06 June 2003




Ongoing events in the Scott Peterson case:

"Peterson's lead attorney, Mark Geragos, has also asked that the prosecutors handling the case be removed because of what he termed "grave prosecutorial misconduct," relating to the interception of 69 phone calls Peterson made prior to his arrest. He also asked that all information from the wiretaps be suppressed."
. . .
"[Stanislaus County Assistant District Attorney Rick Distaso] said only two of the phone calls were privileged communication between Peterson and his previous attorney, and both were only monitored for a short time to determine who was on the line. Distaso also said prosecutors had not listened to the calls in question and did not plan to use either the phone calls to Peterson's lawyer, or a third call to a private investigator he hired, in the trial."
In other words: "Yes, agents of the State, for whom we are responsible, did listen to privileged conversations between the Defendant and his lawyers but we won't use anything they heard. Honest! No, really . . ."
"The judge in the Laci Peterson murder case ruled Friday that the autopsy results on Peterson and her unborn son would remain sealed. He also declined to issue a gag order on the lawyers involved."
Well, that should keep the case interesting. Later in the same article it points out that 75% of the community already thinks Peterson is guilty. Of course, 25% not guilty still leads to a hung jury.
"[I]n the 28 days since Geragos became Peterson's attorney, an improbable, but unmistakable shift in the public discussion of the crime has occurred. The question is no longer "How could he do it?" but "Did he do it?""
A tribute to what a good defense attorney can do.

And finally, the prosecution has to be going nuts over what's happening with one of its major witnesses:
"Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt says he has been approached by a man who says he owns the rights to about 27 pictures of Peterson's former girlfriend -- and most of them are nude."


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