Peterson trial takes turn
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – In 12 weeks of trial, prosecutors have presented scant hard evidence linking Scott Peterson to the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and the couple’s fetus – no murder weapon, no cause of death, no bloody crime scene and no witnesses to the killing.
However, the trial has taken a turn over the last two weeks as jurors heard hours of recorded telephone calls between Peterson and his former lover, Amber Frey.
“I think the tapes changed the mood of the trial and has the jury thinking, ‘We certainly understand now why police were so suspicious of Scott,’ ” said Loyola University Law School Professor Laurie Levenson.
Frey had been set to take the witness stand for cross-examination last week, but the judge delayed her testimony until today because of a “potential development.” Details of the delay were not made public.
The recordings have shown that as his lies unraveled and Frey peppered him with questions about his wife’s disappearance, which he reported on Dec. 24, 2002, Peterson was apologetic but remained evasive about his untruths. He continued to romance Frey while authorities were searching for his wife.
On the very day Laci Peterson had been expected to give birth to a boy the couple planned to name Conner, Peterson was sending birthday gifts to his lover, calling her “sweetie” and trying to persuade her to see him.
“I just need to tell you how much I care about you … And I desire so much to be, you know, for the rest of our lives, your best friend, your biggest comfort, and the second-most joy in your life,” Peterson tells Frey on one recorded call.
The tapes, made by Frey at the request of police, drew crowds to the courtroom. On some days, several hundred members of the public showed up to participate in a lottery for courtroom seating. Only 28 are allowed in.
The problem is, Levenson said, that nothing on the tapes points to Peterson as the killer.
“A lot of what we heard on the tapes just sounded like … a junior high romance,” Levenson said, adding that the word “sociopath comes to mind.”
The tapes went on and on in court for five days – 24 telephone calls.
“I think the most powerful part of the tapes were the phone calls in the days right after Laci went missing,” said former San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer, who’s observing the trial. “His tone of voice and the hours he spends on the phone … it doesn’t sound like a grieving husband or a man desperate to find his wife and child. He’s so carefree, giggling and laughing, talking about movies and poems … It’s not the affair that hurts him here … it’s the tone, length and frequency of the phone calls.”
Still, Hammer agreed that prosecutors may have gone too far.
“If you overplay this kind of evidence, evidence that is titillating but not the heart of the case, not the murder weapon, some jurors may say ‘Why is the DA harping on sex so much, doesn’t he have a real case?’ ” Hammer said.
Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her weighted body into San Francisco Bay. The decomposed remains of Laci Peterson and the couple’s fetus washed ashore in April 2003, not far from where Peterson said he launched a solo fishing trip on that Christmas Eve.
His attorneys claim he was framed after the real killer learned of his widely publicized alibi.