Sept. 24 CALIFORNIA: Peterson shed a tear when notified Laci, fetus were found Scott Peterson lowered his head and shed a tear when told the remains of his missing wife, Laci, and the fetus she carried had been found along San Francisco Bay, a detective testified Thursday. Detective Craig Grogan, who led the investigation for the Modesto Police Department, recounted for jurors the events that led to Peterson's arrest on April 18, 2003, the same day the bodies were identified through DNA testing. Grogan said the decision was made to arrest Peterson before the test results were known because media coverage of the case was intensifying and he feared Peterson might try to flee once news of the identities got out. Peterson was found at a San Diego golf course. "I told him that he was under arrest for murder," Grogan said, noting Peterson wasn't wearing his wedding ring. The arrest came shortly before Grogan received a call saying the bodies were those of Laci and the fetus. The detective relayed the test results to Peterson immediately. "He and I were seated beside each other in the back of the car. ... I gave him that information. ... He removed his sunglasses. I saw that he had lowered his head, a tear came out of his right eye, then he wiped the left side of his face," Grogan said. Earlier, Grogan testified that police followed several leads before arresting Peterson, including the possibility of a serial killer. Grogan said Peterson's mistress, Amber Frey, and even Laci's family members had been considered suspects. Prosecutors allege it was Peterson's affair with Frey that drove him to kill his wife. Defense lawyers have accused police of focusing too quickly on Peterson to the detriment of other possible leads. Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his Laci, who was eight months pregnant, on or around December 24, 2002, in their Modesto home, then dumped her weighted body into the bay. Her remains -- and that of the fetus -- washed up in April 2003, not far from where Peterson launched his boat on Christmas Eve for what he claims was a solo fishing trip. Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, maintains someone else abducted and killed Laci. On cross-examination, Geragos pointed out that Peterson was cooperative and truthful with police on the first night of the investigation. Geragos then sought to show that police honed in too quickly on his client, noting one officer told a witness on that first night that he "already knew what happened." Police have testified previously that a roll of chicken wire found in Peterson's truck made them suspicious, although it has never been linked to the crime. Geragos noted that Peterson told the officers it was to be used to fence off some trees in his back yard because the couple's cat had been scratching the bark. Grogan confirmed that not only were there scratch marks on some trees, but he saw a cat clawing a tree during one search of the Petersons' home. Later Thursday, Geragos provided an explanation for why Peterson visited the Bay Area several times while police were searching for the bodies there: He was looking for a witness who had seen him put his boat in the water Christmas Eve. Geragos said Peterson had even hired a private investigator to help find the person. The defense lawyer also tried to counter prosecution claims that Peterson lied to some people about his alibi. Geragos said Peterson left his wife a telephone message hours before he arrived home, telling her he was just leaving the bay marina -- a point intended to show Peterson never meant to conceal anything about where he had been that day. (source: Associated Press) **************************** Jury hears closing arguments in death-penalty trial -- Defense maintains neighbor killed girl A jury was presented conflicting versions yesterday of who killed a 14-year-old Chula Vista girl 18 years ago, with prosecutors saying the defendant is the murderer and the defense targeting a neighbor. Prosecutor Jeff Dusek said in closing arguments during the death-penalty trial that George Williams Jr. kidnapped, raped and strangled Rickieann Blake after 11 p.m. April 11, 1986. Dusek said a combination of DNA evidence, a pattern of other sex crimes and the defendant's own words to police proved "way beyond a reasonable doubt" that Williams is the killer. Pointing to Williams, Dusek said, "It comes back to that man - only that man." Defense lawyer Jeff Reichert said in his closing arguments that trial testimony and other evidence proved that a former neighbor of the Blake family, George Cardenas, is the killer. Reichert said a match of DNA from Williams and genetic material found on Rickieann's body showed only that Williams had sex with the girl. The lawyer said the sex was consensual and happened 2 or more days before Rickieann was killed. "He is innocent. Don't convict him," Reichert said. The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Monday. Williams, 49, was convicted of molesting his 6-year-old daughter in 1984 and raping a San Diego woman and her 6-year-old daughter at knifepoint a week after Rickieann was killed in 1986. He also was convicted of molesting his 13-year-old nephew in 1998. He was on parole for an Indiana rape when he was arrested in connection with Rickieann's slaying in February 2003. He could face the death penalty in a second phase of the trial if convicted of murdering her. Rickieann disappeared from her Oleander Avenue home sometime after 11 p.m. April 10, 1986. Her parents awoke about 5 a.m. April 11 and found her gone, the front door open, the television and living-room lights on, and Rickieann's shoes and handbag left behind. A passing motorist found the girl's body around 10 that night on the Main Street off-ramp of Interstate 5 in San Diego's Barrio Logan neighborhood. Dusek said Williams' past crimes showed a pattern of violent sex and sex with children that was repeated with Rickieann. The prosecutor said any notion that Williams had consensual sex with the girl was dispelled by Williams' own words when he told police in a February 2003 tape-recorded interview played for the jury that he didn't know Rickieann, had never seen her before and had never had sex with her. "That was his defense, and it stinks and it's wrong and it's a lie," Dusek said. "We know it's wrong because the DNA tells us it was wrong." Dusek said the idea that Williams had consensual sex with the girl "just doesn't make sense" because she hadn't told any of her friends about it. He said defense lawyers tried to pin the crime on Cardenas as a secondary defense when Williams' initial comments to police proved false. Cardenas, 40, lived a few houses away from Rickieann's family in 1986. His sister was best friends with Rickieann, he was friends with Rickieann's older brother and he was a frequent visitor to the Blake home. "We have no motive for him to kill Rickieann Blake, his sister's best friend," Dusek said. Cardenas, who also went by the last name of his stepfather, Jim Bell, testified he felt protective toward Rickieann and looked at her as a younger sister. But several witnesses, including Cardenas' wife and Rickieann's sister, testified that Cardenas over the years repeatedly broke into tears and made suspicious comments concerning details of the slaying. "He brought it up constantly. It was his conscience gnawing on him," Reichert said. Cardenas also testified that he used methamphetamine and alcohol to the point that he sometimes couldn't remember how he got home. Reichert said witnesses also testified that Cardenas could get violent when drunk. Cardenas said he was posing theories of how the crime could have happened, not admitting guilt, when he discussed the crime with others. He testified he had nothing to do with the slaying. (source: San Diego Union-Tribune) ILLINOIS: Hanover Park man's death penalty hearing delayed A Cook County Circuit Court judge postponed the sentencing of a 22-year-old Hanover Park man facing the death penalty for killing a 69-year-old Palatine grandmother. Judge Thomas Fecarotta Jr. continued Francisco Carrion's posttrial hearing until Nov. 12, allowing his defense attorney enough time to gather character witnesses from Mexico City. In June, Fecarotta found Carrion guilty of first-degree murder and residential burglary in the July 2001 murder of 69-year-old Maryanne Zymali. In addition, Carrion, 22, was scheduled for a death penalty hearing on Aug. 19, but it was postponed when Fecarotta, the presiding judge, fell ill. Zymali's family members said they requested the Friday date because Betty Nozicka, Zymali's sister-in-law, didn't want to have to work the day after she gave her statements to the court. "I don't want to have to go to work the day after I give my victims' impact statement. It's so emotionally draining," Nozicka said. Defense attorney Dan Nolan said he also needed the extension, just in case Carrion is found eligible for the death penalty. Nolan is hoping to fly in Carrion's sister and stepfather from Mexico to testify in his favor. (source: Daily Herald) USA: Death to death penalty Few issues better exemplify the contrasting fundamental flaws of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry -- a failure to grasp nuance in Bush's case and a penchant for unprincipled flip-flopping in Kerry's -- better than the death penalty. During Bush's term as governor of Texas, more than 150 convicts were sent to their deaths, and his support for the liberal application of the death penalty has not wavered as president. Kerry previously opposed the death penalty in all cases, but in the last few years switched to supporting the death penalty for terrorists. Such a shift seems merely designed to inoculate Kerry from the political damage of opposing the death penalty for the likes of Osama bin Laden, given that each of the arguments against the death penalty -- that it fails to deter crime, wastes money, falsely assumes the infallibility of the justice system and targets individuals on the basis of race and class -- apply equally to terrorists and other criminals. And for each of these reasons, the death penalty should be eliminated throughout the United States, at both the state and federal level. The most common argument in favor of the death penalty is that it deters crime. Yet this claim is neither empirically evident nor intuitively plausible. To say the death penalty deters crime implies that when potential murderers are deciding whether to kill, they engage in a rational calculation of the costs and benefits of their actions. In fact, if prospective killers were truly rational actors, murder would cease to occur; never are the benefits of murdering someone worth the costs. Nonetheless, supporters of the death penalty continue to believe that there is a group of people in the world thinking, "I would murder someone if I was only going to get life in prison, but since I could get death, I'm not going to do it." Given the absurdity of such a thought, it is no wonder that places with the death penalty do not have lower murder rates than those without it. Another popular defense of the death penalty is that it saves money compared to incarcerating a convict for life. This claim possesses the dual infamy of being morally repugnant and factually inaccurate. As Richard C. Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center said last year, in every study, the death penalty is a "net expense to the state and the taxpayers." The reason is simple: Death penalty cases demand atypically prolonged, expensive litigation, while still requiring the government to pay for years of imprisonment. Of course, supporters might say the financial costs of the death penalty only point to the need for fewer appeals and expedited executions. Yet given the dozens of death row inmates that have later been proven to be innocent in recent years, curtailing the appeals process would be wholly unacceptable. Fundamentally, even if one accepts the death penalty as a just punishment for murderers -- a dubious proposition given that it accomplishes little other than devaluing human life -- it requires a standard of proof beyond the capacity of human beings. Once someone is put to death, their sentence cannot be reversed. Given the severity and finality of the punishment, even the slightest doubt is unacceptable. The standard of proof must be absolute certainty. Yet even the most compelling forms of evidence -- confessions, eyewitness testimony and DNA evidence -- have flaws and have led to false convictions. Neither individual jurors, nor the legal system as a whole, can ever be so perfect as to justify a sentence of death. Furthermore, the death penalty is particularly abhorrent in the specific circumstances of the United States today. The likelihood of death sentences depends largely on the race and class of the perpetrator and victim, meaning that rather than punish the worst criminals, the death penalty merely perpetuates age-old discrimination. Of course, Bush and Kerry spend little time talking about the death penalty on the campaign trail.But who can blame them? Given that the Vietnam War ended a mere 30 years ago, there are certainly more important issues to discuss than life and death. (source: Editorial, The Cavalier Daily) MISSOURI: Prison inmate murder a death-penalty case Cole County prosecutors will seek death for a state prisoner accused of killing another inmate last year. Shannon Phillips, 36, was arraigned yesterday by video on a charge of 1st-degree murder. Cole County Prosecutor Bill Tackett said Phillips, who is being held in Potosi Correctional Center, and fellow inmate Chris Sims are accused of killing inmate Toby Viles last Oct. 23 in the icehouse at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. Prison officials found Phillips and Sims 4 days after the murder as the two inmates hid in a stairwell near where Viles body was found. Investigators found food, clothes and a pair of pants and a pickax that were covered in blood inside a cubbyhole in the wall. According to a probable cause statement by state prison investigator Mitchell Volkart, Phillips admitted planning the murder but accused Sims of bludgeoning Viles with the pickax during their escape attempt. Phillips also told investigators theyd planned the murder for several months and practiced swinging various weapons just a few days before the killing, Volkart said. Tackett said Sims, who already is serving a life sentence in another murder, has not been charged in this case. (source: Columbia Daily Tribune)
