| LACI & CONNER FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS |
| CNN LARRY KING LIVE Panel Discusses Laci Peterson Case Aired May 30, 2003 (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATT DALTON, DEFENSE TEAM INVESTIGATOR: "There's a burglary has occurred in this house. They had no right to break into this house." (END VIDEO CLIP) LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight: Another wild day in the Scott Peterson case. The defense cries foul as Laci Peterson's family and friends go to Scott and Laci's home and leave with nursery furniture, clothing and other items. Has evidence been tainted? Meanwhile, a judge rules the search warrants in the case stay sealed as the fallout continues over yesterday's shocking revelations from the autopsy on Laci's baby. Here to get into all that and more on this constantly developing story, Ted Rowlands of KTVU, Court TV's Nancy Grace,, defense attorney Chris Pixley, forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee. And to tell us if there'sany hope at all of finding an untainted jury for this high-profile case, jury consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius. Every time it seems like we say, Well, we'll put it all aside until the trial, something else happens. Ted Rowlands, want to get us up to date? What now? TED ROWLANDS, KTVU-TV: Well, Larry, it was a wild day today. Just before 10:00 o'clock Pacific time, the Rocha family showed up on Covena Street, at the Peterson home, along with some friends. They went around to the neighbors, said, We're going to be setting off the alarm here. They did. They went into the house and started taking things that they deemed to be theirs, really. They say they took stuff that was close to Laci, things that they wanted out of the house. They believed that they weren't going to be able to get these items in a timely fashion, so they acted on emotion, went into the house, had some help and left. Then about halfway, or just as they were leaving, Geragos's folks, they got wind of it. They came out there. They cried foul. As you mentioned at the top there, they said that, basically, the crime supposedly -- the murder supposedly took place in this house. They're not done processing the house. They're not done investigating in the house. And they were under the impression that all of this was going to take place in a formal manner on Tuesday of next week. They say they were caught by surprise. In fact, they say at the time that this was going on, Scott was in his cell, meeting with lawyers, writing out a list of items that he thought the Rochas should have. There was obviously a breakdown between these two families, and this is what happened today. |
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| KING: Nancy Grace, can you break into a locked-up crime scene home? NANCY GRACE, COURT TV: Well, I don't know that this is a break- in, No. 1. From my understanding and speaking with various sources close to this case, there had been several, many letters, lists sent from Laci's family to the defense, asking for some of Laci's personal belongings. They were disallowed from going into the home. Police were no longer processing this home. So the police didn't have a problem with them getting some of Laci's things. And let's just get real for a moment! This is the mother of dead Laci Peterson wanting her wedding dress and her journal, all right? Good luck, Geragos, if you want to try and file a burglary charge against Sharon Rocha! Could your client be in any more of a PR mess than he already is in? KING: Couldn't they wait, Nancy, until official permission was granted? GRACE: Official permission? Let's see, what could that possibly mean? Permission from the man who was...... facing the death penalty for the murder of the daughter? |
| KING: Yes, who controls the crime scene? PIXLEY: Scott Peterson does, Larry. That is still his home. That's still his property. Now, Nancy made the comment on the show last night that there are reports out there that Scott Peterson may have actually given some of Laci's jewelry to Amber Frey. Well, maybe that's true, but as a defense attorney, you want to get to the bottom of a claim like that. And how can you possibly do it if someone's broken into the home now and taken some or all of the jewelry? This man has control of his home. It's his estate. It's his property. And there was an agreement that had been worked out. So I don't think that the defense was being at all... |
| (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALBERT CLARK, ROCHA FAMILY ATTORNEY: We thought everything was going along great. And then at about 1:15, Mr. Geragos called and was not in a very good mood. And I think he used the word -- I've never talked to him, but he used to Adam, You want a war, you got a war, which -- it really upset me, as you well remember. And so I told Sharon that, and she -- that was the day the autopsy reports came out, yesterday. And obviously, she was very emotionally distraught and said, I've got to do something, something to that effect. And so she acted from the heart. |
| KING: We're going to spend these moments on the phone with Lee Peterson, Scott Peterson's father, and Janey Peterson, Scott Peterson's sister- in-law. Lee, what did you make of the occurrences today of going to the house? LEE PETERSON, SCOTT PETERSON'S FATHER: Well, I think it was best summed up by Matt Dalton. He's one of our attorneys there, and he was at the house while this was going on, and he turned to the media and he said, has anybody filed a report on this burglary? And I believe there were police officers standing right there. And he repeated that several times. Has anybody reported this burglary? I mean, this was a burglary. My -- that home and its contents are my son's possessions. KING: But don't you have any sympathy for the mother wanting some of the possessions of her late daughter? LEE PETERSON: Larry, I do, and we had an arrangement with Sharon's attorney and with the district attorney that after we, meaning Mark Geragos and the team, videoed the inside of the home, something we needed to do for our defense, we would -- we would allow access to Sharon. She knew that. Her attorney knew that. In fact, he advised against her going in that home. I heard that on an earlier segment on MSNBC. KING: So she broke the agreement is what you are saying. LEE PETERSON: She broke the agreement, and she uses as an excuse that she is devastated by the autopsy results -- reports on little Connor. Well, my wife Jackie was devastated, as was I. I mean, my wife could not leave the house yesterday, but instead of grieving, Sharon apparently planned this break-in. There were half a dozen vehicles at that house, and I'd like to to -- you know, Nancy says, well, all she wanted was the wedding dress and a few sentimental things. Well, I saw at least three pickup trucks full of furniture, full of cartons, God knows what going out of that house. KING: Let me ask Janey something, Lee. Janey, what did you think of the release of that autopsy, portions of that autopsy report? JANEY PETERSON, SCOTT PETERSON'S SISTER-IN-LAW: Well, it was very difficult. I think you, you know, when all this started, we all kind of stopped ourselves from going down that path of thinking of that most horrific, gruesome thing that maybe could have happened, and when some of these realities start coming out, you know, you are forced to face it. Then it is very difficult, and, you know, we all have children and this is just another example of -- I mean, even the day that Laci and Connor were identified, our family found out on national television. KING: This whole thing is a tragedy. Janey, naturally, you believe in the innocence of your brother-in-law. JANEY PETERSON: Absolutely. KING: His attorneys have said that they know who might do this. Do you think you know who might have done this? JANEY PETERSON: Yes. KING: And that is? JANEY PETERSON: You know, all I can say is that -- is that it amazes me how far their investigation has come once they were handed the tips, and started -- and started following up on all the witnesses and the reports and... KING: You mean your investigation? JANEY PETERSON: Exactly. When Scott was arrested. KING: Are you saying that you know how this happened? You know who is responsible? JANEY PETERSON: I don't know specific details, but, you know, just in watching how their investigations has gone and knowing, you know, they encourage us in generic ways to let us know that they're definitely... KING: Someone else did it. JANEY PETERSON: Yes. KING: Lee, are the investigators for you turning the information over to the police? Or is it just being used as a trial weapon? LEE PETERSON: I don't know a lot about that, Larry. I know that the police investigators are following our investigators around, for whatever purpose. You draw your own conclusion there, but... KING: Do you back up what Janey said? Do the investigators tell you that they have leads that tell them that someone else did this? LEE PETERSON: Oh, yes. Yes. No question. KING: When was the last time you spoke to Scott, Lee? LEE PETERSON: I spoke to Scott today. He was -- I'll tell you where Scott was. He was in with Matt Dalton, one of the attorneys, in fact, the fellow you showed on your little clip there, and he was preparing a list of sentimental things that he thought Sharon would like. This is the kind of young man he is. And he was doing this when he was -- excuse me, when Matt was called away because of the break-in in the house. KING: How did Scott react to that break-in? LEE PETERSON: He was -- he said, "I can't believe it, dad, why would they do that?" JANEY PETERSON: You know, Larry, I think the one thing that -- that I think people have lost sight of in the emotion of this, and, trust me, we have plenty of emotion ourselves, given the fact we're living this, but the simple concept of innocent until proven guilty, and that, you know, Scott is in jail, and has everything stripped away from him, and his -- the things that he still has out here waiting for him are now also being stripped away from him. And it's just very difficult to watch that happen. He's had his wife taken away. He's had his baby taken away. And if that's not enough, his freedom has been taken away. You know, he, too, would love to be be sitting among family and friends and grieving the loss of his wife and child, and he is unable to do that, and our family is unable to do that without him. And... KING: Lee, are you satisfied with Mr. Geragos? LEE PETERSON: Very, very satisfied. Yes, he's a fine man. ****************** ADAM STEWART, ROCHA FAMILY ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, let's say that this was a one-sided agreement that Mr. Geragos had proposed to us, under his terms and conditions, to come in there, videotape the house. He would allow Sharon Rocha to accompany him. He would photograph these items with his defense team and anybody else. KING: But the question is obvious, since it's Scott Peterson's house, doesn't he have the right to tape his own house? STEWART: Scott Peterson's house with Laci Peterson. They held the property as joint tenants. There's not been a death certificate issued on the case. She still has property rights, both in the real property and in the personal property. For the past three and a half months, Jackie and Lee Peterson have entered the home, taken items in the home, moved the items out of the home. They've allowed people to swim in the pool, members of Mark Geragos' defense team, and you're telling me that that site's not contaminated? KING: I didn't know that. You mean, members of the defense team have swam in the pool? STEWART: From the information that all of the neighbors have provided us, they've been over there swimming in the pool. One more thing. Two nights ago, on Greta Van Susteren, Jackie Peterson said, quote, "Sharon, you can go into the home whenever you want to go into the home. This is the first time we've heard you wanted to go into the home." And that is a factual misrepresentation. She's known about this for two and a half months. We've wrote them directly, asking Jackie and Lee Peterson to sit down with Sharon Rocha and Ron Grantsky and resolve this matter outside of media coverage orany kind of attention whatsoever, and we were categorically ignored. Let me clear a couple of things up. Jackie and Lee Peterson changed the locks on the home, changed the alarm codes on the home, took constructive and actual possession of the home to the exclusion of all others, despite the fact that the district attorney's office has indicated it's no longer a crime scene, despite the fact that the police department arrived there today and told my client this is a civil matter, we are not going to be taking this property from you. This is what's happened, and yet representatives from Mr. Geragos' office show up today, screaming that a burglary has occurred, which if you know what a burglary is, it's entering a dwelling with an intent to steal, which of course, Mrs. Rocha did not do, and Mr. Dalton drove to the police department to file a police report against Sharon Rocha, under these circumstances. KING: Adam, any final word before you leave us? STEWART: Yes, Larry, I'd just like to say that I agree with Nancy here. This isn't a legal issue. This is a human issue. It's a moral issue. A mother wanting to spend time in her daughter's home, in her bedroom, in her daughter's kitchen, to hold her daughter's wedding dress, to hold her diplomas, to look through her journals. And you guys can talk all night about whether that's evidence in a criminal trial. Mr. Geragos will make a big deal out of it a year from now, but when it all comes down to it, it's about Laci and her mother, and until they can show me that that has some evidentiary value, it's nothing more than animosity between Mr. Geragos and my clients. FULL STORY HOME INDEX INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS EVIDENCE-NEWS TRANSCRIPTS MAGAZINES PETERSON FAMILY LACI'S FAMILY ALIBI-WITNESS LIST |