| LACI & CONNER Forever In Our Hearts |
| June 2, 2004 In what defense attorney Mark Geragos called a “linchpin in the prosecution’s case,” a Modesto police detective allegedly lied in a report used to secure court approval to wiretap Peterson’s phones. Detective Al Brocchini allegedly wrote that Scott Peterson lied about watching an episode of “Martha Stewart Living” shortly before leaving his wife, Laci, on Dec. 24, 2002. Peterson has told police that’s when he last saw his wife alive. Peterson told Brocchini the episode involved cooking with meringue. Brocchini wrote in his report that he viewed a copy of the Dec. 24 show and meringue was not mentioned, but it was mentioned in the Dec. 23 show, Geragos said. Brocchini testified at Peterson’s preliminary hearing that Peterson told him part of the Dec. 24 show had “something to do with meringue.” In dramatic fashion, Geragos played a segment of the Dec. 24 show for the jury on two plasma screens mounted in front of the jury box. During the show, Stewart discusses meringue while talking about Paris sweets. “Oooh, we’re making meringue,” Stewart coos. The line was repeated in the defense presentation for affect. “I played it twice just in case the Modesto PD couldn’t hear it,” Geragos said, one of several digs he directed at law enforcement. Scott Peterson told authorities he and his wife watched an episode of "Martha Stewart Living" before he left on a Christmas Eve fishing trip. In a videotaped interview with Brocchini, Peterson said Stewart and a guest discussed what to do with meringue. Brocchini concluded that Scott Peterson was talking about a show that aired Dec. 23, 2002, which included eight references to meringue. Geragos played a "Dessert of the Week" segment from the Dec. 24, 2002, show for the jury during his opening statement and pointed out that it included one mention of meringue. The mention of meringue did not play until after the last commercial break and was referring to the next days show. "I missed it," Brocchini said, adding that he did not know about the error until the trial started. Another investigator used the meringue information, in part, to obtain a warrant to secretly record Peterson's phone chats, Brocchini acknowledged during testimony Tuesday. The detective said Wednesday that his primary job at the beginning of the investigation was to rule out Scott Peterson as a suspect. Brocchini also testified that his suspicion about the meringue story was a major inconsistency that led him to consider Peterson, a 31-year-old fertilizer salesman, as a suspect. INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST AMBER WIRETAPS |
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| Mark Geragos |