Distaso attacks defense motion

Prosecutors Wednesday countered a defense effort to dismiss double-murder charges against Scott Peterson. They argued that there was only one reasonable explanation for the bodies of his wife and unborn son washing ashore along San Francisco Bay:

"The evidence leads only to the conclusion that Laci was killed at the hands of another (the defendant)," Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso wrote in documents filed in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

The defense contends prosecutors failed to show at a November 2003 preliminary hearing that Laci Peterson's death involved a crime or provide evidence Scott Peterson killed her.

Peterson was ordered held for trial on charges he murdered his wife and their unborn son, Conner, following the 12-day hearing. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Prosecutors need only establish probable cause -- a low threshold of proof -- at the preliminary hearing.

Legal observers have said the defense motion has little chance of success. A hearing on it is set for Wednesday.

The defense maintains prosecutors failed to establish that Laci Peterson's death was a homicide. Her nearly skeletal remains were found in April 2003. A medical examiner listed the manner of death as a homicide but was unable to determine the cause of death.

Prosecutors contend there are three possible explanations for how Laci and Conner Peterson's bodies found their way to San Francisco Bay: foul play, an accident or suicide........

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

Mark Geragos and Pat Harris, attorneys for Scott Peterson, arrive at the Stanislaus County Court house on Thursday. By MARTY BICEK/THE BEE

Lee and Jackie Peterson, the parents of Scott Peterson, speak to the press as they arrive at the Stanislaus County Courthouse on Thursday. By MARTY BICEK/THE BEE

Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda counties are on the short list of where Scott Peterson's trial on double-murder charges will be held. Superior Court Judge Al Girolami ruled this afternoon that the trial should be moved out of Stanislaus County because of massive pre-trial publicity.

Girolami directed the prosecution and defense to suggest three options each. He told them to consider the following criteria for those locations:

Girolami and the attorneys came up with the three Bay Area options. The judge will send the list to the state Administrative Office of the Courts, which will then issue its own list, based on which counties have the available space and personnel for the case.

Girolami said he regretted the inconvenience and hardship the move will cause for witnesses in the case, and the significant cost for the county.

Peterson, 31, is accused of murdering his wife, Laci and their unborn son. Their bodies washed ashore along the San Francisco Bay in April, near where Peterson told police he went fishing on Christmas Eve 2002, the day he reported his .......

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

The cost to move a high-profile trial -- which can be exorbitant -- isn't supposed to enter a judge's mind when he or she makes the big decision.

"The expense just builds and builds," said Thomas Testa, a San Joaquin County prosecutor who handled two multiple-murder trials moved to Santa Clara County.

In many cases, the extra costs amount to several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And the Peterson proceeding isn't a run-of-the-mill case. The preliminary hearing alone stretched across three weeks, and the trial is expected to last six months.

Judge Al Girolami today is set to hear arguments from both sides over Peterson's request to move the much-anticipated trial. It is scheduled to begin Jan. 26 but could be postponed, particularly if Girolami says a fair trial in Modesto is unlikely.

Peterson, 31, is charged in the slayings of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors seek the death penalty.

"Little things you don't think about: paper clips, fax machines, a courier service, socks," Testa said. "You've got to orchestrate things that now are on automatic pilot. One night I was driving around in the rain at 11:30, getting lost, looking for a

Aside from attorneys, trials require judges, clerks, bailiffs and stenographers, as well as witnesses, including experts who might need to fly in from anywhere in the United States..........

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

MODESTO - The fate of Scott Peterson may end up in the hands of 12 people from Santa Clara County.

Stanislaus County Judge Al Girolami ruled Thursday that the trial should be moved from Modesto, preferably to Santa Clara County, because overwhelming publicity and the community's connection to the case would make it difficult to find a fair and impartial local jury. Peterson is accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son.

Santa Clara County is Girolami's top choice, with San Mateo and Alameda counties next on his list. Girolami grew up in downtown San Jose and attended Santa Clara University School of Law.

In court Thursday, Girolami said he prefers that the trial be held within driving distance of Modesto and near a major airport. A panel of judges across the state will take the judge's recommendation and survey counties to determine whether they have the time and space to host a trial that could last as long as six months and attract scores of national journalists.

``If the venue is changed to Santa Clara County, we are more than willing to accept it and do what we need to do,'' Kim V. Kelly, assistant chief executive officer for Santa Clara County Superior Court, said Thursday afternoon.

Santa Clara County has a history of inheriting high-profile cases -- from Cary Stayner's Yosemite murder trial in 2002 to the case of Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered Polly Klaas, and even back to the 1970 trial of black activist Angela Davis, who was acquitted of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.

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

State court revisits murder of a fetus
What if attacker is unaware of pregnancy?

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

The state Supreme Court returned to the stormy issue of fetal murder for the first time in a decade Wednesday with arguments over whether a Northern California man who killed his ex-girlfriend could be convicted of a double murder if he didn't know she was pregnant.

In a ruling that is due within 90 days, the court must define a law it was instrumental in passing. The court ruled in 1970 that a man who stomped on his pregnant ex-wife, deliberately killing her fetus, was not guilty of murder because the state's murder law applied only to the killing of a human being.

The California Legislature immediately expanded the state's murder law to cover the killing of a fetus without the woman's consent. Wednesday's hearing, in a case from Mendocino County, concerned the scope of the law: whether a defendant unaware of the intended victim's pregnancy can be convicted of fetal murder.

A ruling in the state's favor could lead to more prosecutions under the law, possibly including some death penalty cases.

Nationally, the issue of crimes against a fetus has become a battleground in Congress, where opposing sides in the abortion debate are battling over legislation that would make it a crime to injure or kill a fetus during a violent federal crime on a pregnant.........

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

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The mother of Laci Peterson urged Kentucky lawmakers Thursday to act in the "interests of true justice" and pass a "fetal homicide" bill that has been stymied for years.

Sharon Rocha, whose daughter and unborn grandson were found dead along the California coast last year, wrote a letter endorsing a bill that would apply homicide statutes to a fetus from the time of conception.

The bill also picked up support from Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who told a Capitol rally, "It is time that we pass this legislation."

Under rulings by the Kentucky Supreme Court, a fetus is not a person until a live birth occurs. In one defining case, the court overturned a murder indictment against a man who attacked his pregnant wife and killed the fetus.

In her letter, Rocha said if her daughter and unborn grandson had died in Kentucky, it would have resulted in a single homicide charge.

She said if a mother survives an assault but loses her fetus, Kentucky law doesn't recognize any loss of human life. She said "this injustice would be cured" by enactment of the bill, named the Caleb-Haley Act to memorialize two babies .......

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

A Superior Court judge has granted a change of venue in the Scott Peterson murder trial.

NBC11 reporter Karen Brown said the judge pointed to the inordinate amount of publicity given to the case in Modesto and that so many residents sympathized with victim Laci Peterson in her own hometown.

He also pointed the small size of Stanislaus County, with a population of 500,000 -- thus reducing the pool of potential jurors, as a reason for his decision.

The judge's decision denied arguments by county prosecutors that news coverage of the case, which gained national notoriety as Laci Peterson's disappearance went unsolved for nearly five months last year, is so widespread in California that there is no point in moving the trial.

Defense lawyer Mark Geragos argued in court papers that Peterson has been demonized and that the prosecution's argument "can be boiled down to the old adage, 'Sure we can give him a fair trial, then we will take him out and hang him."'........

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg	Freepers/Avg	Monthlies
38	New Hampshire	145.00	4	36.25	98	1.48

Ruh, roh!!! FABRICATED SURVEY RESULTS!!

Trial moved; survey flawed?

By GARTH STAPLEY and JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITERS

Last Updated: January 9, 2004, 06:57:18 AM PST

Several university students said Thursday that they fabricated survey results factored into in a judge's decision to move Scott Peterson's capital murder trial out of Modesto.
Judge Al Girolami learned of the phony-poll allegation just before 5 p.m. and, through a court intermediary, refused to comment.

"We falsified the info," said a 20-year-old criminal justice student at California State University, Stanislaus. "The stuff we submitted wasn't true."

He referred to the 10-county Peterson bias survey compiled by 65 students and overseen by Professor Stephen Schoenthaler.

Informed Thursday evening of the students' claims, Schoenthaler said, "I'm stunned and I find it hard to believe. It seems impossible that I could have missed something like that."

University Vice Provost Diana Demetrulias said her office will launch an investigation today.

Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold suggested that the revelation could cause Girolami to reconsider his decision.

"Oh, my God," Goold said when informed of the students' claims. "It certainly sounds like this would affect the underpinnings of the judge's decision."

The student and five others -- all seniors -- said Thursday that they made up every answer on all the surveys they submitted because they found it difficult to gather legitimate data.

They did it, they said, because they were short on time and money. They were required to participate in the survey for 20 percent of their grade and were given no money for dozens of lengthy long-distance phone calls, they said.

Another senior said she struggled to complete half of her required surveys, then gave up and faked the rest. Another said she refused to cheat but didn't have the resources to do the survey, so she didn't -- knowing that her grade could be lowered from A to C.

Three of the eight said they used answers from friends and relatives on some surveys, also in violation of survey ethics.

Goold said his office would discuss a course of action. Regarding the judge, Goold said, "If he is aware of impropriety, he can notify the parties to be in court tomorrow" to address "falsity before the court."

Peterson attorney Mark Geragos of Los Angeles said, "Hypothetically speaking, one should never put any credence in anonymous sources."

All students requested anonymity.

On the witness stand Thursday, Schoenthaler insisted that his methodology was sound when prosecutor Dave Harris questioned the survey's integrity.

"Is it possible that college students went home and simply made these numbers up?" Harris said later in court. "I think there is a significant likelihood of that."

Phone numbers not verified

Harris' arguments appeared to have little effect on Girolami, who said his decision to move the trial was heavily based on a "massive amount of publicity."

In conducting the survey, Schoenthaler said he required students to include the phone numbers they supposedly called when submitting data, but that he had not verified any by calling them himself.

But formulas developed to detect fraud didn't alert him to anything unusual, the professor said.

Before The Bee published the survey results Sunday, Schoenthaler said he used 65 students to poll 1,175 prospective jurors randomly by telephone in late November and early December. He said from 114 to 122 people responded in each of California's eight largest counties, plus Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.

The survey suggested that more jurors without bias could be found in the Bay Area and Southern California than in Stanislaus County. Geragos submitted the survey as an official case exhibit, and the judge cited it when explaining his decision to move the trial.

Schoenthaler testified that no one hired him or paid him to do that survey or a smaller one in May. He has said he hoped to provide a public service and perhaps save taxpayer money.

In court Thursday, Harris questioned Schoenthaler's motives, suggesting the professor sought public distinction. He said the survey was poorly designed and gave students the opportunity and motive to falsify their data.

"You have to ask yourself what else is wrong with (the survey) when you ask college students for credit to go back to their house or their dorms to make long-distance calls," Harris said.

The students said Schoenthaler told them they could expect people further away to know less about the case. They said they fabricated the surveys accordingly.

"You just make it up," said a 21-year-old student.

Schoenthaler gave the students survey materials two days before Thanksgiving, he and they said.

"It's just an asinine thing to make a student do a week before finals," a 22-year-old student said. "There is no way (Schoenthaler) can say this is legitimate, because he wasn't there when we supposedly made it up."

A 21-year-old student said: "It's bogus."

Students unaware of survey use

Some students said they would have come forward earlier but they had no idea their fabrications would be used to help sway a judge making such an important decision.

A 35-year-old student said, "This is a death penalty case. This guy's life is on the line. I'm absolutely outraged."

University spokesman Don Hansen said discipline for dishonest work can range from writing a paper or community service to suspension or expulsion.

Vice Provost Demetrulias said her probe could take a week.

"We will initiate this in the morning," she said Thursday evening. "We take very seriously any scientific misconduct or suggestion of that. We will be working on it."

A class syllabus given to the students at the beginning of the fall semester states that 20 percent of the grade would be based on a class project. The description:

"Each student will be assigned to survey public opinion attitudes and knowledge on the telephone from 20 people in various parts of California to test hypotheses that will be done in class. The survey typically takes five or six hours to complete and an hour of practice."

Stephen Lubet of Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago said, "The point is to teach students, not obtain their labor."

http://modbee.com/local/story/7981057p-8852389c.html

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.