Lawsuit Dropped Against Convicted Killer Scott Peterson

San Quentin, CA—Death row inmate, Scott Peterson got bad news today. His dead wife’s parents Sharon and Dennis Rocha dropped their lawsuit against him.

Normally for a defendant that would be a good thing. But in this case Scott Peterson could use the litigation to bring to light new evidence needed to destroy the conviction that got him condemned to die. Peterson was free to examine witnesses, test, re-test and review all the additional evidence he wanted as long as the civil case was ongoing.

I predicted that this lawsuit could do just that on this blog when it was filed long ago.

Peterson’s conviction was a result of disgraceful excuse or a trial. Not a shred of evidence was presented as to how Laci Peterson and her unborn child died. Peterson was a world class cad, womanizer and jerk. There was never a case or murder without the corpus delecti.

I was hoping the greed of the Rochas was going to be their undoing but they finally figured out Peterson would greatly benefit from the lawsuit and dismissed it.

I suspect that the last entries in the civil court file are clues that would tell us just what Scott Peterson’s lawyer was uncovering that led to the Rochas backing out of the civil action.

Now, Peterson will have to wait for his appeal to slowly grind through the system and rely on other tools to force disclosure of new evidence.

Scott Peterson Will Be Leaving California’s Death Row!

Modesto, CA--Scott Peterson stands alone as a convicted and condemned killer where no evidence of murder ever existed. Peterson’s pregnant wife Laci died for sure, but it’s still unknown what caused the woman's death.

I believe Scott Peterson was convicted because of the efforts by those Court TV harpies, led by that lynch’em, lightening rod, Nancy Grace.

It was a trial by hate that convicted a cheat, liar and womanizer of murder sans a simple cause of death. The jury had to assume that Laci Peterson was murdered, and then leap to convicting Scott Peterson of capital murder.

Laci Peterson’s parents have filed a wrongful death civil case against Scott Peterson. That’s far more complicated than it sounds. If Peterson chooses to testify in the civil case he must be removed from Death Row of the San Quentin State Prison to a Modesto, CA jail cell for the civil proceedings.

This is where the fun begins. Scott Peterson has nothing to lose and everything to gain by standing trial in a civil court. This is the kind of thing defense lawyers live for. This lawsuit is more than a gift, it’s a way to reopen the entire case, re-examine witnesses and re-test the physical evidence all over again.

The court is going to hear a plethora of inconsistent testimony by government witnesses. With fresh subpoena power, defense lawyers and investigators can find what they missed or mistakenly felt would not be helpful the first time around.

The civil jury will hear about shoddy police work, evidence tampering and the unbridled greed of Laci Peterson’s divorced parents.

Peterson’s former girlfriend, massage parlor worker, Amber Frey will have her butt right back in the hot seat for a brand new round of examination and cross-examination.

Frey has a lukewarm IQ at best, how is she going to remember the crap her writer attributed to her in her literary offering, “Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson”? How did profit from book and film deals influence Frey’s testimony during the criminal trial?

Frey has serious credibility issues. In 2005 it was revealed that Frey snookered a man, Anthony Flores into paying child support for her daughter that was fathered by another man. Flores paid Frey for four years before the scam was revealed by DNA testing.

The Scott Peterson case is old news and the media attention is far less likely to influence a jury.

It’s difficult to imagine but what if the civil jury can’t find enough real evidence with a much lower standard of proof than reasonable doubt needed find Peterson liable?

Stay tuned, this is destined to make history!

The civil trial is set to begin July 8.

Please Anyone Just Tell Me How they Died?

The case of Laci and Scott Peterson captivated the entire nation. I won’t call this a murder case since a murder was never proven. The trial jury and millions of Peterson trial news-junkies will disagree with me on this point.

Let me begin by saying that Scott Peterson is a cad, cheat and liar. He led a double life to satisfy his over-active libido. We’ve all heard those stories about men who cheat and lie to get laid and then cheat and lie some more to cover-up those indiscreet liaisons. The popular former President Bill Clinton was cut from the same cloth as Scott Peterson in that regard. There was one not so minor difference though; Clinton lied about his own philandering under oath. Is a liar and cheat automatically a cold-blooded murderer? If the answer of that question were yes, most of the male population would be on Death Row today.

The American system of justice has always been one where a criminal conviction could only be sustained if there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt of guilt. That not so simple concept was created with the idea that it’s better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted. I guess that concept is just too old fashioned and can’t satisfy Americans anymore.

It was around Christmas Eve 2002 when a very pregnant Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, CA home. This happened during a time when burglars and identity thieves were working very near the Peterson home. Despite that fact the Modesto police properly put Scott Peterson under tight scrutiny since statistically it's true that humans hurt the ones they love at a much higher rate then strangers. Eventually Laci and her unborn fetus were found dead of undetermined causes in The Berkley Marina of San Francisco Bay.

This sad story took on a Hollywood life of its own. Along with the media, their pundits and experts came bottom-feeders like Los Angeles lawyer, Gloria Allred. Allred bills herself as a victim’s advocate as she trolls for humanity like Scott Peterson’s love toy, Amber Frey as clientele. Allred has tailored her legal practice to hanging on to pathetic people with titillating stories to promote and cut her way into her client’s book and film deals. Unlike a film producer that would pay for an option, Allred becomes their “lawyer”, and takes a percentage of their money as an agent. Advocating for the best outcome of a story that would boost marketability becomes Allred’s goal rather than advocating for truth, justice or perhaps her client best interests.

Can those accused get a fair trial in a land of unprecedented electronic media coverage? Would prospective jurors truthfully inform the court about what they heard about the case? How could prospective jurors not expect to get bombarded with book deals and such if they got picked to sit on the Peterson jury? I would suggest that potential jurors could be trusted to tell the truth about their agendas as well as Bill Clinton did during that now famous court deposition.

As in all cases that are brought into out courtrooms there are those collateral issues that must be dealt with by the trial judge for relevance and unfair prejudice to any party of the case. In the Peterson case where media coverage was in overdrive no prospective juror could avoid the constant bombardment of gossip, rumors and outright bogus tales. This while people like Allred manipulate and spin the story for profit.

Next we have the Hollywood/TV lawyer throwing sensational sound bites everywhere. Unfortunately Peterson’s defense attorney Mark Geragos skill for TV sound bites exceeded his skill for lawyering. Instead of concentrating on the huge Corpus Delecti issue, Geragos got caught up in prosecution theories and Amber Frey’s pillow talk, spy work for the Modesto police.

Corpus delecti is Latin for the "body of the crime." Additionally it’s often correctly called the essence of the crime. The crime here is alleged as a double murder. Murder is the unlawful taking of a human life. To establish murder you need the corpus delecti. That would be a body and the cause and manner of death. That takes me to the simplest four-word question. How did they die? Not one prosecution witness could answer that question. That should have been the beginning and end of this case.

In order to convict a jury would have to determine that Laci Peterson was murdered. At best the Peterson jury could only make a guess that she was. Next the jury would have to again guess that Scott Peterson killed her.

When Mark Geragos lost sight of the corpus delecti and got caught up in the prosecution theory quagmire, he allowed the burden of proof to become reversed where Scott Peterson was forced into to proving that theory wrong. That’s where Peterson's defense case got derailed.

The opening defense statement should have been incredibility short and to the point. The Prosecution will not be able to establish a crime. They can’t tell you how Laci Peterson and her fetus died. The question of accident, natural causes or murder just can’t be answered. They don’t have the corpus delecti and they are simply wasting our time and tax money.

Every prosecution witness should have only been asked a minimum of questions during cross-examination: How did Laci Peterson and her fetus die? Did you see Scott Peterson kill anyone? Did Scott Peterson tell you he killed Laci Peterson and her fetus? Did you kill Laci Peterson and her fetus?

The closing defense argument should have been like this: Ladies and Gentlemen you have heard from an abundance of witnesses and not one could tell you how Laci Peterson and her fetus died. You have a duty to go into that jury room and render a verdict based on real evidence rather than a guess about the prosecution’s theory. The state has not even proven the corpus delecti. You must acquit because of the absence of cause or manner of death alone. If you can’t determine she was murdered, you can’t reach and guess even further that Scott Peterson is a murderer.

A conviction and death sentence was obtained against Scott Peterson with the help of a quartet of Court TV “anchors” that included Lisa Bloom, the daughter of Amber Frey’s lawyer, book and movie agent Gloria Allred. Court TV led the lynch mob while screaming for the conviction. We taxpayers shelled out no less than $4.13 million to put Scott Peterson on death row. I expect several more millions will be spent dealing with the appeals before this story ends.

Please, anyone just tell me how they died?