SCOTT BURNED IN RAGE

The NY POST ^ | June 10 2004 | Howard Breuer

[oceanperch]

With MG's track record grasping at straws seems to be his talent.

[uncitizen]

why not ask her loving husband to run out for a few small items while she's busy getting ready, setting the table, cooking....

You forgot walking the dog and mopping the floor...

[sharktrager]

I think Scott is guilty, but...

The guy is comparing apples and oranges. If my wife (now ex-wife) disappeared, I would be stunned and shaken. My reaction would be nothing like it would be if I had just screwed up dinner. Not to mention the fact that Laci's family are not exactly impartial observers. Right now they are, quite understandably, looking for anything that might have been a sign of what Scott was going to do, or had done.

It's like when the neighbors say a murderer "kept to himself". The media always reports it because it implies he is a crazed loner, and grabs people's attention. But maybe he just doesn't like his neighbors. Maybe that neighbor is just mad that he didn't buy a candy bar from her kid during the last fund raiser.

I think the recollections of an investigating officer would be more telling.

[Labyrinthos]

I'm surprised that the judge even allowed the witnesses to testify as to their "suspiscions." Fact witnesses are supposed to testify to what they observed -- what they saw, heard, or physically felt -- not their suspiscions, which are nothing more than surmise and spectualation.

[juzcuz]

Scotts problem solving alot like Charred Chicken.

He had to have forgotten about it on the grill... I'm trying to imagine that scene with his Chicken in flames. I wonder what problems he was solving at the time that took his attention away from the Grill. Probably one of his other Hens left a Chicken S*** message on one of his numerous problem solving cell phones.

[Devil_Anse]

why not ask her loving husband to run out for a few small items while she's busy getting ready, setting the table, cooking...

...walking the dog and mopping the floor

... and sitting at her dressing table looking cute while arranging her hair... This woman must've been a skilled juggler...

[Devil_Anse]

In January, 2003, I remember that we heard something like, the police said "If you knew what we knew, you'd understand why we keep going back to the Bay." Something like that.

Well, what they knew was: Scott kept inexplicably driving to the Bay. And he was attempting to do it secretly. Rather than (as Geragos says) Scott's having driven to the Bay b/c the police were going there, I think a large part of the time, the police were continuing to dive in the Bay b/c they saw that Scott kept going there.

[uncitizen]

Was she fixing her hair before going to mop the floor?

[Devil_Anse]

LOL! Imagine his thought processes... "Okay, that one that just rang, that's my Friday cellphone... let's see... that's the one that I take my calls from Georgette on... now what story did I give Georgette? Gotta think..."

[Devil_Anse]

It's permissible for a witness to speak of his own state of mind.

[juzcuz]

LOLOTFL

[X-Servative]

I think he's probably guilty; however, the story of Scott at the bay was out from the begining and the media coverage was non-stop. If someone else had kidnapped Laci and was going to kill her at a later date, what better location to dump the body then in the bay where the husband said he was on the day of her disappearance. Afterall, the husband is always the first suspect in these cases.

[Devil_Anse]

If you think Laci's family are not exactly impartial observers, wait till Scott's family members start testifying.

[Devil_Anse]

The story that Scott had SAID he spent "the day" fishing in the Bay was out, yes. But nobody, and I mean nobody, knew what time the parking ticket for the marina had stamped on it. Nobody who talked about this case could do anything but go on what Scott said: "Okay, he says he left home at 9:30, so he must've gotten to Berkeley about 11:00..."

That was all the public had. Furthermore, there were doubts raised from the beginning--sometimes it appeared that most people doubted he had really gone to the Bay at all. It was by no means an accepted fact that he had even gone to the Bay.

And if the "story of Scott at the bay" was constantly being told, that works both ways: since the alleged involvement of the Bay was well-known, you can bet that if anyone had done anything suspicious in the ensuing days, such as dump a body, at the Bay, SOMEONE would have noticed.

[sharktrager]

I agree. But no reporters will try to paint their observations as if they are impartial observations.

This type of story is just the media hyping a story because of the prurient interest of the public.

Heck, the only reason I even opened the thread was because the headline was a prime example of how the press and the courts are taking observations that make no sense at all and acting as if they are valuable information.

[oceanperch]

Hah! Scotty led LEO all the way.
Dumb jerk.

[Labyrinthos]

It's permissible for a witness to speak of his own state of mind.

That's not state of mind testimony. For example, "I was angry," "I was sad," "I felt humiliated," all refer to the witnesses' state of mind. "The defendant acted suspisciouly" is nothing more than a speculative conclusion based upon other facts. The witness should testify as to what he or she observed and let the prosecutor argue to the jury that the defendant's conduct was suspiscious.

[Jackie-O]

That bay was under the media microscope, and probably the immediate community, since the very beginning...not to mention that it was many times crawling with LE.
( And Snotty himself was out there lurking around numerous times afterwards too,) I doubt that the "real killers" would have risked being noticed hauling a heavily weighted pregnant persons body to dump their in an elaborate scheme to frame Snotty. An unbelievable scenario, IMO.
And like you said Dev...the public was not privy to timetables, details much like that.

[Liberatio]

Even so...it seems like her family and friends are out to get him no matter even...even from the beginning sometimes it seemed to be the case.

[Jackie-O]

Laci's family has been tight lipped up until the trial..the few times they had interviews, they were very careful not to speak against SP, IMO to protect the integrity of the case. They are under oath for testimony, I doubt they would lie knowing that a conviction would send their son-in-law to Death Row. They have never given me the impression that they are out for his blood, at any cost.
When they leave the courtroom every day, they make limited, if any comments, and do so in a dignified manner.
Scott's family is the other side of the spectrum.