| Peterson team pushes for hearing on intercepted calls, sanctions Defense Attorney Mark Geragos talks to Defendant Scott Lee Peterson during hearing today. Alleging "grave prosecutorial misconduct," Scott Peterson's lawyers want a judge to consider sanctions that could include removing the district attorney's office from his double-murder case. Defense attorneys filed a request Monday for a hearing on phone calls between Peterson and members of his defense team that investigators intercepted. If Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami grants the request, defense attorneys want to question investigators and a prosecutor under oath about the wiretaps. "I need to assess what was told to who, and I need people under oath to do it," defense attorney Mark Geragos said Monday. Defense attorneys will make their request during a separate hearing scheduled for Friday, the documents indicate. The documents lay out a series of sanctions the defense may seek, including removing the district attorney's office, excluding testimony from any investigator or attorney involved in the wiretaps, and barring any evidence unless prosecutors can demonstrate it did not come from the eavesdropping. "This is not unanticipated," Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold said Monday. "We're certainly not opposed to whatever the judge requires. If the judge wants somebody to testify, we're happy to have them testify." The defense also wants a closed hearing to question -- among others -- Steve Jacobson, an investigator for the district attorney's office who supervised the wiretaps, and Rick Distaso, the lead prosecutor on the case who provided investigators with "wiretap instructions." Investigators intercepted 69 calls between Peterson and Modesto attorney Kirk McAllister, according to documents the prosecution filed with the court last month. They also intercepted two calls between Peterson and a private investigator working for McAllister. The body of Peterson's pregnant wife, Laci, and that of their unborn child were found in April along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. Scott Peterson has pleaded not guilty in the deaths; defense attorneys maintain that they are looking for the real killer or killers. Prosecutors contend that they followed state law when administering two wiretaps on Peterson's phones, the first authorized Jan. 10, the second April 15. But they admit that investigators mistakenly monitored one call and portions of two others between Peterson and his defense team. "We're probably talking about two minutes or less of total conversations," prosecutor Distaso said last week. Prosecutors maintain that they have not listened to the three calls. Investigators did not listen to or record the remaining 68 calls, prosecutors say. Girolami last week ordered investigators to give the defense copies of the recordings and a log of all calls between Peterson and his defense team. Defense attorneys maintain that all calls were "clearly and totally privileged under the law." They also contend that the section of state law that allows spot checking of some privileged conversations does not apply to those between attorneys and their clients. State law also protects other types of communication, such as between a person and a priest or doctor. But Kevin Cole, an associate dean of law at the University of San Diego, said the defense argument seemed suspect. "I find the argument that (the law) is not intended to apply to attorney-client privilege a little implausible on the face of the thing," Cole said. "Attorney-client communication is probably the first type of privileged communication that comes to mind." The law says investigators must immediately stop monitoring calls that are of a "privileged nature," but can spot-check the calls for 30 seconds every two minutes. Prosecutors said they followed that procedure for the most part, but defense attorneys said that section of the law has "no applicability to eavesdropping on attorney-client communications because, by their very nature, they are privileged as a matter of fact and law." HOME INDEX TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST COURT DATES-RESULTS WIRETAP INDEX LACI EVIDENCE & NEWS SCOTT |
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