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American Morning

Critical Hearing Today in Peterson Murder Case

Aired June 06, 2003 - 07:06   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To Modesto, California, a critical court hearing in the Scott Peterson murder case. His attorney, Mark Geragos, challenging the state's wiretap evidence, accusing prosecutors of what he calls -- quote -- "grave misconduct."
Today, the judge will consider that, along with a prosecution request to release autopsy reports on Laci Peterson and her unborn son.

Our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, is up early this morning in Modesto, California.

Jeff -- good morning to you. A bit of everything today, autopsy reports.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Bill.

HEMMER: You've got these search warrants, the wiretaps. If the prosecution wants the autopsy to go public, how does that help its case?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, it's interesting. This case is so high profile that this big hearing, almost every issue in this hearing deals in some way with the press and public relations. As you pointed out, if you remember last week, there was a partial release of the autopsy evidence, which included very sensational and disturbing evidence about the death of the fetus and how there was a plastic cord around the fetus' neck, possibly suggesting that the defense's satanic cult theory had some basis.

What the prosecution has done is called the defense's bluff and said, come on, release the whole thing, and you'll see that it doesn't support the defense theory. That's one issue.

The second issue is a gag order. The prosecution says enough of these leaks, let's have a gag order.

And then finally, there is the issue of the possible prosecutorial misconduct, listening to attorney-client conversations on the defense.

HEMMER: Jeff, also about the search warrants, the press -- some members of the press want these made public. What would that show us?

TOOBIN: Well, that would be extremely important, because basically it would tell us why the police kept searching the house, because when you have an application for a search warrant, you say based on the following evidence we believe that the following evidence is in the house. All of that has not been disclosed so far.

In fact, you know, one of the big mysteries for all of the press coverage of a case is what evidence in that house indicates that Laci Peterson was killed there? What evidence links Scott Peterson to her murder in the house? Those would be in those affidavits. Those have not been made public, and even the substance of them have not come out even in the famous leaks in this case.

HEMMER: Next hour, we're going to talk to a well-known defense attorney, Jane Weintrab (ph), down in Miami. She contends the following: She says there is no evidence of premeditation, there is no cause of death right now and no forensic evidence. Based on what we know, based on what you're learning in Modesto, is she on to something?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, one of the things is there is sort of a dissidence about this case, because, you know, Scott Peterson has been convicted, as far as I can tell, around every water cooler in America. There is tremendous hostility to him, here in Modesto and frankly everywhere.

But if you look at the actual evidence that we know about so far, we have the very suspicious discovery of the body near where he admitted to be at on Christmas Eve, but in terms of direct evidence tying him to the crime, there really isn't that much. And I think, you know, it will be interesting and important for the prosecution to develop more direct evidence to see if sort of the actual evidence in this case matches the kind of extremely hostile vibe around it.

HEMMER: Yes, at the end of the day, how much of this is decided, Jeff? Much?

TOOBIN: I'm sorry?

HEMMER: At the end of the day...

TOOBIN: I didn't hear.

HEMMER: ... how much of this is decided?

TOOBIN: You know, we're in California, Bill, and the rule here is: Why decide today what you can decide three weeks from now? So, I can't tell you for sure that there are going to be a lot of decisions made today, but we'll certainly know a lot more, if not everything.

HEMMER: So you're not running for mayor in Modesto, I take it.

TOOBIN: No, no, or any other city for that matter.

HEMMER: That's right. Go back to sleep. Thanks, Jeff, for getting up early.

TOOBIN: All right.

HEMMER: Jeffrey Toobin in Modesto.

TOOBIN: See you.

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 6, 2003 - 07:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To Modesto, California, a critical court hearing in the Scott Peterson murder case. His attorney, Mark Geragos, challenging the state's wiretap evidence, accusing prosecutors of what he calls -- quote -- "grave misconduct."
Today, the judge will consider that, along with a prosecution request to release autopsy reports on Laci Peterson and her unborn son.

Our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, is up early this morning in Modesto, California.

Jeff -- good morning to you. A bit of everything today, autopsy reports.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Bill.

HEMMER: You've got these search warrants, the wiretaps. If the prosecution wants the autopsy to go public, how does that help its case?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, it's interesting. This case is so high profile that this big hearing, almost every issue in this hearing deals in some way with the press and public relations. As you pointed out, if you remember last week, there was a partial release of the autopsy evidence, which included very sensational and disturbing evidence about the death of the fetus and how there was a plastic cord around the fetus' neck, possibly suggesting that the defense's satanic cult theory had some basis.

What the prosecution has done is called the defense's bluff and said, come on, release the whole thing, and you'll see that it doesn't support the defense theory. That's one issue.

The second issue is a gag order. The prosecution says enough of these leaks, let's have a gag order.

And then finally, there is the issue of the possible prosecutorial misconduct, listening to attorney-client conversations on the defense.

HEMMER: Jeff, also about the search warrants, the press -- some members of the press want these made public. What would that show us?

TOOBIN: Well, that would be extremely important, because basically it would tell us why the police kept searching the house, because when you have an application for a search warrant, you say based on the following evidence we believe that the following evidence is in the house. All of that has not been disclosed so far.

In fact, you know, one of the big mysteries for all of the press coverage of a case is what evidence in that house indicates that Laci Peterson was killed there? What evidence links Scott Peterson to her murder in the house? Those would be in those affidavits. Those have not been made public, and even the substance of them have not come out even in the famous leaks in this case.

HEMMER: Next hour, we're going to talk to a well-known defense attorney, Jane Weintrab (ph), down in Miami. She contends the following: She says there is no evidence of premeditation, there is no cause of death right now and no forensic evidence. Based on what we know, based on what you're learning in Modesto, is she on to something?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, one of the things is there is sort of a dissidence about this case, because, you know, Scott Peterson has been convicted, as far as I can tell, around every water cooler in America. There is tremendous hostility to him, here in Modesto and frankly everywhere.

But if you look at the actual evidence that we know about so far, we have the very suspicious discovery of the body near where he admitted to be at on Christmas Eve, but in terms of direct evidence tying him to the crime, there really isn't that much. And I think, you know, it will be interesting and important for the prosecution to develop more direct evidence to see if sort of the actual evidence in this case matches the kind of extremely hostile vibe around it.

HEMMER: Yes, at the end of the day, how much of this is decided, Jeff? Much?

TOOBIN: I'm sorry?

HEMMER: At the end of the day...

TOOBIN: I didn't hear.

HEMMER: ... how much of this is decided?

TOOBIN: You know, we're in California, Bill, and the rule here is: Why decide today what you can decide three weeks from now? So, I can't tell you for sure that there are going to be a lot of decisions made today, but we'll certainly know a lot more, if not everything.

HEMMER: So you're not running for mayor in Modesto, I take it.

TOOBIN: No, no, or any other city for that matter.

HEMMER: That's right. Go back to sleep. Thanks, Jeff, for getting up early.

TOOBIN: All right.

HEMMER: Jeffrey Toobin in Modesto.

TOOBIN: See you.

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