Defense Stresses Peterson's Denials
R E D W O O D C I T Y -- Scott Peterson never admitted to his former mistress that he was involved in his pregnant wife's disappearance, and in fact vehemently denies it even as she prods him for answers, according to testimony Tuesday at Peterson's double-murder trial.
For the second day, defense lawyers cross-examined Amber Frey after jurors heard five days of taped telephone calls between Frey and Peterson. In the calls, the former fertilizer salesman romanced Frey while denying his involvement in the disappearance of his pregnant wife, Laci, insistently proclaiming his love for the missing woman.
Defense lawyer Mark Geragos implied Peterson's evasive answers on many of the taped telephone calls came at the advice of his attorney.
Geragos played one of the telephone calls: "He said, 'You should not be talking to her,'" Peterson can be heard saying to Frey, speaking of his lawyer's advice. "And he said, 'They are going to try to make a case against you.'"
Geragos then indicated police in fact stopped the taped calls between Frey and Peterson because the conversations had not proved his guilt. "They didn't get anything incriminating on him," Geragos said.
"Did he ever physically hurt you?" Geragos asked Frey.
"No," she said.
"He never told you that he loved you, right?" Geragos prodded.
"Not in those words," Frey replied.
Prosecutors claim it was Peterson's love for Amber that drove him to murder his pregnant wife, but defense lawyers are portraying Frey as a calculated seductress and liar who was more obsessed with Peterson than he was with her.
Geragos played for jurors another taped call.
"I assume ... possibly that she's missing because you love me, right?" Frey could be heard saying.
"Amber, she's missing because someone abducted her," Peterson replies.
Frey's testimony was expected to conclude Tuesday.
Last week, jurors heard 40 wiretapped calls between Frey and Peterson during which he is apologetic for lying to her about being married but evasive in his answers about his wife's disappearance and the couple's relationship. He continued to romance Frey even as police searched for his missing wife.
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