| Loaded handgun found in Peterson's truck Scott Peterson’s defense attorney tried Thursday afternoon to raise questions about evidence-gathering Christmas Eve, pressing a detective with questions about what officers did the night Laci Peterson was reported missing. Detective Al Brocchini testified he seized a loaded .22-caliber handgun he found in the glove compartment of Scott ’s pickup and swabbed his hands to determine if there was any gun residue on them. Those swabs were never tested, Brocchini said under cross-examination. Brocchini appears to be at the center of a defense effort to suggest evidence was mishandled and potentially planted, and some of McAllister’s questioning seemed an attempt to embarrass the detective or suggest incompetence. Brocchini was questioned about his car keys, which he said he mistakenly left on top of the wheel well in the bed of Peterson’s pickup while searching it. He noticed they were missing when he prepared to drive Peterson to a warehouse the 31-year-old Modesto man used in his work as fertilizer salesman. Brocchini said he asked Scott Peterson to unlock the truck, and then noticed the keys sitting on the wheel well. But in his initial police report about the night, Brocchini said he found the keys under a tarp in the bed of the pickup. When McAllister asked the detective to square those two versions, Brocchini said the keys were on the wheel well and partially covered by a canvas tarp, which was bunched up next to a toolbox mounted in the bed just behind the cab. A separate blue tarp was wrapped around some patio umbrellas in the bed, Brocchini said. McAllister also questioned Brocchini on a mops and a bucket found outside the Peterson home on the approach to the front door. Earlier Thursday, Brocchini testified Peterson had given him permission to collect evidence from the home. But in his report, Brocchini indicated Peterson had consented to officers photographing the house and looking for evidence. “There’s nothing in you report that reflects any consent to take anything,” McAllister said. “Nothing in my report,” Brocchini said. Later Brocchini said he directed an evidence technician to collect the bucket and some towels found on top of the washing machine. He also told the technician to use an “alternative light source” to search the house for blood and collect any that was found. That conversation took place out of Peterson's earshot, Brocchini said. “I didn’t want him to hear,” he said. “I didn’t want him to know I was taking it.” The cross-examination was sometimes testy. After repeated questions about “the hump” where Brocchini left his keys, the detective pointing out that McAllister also drove a similar truck. “It’s just like your truck,” he said. PRELIMINARY HEARING TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST COURT DATES EVIDENCE-NEWS HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT AMBER WIRETAPS GUN INDEX AUTOPSY INDEX |
| LACI & CONNER Brightest Stars Above |
| PRELIMINARY HEARING - DAY 6 Thursday - November 6, 2003 |
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