| Defense keeps spotlight on woman who broke into Peterson's home By Harriet Ryan - Court TV June 28, 2004 Testimony in Scott Peterson's trial focused Monday morning on a mentally unstable woman who became "infatuated" with the fertilizer salesman after his wife went missing and later burglarized his house. In his third day under cross-examination by Peterson's lawyer, Modesto Police Detective Allen Brocchini recounted his contact with Kimberly McGregor, a neighbor who admitted breaking into the couple's home on Jan. 19, 2003, about a month after the Laci Peterson disappeared. Brocchini said McGregor stole eight garments apparently belonging to Scott Peterson, as well as his wife's Social Security card and a camcorder. She also told investigators that during the midnight break-in she poured herself a Jack Daniels and Coke, rifled through closets, and may have rested in the Petersons' bed. The detective testified that McGregor told him she was bipolar and off her medication when she committed the crime. McGregor did not know Peterson before his wife vanished and befriended him at the volunteer search center. Brocchini said he told Peterson he believed McGregor was infatuated with him, prompting the fertilizer salesman to reply sarcastically, "That's great." At the time of the burglary, Peterson's affair with masseuse Amber Frey had just been exposed and his wife's family and police were suspicious of him. Brocchini said Peterson declined to prosecute McGregor, saying it was not worth the bother. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos appeared to suggest McGregor or one of her acquaintances may have had a role in the mother-to-be's disappearance. Brocchini conceded that after the burglary, he asked McGregor about her whereabouts on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, 2002 — the period Laci Peterson vanished. He acknowledged that he discovered problems with the some parts of alibi she gave him. A friend she said she ran into at a day spa on Christmas Eve later told police the encounter actually occurred on Dec. 23. Her alibi for the evening of Dec. 23 was dinner with an ex-boyfriend. Geragos noted that the boyfriend had "two Hawaiian roommates," and implied the men may be related to reports of a "Pacific Islander" who attempted to kidnap a teenager in a neighboring town a few days before. Geragos' gentle questioning of Brocchini was markedly different in tenor than Thursday, when the detective last appeared before the jury. Then, the two clashed in several contentious exchanges as Brocchini admitted several mistakes in his reports, including purposefully excluding a witness statement beneficial to the defense. With Geragos using the detective's reports to point away from his client and toward other suspects, the lawyer's questions were straight-forward instead of accusatory. Brocchini was not defensive as he had been last week. His answers were typically, "Yes," "That's right," or "Correct." Before testimony began, Judge Alfred Delucchi strongly reprimanded the Modesto Police Department for breaking the gag order that governs the case. A spokesman for the department defended Brocchini's exclusion of the witness statement in an interview with the Associated Press. The judge called a representative of the department, Captain Joe Aja, into the well of the court and dressed him down. "I'm telling you this has to stop," he told Aja. Brocchini continued on the stand Monday afternoon. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST EVIDENCE-NEWS |
 |
| Susan Caudillo with Kim McGregor |
 |
| LACI & CONNER PRAY FOR JUSTICE |
 |