be hard-pressed to imagine how much more disdain one could express" for the gag order than Brazelton's "phony baloney" comment, Geragos wrote.

"Apparently, Brazelton believes that being criticized by fellow prosecutors about his legal strategy, in his mind, outweighs this court's orders, the Rules of Professional conduct, and, by the way, Mr. Peterson's right to a fair trial," Geragos wrote.

The Bee was unable to reach Brazelton or his spokespeople for comment. But in an e-mail to The Bee on Friday, Brazelton decried "the media fiasco that is taking place" and wrote that he expected Geragos to push for a contempt-of-court order.

"This equates to more squandered public resources to fight this unnecessary battle and only throws more confusion in the mix," Brazelton wrote.

Jeanette Sereno, an attorney and criminal justice professor at California State University, Stanislaus, said Friday that she did not see "specific comments about subject matter" of the case in Brazelton's published comments.

"He did, however, make some strategy comments," Sereno said. "Whether that violates the gag order will depend on what the judge feels about it.

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WASHINGTON -- Former Rep. Gary Condit of Ceres is selectively breaking his silence, at least in court. Now a private citizen since his failed bid for an eighth term, Condit has avoided the spotlight that once tracked him. But as he and his wife, Carolyn, pursue three high-dollar defamation lawsuits, they must go on the record.

"I have never ridden a motorcycle in Washington, D.C.," Condit declared. "I have never visited a Middle Eastern embassy in Washington, D.C., or any other location."

Condit's riding and socializing history matter because of the things that author Dominick Dunne, the target of an $11 million defamation lawsuit, said about him.

Condit claims that Dunne, in interviews and at Hollywood dinner parties where the conversation turned to the disappearance of Chandra Levy, spun stories that blackened the congressman's reputation.

Dunne, a 77-year-old columnist for Vanity Fair magazine and a former Hollywood producer, told several theories about Levy's disappearance.

At one point, Dunne noted that Condit was a known motorcycle aficionado and then speculated that Levy had ridden off on the back of a motorcycle. At other times, Dunne passed on a secondhand yarn involving Levy's supposed kidnapping by a Middle Eastern sex ring.

Dunne further passed along suggestions that Levy's body had been dumped into the Atlantic Ocean after Condit told compatriots that he was weary of her.

"I have never informed any individual that Chandra Levy was 'driving me crazy,' that 'she knew things about (me) and had threatened to go public,' that I had made 'promises to her that (I couldn't) keep,' that 'she was a clinger' or that 'I couldn't get rid of her,'" Condit declared in a recent affidavit responding to Dunne's various comments.

Levy, a 24-year-old Modesto woman, disappeared in spring 2001 in Washington, D.C., where she had just completed an internship with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Just over a year later, a man walking his dog came across Levy's remains in Washington's Rock Creek Park. A private burial was held late last month at Lakewood Memorial Park in Hughson, even as lawyers were preparing their latest legal filings.

"If (Dunne's) outrageous and intentional misconduct is (permitted), then the line between legitimate reportage and reckless gossip under the guise of legitimate reportage will become irreparably blurred to the potential detriment of many reputations," Condit's attorney, L. Lin Wood, stated in a recent court filing.

A fundamental legal question is whether listeners understood Dunne's stories as opinion or fact. If opinion, Dunne is probably protected; if listeners understood the stories as fact, Condit could have a case -- by proving any of the statements as false.

That means, in part, that Condit is noting and dismissing the supposed factual assertions within Dunne's yarns. In his May affidavit, Condit addressed some of Dunne's more eye-catching speculations.

"I have no knowledge whatsoever of, or personal involvement whatsoever with, a Middle Eastern prostitution ring, or any woman being allegedly provided for the nocturnal pleasures of high-ranking people in the Middle East or at any Middle Eastern embassy," Condit stated.

Dunne, in turn, is essentially arguing that his audiences on the "Larry King Live" cable television program, the Laura Ingraham radio show and at several dinner parties knew enough to take what he said with a grain of salt. After all, Dunne's own lawyers have said, consider the source.

"(Dunne is) a columnist with a well-known, very personal, pro-victim point of view, a celebrated raconteur who is invited to recount the sometimes fantastic things that happen to him," Dunne's lawyers noted in their most recent court filing.

Attorney Laura Handman went on to note that "everyone and his uncle had offered multiple theories about what happened" to Levy, and that Dunne's accounts were simply "theories, two of hundreds being offered by the more or less uninformed."

Handman is asking U.S. District Judge Peter Leisure to either dismiss Condit's lawsuit or summarily rule on Dunne's behalf. Leisure must decide whether he believes that Dunne's statements were assertions of fact or expressions of opinion.

In doing so, Leisure must examine the language that Dunne used, evaluate whether the statements are capable of being proved false, and study the context in which Dunne was speaking.

Context is key. Courts, for example, have noted in previous libel cases that an audience expects edgy opinion in the context of a book review or theater review.

Dunne has argued that it is the same with "Larry King Live" and the Ingraham show, which encourage "loose, hyperbolic and provocative language" by guests.

"Based on the format, bias, tenor and tone, the audience naturally discounts, at least to some degree, what is said," Handman asserted.

But Condit's attorney, noting Dunne's admission that he "felt like creating some trouble" for Condit, has stressed that Dunne markets himself as someone with the inside scoop about crimes among the rich and famous.

"In any setting (Dunne's), reputation would immediately signal a listener that the statements being made were in likelihood factual and to be taken seriously," Wood stated.

Though Condit's attorneys filed the case in U.S. District Court in New York City, where Dunne maintains a home, they insist that California libel laws apply. They characterize New York as offering more protection for the expression of opinions.

Condit's assertions in his 2 1/2-page affidavit are not his only court-driven comments on the Levy case, but they are the only ones that are publicly available.

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Thanks for the pings, RB, you really do a fantastic job & hope you know we all appreciate all your "leg" work to get all the news to us daily!! You deserve a day to play "hookey"!! Joy riding in a vette, can't beat that!!

There is so much irony in this story. Just imagine the thoughts of "going fishing" 90 miles away from "the scene of the crime", at the same time KNOWING FOR CERTAIN that she was going to walk the dog (in the course of which, she was kidnapped and murdered). Then THEY took the body to where you were fishing, rented a boat and dumped the body. Of course, no one knew you were fishing there except Laci because you told everyone else you were going golfing. You went so far as to save the receipt from the dock and make ONE call home to register your whereabouts.

What you didn't count on was the bodies ever surfacing. You were right Mr. Peterson, you can't be in two places at the same time, AND NEITHER COULD LACI.

The best laid plans of men often go awry!!

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