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American Morning

Pretrial Hearing for Scott Peterson Today

Aired May 27, 2003 - 07:07   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: To Modesto, California now, where later this morning Scott Peterson returns to court for a pretrial hearing. He is accused of murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.
Mike Brooks is at the Stanislaus County Courthouse now with more on what's expected to happen today.

Hello to you -- Mike.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

At about 8:30 local time, Scott Peterson will be back in Stanislaus County Superior Court for the fourth time. Now, this pretrial hearing, the main discussion will be whether or not the results of the search warrant, as well as the autopsy reports, will remain sealed. Now, both the prosecution and the defendant have asked that they do remain sealed, but that will be discussed earlier -- later on today.

Now, some other things that may come up. I spoke with a source close to the prosecution last night, Heidi, and that source said that there may be some other things that Mark Geragos, the defense attorney, could bring up today. Now, these include a possible change of venue for a grand jury. Now, it has not been decided whether they will have a grand jury or a preliminary hearing, so that will also be discussed today.

Also could be discussed is a change of venue for the trial. Mark Geragos has said that he does not believe that Scott Peterson can get a fair trial here in Modesto, so that's a possibility of also being discussed here this morning at the pretrial hearing -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Mike Brooks, thanks so much for the update on that.

Let's go ahead and turn now to our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, for his take on today's Peterson court proceeding.

Jeffrey -- thanks so much for being here today.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Heidi.

COLLINS: Now, the media wants access to several of these documents that we just heard Mike Brooks talking about -- that would be the search warrants, the wiretaps, the autopsy results. Do you think that they'll be released today? TOOBIN: You know, I don't. It's a difficult problem for the judge, because the rule in California is these documents usually are made public. But here, you have a situation where both the prosecution and the defense are saying, keep them sealed in the interest of a fair trial. It's a common problem in courts, the conflict between free press and fair trial. And usually when you have documents like these, which are going to be released anyway come the time of the trial, a judge will often say, look, let's just wait on delaying them. And I bet that's what happens here.

COLLINS: But is it common for the prosecution and defense to want the same thing?

TOOBIN: It is somewhat uncommon. But here, given the intense public interest, given, you know, how much we're talking about this case and the fact that there is no really greater public interest -- it's not a national security matter, it doesn't relate to anything regarding public policy, it's just about this single trial -- I wouldn't be surprised if the judge simply said, look, let's wait for a few weeks or months.

COLLINS: So, what do you think about the prosecution either going the grand jury route or the preliminary hearing? What's the difference? What does it matter?

TOOBIN: Well, usually in California the preliminary hearing is more common. A preliminary hearing is a public event, where defense can cross-examine witnesses, and it's a -- the prosecution usually goes that route. The grand jury is, of course, secret and has -- it's usually more cumbersome for the prosecution to work that way.

What's interesting here is that Mark Geragos is suggesting not only a change of venue for the trial, but a change of venue for the grand jury. I think that's very unlikely to have a secret hearing like that moved to another county. He's got a pretty good case on change of venue for the trial, but the grand jury, I doubt it.

COLLINS: What do you think about bail? Could Geragos bring up bail as well? And do you see that ever happening?

TOOBIN: I think in a capital murder case in California you are not going to get bail. I doubt it's brought up. He's going nowhere until this trial takes place.

COLLINS: What would be the most complicated thing that they address today at this hearing?

TOOBIN: I think it's the public access to these documents. I mean, this trial -- we need to remember how slowly the California judicial system often works. You know, we have often talked about the Robert Blake case. The Robert Blake case, it's coming up on two years since the murder, and there's been no trial. Peterson has only been arrested for a few weeks. I bet there won't be a preliminary hearing in the case, if there is a preliminary hear, until towards the end of the year, a trial maybe sometime next year. I mean, things are going to move pretty darn slowly when you consider that they're still, you know, dragging San Francisco Bay, looking for evidence. They haven't even finished the evidence collection part. There's not going to be a trial here for a long time.

COLLINS: And that will be difficult for everyone involved, I'm sure.

TOOBIN: It sure will.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, this morning, thanks so much.

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 - 07:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: To Modesto, California now, where later this morning Scott Peterson returns to court for a pretrial hearing. He is accused of murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.
Mike Brooks is at the Stanislaus County Courthouse now with more on what's expected to happen today.

Hello to you -- Mike.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

At about 8:30 local time, Scott Peterson will be back in Stanislaus County Superior Court for the fourth time. Now, this pretrial hearing, the main discussion will be whether or not the results of the search warrant, as well as the autopsy reports, will remain sealed. Now, both the prosecution and the defendant have asked that they do remain sealed, but that will be discussed earlier -- later on today.

Now, some other things that may come up. I spoke with a source close to the prosecution last night, Heidi, and that source said that there may be some other things that Mark Geragos, the defense attorney, could bring up today. Now, these include a possible change of venue for a grand jury. Now, it has not been decided whether they will have a grand jury or a preliminary hearing, so that will also be discussed today.

Also could be discussed is a change of venue for the trial. Mark Geragos has said that he does not believe that Scott Peterson can get a fair trial here in Modesto, so that's a possibility of also being discussed here this morning at the pretrial hearing -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Mike Brooks, thanks so much for the update on that.

Let's go ahead and turn now to our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, for his take on today's Peterson court proceeding.

Jeffrey -- thanks so much for being here today.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi, Heidi.

COLLINS: Now, the media wants access to several of these documents that we just heard Mike Brooks talking about -- that would be the search warrants, the wiretaps, the autopsy results. Do you think that they'll be released today? TOOBIN: You know, I don't. It's a difficult problem for the judge, because the rule in California is these documents usually are made public. But here, you have a situation where both the prosecution and the defense are saying, keep them sealed in the interest of a fair trial. It's a common problem in courts, the conflict between free press and fair trial. And usually when you have documents like these, which are going to be released anyway come the time of the trial, a judge will often say, look, let's just wait on delaying them. And I bet that's what happens here.

COLLINS: But is it common for the prosecution and defense to want the same thing?

TOOBIN: It is somewhat uncommon. But here, given the intense public interest, given, you know, how much we're talking about this case and the fact that there is no really greater public interest -- it's not a national security matter, it doesn't relate to anything regarding public policy, it's just about this single trial -- I wouldn't be surprised if the judge simply said, look, let's wait for a few weeks or months.

COLLINS: So, what do you think about the prosecution either going the grand jury route or the preliminary hearing? What's the difference? What does it matter?

TOOBIN: Well, usually in California the preliminary hearing is more common. A preliminary hearing is a public event, where defense can cross-examine witnesses, and it's a -- the prosecution usually goes that route. The grand jury is, of course, secret and has -- it's usually more cumbersome for the prosecution to work that way.

What's interesting here is that Mark Geragos is suggesting not only a change of venue for the trial, but a change of venue for the grand jury. I think that's very unlikely to have a secret hearing like that moved to another county. He's got a pretty good case on change of venue for the trial, but the grand jury, I doubt it.

COLLINS: What do you think about bail? Could Geragos bring up bail as well? And do you see that ever happening?

TOOBIN: I think in a capital murder case in California you are not going to get bail. I doubt it's brought up. He's going nowhere until this trial takes place.

COLLINS: What would be the most complicated thing that they address today at this hearing?

TOOBIN: I think it's the public access to these documents. I mean, this trial -- we need to remember how slowly the California judicial system often works. You know, we have often talked about the Robert Blake case. The Robert Blake case, it's coming up on two years since the murder, and there's been no trial. Peterson has only been arrested for a few weeks. I bet there won't be a preliminary hearing in the case, if there is a preliminary hear, until towards the end of the year, a trial maybe sometime next year. I mean, things are going to move pretty darn slowly when you consider that they're still, you know, dragging San Francisco Bay, looking for evidence. They haven't even finished the evidence collection part. There's not going to be a trial here for a long time.

COLLINS: And that will be difficult for everyone involved, I'm sure.

TOOBIN: It sure will.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, this morning, thanks so much.

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