Laci Peterson's brother Brent Rocha loads a rocking chair from her Modesto home into the back of a truck Friday morning.
Posted on 05/31/2003 8:41:50 AM PDT by runningbear
Laci Peterson's brother Brent Rocha loads a rocking chair from her Modesto home into the back of a truck Friday morning.
Laci's things in tug of war
By GARTH STAPLEY and JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITERS
Published: May 31, 2003, 07:16:10 AM PDT
Laci Peterson's family and friends removed truckloads of items from the slain Modesto woman's house on Friday, touching off controversy between her family and that of her husband.
Police responded to the Covena Avenue home at about 10 a.m. after a security company reported that the alarm had been triggered, Capt. Greg Savelli said.
Officers determined that Laci Peterson's family and friends were removing items that belonged to Laci, said Savelli, who added that officers documented what was taken.
"We're treating this as a civil dispute over property," he said. "It was clear to the Police Department that this was not a burglary.
Peterson's husband, Scott, 30, has been charged with double murder and faces the death penalty in the killings of his 27-year-old wife and their unborn son, Conner.
Savelli said the fallout from Friday's property removal "was best handled between the families and their attorneys."
Adam Stewart, an attorney for Laci Peterson's family, said the family had been in contact with Scott Peterson's defense team, who had agreed to allow Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, to go through the house on Tuesday. She was to be accompanied by representatives of the defense team, and all items taken were to be photographed and videotaped.
Scott Peterson's parents and lawyers expressed outrage that the Rochas did not follow the agreement.
Jackie Peterson said the people who went into the home Friday had "absolutely no permission to be in that house. I have a lot of empathy for Sharon, but she does not have a right to go in our house and take what she wants."
Rocha did not appear to be among the packers. Calls placed to the Rocha home were not accepted.
Seven vehicles loaded
Among the items loaded into seven vehicles were a crib, a rocking chair and a box with Graco printed on the outside. Graco makes such products as strollers, highchairs and car seats.
Laci Peterson's family announced Wednesday that it had hired attorneys to help recover items from the house. A list included her wedding dress, jewelry and Conner's crib.
Jackie Peterson told The Bee that the security company notified her by telephone in San Diego County that the house alarm had been tripped.
The property removal appeared to take Scott Peterson's defense team by surprise.
Matthew Dalton, an attorney with lead defense attorney Mark Geragos' law firm, drove to the house and asked reporters if someone had reported a burglary.
Dalton went to Stewart's Modesto law office Friday morning and dropped off some items requested by the Rocha family, Stewart said.
Monday, the defense team moved other items, including what appeared to be gifts, to the Modesto office of defense co-counsel Kirk McAllister, for transfer to Laci Peterson's family. But the items had not been picked up by Friday morning, McAllister said.
Stewart said in front of the home that it would be "ridiculous" to suggest that the Rochas broke into the home.
"I apologize for it coming down to this," he said. "This is not the way we operate. This is for Laci, for Conner and Laci's family. It is not for the media or Mr. Scott Peterson's defense in any way, shape or form. It's depressing that it's come down to this."
Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold said prosecutors had no legal authority over the house.
"It's not a crime scene," Goold said. " This is a civil problem between the Rochas and the Petersons."
The house title is in Laci and Scott Petersons' names, county records show. In such a joint tenancy, when one titleholder dies, the title goes to the other.
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Incident brings Peterson case close to home
Victim's family moves items from house, raising the issue of ownership.
By Garth Stapley and John Coté
The Modesto Bee
(Published Saturday, May 31, 2003, 4:47 AM)
MODESTO -- Laci Peterson's family and friends removed truckloads of items from the slain Modesto woman's house Friday, touching off controversy between her family and that of her husband.
Police officers were dispatched after a security company notified them that the alarm at the Covena Avenue home had been triggered, Capt. Greg Savelli said.
Officers determined that members of the Rocha family and friends of Laci Peterson were removing items that belonged to the slain woman and documented what was taken, Savelli said.
"We're treating this as a civil dispute over property," he said. "It was clear to the police department that this was not a burglary. It was a dispute over property and was best handled between the families and their attorneys."
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Judge cites Peterson right to fair trial in denying report access
Judge cites Peterson right to fair trial in denying report access
By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER
Published: May 31, 2003, 07:16:56 AM PDT
A Stanislaus County judge on Friday ordered that arrest and search warrants remain sealed in the case against Scott Peterson, who is accused of murdering his pregnant wife and unborn son.
Superior Court Judge Al Giro-lami's ruling also ordered the autopsy reports for Laci and Conner to stay sealed.
Thursday, District Attorney James Brazelton reversed his position and asked to have the autopsy reports made public, and the matter is set for hearing June 6.
Brazelton's about-face came after part of the fetus's autopsy report was leaked to the media. Prosecutors said that portion was clearly "skewed in favor of the defense."
Defense attorneys, coroner's officials, police and prosecutors have denied leaking the information.
Friday, in his ruling on all the documents, Girolami said releasing them "might irreparably harm the continued investigation into this criminal matter."
"Despite the fact that the complaint has been issued and a suspect has been arrested, the investigation and search for both incriminating and exonerating evidence in this matter continues," Girolami wrote.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys argued that releasing the documents could impede Peterson's right to a fair trial and damage an ongoing investigation.
Girolami agreed, saying in his ruling that releasing the documents "might result in the evidence being destroyed and witnesses being reluctant to step forward."
A group of newspapers, including The Bee, are seeking to have the documents unsealed.
Right to view reports argued
Charity Kenyon, an attorney representing the newspapers, argued that the public's right to view court documents was fundamental in an open legal system.
Other means exist for ensuring
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Judge orders Laci Peterson autopsy report sealed
Judge orders Laci Peterson autopsy report sealed
The Modesto Bee
The Associated Press
Published: May 31, 2003, 06:49:17 AM PDT
MODESTO, Calif. (AP) - A judge ruled Friday that an autopsy report on the deaths of Laci Peterson and her unborn son should remain sealed along with other search warrant and arrest records.
Superior Court Judge Al Girolami said releasing the information could hamper the murder investigation and prejudice public opinion before a trial begins.
Girolami is scheduled to hear more arguments June 6 from prosecutors preparing a murder case against Peterson's husband, Scott Peterson. Prosecutors on Thursday asked that the autopsy reports be released to the public. They argued that media leaks of the reports are biased toward the defense.
Girolami also ordered that leaks of sealed information stop and indicated he would consider a gag order to stop the prosecution and defense teams from talking to the media.
Scott Peterson, 30, is accused of killing his wife and unborn son, whom the couple had planned to name Conner, last December in their home. Laci, 27, was eight months pregnant at the time. The bodies washed ashore in San Francisco Bay last month.
Contra Costa County authorities concluded their autopsy report earlier this month, but did not disclose the cause of death.
Several media outlets have released details of the coroner's report, and a spokeswoman for Laci Peterson's family members said Thursday they were "devastated" at hearing autopsy reports without warning on television.
The leaked reports indicated the unborn son had plastic tape wrapped around his neck and a significant cut across the shoulders.
Meanwhile, friends of Laci Peterson removed several personal articles Friday from the single-story Modesto home where she and Scott Peterson lived.
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MOM'S MOVING MOMENT
By HOWARD BREUER and MARSHA KRANES
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May 31, 2003 -- Laci Peterson's mother - shattered by the graphic details leaked from the 25-page autopsy of her unborn grandson - yesterday began removing her slain daughter's belongings from the home she had shared with her accused murderer husband, Scott.
Sharon Rocha, accompanied by several friends and relatives, was seen at the Modesto, Calif., house removing the rocking chair Laci had bought to use when she nursed her infant son, as well as unopened Christmas gifts, clothing, chairs, lamps and artwork.
In doing so, she ignored the advice of her lawyer, Al Clark, that she wait until he, Scott Peterson's lawyers and court officials work out the procedures to be followed when she entered the house.
Modesto police arrived while Rocha was there, and she and her entourage left a short time later after packing seven cars full of Laci's belongings.
Hours later, lawyers representing Laci's family and Scott Peterson started haggling over whether removing the items was legal.
Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie, expressed outrage that the items had been removed since Laci's family had "absolutely no permission to be in that house."
Scott Peterson has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife and their unborn son.
Laci's family said Wednesday that they had hired lawyers to help them retrieve a baby crib and jewelry from the home.
Meanwhile, Clark told Fox News his client's anger over the grisly revelations leaked from her daughter's and grandson's sealed autopsy reports drove her to go get her daughter's possessions.
A family spokeswoman said Rocha was "devastated" by the reports describing how the near full-term fetus of her grandson Conner had plastic tape wrapped around the neck and a large cut across the chest when he was found in the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay last month.
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(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
Maybe they should have the trial in Spanish and only take in Californians who don't speak English! They may have a larger jury pool to choose from!
Then shouldn't the Peterson clan all be sporting dirty green hairdos?
Yep, that's what he was doing all those months, on the golf course, making those hundred or so calls to Amber, with the stripper along with some other girls. Yep, poor Scotty, just hasn't had a chance to grieve, being arrested that day in his golf clothes, bleached hair, 10,000.00, brother's passport etc(the same week the possible bodies of his wife and child washed ashore)Laci and Connor were positively identified. Yep, let's not forget the first gathering on NewYears, the candlight group, when family and friends gathered to support each other in the very first days---Scott stood far away from family that day, photographed laughing (now, anyone can laugh in an inopportune moment, but given hindsight now, it doesn't help). So, Scott didn't seem to want family support at the most immediate moment of crisis.
Yes, Scott would love to be sitting among family and friends---the question is, who's family and friends? With Scott, it looks like it would be flavor of the month, and he probably has aa wife he "lost" for every holiday of the year.
Nope, sure didn't, that is why I said as far as I know :)
Do you think they got full unexpergated versions? Just asking, not implying anything.
.I had read somewhere that the Rocha's went to the Jeweler's and picked up Laci's diamonds.
And, JP wanted them back!
That peterson clan are just as bad as their sonny boy.
Unless he were acquitted. OJ got custody even after killing his wife.
And while they were DNA testing his wife and child's battered ,defiled remains, he was getting his hair bleached and golfing in San Diego and flipping LE the bird while riding around in a Mercedes with 10 grand and false ID! YEAH, THAT'S THE WAY TO GRIEVE!
Why doesn't anyone jump back at Janey or Lee with that when they come up with this crap??
Excellent post.
The coroner who did the autopsy report is in Contra Costa County. It is my understanding of court documents that the report was released to the DA and the defense directly from CCC. The DA did not ever have sole possesion of the report.
This is the specific reporting that I was referring to. I have heard the other "mentions", but not seen anything quite as specific, and of course, this supposedly came from Jackie. She's on record, if you will. I have no problem whatsoever with anything the Rochas do, LOL. But if Jackie is telling the truth about this, then this seems to speak to something not at all kosher; i.e, a man takes expensive diamonds into a jeweler and makes a decision on refashioning the diamonds into one ring (I guess), the jeweler accepts the diamonds from the man (who at the time has not been arrested), but later gives them all to the man's mother-in-law (without express permission), that's troublesome. Hope it's not true, but if it is, I do hope jeweler and Sharon can cover their butts. MG will be on that one in a flash.
Most worrisome: Sharon had no comment.
Nope.
There may be a rule that property that goes through probate cannot be inherited by the murderer, I don't know. I know there is a law that prevents murderers from receiving the life insurance. However, if there was a law that applied to inheritance, it would give a right to the next in line of inheritance to object to Scott's inheriting the probated property, such as the personal effects that belonged to both of them. The probate court would decide the issue, holding the matter in abeyance until the criminal trial was over, and then issue a ruling. Only THEN would someone other than Scott have a right to collect those items.
If Geragos wants to be a jerk, he can go after the Rochas for return of everything they took, and he should be able to get a court to issue an order that they do so. He ought also to consider filing a claim for damages against the police who let it happen in front of them. They failed to fulfill their duty to protect the private property of a citizen who has not yet been convicted of a crime.
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