Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Scott Peterson Plans to Ask for New Lawyer

Aired May 02, 2003 - 08:17   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: During a court hearing today in California, Scott Peterson, accused of killing his wife Laci and their unborn child, plans to ask for a new lawyer. It's expected that Mark Geragos will take the case. The list of famous clients Geragos has represented includes Winona Ryder, Robert Downey, Jr. and former U.S. Representative Gary Condit.
KFBK Radio reporter Chris Filippi has been covering the case.

Good morning.

CHRIS FILIPPI, KFBK CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So do you think the judge will grant Scott Peterson's request?

FILIPPI: I'd be very surprised if he didn't at this point. It's on the calendar for 8:30 Pacific Time this morning and certainly we're expecting Mark Geragos to play a prominent role in this case. What we hope to find out this morning is what exactly that role will be. We know he met earlier this week with members of the public defender's office as well as Scott Peterson himself and his family.

What we're expecting is it's going to be some sort of a team effort but we're not really clear at this point what kind of role Geragos will play in this trial.

COSTELLO: Well, you've got to wonder who's going to pay Mr. Geragos, because I would expect his services are very expensive.

FILIPPI: Certainly. And I think one of the biggest surprises from the arraignment was when Scott Peterson had said that he could not afford his own attorney. He had been represented by Kirk McAllister to that point, but at the arraignment he said he just could not afford a private attorney. He was appointed a team by the public defender's office. But now all of a sudden a high profile lawyer like a Mark Geragos is apparently going to come into this case. Certainly some arrangement has to be worked out. At this point we don't have any details as far as what that exactly is.

COSTELLO: Well, I know that Mr. Geragos met with Scott Peterson in jail and liked what he had to say. And, of course, everybody's wondering what that would be.

FILIPPI: Yes, really hard to say. I think he's most impressed with just the way that Scott is holding up in this case. Of course, many have said in the media that Scott has been his own worst enemy in this case. A lot of the interviews he's done, he's kind of put his foot in his mouth. But apparently when Geragos met with Scott face to face he was impressed with his story.

I think another important thing to keep in mind also is that discovery is now under way in this case. Defense lawyers right now are going over hundreds of pages of information provided to them by prosecutors. You kind of wonder what Geragos knows about that information at this point and if that might be motivating him to take part in this case.

COSTELLO: Yes, because all we ever really hear about is circumstantial evidence, so you wonder, you know, what authorities really have against Scott Peterson.

FILIPPI: Yes, you know, one of the things that I think has really come out is so much what they don't have. We're not going to hear from anyone at any point in this trial, at least we don't think we're going to hear from anyone that can say yes, I saw Scott do this. That's not going to be the case. It's going to be a circumstantial case.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a weak case. It means that jurors are going to have to connect the dots.

Now, of course, there's a lot of questions of whether they'll be able to do that and whether the prosecution's case is strong enough for that. But that's certainly what we're going to be looking for.

COSTELLO: I know that Laci Peterson's family is planning a memorial service. So I have two questions for you. Scott Peterson requested to go, did he not?

FILIPPI: Yes, he did.

COSTELLO: And what was the outcome?

FILIPPI: He is not going. The sheriff turned down the request. Basically, Scott Peterson made an informal request to his jailers that he was interested in filling out the paperwork to see if he could go to that. It's a case by case basis and it's at the discretion of the sheriff's department. The sheriff here in Stanislaus County said no, there was a security risk, there was a risk to Scott, he did not want to go through this.

One thing to point out, though, this is not going to be a funeral. It's a memorial service. They don't have the bodies yet. They're still being examined. If there is a funeral in the future, Scott could reapply with an opportunity to go to that.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens then.

Chris Filippi, thanks so much for bringing us up to date.

FILIPPI: You're welcome.

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 2, 2003 - 08:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: During a court hearing today in California, Scott Peterson, accused of killing his wife Laci and their unborn child, plans to ask for a new lawyer. It's expected that Mark Geragos will take the case. The list of famous clients Geragos has represented includes Winona Ryder, Robert Downey, Jr. and former U.S. Representative Gary Condit.
KFBK Radio reporter Chris Filippi has been covering the case.

Good morning.

CHRIS FILIPPI, KFBK CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So do you think the judge will grant Scott Peterson's request?

FILIPPI: I'd be very surprised if he didn't at this point. It's on the calendar for 8:30 Pacific Time this morning and certainly we're expecting Mark Geragos to play a prominent role in this case. What we hope to find out this morning is what exactly that role will be. We know he met earlier this week with members of the public defender's office as well as Scott Peterson himself and his family.

What we're expecting is it's going to be some sort of a team effort but we're not really clear at this point what kind of role Geragos will play in this trial.

COSTELLO: Well, you've got to wonder who's going to pay Mr. Geragos, because I would expect his services are very expensive.

FILIPPI: Certainly. And I think one of the biggest surprises from the arraignment was when Scott Peterson had said that he could not afford his own attorney. He had been represented by Kirk McAllister to that point, but at the arraignment he said he just could not afford a private attorney. He was appointed a team by the public defender's office. But now all of a sudden a high profile lawyer like a Mark Geragos is apparently going to come into this case. Certainly some arrangement has to be worked out. At this point we don't have any details as far as what that exactly is.

COSTELLO: Well, I know that Mr. Geragos met with Scott Peterson in jail and liked what he had to say. And, of course, everybody's wondering what that would be.

FILIPPI: Yes, really hard to say. I think he's most impressed with just the way that Scott is holding up in this case. Of course, many have said in the media that Scott has been his own worst enemy in this case. A lot of the interviews he's done, he's kind of put his foot in his mouth. But apparently when Geragos met with Scott face to face he was impressed with his story.

I think another important thing to keep in mind also is that discovery is now under way in this case. Defense lawyers right now are going over hundreds of pages of information provided to them by prosecutors. You kind of wonder what Geragos knows about that information at this point and if that might be motivating him to take part in this case.

COSTELLO: Yes, because all we ever really hear about is circumstantial evidence, so you wonder, you know, what authorities really have against Scott Peterson.

FILIPPI: Yes, you know, one of the things that I think has really come out is so much what they don't have. We're not going to hear from anyone at any point in this trial, at least we don't think we're going to hear from anyone that can say yes, I saw Scott do this. That's not going to be the case. It's going to be a circumstantial case.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a weak case. It means that jurors are going to have to connect the dots.

Now, of course, there's a lot of questions of whether they'll be able to do that and whether the prosecution's case is strong enough for that. But that's certainly what we're going to be looking for.

COSTELLO: I know that Laci Peterson's family is planning a memorial service. So I have two questions for you. Scott Peterson requested to go, did he not?

FILIPPI: Yes, he did.

COSTELLO: And what was the outcome?

FILIPPI: He is not going. The sheriff turned down the request. Basically, Scott Peterson made an informal request to his jailers that he was interested in filling out the paperwork to see if he could go to that. It's a case by case basis and it's at the discretion of the sheriff's department. The sheriff here in Stanislaus County said no, there was a security risk, there was a risk to Scott, he did not want to go through this.

One thing to point out, though, this is not going to be a funeral. It's a memorial service. They don't have the bodies yet. They're still being examined. If there is a funeral in the future, Scott could reapply with an opportunity to go to that.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens then.

Chris Filippi, thanks so much for bringing us up to date.

FILIPPI: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com