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American Morning

Will Scott Peterson's Attorney Try to Get Murder Case Moved?

Aired May 27, 2003 - 08:15   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: Will Scott Peterson's attorney try to get the murder case moved out of Modesto? A change of venue is just one of the issues that could come up this morning during a pretrial hearing. Peterson is charged with killing his wife Laci and their unborn son.
Reporter Chris Filippi has been covering the Peterson case for KFBK Radio.

He is with us this morning from the Stanislaus County courthouse to talk about today's hearings.

Good morning to you, Chris.

What should we expect to come out of this procedure today?

CHRIS FILIPPI, REPORTER, KFBK RADIO: You know, this should really be a very busy hearing today. We're expecting a few things to come up. The official purpose for this hearing is to weigh in, for the judge to weigh in on whether the arrest warrant, the affidavit for the arrest warrant and a couple of the search warrants in this case should be unsealed.

However, we're expecting more than that to come out. We have heard that Mark Geragos may make a motion to move this trial out of Modesto today. And we're also hearing that some other issues could come up in this hearing today and it's really just a case of wait and see. But this should be the most substantive hearing we've had so far in this case.

COLLINS: Chris, I'm curious if you can shed any light on sort of something that we've been hearing and the "Modesto Bee" has been writing about, again yesterday reporting on the couple who insists that they saw Laci walking her dog on Christmas Eve.

What do you know, if anything, about this?

FILIPPI: Yes, clearly this is something that the defense has decided to emphasize as part of their investigation. They are finding, or trying to find who they say are the real killers. Now, the Modesto police, for their part, we know that they have talked to these people, as well. They talked to them several months ago. Basically what they are saying is that they talked to them but they didn't find their information credible. They're not telling us what they are basing that conclusion on.

The defense obviously a different perspective on that. They think that these witnesses are credible and that they did see Laci on that day. As far as who's true and who's accurate, really too early to tell at this point.

COLLINS: Yes, well, today will be the first time that the media will get a chance to question Scott Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos.

What do you expect him to say?

FILIPPI: Well, what's interesting today is this is going to be our first opportunity to get Geragos on the record about this whole satanic cult theory. All the information that we've had provided to us at this point has come from leaks from the defense investigation. Geragos has not said anything on the record to us. He's probably going to have to answer that question after the hearing today. It's going to be very interesting what he says and how credible he believes this theory really is.

COLLINS: And also, Chris, another interesting development that came out over the weekend is some of the conversations that were overhead through wiretapping by authorities, Scott Peterson's phone, of course.

What do you know about this?

FILIPPI: Well, that's going to be a big deal today. We know that Kirk McAllister -- that's Scott Peterson's original defense attorney -- very upset about this. Apparently authorities monitored a handful of calls between Peterson and his lawyer. We're told as many as 69, actually. And the prosecution, for their case, has said that they did not get any substantive information from those wiretaps. When they realized it was McAllister, they stopped monitoring those phone calls.

However, McAllister is saying unh-unh. This is attorney-client privilege. These calls should not have been monitored at all. He's very upset about this. We're even hearing they could move to have these charges against Scott Peterson thrown out. That's how upset they are.

COLLINS: Some conversations between Scott and Amber Frey, as well.

All right, Chris Filippi, we will wait to hear more about this case today.

Thanks so much, coming to us live from Modesto today.

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




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Aired May 27, 2003 - 08:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Will Scott Peterson's attorney try to get the murder case moved out of Modesto? A change of venue is just one of the issues that could come up this morning during a pretrial hearing. Peterson is charged with killing his wife Laci and their unborn son.
Reporter Chris Filippi has been covering the Peterson case for KFBK Radio.

He is with us this morning from the Stanislaus County courthouse to talk about today's hearings.

Good morning to you, Chris.

What should we expect to come out of this procedure today?

CHRIS FILIPPI, REPORTER, KFBK RADIO: You know, this should really be a very busy hearing today. We're expecting a few things to come up. The official purpose for this hearing is to weigh in, for the judge to weigh in on whether the arrest warrant, the affidavit for the arrest warrant and a couple of the search warrants in this case should be unsealed.

However, we're expecting more than that to come out. We have heard that Mark Geragos may make a motion to move this trial out of Modesto today. And we're also hearing that some other issues could come up in this hearing today and it's really just a case of wait and see. But this should be the most substantive hearing we've had so far in this case.

COLLINS: Chris, I'm curious if you can shed any light on sort of something that we've been hearing and the "Modesto Bee" has been writing about, again yesterday reporting on the couple who insists that they saw Laci walking her dog on Christmas Eve.

What do you know, if anything, about this?

FILIPPI: Yes, clearly this is something that the defense has decided to emphasize as part of their investigation. They are finding, or trying to find who they say are the real killers. Now, the Modesto police, for their part, we know that they have talked to these people, as well. They talked to them several months ago. Basically what they are saying is that they talked to them but they didn't find their information credible. They're not telling us what they are basing that conclusion on.

The defense obviously a different perspective on that. They think that these witnesses are credible and that they did see Laci on that day. As far as who's true and who's accurate, really too early to tell at this point.

COLLINS: Yes, well, today will be the first time that the media will get a chance to question Scott Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos.

What do you expect him to say?

FILIPPI: Well, what's interesting today is this is going to be our first opportunity to get Geragos on the record about this whole satanic cult theory. All the information that we've had provided to us at this point has come from leaks from the defense investigation. Geragos has not said anything on the record to us. He's probably going to have to answer that question after the hearing today. It's going to be very interesting what he says and how credible he believes this theory really is.

COLLINS: And also, Chris, another interesting development that came out over the weekend is some of the conversations that were overhead through wiretapping by authorities, Scott Peterson's phone, of course.

What do you know about this?

FILIPPI: Well, that's going to be a big deal today. We know that Kirk McAllister -- that's Scott Peterson's original defense attorney -- very upset about this. Apparently authorities monitored a handful of calls between Peterson and his lawyer. We're told as many as 69, actually. And the prosecution, for their case, has said that they did not get any substantive information from those wiretaps. When they realized it was McAllister, they stopped monitoring those phone calls.

However, McAllister is saying unh-unh. This is attorney-client privilege. These calls should not have been monitored at all. He's very upset about this. We're even hearing they could move to have these charges against Scott Peterson thrown out. That's how upset they are.

COLLINS: Some conversations between Scott and Amber Frey, as well.

All right, Chris Filippi, we will wait to hear more about this case today.

Thanks so much, coming to us live from Modesto today.

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




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