| ALLEN BROCCHINI, called as a witness on behalf of the People, being first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows: THE CLERK: Please have a seat, put the microphone around your neck. DIRECT EXAMINATION MR. DISTASO: Q. Detective, would you state your full name and spell your last name for the record? A. My name is Allen Brocchini. It's B-R-O-C-C-H-I-N-I. Q. And where are you employed, sir? A. The Modesto Police Department. Q. How long have you been a sworn peace officer in the state of California? A. 18 years. Q. And what are your current -- what is your current assignment with the Modesto Police Department? A. Currently assigned to the Crimes Against Persons Unit as a detective. Q. Were you the on-call detective on December 24th of 2002? A. Yes. Q. And did you receive a call regarding Laci Peterson as being a missing person? A. Yes. Q. Where did you go in response to that call? A. 523 Covena Avenue in Modesto. Q. And is that in Stanislaus County? A. Yes, it is. Q. At what time did you arrive there? A. About 9:30. Q. When you arrived, can you estimate -- what was the extent of the police presence at the house? A. It was -- at the house, there was three or four patrol cars, I saw three or four police officers and a sergeant. But, also, on the way to the call, I could hear there were police in the parks, there was a helicopter that was just launching to search the park, there was dogs in the park. So there was a huge police presence in the area. Q. Okay. And do you know what the purpose of that police presence was? A. Yes. Q. What was that? A. Looking for Laci Peterson. Q. Okay. When you arrived at the house, did you receive a briefing from Officer Jon Evers? A. Yes, and there was several officers there and a sergeant. Q. Okay. Is that--when a detective is called out from the patrol officers, what's your standard practice when you first arrive at a location? A. You get with the other officers that are there, and primarily the first officer that arrived, and they brief you on where the investigation has gotten so far. Q. Okay. And where was the defendant -- do you recognize the defendant as he sits here today? A. I do. Q. And did you see him there on the 24th? A. Yes, I did. Q. And where was he when you first saw him? A. In the driveway. Q. And do you know, was he with any officer? A. He was -- there was a lot of friends and family already at the house and citizens, and I don't think -- I think he was standing with some civilian, not a uniformed officer. Q. Okay. And then how were you -- at some point in the evening were you introduced to the defendant? A. Yes, I was. Q. And I guess just for the record, he's wearing a -- looks like a gray suit; is that right? A. He's sitting right here with kind of a gray suit on and a powder blue shirt (indicates). Q. Okay. And who introduced you to the defendant? A. Jon Evers. Q. What happened when you first -- when you first met with him? A. I identified myself, and I kind of told him what -- what we were gonna do, what I'd like to do. Q. And what did you tell him about that? A. I told him I -- that I'd like him to walk me through the house and point out anything that looked out of place. I told him I'd like to go to his shop and see his boat and I'd like, you know, to interview him. Q. Okay. And just as a foundational matter, you were aware that the defendant was the last -- or the reporting party about Laci being missing; is that right? A. Yes, I was told that at the briefing. Q. All right. When you asked the defendant if you could -- if he would walk you through the house, did he agree to do that? A. Yes, he did. Q. At any time in the evening did he tell you or withdraw that consent? A. No. Q. At any time in the evening did he tell you to leave the house? A. No. Q. At any time in the evening did he tell you that he wanted other officers to leave his house? A. No. Q. I'm going to ask you about that in some more detail, but just as a -- right up front, did you sometime in the evening go to the defendant's warehouse at 1027 North Emerald? A. Yes. Q. In Modesto? A. Yes. Q. Now, at any -- did the defendant agree to take you to that location? A. Yes, he did. Q. At any time in the evening did he withdraw his consent from you being there? A. No. Q. At any time in the evening did he tell you to leave the warehouse? A. No. Q. At any time in the evening did he say that he no longer wanted to speak to you? A. No. Q. In your presence or -- or did -- well, first off, in your presence, did the defendant ever tell any other officers that evening he no longer wanted to speak to them? A. No. Q. Did any other officer report to you that the defendant no longer wanted to speak to them? A. No. Q. Now, let's go through -- you said that one of the first things you did was you took a basic kind of walk-through of the house, correct? A. Yes. Q. All right. If you look at the diagram on the board behind you, I think that's People's--is that People's 79? Can you see the number on that one? A. Yes, it is. Q. Is that -- do you recognize that as a schematic of 520 -- a diagram of 523 Covena? A. Yes, I do. Q. And is that the way it looked to you as you remember seeing it on December 24th, 2002? A. Yes, it is. Q. Did you -- there's a number of photographs -- you can go ahead and have a seat. There's a number of photographs in front of you. I think they're marked People's 48 through 79. Do you see those photographs? MR. GERAGOS: May I approach? THE COURT: Go ahead. MR. DISTASO: Actually, Your Honor, instead of the -- Counsel approaching and standing up there while I'm doing my direct, I don't have a problem with the detective holding up each photograph. But it's actually a little distracting. THE COURT: He's entitled to see what he's going to refer to before -- THE WITNESS: There are actually 45, not 48 -- MR. DISTASO: Okay. THE WITNESS: -- through 78. MR. DISTASO: Q. You've looked at those photos briefly now. Do those photos accurately depict the condition of the house as you remember seeing it on December 24th? A. Yes. Q. And did you direct those photographs to be taken? A. Yes, I did. Q. And who did you tell to take those photographs? A. I told Derrick Letsinger to have ID Officer Doug Lovell take them when he arrived. Q. Okay. And is Derrick Letsinger a MPD patrol officer? A. Yes, he is. Q. Did you ask the defendant's permission regarding taking photographs of the house? A. Yes, I did. Q. What did you say? A. I -- just before we left for the shop, I asked him if it was all right if I had our ID off -- tech come, go into his residence, take photographs and collect any evidence. Q. And what did the defendant say in response to that? A. He said that would be fine. Q. If you could look at People's 70--74 and 75. Just find those exhibits, then you can hold--if you'd hold them up so Counsel would be aware of what you're referring to. A. 74 is a photograph of the closet in the southwest bedroom, and 75 is also a photograph of the closet which shows the purse that was hanging in there. Q. Okay. Those are really -- you don't need to look at 70. 74 and 75 is sufficient. THE COURT: You stated "southwest bedroom." Is that the master bedroom? THE WITNESS: Yes. MR. DISTASO: Q. The purse that is depicted in 74 and 75, do you recognize that purse as something you saw that evening? A. Yes. Q. And can you tell the Court -- actually, before we get to this, let's just go through -- you went through a walk-through of the house with the defendant? A. Yes, I did. Q. Just -- if you could tell the Court what happened in just, you know, that incident. A. We just -- we went in through the front door, and he pointed out his bedroom, showed me where in the master bedroom there was a closet with all female clothing, and the purse that he said that was Laci's, took me into the northwest bedroom, or it's the spare bedroom, showed me the closet there that was all male clothing that he said was his, we went into the den area and showed me the washroom area. The den is actually like a converted garage. Went into the baby's room. We went into the bathroom. I went into the backyard through the double French doors. I looked in the backyard. Q. All right. Let me stop you there. So he basically just kind of took you through the whole house? A. Yes. Q. All right. Now, going back to the photograph of the purse, did -- did you actually -- did you ask the defendant if that was Laci Peterson's purse? A. No. Q. What did you -- did he say anything about it? A. It was -- well, during the walk-through, Evers and Scott were with me, and they pointed it out to me. They -- like Jon already knew that was her purse, but he said, "There's her purse." Q. Okay. So Officer Evers says, "There's her purse"? A. Yeah, her purse was in the closet. Q. All right. And did the defendant say anything in response to that? A. I don't recall. Q. Okay. And did you go and look through the purse? A. Yes. Q. And can you tell the Court what happened? A. I can't remember if I picked it up or Evers, but all we did was flop it open when I was there and look into it, and basically, "Her stuff is in here," and that's -- Q. And what do you mean by "her stuff was in there"? A. Her personal items, her wallet and her -- I just remember her wallet, that was important, was in there. Q. Okay. And why was that something that you looked off -- looked at kind of right off the bat? A. It wasn't right off the bat, it was through there, but it was because that was something that I felt Laci wouldn't have left home willingly and left that behind. That was a piece of her personal -- MR. GERAGOS: Objection. Motion to strike. Speculation. THE COURT: Sustained. MR. DISTASO: Actually, Your Honor, I wasn't -- I'm not offering it for what Laci's habit or what she would have done, but I was actually offering it for why the detective -- it's part of why he's doing the investigation he's doing. MR. GERAGOS: Same objection. THE COURT: It's still speculative. Sustained. MR. DISTASO: Q. Okay. Did you take anything out of the purse? A. No. Q. Did you hand anything from the purse to the defendant? A. No. Q. There's a photograph, People's 62. Could you find that paragraph and hold it up so we can see which one you're referring to? A. It's the den area, and it's -- THE COURT: Don't you have an extra copy of these, Mr. Geragos? MR. GERAGOS: I do, but I haven't marked them, and I told Mr. Distaso my eyesight's not that good. THE COURT: It will speed up the proceedings if you look at your copy. MR. DISTASO: Q. Detective, the rug that's depicted in that photograph, do you remember seeing that in the house that evening? A. Yes. Q. Did you speak to Officer Spurlock about the condition of that rug when he first arrived at the house or first went through the house? A. Yes. Q. And what did he say about that? A. He said it was scrunched up or it was pushed up all the way against the door. Q. And did he tell you whether or not he noted that fact in his report? A. I don't know if he told me he noted it. Q. But did you actually look in his report and see if that fact was noted in there? A. Yes. Q. And is it? A. Yes. Q. Did you talk to Officer Derrick Letsinger about that rug? A. Yes, I did. Q. And what did he say about it? A. He told me -- MR. MCALLISTER: Objection. Hearsay. THE COURT: I assume you're wanting it in under 115? MR. DISTASO: I am, Your Honor. THE COURT: Overruled. MR. DISTASO: Your Honor, just so I'm clear, typically in these situations, one counsel handles each -- MR. MCALLISTER: I'll be doing it. MR. DISTASO: Okay. Q. The -- in regard to Officer Letsinger -- what did Officer Letsinger tell you about that particular rug? A. He said during the first walk-through that he was on, he saw the rug was pushed all the way up against the door. Q. Okay. And did you take a look at his report to see if that information was noted in his report? A. Yes, I did. Q. Is it? A. Yes, it is. Q. When you were going through the house, did the defendant take you into the area of where the -- I'm trying to think of how to describe it -- where the washer and dryer were? A. Yes. Q. And was there anything unusual about that? MR. MCALLISTER: Objection. That calls for speculation. THE COURT: Sustained. MR. DISTASO: Q. Well, just describe what you saw, then. A. Well, I saw that there was a pile of white towels, dirty white towels on the top of the washing machine or the dryer, and the clothing Scott told me he was wearing he said he washed. So I looked into the washing machine. Q. Okay. We'll get to that in a minute. Did the defendant make any comments to you about the maid being in the house? A. Yes. Q. And what was that? A. He said they had a maid, and she was there on the 23rd, on Monday. She came every two weeks. He thought it was her third time there on Monday. And he gave me her name, Maggie, and he gave me her phone number. Q. Did you also -- did you review any calls from the defendant's cell phone? A. Well, I re -- I -- I -- I reviewed his call history, is one thing I did with his cell phone. Q. Okay. How did you do that? A. He -- I asked him if I could look at his cell phone for the call history, and then he gave it to me, and I went down, and I wrote down every call he received and every call he dialed out. And I put whatever was on the call, if it was a name or if it was a phone number. Q. And what was the number of his cell phone? What was his number? A. I might have to look at my report, but it was 505-0337, or something similar to that. Can I look at my report? Q. We can -- we'll go back to that in minute. A. All right. Q. Did the defendant ever provide a phone to you with the phone number 499-8427? A. Did he ever provide it to me? Q. Yeah, on the 24th. A. No. Q. As part of your speaking with the defendant, did you ask him what his marital relationship was like? A. Yes. Q. Did you ask him if he was having any type of affair? A. Yes. Q. And what did he tell you? A. No. Q. Did you ask him at any time that evening or even within a couple weeks of the 24th, did he ever tell you that he had been having an affair with a woman by the name of Amber Frey? A. No. Q. Initially, when you first arrived at the house, did you notice a dog at all? A. Not when I first arrived. But during the walk-through, I saw the dog. Q. Okay. What was the dog doing when you first -- first started the walk-through? A. The dog was just in the backyard. Q. Okay. Was it making any noise? A. No. Q. Did you ask the dog -- did you ask the defendant about the dog at all at any time during that evening? A. Yeah. Q. What'd you ask him? A. I asked him how old the dog was, I asked him if it was protective of Laci, whose dog it was. Q. And what -- what did he say? A. He told me it was his dog and it was about eight or nine years old, it was -- he had it before he was married, and it was protective of Laci. Q. Did he -- did he give you any example of how it was protective of Laci? A. He said it would bark at strangers. Q. Did he make any mention of an incident where he had observed the dog protecting Laci? A. He -- he told me if -- where he observed it? Q. Right. A. I mean -- I can't remember. Q. Okay. Did he mention anything about the dog and the pool man? A. He said that the dog was protective of Laci around the pool man if he wasn't there. Q. Did -- going there, do you see People's 48 up there? It's a picture of a mop bucket and some mops. A. Yes. Q. If you can just pull it out and just hold it up. A. (Complies.) Q. Did you ask the defendant about that? A. Yes. Q. And what did he say? A. He said before he left to go fishing, Laci asked him to bring the mop bucket in with water because -- he said that she was pregnant, so she couldn't carry it. He said he brought it in, set it near the front door, and when he left to go fishing, Laci was mopping. Q. How many mops were present? There was one bucket, but how many mops were there? A. Two. Q. Did you ask him how the mop bucket got outside of the house? A. Yes. Q. What did he say about that? A. He said when he got home from fishing, he no -- he noticed that when he opened the French doors to come in the back door, the cat and dog ran in and the cat ran towards the bucket. He thought the cat was gonna spill it or drink out of it, so he went over there, and he took it out and dumped it. Q. Going back to the washing machine area, you said you saw some towels on top? A. Yes. Q. Did you ask him about the towels? A. Yes. Q. What did he say about those? A. He suspected the maid used them the day before. He didn't know how they got dirty or what they were used on. He said when he initially got home, he found them in the washing machine, he's the one that took them out of the washing machine and put them on top so he could put his clothes in the washing machine. Q. Did -- and you said you looked inside and saw some clothes? A. Yes. I actually pulled them out. Q. All right. And did he ident -- what did he -- what did he say about those clothes? A. Those were the clothes he wore fishing. Q. And do you remember what they were? A. Yes. Q. What were they? A. They were a pair of blue jeans, a blue T-shirt, and a green pullover, long-sleeved shirt. Q. Did you ask him why he washed his clothes right when he got home that day? A. Yes. Q. What'd he say why? A. He said they were wet from the bay and being rained on. Q. Okay. Was there anything else in that -- in the washing machine with those clothes? A. No. Q. Was there any other laundry present in that laundry area? A. There was -- not in that laundry area. There was a laundry basket, but it was in the master bedroom overflowing. Q. Was there clothes in that laundry basket? A. Yes. Q. If you could look at People's 77. And in that particular room, is that -- was that the spare bedroom where you said the men's clothes were? A. Yes. Q. Was there -- did you see a bag on the floor in one of the bedrooms? A. Yes. Q. And can you describe -- describe for the Court what you saw regarding that bag. A. There was a Nike bag on the floor in the spare bedroom directly in front of the open closet doors. It was unzipped, and there was a raincoat or something similar to a raincoat partially pulled out of it. Q. And did you ask the defendant anything about that bag? A. Yes. Q. What'd he say? A. I asked him if he took anything out of the bag. Q. What'd he say? A. He said earlier in the morning he removed a pair of white tennis shoes and put them on his wet bar. Q. Did you see any tennis shoes on the wet bar? A. I didn't that night. Q. Did you see the position that the cars were in in the driveway of the home when you were there? A. Yes. Q. Can you describe for the Court how they were? A. Laci's car was parked facing in, so the nose of it would have been facing west, and it was on the south side of the driveway, and Scott's truck was backed in so the nose was facing east, and it was on the north side of the driveway. Q. Can you turn that -- just turn that diagram over. Just flip it around. People's 80's on the back. Do you recognize that as just a different type of diagram of the house? A. Yes, I do. Q. And the way the cars -- do you see the cars down there in the bottom right-hand corner? A. Yes, I do. Q. Both -- just -- which -- I mean, on what side of the car -- if you can just take a pen, take a pen, and just write, just write "Laci's car" and "Scott's car" regarding the two vehicles. A. Right in the car, I'm gonna put "Laci's car." And then inside the truck, I'm gonna put "Scott's." Q. Now, in that diagram, the cars are both facing with their nose in. Is that the way you observed it on the 24th? A. No. Q. The defendant's truck was flipped around; is that right? A. Yes. Q. Okay. You can go back and have a seat. But is that the position the cars were in, though? A. Yes. Q. I mean, as far as the physical locations. A. Yes. Q. All right. Did you ask the defendant if you could look through the -- look through Laci's car? A. Yes, I did. Q. And what kind of car was it? A. It was a green Land Rover. Q. And did you take a look inside? A. Yes, I did. Q. And what -- or I guess did the defendant consent or agree to allow you to look inside? A. Yes, he did. Q. And what did you -- what did you find in there, if anything? A. I saw her cell phone was in there, it was -- the battery was dead -- MR. MCALLISTER: Objection. Beyond the scope of the question. THE COURT: Sustained. MR. DISTASO: Can you -- that's fine. THE COURT: The cell phone was in there will be allowed in. MR. DISTASO: Q. Did you take a look at the cell phone? A. Yes. Q. What did you observe about it? A. That it was -- it would power on, but immediately turn off like the battery was dead, and it was plugged into the dashboard. Q. Did you note anything else that was in that car? A. No. Q. Did you take a look at the defendant's car? A. Yes. Q. What type of car was that? A. It was a four-door Ford F-150 truck. Q. And did you ask the defendant if you could look inside his car? A. Yes. Q. And what'd he say? A. Yes. Q. Just describe for the Court what you did when you were looking through the car. A. Well, he unlocked it for me from his remote key. I first looked into the back of the truck. Q. Okay. Did you see anything -- what did you see in the back of the truck? A. I saw there was some umbrellas wrapped in a blue tarp, they were in the back of the truck, like against the back of the tailgate, meaning longways. There was also a brown canvas tarp in there, it was kind of bunched up, not folded or rolled neatly, and it was against the back of the green toolbox. I got up on the rear of the truck and looked into the green toolbox that was unlocked. I could see there was some clothes in there, there was some rope, nylon rope, and there was some -- a bag of shotgun shells. Q. Okay. Did you subsequently learn what the brown canvas tarp was? A. Yes. Q. What was it? A. It was the boat -- it was the tarp that came with the boat when he bought it. Q. Did you ask the defendant about the patio umbrellas? A. Yes. Q. What'd he say about them? A. He said earlier that morning he planned on storing them at his shop, so he wrapped them in the blue tarp, put them in his truck, planning on leaving them in his shop. Q. Did you ask him why they were still in the truck? A. Yes. Q. What did he say? A. He said he forgot to take them out. Q. Were you present at a search warrant of the defendant's home on December 27th of 2002? A. Yes, I was. Q. Did you observe the patio umbrellas in a location different than the back of the truck? CONTINUED PAGE 2 PRELIMINARY HEARING INDEX ALIBI-WITNESS LIST COURT DATES HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT AMBER EVIDENCE-NEWS WIRETAPS |
| LACI & CONNER Pray For Justice |
| PRELIMINARY HEARING - DAY 6 Thursday - November 6, 2003 Testimony of Detective Al Brocchini PG 2 PG3 PG4 PG5 |
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| Detective Brocchini |