Geragos Wants D.A. Held In Contempt

MODESTO, Calif. -- Scott Peterson's lawyer asked a judge Friday to find the Stanislaus County district attorney in contempt, alleging the prosecutor violated a gag order by saying he planned to present evidence at a public hearing that "might open some eyes."

District Attorney James Brazelton "hit the trifecta of prosecutorial misconduct" when he told a reporter that he would seek an open preliminary hearing for Peterson in the killing of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, defense lawyer Mark Geragos said in papers filed in a Modesto court.

Brazelton told The Modesto Bee he chose not to present evidence to a grand jury in closed session so he can show the public evidence amassed against Peterson and end the rumors and speculation swirling around the case.

"The longer this drags on, the more stories get bandied about out there," Brazelton told the Bee. "About 95 percent is pure fiction and fabrication. By putting on a prelim, they're going to see some stuff that might open their eyes."

Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami issued a gag order last week aimed at silencing lawyers, witnesses and investigators in the case to prevent gossip and evidence leaks that could make it difficult to find fair jurors.

Peterson, 30, who has pleaded innocent to two counts of murder, could receive the death penalty if convicted.

With the gag order preventing him from speaking publicly, Geragos has filed motions containing sharp rhetoric.

He used the word "brazen" or "brazenly" four times to describe Brazelton's conduct and said it should "shock the court's conscience." He also referred to the prosecution's "almost pathological trampling of this innocent defendant."

"One would be hard pressed to imagine how much more disdain one could express for the order of this court when Brazelton utters, 'We spend all our time running down this phony baloney stuff they throw up,"' Geragos said.

The district attorney could not be reached by phone Friday to comment. A spokesman said in a message recorded Thursday that the office was not making any comments due to the gag order. Brazelton spoke to the Bee on Thursday.

Geragos filed a similar contempt claim last week against the attorney for former Peterson mistress Amber Frey, who is expected to be a key witness. Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred, said she is not subject to the gag order and said Geragos is trying to silence her for speaking to the news media.

In other court filings, San Francisco authorities are fighting an effort by Scott Peterson's lawyers to connect Laci Peterson's death with the killing of another pregnant woman whose body was found in San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco police said there is no link between the Peterson killing and last year's slaying of Evelyn Hernandez -- and they asked a judge Thursday to dismiss a subpoena to view the investigation file.

"I do not believe that there is any information in the file that could link the death of Ms. Hernandez with the death of Laci Peterson," homicide Inspector Holly Pera wrote in an affidavit.

Hernandez, a 24-year-old single mother, disappeared in May 2002 with her son, Alex, one week before she was to deliver a baby boy. Part of her torso and maternity clothing were found July 24 on the San Francisco side of the bay.

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MODESTO, California (AP) -- 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 September 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 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.

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Jeffrey Toobin: Wiretap strategy shaky Peterson defense goes after judge who OK'd phone taps

CNN) -- An upcoming hearing in the Laci Peterson murder case will focus on the issue of the prosecution tapping suspect Scott Peterson's phone.

Defense lawyers have now subpoenaed the judge who gave the approval for those wiretaps, and they charge the judge violated rules governing a capital murder case. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin recently spoke with CNN anchor Bill Hemmer about the issue.

TOOBIN: What happened was, in California law, there is a provision that says if it's a death penalty case, you have to have a court reporter present at all times on all proceedings. A fair rule. No problem.

But these wiretaps were subpoenaed, took place -- they were approved by the judge in February -- before there was even an arrest in the case. So the judge had no reason to order a court reporter being there.

It was just an ordinary course-of-business wiretap. They didn't know it would be a death penalty case. They didn't even know there would be an arrest in the case. But because there is no transcript, they are subpoenaing the judge to get him to testify.

HEMMER: So, but under California law, can this be retroactive? Can you rework the rules or not?

TOOBIN: That's what the defense is trying to do. And in fairness to the defense, what they are doing is they are pushing in every way. The best defense is a good offense. We know that, all the time.

So they are trying to put the prosecution on trial, trying to call the judge to testify because there is no transcript of what he said.

TOOBIN: They want a piece of the judge. I mean, it takes -- I think it's interesting. You have Mark Geragos, who's a lawyer from Los Angeles who's not based there in Modesto [California]. I think a lawyer who was in Modesto might be a little hesitant to subpoena a judge because, after all, you live in that community. But Geragos says, no, let's go subpoena the judge, full speed ahead.

TOOBIN: It takes guts. Yes, guts. It takes spirit, let's say. I don't know. There's a word I'm thinking of that I probably shouldn't use.

HEMMER: How aggressive a move is this for the defense? If you're Mark Geragos and you're trying to defend your guy and he's up for capital murder, don't you want to try and pull out all the stops you can?

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You could make the case for our national obsession with the murder of Laci Peterson if there were no one else like her. You could make the case for our ghoulish fascination with her lying husband, Scott, and his publicity-seeking mistress if there were only a couple of other sick and sinister love triangles in all the 50 states. You might even be able to make the case for our fixation on Peterson if there were only a few cases like hers in every big city.

But how do you explain our creepy preoccupation with Peterson when in every major city of every state in America there are dozens, even hundreds of cases not much different?

"I wish that the TV stories about this poor woman's murder, which seem to be airing just about every single night, talked a little more about how this is part of a bigger problem," said Laura Maddock, a local woman who lived through a murder attempt by her husband. "It's like we want this to be a fictional TV show instead of a real problem. But it is a real problem. And there are many, many real victims."

Arizona has averaged nearly 100 domestic violence deaths a year over the past three years. Last October, a woman here was murdered by her husband, who then killed himself, on the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The state has ranked as high as second in national surveys measuring the rates of females killed by males. And that doesn't take into account a woman like Maddock, who wasn't killed, only crippled and left to fend for herself.

One sunny day last October, Maddock's husband, Brian, stood calmly outside their home in Gilbert, staring through a window at his wife, who sat at the kitchen table with her back to him. He slowly raised a .357 Magnum revolver, aimed at Laura, and fired.

"I'm thankful every day that I didn't die, because I wouldn't want to have left my daughter alone," Laura said. "But not dying doesn't mean that your life isn't ruined, because it is."

Brian Maddock pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Laura is in a rehabilitation home, paralyzed from the chest down, learning to live life in a wheelchair.

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MODESTO, Calif. -- San Francisco authorities are fighting an effort by Scott Peterson's defense lawyers to connect Laci Peterson's murder with the killing of another pregnant woman whose body was found in San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco police said there is no link between the Peterson killing and last year's slaying of Evelyn Hernandez -- and they asked a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge Thursday to dismiss a subpoena to view the investigation file.

"I do not believe that there is any information in the file that could link the death of Ms. Hernandez with the death of Laci Peterson," homicide Inspector Holly Pera wrote in an affidavit.

Defense lawyer Kirk McAllister said in a May 29 subpoena that the Hernandez case could point to "the actual perpetrators" in the death of Peterson, whose remains washed ashore on the east side of the bay in April. Defense lawyers have vowed to find the real killers and have suggested that a satanic cult may be to blame.

Turning over the investigation file to Peterson's lawyers could jeopardize the case by revealing witnesses and tipping off the suspect, Pera said.

Hernandez's killing received little attention until family members complained of the disparity between the amount of news coverage the Peterson case was receiving while their case languished.

The cases have some parallels because both women were due to deliver sons, their bodies were found in the bay and the fathers-to-be were considered the primary suspects.

While Scott Peterson, 30, has been charged with two counts of murder in the killings of his wife and unborn son, no arrest has been made in the Hernandez case. Peterson has pleaded not guilty.

PINGING.....A slow news day, but here are some updated stories ..... (thought of putting a new thread, but decided to just tag it on yesterday's thread.)

Other Views: Suspected murderer Scott Peterson has a fan club

Monday, June 23, 2003

News

Deborah Mathis Other Views

Deborah Mathis

WASHINGTON -- One of the strangest phrases I have ever heard was this: "Joey Buttafuoco's agent."

That was years ago, but it still stuns me that a married man who had an affair with a young girl -- a girl who showed up at his house one day and shot his wife in the head, no less -- would have the need for an agent.

"Joey Buttafuoco's parole officer" or "Joey Buttafuoco's jailer" or "Joey Buttafuoco's attorney," I could understand. But "Joey Buttafuoco's agent"?

It has been downhill ever since, this business of parlaying crime and infamy into fame and money. By now, the roster is too long for a single newspaper column.

Not that I need to rehash; their celebrity easily brings the names to mind.

I am all for redemption, of course, believing as I do that people can and do change. I believe in second chances. Even two or three "second" chances in some cases.

But shouldn't there be some evidence required? At least a modicum of humility, remorse and repentance before the goodies are dispensed?

The latest entry into this theater of the absurd and ignominious is news that Scott Peterson, the California man accused of murdering his wife and unborn son, is getting loads of mail from women professing their love and devotion. Add "Scott Peterson's Fan Club" to the list of implausible phrases.

For all we know -- know, not believe -- Peterson did not commit the atrocities against his wife and son. It will take a trial to weigh the facts and come to an honest verdict about whether Peterson is guilty or the innocent fall guy he claims to be.

The women should remember that the police and prosecutors are working on a presumption too -- that of guilt -- and it behooves the thinking person to wait out the case to determine which presumption is right, mindful always that hunches, wishfulness and presumption are not proof.

So why would a woman in her right mind offer herself to a man under these circumstances?

I know things are tight in the gender game -- more women than men to begin with, an educational and socioeconomic gap to contend with, fear of commitment and the playboy syndrome to overcome, etc., etc. -- but, please.

By his own admission, Peterson was, in the least, a sexual cheat, and although that does not make him a murderer, it does makes him bad mating material. He might yet redeem himself, but that would take time.

My only counsel to these women -- other than to get help -- is patience. Let the trial play out. If Peterson is convicted, ditch the fairy tale and count your lucky stars that you dodged a bullet. If he is acquitted and you can't tear yourself away from the fantasy, even then, don't just give your devotion away. Give it time, and make him prove he deserves it.

But then what do I know about modern ways? I still think it's crazy that Joey Buttafuoco had an agent. I'm still stuck in the days when shameless people got their reward the old-fashioned way: They earned it.

Deborah Mathis, a columnist for Gannett News Service, appears on this page periodically.

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More wiretapped phone calls discovered in Peterson case

SACRAMENTO (AP) — An investigator who wiretapped Scott Peterson's phones says he recently discovered 176 calls that were recorded without his knowledge, and prosecutors are asking a judge to determine whether police can screen them for evidence.

In court papers filed Wednesday, investigator Steven Jacobson said the calls were discovered Friday by an expert from the software company that designed the wiretap system. The two men listened to about 10 seconds of one of the calls to determine that hidden computer files contained actual phone calls and not a dial tone or dead air.

"We heard a person in a Southern drawl talking to Scott Peterson in what appeared to be a business-related call," Jacobson wrote in an affidavit.

Jacobson said he had not heard that conversation before among the 3,858 phone calls police previously acknowledged logging on the fertilizer salesman's home and cellular phones. He said he didn't listen to any others before having them transferred to computer discs and sealed in envelopes for Superior Court Judge Al Girolami to review.

The newly discovered calls could present another hurdle for prosecutors as they fight defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct over the wiretaps. When word of the previous wiretaps came out, defense lawyer Mark Geragos asked the judge to dismiss the prosecutors handling the case or toss out the wiretaps because investigators listened to portions of conversations between Peterson and his lawyer.

Peterson, 30, has pleaded innocent to two counts of murder and could face the death penalty if convicted in killings of his wife and unborn son. He was arrested after their remains washed ashore in San Francisco Bay in April, near where he said he was fishing Christmas Eve when his pregnant wife vanished.

Prosecutors have said officers mistakenly listened to snippets of two of 69 conversations between Peterson and lawyer Kirk McAllister and one conversation with a private investigator, but Geragos said that was enough to find that they had violated attorney-client privilege.

Girolami has scheduled a June 26 hearing on the wiretap and other matters.

Both sides are bound by a gag order and cannot comment.

In a related court matter, the defense appealed a judge's order to unseal search warrants, saying their release would ignite a "media firestorm of misinformation."

Geragos filed his appeal Tuesday at the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Fresno to keep eight search warrants from being made public next month.

Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne ruled Thursday that the documents, which are expected to contain evidence and police theories, should be unsealed July 8 after a previous appellate ruling expires.

That order, however, is now on hold as the court considers Geragos' latest appeal. Prosecutors and lawyers for California newspapers and broadcasters, who argued to release the documents, have a week to file responses.

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From 'Why did he?' to 'Did he?' in 28 days

Since Mark Geragos (left) took over Scott Peterson's case, media discussion about the case has changed dramatically.

By Harriet Ryan
Court TV

A few days after he took Scott Peterson's case, defense lawyer Mark Geragos stood on the steps of the Stanislaus County courthouse surrounded by his new client's family and predicted public opinion of the murder suspect was about to change.

"I think it's only a matter of time before we're able to turn America's head around," Geragos told scores of reporters eager to gobble up any speck of information about Peterson and the killing of his pregnant wife, Laci, and unborn son.

At the time, Geragos' forecast seemed about as likely as June snow in Modesto. In the hot, dry California city and across the nation, Peterson was Public Enemy #1. When he was arrested, a throng of angry citizens greeted his arrival at the county jail with bloodthirsty chants and signs reading MURDERER. The front page of the New York Post showed Peterson in shackles beneath the headline "MONSTER IN CHAINS." And the California attorney general pronounced the case against Peterson "a slam dunk."

But in the 28 days since Geragos became Peterson's attorney, an improbable, but unmistakable shift in the public discussion of the crime has occurred. The question is no longer "How could he do it?" but "Did he do it?"

The change seems clearly the result of a series of press leaks — some directly credited to the defense side and others to unspecified sources — including speculation that Laci Peterson died at the hands of a Satanic cult and Thursday's revelation by MSNBC that the coroner found a plastic tape "noose" around the neck of the Petersons' unborn son, Conner, when his body was found on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay.

Geragos denied being the source of that leak and even volunteered to swear to it on the witness stand, but steamed prosecutors made clear they thought the defense was to blame. In court papers filed just hours after the report, prosecutors said the new information "skewed" toward Peterson's legal team and asked a judge to release the entire coroner's report publicly so "the media will see what the actual facts are."

Whoever the source, the report concerning the condition of baby Conner's body fit nicely with the Satanic cult theory of the murders advanced first through defense leaks and then openly by Geragos. About two weeks after the lawyer took over Peterson's case, NBC reported that the defense had information about cults operating in the Modesto area and speculated that Conner Peterson was cut from his mother's body during a Satanic ritual. Other reports citing defense sources indicated that when Peterson's body was recovered on the bay shoreline, it was mutilated in a manner consistent with ritual sacrifice, and still other outlets reported that the defense was chasing its own prime suspects, some apparently connected with a strange brown van and a suspicious man with 666 tattooed on his arm.

Although no one knows when Peterson's trial will begin, nor where it will be held — the defense is expected to ask for a change of venue — the leaks are likely the first effort to influence the panelists who will some day, in some courthouse, sit in judgment of Scott Peterson.

"There's been a concerted effort to try to change the hearts and minds of potential jurors," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson. "The strategy is to create questions now and hope that it will translate into reasonable doubt later."

Not all legal experts agree on its wisdom, however. Miami jury consultant Sandy Marks, who worked for the defense in the trials of Timothy McVeigh and William Kennedy Smith, said that, while putting the defense story out in the public arena can be useful, timing the release of information is important.

"Jurors — and people in general — have a short memory. This will only be good for the next week or two. If he's got substantial stuff, why leak it now? Let's save it for right before trial," Marks said.

Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer Harland Braun, who initially represented Robert Blake, disagreed.

"If you've got anything, get it out there or you are going to lose the jury," said Braun, no stranger to defending clients by going on the offense. Long before Blake was arrested, Braun released documents and audiotapes portraying Blake's murdered wife as a conniving grifter. In defense polling done after he made the information public, 80 percent of those surveyed believed Blake guilty, but 90 percent had a negative opinion about his alleged victim, Braun said.

Putting the information out is essential, Braun said, because jurors consider public opinion along with the law and evidence as they deliberate, and few panelists want to buck conventional wisdom with their verdicts.

"They are going to worry about what their neighbors think. Nobody wants to be regarded as a buffoon," said Braun.

Chicago-based jury consultant Paul Lisnek said the long window before the trial could actually help the defense to make the Satanic cult theory — which he described as "pretty far out there" — sound "more palatable."

"The more people hear something, the more reasonable it sounds. If you put this cult theory out now, by the time the trial happens, it will have become part of their reality and jurors will say, 'Oh yeah, the Satanic theory, I've heard about this," said Lisnek.

The volume of leaking may come to an end soon, however. Superior Court Judge Al Girolami, who is overseeing the case, has voiced concern about the massive media coverage and said he is leaning toward imposing a gag order, perhaps as early as next Friday.......

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