Prosecution: TV Interview Reveals Peterson's Lies

R E D W O O D C I T Y, Calif., Feb. 24, 2004 -- Prosecutors in the Scott Peterson case say they can prove the man accused of killing his young pregnant wife and his unborn son is a liar. But first they've got to convince the judge to admit their evidence.

Peterson wanted to tell the world he was innocent in his 2003 interview with ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer.

Months before police found Laci's body washed up on a San Francisco Bay beach, Peterson, in the televised interview, said he had nothing to do with Laci's Christmas Eve disappearance.

Now prosecutors want to present Peterson as a liar, by using his own recorded words against him. They have filed a motion asking to admit his televised statements as evidence that he lied repeatedly.

They allege Peterson clearly broke his televised promise to preserve his unborn son's nursery.

"Can't go in there," Peterson said during the Jan. 2003 interview. "That door is closed until there is someone to put in there."

Prosecutors say Peterson not only went in the room less than a month after the interview, they said police revealed he was using it as a storage room after their search of the home in mid-February.

The prosecutors also say Peterson wasn't telling the whole truth when he admitted to his affair with Amber Frey. They said he lied when he said there had just been one mistress during his five-year marriage. A prosecutor said, in court papers filed Monday, that Peterson had another affair before Frey came along.

Richard Gabriel, President of the American Society of Trial Consultants, says Peterson's televised interview gives prosecutors an opportunity to really show the defendant to the jury if he doesn't end up taking the stand himself.

"If Scott Peterson chooses not to take the stand, this is one of the ways they can essentially show him in front of the jury — show inconsistencies or show he has not been entirely truthful in his testimony," Gabriel said.

Prosecutors in the double-murder trial won't be breaking new legal ground if they are successful in their attempt to introduce Peterson's televised interview as evidence. Prosecutors in the notorious San Francisco dog mauling trial showed a television interview with the defendants over and over again during that case.

Meanwhile, television coverage of this case remains a big concern for both the defense and the prosecution. One of the questions potential jurors will be asked is whether they saw the USA Network's made-for-TV movie, The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story.

A judge scheduled the opening stages of jury selection Monday after attorneys outlined questions they plan to ask San Mateo County residents who report for duty.

Potential jurors will be handed a questionnaire, designed to assess their views on everything from extramarital affairs to how much news they've absorbed about the case, when selection begins at the beginning of next week.

Peterson, 31, faces two counts of premeditated murder and the death penalty. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to both counts.

The questioning of jurors is in the case is expected to take weeks.

ABCNEWS' Taina Hernandez contributed to this Good Morning America report.