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High-Profile Lawyer Mark Geragos May Defend Scott Peterson

Aired May 02, 2003 - 10:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the Laci Peterson case, husband, Scott Peterson, has a court appearance about 90 minutes or so from now. And our Rusty Dornin is standing by in Modesto, California here to explain exactly what this hearing is all about.
Rusty -- good morning. What can we expect today?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Well, we are fully expecting to see the well-known defense attorney, Mark Geragos, mount the steps here at the Stanislaus County courthouse and ask the judge to become the attorney of record for Scott Peterson -- excuse me.

Now, Mark Geragos has had a long roster of very high-profile clients, of course, in the entertainment, business and political world. He defended Susan McDougal and obtained an acquittal for her in addition to a presidential pardon, Roger Clinton, he also represented Gary Condit here in Modesto, and, of course, Winona Ryder.

Now, he's been on "LARRY KING" and a number of shows talking about this case for months, and he was contacted by the Peterson family to defend Scott. He came up here this week, met with Scott. He said he was terribly impressed with Scott Peterson, but he would not confirm from his office yesterday whether he indeed will ask the judge today to become the attorney of record.

Now, Scott Peterson, of course, charged with two capital counts of murder for the murder of Laci Peterson and their unborn son, Connor. They believe that she was murdered in their home here in the Covina Avenue house in Modesto and dumped in the San Francisco Bay.

Now, there's been -- the police here have been very tight-lipped about this case. The search warrants have been sealed from the beginning. It's in an appellate court now to try to unseal those.

Meantime, there's been, of course, a lot of speculation about how much evidence the police actually have. His previous attorney, Kurt McAllister, has said he does not believe the police have a solid case. Geragos has also said pretty much the same thing. He believes that he could really help Scott Peterson.

Now, I was in the courtroom for Mark Geragos in his final arguments in the Winona Ryder case. He is a formidable opponent. He is persuasive. Of course, he didn't win that case again, but he is very persuasive, very powerful, and apparently he is very well-known and is usually liked by judges and juries. So, we'll see what happens here.

Meantime, there is supposed to a bail hearing on Tuesday. That is also expected to be postponed -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Rusty. We'll just wait about an hour or so, and see what happens there. We'll come back to you later on, OK? We’ll let you get out of the weather now.

Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.




Peterson>


Aired May 2, 2003 - 10:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the Laci Peterson case, husband, Scott Peterson, has a court appearance about 90 minutes or so from now. And our Rusty Dornin is standing by in Modesto, California here to explain exactly what this hearing is all about.
Rusty -- good morning. What can we expect today?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Well, we are fully expecting to see the well-known defense attorney, Mark Geragos, mount the steps here at the Stanislaus County courthouse and ask the judge to become the attorney of record for Scott Peterson -- excuse me.

Now, Mark Geragos has had a long roster of very high-profile clients, of course, in the entertainment, business and political world. He defended Susan McDougal and obtained an acquittal for her in addition to a presidential pardon, Roger Clinton, he also represented Gary Condit here in Modesto, and, of course, Winona Ryder.

Now, he's been on "LARRY KING" and a number of shows talking about this case for months, and he was contacted by the Peterson family to defend Scott. He came up here this week, met with Scott. He said he was terribly impressed with Scott Peterson, but he would not confirm from his office yesterday whether he indeed will ask the judge today to become the attorney of record.

Now, Scott Peterson, of course, charged with two capital counts of murder for the murder of Laci Peterson and their unborn son, Connor. They believe that she was murdered in their home here in the Covina Avenue house in Modesto and dumped in the San Francisco Bay.

Now, there's been -- the police here have been very tight-lipped about this case. The search warrants have been sealed from the beginning. It's in an appellate court now to try to unseal those.

Meantime, there's been, of course, a lot of speculation about how much evidence the police actually have. His previous attorney, Kurt McAllister, has said he does not believe the police have a solid case. Geragos has also said pretty much the same thing. He believes that he could really help Scott Peterson.

Now, I was in the courtroom for Mark Geragos in his final arguments in the Winona Ryder case. He is a formidable opponent. He is persuasive. Of course, he didn't win that case again, but he is very persuasive, very powerful, and apparently he is very well-known and is usually liked by judges and juries. So, we'll see what happens here.

Meantime, there is supposed to a bail hearing on Tuesday. That is also expected to be postponed -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks, Rusty. We'll just wait about an hour or so, and see what happens there. We'll come back to you later on, OK? We’ll let you get out of the weather now.

Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.




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