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CNN Live Today

Interview With Catherine Crier

Aired August 12, 2003 - 11:30   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Not many people saw the pictures taken by the team of forensic specialists, but one person who did is Court TV's Catherine Crier. She joins us now from New York with details of her look at the evidence and all of the latest details on the case. Catherine, good morning to you and thanks for being here.
CATHERINE CRIER, COURT TV: You bet.

COLLINS: First of all, tell us what the defense attorneys were looking for when they did this examination of the remains.

CRIER: Well I think there are a couple different things. They'd love to prove, as Mark Geragos has said repeatedly, that someone or a group other than his client committed this murder.

I think one of the things they're going to look for is trying to date Conner's body. And what I mean by that, if they could establish that the baby was born or expelled some time period after Laci went missing, when Scott Peterson was being observed by the police they could argue somebody else had to do this because the baby did not die around December 23.

And while we talk about her being 8 1/2 months pregnant, actually it would actually be seven and a half, she was due mid-February. So it's an interesting argument they'll be working on in that direction.

Also, of course, they want to see if there have been marks left on limbs indicating she had been dismembered in some fashion. Anything that they can do to begin to establish how she died other than what the state might present.

But right now I think the state's forensic experts do not have a cause of death, which could present a problem, although not a major problem for the prosecution.

COLLINS: Why not?

CRIER: Well, because you can prosecute a murder case without a body at all. And there's always a good question if you're looking at beyond a reasonable doubt, is it reasonable that Laci Peterson went 90 miles away from her home when she is 7 1/2, 8 months pregnant and threw herself into a body of water where she then washed up three months later? I don't think so.

So while it is one of those things that could have happened, is it reasonable at all based upon the evidence we have in this case? No. So even though you're not sure how she died, it was by a nefarious act, clearly, and not voluntarily.

COLLINS: All right, Catherine, now you have seen these autopsy photographs. Tell us is there anything that stands out to you?

CRIER: Well, there were a couple things. One, obviously, the defense theory that some cult got ahold of Laci Peterson. Well, basically a torso watched up. No head, no limbs below -- shortly below the shoulder and upper thigh, and organs missing from the body cavity.

I could not see -- I did not see the frontal view, just the back and side-view. So you didn't know whether the uterus was missing, for example. And we don't have that information yet in terms of an autopsy report that would bolster a defense argument that some macabre, horrid group came in and literally dismembered her in a fashion that her husband would not have simply to dispose of a body.

Now, Conner's body, I was quite surprised at how intact it was, not to get too gruesome, but it was remarkably well-preserved. There was a slash across the shoulder which some are arguing could have been from a propeller, something else entirely, we don't know.

But there was a plastic ring around his neck, and an enormous amount of duct tape around Laci's torso, all of which, of course, the prosecution would like to tie to Scott Peterson. And vice versa, the defense would like to say that this is nothing that you found anywhere around his boat or his home.

COLLINS: All right. Now we also know about a couple other moves that the defense team has done. And that is the hiring of two pretty high-profile, at least names that we have heard before, gentlemen known as criminologists and forensic experts. Henry Lee, of course that we know from O.J. Simpson the JonBenet Ramsey case. And Dr. Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist from Pennsylvania.

What about this move? What does it say?

CRIER: Well it's two of the three top power houses in terms of the names that we would recognize on television, the third being Michael Baden. I understand from sources that Michael Baden was contacted, but in fact early on he was pretty vocal on television about this being obviously a murder, and going over a lot of the evidence against Scott Peterson.

So I think they felt he had been too direct in his opposition to the defense. But some say that they're waiting for more time to die down and then they want to try and bring Michael in as well. So you would have the three preeminent forensic pathologists that work on the defense case, which for no other reason than psychological, it carries quite an impact.

COLLINS: All right. Court TV's Catherine Crier, we certainly do appreciate your comments today.

CRIER: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thanks so much.

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 August 12, 2003 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Not many people saw the pictures taken by the team of forensic specialists, but one person who did is Court TV's Catherine Crier. She joins us now from New York with details of her look at the evidence and all of the latest details on the case. Catherine, good morning to you and thanks for being here.
CATHERINE CRIER, COURT TV: You bet.

COLLINS: First of all, tell us what the defense attorneys were looking for when they did this examination of the remains.

CRIER: Well I think there are a couple different things. They'd love to prove, as Mark Geragos has said repeatedly, that someone or a group other than his client committed this murder.

I think one of the things they're going to look for is trying to date Conner's body. And what I mean by that, if they could establish that the baby was born or expelled some time period after Laci went missing, when Scott Peterson was being observed by the police they could argue somebody else had to do this because the baby did not die around December 23.

And while we talk about her being 8 1/2 months pregnant, actually it would actually be seven and a half, she was due mid-February. So it's an interesting argument they'll be working on in that direction.

Also, of course, they want to see if there have been marks left on limbs indicating she had been dismembered in some fashion. Anything that they can do to begin to establish how she died other than what the state might present.

But right now I think the state's forensic experts do not have a cause of death, which could present a problem, although not a major problem for the prosecution.

COLLINS: Why not?

CRIER: Well, because you can prosecute a murder case without a body at all. And there's always a good question if you're looking at beyond a reasonable doubt, is it reasonable that Laci Peterson went 90 miles away from her home when she is 7 1/2, 8 months pregnant and threw herself into a body of water where she then washed up three months later? I don't think so.

So while it is one of those things that could have happened, is it reasonable at all based upon the evidence we have in this case? No. So even though you're not sure how she died, it was by a nefarious act, clearly, and not voluntarily.

COLLINS: All right, Catherine, now you have seen these autopsy photographs. Tell us is there anything that stands out to you?

CRIER: Well, there were a couple things. One, obviously, the defense theory that some cult got ahold of Laci Peterson. Well, basically a torso watched up. No head, no limbs below -- shortly below the shoulder and upper thigh, and organs missing from the body cavity.

I could not see -- I did not see the frontal view, just the back and side-view. So you didn't know whether the uterus was missing, for example. And we don't have that information yet in terms of an autopsy report that would bolster a defense argument that some macabre, horrid group came in and literally dismembered her in a fashion that her husband would not have simply to dispose of a body.

Now, Conner's body, I was quite surprised at how intact it was, not to get too gruesome, but it was remarkably well-preserved. There was a slash across the shoulder which some are arguing could have been from a propeller, something else entirely, we don't know.

But there was a plastic ring around his neck, and an enormous amount of duct tape around Laci's torso, all of which, of course, the prosecution would like to tie to Scott Peterson. And vice versa, the defense would like to say that this is nothing that you found anywhere around his boat or his home.

COLLINS: All right. Now we also know about a couple other moves that the defense team has done. And that is the hiring of two pretty high-profile, at least names that we have heard before, gentlemen known as criminologists and forensic experts. Henry Lee, of course that we know from O.J. Simpson the JonBenet Ramsey case. And Dr. Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist from Pennsylvania.

What about this move? What does it say?

CRIER: Well it's two of the three top power houses in terms of the names that we would recognize on television, the third being Michael Baden. I understand from sources that Michael Baden was contacted, but in fact early on he was pretty vocal on television about this being obviously a murder, and going over a lot of the evidence against Scott Peterson.

So I think they felt he had been too direct in his opposition to the defense. But some say that they're waiting for more time to die down and then they want to try and bring Michael in as well. So you would have the three preeminent forensic pathologists that work on the defense case, which for no other reason than psychological, it carries quite an impact.

COLLINS: All right. Court TV's Catherine Crier, we certainly do appreciate your comments today.

CRIER: Thanks, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thanks so much.

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