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CNN Live At Daybreak
Coffey Talk: Day 2 Scott Peterson Case
Aired October 30, 2003 - 06:10 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They are splitting hairs in a Modesto, California courtroom. In a few hours, Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing starts up again and the testimony will likely be as detailed today.
An FBI forensic expert testified for hours and hours about a hair found on a pair of pliers on Scott Peterson's boat. The testimony was so detailed that attorney Gloria Allred actually dozed off. Of course prosecutors are eager to enter a hair belonging to Laci into evidence. Defense attorneys are not.
So time for some 'Coffey Talk' on the Peterson case. Live on the phone this morning from Miami, our legal analyst Kendall Coffey.
Good morning -- Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well let's talk about that hair and that very detailed testimony.
COFFEY: Well we're all very familiar with DNA testing, but this is something a little different. It's called mitochondrial DNA, and it's used for much smaller or degraded samples, somewhat less percentage of certainty, somewhat newer science. And so there's this preliminary hearing to determine whether the science and the methods used here are sufficiently reliable to allow this single hair to be admitted into the case.
COSTELLO: Yes, and there's so many problems with this hair, or alleged problems, I should say, because evidently when they removing -- when they were removing that hair from the pliers, it broke in half.
COFFEY: Yes, they are going to be arguing not just the science but the treatment, whether it was contaminated. And it really fits into an overall defense theme that at every turn the defense -- the police investigators have somehow bungled the case and there just is not enough reliable evidence to seriously think about convicting Scott Peterson, or at least that's their theme.
COSTELLO: Yes, I was just -- I was just going to ask you, prosecutors are fighting so hard to admit this into evidence. I mean is this their most important piece of evidence?
COFFEY: Well it strikes you that they would lead off with something that's really, really, really critical. Let's think -- look at some of the evidence we haven't seen so far. We haven't seen, for example, cement weights that they theorize were used to weigh down the bodies. And they have been out in that bay a bunch of times, haven't found them.
We'll see over the preliminary hearing what else they have got, but it is sort of striking that this much time is being spent to enter a single hair. And after all, Laci Peterson was the wife of Scott Peterson. It wouldn't be a shocking thing if somehow on whether it's his boat or his car, his coat or anything else, he would have a strand of hair of his wife.
COSTELLO: Exactly. Kendall Coffey, live from Miami, thanks for helping us to understand what's going on at the preliminary hearing. Of course that continues later today in Modesto.
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 October 30, 2003 - 06:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: They are splitting hairs in a Modesto, California courtroom. In a few hours, Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing starts up again and the testimony will likely be as detailed today.
An FBI forensic expert testified for hours and hours about a hair found on a pair of pliers on Scott Peterson's boat. The testimony was so detailed that attorney Gloria Allred actually dozed off. Of course prosecutors are eager to enter a hair belonging to Laci into evidence. Defense attorneys are not.
So time for some 'Coffey Talk' on the Peterson case. Live on the phone this morning from Miami, our legal analyst Kendall Coffey.
Good morning -- Kendall.
KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Morning -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well let's talk about that hair and that very detailed testimony.
COFFEY: Well we're all very familiar with DNA testing, but this is something a little different. It's called mitochondrial DNA, and it's used for much smaller or degraded samples, somewhat less percentage of certainty, somewhat newer science. And so there's this preliminary hearing to determine whether the science and the methods used here are sufficiently reliable to allow this single hair to be admitted into the case.
COSTELLO: Yes, and there's so many problems with this hair, or alleged problems, I should say, because evidently when they removing -- when they were removing that hair from the pliers, it broke in half.
COFFEY: Yes, they are going to be arguing not just the science but the treatment, whether it was contaminated. And it really fits into an overall defense theme that at every turn the defense -- the police investigators have somehow bungled the case and there just is not enough reliable evidence to seriously think about convicting Scott Peterson, or at least that's their theme.
COSTELLO: Yes, I was just -- I was just going to ask you, prosecutors are fighting so hard to admit this into evidence. I mean is this their most important piece of evidence?
COFFEY: Well it strikes you that they would lead off with something that's really, really, really critical. Let's think -- look at some of the evidence we haven't seen so far. We haven't seen, for example, cement weights that they theorize were used to weigh down the bodies. And they have been out in that bay a bunch of times, haven't found them.
We'll see over the preliminary hearing what else they have got, but it is sort of striking that this much time is being spent to enter a single hair. And after all, Laci Peterson was the wife of Scott Peterson. It wouldn't be a shocking thing if somehow on whether it's his boat or his car, his coat or anything else, he would have a strand of hair of his wife.
COSTELLO: Exactly. Kendall Coffey, live from Miami, thanks for helping us to understand what's going on at the preliminary hearing. Of course that continues later today in Modesto.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
