| LACI & CONNER "Thousand Prayers to everyone who is suffering." Ron Honeywell ~ Cortland, New York ~ Guestbook |
 |
 |
| TRIAL OF SCOTT LEE PETERSON WEEK 15 - SEPT 9, 2004 TESTIMONY OF LEE PETERSON - SCOTT'S FATHER |
 |
|
|
| Peterson's dad 'proud Scott's my son' September 9, 2004 Scott Peterson's dad defiantly proclaimed he had no shame in being the defendant's father after taking the stand Thursday in his son's double-murder trial. "I'm proud to say Scott's my son," Lee Peterson told prosecutor Rick Distaso, who called him to testify in the case. The worn and tired father, wearing a cream-colored knit vest, blue striped shirt and khaki pants, then looked over at his son and gave him a reassuring grin. The defendant nodded slightly and smiled back. During the 15-week capital case in Redwood City, Lee Peterson has never publicly wavered in his opinion that his son is innocent of charges that he murdered his 27-year-old wife, Laci, and their unborn child. Every day Lee Peterson and his wife, Jackie, take their seats in the front row of the courtroom to support their son. Even after witnesses have testified about the former fertilizer salesman's lies and philandering, the couple has remained unflappable. But on Thursday the father was put in the unfathomable position of being called by the prosecution to testify against his youngest child. Lee Peterson, who believes his son has been falsely accused, appeared at times to be agitated and angry while he answered Distaso's questions. Lee Peterson said he spoke to his son on Dec. 24, 2002, as Scott Peterson was heading home from his now infamous fishing trip. Although he had just left the Berkeley Marina, Scott Peterson made no mention of his outing on San Francisco Bay nor did he tell his father that he'd recently bought a fishing boat. Lee Peterson, who was at home in Southern California during the calls which took place at 2:40 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., said the two talked about their individual plans for Christmas Eve but little else. "Did your son ever tell you he was fishing at the Berkeley Marina that day?" Distaso asked. "No," Lee Peterson responded. "Did he ever tell you that he bought a small aluminum fishing boat?" "No," he answered. But Lee Peterson said he found nothing suspicious about the fact that his son didn't mention the fishing trip or the boat. His son didn't usually talk to him about fishing or large expensive purchases, he said. In fact, Scott bought a new pickup months before, but never mentioned it. In college, Lee Peterson remembered, his son purchased a boat and a couple of motorcycles without telling his dad. "That's not Scott," to talk about things like that, Lee Peterson said. Scott Peterson sat tall in his chair and paid close attention throughout his father's brief testimony. The 31-year-old Modesto man is standing trial for the murder of his wife Laci and their unborn son. Rather than fishing on the bay as he told police, prosecutors maintain the sole purpose of the boating trip was to dump his wife's eight-months-pregnant body. Using testimony from earlier witnesses, prosecutors have suggested that it was out of character for Scott Peterson, an avid golfer, to go fishing. But Lee Peterson told the jury he always considered his son "the fisherman in the family -- an interest that had taken root when he was a small boy. Lee Peterson recalled that when he'd take Scott golfing, his son would always carry along a fishing pole in his golf bag. "If he didn't feel like golfing, we'd drop him at the creek and he could fish," Lee Peterson said. Scott's mother Jackie Peterson also would frequently take their son and his friends fishing at a nearby lake on Sundays, he said. As he got older, Scott and friends moved onto ocean fishing charters to try his luck in saltwater. "He seemed to enjoy it," Lee Peterson testified. But if angling was his passion, Scott didn't share many of his fishing tales with his dad. Again, Lee Peterson, who said he prefers the links to the water, appeared not at all surprised that his son hadn't told him about his Christmas Eve trip to the bay. "I'm not a real fisherman, Scott's the fisherman," Lee Peterson said. Scott Peterson didn't share any details about his extramarital affair either. Lee Peterson said the first he heard about his son's dalliance with Fresno massage therapist Amber Frey was from a detective in the Modesto Police Department. That occurred in mid-January, weeks after Laci Peterson was reported missing and just before the National Enquirer published photographs of Scott and Frey. "He showed me the pictures and watched for any reaction," Lee Peterson said of the Modesto detective who came to San Diego to break the news of the affair to the family. Lee Peterson indicated during his testimony that nothing seemed amiss between his son and daughter-in-law during a weekend trip with he and his wife to Carmel just a week before Laci Peterson disappeared. During that weekend, the women shopped in many stores and the two couples took a three-quarter mile walk down a steep path to a beach. Prosecutors have tried to show that because of the advanced stage of her pregnancy, Laci Peterson had stopped walking and wouldn't have been out strolling with her dog, as her husband said she planned to do when he last saw her. But defense attorneys are trying to show that Laci Peterson may have been tired at times but still took strenuous walks. The trial will resume on Monday with testimony about the global tracking devices place on Scott Peterson's vehicles after his wife vanished PRELIM TESTIMONY BY LEE PETERSON HOME INDEX PETERSON FAMILY LACI SCOTT TRIAL ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS AUTOPSY PLIERS-DNA DOGS AMBER |