| Maldonado claims he saw Laci walking dog 3 times in late 2002 APRIL 17, 2004 A Modesto man who repeatedly has said he spotted Laci Peterson at a time when authorities believe she was dead has come forward with new information that he initially planned to reveal only at Scott Peterson's trial. Homer Maldonado, who lives a few blocks from the Petersons' Covena Avenue home, says he is certain he saw the dark-haired woman walking her golden retriever on the morning of Christmas Eve 2002 because he had seen the same pregnant woman and the dog twice before. The third alleged sighting could support Scott Peterson's defense, which relies on the theory that someone else kidnapped his wife after he left to fish alone in San Francisco Bay. The alibi seemed to agree with accounts by Maldonado and Vivian Mitchell, who also lived in the La Loma neighborhood. But Mitchell, 80, died in February after a short illness and legal experts say it's unlikely her account could be used at trial. Prosecutors have said they will counter Scott Peterson's alibi with evidence that his wife stopped walking her dog almost two months before she went missing. He changed his mind after he and his wife, Helen, received subpoenas to testify May 17 in Redwood City, where Peterson's trial was moved because of heavy publicity in Modesto. To their surprise, the Maldonados were summoned not by Peterson's camp, but by prosecutors. "I don't understand why they're doing this," said Maldonado, a commercial painter. "They want us to be there an hour early. I told my wife it's better we take the stand rather than talk to the prosecution. We really don't know what's going on." In a court document filed Feb. 23, prosecutor Rick Distaso wrote that he "will present evidence that Laci stopped walking the dog around the first week in November." The evidence is intended to counter Scott 's claim in a television interview that his wife regularly walked the dog, Distaso wrote. Scott Peterson told police his wife said she was going to walk the dog when he left to fish about 9:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve 2002. He and another family member reported her missing that evening after Peterson returned to an empty house. Maldonado said he first saw Laci Peterson in the morning about two weeks before Christmas 2002, walking a dog by a bridge across Dry Creek. He spotted the woman and dog again Dec. 22 between 10:30 and 11 a.m. near a small park at Miller and La Loma avenues, he said. "I never did tell anybody else except the investigators," Maldonado said. Helen Maldonado was with her husband at the third sighting but wasn't looking in the direction of the woman or dog, she said. Vivian Mitchell's husband, Bill Mitchell, also has been summoned by prosecutors. He has said he saw the dog but could not identify Laci Peterson. Judge Alfred Delucchi and attorneys on both sides are going through the several-week process of selecting jurors in Redwood City. Delucchi tentatively scheduled opening statements for May 17. RELATED STORY HOME INDEX LACI TRIAL NEWS SCOTT ALIBI-WITNESS LIST EVIDENCE-NEWS LACI'S FAMILY LACI'S ALBUM |
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| LACI & CONNER May The Truth Be Told |
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