| LARRY KING LIVE Legal Analysis of Laci Peterson Murder Case Developments FULL TRANSCRIPT - July 9, 2003 {SNIP} LARRY KING: Scott Peterson's back in court, as his attorneys are denied access to the files of another unsolved murder of another pregnant woman found in San Francisco Bay. Scott's defense can only see the autopsy and autopsy photos of Evelyn Hernandez. Will that be enough to link her killing to Laci Peterson's? And how about those newly discovered wiretaps of Scott's phone calls? Today the judge ruled that prosecutors can have all but one of those 176 recordings. TED ROWLANDS, KTVU-TV: Well, as you mentioned at the top there, Mark Geragos and Scott's defense team did not get full access to the Evelyn Hernandez case file, but they did get access to 30 autopsy photos, and they also have the autopsy report, which is public information at this time. It's tough to say whether or not this was a defeat for the defense because the judge, Al Girolami, went in camera in a secret meeting to review that file. And when he came out, he said, in his opinion, none of the information in that file would pertain to the Peterson case. And it is pretty much well known that the San Francisco Police Department has a specific suspect in the Hernandez case. It's assumed the bulk of that file was directed at that person. Whether or not the autopsy photos will be enough for them to prove some sort of link remains to be seen. Also in court, phone calls were discussed by the judge. The media will get an opportunity to listen to their conversations with Scott Peterson. They'll have to come in on an individual basis. They'll be given an opportunity just to listen to their calls, and that is it. Geragos in court said, Quite frankly, we don't care. He thinks most of the media members will be embarrassed by what they said. And also, those 176 calls will all be transferred over to the prosecution. The defense has heard them. One of the calls will not go over there -- that call between Scott Peterson and his attorney, Kirk McAllister. NANCY GRACE, COURT TV: Well, Larry, Mark Geragos is simply covering all his bases. I'm not surprised. I think he will also want to look at a Las Vegas body that has turned up. In that case, they already have a suspect in custody. But here, he would not be doing his job if he did not put up a defense that the same person killed both. Will it work? I don't think so. Reason? You've got to, under the law, Larry, have more of a foundation to suggest to a jury that the same perpetrator committed both crimes. You can't just say two pregnant women turned up dead in the same body of water that borders on San Jose, San Francisco, five major bridges. That's not enough. But when you take a tally at the end of the day, Larry, they wanted the file, which is six binders, was brought over in somebody's car trunk. Did they get that file? No. All they got was the autopsy report that was already public matter and 30 photographs. And where they are headed, Larry, is they're going to try, because of these photographs, to say that the injuries to both ladies' bodies were similar. That's where the defense is headed. KING: Judge, is it just, at this point, good lawyering? JEANINE FERRIS PIRRO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK: I don't know if it's good lawyering, Larry, because, you know, I consider this a blow to the defense, and I'll tell you why. We started with a satanic cult. Then we had Donnie in the van. Then we had the mystery woman. Now we have the Evelyn Hernandez case and a Las Vegas case. And the court did what they're required to do by law. They recognized the Evelyn Hernandez case as an open, pending homicide file. And you know, Evelyn Hernandez has no fewer rights than anyone else in this situation. Her case is not yet solved. It shouldn't be leaked. It shouldn't be disclosed. And just as the investigators have said that there's no connection between Evelyn Hernandez and the Las Vegas case and Laci Peterson, apparently, the judge feels the same way. So I think that Mark Geragos has to start pulling in the reins a little bit before he starts throwing out these theories. He's starting to lose his credibility. KING: Why is it not possible that the same person did both things? Why is that impossible? GRACE: Well, the harm is that just because the defense wants a particular thing does not mean this judge or any other judge in their right mind is going to throw out the rules of evidence in order to please Mark Geragos and the defense team! You've got to take a long, hard look at what we know so far about the Evelyn Hernandez case. We know that police are honing in on someone else, someone else that is not Scott Peterson. We know that her wallet, full of money and a disability check -- this was not a robbery -- was found two blocks from her married boyfriend's place of business. We also know that there has been very little support because her only relative in this country -- Larry, she is an immigrant from El Salvador -- is her deaf sister, who cannot speak. That's why this case didn't take the forefront at the beginning. The similarities end with a pregnant woman dead, found in a body of water. Well, not having seen the district attorney's file, I would suggest that the timeline would make it impossible for the same killer to have killed both. But if you look at it just simply -- forget your law degree, forget being a forensic pathologist. Look at this. This would have to be an awfully busy satanic cult that not only killed two women but left two calling cards to frame their lovers -- A, the receipt Scott got from the marina, and B, the wallet belonging to Hernandez, left at her boyfriend's place of business. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JUDGE AL GIROLAMI: I feel that what's there, it's highly speculative that it could be you used to assist the investigation in this case, and especially in light of the fact that the investigation in that case is still ongoing and could easily be jeopardized if that material were made public. (END VIDEO CLIP) HOME INDEX TRANSCRIPTS SCOTT LACI INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS WITNESS LIST CASE INFO-INDEX |
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