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American Morning
Prosecution, Defense in Scott Peterson Case Will be in Court Today
Aired October 17, 2003 - 08:24 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The prosecution and defense in the Scott Peterson case will be in court today. Peterson's lawyers are trying to get a lot of the evidence against him thrown out ahead of his trial. He's accused of killing his wife Laci and their unborn son.
Rusty Dornin is live for us in Modesto, California this morning -- Rusty, good morning.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, a lot of the motions you were just talking about were scheduled to be talked about when the preliminary hearing began on Monday. Attorney, defense attorney Mark Geragos is smack dab in the middle of another murder trial in Los Angeles. We're expecting him to ask for a delay. The judge has warned he did not want to have any more continuances for this preliminary hearing, but it may be unavoidable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All rise, come to order.
DORNIN (voice-over): Defense attorney Mark Geragos may be busy on another trial, but he's also been busy trying to get pieces of the prosecution's evidence in the Scott Peterson case thrown out. Included?
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: Problems with the GPS tracking device.
DORNIN: Geragos says poor antenna placement by Modesto police affected results. He also wants to bar testimony from a hypnotized prosecution witness, results from the initial police dog searches and a hair the prosecution claims is Laci Peterson's found on pliers in Scott Peterson's boat.
And what about all those wiretaps? San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer says they could be key.
JIM HAMMER, SAN FRANCISCO PROSECUTOR: The job of the defense is to try to knock out every little piece of the prosecution's case. The one they'd most like out, I think, is the subject of these wiretaps, because there's a lot of speculation about what it is Scott Peterson was saying during those.
DORNIN: Especially what he said to his girlfriend at the time, Amber Frey. Out on San Francisco Bay last month, investigators went fishing again. No word on what, if anything, was found. The latest bombshell? A jailhouse informant claims Scott Peterson was involved in a plot to kill Laci through a murder for hire scheme with the help of two former gang members named Dirty and Skeeter.
FRANK MUNA, ATTORNEY: Scott, according to my client, solicited them to not only kidnap his wife, but to get rid of her.
DORNIN: Sources say Modesto investigators have looked into it. So far nothing.
Meantime, Laci Peterson's mother has filed a lawsuit to stop Scott Peterson from making any money on books or movies before the trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The matter of "People v. Scott Peterson."
DORNIN: When will the preliminary hearing finally take place? Sources tell CNN Monday the 27th is a good bet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: We talked to the court in Los Angeles yesterday. They said final arguments haven't even taken place in that trial, but they are expecting it to wrap up by the end of next week -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Rusty, the defense complained about search warrants. Do you think that that issue is going to be revisited in any way?
DORNIN: Well, they've already filed another paper. They've all along complained about the legality of search warrants because if they can get that thrown out, that means any evidence discovered in those search warrants can be thrown out. They're now saying that the cadaver dogs used in Scott Peterson's boat did not alert to Laci Peterson and that a judge, when he was issuing a search warrant, was not told of that fact. He was not told that these dogs did not alert to Laci in the boat and therefore that made those search warrants illegal.
O'BRIEN: Rusty Dornin for us this morning in Modesto, California, bright and early, I might add.
Rusty, thanks very much for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Court Today>
Aired October 17, 2003 - 08:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The prosecution and defense in the Scott Peterson case will be in court today. Peterson's lawyers are trying to get a lot of the evidence against him thrown out ahead of his trial. He's accused of killing his wife Laci and their unborn son.
Rusty Dornin is live for us in Modesto, California this morning -- Rusty, good morning.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, a lot of the motions you were just talking about were scheduled to be talked about when the preliminary hearing began on Monday. Attorney, defense attorney Mark Geragos is smack dab in the middle of another murder trial in Los Angeles. We're expecting him to ask for a delay. The judge has warned he did not want to have any more continuances for this preliminary hearing, but it may be unavoidable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All rise, come to order.
DORNIN (voice-over): Defense attorney Mark Geragos may be busy on another trial, but he's also been busy trying to get pieces of the prosecution's evidence in the Scott Peterson case thrown out. Included?
MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: Problems with the GPS tracking device.
DORNIN: Geragos says poor antenna placement by Modesto police affected results. He also wants to bar testimony from a hypnotized prosecution witness, results from the initial police dog searches and a hair the prosecution claims is Laci Peterson's found on pliers in Scott Peterson's boat.
And what about all those wiretaps? San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer says they could be key.
JIM HAMMER, SAN FRANCISCO PROSECUTOR: The job of the defense is to try to knock out every little piece of the prosecution's case. The one they'd most like out, I think, is the subject of these wiretaps, because there's a lot of speculation about what it is Scott Peterson was saying during those.
DORNIN: Especially what he said to his girlfriend at the time, Amber Frey. Out on San Francisco Bay last month, investigators went fishing again. No word on what, if anything, was found. The latest bombshell? A jailhouse informant claims Scott Peterson was involved in a plot to kill Laci through a murder for hire scheme with the help of two former gang members named Dirty and Skeeter.
FRANK MUNA, ATTORNEY: Scott, according to my client, solicited them to not only kidnap his wife, but to get rid of her.
DORNIN: Sources say Modesto investigators have looked into it. So far nothing.
Meantime, Laci Peterson's mother has filed a lawsuit to stop Scott Peterson from making any money on books or movies before the trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The matter of "People v. Scott Peterson."
DORNIN: When will the preliminary hearing finally take place? Sources tell CNN Monday the 27th is a good bet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: We talked to the court in Los Angeles yesterday. They said final arguments haven't even taken place in that trial, but they are expecting it to wrap up by the end of next week -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Rusty, the defense complained about search warrants. Do you think that that issue is going to be revisited in any way?
DORNIN: Well, they've already filed another paper. They've all along complained about the legality of search warrants because if they can get that thrown out, that means any evidence discovered in those search warrants can be thrown out. They're now saying that the cadaver dogs used in Scott Peterson's boat did not alert to Laci Peterson and that a judge, when he was issuing a search warrant, was not told of that fact. He was not told that these dogs did not alert to Laci in the boat and therefore that made those search warrants illegal.
O'BRIEN: Rusty Dornin for us this morning in Modesto, California, bright and early, I might add.
Rusty, thanks very much for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Court Today>
