Sept. 15
CALIFORNIA:
Peterson Witness Notes Lack of Evidence
Scott Peterson's lawyer turned the tables on a prosecution criminalist,
forcing her to concede that police found little physical evidence
implicating Peterson in the murder of his pregnant wife.
Mark Geragos walked state Department of Justice criminalist Pin Kyo
through each item she was asked to test for blood, getting her to say
repeatedly that nothing was found.
Kyo acknowledged that no blood was found on a small folding knife, none on
mops and a bucket, nothing in a toolbox in Peterson's pickup truck that
police allege he used to store his dead wife's body in, no blood on two
pairs of shoes, on Peterson's boat cover or on numerous articles of
clothing.
"All negative for blood, right?" Geragos prodded.
"That is correct," Kyo said.
Kyo testified she examined the clothing taken from Laci Peterson's remains
-- including a bra, panties and a pair of maternity pants -- and found no
blood and no tears to indicate a struggle.
Prosecutors are trying to prove that Peterson killed his pregnant wife on
or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her weighted body into San Francisco
Bay.
The bodies of Laci Peterson and her fetus washed up in April 2003 not far
from the Berkeley Marina, where Scott Peterson says he launched his boat
that Christmas Eve morning for a solo fishing trip.
Jurors were next set to hear the grim details of medical examinations of
the remains of Laci Peterson and the fetus. Testimony about the autopsies
was expected to begin Wednesday.
Kyo also answered a series of questions about what she called a "tangled
mass of fibers and tissues" on a strand of duct tape on Laci's body.
A separate section of duct tape and a large, tarp-like piece of plastic
were found near Laci's remains, and the prosecution maintains that this
other tape and tarp were unrelated to the murders. The defense has implied
that they may have had some connection.
Kyo said the duct tape found on Laci's remains did not match duct tape
discovered along the rocky bay shoreline near where her body washed
ashore, and that she found no tissue or blood on the tarp. She also
"didn't smell any rotting tissue," she said.
Kyo said she also tested twine-like material taken from around Laci
Peterson's dead fetus' neck. Showing a picture of the twine to jurors,
prosecutor Dave Harris asked her about what appeared to be a small loop
tied off with a knot.
"The way it's tied is very loosely," Kyo said, supporting the
prosecution's position that the dead fetus became entangled in the twine
after it was expelled from Laci's decaying body. On cross-examination, Kyo
acknowledged that one knot did appear to be tightly tied.
Defense lawyers claim someone else abducted and killed Laci, and that the
child was born alive and murdered later. They have said that the twine was
intentionally tied around the baby's neck.
Kyo also acknowledged she found nothing incriminating in the contents of
the Petersons' vacuum cleaner, and she seemed puzzled when Geragos prodded
her about concrete "chunks" found in Peterson's boat cover.
"Now this is what was called the chunks of concrete, is that correct?"
Geragos asked, holding out in his hand the tiny pieces flecked on paper.
"That is correct," Kyo said.
In a display of courtroom theatrics, Geragos then pulled out a small
bucket-sized cement anchor Peterson claims he made for his boat.
"Now, that's a chunk of concrete," Geragos said, before asking her whether
the tiny flecks of cement appeared similar to the anchor.
Kyo could not say.
(source: Associated Press)
