Posted on 07/26/2004 5:26:27 AM PDT by runningbear
Scott Peterson murder trial resumes today
Scott Peterson murder trial resumes today
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Testimony resumes today in Scott Peterson's murder trial.
It's expected to include prosecution forensics experts. Last week, Peterson's lawyer attacked the prosecution's central piece of physical evidence -- hair that detectives say they found on pliers on Peterson's boat.
Detectives had said they collected a single strand of hair from the boat prosecutors allege Scott Peterson used to dump his wife's body. Months after the death, officials opened the evidence envelope and found two strands rather than one. Peterson's lawyer says the discovery shows sloppy police work.
Scott Peterson's demeanor has shifted often during the case -- from serious when pictures of his wife and unborn son's body are shown to jovial with relatives and his lawyers.......
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Prosecution now fighting uphill battle
Scott's lawyers made some key defense moves last week against District Attorney's case
Article Last Updated: Monday, July 26, 2004 - 3:49:44 AM PST
Prosecution now fighting uphill battle
Scott's lawyers made some key defense moves last week against District Attorney's case
By Jason Dearen, STAFF WRITER
REDWOOD CITY -- Last week, prosecutors in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial painted the Modesto man's actions after his pregnant wife's disappearance as callous and presented their only piece of physical evidence -- but by week's end they appeared to have lost ground in their quest for a conviction.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos employed a number of successful tactics -- magnifying mistakes made by Modesto detectives in their investigation and consistently finding more convincing explanations for behavior that detectives deemed suspicious.
For example, prosecutors thought it suspicious that Peterson had stuffed wedding photographs into a wastebasket. They also pointed out that he had blocked his home's front window by propping two mattresses against them.
Geragos made short work of these claims, pointing out that the items in the "wastebasket" were stored there when Peterson moved his belongings out of his warehouse into a storage facility.
Geragos also explained that the mattresses were covering the windows in an effort to block the eyes of "looky-loos" and the media, and he showed jurors a picture of news crews and onlookers crowding the street in front of the window.
The defense also raised doubts about the prosecution's only piece of physical evidence -- a hair found in Peterson's fishing boat that the District Attorney believes is Laci Peterson's.
Tests have not identified the hair as Laci's.......
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Snip it:
"Before they broke for a Bush reelection ad and the Laci Peterson murder trial, the two were half-step away from redefining citizenship as excluding Democrats.".......
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Will assailing character work?
Posted on Mon, Jul. 26, 2004
Will assailing character work?
DEPICTION OF DEFENDANT PLAYS GROWING ROLE FOR PROSECUTION
By Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury News
The first day defense lawyer Mark Geragos addressed the jury, he left them with a powerful message: ``Scott Peterson,'' he said, ``is stone cold innocent.'' But in recent weeks prosecutors have introduced key witnesses and a troubling video that try to portray Peterson as just plain stone cold.
Given the lack of physical evidence -- and the shrewd cross-examination by Geragos -- assailing Peterson's character is becoming an increasingly important part of the prosecution's strategy to convict the fertilizer salesman accused of murdering his wife and their unborn child.
But is depicting Peterson as suspicious, callous -- even sinister -- enough to convince a jury that he's a murderer? Legal experts say probably not, but if jurors can be convinced that Peterson was not just a garden variety unfaithful husband, but a diabolical one, they might view Geragos' attacks on prosecution evidence more skeptically.
Over the past few weeks, the prosecution has introduced two pieces of evidence aimed at giving jurors that perception. One was the testimony of Shawn Sibley -- the best friend of Peterson's mistress -- who said that Peterson was able to ``sob hysterically'' in the course of lying about having ``lost'' his wife even before Laci Peterson disappeared. The other was Peterson's TV interview with Diane Sawyer aired in 2003, played for the judge and soon to be seen by the jury. In it, Peterson said his marriage was ``glorious'' but then seemed to stammer and ramble in his denial about being involved in his wife's disappearance.
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(Excerpt) Read more at kron4.com ...
Exactly!! It's really that simple. At a certain point, the circumstances that MUST be just coincidences, becomes unbelieveable. Oh I think I hear CC.!! BBL
Scott may be guilty. He also may be innocent. We will see. It's way too early to tell.
"Here he was supposed to produce the REAL killer. Mr. Geragos was going to SOLVE the case. LOL Still waiting."
Hell, I'm still waiting for Winona's receipts. :) LOLOL
No kiddin and he was going to present something in the Roger Clinton arrest also. Mr. Geragos is not the most trustworthy of the legal profession. I'm married to a Lawyer Annie who decided 18 years ago that he could NOT practice criminal or litigous law. He said I just cannot stand before any more judges, making rediculous excuses that border on outright lies, for liars. Since then we have been doing Business or Corporate type law, Conveyancing, Mortgages, Estates, Foreclosures, Wills, etc. All the "other" stuff. His Father was a Policeman and I really gained an insight into the life of a cop. Most cops are good cops and it absolutely infuriates me with each and every murder case the Defense alledges that there is a crooked or bad cop trying to frame their client. Quite honestly, I don't even think Mark Furhman was a Bad Cop. He was a good investigator. I'll betcha many many of the Detectives had uttered the N word. Poor taste but not illegal.
Hi Liz. By the looks of things, I think the Lori Hacking case is going to be SOLVED rather soon.
Thanks Meg.!! These articles drive me nuts. Why don't they stress that he had NO bait and his lures never made it out of package that he had bought on the way to the Bay? grrrrrrrr!!
That has already been introduced.The pieces are brought in in closing..I thought this testimony did stress Scott's lack of proper equipment...
Musta ben a head injury.
Luckily a surface wound. Didn't affect my brain. No explanation available for some other people around here.
I. BEN.,
come on, admit it. You're against the Death Penalty. Go ahead. It isn't hard to do.
Just say "ZULU, I oppose the death penalty because some innocent people may have been inadvertently executed"
Go ahead, say it.
It will make you feel better.
I pray that the jurors are not fools for the lawyer-game. Watching the lawyers, you see that all they care about is the score. Facts and truth are incidental.
Shakespeare knew whereof he spoke.
So sorry to disappoint you but I support the death penalty.
Yes your right. They did introduce those in fact they introduced them in both the Prelim and the trial.
Well put bannie. Overall I think this is a fairly well educated Jury. I just pray that they are not all liberals. They are harzardous to the planet LOL
We knew we could count on you to dig up the info. Thanks Spunky.
Good for your hubby! I agree with everything you said-and though I know there are bad apples in every walk of life, I really am sick and tired of cops being treated the way they are-especially by defense attorneys. From what I'v read, I really think Geragos might be pushing that envelope too far. OTOH, good, let him. There are facts in the Peterson case that have nothing at all to do with the cops. Of course, Geragos knows that....that's why he's playing smoke, mirrors, delay, distract. sheesh
Good luck with that insanity plea, Mark!
What is with this guy, anyway? He leaves nothing to the imagination! A clump of hair found in a nearby dumpster... a mattress being tested for DNA... mattress shopping before calling police... brown foul-smelling liquid in a trash can... bloody knife... sheesh.
Oh, yeah, and then there's what he said when he was on the phone to her co-workers that Monday morning: something like, "Omigosh! I just realized Lori's work clothes are still here at the apartment!"
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