Could this mean they asked for a speedy trial?

MODESTO, Calif. — Scott Peterson (search) pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday morning to charges that he murdered his wife Laci and their unborn son Conner — charges that could send him to death row.

Also during the arraignment, Judge Al Girolami (search) set Peterson's trial date for Jan. 26 after Peterson exercised his right to a speedy trial. He could have had up to two months between the arraignment and the opening day of the trial.

The fast-track approach to the trial date marked a shift in the defense's strategy, but defense attorney Mark Geragos (search) said he didn't think the prosecution had enough evidence to convict his client and he was ready to present his case to a jury.

The Jan. 26 date will likely be moved back, however, because the defense is seeking a change of venue.

momof6- hope your son is doing well....didn't read about it earlier, I had missed it.

In my opinion, it is going to be difficult to find another place to hold the trial (or find a jury to bus in) where people have not heard alot about the case already. Look at the OJ Simpson case, for instance. The coverage was as widespread as this case, yet he got an impartial jury who looked at the evidence presented and not at the fact that he was already tried and convicted in the media.

From the evidence that I have seen, I believe Scott is guilty. However, if I were to sit on that jury, I would clear my mind of all previous notions and look at the evidence with a fresh eye. I believe most people are capable of doing that, and that lawyers are skilled enough to weed out those who aren't capable.

I understand Geragos must pursue this avenue to provide his client with the best defense possible, but I still believe 12 impartial people can be found in Modesto.

JMHO, of course.

DragonFly :-)

Geragos cites 'poisonous' coverage

By JOHN COTÉ AND GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITERS

Last Updated: December 16, 2003, 06:15:14 AM PST

Scott Peterson's attorney cited a "lynch mob atmosphere" and "poisonous" news coverage in a request to move Peterson's trial on double-murder charges.
"Only a change of venue can ensure that Mr. Peterson obtains the fair and impartial trial to which he is constitutionally entitled," Mark Geragos wrote in a motion filed Monday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

"The widespread, pervasive and negative nature of the media reports surrounding this case have made it impossible to seat a fair and unbiased jury in Stanislaus County," Geragos wrote in the 21-page motion backed by more than 8,000 pages of documents.

Peterson is charged with killing his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.

The motion is pivotal for a defense team trying to secure a sympathetic jury and stave off the death penalty, legal observers said.

"Basically, everything is at stake here," San Francisco Assistant District Attorney James Hammer said.

If granted, the request would almost certainly delay Peterson's trial, scheduled to start Jan. 26.

Prosecutors are scheduled to file their response Jan. 2, but one legal observer said Monday that the defense argument for jury bias appeared lacking.

Prosecutors have said they hope to keep the trial in Modesto but want to survey possible jurors to gauge potential prejudice against Peterson. Judge Al Girolami wrote in a July ruling that moving the trial is "not a desirable option" and would result in "considerable hardship for the witnesses and added expense to the public."

The defense motion cites a range of factors, including more than 8,000 articles in various newspapers, two surveys by sociologists who concluded it would be difficult or nearly impossible to seat an impartial Stanislaus County jury and what Geragos termed "political overtones" in the case.

The filing also offers anecdotal incidents:

*Someone allegedly slashed a car tire of one of Peterson's attorneys May 9 while he visited the 31-year-old fertilizer salesman in jail.

*Also in May, patrons at a Modesto restaurant allegedly accosted a Peterson attorney for "defending a murderer.'"

*A vehicle was reportedly parked outside Peterson's former warehouse last week with an anti-Peterson message painted on the windshield.

*A crowd of more than 300, many shouting and waving signs, waited for Peterson as detectives first brought him to Stanislaus County Jail in April.

*Mayor Carmen Sabatino in April said he did not believe the defendant could get a fair trial in Modesto, Geragos noted.

The defense request was widely expected. Geragos months ago suggested he would seek to move the trial, and publicly affirmed his intent at the close of Peterson's preliminary hearing last month.

Girolami raised the prospect of having jurors from another county bused to Modesto, a cost-saving option that has been used in cases experiencing local publicity.

But "grand-scale media coverage of this case has been undeniably biased against Mr. Peterson," according to Geragos' request. He wrote that potential jurors in San Joaquin, Merced, Tuolumne, Sacramento, Contra Costa and Fresno counties "are in the same media market" and have likewise been inundated with reports on the high-profile case.

Bringing in a jury would require defense approval, which Geragos wrote he would not give.

**************************cut out part of article here

Pleasanton defense attorney Harry Traback said that while the surveys showed a notable decrease in prejudgment, the media saturation in the case was of more concern.

"You'd have to have been in the hole with Saddam Hussein to not have heard about it," said Traback, who defended George Souliotes, a Modesto landlord convicted of three murders and arson in a case where jurors were bused into Stanislaus County.

"The question becomes -- is there some place with less exposure?" Traback said. "Probably not."

Wherever the trial is held, prospective jurors would be expected to assure a judge that they could disregard what they've already heard.

"It is unrealistic to expect that any individual bombarded by the frenzy of media reports in Stanislaus County would be able to do so," Geragos wrote.

"Jurors are the community," Hammer said. "They express the community. There are not supposed to give in to community pressure, but it's naive to think that they would be oblivious to the fact that all their neighbors are watching them."

Bee staff writer John Coté can be reached at 578-2394 or jcote@modbee.com.

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com.
edited to add link for entire article:
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/7904169p-8782044c.html

Todd says the burglary took place on December 26, 2002 but a nieghbor says that could not be because she saw two strange men on the 24th and with the commotion, people, media on the 26th, the burglary couldn't have taken place on 26th.

There are several issues in this article including a request for a change of venue. The link for the complete article is at the bottom of the post.
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Posted on 01/07/04 05:55:10
Inmate may be called in Peterson trial

By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

A Stanislaus County judge on Monday ordered a state prison inmate to be ready to testify in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial.

In another development, Peterson's attorney revealed in a court document filed Tuesday that his client's Covena Avenue home was "vandalized on at least two occasions."

The trial must move to another county, Los Angeles lawyer Mark Geragos wrote, because his client has been vilified and can't get a fair trial in Modesto.

"(The) depth of pretrial animosity is obvious to any breathing human being in Stanislaus County," Geragos wrote.
Continue at the link :
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/7974162p-8846388c.html

I do think Scott can get a fair trial in Modesto, because once jurors are seated, they are obligated to look at the evidence, and attorneys are skilled at "weeding out" the prejudiced potential juror.

But at the same time, it's become such a hot issue, I think if they were to go ahead and move it for "safety's sake", then the trial could move forward. Right now it's just stalled because of this issue.

Thursday, January 8, 2004 Posted: 2:19 PM EST (1919 GMT)

Scott Peterson, left, and attorney Mark Geragos in a court appearance last month.

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VIDEO
The defense argues Scott Peterson's trial should be moved from Modesto, California, because he can't receive a fair trial. CNN's Rusty Dornin reports. (January 8)

PLAY VIDEO

(CNN) -- A judge Thursday tentatively agreed to move the Scott Peterson trial outside of Peterson's hometown of Modesto after the defense argued pre-trial publicity clouded the potential jury pool.

Prosecutors are appealing the decision by Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami. After a brief recess Thursday, the prosecution began its cross-examination of jury expert Stephen Schoenthaler, the defense's expert witness.

Girolami indicated his preliminary ruling even before arguments had been presented in the change-of-venue hearing. The Modesto Bee reported that Girloami could change his mind if defense attorneys, prosecutors or expert witnesses convince him later today that a fair trial can be obtained in Modesto.

Peterson's trial is scheduled January 26, but will most likely be postponed now that there's a change in location. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Peterson, 31, is charged in the killings of his 27-year-old wife, Laci, and their unborn son. At an arraignment hearing earlier this month, Peterson denied the charges. (Full story)

Laci Peterson was last heard from last Christmas Eve 2002. She was eight months pregnant. Scott Peterson a fertilizer salesman, told police he left to go fishing that morning and she was not there when he returned late that afternoon.

In April 2003 the bodies of Laci and the couple's unborn son washed up on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, just miles from where Scott Peterson said he had been fishing. He was arrested days later in San Diego and brought back to Modesto to face murder charges.

Judge Girolami had several options: He could keep the case in Modesto; order it moved out of the county; or select a jury in another county and bus them to the Stanislaus County courthouse each day of the trial.

Geragos said surveys showed there was less bias against Peterson in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

He cited numerous examples of the hostility Scott Peterson has faced since he was arrested in April after his wife and her fetus washed ashore near where he said he was fishing the day she disappeared.

Both sides cite Manson trial
Defense attorney Mark Geragos first filed for a change of venue last month. (Full story) Earlier this week argued that the best place for his client to obtain a fair trial is in Los Angeles County.

Using the 1970 murder trial of Charles Manson as a precedent, Geragos stated that "in a case of massive publicity Los Angeles County will necessarily always be the venue of choice since the adversities of publicity are offset by a trial being conducted in a populous metropolitan area."

More than 9 million people -- one-fourth of the state's population -- reside in Los Angeles County. Stanislaus County, where the case is currently centered, has a population of 500,000.

Last week, the prosecution made their case against moving the trial location out of Stanislaus County. (Full story)

Prosecutors have cited the same People v. Manson case as a reason not to move the trial: Because Charles Manson did not receive a change of venue out of Los Angeles in spite of massive pretrial publicity, District Attorney James Brazelton argued, Scott Peterson also could receive a fair trial in the county where his crime was allegedly committed.

Manson and five of his followers were convicted in 1971 of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the brutal killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others.

In his rebuttal argument filed on Tuesday, Geragos repeated his contention that Stanislaus County is too small and the citizens too involved in the case for the defendant to obtain a fair trial.

"Potential jurors in Los Angeles County or otherwise remote from Stanislaus County are far less likely to have had such an intimate involvement with this matter," Geragos wrote.

CNN Correspondent Rusty Dornin contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/08/peterson.case/index.html

2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.

By JOHN COTÉ and GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITERS

Last Updated: January 8, 2004, 01:20:22 PM PST

Arguments are set to take place at 1:30 this afternoon in a hearing to determine whether Scott Peterson's double murder trial will moving out of Stanislaus County.
Superior Court Judge Al Girolami indicated in a preliminary ruling at the start of the hearing that he would relocate the trial. Girolami said he weighed six factors, the most prominent of which is the "massive" amount of news coverage the case has received locally.

"In my 30 years in the valley I've not seen anything like the publicity generated by this case," Girolami said. "Despite the court's best efforts, the nature and extent of the publicity has rendered Stanislaus County unable to be a fair venue."

Girolami could change his mind if prosecutors or expert witnesses convince him that a fair trial can be obtained here.

If the trial moves, a decision on where to hold it will be made later, probably within two weeks, officials have said.

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/7977582p-8849387c.html

My husband just heard Peter Jennings say that the judge did indeed issue a change of venue for Scott Peterson's trial. He said it would be impossible for Scott Peterson to get a fair trial in Modesto.

(Regarding my son, Yes, it was a worse break than we thought, in fact, they went to remove the cast on the 31st, and it had not healed as they thought it would, so into another cast he went... will check again in 3 weeks, it was VERY close to the growth plate. Another reason for my absence on the forum is that my two kids with CF have been very ill... we are hopeful we can avoid the hospital. Although all my children were immunized for the flu, three of them got it anyway, including the two with Cystic Fibrosis. Thank you so much for your concern, it means a lot to me!)