Retired judge chosen to preside over Scott Peterson murder trial

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Wednesday, January 21, 2004 | Kim Curtis

[blondee123]

Thanks for the ping, as always, looks like there will be a lot going on from here on in, til the trial starts.

[runningbear]

lol...

[runningbear]

Continuing the thread for today, and ???

Prosecutors remove judge in Laci Peterson murder case

Posted on Fri, Jan. 23, 2004

Prosecutors remove judge in Laci Peterson murder case

Associated Press

MODESTO, Calif. - The Scott Peterson double-murder case returns to court Friday for procedural motions the day after prosecutors exercised their ability to remove a new judge from the upcoming trial on grounds he would be biased against them.

Prosecutors on Thursday challenged the assignment of Judge Richard Arnason, an 82-year-old retired judge with a reputation for a fatherly demeanor, in a maneuver that automatically guarantees his removal. It also guaranteed a delay in the start of the trial against Peterson, whom prosecutors allege killed his wife and unborn son.

Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso filed the challenge in Stanislaus County Superior Court after Arnason was appointed Wednesday to oversee the high-profile trial when it is moved to San Mateo County.

In a 56-word declaration, Distaso said Arnason "is prejudiced against the interest of the party, so that I believe I cannot have a fair and impartial hearing."

Prosecutors refused to elaborate on their reason for removing the judge, said a receptionist in the Stanislaus County District Attorney's office. Peterson's defense lawyer did not return calls seeking comment.

The peremptory challenge did not require that prosecutors show cause. Each side in the case gets one challenge.

The tactical move will postpone the case that was scheduled to start Monday because it will take a few days to find a new judge, said Lynn Holton, spokeswoman for the state's court administration.

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George said it would take until next week to find another judge qualified to handle the case, Holton said.

A hearing is scheduled Friday in Modesto to discuss the transfer to a courthouse in Redwood City and future court dates.

Arnason was selected Wednesday by George, in part because of his experience handling major trials. Court officials opted for a retired judge to hear the six-month case to avoid slowing down other trials.

Peterson, 31, faces the death penalty if convicted of two counts of murder for allegedly killing his pregnant wife, Laci, just before Christmas 2002 and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. In April, her remains and those of the fetus washed ashore two miles from where her husband said he was fishing on Christmas Eve when she vanished.

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Court hearing in Laci Peterson killing

Court hearing in Laci Peterson killing

Modesto, California-AP -- There's another court hearing today for Scott Peterson, the California man charged in the death of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.

Today's hearing to discuss a required change of venue and future court dates comes a day after prosecutors exercised their ability to remove a new judge from the upcoming trial.

Each side in the case gets one such challenge and isn't required to explain.

A new judge will be appointed by California's chief justice. That's expected to.......

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Peterson case to get a new judge</>

Peterson case to get a new judge

Thursday, January 22, 2004 Posted: 5:12 PM EST (2212 GMT)

(CNN) -- The murder trial of Scott Peterson will be delayed and get still another new judge after the district attorney in the case Thursday challenged the state chief justice's appointment of Judge Richard Arnason, announced only the day before.

"Under California law, each side is permitted one peremptory challenge, which effectively removes that judge from the case," said Lynn Holton, a spokeswoman for the California Judicial Council.

In a brief filed in Stanislaus County Superior Court, Modesto District Attorney James Brazelton said Arnason "is prejudiced against the interest of the party so that I believe that I cannot have a fair and impartial hearing" before him.

Peterson is charged with murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son in December 2002. Laci Peterson was last seen on Christmas Eve 2002, and the bodies washed up separately on the shore of San Francisco Bay in April 2003.

Peterson told police that he was fishing in the bay on the day his wife disappeared and had launched his boat from the Berkeley Marina. The bodies washed ashore just miles from the marina.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Chief Justice Ronald George assigned Arnason to hear the case when Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami stepped down after deciding to move the trial 90 miles away from Modesto to San Mateo County. (Full story)

Holton said George gave a great deal of consideration to the selection of Arnason and would give the same amount of consideration to his replacement.

"Therefore, he will not be making his selection until next week, but he is already starting to consider other .......

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Prosecutors Remove Peterson Judge

Prosecutors Remove Peterson Judge

Thursday, January 22, 2004

MODESTO, Calif. — Prosecutors in the murder case against Scott Peterson (search) exercised their ability Thursday to remove the judge appointed to preside at the trial, contending he is biased against them.

Under California law, the prosecution and the defense each have one opportunity to remove a judge without having to give a reason. A new judge will be appointed by California's chief justice.

Peterson, 31, is accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, just before Christmas 2002 and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. Her remains and those of the fetus she was carrying later washed ashore.

Prosecutors acted a day after retired Judge Richard Arnason (search), 82, was named to oversee the Peterson case when it is moved from central California to the San Francisco Bay area.

The case is being moved after a Modesto judge ruled Peterson could not easily get a fair trial in his dead wife's hometown.

Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso (search) said Arnason "is prejudiced against the interest of the party, so that I believe I cannot have a fair and impartial hearing."

Prosecutors refused to elaborate on their reason for removing the judge, said a receptionist in the Stanislaus County District Attorney's office. Peterson's defense lawyer did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The tactical move will postpone the case that was scheduled to start Monday, said Lynn Holton, spokeswoman for the state's court administration.

Holton said it will take State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George (search) until next week to find another judge for the case.

A hearing is scheduled Friday in Modesto to discuss the transfer to a courthouse in Redwood City and future court dates. .....

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Double-edged sword raised in trial move

Posted on Fri, Jan. 23, 2004

Double-edged sword raised in trial move

By L.A. Chung

Mercury News Staff Columnist

If she could say it all over again, Anne LeClair would say it differently.

After a Modesto judge announced that the murder trial of Scott Peterson would be moved to Redwood City, the president of the San Mateo County Convention & Visitors Bureau said she and her staff were ``ecstatic.'' They were ``screaming with great excitement,'' she said, as quoted from here to London. Now she's chagrined at how that looks in print.

``My heart sank,'' LeClair said. And eyebrows rose. From here to London.

Is a double-murder trial coming to your community akin to landing a doctors' convention? Is it like getting an arena football team?

``This is hysterical to me,'' Bill Fallon, a legal commentator on MSNBC's ``The Abrams Report,'' said Tuesday, when LeClair appeared as a guest to address the impact of the change in venue. ``I mean, it's almost offensive.''

My eyebrows rose too. So I called.

LeClair has spent nights thinking about how she and the bureau ended up looking like mercenaries and ambulance chasers (her words).

``We feel terrible about it,'' LeClair said. ``We feel terrible about the circumstances of this trial. We did not mean any disrespect to Laci Peterson at all.''

Didn't lobby

But groups like hers assist whether people come for weddings, or God forbid, a murder case like that of Laci Peterson. LeClair has written a letter to the editor to various newspapers, trying to set the record straight: That the bureau did not lobby for the trial, did not try to sell the county or compete with other counties under consideration.

Some know that big trials are a double-edged sword -- that the attention has both opportunities and pitfalls.

``Welcome to the high-profile trial club,'' e-mailed a counterpart, Jim Ricketts at the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, the community where the sniper trial of John Muhammad ended barely two months ago. He offered contacts on logistics if LeClair needed them.

LeClair got involved by writing to Judge Al Girolami of the Stanislaus County Superior Court, saying she understood that San Mateo County was one of several under consideration for the change of venue.

If the trial ended up in San Mateo County, she said, here was a contact to assist news organizations with audio-visual, permit requirements, lodging and the like. That turned into ........

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Unborn victims bill gains House panel's approval

Unborn victims bill gains House panel's approval

Jan 22, 2004
By Staff

WASHINGTON (BP)--A House of Representatives committee has pushed forward legislation that would recognize an unborn child as a crime victim when injured or slain during the commission of a crime against his mother.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 20-13 for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in action Jan. 21. The vote was along party lines, with Republicans in the majority.

Passage on the House floor is expected. The House approved the measure in both 1999 and 2001, but the Senate has never acted on it. President Bush has indicated he will sign the bill if it arrives on his desk.

Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the bill "promotes a compassionate and just society by punishing those criminals that target pregnant women and harm unborn children through violence."

Abortion-rights advocates oppose the measure, even though it exempts the performance of an abortion. NARAL Pro-choice America, a leading abortion-rights organization, has described the bill as a "sneak attack on a woman's right to choose."

However, Doug Johnson, the National Right to Life Committee's legislative director, said, "When a criminal attacks a woman and kills her unborn child, he has claimed two victims, and this bill would recognize that for federal crimes.

"The bill explicitly exempts abortion -- yet, pro-abortion advocacy groups have so far obstructed the bill in the Senate," Johnson said.

The House bill is H.R. 1997 and is sponsored by Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa. The Senate version is S. 1019, with Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, its chief sponsor.

In the House, the bill is titled Laci and Conner's........

[drjulie]

"Just my opinion: You BET she sold it! And I think her story stinks anyway!"

It does seem far fetched to me. I wonder whatever happened to Dirty, Skeeter & attorney Frank Muna? That story, at least, seemed a bit more plausible.

[Velveeta]

Enquiring minds want to know...

Considering Penny's monologue about grandma and the name Scott: Did she ever name a child of hers Scott? Or did she diss grandma?

[Constitution Day]

Slim,

I missed this yesterday... sorry!
I am picture-impaired at the moment, I'm afraid.

CD

[Tijeras_Slim]

All is forgiven...you were doing good works.

[Constitution Day]

Hey, I forgot to mention that I met hellinahandcart for the first time.
If we had had dighton in attendance, we'd almost have a quorum of the Nasty Little Clique™!

Gotta go now, others are waiting for this computer.

CD

[Spunky]

POSSIBLE REASONS FOR JUDGE ARNASON'S REMOVAL
(This below may be the reason, but I would like to know if Prosecutor Distaso or any of the other Prosecutor's in the Peterson case and Judge Arnason ever faced each other on a different case and what the outcome was.)

SNIPPET:
Although prosecutors weren't required to say specifically why they didn't want Arnason, legal experts said Thursday that the judge's handling of the Angela Davis murder and conspiracy trial three decades ago -- in which he released the black militant on bail and granted her co-counsel status -- may have been a factor in removing him from the Peterson case.

Arnason has also come under fire from prosecutors in a handful of cases when he declined to count prior convictions under the state's "three strikes" law. The law requires a prison term of 25 years to life for felons convicted of a third felony after two serious or violent felony convictions.

In 1996, Contra Costa prosecutors criticized Arnason for disregarding a 23-year-old Pittsburg man's two burglary convictions when sentencing him to 16 years in prison for snatching a high school teacher's purse.

"Obviously, (Stanislaus County prosecutors) have looked at his prior cases and prior writings. The prosecution is making the choice that they'd rather take the chance with someone else than him," said Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor at the University of Southern California.

"I'm sure that the D.A. sees that as being a soft-on-crime judge, and they want a judge who they feel will uphold the law rather than change the law, " said Ernie Spokes, a former Stanislaus County prosecutor who is now a defense attorney.
San Francisco Chronicle

[maggief]

Let's see ... my guess is that he was removed because of his liberal leanings. After all, he went to law school at Berkeley.


EXCERPT

...Prosecutors plan to ask during a hearing today for a two-week delay to move their operation, Distaso said in court this week.

Several legal observers doubted that prosecutors decided to block Arnason to buy time.

“I don’t think they would have done it to try to get a delay,” veteran Modesto defense attorney Robert Wildman said. “In a matter of hours they could have had another judge assigned.”

Girolami could opt to remain with the case, legal observers said. Earlier this month, Girolami agreed to a defense request to move the case, ruling that massive publicity endangered Peterson’s ability to get a fair trial in his wife’s hometown.

Arnason has demonstrated compassion on the bench and some could view that as liberalism, Hammer said, pointing to press reports that Arnason delayed proceedings after a capital murder defendant was not allowed to shave in jail before coming to court.

Arnason reportedly took off his judge’s robe, walked to a convenience store, bought a razor and shaving cream, and let the defendant shave in his private bathroom.

In 1996, he presided over the trial of a mother who was convicted of child abuse because her 680-pound daughter died of congestive heart failure at age 13. Arnason sentenced the mother to three years’ probation and 240 hours of community service.

In 1994, in a case in which a man stole $80 worth of batteries, Arnason refused to impose a life sentence, even though California’s “three strikes, you’re out” law, adopted earlier that year, allowed the stiff sentence. The judge said he had the discretion to reduce a felony conviction to a misdemeanor.

Accurso, who said he has known Arnason for 20 to 25 years, described him as a “straight arrow.”

“He doesn’t favor anybody,” Accurso said. “As judges you sometimes have to make rulings that go against your grain, but that’s what the rules are and that’s his reputation.”

Analysts said it was speculation to try to determine prosecutors’ motives for disqualifying the judge, but said prosecutors are to have asked their counterparts in Contra Costa County how they had fared in front of Arnason.

“It seems both sides did their homework,” Hammer said. “And the prosecution found something they didn’t like.”

http://www.mercedsun-star.com/news/newsview.asp?c=91975

[Canadian Outrage]

I didn't like Arnason either Joyce. He is a soft on crime judge (a REAL Liberal) and he would likely be talked into bail for Snott. I'm EXTREMELY relieved that he's off this case. As to Girolami, Geragos LOST a lot more motions than he won with Girolami. In fact, Geragos attempted to have Girolami removed but Girolami refused.

[Canadian Outrage]

Jeez, I've been watching Court TV on this case and Geragos is arguing that the Prosecution was too late to file their papers on the removal of Judge Arnason. He even is arguing that Girolami can no longer rule on any of the issues.!! According to Beth Karas, it may be the Judges Council that decides on a new Judge OR Arnason HIMSELF???? God this is getting complicated. Geragos is going to be a pain the arse all the way through this trial. He's always arguing that the sitting Judge CAN'T do this or that. I thought Distaso had a good answer. He stated that he completely DISAGREED with Geragos' argument because "were not arguing Statutes here but Constitutionality"!! That made sense to me but then Beth Karas comes out with "Arnason himself may have to hear the argument to remove himself"?? Help!! Dev - any information?????

[Howlin]

Too late? In one day?

[Canadian Outrage]

Yeah I know?? I didn't really get the goings on. First they had a representative from the Judicial Council saying that Judge George was selecting a "new Judge" and then Beth Karas reports that the challenge may be heard by Arnason himself? I think the Prosecutors are right on this. As Distaso pointed out, he had no other time to file the challenge.

[Howlin]

MSNBC: trial delayed.

Hearing date: 2/2

Geragos said that they didn't file in a "timely" manner......should have filed on the day he was assigned.

[Canadian Outrage]

I listened to as much of Geragos's argument as I could stomach and then I muted it. Then when Distaso spoke I listened. After my last post to you I could hear them talking about this again on Court TV and Beth Karas is NOW saying that the Prosecution will very likely get a new Judge or Girolami may opt to stay with the case. I'm praying that Girolami stays with it. He knows this case the best and I think he's a good Judge. He's very sharp, he's unflappable, he doesn't play any of the Defense games and he's just an all around good Judge. What do you think?

[Canadian Outrage]

DD - your post #49 - GREAT scenario!! Your just too kind to the Snott however, LOL!! Maybe your wife could suggest a couple more ideas to go along with yours. Perhaps there should be a rest stop at a spot overlooking the Bay!! You know, just stop and look out over the Bay and think about how cold, dirty, and dark it is at the bottom of that Bay. (I'd like to attach a few "seement" weights to Snotty and drop him in alive. (He pronounces cement - seement).

[Canadian Outrage]

OKAY, Where is EVERYBODY??? I'm snowed in and have time to post today and everybody decides to take a hike!! Sheesh.

[Devil_Anse]

Thanks for the article! I'm starting to be glad Judge Arnason is out of the picture.

[Devil_Anse]

That does it! Add grandma to the witness list!!