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Peterson Murder Case
Aired November 19, 2003 - 13:39 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This is just one of the transcripts that we're going to be discussing with our guests, criminal defense attorney Bruce Baron. He join us now from New York.
Hi, Bruce.
BRUCE BARON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTY.: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, so I got to say, everybody's talking about this. It's pretty revealing. I think it's probably the first time we've actually seen something concrete where questions -- you actually hear these questions and Scott sort of acknowledges things we haven't heard from him before. How big a deal is this, do you think, these transcripts?
BARON: Frankly, not to disagree with you, I don't think it's much of a big deal.
PHILLIPS: Really?
BARON: In fact -- well, the reason why, Kyra, no one expected this case not to be bound over for trial. As Americans all over saw in the Kobe Bryant case, even when the judge believes there's no probable cause, or there is probable cause, he has to bring it over because of the presumption. In this particular case, after 11 days of testimony, the prosecution's case focused really on a three-month period with 240 phone calls, sometimes 16 phone calls a day, as well as this mitochondrial DNA, basically the hair found on the boat.
Now I got to tell you, if that's all the prosecution has, this guy's walking come trial.
PHILLIPS: Another -- I want to take another part of this quote, Bruce. Amber Frey saying, "Of course you couldn't tell me the story about your wife, because it hadn't happened yet, and you were hoping to resolve in January that it would be resolved and you'd have a story to tell me."
Scott saying, "Sweetie, you think I had something to do with her disappearance?"
Amber said, "Do you believe that?"
Or he's saying, "Sorry, Amber, do you believe that?"
She replied, "Well, let's see, how can I believe that? How can I believe that? How can I believe that? How can I believe anything for..."
Scott Peterson saying, "I am not evil like that."
Is this a trustworthy guy? I mean, obviously there have been -- that's come up that he's not, but then you hear this sort of back and forth, not really giving a straight answer, makes you a little curious.
BARON: It definitely does. But you know, you have to take the whole thing into context. Obviously, his stupid behavior, before, during and after Laci's disappearance, is really what creates the public opinion. How can we believe he has foolish behavior during this whole period, but yet during 16 telephone conversations a day that are being taped, unbeknownst to him, he doesn't say anything incriminating, he doesn't make any admissions? In addition to the hair on the boat, I mean, to me, it speaks volume of innocence as oppose to guilt. The prosecution is alleging that Laci was either murdered on the boat or murdered in the home, and then transported on the boat. If one piece of hair is all that's found in this boat after a gruesome murder like this, you got to believe there's something is missing here.
PHILLIPS: Back to the phone calls for a minute. Amber Frey, why would she record these? Do you think she was being coached? And when you listen to the conversation, she names dates, gets pretty specific in these conversations.
BARON: Right, there's no question, Kyra, that she's been coached, and there's no question that they've taught her, the authorities, how to sort of lead and get information. And you can read the answers in two different contexts. You could certainly read guilt into it, but you could also read to the fact that the man is a liar. He lied to his wife, and there's not reason why he shouldn't lie to his girlfriend. He didn't know how much he knew or didn't know. He didn't know -- he could have not known if she believed he had murdered his wife and was trying to keep it from her. So if you take all that out, you wonder where the guilt is. You know, if we don't go far enough at the Pamela Smart case, where the world convicted Robert Ricci of abducting this young girl, only to find out after he hemorrhaged in jail, he wasn't even involved in the crime.
So the bottom line is, it's the evidence that goes in or the lack thereof.
PHILLIPS: Criminal defense attorney, straight to the point, Bruce Baron. Thanks, Bruce.
BARON: 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 November 19, 2003 - 13:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This is just one of the transcripts that we're going to be discussing with our guests, criminal defense attorney Bruce Baron. He join us now from New York.
Hi, Bruce.
BRUCE BARON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTY.: Hi, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, so I got to say, everybody's talking about this. It's pretty revealing. I think it's probably the first time we've actually seen something concrete where questions -- you actually hear these questions and Scott sort of acknowledges things we haven't heard from him before. How big a deal is this, do you think, these transcripts?
BARON: Frankly, not to disagree with you, I don't think it's much of a big deal.
PHILLIPS: Really?
BARON: In fact -- well, the reason why, Kyra, no one expected this case not to be bound over for trial. As Americans all over saw in the Kobe Bryant case, even when the judge believes there's no probable cause, or there is probable cause, he has to bring it over because of the presumption. In this particular case, after 11 days of testimony, the prosecution's case focused really on a three-month period with 240 phone calls, sometimes 16 phone calls a day, as well as this mitochondrial DNA, basically the hair found on the boat.
Now I got to tell you, if that's all the prosecution has, this guy's walking come trial.
PHILLIPS: Another -- I want to take another part of this quote, Bruce. Amber Frey saying, "Of course you couldn't tell me the story about your wife, because it hadn't happened yet, and you were hoping to resolve in January that it would be resolved and you'd have a story to tell me."
Scott saying, "Sweetie, you think I had something to do with her disappearance?"
Amber said, "Do you believe that?"
Or he's saying, "Sorry, Amber, do you believe that?"
She replied, "Well, let's see, how can I believe that? How can I believe that? How can I believe that? How can I believe anything for..."
Scott Peterson saying, "I am not evil like that."
Is this a trustworthy guy? I mean, obviously there have been -- that's come up that he's not, but then you hear this sort of back and forth, not really giving a straight answer, makes you a little curious.
BARON: It definitely does. But you know, you have to take the whole thing into context. Obviously, his stupid behavior, before, during and after Laci's disappearance, is really what creates the public opinion. How can we believe he has foolish behavior during this whole period, but yet during 16 telephone conversations a day that are being taped, unbeknownst to him, he doesn't say anything incriminating, he doesn't make any admissions? In addition to the hair on the boat, I mean, to me, it speaks volume of innocence as oppose to guilt. The prosecution is alleging that Laci was either murdered on the boat or murdered in the home, and then transported on the boat. If one piece of hair is all that's found in this boat after a gruesome murder like this, you got to believe there's something is missing here.
PHILLIPS: Back to the phone calls for a minute. Amber Frey, why would she record these? Do you think she was being coached? And when you listen to the conversation, she names dates, gets pretty specific in these conversations.
BARON: Right, there's no question, Kyra, that she's been coached, and there's no question that they've taught her, the authorities, how to sort of lead and get information. And you can read the answers in two different contexts. You could certainly read guilt into it, but you could also read to the fact that the man is a liar. He lied to his wife, and there's not reason why he shouldn't lie to his girlfriend. He didn't know how much he knew or didn't know. He didn't know -- he could have not known if she believed he had murdered his wife and was trying to keep it from her. So if you take all that out, you wonder where the guilt is. You know, if we don't go far enough at the Pamela Smart case, where the world convicted Robert Ricci of abducting this young girl, only to find out after he hemorrhaged in jail, he wasn't even involved in the crime.
So the bottom line is, it's the evidence that goes in or the lack thereof.
PHILLIPS: Criminal defense attorney, straight to the point, Bruce Baron. Thanks, Bruce.
BARON: 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
