More tapped Peterson phone calls found
More tapped Peterson phone calls found
By Brian Melley
Associated Press
(Published Thursday, June 19, 2003, 5:17 AM)
SACRAMENTO -- An investigator who wiretapped Scott Peterson's phones said in court papers filed Wednesday that he recently discovered 176 calls that were recorded without his knowledge.
The computer-recorded calls could present a new hurdle for prosecutors as they fight defense claims of misconduct over other taped conversations.
Prosecutors asked Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami to review the newly discovered calls and decide whether police could listen to them for potential evidence in the case against Peterson, who is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.
Steven Jacobson, an investigator for the prosecution, said the calls were discovered Friday by an expert from the software company that designed the wiretap system. The two men listened to about 10 seconds of one recording to confirm that it was of an actual conversation, but did not listen to the others, he said.
"We heard a person in a Southern drawl talking to Scott Peterson in what appeared to be a business-related call," Jacobson wrote in an affidavit.
Jacobson said he had never heard that call before, and added that he was familiar with 3,858 phone calls police logged on the fertilizer salesman's home and cellular phones.
Peterson, 30, has pleaded innocent to two counts of murder and could face the death penalty if convicted in the killings of his wife and unborn son. He was arrested after their remains washed ashore in San Francisco Bay in April, near where he said he was fishing Christmas Eve when his pregnant wife vanished.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos has asked that prosecutors be dismissed or the wiretaps tossed out because investigators listened .....
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Update from the Stanislaus Court info site:
New Documents Added
Posted on Wednesday, June 18 2003 at 5:07 PM PST ----
An additional document was added to the Web site late Wednesday afternoon.
1. Request for Court Review of Wiretap Recordings Recovered From Audio Buffer
2. Gloria Allred to Defendant's Motion to Set OSC RE: Contempt of Court
I don't get it. I thought they had authority to tap all his phones. Was there a time frame set on the tapping, and these 176 came before or after the dates set forth on the tapping order? Why did the investigator say the were recorded without his knowledge?