Sun 11 Jul 2004
Posted on 07/12/2004 5:39:31 AM PDT by runningbear
‘No Joy in Our Lives’
Peterson's Parents Speak Out on Son's Murder Trial
July 9, 2004 — A year and a half ago Lee and Jackie Peterson were eagerly awaiting the birth of their grandson. Today, they say, there is no joy in their lives.
Watch Barbara Walters' full report tonight on 20/20 at 10 p.m.
Their son Scott is on trial, accused of the savage murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, a baby they planned to name Conner.
Lee and Jackie Peterson tell 20/20's Barbara Walters they are convinced of their son's innocence. But as the case unfolds in a Redwood City, Calif., courthouse, the Petersons must reconcile two versions of their son: one, a wrongly accused husband who grieves for his murdered wife and unborn son, and the other, an adulterer turned cold-blooded monster. ........
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Peterson Trial Enters 7th Week
Jurors in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial have had more time outside the courtroom than in it recently to mull the prosecution's claims that the former fertilizer salesman killed his pregnant wife.
SLIDESHOW: Peterson Case Images
Heather's Trial Notes
The case resumes today following a four-day weekend -- the beginning of its seventh week, one that could see the most-anticipated witness called to the stand.
Prosecutors are still making their case that Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, trucked the body to San Francisco Bay in a large tool box and plunged it overboard from a small boat.
His alleged motive: an affair with massage therapist Amber Frey.
Frey, who began cooperating with authorities soon after Laci Peterson was reported missing, could testify this week. Though a judge has imposed a gag order, preventing attorneys from discussing who will be called, court officials recently advised media about special procedures for when Frey testifies. .........
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Phone records raise queries
By JOHN COTÉ and GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITERS
Last Updated: July 10, 2004, 07:04:26 AM PDT
Scott Peterson's girlfriend called a Fresno police homicide detective's home in the days before and after Peterson's wife disappeared, partial cell phone records show.
Detective Richard Byrd's name surfaced in Peterson's double-murder trial during questioning about when Amber Frey called Modesto police about her relationship with Peterson and her whereabouts the day that Laci Peterson was reported missing.
Frey placed an almost hourlong call to Byrd's home the night of Dec. 21, 2002 -- three days before Peterson was reported missing, according to the phone records.
The next two calls from Frey's cell phone were to Scott Peterson the next morning, the documents show.
Frey called Byrd's home at least three times, for a total of 84 minutes, from Dec. 21, 2002, to Jan. 2, 2003, the records show. A 26-minute call from Frey's cell phone to Byrd's home took place the evening of Jan. 1, 2003 -- two days after Frey reportedly became aware that Peterson was married and his wife was missing.
Byrd declined to comment on the phone records, Frey's calls or the nature of their relationship.........
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THE PETERSON TRIAL
Prosecution faulted by observers in court
Defense seems to be scoring points during D.A.'s time
Harriet Chiang, Chronicle Legal Affairs Writer
Sunday, July 11, 2004
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Is Scott Peterson's defense team that good? Or are the prosecutors just not up to snuff?
That's what veteran trial lawyers are mulling over as they watch prosecutors try to convince a jury in Redwood City that Peterson is guilty of double murder.
After all, legal experts say, this is the prosecution's chance to bring out its most incriminating evidence, to build a rock-solid case against the Modesto fertilizer salesman who is accused of the 2002 slaying of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.
But after five weeks of testimony, Mark Geragos, Peterson's noted defense attorney, instead seems be scoring one point after another, experts say.
During intense cross-examinations, Geragos has been able to produce evidence supporting his version of the facts, hammer away at the credibility of prosecution witnesses and even assume control of the courtroom, according to lawyers who have been observing the trial from the gallery of the Redwood City courtroom.......
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For all out missed this ping over the weekend
Sun 11 Jul 2004
Double act: Experts believe Senator John Edwards, right, brings real strengths to John Kerry’s Democratic ticket. He is an attractive figure who may help Kerry appeal to centrist voters in the presidential quest.
Picture: Justin Sullivan/ Getty Images
Dream team ready for Bush
ALEX MASSIE IN WASHINGTON
BATTLE is now officially joined. John Kerry’s selection of John Edwards as his running mate completes the rival tickets for this year’s presidential election and allows the campaign to start in full-blooded earnest.
Already Kerry’s choice is reaping rewards. Edwards, whose sunny, optimistic populism appealed to independent and moderate voters during the primary season, fills in some of the blanks in Kerry’s political curriculum vitae.
Where Kerry is a son of privilege, Edwards is self-made and his southern charm neatly balances Kerry’s New England and mildly aristocratic appearance while also giving the ticket a geographic spread that makes it seem as though it is appealing to all America.
On the stump, too, it is merely a small exaggeration to argue that in terms of eloquence Edwards is to Kerry as Tony Blair is to George W Bush.
An initial, post-announcement, CBS poll gave Kerry a four-point boost but that may only be the beginning of the good news for the Democrat challenger.
Perhaps in an effort to shake voters out of complacency, Bush’s own campaign strategists said they expect Kerry to have a 15-point lead by the end of the month, boosted as he will be by the acres of publicity Edwards has brought and, more importantly, by the party’s convention...........
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That bracketed comment by me was meant to go next to the hypothetical question for Jackie P., which was "how many children did you have out of wedlock?"
Many thanks for the ping, rb!
I see it's time for me to go to the grocery store again!!
I'm going grocery shopping after work today...I'll pick one up, see if there's anything juicy....
Isn't it funny how everyone from the coroner on down just thought it was to be spelled "Connor", and all of a sudden Scott has to correct the court, as though he had been so interested in the poor baby? Suddenly he's such an involved father, and he says the name was to be spelled "Conner".
Wouldn't it be hilarious if some writing of Laci's were found, or perhaps some personalized baby item she'd made or had made, and it showed the name spelled "Connor", and everyone realized that Laci had written the name like that HERSELF?
They should ask Sharon to check for any possible orders for birth announcements, or embroidered baby blankets, or perhaps a baby book that she might have gotten. Maybe there is somewhere where LACI had spelled out the baby's name, and it would make my day if she had spelled it "Connor".
It would look bad for Scott if it turns out he hadn't even known how to spell the baby's name.
They have introduced the video showing Laci's blouse in the dirty clothes..suggesting she was killed when undressing for bed...
Hollywood boobs? Is Michael Moore featured?
Yeah, it would be funny, but I just went to the Laci sight to see how the Rocha family had been spelling it and it is spelled "er".
http://www.lacipeterson.com/
Small drops of blood on the comforter...no testimony about whose(Scott bleeds all the time,he says.... I know)
Thanks for the update Meg...leaving work now.
BBL.
I wonder if that is the mattress and box springs Scott put against the fron windows so the media couldn't see in?
He could take some of the money he must spend on Big Mac's and invest in a shave, a haircut and a clean shirt. But we digress...
Good thinking, Jackie!
As for your comment that he shouldn't be allowed to open his fool mouth in the courtroom unless he is first sworn in, I agree!
AWRIIIIGHT!!!
Mr. Geragos, you'd better stop taking your client's word for things.
Now the prosecutor needs to be sure and say in closing, "It's a small thing, jurors, but remember how the defense tried to discredit Mr. Kemple, saying he'd referred to a lid that didn't exist? Well... here's that picture we showed you, and the grill DID have a lid. Mr. Kemple was telling the truth!"
Gad, I hope they've got some third parties jotting down these little bits, while the prosecutors do the questioning, b/c it's impossible to question a witness in court and to simultaneously write down what is being testified. Then they can later take all their assistants' notes and fit them all together and they'll have their closing arguments!
Michael Moore is living proof that the mere fact of having large breasts does not by itself mean that a person is attractive. LOL.
thanks for updates... On the Globe, saw that yesterday late afternoon... A telling caption of a tabloid pitures stacked in front of the cashier checkouts!
Bleedin' Scott! Yes, "men cut each other and we bleed," he said, in one of his interviews.
Kind of sounds kinky. REAL kinky.
Well, if it's Laci's, they can't very well say what Sam Shepard tried to claim about his dead wife--that she was a slob who went around the house nude and left blood drops around. Laci'd been pregnant for 7 months, and she certainly would have cleaned up blood drops in that amount of time!
If it's Scott's, I presume he will say he cut himself while shaving. Oh, hey, don't all guys shave in bed?
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