Ruling is expected today on search warrants

A Stanislaus County Superior Court judge is expected to rule today on whether to unseal eight search warrants issued while police investigated Scott Peterson in the death of his pregnant wife, Laci.

Judge Roger M. Beauchesne held a closed hearing Friday after defense attorney Matt Dalton said releasing the documents would compromise evidence that points to the "real killers."

"We have information that could possibly affect the arrest of other suspects who are still out there," Dalton said during a hearing last week.

Beauchesne sealed the documents before Peterson was arrested April 18 and charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.

Beauchesne had originally ordered the documents to be unsealed when a criminal complaint was filed in the case. But the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno overruled that segment of his order after prosecutors sought to keep the documents sealed. The appeals court ruled that the unsealing could not come automatically after an arrest. Rather, a hearing had to be held after a "change in circumstances," the court ruled.

Prosecutors say intense media scrutiny could sway potential jurors and hurt Peterson's chances at a fair trial.

The Bee's lawyer, Charity Kenyon -- who also represents several other newspapers and TV.......................

DAVIS, Calif. -- Scott Peterson's defense team was in Davis, Calif., Monday, looking into the possibility that human remains that were found there last week may have a connection to their case.

NBC news reported that the remains were in a plastic container found inside a trailer park trash bin last week. So far, they have not been identified.

Reports say the remains include at least one female, and perhaps as many as four other individuals.

Authorities say DNA tests will be done to establish whether or not there is any connection to the Laci Peterson murder case.

Meanwhile, if Scott Peterson's attorneys have their way, an unlikely witness will testify at a hearing scheduled for the end of this month, NBC News in San Francisco reported.

Peterson's defense team announced Tuesday that they want the judge who authorized wiretaps on Peterson's phone to take the stand.

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Peterson's Attorneys Want Unlikely Witness To Testify
Judge Ray Ledine Authorized Wiretaps

MODESTO, Calif. -- Scott Peterson is due back in court at the end of the month. And if his attorneys have their way, an unlikely witness will testify. Peterson's attorneys subpoenaed a superior court judge to appear.

Peterson's defense team announced Tuesday that they want the judge who authorized wiretaps on Peterson's phone to take the stand.

NBC11's Jodi Hernandez reported that Peterson's attorneys might face an uphill battle on this issue.

Ray Ledine authorized the wiretapping of Peterson's phone conversations. The judge met with the prosecutor and wiretap investigator every three days to keep tabs on their progress. A court reporter was not present at those meetings and Peterson's attorneys want to question the judge about the wiretap procedures.

They are concerned that conversations between Peterson and his attorney were illegally recorded. Legal experts say it's extremely rare for a judge to take the stand. Judges are protected by law from doing so.

"They can submit to him written questions and you can submit written answers," said legal expert Alexander Wolfe.

Hernandez reported that in a death penalty case the law requires a court reporter to be present at every court proceeding, including conferences. But when the judge met with investigators about the wiretaps.......

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- A $5,000 reward was announced Wednesday by the Alameda County sheriff's department for any information that could help identify a teenage girl whose decomposing body was found inside a canvas bag behind a restaurant on May 1.

Investigators have eliminated about 150 missing children from the San Francisco Bay area, said Sgt. Scott Dudek. They suspect the girl may be from out of the state.

"The reward is offered by the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation to assist us with identifying who the little girl was," Dudek said. "We have her DNA, we were able to eliminate other children based on her characteristics. She had beautiful teeth, no fillings, no cavities, single ear piercing, and other distinctive characteristics."

Dudek describe the victim as a 5-foot-1 inch girl who weighed 110 pounds, had brown eyes, brown and wavy hair and of mixed race, Hispanic and black.

He said the cause of death had been established as asphyxiation, as "a rug was found inside her mouth." The girl likely died April 22 or 23, Dudek said.

"It could be a person outside of the area, outside of the state, there is a possibility that perhaps maybe a family member had something to do with it and that is why they have not reported it yet," Dudek added.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Homicide Division of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office at (510) 667-7721/

Who says they didn't do that? They began their investigation at the missing woman's home, the place where she was reportedly last seen. They interviewed the person who claimed to have last seen her. They interviewed the people with whom she was acquainted, including family. They strove to eliminate various interviewees as suspects. Sounds like they were following a logical course of investigation.

It's not their fault if Scott, by virtue of his close relationship to the missing woman, was in the eye of the storm.

Just to pick an example out of the air, last year a woman named Alice Donovan disappeared after having been last seen in a Wal-mart parking lot, somewhere in the area where she lived. I don't recall, during the long search for her (don't think she's been found, to this day), that any member of her family has ended up charged with causing her disappearance. But you can bet the rent that the members of her family have all been interviewed and checked out.

[Later clues seemed to indicate that some escaped convicts kidnapped and killed Donovan. But the police would have had no way of knowing anything about who probably did this to her, at the beginning of their investigation.]

In order to commit perjury, one must not only lie, but must lie about a MATERIAL fact. It is questionable whether Fuhrman's testimony about what he said/didn't say, to some loony woman in the Carolinas, was MATERIAL in that case. If it was not, then his denying that he "used the n-word" was not perjury.

The fact is, the defense honed in on Fuhrman, recognizing that he was a gifted investigator who could testify to key points which were very damaging to the client. So they knew they had to neutralize his testimony, and they did so by engaging in character assassination on him, as well as by injecting irrelevant issues into the trial.

Unlike you, I do not have total recall of these perjury incidents by "EVERY SINGLE COP". Please provide them.

I don't know what tapes you are referring to.

And I hardly think the police got a "pass" in the OJ trial, considering the final action by the jury.

National Enquirer June 24, 2003

Amber visits Rocha Family

Scott Killed for Laci by David Wright

no new pictures

synopsis (mostly rehash)

Amber is the motive for killing Laci, LE believes. Scott did want his wife and child because he wished to be with Amber, he was sick and tired of being with Laci, fed up with her weight gain and was tired of her complaining. "He wanted to trade-up."

Scott thought he was going to get away with the murder of Laci, but Amber worked with the police for almost three months to nail him. Often fearing for her saftey. She lost weight, was up all night and was haunted by nightmares of Laci. She also hyperventilated the night Scott told her he knew who did this to Laci.

Amber got up the nerve to overrule the FBI profilers who had written a script for her to follow when talking to Scott on the phone. "She often took the script to her LE handlers and said, "If I say that to him, he'll know I am working with you."

Amber had counseling help from her church pastor and found the strength to continue talking to Scott on her tapped phone. "One life was reality as she worked and kept house, taking care of her daughter, the other was pretend." She tried to keep Scott interested in her romantically.

Amber began working with the cops on Dec.30th, six days after Laci disappeared, it was not until January 5, that Scott even admitted to her that he was the husband of the woman missing.

Scott told her in the beginning that he was calling from Paris. He would say how the weather was over there and even recount something that was in the news over there. Amber wanted to scream at him that she knew where he really was.

On January 5, Amber kept telling Scott her friends were trying to reach her with some very important news. She kept saying to Scott that her friends had been unable to reach her with the news. Scott changed the subject and Amber would work to get him back to the news story. Finally Scott says "I think I know what it is and admitted for the first time he was Laci's husband."

"At that point Amber abandoned the script and yelled at Scott, "I can't believe you lied to me like this, I thought you were in Paris." He kept saying I'm sorry.

For a month Amber was able to carry on her double agent role, then on Jan24th a reporter confronted her with the news that he knew she was Scott's lover. In a panic she called her LE handlers and told them the news was out. Within an hour police sent a car to pick her up.

They brought her to Modesto. She had just finished a hard days work, and had no time to do her hair or fix herself up. Police handed her a script and Amber found herself facing the cameras.

Ironically, Amber's TV appearerance brought her close to Laci's family. A meeting was arranged at the family home. Laci's family let her know that they did not blame her for Laci's death. They accepted her for the victim she is.

Amber's friends disclosed that Rochas were curious to meet her and wanted to know what she was like. "In fact when she was first introduced to them, a family member said" Oh, you are better looking in person that on TV." The family members were trying to let her know that they watched her news conference and at first couldn't understand why Scott would cheat on Laci for her.

When they meet her it was like "Well, you ARE good-looking. It was an amazing and unlikely meeting and strangely there was no tension between Amber and the family.

Amber stayed the weekeend in Modesto and went out with some of Laci's freinds."They spent time telling her what Laci was like."

Back in Fresno, on a day in February, Amber got a frantic phone call from police. They told her Scott whereabout's using a tracking device. He was near her home. She was talking to Scott on the cell phone, drving down Highway 41. Police warned her Scott was getting close to her house. They missed each other by minutes on the expressway.

Ambers role came to an end two weeks before the bodies were found. Scott stopped calling. Police believe Scott realized he was being followed.

Amber is now ready to tell her story in court but realizes it will be another nightmare for her.

Credit to Rickamorti at Purgatory

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