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American Morning
Murder Case Against Scott Peterson
Aired May 28, 2003 - 08:06 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: Now the murder case against Scott Peterson. The judge yesterday gave defense attorney Mark Geragos access to police logs of phone conversations between Peterson n Peterson's previous lawyer. There was no ruling, though on the media request to have search warrants and autopsy results made public. Geragos believes they'll remain under seal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: What happened in court, I think, was significant from our standpoint in that it allows the investigation to go forward. The judge, I believe, will rule, if he holds to what the tentative ruling was, that the items are going to remain under seal so that both the prosecution and the defense can continue to investigate this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The judge is also considering a gag order on all participants.
Reporter Chris Filippi of KFBK Radio was in the courtroom yesterday.
He joins us now once again from Modesto, California.
Thanks for being here, Chris.
Any surprises in court yesterday?
CHRIS FILIPPI, REPORTER, KFBK RADIO: No, not at all. I think everybody pretty much expected that these documents would, in fact, remain sealed. In fact, we weren't going to see any of these documents until the primarily hearing at the earliest.
I think the thing to really take out of the hearing, and from all the hearings that I've been to in this case, is Judge Al Girolami is very concerned about the media coverage and its impact upon this case. Clearly, he thinks that it's going to have an impact on the potential jury pool and I think he's really moving in that direction, protecting all of the documents, and, as you mentioned, the potential of a gag order in this case. I think he's really trying to get a handle on the media's coverage.
COLLINS: And so because we know that these documents have not yet been released on the media side of things still, when do you think he will make a ruling on that? FILIPPI: Well, I think we'll see the actual ruling sealing these documents until the preliminary hearing, some time by the end of this week. I would be very surprised if we saw any of these documents, including the search warrants, the arrest warrant, the affidavit for that warrant and the autopsy report before that prelim hearing.
There are a couple of hearings before the preliminary in July where they will deal with this document issue. But, again, I'd be very surprised if we saw anything before July.
COLLINS: Now, the judge did order the prosecution to turn over those 69 wiretaps between Peterson and his attorneys.
How damaging do you think this ruling is to the prosecution?
FILIPPI: It really depends upon who you talk with. My perspective is not too damaging at all. You have a lot of cases where authorities will wiretap a suspect and eventually that suspect will contact their lawyer. There will be some contact. But if the prosecution's investigation team breaks off their monitoring, my understanding is they're within the law.
Early indications are that's the case here. They have turned over the records for 69 phone calls to the defense team so they could go over them. The defense has yet to act on that. If they feel there's any sort of impropriety there, they will file a motion here at Stanislaus County Superior Court.
But my indication is at this point that there's probably not going to be much that comes from that.
COLLINS: Chris, you know, there have been a lot of leaks in this case already. And you've been covering it from the git go.
Where do you think these leaks are coming from?
FILIPPI: I think they're coming from both sides at this point and I think that's one of the reasons that the judge is interested in a gag order in this case. The prosecution, quite frankly, along with Modesto police, have been leaking stories for months on this. I mean we've heard about a variety of instances, Amber Frey. We've heard about certain evidence that's been uncovered. That's all from the prosecution's side.
However, now that the defense has brought in Mark Geragos, all of a sudden we're hearing leaks from the defense side. We've heard about the satanic cult theory, for example.
I think the judge is pretty much sick and tired of it. He wants to get a handle on this case, control the leaks and try to avoid as much as possible any tainting of the potential jury pool. We heard him say yesterday he's concerned you could potentially not find any jurors here in California that could hear this case with an open mind if these sort of leaks continue.
COLLINS: A quick question for you, Chris. Why was Amber Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred, in the courtroom yesterday?
FILIPPI: Yes, Allred was at the hearing yesterday. She met with prosecutors after the hearing to get a sense for what role Amber might play in this case. Not only will she be a witness in a potential trial, but will she be a witness in the preliminary hearing.
COLLINS: All right, very good.
Chris Filippi from KFBK Radio, thank you so much.
Appreciate it this morning.
FILIPPI: You bet, Heidi.
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 28, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now the murder case against Scott Peterson. The judge yesterday gave defense attorney Mark Geragos access to police logs of phone conversations between Peterson n Peterson's previous lawyer. There was no ruling, though on the media request to have search warrants and autopsy results made public. Geragos believes they'll remain under seal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: What happened in court, I think, was significant from our standpoint in that it allows the investigation to go forward. The judge, I believe, will rule, if he holds to what the tentative ruling was, that the items are going to remain under seal so that both the prosecution and the defense can continue to investigate this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The judge is also considering a gag order on all participants.
Reporter Chris Filippi of KFBK Radio was in the courtroom yesterday.
He joins us now once again from Modesto, California.
Thanks for being here, Chris.
Any surprises in court yesterday?
CHRIS FILIPPI, REPORTER, KFBK RADIO: No, not at all. I think everybody pretty much expected that these documents would, in fact, remain sealed. In fact, we weren't going to see any of these documents until the primarily hearing at the earliest.
I think the thing to really take out of the hearing, and from all the hearings that I've been to in this case, is Judge Al Girolami is very concerned about the media coverage and its impact upon this case. Clearly, he thinks that it's going to have an impact on the potential jury pool and I think he's really moving in that direction, protecting all of the documents, and, as you mentioned, the potential of a gag order in this case. I think he's really trying to get a handle on the media's coverage.
COLLINS: And so because we know that these documents have not yet been released on the media side of things still, when do you think he will make a ruling on that? FILIPPI: Well, I think we'll see the actual ruling sealing these documents until the preliminary hearing, some time by the end of this week. I would be very surprised if we saw any of these documents, including the search warrants, the arrest warrant, the affidavit for that warrant and the autopsy report before that prelim hearing.
There are a couple of hearings before the preliminary in July where they will deal with this document issue. But, again, I'd be very surprised if we saw anything before July.
COLLINS: Now, the judge did order the prosecution to turn over those 69 wiretaps between Peterson and his attorneys.
How damaging do you think this ruling is to the prosecution?
FILIPPI: It really depends upon who you talk with. My perspective is not too damaging at all. You have a lot of cases where authorities will wiretap a suspect and eventually that suspect will contact their lawyer. There will be some contact. But if the prosecution's investigation team breaks off their monitoring, my understanding is they're within the law.
Early indications are that's the case here. They have turned over the records for 69 phone calls to the defense team so they could go over them. The defense has yet to act on that. If they feel there's any sort of impropriety there, they will file a motion here at Stanislaus County Superior Court.
But my indication is at this point that there's probably not going to be much that comes from that.
COLLINS: Chris, you know, there have been a lot of leaks in this case already. And you've been covering it from the git go.
Where do you think these leaks are coming from?
FILIPPI: I think they're coming from both sides at this point and I think that's one of the reasons that the judge is interested in a gag order in this case. The prosecution, quite frankly, along with Modesto police, have been leaking stories for months on this. I mean we've heard about a variety of instances, Amber Frey. We've heard about certain evidence that's been uncovered. That's all from the prosecution's side.
However, now that the defense has brought in Mark Geragos, all of a sudden we're hearing leaks from the defense side. We've heard about the satanic cult theory, for example.
I think the judge is pretty much sick and tired of it. He wants to get a handle on this case, control the leaks and try to avoid as much as possible any tainting of the potential jury pool. We heard him say yesterday he's concerned you could potentially not find any jurors here in California that could hear this case with an open mind if these sort of leaks continue.
COLLINS: A quick question for you, Chris. Why was Amber Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred, in the courtroom yesterday?
FILIPPI: Yes, Allred was at the hearing yesterday. She met with prosecutors after the hearing to get a sense for what role Amber might play in this case. Not only will she be a witness in a potential trial, but will she be a witness in the preliminary hearing.
COLLINS: All right, very good.
Chris Filippi from KFBK Radio, thank you so much.
Appreciate it this morning.
FILIPPI: You bet, Heidi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
