PETERSON BOAT COMING BACK: COUNTY MUST STORE EVIDENCE FOR YEARS OF APPEAL PROCESS
Garth Stapley
The Modesto Bee – California – KRTBN
Published: Feb 07, 2007
Scott Peterson’s fishing boat soon should be moved to Modesto from
where his double-murder trial took place in San Mateo County.
But don’t expect media cameras to capture the moment.
"For security reasons, we are not releasing any dates that may be
involved in that transfer," said John Goold, Stanislaus County chief
deputy district attorney.
Camera crews scrambled for images of the boat when it was used as
evidence in Peterson’s blockbuster trial, which took place throughout
much of 2004.
Proceedings were in Redwood City because of pervasive publicity in
and around Modesto.
Authorities said the fertilizer salesman dumped his pregnant wife’s
body into San Francisco Bay from the 14-foot Gamefisher just before
Christmas 2002. The remains of mother and son were recovered near
Peterson’s boating route four months later, and he arrived on death
row in March 2005.
Prosecutors must store the boat during Peterson’s appeals, Stanislaus
County Superior Court Judge Marie Silveira ruled in December. Death
sentence appeals typically require a couple of decades or longer.
Prosecutors initially objected to the move, not so much because
storing a boat and trailer poses a hassle. They were worried that
the judge had granted San Mateo County’s request to unload the boat
without giving Peterson’s defense team a chance to weigh in.
Silveira recently reaffirmed the decision that it will return to
Stanislaus County.
"We are now satisfied that the courts have complied with the notice
requirements of the law regarding transferring this evidence,"
Goold said.
"Our goal from the outset was to protect the record of the conviction,
and we believe that has been done."
The law sometimes allows photographs of evidence for use in
appeals. But Los Angeles defense attorney Mark Geragos previously
objected to that method.
On national television Saturday, Geragos said he is certain his client
eventually will prevail.
"I don’t have any doubt that the verdict in that case will be reversed
on a number of grounds," Geragos said on CNN’s "Larry King Live."
Geragos did not elaborate. He appeared on the cable talk show to
discuss a new book exploring aspects of justice for which Geragos
had written an essay about the Armenian genocide in Turkey.
Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or
[email protected].