Peterson Defense Faces Emotional Hurdle
Oct. 11, 2004 — -- Defense attorney Mark Geragos' greatest hurdle to winning an acquittal for Scott Peterson in the slayings of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son may be Peterson himself.
The first defense witnesses for Peterson are scheduled to take the stand Tuesday. Prosecutors rested their case in the double murder trial last week after presenting 174 witnesses over a four-month period. Peterson faces the death penalty if convicted.
Geragos' case is not expected to be as long as the prosecution's. Sources told ABC News that the defense attorney expected to finish his case within two or three weeks and that he will focus on the themes he outlined during cross-examination of prosecution witnesses. Prosecutors have suggested that Peterson killed Laci because he was tired of his marriage, feeling pressure from her pregnancy and wanted to continue his affair with Amber Frey.
The defense has not denied the affair but Geragos has argued that someone else killed Laci, and investigators failed to follow other leads in her disappearance and slaying.
Geragos also enabled jurors to learn from his cross-examination of the lead investigator in the case, Detective Craig Grogan, that Peterson had other affairs while married to Laci. These factors, the defense could argue, show that Peterson would not have killed Laci because of a desire to continue an affair. But these revelations could also enhance jurors' dislike of Peterson and make it more difficult for Geragos to persuade the jury to focus on the lack of physical evidence.
"He [Geragos] may say something like, 'It's OK that you don't like my client. That's fine. But at the end of the day, can you honestly leave here and say the evidence shows he murdered his pregnant wife?'" said California defense attorney Steve Cron. "I guarantee you that will at least be the theme of the closing argument."
Prosecutors' case against Peterson is based on largely circumstantial evidence. They have very little physical evidence — or no physical evidence, according to the defense — linking Peterson to the killings. Early in the trial, Geragos seemed to put the prosecution on the defensive — and perhaps gave a preview of his defense — by using the state's witnesses to exploit weaknesses in the case.
Prosecutors had theorized that two hair fragments taken from pliers on Peterson's boat belonged to Laci and were the only physical evidence connecting Peterson to the slaying. Peterson said he had gone fishing alone Dec. 24, 2002, the day his wife disappeared, but investigators believed that he killed Laci and used the boat to dump her body in San Francisco Bay. Her remains — and those of her fetus — washed ashore separately in April 2003, near the area where Peterson told investigators he had fished.
