June 7
CALIFORNIA:
Testimony Resumes in Peterson Trial
Testimony was set to resume Monday in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial
with his dead wife's half-sister returning to the witness stand.
Amy Rocha testified last week about the frantic scene at the Petersons'
home on the day Laci Peterson was reported missing. Friends and family
scoured the neighborhood for clues as to what happened to the woman who
was eight months pregnant, Rocha said.
The sad truth would come out months later, when Laci Peterson's body and
that of her fetus washed ashore along San Francisco Bay.
Prosecutors claim Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home on or
around Christmas Eve morning 2002 because he was having an affair, then
drove her body to the bay and dumped it from his small boat.
Lawyers for Peterson, who says he was fishing on the bay that day,
speculate that someone else abducted his wife and then framed him after
learning his alibi.
The remains of Laci Peterson and her fetus were badly decomposed when they
washed ashore in April 2003 -- not far from where Peterson claims to have
been fishing. Authorities could not pinpoint exactly how or when they were
killed.
Peterson, 31, could face the death penalty or life without parole if
convicted. The trial is expected to last up to 6 months.
During Rocha's testimony last week, she said that her half-sister had not
been feeling well and often became sick when she walked.
Peterson told police that his wife was preparing to walk their dog when he
left for his fishing trip, but prosecutors have said that is a lie. They
say Laci Peterson had stopped walking her dog weeks earlier at her
doctor's request.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos tried to portray authorities as incompetent,
pointing out that they failed to retrieve surveillance tapes of Laci and
Scott Peterson at a hair salon the night she disappeared. By the time
police sought the tapes, workers at the store had taped over the content.
(source: Associated Press)
