July 15
CALIFORNIA:
Killer to act as own attorney -- He can forgo putting on a defense, refuse
to call witnesses now
Convicted murderer Seti Scanlan won the right to serve as his own attorney
Tuesday, significantly improving the chance that he will get his wish to
die for the killing of a Burlingame bank manager.
Scanlan, 26, had pleaded guilty and sought the death penalty for the
murder of 34-year-old Alice Martel, who was shot to death in October 2002
during a robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank branch where she worked. A jury
weighing Scanlan's punishment deadlocked last month on whether to sentence
him to death or life in prison without parole.
Scanlan had asked during jury selection to be his own attorney, but Judge
Robert Foiles of San Mateo County Superior Court refused, in part, because
the trial was already under way. On Tuesday, with Scanlan's retrial not
set to start until September, Foiles approved his request after warning
him of the perils of trying to be a lawyer with no legal training.
"You understand that if you represent yourself, the chances of getting the
death penalty skyrocket?" Foiles asked Scanlan.
"Yes, your honor," the manacled defendant replied.
Scanlan now will have the right to forgo putting on a defense and refuse
to call witnesses. He signaled his intention Tuesday to waive a jury trial
and instead have Foiles pick a sentence based on transcripts from the
first penalty phase. Foiles will rule Thursday on that request.
Prosecutor Steve Wagstaffe expressed relief that a 2nd jury trial now
appeared unlikely. "I'm very pleased we will not have to put everyone
through this again," he said. "It's very hard and traumatic."
Martel's widower, 46-year-old David Martel, sat through much of the 1st
trial and said he hadn't been looking forward to going through it again
either.
"I appreciate and respect what's he's doing," Martel said of Scanlan.
"He's sparing a lot of families and the public a lot of anguish that we've
already been through once. Apparently, Mr. Scanlan has a stronger backbone
than some jurors in San Mateo County."
Cliff Cretan, the court-appointed attorney who defended Scanlan during the
first sentencing trial, will serve as standby counsel and must be prepared
to step in if Scanlan acts disruptively in court.
Cretan said while Scanlan clearly desired to serve as his own attorney, he
still questioned the move.
"He's competent, but I think what he's doing is unwise," Cretan said. "I
think this kind of thing should be submitted to a full jury."
Scanlan testified during the 1st sentencing trial that the death penalty
was just punishment for the destruction he had caused.
In addition to killing Martel, Scanlan shot 3 other people during a
three-month string of robberies perpetrated almost entirely on the
Peninsula. Four alleged accomplices await a separate trial.
"I can never fix what I've destroyed, so it's time to be destroyed,"
Scanlan said in court during the 1st trial.
If Scanlan is ultimately sentenced to death, his case will end up before
the state Supreme Court, which automatically reviews all death penalty
cases. In that event, the Supreme Court would appoint an attorney for
Scanlan.
>From the beginning, Scanlan's case has been unlike any other in San Mateo
County history. From Scanlan's pleading guilty without a deal for
leniency, to his professed death wish, to an incident in his 1st trial
when bailiffs tackled him after he tried to hug his girlfriend in court as
she walked from the witness stand, attorneys on both sides said this one
was different.
"The county has never had a case like this, ever," Wagstaffe said. "This
is just another step in the rather unique course this case has taken."
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
**********************
Lawyers in Peterson murder trial argue over previous testimony by
detective
Lawyers in Scott Peterson's murder trial Wednesday argued over previous
testimony that defense attorneys said shows a detective lied on the stand.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi had planned to discuss a motion on that issue and
other matters behind closed doors, but appeals from media lawyers resulted
in a public debate.
In the process, Delucchi revealed in court -- without the jury present --
two topics at issue: whether a detective fabricated parts of his testimony
and the admissibility of television interviews Peterson took part in
before his arrest.
The judge deferred a decision, instead scheduling a future hearing to
discuss whether lawyers could argue their positions publicly without
revealing sensitive information. He has been inclined to discuss such
motions out of the public eye.
Delucchi said one motion concerned a tip that police received saying that
Peterson allegedly once commented that he would dispose of a body by
sinking it to the ocean floor.
Last month, Modesto police detective Allen Brocchini testified he received
the tip from a man who claimed Peterson made the comment in 1995. The tip
was received the day after Peterson was arrested, and several days after
Laci Peterson's body surfaced.
The detective said he didn't consider the tip credible and didn't follow
up on it as police got closer to arresting Peterson.
He also said the tipster alleged Peterson would "tie a bag around the neck
with duct tape" -- a potentially damaging assertion because police said
duct tape was found on Laci Peterson's badly decomposed torso.
But a source who has heard a tape of Brocchini's phone interview with the
tipster told The Associated Press the man never mentioned anything about
duct tape, implying Brocchini made it up on the stand or misspoke.
On Wednesday in court, defense lawyer Mark Geragos called Brocchini's
testimony an "intentional and willful violation."
Prosecutors allege Peterson murdered his pregnant wife in their Modesto
home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped the weighted-down body in San
Francisco Bay.
Police arrested Peterson after the remains of Laci Peterson and the
couple's fetus washed up in April 2003 near where he claims to have gone
fishing alone on the bay that Christmas Eve morning.
Defense lawyers have theorized Peterson was framed by someone who knew his
widely reported alibi.
Jurors were expected to return Wednesday afternoon for testimony from a
detective who gathered forensic evidence that authorities contend links
Peterson to the murder.
(source: Associated Press)
*****************
White powder, brown stains, strand of hair ----All were found in
defendant's boat and pickup truck
White powder, brown stains and a single strand of dark hair -- are they
physical evidence that links Scott Peterson to the murder of his wife and
unborn child?
Or are they 3 items that are unrelated to this case?
After a day's testimony by a Modesto police investigator, who oversaw an
exhaustive two-day search of Peterson's house and place of business Dec.
26 and Dec. 27, 2002, it's still unclear.
Detective Henry Dodge Hendee is one of several prosecution witnesses who
has described in great and tedious detail about the evidence that was
collected following Laci Peterson's Dec. 24, 2002, disappearance. The
prosecution's case against the 31-year-old fertilizer salesman is now in
its seventh week, and Deputy District Attorneys Dave Harris and Rick
Distaso have begun focusing on their forensic findings.
Hendee said investigators had discovered four to five residue rings and a
powdery substance on the defendant's boat trailer. Prosecutors maintain
that the rings were left behind by homemade cement anchors -- possibly
used to weigh down Laci Peterson's body on the floor of San Francisco Bay.
An investigator photographed the rings, which prosecutors flashed on a big
screen in the courtroom Tuesday. Hendee told the jurors that the rings
weren't as easy to see in the pictures as they were in person.
Police also found cement residue in the bed of Peterson's pickup and a
large spill of cement mix on his warehouse floor, estimated to be about 4
feet by 6 feet.
Two large tubs, a pair of Nike tennis shoes and a shop vacuum found in the
warehouse where Peterson kept the boat prosecutors believe he used to dump
the body and a claw hammer found in the back of Peterson's truck also
appeared to have cement residue on them, Hendee testified.
He said he had collected samples of the white powder and sent it to a
criminal laboratory for testing to determine whether any of it could have
been used to make concrete blocks. The results of those tests, however,
were not disclosed in court Tuesday.
During his opening statement, Distaso said authorities found it suspicious
during their search that there was only one 10-pound concrete anchor in
Peterson's 14-foot aluminum fishing boat in the days after his wife's
disappearance. Distaso said it wouldn't have been enough weight to keep
Peterson's boat securely anchored in the water if he was fishing as he
said he was the day Laci Peterson disappeared. Furthermore, the prosecutor
pointed out that Peterson had recently purchased and used up an 80-pound
bag of cement.
In addition to submitting the items covered with powder to the lab,
investigators took samples of several stains they found in Peterson's
pickup. Hendee said the brownish marks were on the driver's side door, the
steering wheel and on a tool box. He said some of the stains tested
positive for blood, but he did not elaborate on which ones. He did not say
whether the blood was that of Scott or Laci Peterson's.
Scott Peterson told several people, including reporters who interviewed
him in the weeks after his eight-months pregnant wife disappeared, that he
had cut himself on the truck's tool box Dec. 24, 2002. And earlier in the
trial, a close friend of Laci Peterson's mother testified that Scott
Peterson had told her he would not be surprised if police found blood in
his truck because he frequently cut himself.
Hendee also talked about a single strand of dark hair that was found in a
pair of needle-nose pliers. The tool containing the hair was found in
Peterson's boat at his warehouse. Tests of the hair found that the strand
could have come from Laci Peterson, according to the prosecution.
In another twist, Hendee said the hair was sealed in an envelope as
evidence, but when investigators went to retrieve the envelope 2 months
later, in February 2003, they found it contained two strands. He offered
no explanation.
Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos, says he has a reasonable explanation
for how the single strand hair got tangled in the pliers. He says a
witness saw Laci Peterson on the warehouse grounds in the days before she
disappeared. Furthermore, the defense attorney says, it's fairly common
for a wife's hair to be found in her husband's stuff.
But prosecutors allege Peterson took his dead wife to his warehouse to get
his boat so that he could dump her body in the bay. The bodies of Laci
Peterson and the couple's unborn son washed up in April 2003 on the
Richmond shoreline, less than 2 miles from where Peterson told police he
had been fishing the day he reported his wife missing.
Peterson's defense team is expected today to fight for either a mistrial
or to have the case dismissed with prejudice, which would be akin to an
acquittal. The attorneys say prosecutors have ignored the rules of the
court and have repeatedly failed to turn over discovery in the case.
Arguments on the motions are scheduled to be held in secret. Northern
California media groups, including The Chronicle, are fighting to keep
them open.
(source: San Francisco Chronicle)
************************
Judge May Dismiss Peterson Murder Charge
A judge will decide whether to dismiss murder charges against Scott
Peterson after the former fertilizer salesman's attorney alleged a
prosecution witness lied on the stand.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi on Wednesday set a July 29 date to hear arguments
from defense attorneys seeking to have the case dismissed. Delucchi has
already rejected two mistrial requests from defense lawyer Mark Geragos
during the trial's 7 weeks.
At issue is testimony from Modesto police Detective Allen Brocchini who
defense lawyers assert misstated key details under questioning.
Brocchini testified last month about a tip he received several days after
the remains of Laci Peterson and the couple's fetus washed onto a San
Francisco Bay shore.
The tipster alleged that, in 1995, Scott Peterson said he would dispose of
a body by sinking it in the ocean. Brocchini testified he didn't consider
the information credible and shelved it.
He also said the tipster alleged Peterson would "tie a bag around the neck
with duct tape" - a potentially damaging assertion because police said
duct tape was found on Laci Peterson's badly decomposed torso.
A source who has heard a tape of Brocchini's interview with the tipster
told The Associated Press that the man never mentioned duct tape, implying
Brocchini lied on the stand.
Prosecutors allege Peterson murdered his wife in their Modesto home on or
around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her weighted-down body in the bay.
Police arrested Peterson after the remains were found in April 2003 near
where he claims to have gone fishing alone that Christmas Eve morning.
Legal experts said a mistrial or dismissal is highly unlikely. But Geragos
could benefit if allowed to grill Brocchini about his controversial
testimony in this case, as well as a prior instance of on-the-stand
misconduct.
All along, Geragos has claimed authorities were determined to get a
high-profile conviction at any cost.
On Wednesday, out of the presence of jurors, Geragos called Brocchini's
testimony an "intentional and willful violation." He has argued that
Peterson was framed by someone who knew his widely reported alibi.
Geragos wants to discredit Brocchini even more by trotting out a 1998 home
invasion robbery case in Modesto which Brocchini investigated.
Brocchini's testimony caused a mistrial after a Stanislaus County judge
ruled his comments might have prejudiced the jury, according to court
documents. Despite the judge's admonitions, Brocchini told jurors he
wanted to talk with one defendant about another robbery in which "he may
or may not have been involved."
A defense attorney alleged Brocchini intentionally disregarded the judge's
directive because prosecutors "felt the case slipping away," a state
appeals court said. The court found Brocchini's conduct to be "improper"
but didn't conclude he intentionally tried to "trigger a mistrial."
In another motion, Geragos asked the judge to bar prosecutors from showing
television interviews Peterson submitted to before his wife's body
surfaced.
During the interviews, Peterson lies about what he told police regarding
his affair with a massage therapist - his alleged motive for murder.
Peterson, 31, could face the death penalty if convicted.
(source: Associated Press)
