| Peterson Defense Grills Expert Prosecutors Plan To Call Housekeeper Scott Peterson's lawyer continued his fight Thursday to have a small hair thrown out of the evidence against his client in the killing of his wife and unborn son during the second day of the hearing that will determine if he is tried for murder. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos questioned the prosecution's FBI expert about a type of DNA evidence that is not widely used in court, suggesting that it was unreliable and based on faulty databases. FBI lab supervisor Constance Fisher acknowledged that mitochondrial DNA, which can show links between a mother and child, has limitations and said the computer program used by the FBI has some glitches. The analysis cannot show a definitive identity match like so-called genetic fingerprinting DNA techniques usually introduced in court. The database used to determine the likelihood that genetic matter could come from someone else is smaller than she would like, but Fisher said it's not inadequate and is helpful in estimating the frequency of genetic codes. Fisher said a hair found on pliers in the boat Scott Peterson said he took fishing Christmas Eve matched a gene swab taken from the mother of Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha. Geragos is challenging the admissibility of the testimony, saying the analysis was the subject of a "raging debate" in the scientific community and suggesting that the hair sample may have been contaminated or tampered with by law enforcement. The technique has not been widely accepted in courts, and it was only ruled admissible once in a California state court, in the case of an accused murderer in San Diego. Geragos asked Fisher why the FBI didn't try to match the 1-inch hair from the boat with a bone from Laci Peterson's remains. She told the attorney there was no reason to because the results would have been the same as an analysis comparing the hair with the sample taken from her mother. Geragos, continuing his attempts to sow doubt on the prosecution's first piece of evidence, questioned FBI methods used to extract DNA from the hair. He also questioned FBI science used to determine the hair came from someone other than Scott Peterson. He plans to present his own expert Monday in an attempt to have the evidence discarded. The evidence could be important to support a prosecution argument that Peterson used the boat to dump the body of his wife into San Francisco Bay. There were tense moments as Geragos hovered over the witness stand, dissecting minutiae from Fisher's findings. But the tension snapped during a light moment as Geragos asked why the FBI employee who developed the computer program used in the analysis was no longer employed by the federal agency. "Did he get fired for incompetence?" Geragos asked. Fisher said he left to study law, prompting the packed courtroom to erupt in laughter. Peterson, wearing a light gray suit and red tie, chuckled with nearly everyone else, then briefly shook his head from side to side as he smiled. One member of Scott Peterson's family appeared to nod off shortly after 10 a.m., during questioning that was heavy on technical jargon regarding mitochondrial DNA analysis. Prosecutors said they planned to call the Peterson's housekeeper and Laci Peterson's family members after Fisher. PRELIMINARY HEARING INDEX HOME INDEX LACI EVIDENCE-NEWS ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS |
| LACI & CONNER May The Truth Be Told |
| PRELIMINARY HEARING - DAY 2 October 30, 2003 - 11:15 a.m. |
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