Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview With Beth Karas
Aired June 02, 2003 - 08:07 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And now we move on to California, where lawyers for Scott Peterson are said to be threatening legal action after the latest twist in the murder case. Family and friends of Laci Peterson went to her Modesto home on Friday and removed some personal belongings.
Scott Peterson's father told Larry King that he thinks the action violated an agreement between the prosecutor and the defense, and he blamed Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST: So she broke the agreement, is what you're saying?
LEE PETERSON, SCOTT PETERSON'S FATHER: She broke the agreement and she uses as an excuse that she is devastated by the autopsy reports on little Connor. Well, my wife Jackie was devastated, as was I. I mean my wife could not leave the house yesterday. But instead of grieving, Sharon apparently planed this break-in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, for more on the case now from Court Television, reporter Beth Karas, who is with us from Modesto, California.
Beth, good morning.
Thanks for being with us.
BETH KARAS, COURT TV REPORTER: Good morning.
KAGAN: Friday things definitely reached a boiling point here. We saw the video. We heard from Mr. Peterson with the Rocha family going over basically, I mean he used the word break-in. They did climb over a fence to go in and get these things.
KARAS: You know, the fact of the matter is that house belongs to Scott Peterson. He is not convicted of anything yet. Once his wife was found and declared dead, anything that they owned jointly reverted to him. He is the owner. He's given power of attorney to his parents. They can act on his behalf while he is in jail.
So whether it really was a trespass, I don't think. Whether the prosecutor would want to ever actually go forward with criminal charges is a discretionary call. But it does appear that Scott Peterson and his parents can call the shots on this one and who has access to the house, even though there was an agreement for them to go in tomorrow to get certain belongings.
KAGAN: They were working toward that. But as I understand it, the Peterson family are, I think Scott Peterson's mother actually had gone and changed the locks and the alarm code so that people could not get into that house.
KARAS: Yes, that is my understanding, as well. And I'm not sure that we know the whole story. But this certainly has added some drama to the criminal case, which is dramatic enough. I don't think that all of this, the trespass, if you want to call it that, and the removal of the belongings, will have really any affect on the criminal case, except to add to the acrimony that's been building between the two families.
KAGAN: Well, it certainly has been building. Also in that sound bite from Larry King's show, we also heard Mr. Peterson talk about an unfortunate turn of events, these gruesome details from the autopsy about the baby, Connor, certain things that had happened to his body coming out in the media and actually both families having to learn about these details from watching news reports.
KARAS: You know, it is a difficult thing. It's difficult when families have to hear it in a courtroom. I see families all the time leave when the medical examiner is testifying and there are photographs that are being shown to the jury. And now both sides had to see this in the media. Granted, there were no photographs, but it was very descriptive what was being discussed.
However, the prosecution now wants the entire autopsy report released because what was being leaked to the media last week was very favorable to the defense and they recognize that in order to preserve the fair trial that Scott Peterson is entitled to and not taint the potential jury pool unfavorably toward the prosecution, then all of the facts need to be out there. And that's why they want the entire autopsy report out, so people can understand and put it in context.
KAGAN: And when might that happen? When might the judge rule on that?
KARAS: Well, the judge is going to hear arguments on that on Friday. Now, he could rule as early as Friday on the release of the autopsy report. He may reserve decision and deal with it later. If it's released, it will be released probably in a fairly timely fashion.
KAGAN: And there's other court appearances this week, as well?
KARAS: Yes. In addition to Friday, where there are a lot of things on the agenda -- that's the big hearing -- tomorrow there's going to be a small hearing before another judge, who is right now still dealing with eight pre-arrest search warrants which remain sealed and there's an effort to unseal them by certain members of the media. Those probably will remain sealed.
But Friday will be a hearing on whether the judge will issue a gag order on the lawyers and witnesses, and that is probably going to happen, as well as to hear argument on the autopsy report and deal with the wire intercept issues, the attorney-client intercepts. There may be testimony from a police officer who ran the wiretaps on that. And then the media's effort to get access to their conversations that were intercepted, as well.
KAGAN: And just finally, Beth, any idea when this thing would finally go to trial?
KARAS: Well, it's still premature to tell. Given the preliminary hearing, it's going to be in mid-July, and if it goes forward then, the trial could be some time in the fall, if Scott Peterson -- he has a right to push it to trial fairly quickly if his attorneys are ready. He can waive that time and go after the new year, if he wants to. There's a lot for his attorneys to do. But it could be some time in the fall.
KAGAN: Beth Karas with Court TV joining us from Modesto, California.
Beth, 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 June 2, 2003 - 08:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And now we move on to California, where lawyers for Scott Peterson are said to be threatening legal action after the latest twist in the murder case. Family and friends of Laci Peterson went to her Modesto home on Friday and removed some personal belongings.
Scott Peterson's father told Larry King that he thinks the action violated an agreement between the prosecutor and the defense, and he blamed Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST: So she broke the agreement, is what you're saying?
LEE PETERSON, SCOTT PETERSON'S FATHER: She broke the agreement and she uses as an excuse that she is devastated by the autopsy reports on little Connor. Well, my wife Jackie was devastated, as was I. I mean my wife could not leave the house yesterday. But instead of grieving, Sharon apparently planed this break-in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Well, for more on the case now from Court Television, reporter Beth Karas, who is with us from Modesto, California.
Beth, good morning.
Thanks for being with us.
BETH KARAS, COURT TV REPORTER: Good morning.
KAGAN: Friday things definitely reached a boiling point here. We saw the video. We heard from Mr. Peterson with the Rocha family going over basically, I mean he used the word break-in. They did climb over a fence to go in and get these things.
KARAS: You know, the fact of the matter is that house belongs to Scott Peterson. He is not convicted of anything yet. Once his wife was found and declared dead, anything that they owned jointly reverted to him. He is the owner. He's given power of attorney to his parents. They can act on his behalf while he is in jail.
So whether it really was a trespass, I don't think. Whether the prosecutor would want to ever actually go forward with criminal charges is a discretionary call. But it does appear that Scott Peterson and his parents can call the shots on this one and who has access to the house, even though there was an agreement for them to go in tomorrow to get certain belongings.
KAGAN: They were working toward that. But as I understand it, the Peterson family are, I think Scott Peterson's mother actually had gone and changed the locks and the alarm code so that people could not get into that house.
KARAS: Yes, that is my understanding, as well. And I'm not sure that we know the whole story. But this certainly has added some drama to the criminal case, which is dramatic enough. I don't think that all of this, the trespass, if you want to call it that, and the removal of the belongings, will have really any affect on the criminal case, except to add to the acrimony that's been building between the two families.
KAGAN: Well, it certainly has been building. Also in that sound bite from Larry King's show, we also heard Mr. Peterson talk about an unfortunate turn of events, these gruesome details from the autopsy about the baby, Connor, certain things that had happened to his body coming out in the media and actually both families having to learn about these details from watching news reports.
KARAS: You know, it is a difficult thing. It's difficult when families have to hear it in a courtroom. I see families all the time leave when the medical examiner is testifying and there are photographs that are being shown to the jury. And now both sides had to see this in the media. Granted, there were no photographs, but it was very descriptive what was being discussed.
However, the prosecution now wants the entire autopsy report released because what was being leaked to the media last week was very favorable to the defense and they recognize that in order to preserve the fair trial that Scott Peterson is entitled to and not taint the potential jury pool unfavorably toward the prosecution, then all of the facts need to be out there. And that's why they want the entire autopsy report out, so people can understand and put it in context.
KAGAN: And when might that happen? When might the judge rule on that?
KARAS: Well, the judge is going to hear arguments on that on Friday. Now, he could rule as early as Friday on the release of the autopsy report. He may reserve decision and deal with it later. If it's released, it will be released probably in a fairly timely fashion.
KAGAN: And there's other court appearances this week, as well?
KARAS: Yes. In addition to Friday, where there are a lot of things on the agenda -- that's the big hearing -- tomorrow there's going to be a small hearing before another judge, who is right now still dealing with eight pre-arrest search warrants which remain sealed and there's an effort to unseal them by certain members of the media. Those probably will remain sealed.
But Friday will be a hearing on whether the judge will issue a gag order on the lawyers and witnesses, and that is probably going to happen, as well as to hear argument on the autopsy report and deal with the wire intercept issues, the attorney-client intercepts. There may be testimony from a police officer who ran the wiretaps on that. And then the media's effort to get access to their conversations that were intercepted, as well.
KAGAN: And just finally, Beth, any idea when this thing would finally go to trial?
KARAS: Well, it's still premature to tell. Given the preliminary hearing, it's going to be in mid-July, and if it goes forward then, the trial could be some time in the fall, if Scott Peterson -- he has a right to push it to trial fairly quickly if his attorneys are ready. He can waive that time and go after the new year, if he wants to. There's a lot for his attorneys to do. But it could be some time in the fall.
KAGAN: Beth Karas with Court TV joining us from Modesto, California.
Beth, 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
