| LACI & CONNER FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS |
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| Janelle Wang's Trial Notes
Day 60 - Sept. 23, 2004 HOME VIDEO |
Today, for the first time ever, jurors got to see and hear Laci Peterson. The prosecution presented a home video, which was about 40 minutes long. But the clip of Laci was only 25 seconds. Her husband Scott Peterson was behind the camera, filming his wife and her friend in the kitchen on July 4, 2002. Laci and the friend were in bikini tops and sarongs, preparing food for possibly an Independence Day Celebration. Scott asks them: "wave to the camera now, wave to the camera." Laci responds with a cheerful "hi" and waves her arm. Scott jokes on the camera as he's filming his bikini-clad wife: "I was going to send it to Osama and make him envious." For those 25 seconds, I personally felt sad. It was the realization that this beautiful young woman was not here anymore. But the jurors had no reaction at all. No one cried, not even Alternate Juror #1, who has been emotional all week. But legal analysts believe the video did affect them, personalizing Laci to the jury. The home video also personalizes Scott Peterson. On another part of the tape, he is on a fishing trip with his dad, brother and possibly two nephews. It appears they're having a great time. Scott seems eager to capture this special family trip on video. We only SEE Laci for 25 seconds on the entire video, but I think she's BEHIND the camera for a lot of it. You can see her hand and nicely polished nails, as she arranges some jewelry on a black cloth. It appears she is documenting the expensive jewelry for insurance purposes. They include a diamond Croton watch, a Mickey Mouse watch, a bracelet, necklaces and a pair of earrings. Some of it was inherited from her grandmother. Also on the video, Scott videotapes each of his golf clubs, one-by-one … possibly for insurance purposes as well. Most of the home video is of the Peterson's neighborhood in Modesto. The person shooting the video is filming it from inside a car, while driving around the area. We believe it could be Laci filming the video. In past testimony, we heard she was very involved with the "Encina Project". Encina Avenue is a street next to the Peterson home. The project would connect one neighborhood with another. Right now, there's a large plot of land inbetween the 2 neighborhoods. This causes Encina Avenue to dead end in 2 places. The project would connect the street and make it 1 straight thoroughfare. Earlier this month, a neighbor testified that Laci put together a video on the Encina project for a community meeting. It appears today's home video showed a portion of that. But reporters didn't know for sure because prosecutors never addressed it. Actually, for the entire video, the prosecution never explained why they were showing it. Even the legal analysts were puzzled. Michael Cardoza: "I felt like I was grasping at fog and I was missing the point of their video." Dean Johnson said the purpose of the 25 second clip with Laci in the kitchen was to definitely humanize her to the jurors, but said "Why the rest of the video? I'm not sure." DAILY TIDBIT – CONFIDANTS There was an unusual sight during the morning break of the trial. The judge usually calls a break around 10:30 a.m. for about 20 minutes. Most everyone files out. The reporters head to the plaza in front of the courthouse to interview legal analysts about their take on what just happened in court. The jurors walk down the street to grab a snack. The court observers go their separate ways. Bailiffs usually escort Scott out of the courtroom. But today, he stayed and chatted with his attorney Mark Geragos who did most of the talking. As I stayed in the courtroom during the break, I saw the two of them sitting very closely together, face-to-face. I couldn't hear what Geragos was saying, because he was whispering, but another reporter and I thought it looked like Geragos was reassuring Scott about the case - one time, giving him a pat on the leg. The two were also laughing a lot, like there was no one else in the courtroom. It almost looked like two buddies, sitting in a café, catching-up on stuff. It's obvious Geragos and Peterson have grown very close this past year. HOME INDEX TRIAL LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS LACI'S ALBUM #1 #2 AUTOPSY MODESTO PD INDEX |
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