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Peterson defense team loses attorney Dalton

Matthew Dalton has left LA law firm.
THE BEE

By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

Published: September 26, 2003, 04:50:50 AM PDT

One of Scott Peterson's attorneys has left his defense team -- and no one associated with the double-murder case is saying why.

Matthew Dalton, whose role in the high-profile case mostly was confined to behind-the-scenes legwork, is no longer employed by the Los Angeles law firm of Geragos & Geragos, a receptionist confirmed Thursday.

She referred questions to managing partner Mark Geragos -- Peterson's lead defense attorney -- but Geragos did not return messages during business hours Thursday.

The separation comes in a week filled with rumors, some published and aired in various media, that Peterson is unhappy with his legal representation.

The 30-year-old fertilizer salesman is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing Oct. 20 on charges that he killed his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

"It's damaging to Scott Peterson to have an important part of his defense team suddenly disappear," said Gloria Allred, a Los Angeles attorney representing Peterson's former girlfriend. Amber Frey could provide crucial testimony in court proceedings and Allred, attempting to preserve Frey's credibility, has crossed swords with Geragos.

"To have division in the ranks at a time when it's important to put together a good case, I can't see how that would be a benefit to Scott Peterson," Allred said.

Peterson's father, Lee Peterson, confirmed Thursday that Geragos continues to represent his son. He declined to say why Dalton left the firm.

Geragos' firm refused to provide a forwarding number for Dalton. The Bee was unable to reach him at other numbers.

Though Dalton largely was relegated to third-tier status behind Geragos and co-counsel Kirk McAllister of Modesto, he figured in a series of public moves since his former boss came on the scene in late April:

In May, Dalton suggested to reporters that Laci Peterson's family members were burglarizing the Petersons' La Loma-area home.

The dead woman's family entered the Covena Avenue home without coordinating with Scott Peterson's parents and removed truckloads of items, including her wedding dress, a rocking chair and a crib. The methodical moving was widely reported and touched off an emotional debate over property rights of victims' survivors vs. those accused of heinous crimes.

In June, Dalton told a judge in open session that the defense team had evidence pointing to "real killers" and offered to present it behind closed doors. The judge scheduled a private hearing; Dalton was seen banging on the door after it began but was not admitted.

After the meeting, Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne wrote in a decision, "No evidence on the investigation of 'other suspects' was presented."

Outside the courtroom after the initial June hearing, Dalton cryptically referred to shoes allegedly removed by Laci Peterson's family in May. Though Dalton called them "important evidence," television pundits criticized the statement, saying investigators on both sides would have taken possession of them long ago if they figured in the murders.

In August, Dalton -- despite a court-imposed gag order barring discussion of most aspects of the case -- outlined a theory involving kidnapping and human sacrifice, in full view of two Bee journalists.

Dalton, using a map and laptop computer, showed two forensics experts artwork that he said depicted ritualistic killings. The paintings are on a peninsula near where Scott Peterson said he fished alone on Christmas Eve, the day his pregnant wife was reported missing.

Remains of mother and son were recovered within miles of the point in April. Dalton -- as a photographer snapped flash pictures and a reporter took notes -- said the defense team placed floats in the water near the paintings and they drifted near where the bodies were found.

Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami wanted a hearing on whether Dalton violated the gag order. But prosecutors, who also faced a contempt-of-court accusation by Geragos, called a truce on those issues in late August.

Legal scholar Michael Vitiello said it's not uncommon for lead attorneys to use other lawyers as "fall guys."

In a high-profile case two decades ago, a first-chair attorney wanted to disassociate himself from a noncredible witness by having Vitiello, a legal consultant, question the witness in court, he said. Vitiello now is a professor with Sacramento's McGeorge School of Law.

Perhaps, Vitiello said, Geragos hoped to use Dalton to "float a trial balloon, and if (it) turns out to be a dud, (Geragos) says, 'It was that (guy) over there.'"

Amber Frey's lawyer says she fears for client's safety

By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

Published: September 26, 2003, 04:50:24 AM PDT

Attorney Gloria Allred said Thursday she fears for the safety of her client Amber Frey, murder suspect Scott Peterson's former girlfriend. But she stopped short of saying whether she asked police to protect her. Frey, who had a romantic relationship with Peterson, is living in a gated community in Fresno and is being protected by private security guards.

"I know what can happen out there," Allred said. "Only after a terrible event occurs do you know how justified your fears are."

Modesto police, citing a court-imposed gag order in the Peterson case, refused to say whether anyone had asked them to put a police guard on Frey, a potentially important witness in Scott Peterson's double-murder case.

A Fresno police spokesman confirmed Thursday that his department is not officially guarding Frey. The spokesman did not know if Modesto police had requested protection for the 28-year-old massage therapist.

Frey has said she was romantically involved with Peterson, not knowing he was married, before the disappearance and death of his pregnant wife, Laci.

Earlier this week, a source said Frey had moved to the gated community and hired guards after learning of a report that Scott Peterson had discussed having his wife kidnapped by members of a vicious neo-Nazi gang.

Modesto police Sgt. Ron Cloward, the department's acting spokesman, said Thursday that witnesses requiring protection in local cases over the years have been few and far between.

Speaking generally, Cloward said local authorities wanting protection for someone living in another area normally would request help from the FBI, the state Department of Justice or other area authorities. But he refused to say whether that had happened with Frey.

The Fresno woman met and started dating Scott Peterson in November, when Laci Peterson was about seven months pregnant. Frey contacted Modesto police Dec. 30, according to telephone records obtained by The Bee, and reportedly cooperated with authorities when they tapped Scott Peterson's cell phones a few days after.

Last week, jail inmate Cory Lee Carroll said he heard Peterson discussing the kidnapping of his wife with two members of the Nazi Low Riders, a street and prison gang steeped in drugs and violence. Carroll passed a lie detector test, said a retired police lieutenant who administered the examination.

Jared Lewis, a former Modesto police officer and gangs expert now living in Wisconsin, called Carroll's story "an interesting new piece of the puzzle."

"Is an organization such as this capable of carrying out (a kidnap and murder)? I'd say definitely," Lewis said. "This is one of the most up-and-coming violent gangs."

The gang emerged in the mid-1990s, is linked to Aryan Brotherhood white supremacists and is believed to have about 3,000 members, Lewis said. He left the Modesto department in November.

Scott Peterson, 30, is charged with killing his wife and unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled to start Oct. 20, though sources say main players may attempt to delay it a third time.

Allred has firsthand experience with high-profile witnesses in jeopardy.

Carlo Ventre, who abducted his daughter from California and acknowledged killing her mother in Italy, tried to put a $100,000 hit on the dead woman's parents, who were potential witnesses against Ventre. A Los Angeles judge in November cited the plot in a ruling to deport the man.............