| Judge refuses to dismiss charges
By GARTH STAPLEY and JOHN COTÉ Friday, July 30, 2004 A detective's misstep on the witness stand isn't reason enough to throw out double-murder charges against Scott Peterson, a judge ruled Thursday. That means the trial will resume Monday for a 10th week of testimony. Defense attorney Mark Geragos had argued that Modesto police Detective Al Brocchini tried to throw a monkey wrench in the trial by trying to link duct tape recovered with Laci Peterson's body to remarks her husband reportedly made nine years earlier. Judge Alfred Delucchi ruled that Geragos can recall Brocchini to the stand to clarify the detective's error. But the judge said he won't publicly scold Brocchini or prosecutors -- an option Geragos said he would prefer over a mistrial. "The court's of the opinion that this testimony doesn't reach the level of prejudice, mistrial or dismissal," Delucchi said. Last month, Brocchini testified that a former friend of Peterson told him that the defendant described in 1995 how he would duct-tape a bag around the neck of a body and weigh down the hands. Jurors knew that Laci's remains were missing hands and feet and that duct tape stuck to her tattered maternity pants. But a transcript of the recorded tip mentioned nothing about duct tape. Geragos stridently argued that Brocchini intentionally "slipped in something he knows was not appropriate" because it had worked before. "We've got the M.O., the same pattern if you will," Geragos said Thursday. "He's banking that the court will grant a mistrial again, or he'll get up and say, 'Oh, it was just a slip of the tongue.'" The detective triggered a mistrial in Modesto in a 1998 home-invasion robbery case by saying something he shouldn't have on the witness stand. The case was retried and the three defendants were convicted. Delucchi appeared to agree with prosecutor Rick Distaso, who said Brocchini made "a simple mistake. It wasn't intentional; it wasn't gross negligence." Noting more than 40,000 pages of evidence documents, Delucchi said: "In a case of this length and magnitude, these things are going to happen. I don't believe there has been any prosecutorial misconduct in this case." James Hammer, a former prosecutor, said authorities "really dodged a bullet today." Granting Geragos' request that the judge give prosecutors and Brocchini a public tongue-lashing would have been "a very painful sting," Hammer said. Doing so would be tantamount to a judge commenting on evidence, Delucchi said in his ruling. "I'm disinclined to do that," the judge said. Delucchi also noted that Brocchini made clear to the jury that he had discounted the body-disposal tip. Also Thursday, Delucchi said he will not reconsider his ruling allowing jurors to hear Peterson's phone conversations that were secretly recorded by authorities. Geragos argued that affidavits authorities filled in asking for the wiretaps contained "four demonstrably false statements." Even if those were taken out of the documents -- one of which was about 80 pages long -- what remained would have been plenty for a judge to approve the wiretaps, Delucchi ruled. Geragos asked to postpone another motion regarding a dog because someone who has the records is on vacation, and the judge agreed. Delucchi previously ruled that prosecutors can introduce a scent-dog handler whose animal picked up Laci Peterson's scent at the Berkeley Marina. That's where Scott Peterson said he fished alone on Christmas Eve 2002 before returning to an empty house. Police say he used his boat that day to dump his pregnant wife's body in the bay. The remains of mother and son washed ashore four months later in two locations less than two miles from the launch site. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS |
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| LACI & CONNER MAY JUSTICE PREVAIL |
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