| Peterson's parents get chance to testify Couple offers explanations for son's behavior in days before his arrest Tuesday, October 26, 2004 Scott Peterson's parents took the witness stand in his defense Monday and claimed responsibility for some of his odd behavior before his arrest in the murders of his pregnant wife and unborn child. Jackie Peterson walked up to the witness stand, looking a little nervous. When she sat in the witness chair, defense attorney Mark Geragos asked her, "You're Scott Peterson's mother?" Jackie replied, "Proudly so, yes." Throughout her testimony, Scott constantly watched his mother. Jackie looked back at her son and on several occasions, gave him a warm smile and had a loving look in her eyes. Jackie Peterson said she told her son to buy a used car in her name in an attempt to protect it from police seizure, and Lee Peterson said he instructed him to use another son's driver's license to save money on golfing through a resident discount. And the defendant's mother took a stab at explaining the nearly $15,000 that her son had when he was arrested, saying she had given him more than that for car deals. When jurors finally heard Peterson's mother, who has sat behind him in court since the trial began five months ago, she spoke fondly of her son's slain wife, Laci. "She loved to look at every one," said Peterson, describing a visit with her daughter-in-law to Carmel shops about a week before Laci Peterson's family reported her missing. They visited children's stores like Peter Rabbit and Friends, Peterson said, where the expectant mother would "have ideas of what she was going to do." Prosecutors have suggested that Scott Peterson was preparing to flee when arrested April 18, 2003, near San Diego with dyed hair and goatee, and his brother's driver's license, a stack of cash and a range of survival equipment in his newly purchased red Mercedes. He deserves to be executed, authorities say, for strangling or smothering his wife on or just before Christmas Eve 2002 and using homemade concrete weights to sink her body in San Francisco Bay. Just days before his arrest, the remains of mother and son were recovered less than two miles from where he said he fished the day she went missing. Jackie Peterson testified Monday that she withdrew $10,000 in early April 2002, giving her son about $8,000 to help another son, John, buy Scott's pickup. The money represented equity, she said; John would take over his brother's payments. But Peterson mistakenly took the money from Scott's account, she testified; her name and Scott's and Laci's names were on the account. So she withdrew $10,000 from her own account and gave it to Scott to replace the first withdrawal, the day before he was arrested, she testified. She said she told Scott to buy the car in her name, "because he kept losing cars." She clarified that authorities had impounded a pickup that wasn't returned for nearly a year, and a car in her name might escape the clutches of police. Scott Peterson explained his use of a feminine name by calling it "a boy named Sue thing," the Mercedes' former owner testified earlier this month. After Jackie's testimony, the defense called her husband, Lee Peterson, to the stand. As Jackie got off the stand and Lee started walking toward the stand, the two passed each other. Lee leaned over and gave his wife a kiss. It was a sweet gesture, but legal analysts say may not have been appropriate. This is the second time Lee Peterson has taken the witness stand. The prosecution called him for its case back in early September. Today, Lee Peterson talked about the day his son was arrested on April 18th, 2003. He had made reservations at the Torrey Pines Golf course in San Diego for a foursome. "I wanted to get three of my boys together, just looking for some normalcy in our lives, get together and be together." Lee Peterson also tried to explain why Scott had his brother's driver's license when he was arrested. He didn't find anything unusual about Scott's plan to use his brother's identification to get a $20 to $30 discount on golfing, though he carried $15,000 in cash. "I told (Scott) to borrow (the driver's license) to save money on greens fees," said Peterson, who had arranged to pick up the tab for himself and three sons. Pressed further, he replied, "Because I'm cheap." Observers in the courtroom started chuckling, but most of the jurors kept a serious face. He showed pictures in an attempt to discredit what a commercial fisherman said about a single round, concrete homemade anchor that police found in Peterson's boat. The fisherman called the anchor ineffective in rough bay tides and currents. Lee Peterson's pictures show round anchors of similar size used in rental rowboats at Lake Poway, a Peterson family vacation destination. JACKIE'S TESTIMONY AT PENALTY PHASE HOME INDEX LACI CONNER SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS AUTOPSY EVIDENCE PHOTOS CEMENT |
| LACI & CONNER "Sharon Rocha and Lacis entire family have shown such grace an dignity in their loss." MELODY ~ KENTUCKY ~ GUESTBOOK |
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