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Rocha Family Friends Remove Items from Peterson Home
Aired May 30, 2003 - 14:43 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: Continuing our coverage of some breaking news out of Modesto, California, the Laci Peterson investigation and case, and the story which we've been trying to fill in the blanks on today which was the arrival of friends of the Rocha family, that's Laci Peterson's family, at Laci and Scott Peterson's home, and their departure with several personal effects, apparently linked to Laci Peterson.
What was kind of odd about it was they left rather hastily after the arrival of a police officer. So we have been trying to figure out what exactly was going on and who had permission to be where, and so forth, and our David Mattingly has been leading that effort for us there in Modesto -- David, what can you tell us?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, right now there's a news conference going on at the Peterson home with the attorney who is representing the Rocha family, trying to explain what went on there that day. I can tell you right now that the defense team had no idea this was about to happen.
A source on the defense team told me that it is -- quote -- "unbelievable" that something like this would happen.
They say they had an agreement with the DA that no one would be allowed to enter that house until they were finished with their investigation. They say they had plans to do some detailed videotaping of everything inside the house just as it was before they granted access to the Rocha family.
And they said they worked out an agreement with the family, the family was going to be able to come in next week on Tuesday to get anything on that list of items that they had requested.
Now, because those items are gone, the defense team is now concerned that what they were trying to investigate has now been tainted. So they are very upset right now, wondering where they need to go next with their investigation, and who they need to talk to about who gave the authorization for this.
Now Elaine Quijano, our reporter at the scene at the Peterson house right now here in Modesto who is at that news conference, said that the attorney who represents the Rocha family said they got the go ahead from the DA. We're still waiting to hear from the DA. We've also contacted the police. They don't know anything about this. It came as a surprise to them as well. So we're waiting to hear back from some official comment from the authorities here in Stanislaus County -- Miles. O'BRIEN: David, do we have any idea what portion of the defense investigation, which we've heard an awfully lot about, Mark Geragos constantly talking about his own independent parallel investigation -- what would lead that investigation right into their client's home?
MATTINGLY: Well, that's a good question. That's something they haven't been too forthcoming about, but they did say that they had plans to detail -- get detailed videotapes of everything inside the house. They wanted the furniture right where it was, they wanted all the items right where it was, and now, people have come in and removed items before they could do that, and they're more than just a little bit upset about that. They need to get to the bottom, exactly where the authorization for this came from. If it came from the DA, why did he go back on the agreement that they say that they had for people to stay out of there until they were done?
O'BRIEN: So, do you get the sense that this will somehow become some sort of tactic on the part of the defense in court as time progresses here?
MATTINGLY: Well, anything can happen in this case, as we've been seeing from day to day. You just don't know what's going to happen next. Clearly, the defense was pursuing their own course of action, their own theories, and their own investigation in this. So they are treating this as sort of a crime scene of their own that was possibly tainted somehow because the people came in and removed items, possibly unauthorized by them, before they were ready for them to be taken out.
O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much. CNN's David Mattingly. It gets even more curiouser out there in Modesto, California as we continue our coverage of the Peterson investigation.
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 30, 2003 - 14:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Continuing our coverage of some breaking news out of Modesto, California, the Laci Peterson investigation and case, and the story which we've been trying to fill in the blanks on today which was the arrival of friends of the Rocha family, that's Laci Peterson's family, at Laci and Scott Peterson's home, and their departure with several personal effects, apparently linked to Laci Peterson.
What was kind of odd about it was they left rather hastily after the arrival of a police officer. So we have been trying to figure out what exactly was going on and who had permission to be where, and so forth, and our David Mattingly has been leading that effort for us there in Modesto -- David, what can you tell us?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, right now there's a news conference going on at the Peterson home with the attorney who is representing the Rocha family, trying to explain what went on there that day. I can tell you right now that the defense team had no idea this was about to happen.
A source on the defense team told me that it is -- quote -- "unbelievable" that something like this would happen.
They say they had an agreement with the DA that no one would be allowed to enter that house until they were finished with their investigation. They say they had plans to do some detailed videotaping of everything inside the house just as it was before they granted access to the Rocha family.
And they said they worked out an agreement with the family, the family was going to be able to come in next week on Tuesday to get anything on that list of items that they had requested.
Now, because those items are gone, the defense team is now concerned that what they were trying to investigate has now been tainted. So they are very upset right now, wondering where they need to go next with their investigation, and who they need to talk to about who gave the authorization for this.
Now Elaine Quijano, our reporter at the scene at the Peterson house right now here in Modesto who is at that news conference, said that the attorney who represents the Rocha family said they got the go ahead from the DA. We're still waiting to hear from the DA. We've also contacted the police. They don't know anything about this. It came as a surprise to them as well. So we're waiting to hear back from some official comment from the authorities here in Stanislaus County -- Miles. O'BRIEN: David, do we have any idea what portion of the defense investigation, which we've heard an awfully lot about, Mark Geragos constantly talking about his own independent parallel investigation -- what would lead that investigation right into their client's home?
MATTINGLY: Well, that's a good question. That's something they haven't been too forthcoming about, but they did say that they had plans to detail -- get detailed videotapes of everything inside the house. They wanted the furniture right where it was, they wanted all the items right where it was, and now, people have come in and removed items before they could do that, and they're more than just a little bit upset about that. They need to get to the bottom, exactly where the authorization for this came from. If it came from the DA, why did he go back on the agreement that they say that they had for people to stay out of there until they were done?
O'BRIEN: So, do you get the sense that this will somehow become some sort of tactic on the part of the defense in court as time progresses here?
MATTINGLY: Well, anything can happen in this case, as we've been seeing from day to day. You just don't know what's going to happen next. Clearly, the defense was pursuing their own course of action, their own theories, and their own investigation in this. So they are treating this as sort of a crime scene of their own that was possibly tainted somehow because the people came in and removed items, possibly unauthorized by them, before they were ready for them to be taken out.
O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much. CNN's David Mattingly. It gets even more curiouser out there in Modesto, California as we continue our coverage of the Peterson investigation.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
