| Prosecutors To Test Blood Found In Van
April 15, 2004 Authorities are performing DNA tests on a set of presumptive blood samples found in a brown van connected with the Scott Peterson murder trial, prosecutors said today in court. Prosecutors do not believe the van has any connection to the murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn child because eyewitnesses and circumstantial evidence allegedly rule it out. However they ordered the tests after defense experts examined the van. They do not want defense attorney Mark Geragos using the absence of test results to discredit their case before the jury when the trial begins in May. "We don't want to take any chance that it's raised that we didn't do the test," Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris said. "You mean the old red herring defense," Delucchi asked and Harris agreed. Geragos complained that prosecutors were performing tests too close to the trial and not giving him enough time to prepare his case. Delucchi ordered that the prosecution turn over lab notes from the DNA testing to Geragos every day that they are being performed. Geragos raised the evidence issue as the afternoon court session began after being notified by prosecutors that they were interviewing an expert in the type of boat Scott Peterson owned and allegedly used to dump his wife's body in San Francisco Bay. The expert, Tony Johns of Lebanon, Mo., could testify during the trial. Harris said prosecutors were once again only responding to defense requests to examine evidence. "They had Dr. Henry Lee come and look at the boat," Harris said. Geragos became more animated than usual, jumping to his feet on several occasions, as he complained to Delucchi that prosecutors were violating the defense's right to prepare their case in confidence. "Every time we ask to see something we have to do it in front of a Modesto police officer, a D.A. investigator and one of the D.A.'s who sits there and watches everything we do with it," Geragos said. Geragos asked Delucchi to set a deadline after which the prosecution would not be able to present new evidence for use at the trial. "For the case in chief there's got to be a bright line," Geragos said. Delucchi declined to set a specific deadline but did warn prosecutors that they could not spring new evidence on the defense on the eve of trial. He also ordered the prosecution to turn over their report about the boat expert to Geragos as soon as it was completed. After Delucchi made his orders, jury selection resumed. HOME INDEX LACI TRIAL NEWS VAN/CULT INDEX SCOTT |
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