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New Motions in Scott Peterson Murder Case Include Unsealing Search Warrants, Recusing Judge
Aired May 05, 2003 - 14:23 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Scott Peterson walks into the court without that orange jumpsuit that labels him a suspect in the slaying of his wife Laci and his unborn son. The look is part of his legal defense as his new attorney argued motions during hearings today. CNN's Rusty Dornin, live from Modesto, California with details. Hello, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the two hearings today ultimately both had to do with whether or not to unseal search and arrest warrants in this case.
But first off, as you said, noticeably different. We see a Scott Peterson without the shackles and red jumpsuit, attired in a Navy blue suit for the remainder of the court proceedings.
But in this first hearing, Mark Geragos was trying to have the judge in the case, Al Girolami recuse himself, or excuse himself from the case because he cannot hear the entire case. He cannot hear anything to do with the media request to unseal the search warrants. And Geragos that will -- judge losing control of the entire trial case will prejudice his client, and it will be detrimental for Scott Peterson and that he won't get a fair trial.
Now, in that second hearing, for his background, "The Modesto Bee" asked that the search warrants and arrest warrants -- or the search warrant be unsealed before Scott Peterson was arrested. That was turned down. They took it to the Fifth District Court of Appeals which has a stay on that. Now, two other newspapers also applied to have those search warrants unsealed after Scott Peterson's arrest, but the judge in this case says that he wants to wait and see what the Fifth District Court of Appeals says.
Mark Geragos after the proceedings says he's happy with both decisions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: In terms of what happened in court today, we're as pleased as we can be. We don't want to lose Judge Girolami, obviously, but we do have an issue as to whether or not one judge can put his arms around, so to speak, the entire case. Judge Beauchesne, I think, made the right decision in not doing anything on this case until we get up to the Fifth District so that the Fifth District can sort this out. And we're very happy with that. Other than that, I don't have any further comments on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: Now, a couple of other things happened. They reintroduced Kirk McAllister, who was Scott Peterson's attorney previously. He is now going to be on that legal team.
The judge also ordered the Contra Costa coroner's office not to release the remains of Laci Peterson and her unborn son until the court orders that. He didn't give any reasoning for that, there was no prompting by Geragos on that decision but that was his ruling.
Now, the next time we will see Scott Peterson in court will be May 27 when there will be some pretrial motions -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California. Thank you very much. If you want to see more on all this, join Larry King tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern time for continuing coverage and discussion of the Scott Peterson case.
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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Unsealing Search Warrants, Recusing Judge>
Aired May 5, 2003 - 14:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Scott Peterson walks into the court without that orange jumpsuit that labels him a suspect in the slaying of his wife Laci and his unborn son. The look is part of his legal defense as his new attorney argued motions during hearings today. CNN's Rusty Dornin, live from Modesto, California with details. Hello, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the two hearings today ultimately both had to do with whether or not to unseal search and arrest warrants in this case.
But first off, as you said, noticeably different. We see a Scott Peterson without the shackles and red jumpsuit, attired in a Navy blue suit for the remainder of the court proceedings.
But in this first hearing, Mark Geragos was trying to have the judge in the case, Al Girolami recuse himself, or excuse himself from the case because he cannot hear the entire case. He cannot hear anything to do with the media request to unseal the search warrants. And Geragos that will -- judge losing control of the entire trial case will prejudice his client, and it will be detrimental for Scott Peterson and that he won't get a fair trial.
Now, in that second hearing, for his background, "The Modesto Bee" asked that the search warrants and arrest warrants -- or the search warrant be unsealed before Scott Peterson was arrested. That was turned down. They took it to the Fifth District Court of Appeals which has a stay on that. Now, two other newspapers also applied to have those search warrants unsealed after Scott Peterson's arrest, but the judge in this case says that he wants to wait and see what the Fifth District Court of Appeals says.
Mark Geragos after the proceedings says he's happy with both decisions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: In terms of what happened in court today, we're as pleased as we can be. We don't want to lose Judge Girolami, obviously, but we do have an issue as to whether or not one judge can put his arms around, so to speak, the entire case. Judge Beauchesne, I think, made the right decision in not doing anything on this case until we get up to the Fifth District so that the Fifth District can sort this out. And we're very happy with that. Other than that, I don't have any further comments on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: Now, a couple of other things happened. They reintroduced Kirk McAllister, who was Scott Peterson's attorney previously. He is now going to be on that legal team.
The judge also ordered the Contra Costa coroner's office not to release the remains of Laci Peterson and her unborn son until the court orders that. He didn't give any reasoning for that, there was no prompting by Geragos on that decision but that was his ruling.
Now, the next time we will see Scott Peterson in court will be May 27 when there will be some pretrial motions -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Rusty Dornin in Modesto, California. Thank you very much. If you want to see more on all this, join Larry King tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern time for continuing coverage and discussion of the Scott Peterson case.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
u
Unsealing Search Warrants, Recusing Judge>
