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| Did anchor cause judge to postpone defense?
By Valerie Harris, Special to the Daily Journal Oct. 16, 2004 On Tuesday, (Oct. 12), after a week off from testimony, the defense was slated to start its case in the Scott Peterson murder trial. Quite unexpectedly, after almost 25 minutes of discussion in chambers, Scott Peterson and court reporter Linda Swanner disappeared into chambers for another 10 minutes. When the prosecution, defense, court reporter, the judge and Peterson emerged from chambers, Judge Al Delucchi dropped the bomb on the jury and the courtroom: “We’ve got some problems that have arisen here. It’s going to take some time to sort these matters out.” With that statement, the trial was halted for a week. Jurors fell back in their seats and rolled their eyes. The audience left the courtroom in shocked disbelief. Speculation from the media and commentators ranged from late discovery issues from the defense, an unexpected witness or new photos. All may be true, but Delucchi rarely invokes this type of delay without grave cause. Delucchi certainly had one, if the following is true. This story may be preposterous, and it is based on conjecture and hearsay from some e-mail correspondents, but it might give insight into why a conservative judge like Delucchi postponed the trial for a week. Six supporters of Scott Peterson, and members of an Internet message board, “TalkAboutIt.us,” planned a trip out to the Bay Area to watch the trial and lend support to Peterson. The trip was planned a month ago, and travelers came from the Bay Area and Sacramento, but others came from as far away as Pennsylvania, Nevada and Ohio. Some avid case followers from this group arrived earlier to drive to Modesto on Monday, to tour some of the scenes depicted in the trial’s testimony. While walking around the 523 Covena Ave. property, one of the visitors, a woman named “Maggie,” bumped her leg against a stack of loose bricks in the driveway, toppling a few off the stack. For some reason, the displaced bricks would not stack easily. Out of curiosity, more bricks were removed from the stack to uncover the reason, and to everyone’s shock, what appeared partially buried in dirt, and under the bricks, was a cylindrical concrete block similar to an anchor. Two women immediately started photographing and videotaping the incident. From that point on, it’s unclear what actually happened to the newly- found anchor, the photos and the video, but there is much speculation that this anchor is the reason for the week-long trial hiatus. The story was posted on the “TalkAboutIt” message board, which is a limited-membership Internet group, dedicated to discussions of Peterson’s innocence and Modesto Police Department’s rush to judgment. Next week’s testimony should uncover further details. However, the bricks are gone and a depression in the dirt is visible by the north side of driveway at Peterson’s 523 Covena Ave. residence in Modesto. Valerie Harris has followed the Scott Peterson case since its beginning. She is currently working on a book, “The Peterson Trial, from the inside out.” Notes from Cindie C: Valerie has stated she would vote Not Guilty. Below are some of the posts she is speaking of.......There was a thread titled, "Columbus Day Field Trip to Modesto -- Report" |
| Maggie - 1st Class Member
Re: Columbus Day Field Trip to Modesto -- Report Reply #5 on: October 11, 2004, 11:32:57 PM Marlene I am still shaking. I don't think I want to deal with this anchor we have. What if it is real evidence? Don't we have to follow chain of command or something? I don't trust the MPD!! I think we should take this off the board. ======================== Marlene Majestic Re: Columbus Day Field Trip to Modesto -- Report Reply #6 on: Yesterday at 01:02:55am oh my gosh, just got home from dinner with the gals, and a phone message from Brocchini, he wants to talk to me tomorrow at the courthouse. What should I do? I'm really scared. ========================= Marlene -Majestic Re: Columbus Day Field Trip to Modesto -- Report Reply #9 on: Yesterday at 12:20:16pm » I've been asked not to say anything more... ======================== ******** NOTE BY CINDIE C What truth there is to this, I cannot confirm. However, if it is so, I hope the Modesto PD and the District Attorney check this out throughly! If it is a hoax that stopped the Trial, I hope the Hoaxters are prosecuted. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL CEMENT INDEX ALIBI-WITNESS LIST |
| Re: Columbus Day Field Trip to Modesto -- Report
Reply #4 on: Today at 08:30:53pm Correction, it was Tara Venable that chewed us out, not Amy. What a day, an amateur spy's dream come true.Maggie had a hunch, she wanted to go back to the Covena house one more time, she wanted to see the cement area again. So we went back and went back by the back gate area, where some bricks are piled up, and were looking for signs of some cement repair other than what Brocchini said there was. We were looking around behind them, and she bumped up against the bricks, and knocked some of them loose. We hurriedly tried to get them back into place, but realized there was something in the stack that wasn't bricks -- so we looked around to be sure no one was watching, and took a couple more bricks off the stack, then, you can't believe it, we found an anchor. Gosh, we dug it out and put the bricks back and got out of there as fast as we could. We have it with us and we are going to give it to Geragos tonite if he shows up at the hotel, otherwise we will bring it to court tomorrow. We don't know what it says about Scott, but we don't want some hedidits to get ahold of it and put it in the bay and say they've found it in the bay. gosh, still shaking a little. we were antsy on the way back, and kept thinking we heard sirens. good to get back home. gotta go. I hope Geragos shows up tonite, so we can get rid of that anchor before it gets out to the media. |
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