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American Morning
Scott Peterson Case
Aired June 03, 2003 - 09:19 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the legal docking in the Scott Peterson case. First, at a hearing scheduled to begin in a couple hours, a judge considers whether to unseal search warrants obtained before Peterson's arrest. Then on Friday, the judge will hear prosecution arguments for releasing autopsy reports on Laci and her unborn son to the public.
For more on the case, let's welcome KFBK radio reporter, Chris Filippi. He is joining us from Modesto, California.
Chris, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
CHRIS FILIPPI, KFBK RADIO REPORTER: You bet. Good morning.
KAGAN: Well, the animosity between the two sides continues to grow. Now, defense attorneys are asking for the prosecutors to be taken off this case?
FILIPPI: Yes, that's right. This is all over the wiretap issue. A prosecution investigator intercepted 69 calls between Scott Peterson and Kurt McAllister, one of his defense attorneys.
Now, the defense team had said that violates attorney/client privilege. They have filed a motion in court here in Stanislaus County asking that the prosecution be recused from the case and that possibly the charges could be thrown out against Scott Peterson.
KAGAN: Let's talk about the search warrants that some are trying to get unsealed. First of all, do we even know what was searched?
FILIPPI: Well, we're dealing with eight search warrants today. This is a civil hearing to try to unseal these warrants. These warrants have been sealed since they were issued. They deal with a few different things, a couple of searches of the Peterson home, the search of Scott Peterson's truck, an envelope they found inside the truck.
And those warrants also allowed authorities to take a DNA sample from Scott Peterson as part of their investigation. We don't know any details on these search warrants, because, again, they have remained sealed. And, in fact, we are expecting them to remain sealed despite today's hearing.
KAGAN: And this is actually the media that's trying to get them unsealed.
FILIPPI: That's right. The media has been trying to get at these for quite some time now. The issue has come up before. It has been sealed by a judge. That ruling was appealed to a district court here in California. The appeals court upheld the ruling, so that's where we stand right now. This is yet another effort to open up those warrants.
KAGAN: A different seal/unseal issue, talking about the autopsy report. That has to do -- it's between the prosecutors and the defense asking for that.
FILIPPI: That's right. The autopsy report won't be dealt with today. That will be dealt with on Friday as the next criminal pretrial hearing takes place.
Now, originally, both sides had wanted the autopsy report sealed, but that's changed. With all of the leaks about the autopsy report, the prosecution says the information that's come out has favored the defense. They want all the information out now. They want to tilt the scales of public opinion as much as they possible can.
KAGAN: And then finally, the situation with the Rocha family going and taking some items out of the Peterson house. This still is causing some bad blood between both sides. I understand Scott Peterson's attorneys are asking for some specific items to be given back.
FILIPPI: Yes, that's right. There's a lot of anger between the two families right now. It's really a sad situation of affairs.
We had an exclusive conversation with Brent Rocha just yesterday, and he told us that the Rochas felt like they were backed up into a corner. They had an agreement with Mark Geragos to go into the house. But then the lawyers on both sides basically got into an argument over it. Geragos, according to Brent Rocha, threatened them with never allowing them inside the house, and then things really went from there with the Rochas entering the home on Friday.
And now, this is far from settled. As you mentioned, the Petersons say they want some of the items back.
KAGAN: All right, you'll be tracking it for us. Chris Filippi in Modesto, thank you. Appreciate your report.
FILIPPI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired June 3, 2003 - 09:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the legal docking in the Scott Peterson case. First, at a hearing scheduled to begin in a couple hours, a judge considers whether to unseal search warrants obtained before Peterson's arrest. Then on Friday, the judge will hear prosecution arguments for releasing autopsy reports on Laci and her unborn son to the public.
For more on the case, let's welcome KFBK radio reporter, Chris Filippi. He is joining us from Modesto, California.
Chris, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
CHRIS FILIPPI, KFBK RADIO REPORTER: You bet. Good morning.
KAGAN: Well, the animosity between the two sides continues to grow. Now, defense attorneys are asking for the prosecutors to be taken off this case?
FILIPPI: Yes, that's right. This is all over the wiretap issue. A prosecution investigator intercepted 69 calls between Scott Peterson and Kurt McAllister, one of his defense attorneys.
Now, the defense team had said that violates attorney/client privilege. They have filed a motion in court here in Stanislaus County asking that the prosecution be recused from the case and that possibly the charges could be thrown out against Scott Peterson.
KAGAN: Let's talk about the search warrants that some are trying to get unsealed. First of all, do we even know what was searched?
FILIPPI: Well, we're dealing with eight search warrants today. This is a civil hearing to try to unseal these warrants. These warrants have been sealed since they were issued. They deal with a few different things, a couple of searches of the Peterson home, the search of Scott Peterson's truck, an envelope they found inside the truck.
And those warrants also allowed authorities to take a DNA sample from Scott Peterson as part of their investigation. We don't know any details on these search warrants, because, again, they have remained sealed. And, in fact, we are expecting them to remain sealed despite today's hearing.
KAGAN: And this is actually the media that's trying to get them unsealed.
FILIPPI: That's right. The media has been trying to get at these for quite some time now. The issue has come up before. It has been sealed by a judge. That ruling was appealed to a district court here in California. The appeals court upheld the ruling, so that's where we stand right now. This is yet another effort to open up those warrants.
KAGAN: A different seal/unseal issue, talking about the autopsy report. That has to do -- it's between the prosecutors and the defense asking for that.
FILIPPI: That's right. The autopsy report won't be dealt with today. That will be dealt with on Friday as the next criminal pretrial hearing takes place.
Now, originally, both sides had wanted the autopsy report sealed, but that's changed. With all of the leaks about the autopsy report, the prosecution says the information that's come out has favored the defense. They want all the information out now. They want to tilt the scales of public opinion as much as they possible can.
KAGAN: And then finally, the situation with the Rocha family going and taking some items out of the Peterson house. This still is causing some bad blood between both sides. I understand Scott Peterson's attorneys are asking for some specific items to be given back.
FILIPPI: Yes, that's right. There's a lot of anger between the two families right now. It's really a sad situation of affairs.
We had an exclusive conversation with Brent Rocha just yesterday, and he told us that the Rochas felt like they were backed up into a corner. They had an agreement with Mark Geragos to go into the house. But then the lawyers on both sides basically got into an argument over it. Geragos, according to Brent Rocha, threatened them with never allowing them inside the house, and then things really went from there with the Rochas entering the home on Friday.
And now, this is far from settled. As you mentioned, the Petersons say they want some of the items back.
KAGAN: All right, you'll be tracking it for us. Chris Filippi in Modesto, thank you. Appreciate your report.
FILIPPI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
