Trial Summaries

SCOTT PETERSON Trial Summary

June 1, 2004

Day 1

Opening Statement By Prosecutor, Rick Distasto

Highlights:

Two of Scott Peterson's phone calls were played (one message to Laci and one call to Amber)
Portion of TV interview with Diane Sawyer was shown.
Graphic autopsy photos were shown, audible gasps from some jurors, family averted eyes.
Scott Peterson told Amber Frey on their first date that he wanted a vasectomy.
Cell phone records indicate Scott Peterson did not leave his house around 9:30 a.m. on the 24th.
Will bring expert witness to testify to when Scott Peterson's gun was last fired.

INTERESTING TOPICS

AMBER FREY
SCOTT PETERSON TAPED PHONE CALL

Source: By Brian Anderson, Contra Costa Times http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld...son/8812213.htm
"You're just an amazing woman," Peterson can be heard on the Jan. 1, 2003 call, which was recorded and videotaped on Frey's end by police. "And I know you know that and never say you're sorry for sharing."

Scott Peterson to Amber Frey on taped phone call: "Our psyches are, you know, kinda relaxed and you are focused on relationships as opposed to getting up in the morning and doing things or, you know, going to pick up dry cleaning, things like that," he said when setting up a time they could next talk. "And our relationship will grow," he said. "Our relationship will grow, and know how beautiful you are. Okay, Sweetie?"

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/n...02peterson.html
In another conversation, Mr. Distaso said, he (SP) told Ms. Frey that he did not want to have children and said he was considering having a vasectomy.

SCOTT CALLS AMBER DURING CANDLELIGHT VIGIL

Source: http://modbee.com/reports/peterson/...p-9523500c.html
Scott Peterson called his lover shortly before he attended a New Year's Eve candlelight vigil for his missing wife, telling her he was in Brussels, prosecutor Rick Distaso told jurors today.

FISHING/GOLFING CONFUSION

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9523380c.html
Peterson told his wife's uncle, Harvey Temple, and two of Peterson's neighbors that he had golfed “all day” Christmas Eve, but he told police and his wife's mother he had fished alone in Berkeley, Distaso said.

SCOTT'S PISTOL

Source: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=5316108
"This is a common sense case," the former military attorney said in asking the jury to convict Peterson of double murder despite the lack of forensic evidence, including her cause of death. The prosecutor showed the jury a slide of a gun found in the glove compartment of Peterson's truck but stopped short of saying that Laci was shot to death.

JEWELRY

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9523380c.html
Peterson included in his wife's missing-person report that she was wearing diamond earrings, a diamond necklace and a diamond ring, Distaso said as he laid out the prosecution's case against Peterson to a packed courtroom. “You're going to hear later that Laci Peterson's diamond ring was actually in the shop that day,” Distaso told jurors. The diamond earrings were never found, and the diamond necklace was found in the couple's home, Distaso said.

CRIME SCENE PHOTOS

Source: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=5316108
"Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso, laying out his largely circumstantial case, showed the jury grisly photos of the badly decomposed, headless body of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, in a dramatic day-long presentation.

SCOTT PETERSON STATEMENTS CONCERNING SELLING HOME AND LACI'S CAR

Source: http://modbee.com/reports/peterson/...p-9523500c.html
Scott Peterson later approached two people about selling the couple's home, Distaso added.

SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9523380c.html
As the search for Laci Peterson got under way Christmas Eve, when Peterson first encountered his wife's mother, Sharon Rocha, in a nearby park, he initially ignored her calls, then responded with clipped, one-word answers after she approached, Distaso said.

Rick Distasto

Source: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB8TOKAYUD.html
Distaso described Scott Peterson as terse with family and unable to tell police what he had been trying to catch on his fishing trip to San Francisco Bay.

Rick Distasto

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/n...02peterson.html
Distasto spent the morning and much of the afternoon building the prosecution's case against Mr. Peterson piece by piece, mostly raising doubts about Mr. Peterson by pointing out contradictions in his alibi and suspicions voiced by friends and relatives.

With no cause of death, no witnesses and no murder weapon, Mr. Distaso spent his day laying out a circumstantial case against Mr. Peterson that one lawyer friendly to his cause characterized as a double-themed prosecution based on Mr. Peterson's "secrets and lies."

TIMELINE ISSUES

Source: http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/...2185537,00.html
Distaso poked several holes in the timeline Peterson gave to police as he accounted for his whereabouts. Distaso said Peterson…told four different officers he went to the Berkeley Marina at 9:30 a.m., having left his young wife at home watching Martha Stewart. But cell phone records show Peterson still in his own neighborhood more than 30 minutes later, Disataso said. A neighbor will testify that the house was locked - though Laci's car was in the drive - at 10:18 a.m.

Summary June 2, 2004

Day 1

Opening Statement By Defense Attorney Mark Geragos

Highlights:

“Strong evidence” that Conner may have been alive after December 24th.
Peterson is not apathetic and unfeeling – he just doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve. That's how he was raised.
There is no evidence, even though prosecutors took over 160 bags of evidence. “Zip. Nothing. Nada.”
Amber wasn't motive, they only had 2 dates before Laci went missing. Not the kind of relationship that would inspire murder.
Peterson changed his appearance because of the media hounding him.
Peterson had his brother's ID when arrested so he could get a resident-discount at Torrey Pines.
Peterson's trips to the bay – “every time he went was in response to news that authorities were searching the San Francisco Bay”
Tape of Martha Stewart's December 24th show was shown where there is mention of meringue.
Witness #1 – Margarita Nava (Peterson Housekeeper)

Overview:

Left ONE mop outside when she finished cleaning the house on December 23rd. (Police collected TWO mops)
Nava used Clorox and Pine Sol to clean the home.
Laci seemed tired, sat with feet up - but she had gone to the store and returned with groceries which she unloaded herself.
“SEEN AND HEARD”
Source: http://modbee.com/local/story/8658535p-9531804c.html

Laci Peterson's father and mother, Dennis Rocha and Sharon Rocha, left the courtroom when defense attorney Mark Geragos showed jurors graphic photos of the victims' remains.
Wednesday's court session began with attorneys on both sides apparently meeting with the judge in his chamber for about 20 minutes. A court reporter emerged after about 13 minutes, followed by the others about seven minutes later.
Delucchi did not comment in open court about the purpose of the meeting.

INTERESTING TRIAL HIGHLIGHTS

BOAT

Source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...s/laci_peterson
Geragos insisted she had seen it Dec. 20 — and that people saw her at the warehouse where the boat was stored.

Mark Geragos

Source: http://kcbs.com/pages/kcbs/news/new...52044818&params
The only thing they did find was a hair on a pair of pliers in the boat and that "may or may not be (Laci) Peterson's hair" according to DNA evidence.

Geragos also said that on December 20th, four days before Laci disappeared, she was in the warehouse and in the boat, which is the defense's explanation of how that crucial piece of evidence came to get there.

CONNER DISAGREEMENTS

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc.../8820083.htm?1c Geragos:
There's strong evidence that Conner may have been alive after Dec. 24. “If this baby was born alive, clearly Scott Peterson had nothing to do with this murder,'” Geragos said. “This baby was found with electrical tape on its ear, twine around its arm and neck, and on top of it, it appears somebody cut off the umbilical cord. . . . If that happened, Laci was alive or the baby was born alive and kept alive.”

Mark Geragos

Source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...s/laci_peterson
Scott Peterson's lawyer said Wednesday that prosecutors have a flimsy circumstantial case against his client — and he can show Peterson didn't kill his pregnant wife because the fetus she carried was born alive.

Mark Geragos, who told jurors the boy whom the couple intended to name Conner didn't die in the womb, as prosecutors allege. Geragos indicated he will call experts to testify that the umbilical cord was cut in such a way that the child must have been removed from Laci Peterson while he was alive.

"The evidence is going to show that (Laci) was alive on Dec. 24 when Scott went to the marina."

Mark Geragos

Source: http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/22247.htm
Attorney Mark Geragos said the evidence will show the baby "was removed" from the body of his mother, Laci, and lived for a few weeks — dying between Jan. 24 and Feb. 20, 2003. Forensic experts will testify that "someone cut off" the boy's umbilical cord, he said. "That will show you that this baby was removed and this baby was born alive," the lawyer said.

HOUSEKEEPER - Margarita Nava

Source: http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stori...2189503,00.html
Nava briefly went over her cleaning routine and said she left one mop outside a door when she cleaned the house on Dec. 23, 2002. Police on Dec. 24 collected two mops and a bucket from outside the house.

Nava also said Laci seemed tired, but that she went to the store in the late morning hours, returning with groceries with no problem and loading them into the house herself. The defense wants to show that Laci was still active because prosecutors contend she was too ill to do physically challenging tasks, like walking her dog.

Margarita Nava

Source: http://modbee.com/local/story/8658530p-9531770c.html
Margarita Nava said she used Clorox and PineSol to clean Scott and Laci Peterson's Covena Avenue home Dec. 23, 2002, which included mopping floors.

“MERINGUE” – Martha Stewart Show on Dec. 24th

Source: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....95&pageNumber=1
The defense attorney even played a Dec. 24 excerpt from homemaker Martha Stewart's television show to demonstrate that Peterson was correct when he said his wife had watched a segment on cooking meringue.

Martha Stewart Show

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9527782c.html
Peterson told Brocchini the episode involved cooking with meringue. Brocchini wrote in his report that he viewed a copy of the Dec. 24 show and meringue was not mentioned, but it was mentioned in the Dec. 23 show, Geragos said. Brocchini testified at Peterson's preliminary hearing that Peterson told him part of the Dec. 24 show had “something to do with meringue.”

In dramatic fashion, Geragos played a segment of the Dec. 24 show for the jury on two plasma screens mounted in front of the jury box. During the show, Stewart discusses meringue while talking about Paris sweets. “Oooh, we're making meringue,” Stewart coos. The line was repeated in the defense presentation for affect.

SCOTT'S UNUSUAL BEHAVIOR

Source: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=5325795
"He is clearly a cad," lawyer Mark Geragos said in a courtroom in Redwood City, south of San Francisco. "If you want to say his behavior is boorish, we are not going to dispute that."

Geragos

Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/...cipeterson.html
"He's not charged with having an affair," defense lawyer Mark Geragos told jurors. "The fact of the matter is that this is a murder case and there has to be evidence."

Geragos

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/02/peterson.trial/
Geragos also told jurors that Peterson -- who was arrested near the border with Mexico carrying nearly $15,000 cash and his brother's driver's license, and with his hair dyed blond -- changed his appearance solely to protect his privacy, not to flee authorities. "He was being followed and being stalked like you cannot believe. ... Everything he did was completely trailed by the media."

THE DEFENSE "EXPLANATION"

Source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...s/laci_peterson
Geragos tried to aim suspicion at vagrants who live in a park near the couple's Modesto home where Laci Peterson walked her dog. He called her a "spitfire" and said she would often confront the transients who ventured into the neighborhood. One neighbor, a local judge, warned Laci to keep her distance from the transients because it wasn't safe, Geragos said.

Geragos later mentioned witnesses who reported seeing a suspicious van in the Petersons' neighborhood around the morning Laci Peterson disappeared, again raising an alternative to the prosecution's theory. He said another witness saw her being shoved into a dark colored van days later.

June 3, 2004 Summary

Witness #2 - Manager, Trader Joe's
Witness #3 - Manicurist, Sweet Serenity Day Spa
Witnesses #4 - Michelle Buer (Owner, Sweet Serenity Day Spa)
Witness #5 - Laurie Wesenberg (Manager, Salon Salon)
Witness #6 - Chris Johnson (Owner, Salon Salon)
Witness #7 - Amy Rocha (Laci's half-sister)

Highlights:

Approximate Timeline of December 23, 2002

A.M. – Laci goes to Trader Joe's, buys almost $100 worth of groceries. Takes groceries home and unloads them. Housekeeper, Margarita Nava witnesses her unloading them by herself and says she is wearing BLACK pants.
Noon-ish: Laci goes to Sweet Serenity Day Spa for a waxing treatment. Tina Reiswig (employee at Spa) says Laci was wearing BLACK pants.
P.M. – Laci and Scott Peterson go to Salon Salon, where SP gets hair cut. Amy Rocha says Laci is wearing TAN or BEIGE pants. Chris Johnson, Owner of Salon Salon, also thinks Laci was wearing light-colored pants that evening.
Amy found the black shirt Laci had worn to the Salon on December 23rd, "wadded up" in a dresser drawer in the Peterson home.
Laci never complained about her husband at the Spa, like many customers, but did mention she was uncomfortable and not sleeping well.
Laci did not tell Amy that Scott was having an affair. Amy said Laci seemed tired the evening of December 23rd, 2002 at Salon Salon.

EVENTS PRIOR TO DEC. 24, 2002

Source: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB3NNH51VD.html
Two days before the couple was to host Christmas dinner, Laci Peterson spent nearly $100 at a Trader Joe's grocery store, buying 24 items, including salmon, eggs, shrimp and soup, according to a store employee. Just after noon, she went to the Sweet Serenity Day Spa for a waxing treatment, the owner testified.

Michelle Buer

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...1307EDT0065.DTL
Unlike many of her other clients, owner Michelle Buer said Laci Peterson never complained about her husband, though she did mention that she was uncomfortable and not sleeping well.

Amy Rocha

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/03/p...rial/index.html
Rocha said her stepsister never mentioned that Peterson was having an affair.

LACI'S CLOTHING

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...1307EDT0065.DTL
Prosecutors also focused on what Laci Peterson was wearing -- black pants, a white long-sleeved shirt and black shoes, according to Tina Reiswig, one of Buer's employees.

Amy Rocha

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/06/03/p...rial/index.html
Rocha also testified that her stepsister wore a black top with cream-colored polka dots, cream-colored pants, a black jacket and a cream-colored scarf.

The owner of the salon, Chris Johnson, testified earlier Thursday about seeing Laci and Scott in the salon that night. He recalled that Laci was wearing a dark shirt and beige pants.

Rocha testified that the black shirt with cream-colored polka dots was found February 18, 2003, when police called her to come to the Petersons' home to look at her stepsister's clothes. Rocha said the shirt she believes Laci was wearing December 23 was found wadded up in a dresser drawer.

In testimony earlier Thursday, the owner of a day spa where Laci Peterson had an appointment around noon on December 23 recounted that the pregnant woman was wearing black pants and a white, long-sleeved shirt, and seemed tired during her visit.

INVESTIGATION

Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld...es/8831301.htm?
Michelle Buer, owner of Modesto's Sweet Serenity Spa, said she did not tell detective Al Brocchini on Dec. 24, 2002 that she was suspicious of Scott Peterson and therefore would no longer help in the search. In fact, she testified, she went to the volunteer search headquarters the very next day to help out.

Citing Brocchini's report, defense attorney Pat Harris asked whether she had told Brocchini that she would no longer help the search because Peterson was behaving badly at the volunteer center. "That would be inaccurate?" Harris asked. "Yes, it would," she replied. Asked about detective Craig Grogan's report also stating Buer refused to assist the search on Dec. 25, 2002, she said "it was misinterpreted."

Under the re-direct questioning of prosecutor Rick Distaso, Buer said the errors were later corrected at a meeting she had with Distaso and Grogan. She had stopped volunteering because she was suspicious of Peterson, but that was not until after the time the detectives had said she had stopped, she told them.

Michelle Buer

Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld...on/8829560.htm?
Michelle Buer, owner of Modesto's Sweet Serenity Spa, testified today that she did not tell detective Al Brocchini on Dec. 24, 2002 that she was suspicious of the woman's husband Scott Peterson and therefore would no longer help in the search. She was not suspicious of Peterson that first night when hundreds of volunteers searched the San Joaquin Valley city for the missing pregnant woman, Buer said.

Under cross examination by defense attorney Pat Harris today, Buer said Brocchini and detective Craig Grogan misinterpreted her statement, writing down that she was displeased with Peterson's behavior at a volunteer search center. It was that behavior, Brocchini wrote in the report, which led Buer to steer away from the search effort.

Despite inaccuracies in what police wrote about when Buer became suspicious of Peterson, the woman testified that she nevertheless believed the former fertilizer salesman might have been involved.

Chris Johnson

Source: http://modbee.com/reports/peterson/...p-9532340c.html
Prosecutors, sensitive to defense attorneys' efforts to cast detectives as incompetent, brought to the witness stand Salon Salon owner Chris Johnson and manager Laurie Wesenberg. Both talked about the shop's video surveillance system, which might have captured the Petersons' Dec. 23, 2002 early-evening visit. Such a video could have been critical in proving what the eight-months pregnant Laci Peterson wore that evening.

And, while police visited the salon within a week of Laci Peterson's disappearance – and perhaps should have seen its security cameras – Johnson agreed that no one asked to view its surveillance tapes until it was too late.

Trial Summary

June 7, 2004

Witness #7 (recalled from 06/03/04) – Amy Rocha (Laci's stepsister)
Witness #8 – Sharon Rocha (Laci's mother)

Highlights:
December 23rd – At Salon Salon, Laci ordered pizza and Amy was invited over but had other plans and couldn't make it.

Inheritance:

Laci, Amy and Brent received an inheritance of their paternal grandfather's property, worth “in excess of half a million dollars” – this was to be divided between the 3 of them after the eventual sale. Laci would receive approximately $500K when she turned 30.
Laci and Amy also received between $50,000 - $100,000 worth of jewelry. They were going to split the money from the jewelry, which Laci was selling on e-bay and at area pawnshops.
Sharon says that “the dog often walks the person, rather than the other way around” – furthering Prosecution theory that Laci wouldn't have walked Mackenzie.
Law Enforcement taped some of Sharon Rocha's and Scott's phone calls. Tape from February 13th played for jury – regarding questions that Sharon had wanted answered since Laci's disappearance, regarding her last night and morning. Scott had previously avoided the conversation she testified, and even canceled some of their meetings.

Scott's Odd Behavior:
The night Laci was reported missing, Sharon was to meet up with Scott at the park. She was about 20-30 feet away from him, calling to him and he didn't acknowledge her.
Back at their house later that night, Scott was alone in the driveway and Sharon went up to hug him and he “angled” away from her.
Scott was supposed to go spend the night at Sharon & Ron's house after finishing up with the police the night that Laci was reported missing. He never showed up or called.
The night of the candlelight vigil, over 1200 people there, Sharon didn't see Scott get up on the stage at all.
Sharon got a call informing her that bodies were found, she called Scott immediately and left him a message to call her back. He never did.

HIGHLIGHTS

AMBER FREY

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...7/peterson1.TMP
Rocha also testified that on Jan. 3, 2003, Peterson had joined her and other friends for dinner. He told her that police had shown him a picture that was supposed to be him with another woman, she testified. Scott told her, "They had done a good job, because it looked a lot like me," she said.

DEFENSE

Source: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=5365556
Geragos suggested that on the day she disappeared, Laci was wearing jewelry worth between $15,000 to $20,000, raising the prospect that somebody other than her husband may have had motive to abduct the Modesto woman. "She was wearing the jewelry every day. Stunning pieces, eye catching?" Geragos asked Rocha. "Yes," she answered.

INHERITANCE

Source: http://kron.com/Global/story.asp?S=1923647
Rocha testified that she, Laci and their brother Brent Rocha received an inheritance of property and jewelry worth a sizable amount -- several hundred thousand dollars each -- in the weeks prior to Laci's disappearance.

PHONE CALL BETWEEN SHARON ROCHA and SCOTT – 2/13/03

Source: Brian Adams, Contra Costa Times:
"I talked to her at 8:30 at night," she could be heard saying on the tape played for jurors today. "I need to know everything that happened after that. I mean, we've never even had this conversation after all this time." Sharon Rocha testified that she had twice tried to talk to her son-in-law about the details of Laci's life in the hours before she disappeared. He gave her some details, but their conversation was cut short. Later, she tried to arrange multiple meetings with Peterson. All fell through, she said, because something always came up on his end.

Peterson said they watched a movie and went to bed as usual on Dec. 23. Laci awoke about 7 a.m., Peterson said. She was planning on going to the store, baking gingerbread and walking the dog, he said of his wife's schedule for Christmas Eve.

Sharon Rocha

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9551699c.html
Sharon Rocha testitifed Monday afternoon that her son-in-law told her that Laci Peterson was styling her hair when he last saw her alive. "He told me she looked so cute because she was sitting on a bench looking in the mirror styling her hair the way (her sister) Amy (Rocha) showed her," Sharon Rocha testified today.

"It's just odd that you didn't notice anything when you got into the house," Sharon Rocha said on the recorded call. "But instead you take a shower ... I would have thought that you would have called right away." Peterson's comments on the recording - were difficult to make out in court. Jurors and the judge were provided a transcript to follow along.

Sharon Rocha reported that she spoke with Scott

(confirmed by a recording)
Sharon: What happened after 8:30 p.m. that night?
Scott: We watched a movie, went to bed, 10:30 or something.
Sharon: What was she wearing?
Scott: Wearing my blue p.j.'s
Sharon: Why?
Scott: Because they fit her.
Sharon: What was she wearing when you left?
Scott: Black pants, white top.
Sharon: What shoes?
Scott: Dunno.
Sharon: How come you didn't notice when you walked in, hadn't been baking and lights weren't on?
Scott: Didn't register.
Sharon: Everything was fine at 7 when she got up?
Scott: Yes.

When asked on the stand if she had tried to get Scott to answer those questions before the 13th, Sharon replied yes.

SCOTT'S BEHAVIOR

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...7/peterson1.TMP
Rocha described how Scott Peterson seemed somewhat aloof from the search effort, noting, "It seemed to take Scott a long time to show up in the park." Later that night, he seemed to be avoiding her, Rocha testified. "I was walking over to him to give him a hug, but he kept angling away from me," Rocha said. Later that evening, Scott Peterson was supposed to spend the night at her home after he was questioned by police detectives, but he never showed up.

Sharon Rocha

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9551602c.html
Rocha hurried to the park soon after getting the disturbing news of her daughter's disappearance. "I was running all around that area, screaming her name," Rocha said, her calm voice in stark contrast to the frantic scene she described. "I just kept yelling her name." She saw her son-in-law "maybe 20-30 feet" away and yelled his name, she said. "I was very upset, anxious. I was looking for Laci. Scott never did acknowledge I was yelling his name."

Later, at the young couple's Covena Avenue home which was overrun with police, friends, family and volunteer searchers, Rocha said she saw Scott Peterson alone in the driveway. "I was walking up to give him a hug," Rocha said. "I felt all upset. His family wasn't here and I wanted to console him myself, but I was never able to do that. He kept kind of angling away from me."

Sharon Rocha

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9551699c.html
Later in her testimony, Rocha said she grew suspicious of Peterson after her daughter's disappearance. "He didn't show the concern that I felt he should be showing for Laci being missing," Rocha said. "We would try to schedule meetings for different situations and he would always cancel them. I felt he was avoiding trying to be alone with me."

Trial Summary June 8, 2004

Witness #9 – Ron Grantski (Laci's stepfather)
Witness #10 – Brent Rocha (Laci's brother)
Witness #11 – Rose Rocha (Brent's wife, Laci's sister-in-law)
Witness #12 – Sandy Rickard (Laci's mother's best friend)

Highlights:

Ron Grantski and Brent Rocha both confirmed Sharon's testimony from the day before, that Scott was distant and unemotional.
During the candlelight vigil Scott did not get on the stage at all, he called Brent and said that he was going to watch from the crowd with his friends.
Brent offered to spend the night on 12/24/02 with Scott, but Scott declined.
Ron asked Scott, early on, about his “fishing story” and asked if he had a girlfriend. Scott just said “no” and walked away.
Ron invited Scott about 10 times to go fishing with him, Scott only went once – he didn't catch anything and he left his fishing rod in Ron's garage (and it's still there!).
Brent testified that several months before Laci's disappearance, Scott had confided in him that he was nervous about being a father, turning 30, and doing poorly in his job.
Rose Rocha testified that when she asked Scott if he was excited about becoming a father, he replied, “I was hoping for infertility.” She admitted that it could have been a joke, but that he was not laughing when he said it.

INTERESTING TOPICS
AMBER FREY

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...e_peterson_dc_4
"At first when I asked him about it that day, he denied it, but later he admitted it," Rocha, 32, said. Rocha said he asked if Frey could have been involved in his sister's disappearance: "He said, 'No, she didn't know Laci existed until she went missing."' Rocha also testified that several months before the disappearance Peterson confided in him that he was nervous about being a father at a time when he was turning 30 and he was doing poorly in his job as a fertilizer salesman."

Brent Rocha

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc.../8864029.htm?1c
Laci Peterson's brother took the stand mid-morning, and described how he had demanded answers from Peterson after he read about Peterson's affair in a tabloid. “I said Scott, did you see this article?'' Brent Rocha recalled, on the stand. “At first when I asked him that day he denied it. Then he admitted it.''

Peterson assured Rocha that his mistress couldn't have been involved in Laci Peterson's disappearance. “Scott, how did you know she had nothing to do with it,'' Rocha said he asked. Peterson replied, according to Rocha: “‘There was no way she could have had anything to do with it. She didn't even know Laci existed.'” Peterson explained that he only told Frey about his wife after she disappeared, Rocha said.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Source: Brian Anderson, Contra Costa Times:
Brent Rocha testified that his sister would have received about $160,000 when she turned 30 and another $766,000 in years to come if she had not been slain.

Under questioning by defense attorney Mark Geragos, Brent said Scott Peterson was to receive no part of the estate if Laci was to die. Conner, if he had been born before Laci died, would have been the beneficiary. With both dead, Laci's share of the trust will be split between Brent and Amy, Brent Rocha said.

Answering questions from prosecutor David Harris, Brent Rocha testified that Laci and Scott Peterson had nice possessions and that he wondered how they were able to pay for that on Scott's $66,000 annual alary. "Sometimes, my wife and I wondered how they got all the nice things in their house," Brent Rocha said, pointing out the he and his wife were just scraping by. "His bar was stocked with all the premium liquors."

Brent Rocha

Source: http://kron.com/Global/story.asp?S=1927424
"As far as you can tell, there's absolutely no financial motive for Scott Peterson to do anything to Laci or Conner especially during that eight week period," between Laci's disappearance and Conner's due date, Geragos said. "Yes," Brent Rocha said."

SCOTT'S FISHING STORY

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/...4182339,00.html
Laci Peterson's stepfather testified Tuesday that he was suspicious of her husband early on and asked him directly if he had a girlfriend. “I said, ‘I think your Berkeley fishing trip is a fishy story. Did you do something else? Do you have a girlfriend?'” Ron Grantski testified. “He said, 'No,' and he turned around and walked away.”

Ron Grantski

Source: Brian Anderson, Contra Costa Times:
Faced with a direct question from the partner of his missing wife's mother, Scott Peterson lied about his affair with a Fresno woman and dodged questions surrounding his behavior, Ron Grantski testified this morning.

Under cross examination, Grantski acknowledged that he had, at first, supported Peterson, a man he agreed was not very emotional and usually appeared very even-tempered. He added that he, too, was fishing on Christmas Eve at almost the exact same time as Peterson, but in a different place. Like Peterson, Grantski said, he did not tell anyone he was planning to go fishing that afternoon. That was true, Grantski said, except his fishing trip was "90 miles closer."

SCOTT'S ODD BEHAVIOR

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9556112c.html
Though Peterson's parents, Lee and Jackie, sat with family members on a trailer stage at a New Year's Eve candlelight vigil for the missing woman, her husband was nowhere to be seen. He called Rocha (Brent) during the event and said he would watch from the crowd with friends.

Sandy Rickard, Laci Peterson's mother's best friend

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc.../8864029.htm?1c
Sandy Rickard, Laci Peterson's mother's best friend, took the stand and said that on Dec. 24 she approached Scott Peterson, and without prompting, he told her, “I wouldn't be surprised if they find blood on my truck because I cut my hands all the time because I'm an outdoorsman, a fisherman,” Rickard recalled. Rickard said she was “perplexed” by the comment.

Rose Rocha; Brent Rocha's Wife

Source: http://modbee.com/reports/peterson/...p-9556162c.html
“I said something to Scott like, ‘Are your ready for this?' and he looked at me and said, ‘I was kind of hoping for infertility,'” said Rocha, who is married to Laci Peterson's brother, Brent Rocha. Defense attorney Pat Harris questioned Rocha about an account of that exchange in a police report, which indicated she said Peterson might have been joking because he was “hard to read.” “He was not laughing; he was not smiling,” Rocha testified. “So when I heard that, it kind of surprised … I was kind of shocked at what he said. I didn't know how to read him at that point.”

June 9, 2004 Trial Summary June 9, 2004
Day 6

Harvey Kemple (Sharon's cousin's husband)
Karen Servas (Neighbor of Scott and Laci)
William Austin (Owner of store where Karen Servas went)
Amie Krigbaum (Neighbor of Scott and Laci)
Terra Venable (Neighbor of Scott and Laci)
Susan Aquino (Laci's Aunt)

Highlights:

Scott told Amie Krigbaum (neighbor), Terra Venable (neighbor), Susan Aquino (Laci's aunt) and Harvey Kemple (Sharon's cousin's husband) that he had been golfing Christmas Eve.
Scott told Harvey Kemple that he was going to go post fliers, Kemple followed him because he headed in the wrong direction, and Scott drove to a mall that was closed, where he sat in the parked truck he was driving for about 40 – 45 minutes. Kemple followed Scott a different time, to Del Rio Country Club, where Kemple was told by employees that Scott had been there golfing several times since Laci's disappearance.
Karen Servas corrected the time that she said Scott's truck wasn't in the driveway to 4:05 p.m., as opposed to her preliminary statement saying his truck wasn't in driveway at 5:05 p.m.
Karen Servas had dinner Christmas day with Scott, his parents, and 2 friends.

INTERESTING TIDBITS
Gwen Kemple, a cousin to Laci Peterson's mother...

Gwen Kemple

Source: http://modbee.com/local/story/8685481p-9560328c.html
Gwen Kemple, a cousin to Laci Peterson's mother, testified that she attempted during the pregnancy to make small talk with Scott Peterson, with references to brushing up on sports skills to later teach his son. He responded that he didn't play football, Kemple testified; regarding baseball, he responded, "I've got friends who can do that," she said.

DOG – McKENZIE

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9560682c.html
Scott and Laci Peterson's next-door neighbor testified that she found the couple's dog, with a damp leash but with dry fur, at 10:18 a.m. the day Laci Peterson was reported missing. “The leash had - it was dirty, it had leaves and grass clippings on it,” Karen Servas testified. “It was moist.” Servas said the front gate to the Peterson home was locked and a side gate that opens to the driveway was open at least 90 degrees. She saw no one in or around the home, put the golden retriever, McKenzie, in the backyard and left, she testified.

SCOTT'S BEHAVIOR

Harvey Kemple http://www.ktvu.com/news/3400090/detail.html
A relative of Laci Peterson's was so disturbed by Laci's husband's behavior in the days after her disappearance that he followed Scott Peterson at least twice, according to testimony Wednesday. Harvey Kemple, who's married to Laci's mother's cousin, said he became suspicious after Peterson told him on Christmas Eve that he'd been golfing before coming home to find his wife missing. Peterson told Kemple's wife and police he was fishing all morning. "I was very suspicious from that first night," Kemple said on the stand Wednesday, adding that he followed Peterson twice in January -- once to a mall parking lot where he sat in his car and once to a Modesto golf course.

Del Rio Country Club

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/8883065.htm
On another occasion, Kemple followed Peterson to the Del Rio Country Club. Kemple said acquaintances who worked at the country club told him Peterson had come there several times since Laci Peterson disappeared.

Harvey Kemple

Source: Contra Costa Times
Kemple testified that he later followed Peterson weeks into the search effort. The two met up at the volunteer center where the search was headquartered, he said. Peterson told Kemple he was going to post fliers in a certain section of Modesto, he said. So when Peterson drove out of the center's parking lot in the wrong direction, Kemple secretly followed behind, he said. "I thought that was a little peculiar," Kemple said. Peterson went to a nearby mall where he sat in the truck he was driving for 40 to 45 minutes, Kemple said. "That was early in the morning," he said. "The mall wasn't even open. I thought it was strange that he was there."

Amie Krigbaum

Source: Contra Costa Times
Amie Krigbaum testified this afternoon that Peterson said he was golfing all day and had tried unsuccessfully to reach his wife by telephone throughout the day. Krigbaum said Laci's car was in the driveway and the neighborhood was unusually quiet, telling Peterson that she had not seen Laci. "He was distraught," Krigbaum said. "From the way he normally looked, he looked distraught."

Susan Aquino

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9560815c.html
Susan Aquino, Laci Peterson's aunt, said she was “excited that somebody had seen” the missing woman after police officers gave the potentially good news to Scott Peterson about noon Christmas 2002, during a massive search. But he immediately ignored the report, saying, “She doesn't go that way,” Aquino testified.

Trial Summary June 10, 2004
Day 7

Russell Graybill (Mailman working in Laci's neighborhood)
Susan Medina (Neighbor whose house was burglarized around Christmas)
Byron Duerfeldt, Sergeant (Modesto PD – patrol sergeant first in charge of the case)
Craig Wend, Sergeant (Modesto PD)

Trial Highlights:

The Mailman estimated from a bar code scan a few blocks away, that he would've been on Covena Avenue around 10:35 – 10:50 a.m. on 12/24/02 - saw nothing suspicious. McKenzie didn't bark at him, but other neighborhood dogs did.
Neighbor, Susan Medina, whose home was burglarized a few days after Laci's disappearance, was awake around 5 a.m. and didn't leave for her trip until 10:30 a.m. - saw nothing suspicious.
Sergeant Duerfeldt, first officer to respond, said that lots of questions and emotions from family members, but not once did Scott come up to talk to him!!
Sergeant Duerfeldt also said that observations made from 3 other officers after they searched the house led him to call the detective. He was not allowed to elaborate on what those observations were.

INTERESTING TIDBITS:
INVESTIGATION

Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/...cipeterson.html
Duerfeldt said he met briefly with three other officers there before heading to the Petersons' home.
"I wanted to make sure that Laci wasn't inside the house, that she wasn't in the backyard somewhere," Duerfeldt testified. "To just make sure that we weren't missing her somewhere inside the house." Duerfeldt said he then summoned a helicopter to fly over the park, and received a briefing from the other officers who had already been inside the house about whether they found anything "unusual or suspicious." "Based on what they told me I felt it was necessary to have a detective respond," Duerfeldt said, acknowledging that wasn't common practice. He was stopped from explaining further because he's not allowed to testify about what others told him, but he made it clear their observations led him to call the detective.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc...son/8890959.htm
On the stand this morning, Medina said she noticed nothing unusual as her husband packed the car for their trip to visit relatives that morning at 10:30 a.m. She says her home was burglarized sometime after they left -- after police believe Laci Peterson was already dead.

Medina also acknowledged that homeless people from the nearby park often walk up her street each morning and each evening. She didn't remember seeing any the morning of Dec. 24.

Medina and her husband returned to their house on Dec. 26 to find their street barricaded and TV trucks lining the street as reporters dispatched stories about Laci Peterson's disappearance. They realized their home had been broken into and a safe in their bedroom stolen.

SCOTT'S BEHAVIOR

Source: http://www.modbee.com/reports/peter...p-9565541c.html
Though many of Laci Peterson's friends and family members peppered an officer with questions and “venting” in frenetic moments after she was reported missing, her husband didn't, the officer testified this morning. Modesto Police Sgt. Byron Duerfeldt, the first officer to testify in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial, said he was the point person for Laci Peterson's loved ones for a time the evening of Christmas Eve 2002. Three other officers were inside her Covena Avenue home, and Duerfeldt was keeping everyone out. “Chaotic, emotional,” the sergeant said, describing the scene. “I specifically remember Mrs. Rocha (Laci's mother) being very upset, understandably, as well as many family and friends. A lot of emotion, questions, anger, all those types of emotions.” Prosecutor Rick Distaso asked, “Did Scott Peterson ever come up to you with questions, venting, anything of that nature?” Duerfeldt: “No.”

Modesto Police Sgt. Byron Duerfeldt

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic...1728EDT0123.DTL
Additional officers were summoned to search the park and a frantic scene unfolded at the house. "Chaotic. Emotional," Duerfeldt said describing it. He said he was peppered with questions from friends and family. "I was the source of a lot of emotions, questions and anger," he said, adding that Scott Peterson never approached him that night.

June 14, 2004
Day 8

Witnesses:
Derrick Letsinger, (Officer, Modesto PD)
Matthew Spurlock, (Officer, Modesto PD)
Phillip Williams (Motherhood Maternity clothing employee)

Highlights:

No luminol was used to detect traces of blood or body fluids in the Covena home.
The crumpled rug that aroused suspicion was not taken in for evidence.
Police testify that when they asked Scott to leave the house so they could continue their investigation, Scott cursed (the “F” word) through gritted teeth and threw a flashlight to the ground. Geragos demanded a mistrial because none of this was in the police reports or brought up before. Judge Delucchi denied the motion for mistrial.

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