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Judge Rules Search Warrants Should be Unsealed in Peterson Case

Aired June 12, 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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Key evidence in the Scott Peterson murder case could soon be made public. Today, a judge ruled that eight search warrants should be unsealed, but not until next month. CNN's Rusty Dornin is in Modesto now and joins us with the very latest. Hello once again, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, that's right. Judge Roger Beauchesne did grant the unsealing of these eight search warrants. And these were the search warrants that took place, of course, before Scott Peterson was arrested. But they will not be unsealed until one day after a fifth district court of appeals gives a final decision.

Now, apparently the fifth district has said, look, you can't unseal these warrants until there's a change in circumstances. And what they meant by that was, the defense had argued, look, there could be other suspects out there, and releasing these search warrants could alert these other suspects. This judge said in his ruling that people have not produced any evidence since Mr. Peterson's arrest to indicate they are investigating other suspects.

That means that the ruling -- that the arrest warrant -- or the search warrants can be made public on July 8. That's the time that -- that's barring, of course, the defense appealing this motion. Now, of course, the search warrants, they're not anxious to have those come out, because they'll be definitely slanted negatively towards Scott Peterson because they were anxious to get these search warrants going. So they're presenting as much evidence as they can to indicate that Scott Peterson was indeed involved in the murder of Laci Peterson.

In some other news, we've been hearing some buzz around the courthouse from sources that indeed a gag order could be coming down soon in the case. And also a July 16 preliminary hearing could be delayed -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Rusty, who is it that would be wanting to push back that preliminary hearing? And why would they want to do that?

DORNIN: Well, initially we're hearing that it's the prosecutors that want to delay it. But apparently a few of their witnesses, including one very important pathologist, will be on vacation and will not available.

Now, the defense, of course, could fight this. They could say, no, we want this preliminary hearing to take place right now. But we did get an indication from them that they also want to interview this pathologist, that he could be important to their case as well. So it's likely that they will go along with a delay in the hearing, but we have no idea how long that delay will be or when they're going to ask for it.

COLLINS: All right. Rusty Dornin coming to us life from Modesto. Thanks so much, Rusty.

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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Aired June 12, 2003 - 15:29   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Key evidence in the Scott Peterson murder case could soon be made public. Today, a judge ruled that eight search warrants should be unsealed, but not until next month. CNN's Rusty Dornin is in Modesto now and joins us with the very latest. Hello once again, Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, that's right. Judge Roger Beauchesne did grant the unsealing of these eight search warrants. And these were the search warrants that took place, of course, before Scott Peterson was arrested. But they will not be unsealed until one day after a fifth district court of appeals gives a final decision.

Now, apparently the fifth district has said, look, you can't unseal these warrants until there's a change in circumstances. And what they meant by that was, the defense had argued, look, there could be other suspects out there, and releasing these search warrants could alert these other suspects. This judge said in his ruling that people have not produced any evidence since Mr. Peterson's arrest to indicate they are investigating other suspects.

That means that the ruling -- that the arrest warrant -- or the search warrants can be made public on July 8. That's the time that -- that's barring, of course, the defense appealing this motion. Now, of course, the search warrants, they're not anxious to have those come out, because they'll be definitely slanted negatively towards Scott Peterson because they were anxious to get these search warrants going. So they're presenting as much evidence as they can to indicate that Scott Peterson was indeed involved in the murder of Laci Peterson.

In some other news, we've been hearing some buzz around the courthouse from sources that indeed a gag order could be coming down soon in the case. And also a July 16 preliminary hearing could be delayed -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Rusty, who is it that would be wanting to push back that preliminary hearing? And why would they want to do that?

DORNIN: Well, initially we're hearing that it's the prosecutors that want to delay it. But apparently a few of their witnesses, including one very important pathologist, will be on vacation and will not available.

Now, the defense, of course, could fight this. They could say, no, we want this preliminary hearing to take place right now. But we did get an indication from them that they also want to interview this pathologist, that he could be important to their case as well. So it's likely that they will go along with a delay in the hearing, but we have no idea how long that delay will be or when they're going to ask for it.

COLLINS: All right. Rusty Dornin coming to us life from Modesto. Thanks so much, Rusty.

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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