Laci: A Pretty Good Summary of This Week's Testimony (6/20)
Maggie
Inherited jewelry gets trial scrutiny
By JOHN COTÉ and GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITERS
Last Updated: June 18, 2004, 12:08:49 PM PDT
REDWOOD CITY -- Prosecutors Thursday apparently were trying to establish a
financial motive for Scott Peterson to murder his pregnant wife, pointing to
jewelry Laci Peterson inherited from her grandmother estimated to be worth more
than $100,000.
In the weeks before she disappeared, Laci Peterson twice sold inherited
jewelry at a Modesto pawn shop for a total of $250, witnesses testified.
Scott Peterson accompanied her the second time, and she seemed agitated when
her husband -- in apparent affection -- tried to rub her stomach, said Victoria
Brooks, who owns Brooks Pawn and Jewelry with her husband.
"It seemed like she did not want him to be rubbing her belly at that time,"
Brooks said of the Dec. 14, 2002, visit. "She seemed hesitant toward him."
Also late in 2002, Laci Peterson said her husband wanted to know the value of
some jewelry she inherited from her grandmother, said another prosecution
witness, Mary Anna Felix.
Felix, a former employee of Edwards Jewelers in Modesto, said Laci Peterson
replied that her husband "would be very happy" to learn that the store
estimated the value at more than $100,000.
Peterson's attorney Mark Geragos tried to undercut that testimony by showing
that Laci Peterson had not been candid with Felix, who testified that Peterson
had told her that her husband worked for a law firm.
Scott Peterson, 31, is an agricultural fertilizer salesman.
Sale of jewelry questioned
Laci Peterson had also wanted to make a new diamond ring combining the gold
and diamonds from her wedding ring with a diamond ring inherited from her
grandmother, witnesses said.
She wanted to melt the gold from her wedding ring for the new band "because
she didn't want to hurt Scott's feelings," Felix testified. Felix estimated the
value of the new ring at about $55,000.
Laci Peterson had wanted the ring ready by Christmas Eve 2002, designer Jeff
Schumacher testified.
Prosecutors contend Peterson murdered his pregnant wife and unborn son on or
just before that day and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay from a fishing
boat purchased two weeks before. He could receive the death penalty if
convicted on all counts.
Peterson told police he last saw his wife about 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2002, as
he left for a solo fishing trip to the bay. Laci Peterson was mopping and
planned to walk the dog that day, Peterson told police.
The remains of Laci Peterson and the fetus she was carrying, whom the couple
planned to name Conner, were found separately in April 2003 less than two miles
from where her husband said he fished that day.
The defense contends Laci Peterson was likely abducted while walking their
golden retriever, McKenzie.
But prosecutors Thursday tried to show that the pregnant Modesto woman was too
fatigued to walk the dog, and jewelry her husband said she was wearing was
either still in her home or at the jewelry store.
Peterson told police his wife was wearing a diamond ring, diamond necklace and
diamond earrings, according to a police report shown to jurors.
Felix testified that Laci Peterson's wedding ring and diamond ring from her
grandmother were in the store's safe that morning.
Laci Peterson wore a diamond and sapphire ring while her wedding ring was in
the shop, Felix said. She identified the ring in a photo, taken when police
searched the Petersons' Covena Avenue home, depicting it sitting on a bureau in
their bedroom.
Felix also identified in the photo a bezel diamond pendant Laci Peterson
inherited from her grandmother. Peterson always wore the pendant, Felix said,
adding, "she sleeps in it."
But when shown a December 2002 photo of Laci Peterson at a party, Felix
acknowledged the pendant was not visible, but she said it could have been under
Peterson's blouse.
Laci Peterson's aunt, Robin Maria Rocha, testified she had inventoried her
mother's jewelry before giving it to her niece.
When police asked her to review the jewelry seized from the Peterson home when
police searched it, Rocha testified that a watch and a pair of diamond earrings
were missing.
Geragos, in questioning fragmented by repeated prosecution objections, probed
Rocha and Felix about a gold Croton watch with a diamond-rimmed face.
Rocha identified a watch matching that description in a photo taken from the
eBay online auction service as one of the watches her niece inherited. But
Rocha couldn't identify it as a Croton.
Geragos questioned Felix about a purchase ticket from The Pawn Shop in Modesto
for a Croton watch. Geragos said the ticket was dated Dec. 31, 2002, six days
after Laci Peterson disappeared.
Felix, who is not affiliated with that store, noted that state law requires
people selling jewelry to a pawn shop to provide government-issued
identification and a thumb print.
Thursday afternoon, Sam Newnam, owner of The Pawn Shop, declined to disclose
whether his shop had bought such a watch on Dec. 31, 2002, or who would have
sold it, citing federal privacy laws.
Investigator denied records
A private investigator who said he worked for Scott Peterson's defense team
had come to the shop seeking records within the past six months but was
declined for the same reason, Newnam said.
All purchase records are turned over weekly to the Modesto police, he said.
Neither side in the Peterson case has subpoenaed Newnam to testify, he said.
In court Thursday, prosecutors also sought to show that Laci Peterson --
almost eight months pregnant -- was too tired to have walked the couple's dog
the day she was reported missing.
In a Nov. 6, 2002, phone call, Laci Peterson complained of dizziness or
shortness of breath when walking, testified Dr. Tina Edraki, an obstetrician
who had examined Peterson during her pregnancy.
"My advice was to either not exercise or exercise later in the day," Edraki
said.
Under questioning by Geragos, Edraki said Peterson had called on different
days about the same issue, likely indicating she was still exercising, and that
the Petersons had expressed concerns about weight gain as late as Nov. 25,
2002.
Geragos also tried to indicate disparities in the methods used to calculate
Conner Peterson's gestational age. Geragos contends Conner was born alive, days
after Scott Peterson came under intense media scrutiny.
He pointed Thursday to a tip police investigated shortly after Laci Peterson
disappeared that she was being held in a storage container behind two homes
near Tracy.
Sgt. Timothy Helton testified Thursday that officers used a helicopter,
airplane and heat-seeking equipment in a suspected area.
But officers did not search the homes that night after being warned they
contained people on probation "known to be anti-law enforcement," according to
a portions of a police report read in court.
Bee staff writer John Coté can be reached at 578-2394 or jc...@modbee.com.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or
gsta...@modbee.com.
Bee staff writer Kristina Seward contributed to this report.
Maggie
"Nancy, if you were 8 1/2 months pregnant and I was married to you, I'd be
going fishing Christmas Eve." -- Mark Geragos, to Nancy Grace on LKL
Bradley K. Sherman
Maggie <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote:
>
> She wanted to melt the gold from her wedding ring for the new band "because
>she didn't want to hurt Scott's feelings," Felix testified. Felix estimated the
>value of the new ring at about $55,000.
>
The more this trial proceeds the more innocent Scott looks.
If the bodies had been found, say, in the Sierras, Scott
wouldn't even be on trial.
The prosecutor should have introduced
0) the mistress
1) the alibi
2) the body showing up at the site of the alibi
and rested the case getting a conviction on 2nd degree
murder. The entire case should have taken two weeks.
The longer this goes, the more chance of a mistrial, a hung
jury, or an overturn on appeal.
--bks
Michele317
>
> Inherited jewelry gets trial scrutiny
>By JOHN COTÉ and GARTH STAPLEY
>BEE STAFF WRITERS
>Last Updated: June 18, 2004, 12:08:49 PM PDT
>
> REDWOOD CITY -- Prosecutors Thursday apparently were trying to establish
>a
>financial motive for Scott Peterson to murder his pregnant wife, pointing
>to
>jewelry Laci Peterson inherited from her grandmother estimated to be worth
>more
>than $100,000.
...except that this $100, 000 is just an appraisal, and includes a ring that's
appraised at $55, 000 (man, you could get a serious rock and a half at
tiffany's, even, for that money!), and seems to include other peoples' shares.
> In the weeks before she disappeared, Laci Peterson twice sold inherited
>jewelry at a Modesto pawn shop for a total of $250, witnesses testified.
and the fact that she's selling it off for peanuts isn't going to help convince
a jury that money is a motive.
> Scott Peterson accompanied her the second time, and she seemed agitated
>when
>her husband -- in apparent affection -- tried to rub her stomach, said
Victoria
>Brooks, who owns Brooks Pawn and Jewelry with her husband.
>
> "It seemed like she did not want him to be rubbing her belly at that time,"
>Brooks said of the Dec. 14, 2002, visit. "She seemed hesitant toward him."
considering how he's always got his arm draped around someone in a picture, i
think her discomfort has more to do with the date of the sale. she had her
party, which scott bailed on to go to amber's party, and i'm sure she wasn't
feeling terribly affectionate at that time.
Maggie
***I think you are exactly right. The case is being way overtried.
Prosecutors have already brought in *multiple* witnesses from the salon Laci
went to on the 23rd, the maternity shop at which she bought the tan pants and
at her OB's office. But those pale in comparison to the redundant police and
family witnesses already heard from. As you say, it just increases the chances
of a screwup (as we've already seen happen numerous times).