| Geragos treads lightly with star witness August 24, 2004 JEFF JARDINE - MODESTO BEE This was as much of a test for Mark Geragos as it was for Amber Frey. With the prosecution's star witness on the stand for cross examination Monday, the speculation was rampant. Would he succumb to his own monumental ego and try to destroy the woman whose testimony has been the most damaging yet against murder suspect Scott Peterson? Would he go too far with his aggressive and acerbic style? Would he badger Frey so much that the jury would take pity on her? After all, they spent last week listening to recorded conversations in which Peterson admits repeatedly that he lied to her, telling her he had lost his wife weeks before Laci Peterson and their unborn son were murdered. They listened as Frey bared her soul for all the world to hear. The smart money was that Geragos couldn't resist, that he would try to humiliate her for having gone to bed with Peterson on their first date. Conventional wisdom suggested he would smirk at her for being foolish enough to believe they really had a future together. Frey's testimony -- and her cross-examination in particular -- drew so much media interest that San Mateo County court officials had to revise the way they issue media and public passes to accommodate the demand only for this portion of the trial. Geragos absolutely revels in the opportunity to destroy a witness on the stand and then smirk about it later, as Special Prosecutor Ken Starr found out when Geragos got Susan McDougal off during the Whitewater trial. Yet, he treaded lightly with Frey. Through the first day of her cross- examination, at least, he pressed forward but didn't attack. He resisted the temptation and tried to remain patient, even when her responses sounded like well-rehearsed lines in a high-school stage play. To the contrary, he set about using her testimony to bolster his contention that the Modesto police fixated on Scott Peterson from Day 1 and never made any other attempts to learn who really killed Peterson's wife Laci and their unborn son in December 2002. It certainly wasn't the show many expected after Judge Alfred Delucchi scrapped last Wednesday's scheduled cross-examination for reasons he still hasn't explained. And when court resumed Monday, jurors first had to hear from a witness brought in from Florida to testify about Peterson's cell phone records. That, in a strange way, might have been the most amazing aspect of this trial so far. While prosecutors haven't yet pinned two murders on Peterson, they did prove there is a way to actually speak to a real person at AT&T: by subpoena. Geragos went right at AT&T records expert Mary Anderson, and it looked like he was merely taking batting practice for Frey. But when Frey finally took the stand just before noon, Geragos seized the moment by telling Delucchi, "I have no questions, Judge." Delucchi's eyes lit up. "Just kidding," Geragos added. While he asked tough questions, he kept his sarcasm to a minimum. Only when testimony resumed after lunch did he get in a shot. He asked about the first phone call between Peterson and Frey -- the one that set up their first date in November 2002. "You didn't tape that one?" he said, referring to the number of conversations she taped for police after Peterson became a suspect. "No," she replied in all seriousness, perhaps too nervous to get his little joke. Mostly, he grilled her about her cooperation with Modesto police. He tried to draw her anger toward them by pointing to reports that said detectives didn't believe she was telling them everything, and never told her they were wiretapping at least two of Peterson's cell phones. She claims she told them everything and turned over all of the tapes she made of her conversations with Peterson after his pregnant wife disappeared. The inference is that someone was lying, and Geragos no doubt prefers the jury believe it was the cops. At day's end, he had neutralized some of Frey's earlier testimony and put other parts of it to his own use. "It was never going to be a boxing match," said Michael Cardoza, a defense attorney observing the trial. "You try to use that witness for every reason but what everybody else thinks." That's what Geragos tried to do Monday, and for the most part stuck to his script. AMBERS FIRST DAY OF CROSS-EXAM BY GERAGOS HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT AMBER TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS AUTOPSY MAGAZINES T.V. INTERVIEWS |
| LACI & CONNER "Prayers for Laci and Conner and the Rocha Family in this trying time ~ Justice Will Prevail" Canadianlady ~ Ontario ~ Guestbook |
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