posted on May 30, 2003 09:40:47 PM new
If you've been following this whole thing, have you formed an opinion yet about whether you think Scott Peterson is guilty or innocent? Do you think he can get a fair trial?
posted on May 30, 2003 11:08:12 PM new
1) I think he is guilty as sin. That or the most unlucky callous classless and devoid of common sense fool to come along in many years.
2) I don't think he can get a fair trial and I think that a lot of it will be due to his lawyer. Leaking the autopsy info was tacky and the Satanic cult theory comes across as crazy. His defenses tactics leave a taste of extreme desperation in my mouth. If you are truly innocent and the evidence will show that then keep your mouth shut, keep your cards close and try the case in the courtroom.
posted on May 31, 2003 12:11:21 AM new
I think he's guilty. They say the eyes are windows to the soul and in the early interviews I thought he wasn't telling the truth.
The other day I caught a glimpse of him on TV and he has changed since being in prison. He has a very dark aura about him now. He also looked kind of smug.
Not sure if the trial will be fair but they will dig up all the dirt and grisly details they can find about everyone involved.
posted on May 31, 2003 05:56:09 AM new
What evidence do they really have other than circumstantial? Most philandering spouses of a murdereded wife or husband would be desperate in such situations even if they were innocent.
posted on May 31, 2003 07:30:55 PM new
Although graphic, I have a feeling the details might get worse. From what I've read so far, everything's circumstancial against Scott Peterson, so I agree with you Helen. I doubt there's any cult or that the baby had been born. The latest evidence seems more likely to be debris from the bay (the tape). I don't think she was cut up but was torn apart by a rope around her neck and legs moving back and forth in the water. I still wonder why Scott never told anyone about his new boat?
posted on May 31, 2003 08:49:54 PM new
Facinated by the facination the public has with this case.
It seems to go beyond morbid curiosity although the case has little to no bearing on the lives of those so facinated.
Not to downplay the fact that this is a tragedy which affects two families, seems to keep King and Grace employed, sells some newspapers but little more than that.
As the only fact known publically is that a murder occured speculation based on vibes and aura is about what you can expect. Gotta go thow an I Ching.
posted on May 31, 2003 09:10:13 PM new
davebraun, be careful...I threw my I Ching once, and had to wear a brace for months
If you can't answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.
- Elbert Hubbard
posted on May 31, 2003 09:43:48 PM new
Dave - I admit it. I am fascinated by criminal psychology as well as trial psych. The Peterson case is a study in it. There is nothing about Scott behavior that jibes with that of a survivor. His action following the crime are callous, detached, and display an arrogance rarely seen.
Who sells the car and attempts to sell the house of their missing spouse in the first 30 days of their disappearance? The loved ones of missing persons are know to stay in the house for decades in hope that some day their loved one will come home. Scott couldn't wait to get away.
I'll be very curious when the case actually goes to court and physical evidence is presented. It's going to be a fascinating trial.
posted on June 1, 2003 12:57:15 AM new
Well, lucky for him he won't be convicted because I think he has lying eyes or a "dark" look about him.
It seems to go beyond morbid curiosity although the case has little to no bearing on the lives of those so facinated.
OJ Simpson, Susan Smith, the Menendez bros, are just a few that had little or no bearing on the lives of the people that followed them. Many people like mystery stories and crime dramas so a real life one is very fascinating to them.
Not everyone is interested in the grisly details, some are captivated for the reasons neonmania gives.
posted on June 1, 2003 07:06:02 AM new Not everyone is interested in the grisly details, some are captivated for the reasons neonmania gives.
I posted a link to the "grisley details" because that is where the truth may eventually be found. So far it's the only information that we have. Everything else is just speculation.... about such ephemeral things as auras and souls etc.
posted on June 1, 2003 08:15:24 AM new
Of course many things are just speculation and I know he won't be convicted because people may "think" he is guilty or because he looks that way to some of us. They will need actual evidence.
Sorry I didn't make myself clear about the grisly details. What I meant was that some may be attracted to this case only because of the morbid details, the more gruesome the better. That may include many of the reporters and they will tend to focus on it. It helps the ratings and sells the papers.
Helen, I agree with you that the truth (or maybe some of it) may be found in the grisly details. I think most people are attracted to this case because so far it is an unsolved mystery.
posted on June 1, 2003 11:18:50 AM new
I agree with you neon. Nothing about this case seems logical. What I'd like to know is, although there is a ton of circumstancial evidence against him, is there ANY evidence pointing away from him? Besides the cult and the other woman walking her dog, everything points to him being the killer.
I've heard that someone saw him either leave his house at 3:00 in the morning, or someone spotted him at the place he went fishing earlier that day at 3:00 am. Did anyone else hear that?
posted on June 1, 2003 12:22:23 PM new
There was another pregnant dead woman found in that area. I heard a little about it and then silence, no more info. Did anyone hear of this besides me?
posted on June 3, 2003 10:51:13 AM new
It was reported today that the prosecuters using wiretaps have recorded conversations between Peterson and his attorney.
This violation of attorney client privelege throws a considerable doubt on whether he can even be prosecuted.
posted on June 3, 2003 11:12:49 AM new
Prosecutorial misconduct is a quite common yet often overlooked. Because of the intense public interest in this proceeding it is likely that the district attorney will be either removed or recuse his office from the matter and a special prosecutor appointed by the State Attorney General to proceed.
posted on June 3, 2003 11:27:51 AM new
Interesting point, reamond. The U.S. Justice Department wrote itself broad new privileges to eavesdrop on attorney-client conversations for suspects in federal custody, but I don't know if they gave the same abilities to states. I don't think so. There could also be a Fourth Amendment issue arising from the illegal wiretap.
I don't know how much evidence will be deemed "fruit of the poisonous tree" if Peterson's (very skilled) attorney manages to make either case. The CourtTV coverage made it sound as if the intercepted calls came pretty early in the investigation, before Laci's body was discovered, which could be crippling.
I cannot begin to predict how this will be resolved, except to say it won't be resolved by the trial court! I can't imagine any trial judge with the guts to kick a case of this magnitude on what most people will see as a "technicality." (Just for the record, I don't see it that way ... I would hate to see such a horrific case end in uncertainty but I feel much more strongly about not gutting the Constitution.)
edited to add: davebraun, I'm not sure a special prosecutor would help if the wiretaps were illegal and came so early in the investigation that they tainted the entire process. I have not been following this case blow-by-blow, and I understand there's a lot of misinformation out there, so this is one that will have to play out in court.
I don't generally care for gag orders, but I think such an order on the attorneys in this case would be a good idea.
[ edited by msincognito on Jun 3, 2003 11:50 AM ]
posted on June 3, 2003 12:43:34 PM new
::It was reported today that the prosecuters using wiretaps have recorded conversations between Peterson and his attorney. ::
This is been out for a week or two and it was not the prosecutors but the police that had the wiretap. It is also a claim by the defense that some calls were taped but there so far has been no proof of it offered. Rule is that during a wiretap recorders are to be turned off when it is determined that the call is between the target and his attorney. Since no transcripts of thes calls have yet been turned over the defense has no proof of this occurance.
They are doing a rather common tactic in very public cases ... they are tossing as much dirt as possible to try to muddy the waters.
At this point I think it's time for the judge to grant the gag order and shut the deffense up.
posted on June 3, 2003 03:18:31 PM new
Pathological lying is part of the psychosis. I find it interesting that Scott Peterson seems to show no emotion, no matter what the circumstances are. Maybe it's a man thing. (??)
posted on June 3, 2003 08:59:33 PM new
MODESTO, Calif. — A lawyer for Scott Peterson urged a judge Tuesday to keep search warrants and an arrest affidavit in the case sealed, saying making the documents public could jeopardize the defense's search for "the real killers" of Peterson's wife and unborn son.
IOW - If the public finds out why you arrested him our entire house of card collapses
"We have information we feel could possibly affect an arrest of other suspects we feel are still out there," attorney Matt Dalton told Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne during the hearing on media attempts to unseal the documents. "This could affect the possible apprehension of the real killers in this case."
Could someone explain how evidence against Scott could prevent them from finding the "real killer"? Wouldn't overwhelming evidence actually put the"real killer" at ease.
Scott Peterson's lawyer Matt Dalton made his case before a Stanislaus County judge Tuesday.
The judge withheld a decision, telling a courtroom crowded with newspaper and television reporters eager to review the police affidavits that he would meet in private with prosecutors and defense lawyers to discuss confidential objections Friday and then issue a ruling by June 12.
Beauchesne, however, voiced concerns about the precedent set by keeping the contents of the affidavit and eight warrants sealed, telling prosecutors who have their own separate grounds for opposing the release of documents, "Secrecy of legal proceedings is obviously disfavored."
The warrants stem from police searches of Peterson's home, a storage area and a warehouse before his arrest, as well the collection of Peterson's DNA. A group of media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the Modesto Bee, the San Francisco Chronicle, and NBC, sued to have the documents unsealed.
Prosecutor Dave Harris said the district attorney's office fears spreading the information in the warrants throughout the community will make it harder for police to distinguish good tips from false ones.
By keeping the details of the investigation "close to the vest," Harris said, investigators monitoring tip lines "are able to say this person is not credible because the facts they provide are wrong."
Harris suggested the judge wait until the preliminary hearing, scheduled to begin July 16, and release only information that becomes public through testimony.
Last week, however, prosecutors requested that the autopsy report on the two victims be unsealed after portions detailing the fetus' injuries were obtained by MSNBC. When asked by Beauchesne to explain why the autopsy report merited unsealing but not the other documents, Dalton argued that the coroner's findings would not inspire false tips from the public.
Neither Peterson, who is being held without bail in the jail adjoining the courthouse, nor the family of his murdered wife, Laci, attended the hearing. The 30-year-old fertilizer salesman could face the death penalty if convicted of two counts of murder.
Laci Peterson, 27, was nearly eight months pregnant with the couple's first child when she was reported missing from their home Christmas Eve. After months of fruitless searching, her badly decomposed remains and those of her unborn son, who was to be named Connor, washed up on shore of the San Francisco Bay in April. Peterson claims he was fishing and had nothing to do with her death.
Outside court, Peterson's defense continued trying to shift the focus from Peterson to other suspects. Lead attorney Mark Geragos, who was trying a case in Los Angeles and could not attend the hearing, has said he will not only win his client's acquittal but also solve the crime. The defense team has said that its own separate investigation points toward culprits affiliated with a satanic cult.
Who does he think he is, Matlock?
As he rushed from the courthouse, Dalton, substituting for Geragos, tantalized the pack of camera crews following him by referring to "evidence that possibly exonerates Scott."
Dalton said the defense was gravely concerned about the removal of many items from the couple's home Friday by Laci Peterson's family.
"The scene is tainted at this point," Dalton said. Specifically, Dalton said, the defense was trying to determine whether a pair of Laci's shoes was removed.
Wait, so are we saying that the family is responible or that they are skewing the picture to benefit the Satanist Kidnappers who may have been plied with a hefty ransom of shoes
"There were shoes found a block away that matches a description of shoes Laci had," said Dalton. The defense plan to "inventory" the shoes remaining in the house was scuttled when Laci's family "emptied" the house, Dalton said. "If anybody took the shoes out of the house, return them."
The defense has intimated that a brown van seen near the Petersons' home may have carried Laci Peterson's captors.
ok, but it was still parked there months later for the police to examine it so how did the kinappers get away? ahhh - the extra shoes were for that long walk.... Got it!
Late Tuesday, the district attorney's office announced police had seized a van "the defense claimed was possibly involved in the disappearance of Laci Peterson" and taken it to the state crime lab in Ripon for forensic testing. In a prepared statement from the office, prosecutors said police took the brown vehicle out of an "obligation to investigate possible defenses to a charged crime in order to ensure justice is achieved."
But the DA's office insisted it did not believe the van was used in the crime and had already excluded several people connected with the vehicle. Members of the defense team viewed the van Tuesday but had not yet commented on their observations.
They did however expess great concern at the defacement of the Dashboard Jesus figurine found inside
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday. Defense lawyers are seeking sanctions against prosecutors for listening in on phone conversations between Peterson and his defense team.
posted on June 3, 2003 09:49:02 PM new
Isn't the defense attorney the same one who was interviewed prior to become Peterson's attorney as saying Peterson was guilty? I thought I remembered reading something about that.
posted on June 6, 2003 07:28:19 PM new
Now I am trying to remember---
wasn't Scott Peterson sporting a different hair color, a new beard, and had $10,000 in cash and someone else's identification when he was arrested about 30 miles from the Mexican border?
Doesn't sound like something an innocent person would do to me.
hey, I guess I have lost track over the years- what ever came of the JonBennet Ramsey case- did they ever find out any more about that? I remember everyone in the family kept changing their stories and I lost track and at one time they had a couple of suspects besides the family-
posted on June 6, 2003 09:05:46 PM new
harmon - yes, All of that was true with Peterson. The car was purchased under this mothers maiden name which he convinced the seller was actually his own (using the time-honored "I know it sounds strange buts its a family name" excuse. The border proximity is explained by his parents living here but I've yet to hear any explination for the 10k in cash in the trunk.
As for Jon-Benet - no arrest has ever been made and no suspect named. Last I heard there were a new set of investigators put on the case by the Boulder PD and an internal investigation was ordered into the handling of the case to that point.
