| LACI & CONNER "May you be granted Peace in your Sorrow, and with HIS Love know that your loved ones are with HIM." LORETTA ORBACH - PA - GUESTBOOK |
| Did hairs found in Scott's boat belong to Laci? DA to present more DNA evidence this week September 7, 2004 By Jason Dearen, STAFF WRITER Testimony in the Scott Peterson double-murder trial turns technical this week, as the prosecution's focus shifts to the DNA analysis of their only physical evidence: hairs found in the Modesto man's fishing boat. In a capital murder case with no cause of death, murder weapon or crime scene, the prosecution hopes these strands of hair will convince the jury that Peterson used his boat to dispose of his pregnant wife's body. Investigators searching Peterson's warehouse found the hairs attached to needle-nose pliers under a seat in the boat he took out on San Francisco Bay Dec. 24, 2002 -- the day Laci Peterson disappeared. The bodies of Laci and their unborn son washed up on the Bay shore four months later. The two strands of hair are the district attorney's only evidence placing the pregnant woman inside her husband's boat. And this week, they will present to jurors a disputed method of DNA identification to prove it. Because the hairs collected had no roots, the prosecution is relying on mitochondrial DNA -- instead of the more reliable nuclear DNA -- to prove that the hair is Laci Peterson's. A prosecution expert described the difference between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA at the preliminary hearing last year: nuclear DNA is found in the nucleus of a cell and can be used to uniquely identify tissues. Mitochondrial DNA is found in other areas of a cell and can be used to identify a person, and is therefore less accurate. Hence, using mitochondrial DNA, FBI analysts can exclude Scott Peterson as the hairs' owner, but cannot say with scientific certainty that the hairs found in the fertilizer salesman's boat belong to Laci. Defense attorney Mark Geragos attempted at the preliminary hearing to get Stanislaus County Judge Al Girolami, the judge on the case before it moved to Redwood City, to toss the DNA evidence. But mitochondrial DNA is used as evidence commonly in trials throughout the United States, legal experts say. How did the hairs get there? But even if prosecutors are able to convince the jury that the hairs are Laci's, legal experts say the defense will not have a hard time providing reasonable explanations for how they got there. For example, according to the testimony of Christopher Boyer, a scent-tracking dog handler, Peterson said in an interview that Laci often wore his jackets when she walked their dog, McKenzie. Geragos will argue that the hair could have been attached to Peterson's jacket and fell off in the boat. In addition, prosecutors argue that Laci Peterson never knew about Peterson's fishing boat because he planned to use it in his murder plot. But, according to the testimony of Modesto Police Detective Al Brocchini, a lead investigator on the case, a witness in Peterson's warehouse complex said she saw Laci Peterson there in December, after her husband had bought the boat. Geragos has highlighted that as another way in which Laci Peterson's hair may have gotten into the boat. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS AUTOPSY DOGS INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS MAGAZINES AMBER |
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