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Peterson Preliminary Hearing Set For July 16
Aired May 27, 2003 - 15:29 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: A new look for Scott Peterson today as he returned to court for another preliminary hearing in his murder case. A Modesto, California judge weighing media requests to unseal key documents in the case.
CNN's Mike Brooks joining us now live outside the courtroom. Mike, what's the latest?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, there was a new look for Scott Peterson today. Apparently his yellow, his blonde highlights were gone. He had a short, dark crew cut.
But some of the other things that happened in court today -- the first order of issue was the main order of business that they were there to talk about at this particular pretrial hearing. That was whether or not the search warrant results, the affidavit or support of an arrest warrant and the autopsy reports should be released to the public.
Well, the judge decided that there is no decision right now. He said he will take it under advisement and they will -- he will make a decision at a later date whether they will be released.
Now one other thing that came up were wiretaps. There were apparently 69 calls between Scott Peterson and his initial attorney, who is now part of the defense team, Kirk McAllister. They called them Stanislaus County wiretaps two and three. Now these 69 calls, the judge said the prosecution will turn over everything they have in reference to these 69 calls.
Now there were two calls that -- there was a problem possibly with privilege. But we heard from Mark Geragos and he first spoke about the 69 calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: The 69 calls, I'll know this afternoon. I'll take a look and they'll be turned over. Once we've seen -- once we've seen exactly what was taped, then we'll file whatever appropriate motions. Until we see what's there, we're -- we really don't know what we're going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Now as I said, of those 69 calls, two of those calls, they are thought there might be a problem with client-subject privilege, which means that you're not supposed to listen to calls between an attorney and his client. The U.S. attorney -- I'm sorry, the district attorney here in Stanislaus County, John Goold, spoke to that particular issue of privilege.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN GOOLD, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: If you read the wiretap section, it specifically allows for at least the initial interception of all calls and even those that may include an attorney call.
The question then becomes whether it's privileged or not, whether it's an attorney/client communication or whether it's privileged. So the statute contemplates that and talks about taking great care and not to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Now there are going to be another hearing on July 9, which will talk about cameras in the courtroom. They will decide whether or not they'll have live cameras and ready and any of the other procedures, and the upcoming trial, which could be a year from now.
But the big news today was a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing has been set for July 16 at 9:30 here in Modesto. That's when they the prosecution will show exactly what they have against Scott Peterson, what they had evidence-wise to arrest him for the murder of Laci Peterson and the unborn son, Conner. So it should be a very, very interesting hearing here in Modesto on July 16.
(AUDIO GAP)
BROOKS: ...the prosecution especially and then the defense -- they will also get a chance to interview and question all of the witnesses the prosecution put there to say that they had enough evidence to arrest him and hopefully convict him -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Mike Brooks, joining us from Modesto, California. Thank 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 May 27, 2003 - 15:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A new look for Scott Peterson today as he returned to court for another preliminary hearing in his murder case. A Modesto, California judge weighing media requests to unseal key documents in the case.
CNN's Mike Brooks joining us now live outside the courtroom. Mike, what's the latest?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, there was a new look for Scott Peterson today. Apparently his yellow, his blonde highlights were gone. He had a short, dark crew cut.
But some of the other things that happened in court today -- the first order of issue was the main order of business that they were there to talk about at this particular pretrial hearing. That was whether or not the search warrant results, the affidavit or support of an arrest warrant and the autopsy reports should be released to the public.
Well, the judge decided that there is no decision right now. He said he will take it under advisement and they will -- he will make a decision at a later date whether they will be released.
Now one other thing that came up were wiretaps. There were apparently 69 calls between Scott Peterson and his initial attorney, who is now part of the defense team, Kirk McAllister. They called them Stanislaus County wiretaps two and three. Now these 69 calls, the judge said the prosecution will turn over everything they have in reference to these 69 calls.
Now there were two calls that -- there was a problem possibly with privilege. But we heard from Mark Geragos and he first spoke about the 69 calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: The 69 calls, I'll know this afternoon. I'll take a look and they'll be turned over. Once we've seen -- once we've seen exactly what was taped, then we'll file whatever appropriate motions. Until we see what's there, we're -- we really don't know what we're going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Now as I said, of those 69 calls, two of those calls, they are thought there might be a problem with client-subject privilege, which means that you're not supposed to listen to calls between an attorney and his client. The U.S. attorney -- I'm sorry, the district attorney here in Stanislaus County, John Goold, spoke to that particular issue of privilege.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN GOOLD, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: If you read the wiretap section, it specifically allows for at least the initial interception of all calls and even those that may include an attorney call.
The question then becomes whether it's privileged or not, whether it's an attorney/client communication or whether it's privileged. So the statute contemplates that and talks about taking great care and not to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Now there are going to be another hearing on July 9, which will talk about cameras in the courtroom. They will decide whether or not they'll have live cameras and ready and any of the other procedures, and the upcoming trial, which could be a year from now.
But the big news today was a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing has been set for July 16 at 9:30 here in Modesto. That's when they the prosecution will show exactly what they have against Scott Peterson, what they had evidence-wise to arrest him for the murder of Laci Peterson and the unborn son, Conner. So it should be a very, very interesting hearing here in Modesto on July 16.
(AUDIO GAP)
BROOKS: ...the prosecution especially and then the defense -- they will also get a chance to interview and question all of the witnesses the prosecution put there to say that they had enough evidence to arrest him and hopefully convict him -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Mike Brooks, joining us from Modesto, California. Thank 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
