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American Morning
Peterson Case
Aired November 03, 2003 - 09:14 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To northern California now, where testimony is set to resume in the Scott Peterson murder case. He's accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. That hearing continues, and our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is on hand in Modesto to watch it in person.
Jeffrey, good morning again to you. What do you expect later today?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think we will be returning to the single strand of hair that so far has been at the center of this case, a hair found on a pliers in Scott Peterson's boat. Scott Peterson said he went fishing on last Christmas Eve, and that was the day that his wife, Laci Peterson, disappeared. Her body, of course, was found months later in San Francisco Bay, near where Scott Peterson said he was fishing. This single strand of hair has been identified through mitochondrial DNA testing as Laci Peterson's hair. The defense is challenging that technology, and their witness will be the main witness today, their expert witness.
HEMMER: On Friday, you said that Mark Geragos really dominated the courtroom, the defense attorney for Scott Peterson. How did that take place? And put on your prosecution's hat for a second here, looking at a defense attorney yourself, what's the impact his presence may have there, if anything?
TOOBIN: Well, I'll tell you, that's one of the things you learn when you actually are in the courtroom, is you see sort of the vibe and who's acting like they're in charge. And all last week, the first week of the preliminary hearing, Mark Geragos really did dominate. He asked most of the questions, he went on, I thought, many irrelevant tangents in cross-examining the FBI's scientific expert. No objection from the prosecutor. No objection from the judge. These are low-key prosecutors. It's a low-key judge. And sometimes what happens in a case is that a defense attorney really dominates the courtroom, and that's a good thing for the defense.
There's a long way to go in this case. We're only in the preliminary hearing. There's, of course, no jury yet involved. But, if a defense attorney takes charge, if he's allowed to dominate, that is really something that prosecutors have to worry about. It may be just a matter of temperament that these are prosecutors who simply are not as aggressive in the courtroom. But it's certainly going to be something to watch as this case unfolds.
HEMMER: On Friday on the stand, you know, Laci's sister, Laci's mother testified. Curious to know the relationship inside that courtroom with Scott Peterson when they were in his presence.
TOOBIN: You know, Scott Peterson doesn't look like a guy who's been in prison for a number of months now. He's still ruddy. He's still, you know, he doesn't look drawn and gray the way a lot of people in prison still look. And he did not look abashed at all by seeing his former in-laws testifying. He saw his father testify. Scott Peterson is taking a very sort of business-like, matter of fact, temperament into the courtroom. It was not really as emotional as I would have expected.
Sharon Rocha, you may remember, gave this extremely emotional, devastating news conference when Scott was arrested, very clearly indicating that she thought Scott was guilty without saying so in so many words, but in court she was composed, she was not emotional, same thing about Laci's sister. So it has been a fairly low-key hearing. It has not been emotional in terms of the demeanor of the witnesses.
HEMMER: We'll see if it stays that way today, and you will in person.
Thanks, Jeff. Jeff Toobin in Modesto.
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 November 3, 2003 - 09:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To northern California now, where testimony is set to resume in the Scott Peterson murder case. He's accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son. That hearing continues, and our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is on hand in Modesto to watch it in person.
Jeffrey, good morning again to you. What do you expect later today?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think we will be returning to the single strand of hair that so far has been at the center of this case, a hair found on a pliers in Scott Peterson's boat. Scott Peterson said he went fishing on last Christmas Eve, and that was the day that his wife, Laci Peterson, disappeared. Her body, of course, was found months later in San Francisco Bay, near where Scott Peterson said he was fishing. This single strand of hair has been identified through mitochondrial DNA testing as Laci Peterson's hair. The defense is challenging that technology, and their witness will be the main witness today, their expert witness.
HEMMER: On Friday, you said that Mark Geragos really dominated the courtroom, the defense attorney for Scott Peterson. How did that take place? And put on your prosecution's hat for a second here, looking at a defense attorney yourself, what's the impact his presence may have there, if anything?
TOOBIN: Well, I'll tell you, that's one of the things you learn when you actually are in the courtroom, is you see sort of the vibe and who's acting like they're in charge. And all last week, the first week of the preliminary hearing, Mark Geragos really did dominate. He asked most of the questions, he went on, I thought, many irrelevant tangents in cross-examining the FBI's scientific expert. No objection from the prosecutor. No objection from the judge. These are low-key prosecutors. It's a low-key judge. And sometimes what happens in a case is that a defense attorney really dominates the courtroom, and that's a good thing for the defense.
There's a long way to go in this case. We're only in the preliminary hearing. There's, of course, no jury yet involved. But, if a defense attorney takes charge, if he's allowed to dominate, that is really something that prosecutors have to worry about. It may be just a matter of temperament that these are prosecutors who simply are not as aggressive in the courtroom. But it's certainly going to be something to watch as this case unfolds.
HEMMER: On Friday on the stand, you know, Laci's sister, Laci's mother testified. Curious to know the relationship inside that courtroom with Scott Peterson when they were in his presence.
TOOBIN: You know, Scott Peterson doesn't look like a guy who's been in prison for a number of months now. He's still ruddy. He's still, you know, he doesn't look drawn and gray the way a lot of people in prison still look. And he did not look abashed at all by seeing his former in-laws testifying. He saw his father testify. Scott Peterson is taking a very sort of business-like, matter of fact, temperament into the courtroom. It was not really as emotional as I would have expected.
Sharon Rocha, you may remember, gave this extremely emotional, devastating news conference when Scott was arrested, very clearly indicating that she thought Scott was guilty without saying so in so many words, but in court she was composed, she was not emotional, same thing about Laci's sister. So it has been a fairly low-key hearing. It has not been emotional in terms of the demeanor of the witnesses.
HEMMER: We'll see if it stays that way today, and you will in person.
Thanks, Jeff. Jeff Toobin in Modesto.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
