| Peterson Trial: Fireworks Awaiting Police Witnesses June 13, 2004 - FULL STORY Scott Peterson's double-murder trial enters its next phase with police taking the stand Monday after two weeks of testimony from friends and family. "The fireworks could start," said Loyola University Law Professor Laurie Levenson, adding that defense attorneys will now begin to pick apart the case in an effort to show the investigation was botched. Prosecutors have spent most of the past two weeks calling on the Petersons' friends and family members in an effort to lay out what they claim are repeated lies told by Scott in the days after his pregnant wife vanished. Testimony concluded Thursday with police officers describing the initial stages of the investigation. The trial, which is expected to last up to six months, was set to resume Monday with more testimony from police. Defense attorney Mark Geragos claims authorities bungled the investigation. He has charged that two of the lead detectives are lying. In their opening statement, prosecutors told jurors of two missteps by Modesto police Detective Al Brocchini. They said Brocchini left his own keys on the wheel well of Peterson's truck and forgot his case notebook in Peterson's fishing boat. Levenson said prosecutors are simply trying to get out in front of defense attacks. "That's what a good prosecutor will do. They will face their weaknesses up front," Levenson said. "It's much better to diffuse the defense attack than to let it hit the jury by surprise." Geragos is going to be "putting the police on trial," Levenson added. "It deflects attention from Peterson." However, the alleged lies that prosecutors say Peterson told could haunt the defense. Some witnesses said Peterson told them he was golfing on Christmas Eve in 2002. When he returned home, he says his wife was missing. Peterson later told authorities and family members he had been fishing alone all morning on San Francisco Bay. Defense attorneys have tried to explain away his behavior, indicating Peterson was simply distracted and in a state of shock when he told different stories. But the contradictions will hurt if prosecutors can establish a pattern, said Steve Cron, a criminal defense lawyer and professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu. "Each one of them by themselves amounts to nothing, but if you have dozens of these ... they start to paint a picture of someone who is being deceitful," Cron said. "If the jury believes that he is being deceitful, then the question is what is he lying about and the obvious implication is that he is lying about his wife's death." Prosecutors charge Scott killed Laci in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her body from his small boat on San Francisco Bay. His attorneys have speculated someone else abducted her while she walked the dog in a nearby park. The remains of Laci and her unborn son washed ashore nearly four months later, just two miles from where Scott claims to have launched for his fishing trip on that Christmas Eve morning. Peterson could face the death penalty or life without parole if convicted in the killings. HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT ALIBI-WITNESS LIST TRIAL NEWS LACI'S ALBUM MAGAZINES EVIDENCE-NEWS |
| LACI & CONNER Statement by Ron Grantski |
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| LACI & CONNER Statement by Ron Grantski |