Few bites from fishermen on Peterson sturgeon alibi

The Modesto Bee ^ | Nov 30 2003 | Garth stapely

[runningbear]

Few bites from fishermen on Peterson sturgeon alibi

Few bites from fishermen on Peterson sturgeon alibi

Searchers left Berkeley Marina in January, looking for the body of Laci Peterson. Her husband said he was fishing there on Dec. 24. THE BEE

By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

Last Updated: November 30, 2003, 11:03:43 AM PST

Details from Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing about his Christmas Eve fishing trip left some already skeptical fishermen with more doubt.

"None of his story made any sense," said Carl Costley of Oakdale, who has fished 35 years for huge, tough-skinned sturgeon. "It just doesn't hold water."

Said Robert Kisner of Denair, "Pretty much any fisherman will tell you that guy didn't go out there fishing. It could be that he just didn't know what he was doing."

When word spread about Peterson's solo excursion soon after his pregnant wife disappeared 11 months ago, Costley and Kisner, among others, frowned.

The swelling San Francisco Bay is no place for a relatively small aluminum boat, many said. Most added that it's crazy to fish alone for sturgeon, which often top 100 pounds and 6 feet in length. Others who prefer to start at daybreak chuckled at the thought of Peterson launching after noon.

And now, they say, recent news about his gear, anchor and licenses gives them more reasons to doubt.

Authorities have said they believe Peterson, now 31, dumped the body of his 27-year-old wife, Laci, in the frigid water. The mother's and son's remains were recovered in April along the shore, less than two miles from the spot Peterson said he fished Dec. 24.

After reviewing evidence presented over 12 days of testimony, a judge ordered Peterson to stand trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Details from the hearing were limited to attorneys questioning detectives. In a nutshell, they said:

They found two unopened packages of lures in Peterson's pickup.

They recovered from his boat an "ultralight stream fishing pole," a "heavier pole" and a homemade 1-gallon concrete anchor.

They found five fishing licenses apparently belonging to Peterson: a two-day permit valid Dec. 23 and 24; other two-day permits issued in August 2002, October 1999 and July 1999; and a yearlong license issued in 1994.

Peterson "couldn't say" what type of fish he was trying to catch when a police officer asked him Dec. 24.

Peterson did not respond when his wife's stepfather, an avid fisherman, commented that Peterson had left late in the day for fishing.

Peterson's family has said he has loved to fish since he was young. Solo trips are nothing out of the ordinary, some fishermen said.

"When he was about 6 or 7 years old, we'd all go golfing together," his mother, Jackie Peterson, said in January. "He would put his fishing pole in his bag because the course we often went to was on the San Diego River. By the second hole, he'd stop golfing and start fishing. We'd pass by him every so often, and he usually fished until we were done golfing."

Fishing trips common

The Petersons often took fishing trips to the mountains, family members said. They said Scott Peterson, the youngest of seven siblings, eventually convinced his father to buy a fishing boat.

He bought his own Dec. 9, Detective Al Brocchini said at the recent hearing. The same day, Peterson told his girlfriend that he had "lost his wife."

A police computer expert testified that Scott Peterson had used a computer in early December to research San Francisco Bay and Central Valley lakes and reservoirs. The expert acknowledged that Peterson visited a sport fishing site as well.

Brocchini said he found unopened lures in Peterson's truck. That does not square with fishing for sturgeon -- which show no interest in metal lures but rely on a keen sense of smell to find herring roe and shrimp on the bottom of the bay, several fishermen said. Bait -- not lures -- replicates that food source.

"If he was using lures, he was not going sturgeon fishing," said Steve Perkins of Fisherman's Warehouse in Manteca.

Different poles for different fish

Many anglers keep all their gear together, whether going to a mountain stream or the ocean. That is the only plausible reason Peterson would have lures and a light stream rod in his boat, said Ken Moore of Ripon.

Using a light stream rod to catch sturgeon "is like hunting an elephant with a .22," or a rifle more suited for squirrels or rabbits, Costley said. "It's not practical."

Others acknowledged that some anglers bring light rods to catch bait, which they then use to try catching sturgeon with a larger pole. But that wouldn't fit with the profile police painted of Peterson -- a fisherman new to sturgeon fishing in a newly purchased boat on its maiden voyage in salt water.

Several experienced sturgeon fishermen said a concrete anchor made in a 1......

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Fishermen cast even more doubt on Peterson trip

Fishermen cast even more doubt on Peterson trip
Hearing details lead experts to suspect he wasn't after sturgeon.

By Garth Stapley
The Modesto Bee
(Published Sunday, November 30, 2003, 5:38 AM)

Details about Scott Peterson's Christmas Eve fishing trip that emerged during his preliminary hearing left some already skeptical fishermen with more doubt.

"None of his story made any sense," said Carl Costley of Oakdale, who has fished 35 years for huge, tough-skinned sturgeon. "It just doesn't hold water."

Said Robert Kisner of Denair: "Pretty much any fisherman will tell you that guy didn't go out there fishing. It could be that he just didn't know what he was doing."

When word spread about Peterson's solo excursion soon after his pregnant wife disappeared 11 months ago, Costley and Kisner, among others, frowned.

The swelling San Francisco Bay is no place for a relatively small aluminum boat, many said. Most added that it's crazy to fish alone for sturgeon, which often top 100 pounds and 6 feet in length. Others who prefer to start at daybreak chuckled at the thought of Peterson launching after noon.

And they say recent news about his gear, anchor and licenses give them more reasons to doubt.

Authorities believe Peterson, now 31, dumped the body of his 27-year-old wife, Laci, in the frigid water. The mother's and son's remains were recovered in April along the shoreline, less than two miles from the place Peterson said he fished Dec. 24.

After reviewing evidence presented over 12 days of testimony, a judge ordered Peterson to stand trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Details from the hearing were limited to attorneys questioning detectives. In a nutshell, they said they found:

Two unopened packages of lures in Peterson's pickup.

An "ultralight stream fishing pole," a "heavier pole" and a homemade 1-gallon concrete anchor in his boat.

Five fishing licenses apparently belonging to Peterson: a two-day permit valid Dec. 23 and 24; other two-day permits issued in August 2002, October 1999 and July 1999; and a yearlong license issued in 1994.

Detectives testified Peterson "couldn't say" what type of fish he was trying to catch when a police officer asked him Dec. 24. And, they said, Peterson did not respond when his wife's stepfather, an avid fisherman, commented that Peterson had left late in the day for fishing.

Peterson's family has said he has loved to ........

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Peterson Borrows $100,000 from Parents, Uses House as Security

Peterson's home

Peterson Borrows $100,000 from Parents, Uses House as Security Scott Peterson, who is awaiting trial in Modesto for the murders of his wife and unborn son, used his home as collateral for a $100,000 loan from his parents, according to a report in The Modesto Bee.

It's not clear how the money will be used, but legal experts believe it will likely help pay for Peterson's defense. If convicted, he could receive the death penalty.

Peterson faces two counts of murder for the deaths of his wife Laci and their unborn son, who was to be named Conner. The prosecution alleges that Peterson killed his wife on Christmas Eve, then dumped her body into San Francisco Bay.

The fact that the loan is secured with the house is a point of contention between Scott Peterson's family and that of his in-laws. The house was owned jointly by Scott and Laci Peterson, and her relatives feel it is inappropriate for him to treat the home as his sole property.

The legalities of the loan hang partly on the outcome of the trial. Under normal circumstances, Lee and Jackie Peterson could foreclose on the house to collect on the debt. According to probate attorneys, that might be possible even if Scott Peterson is convicted, but is by no means a sure thing.

Under the state Probate Code, a joint tenant who feloniously and intentionally kills another joint tenant, "has no rights by survivorship." Therefore, it may be that Scott Peterson does not have the right to put up his half of the house.

The house was worth $192,311 as of January 1, according to the county assessor's office. Houses of comparable size in the area where the Petersons lived have been selling for about $249,000. ......

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Peterson secures loan for $100,000 with house

Posted on Thu, Nov. 27, 2003

Peterson secures loan for $100,000 with house
By John Cote
MODESTO BEE

MODESTO - Accused double murderer Scott Peterson used his Covena Avenue home as collateral for a $100,000 loan he obtained from his parents, according to documents recently filed with the Stanislaus County recorder's office.

The loan's purpose was unclear, but legal observers said it likely was to help fund Peterson's defense against charges he murdered his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The loan has become a point of contention between Scott and Laci Peterson's families because it is secured with the house, which is joint property. Scott Peterson signed the loan documents about a month ago.

The loan gives Peterson's parents, Lee and Jackie, an equity stake in the home at 523 Covena Ave. Lee and Jackie Peterson may be able to collect that debt even if Scott Peterson is convicted, probate attorneys said.

"We're aware of the transaction," attorney Adam Stewart said Tuesday. Stewart represents Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, who has filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Peterson from profiting from the case.

Stewart said his firm would do "everything required by law" to protect the estate and the family's interest. "We intend to take the appropriate steps in due course."

The loan also has raised questions about how Peterson is paying for his high-powered defense and stoked a simmering dispute between in-laws over the Petersons' property.

Funding the defense was also at the heart .......

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Report: Amber Frey Is Pregnant

Report: Amber Frey Is Pregnant

POSTED: 6:44 AM PST November 27, 2003
UPDATED: 9:04 AM PST November 27, 2003

MODESTO, Calif. -- Amber Frey, the former mistress of Scott Peterson and a key witness in his prosecution for the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and the couple's unborn child, is also expecting a baby, according to a report Thursday by Fox News.

Citing sources close to Frey, Fox News' Rita Crosby reported that the former massage therapist was four months pregnant and that Peterson was not the father of the child.

San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Jim Hammer said on KTVU's Mornings On 2 Thursday that he wasn't sure what impact Frey's pregnancy would have on the Peterson trial.

"It's going to turn some people off on the jury," Hammer said. "Although she is not technically on trial...As you saw in the preliminary hearing, (defense attorney) Mark Geragos is going to put everyone on trial."

The report said Frey has settled into a romance with a 43-year-old chiropractor from Fresno. She reportedly used to work with the doctor for almost two years before she met and fell in love with Peterson, who she said lured her into a relationship after telling her his wife had died.

The chiropractor and Frey, according to Fox News, began dating early in 2003. At the time, Frey was working with Modesto police -- secretly taping some 200 phone calls between she and Peterson while the search was going for his then missing wife. Sources told Fox that Frey and her new boyfriend were very much in love and talking about getting married.

Frey, who has never wed and is the single mother of a 2-year-old girl, has been in seclusion since early in the case. She reportedly is attending beauty school in Fresno.

A gag order issued by the judge hearing the case has forced Frey to only speak through her attorney, Gloria Allred. However, she was the focal point of the recently concluded preliminary hearing in the case. For days, it was rumored she would be called to the stand, but in the end prosecutors decided to tell Frey's story through the testimony of the investigators who worked with her.

Modesto Police Det. Al Brocchini told the court that Frey called police just days after Laci Peterson's Christmas Eve disappearance.

"She said she met Scott on November 20th," the detective told the court. "He (Peterson) said he wasn't married at the time. Later, about December 9th, she found out he was married and confronted him; and he had told her that he had lost his wife and that she was -- this would be the first holiday that he would be without his wife. She said that he was still calling her. This was the 30th (of December). He was still calling her.".......

[Devil_Anse]

sturgeon fishing with a 15' gamefisher alum. boat

... and no bait. Mm-hmm. Sure!

I think the alibi was going to be golf. But then someone was around when he went to the Bay. So he had to change his story somewhat.

[Devil_Anse]

Yes--Gloria is strangely silent!! LOLOL!!!

[Devil_Anse]

Oh, there's no chance the trial would be ready to go in the next 5-6 months anyway! I bet Amber's new child will be talking by the time Amber gets up there and starts... talking.

[runningbear]

ROFL... ;o)

[Yaelle]

Come on; Gloria is P.O.'ed at her client. This pregnancy does NOT make Amber look too good, now, does it? There aren't too many other things Amber could have done to make her look LESS credible.

[drjulie]

"Come on; Gloria is P.O.'ed at her client. This pregnancy does NOT make Amber look too good, now, does it? There aren't too many other things Amber could have done to make her look LESS credible."

How does this make her less credible? How is a pregnancy relevant to what happened with Scott a year ago? The only thing I can see here is that Geragos will NOT want to attack her on the stand when she's visibly pregnant.

[runningbear]

Posted for grizzfan

Judge says Geragos was entitled to payments despite frozen assets

Judge says Geragos was entitled to payments despite frozen assets

Geragos BEE FILE

By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

Last Updated: December 2, 2003, 08:38:53 AM PST

A federal judge handed Scott Peterson's lawyer a victory over federal securities officials in a separate case in Rhode Island.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was wrong to urge that Mark Geragos be held in contempt of court for arranging payments to himself from clients with frozen assets, the judge ruled last week.

"I hate to say I told you so, but the thing was totally groundless to begin with, and obviously the judge saw through it," Geragos said Monday.

Also cleared were George Buehler, an attorney in Geragos' Los Angeles law firm, and a Beverly Hills accounting firm that received similar payments.

Martin Laffer, a co-owner of the accounting firm, said SEC officials likely "realized they had a lot of publicity potential with this thing" because of Geragos' stature as a celebrity lawyer.

Geragos is in the midst of representing Peterson, the accused double-murderer from Modesto, and entertainer Michael Jackson, accused of child molestation, and has formerly represented actors Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder, and former Rep. Gary Condit of Ceres.

Geragos started representing Jackson earlier this year, though the relationship was not made public until authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jackson on Nov. 19, the day after a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge ordered Peterson to stand trial.

Peterson, 31, is charged with murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

In the SEC case, Geragos masterminded payments of $50,000 to his firm and $41,350 to Laffer's despite a Rhode Island judge's order freezing assets of Dennis Herula, a former securities broker, and his wife, attorney Mary Lee Capalbo.

Under Geragos' direction, the couple cobbled funds from various credit card advances -- a source not tied to the couple's assets, Geragos insisted in September.

U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi agreed, writing in her decision: "A credit card does not fit within the definition of an asset because it is something used to obtain items of value, rather than having any intrinsic value of its own."

Geragos said, "One would have hoped the SEC knew the difference between an asset and a debit."

Also, SEC officials in an unrelated Texas case acknowledged a distinction between credit cards and other assets -- suggesting they should have known better than to go after Geragos, Lisi wrote.

"The SEC's position that a credit card is an asset is a joke," Laffer said.

Some legal observers have said that federal regulatory..........

[Sandylapper]

Just checking in to see what's happening on the case. Guess we won't know much until tomorrow.

[Canadian Outrage]

I do hope that Snotty has a most MEMORABLE Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!! Lots to reflect on huh Snott??? You can lie on your 2 inch thick mattress and think of what a cute little 10 month old might be entertaining the family.

[lakey]

Thanks for the ping.

[Yaelle]

How does this make her less credible?

Oh, I do think that Mr. and Ms. Average in the jury will be more tempted to think of her as a "loose tramp" and not just a good girl in the wrong place. Even after a horrific experience like this one, she did not use enough common sense to avoid sex altogether. She already has a fatherless toddler, whom apparently she even let Scott (after knowing him for a month) pick up from day care. All together, it shows that she doesn't have enough self-esteem or common sense to avoid relationships with wrong people. To some people, becoming pregnant without benefit of marriage or even engagement is a sign of relaxed thought processes or morals. I'd be inclined to agree.

[Yaelle]

And how. Our little boy, born the week Connor should have been, entertains the other 4 of us relentlessly with his precious antics. However, it is very hard to play the Golden Boy when your son shows you up in conversations again and again. I wonder if in some horrid way, Connor is not better off without a jealous, sociopathic dad around him.

[Canadian Outrage]

I would LIKE to think that Laci would have soon caught on as Snotty's love for the gutter life took more and more control. If she was, and I believe she was, as her friends and family have stated, NOT the type to be a doormat. I would LOVE to believe that Laci and little Connor would have left that bohunk and found happiness elsewhere. God knows, they certainly would have had a supportive family around them. Wouldn't it just be terrible for poor Snotty to have to make those payments EACH and EVERY month for the next 19 years. (Is 19 the age of majority in the US? it is here) but it may be 21 in the States. All the better, add three more years.

[Sandylapper]

Ahhh, c'mon, CO, cut Snotty a little slack. After all, he did say, "the baby--that was hard". /sarcasm

[Jackie-O]

I saw a little bit of Greta last night. Prosecution filed papers yesterday hinting at their theory that Laci was killed at home, transported to the warehouse in the truck that Snott wants back. Snott's blood found in the truck, talking head's hypothesizing that he was injured during the commission of the murder or after while disposing of her.
The mention that she was trucked to the nearby warehouse indicates pros. believe she was killed at home. And maybe explains why they sparred at the prelim over the mop and bucket...maybe used to clean crime scene. DA wants jurors to view the pickup as part of the crime scene.
The money will more than likely be photographed, and returned...possibly today.

[Devil_Anse]

The only infant Scott has probably ever even thought about is the emotional infant that is... Scott!

I think, really, that inside he must have an emotional development not too much further along than Connor's would have been about now! ("I want"--grab! "I don't want"--fling! crash!)

[Devil_Anse]

It depends on the state, but an example is: in one state, they pay till the kid turns 19; if the custodial parent has filed b/f that 10th birthday, they continue to pay while the kid goes to college (but not if the kid stays in college forever), or continue to pay if the kid is handicapped.

The age of majority is 21, but there are all sorts of confusing milestones: can be drafted at age 18, can't drink or buy tobacco till 21, can vote at 18, can be treated as youthful offender in criminal courts in at least one state until 21, and on and on.

I think she definitely would have left him, CO, and furthermore, I have often thought that she may have made a final decision to leave him and that that was what precipitated her murder. He couldn't have her ruining his Image that way! His bizarre, abnormally-large ego wouldn't bear his being seen as "the one who got left."

[Devil_Anse]

if the custodial parent has filed before that 10th birthday

I meant to say, "if the custodial parent has filed before that 19th birthday"!

[Devil_Anse]

Thanks for the run-down, Jackie!

Yes, I remember he said he cut his hand on his toolbox. Yeah, right.

I know this doesn't fit in with current theories, but: I can't help but remember reading of several cases (including OJ) in which a person using a knife to do serious damage ended up cutting himself with the knife. I mean, it's hard to furiously cut at some living person with a knife, w/o risking getting a cut.