Trial Quotes
This article contains trial quotes that discuss Scott’s demeanor, his cooperation with the police, and his truthfulness the night Laci went missing. These quotes from prosecution witnesses show that the public perception that Scott was emotionless, uncooperative and constantly lying to the police were inaccurate. Additional trial quotes show the police’s immediate assumption that Scott was guilty, the lack of police follow up on sightings of Laci, and the absence of evidence implicating Scott.
Trial quotes from multiple witnesses who testified to Scott’s demeanor when they spoke with or saw him the evening of December 24, 2002:
Officer Spurlock:
Officer Spurlock: I saw Mr. Peterson. He seemed concerned. He had a look of concern on his face. I think he maybe even had some tears in his eyes. But as far as a frantic behavior, I wouldn't claim. Just frantic concern.
…
Mark Mark Geragos: Did he appear to be upset to you?
Officer Spurlock: Yes. I would say so.
Officer Evers:
Mark Mark Geragos: When you saw them, you saw that Laci's mom Sharon, you know who Sharon is; is that correct?
Officer Evers: Yes, I do.
Mark Mark Geragos: She was crying, and she was very, very upset, correct?
Officer Evers: That's correct.
Mark Mark Geragos: When so Scott, when he walked up, he appeared to be very upset; is that correct?
Officer Evers: That's correct.
Mark Geragaos: And the other family members, you described them as just concerned, correct?
Officer Evers: Yes.
Detective Grogan:
Mark Geragos: Now the, did you look at any of the interviews that Ms. Rocha had given, for example, to the Today Show on December 30th in which she says mom, that she said that Scott said, "Mom, is Laci there"?
Craig Grogan: No, I have never seen that before.
Mark Geragos: Did you ever look at the January 14th Today's Show where she said "I just immediately, I knew she was missing"?
Craig Grogan: No, I have never seen that before.
Mark Geragos: Okay. That would have been the January 14th show would have been two days before she was told about the existence of Amber Frey, is that correct, or the day before?
Craig Grogan: It would have been the day before, yes.
Mark Geragos: And that, at least if the transcript's accurate, she's the one who said that she knew Laci was missing just by the panic rising in Scott's voice, correct?
Craig Grogan: Yes, that's what it says.
Amie Krigbaum (neighbor):
Amie Krigbaum: So I mean he, he was distraught; it kind of made me a little distraught, so I didn't really know how to handle the situation, so
Prosecutor Distaso: Okay.
Amie Krigbaum: I just kind of took bits and pieces of it and didn't really know what to do. I shut the door and kind of asked Terra, Help him look, or, you know?
Greg Reed (Scott’s friend):
Prosecutor Distaso: Okay. What, let me, before I show you the report and refresh your memory, what did, what was Mr. Peterson's, how did he sound on the message?
Greg Reed: The perfect word would be frantic.
Stacey Boyers (Laci’s friend):
Mark Mark Geragos: You got a call from Scott approximately what time?
Stacey Boyers: 5:26.
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. You know that now because you looked at cell phone records?
Stacey Boyers: My cell phone records, yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: You didn't just,
Stacey Boyers: Didn't just pull that out, no.
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. Now, you get the call at 5:26. Was he upset?
Stacey Boyers: Uh, yes.
Lori Ellsworth (Laci’s friend):
Lori Ellsworth: He had a different tone in his voice, yes.
Pat Harris: He was panicked, wasn't he?
Lori Ellsworth: Panic, maybe
Trial quotes from multiple police officers testified to how truthful and cooperative Scott was when Laci went missing:
Detective Brocchini:
Mark Mark Geragos: And we don't have anywhere in there where he says, "I don't have a girlfriend." But we do have in there a number of things that we went through that I showed you, exhibits which turned out Mr. Peterson gave you the absolute correct information; isn't that true?
Allen Brocchini: Told me a lot of truth.
Mark Mark Geragos: Right. And he told you a lot of truth throughout that interview. He told you where he had been that day, correct?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: He told you specifically what items were used for what, correct?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: He told you the timing of various things, correct?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. And as you say, he told you a lot of truth, correct?
Allen Brocchini: He did.
…
Prosecutor Distaso: And where did you put it?
Allen Brocchini: My jacket pocket.
Prosecutor Distaso: And you didn't tell Scott Peterson about that?
Allen Brocchini: Not right away.
Prosecutor Distaso: And why didn't you tell him at that moment that you were taking the gun?
Allen Brocchini: I wanted, I wanted to keep him, I wanted to keep him cooperative. I wanted him to keep, you know, keep talking to me, not thinking I was suspicious or I didn't want him to get defensive.
Officer Spurlock:
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. He was cooperative, was he not?
Officer Spurlock: Yes, sir
Officer Evers:
Prosecutor Distaso: And what, the defendant was, how would you describe him at this point? Cooperative, uncooperative?
Officer Evers: He was cooperative.
Prosecutor Distaso: He agreed to let you into the warehouse?
Officer Evers: Yes.
Agent Mansfield:
Mark Geragos: The interview took place, this would be on Christmas Day?
Agent Mansfield: Yes, it would.
Mark Geragos: Approximately what time?
Agent Mansfield: Approximately 1:30 in the afternoon.
Mark Geragos: In the afternoon?
Agent Mansfield: Yes.
Mark Geragos: And he voluntarily came down to the, was this at the Modesto Police Department?
Agent Mansfield: It was at the new office of the Modesto Police Department, yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. And this interview, he voluntarily came down to give this interview, correct?
Agent Mansfield: Yes, he did.
Mark Geragos: He wasn't under arrest?
Agent Mansfield: No, he was not.
Mark Geragos: In fact, he was cooperating. In terms of answering the questions, he came down there, even though it was Christmas Day, even though his wife was missing at that point?
Agent Mansfield: Very cooperative.
…
Mark Geragos: And all of this was done in the police station roughly, then, between 1:30 and maybe 4:00 to 4:15?
Agent Mansfield: 4:15, yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. And he was, you indicated, very cooperative throughout?
Agent Mansfield: Yes, he was
Detective Grogan:
Mark Geragos: Okay. Some time that same day, did Brocchini go to the house and also meet up with Scott?
Craig Grogan: On the –
Mark Geragos: 25th.
Craig Grogan: 25th? Yes, that would have been in the morning prior to this interview.
Mark Geragos: And when Brocchini went over there do you meet up with him? Met up with Scott?
Craig Grogan: Yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. And Scott at that point had informed Detective Brocchini that they had already printed up thousands of flyers, and they were organizing a search; is that correct?
Craig Grogan: I'm sorry, sir, can I look at that?
Mark Geragos: Sure.
Craig Grogan: Just this section?
Mark Geragos: Right.
Craig Grogan: Yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. Now, there was, at that point Scott Peterson had cooperated fully with both you and with Detective Brocchini; is that right?
Craig Grogan: Yes.
Trial quotes showing the immediate suspicion that was cast on Scott:
Greg Reed:
What he told his wife on Christmas Eve (referring to the police) “They think Scott did it”
Detective Brocchini:
Prosecutor Distaso: Were you suspicious, though, of him at that time?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Unfortunate trial quote from Detective Grogan regarding follow up on Laci sightings that came in the first week she was missing:
“Well, I can't say that the sightings were automatically a priority for us at that time in the investigation”
Trial quote explaining why someone didn’t come forward who had seen Laci the morning of December 24th:
Mark Mark Geragos: The one thing that wasn't mentioned is that the reason that she was hesitant to call the police is that they were discrediting anyone who claimed they saw Laci, right?
Craig Grogan: That's what that report says.
Trial quote about Laci’s pants.
It was falsely publicized that Laci’s body was found in the pants she was wearing the night before she went missing (which was then used to cast suspicion on Scott). Amy Rocha (Laci’s sister) was looking at a catalog picture of the pants that were on Laci’s body when it was recovered. She was asked if they were the pants Laci was wearing the evening before she went missing. Amy’s response:
“Definitely not the pants”
Trial quote showing information favorable to Scott being removed from a police report.
The police wanted people to think that Laci didn’t know that Scott had bought a boat. A witness was found that confirmed Laci was at the warehouse a few days before she went missing. This confirmed information Scott had told them. Unfortunately, the information about this witness was left out of Detective Brocchini’s report:
Mark Mark Geragos: Can you tell me how that particular piece of information got excised out of your police report?
Detective Allen Brocchini: I excised it.
Trial quote showing this same detective secretly (illegally) taking Scott’s a gun from Scott’s truck the evening of December 24th:
Mark Geragos: You didn't have permission to take it, right? I mean specifically you never, you didn't have his consent, you didn't say, I'm going to take this. You didn't have a search warrant. You just took it, right?
Allen Brocchini: I legally took it. That's right.
Mark Geragos: What do you mean you legally took it?
Allen Brocchini: I had consent to be in the truck.
Mark Geragos: Consent to be in the truck doesn't give you consent to take the property.
Judg: This is all argumentative. We want to know what he did. He had consent to go in the cab of the truck. He saw the weapon. He took it without the consent of your client. That's what happened.
Mark Geragos: Right. And there would be a motion to strike the, "I legally took it".
Prosecutor Distaso: Objection, your Honor. That's, I'm going.
Judge: There is an issue whether it was legally taken or not.
Prosecutor Distaso: There is no issue of that.
Mark Geragos: Of course there is.
Judge: I think there may be. I'm going to strike that "legally taken".
Mark Geragos: Thank you.
Trial quote from Detective Jacobson testifying about telling the truth in the courtroom:
“You know what, Judge, I'm not going to discuss the truth in the courtroom because this all happened.”
Trial quotes from Prosecutor, Rick Distaso’s closing argument:
“It's very simple. The defendant strangled or smothered Laci Peterson the night of February, January, December 23rd, or in the morning while she was getting dressed on the 24th. I can't tell you when he did it. I can't tell you if he did it at night. I can't tell you if he did it in the morning. I'm not going to try to convince you of something that I can't prove. I don't have to prove that to you. I only have to prove that he did it.”
…
“But I have already told you, I can't prove to you whether he killed her in the night or in the morning. I have never wavered from that, or changed that. I'm not going to do it now. So I don't care if you think she got up the next morning. It doesn't change the fact that he still killed her.”
Trial quotes from multiple witnesses who testified to Scott’s demeanor when they spoke with or saw him the evening of December 24, 2002:
Officer Spurlock:
Officer Spurlock: I saw Mr. Peterson. He seemed concerned. He had a look of concern on his face. I think he maybe even had some tears in his eyes. But as far as a frantic behavior, I wouldn't claim. Just frantic concern.
…
Mark Mark Geragos: Did he appear to be upset to you?
Officer Spurlock: Yes. I would say so.
Officer Evers:
Mark Mark Geragos: When you saw them, you saw that Laci's mom Sharon, you know who Sharon is; is that correct?
Officer Evers: Yes, I do.
Mark Mark Geragos: She was crying, and she was very, very upset, correct?
Officer Evers: That's correct.
Mark Mark Geragos: When so Scott, when he walked up, he appeared to be very upset; is that correct?
Officer Evers: That's correct.
Mark Geragaos: And the other family members, you described them as just concerned, correct?
Officer Evers: Yes.
Detective Grogan:
Mark Geragos: Now the, did you look at any of the interviews that Ms. Rocha had given, for example, to the Today Show on December 30th in which she says mom, that she said that Scott said, "Mom, is Laci there"?
Craig Grogan: No, I have never seen that before.
Mark Geragos: Did you ever look at the January 14th Today's Show where she said "I just immediately, I knew she was missing"?
Craig Grogan: No, I have never seen that before.
Mark Geragos: Okay. That would have been the January 14th show would have been two days before she was told about the existence of Amber Frey, is that correct, or the day before?
Craig Grogan: It would have been the day before, yes.
Mark Geragos: And that, at least if the transcript's accurate, she's the one who said that she knew Laci was missing just by the panic rising in Scott's voice, correct?
Craig Grogan: Yes, that's what it says.
Amie Krigbaum (neighbor):
Amie Krigbaum: So I mean he, he was distraught; it kind of made me a little distraught, so I didn't really know how to handle the situation, so
Prosecutor Distaso: Okay.
Amie Krigbaum: I just kind of took bits and pieces of it and didn't really know what to do. I shut the door and kind of asked Terra, Help him look, or, you know?
Greg Reed (Scott’s friend):
Prosecutor Distaso: Okay. What, let me, before I show you the report and refresh your memory, what did, what was Mr. Peterson's, how did he sound on the message?
Greg Reed: The perfect word would be frantic.
Stacey Boyers (Laci’s friend):
Mark Mark Geragos: You got a call from Scott approximately what time?
Stacey Boyers: 5:26.
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. You know that now because you looked at cell phone records?
Stacey Boyers: My cell phone records, yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: You didn't just,
Stacey Boyers: Didn't just pull that out, no.
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. Now, you get the call at 5:26. Was he upset?
Stacey Boyers: Uh, yes.
Lori Ellsworth (Laci’s friend):
Lori Ellsworth: He had a different tone in his voice, yes.
Pat Harris: He was panicked, wasn't he?
Lori Ellsworth: Panic, maybe
Trial quotes from multiple police officers testified to how truthful and cooperative Scott was when Laci went missing:
Detective Brocchini:
Mark Mark Geragos: And we don't have anywhere in there where he says, "I don't have a girlfriend." But we do have in there a number of things that we went through that I showed you, exhibits which turned out Mr. Peterson gave you the absolute correct information; isn't that true?
Allen Brocchini: Told me a lot of truth.
Mark Mark Geragos: Right. And he told you a lot of truth throughout that interview. He told you where he had been that day, correct?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: He told you specifically what items were used for what, correct?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: He told you the timing of various things, correct?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. And as you say, he told you a lot of truth, correct?
Allen Brocchini: He did.
…
Prosecutor Distaso: And where did you put it?
Allen Brocchini: My jacket pocket.
Prosecutor Distaso: And you didn't tell Scott Peterson about that?
Allen Brocchini: Not right away.
Prosecutor Distaso: And why didn't you tell him at that moment that you were taking the gun?
Allen Brocchini: I wanted, I wanted to keep him, I wanted to keep him cooperative. I wanted him to keep, you know, keep talking to me, not thinking I was suspicious or I didn't want him to get defensive.
Officer Spurlock:
Mark Mark Geragos: Okay. He was cooperative, was he not?
Officer Spurlock: Yes, sir
Officer Evers:
Prosecutor Distaso: And what, the defendant was, how would you describe him at this point? Cooperative, uncooperative?
Officer Evers: He was cooperative.
Prosecutor Distaso: He agreed to let you into the warehouse?
Officer Evers: Yes.
Agent Mansfield:
Mark Geragos: The interview took place, this would be on Christmas Day?
Agent Mansfield: Yes, it would.
Mark Geragos: Approximately what time?
Agent Mansfield: Approximately 1:30 in the afternoon.
Mark Geragos: In the afternoon?
Agent Mansfield: Yes.
Mark Geragos: And he voluntarily came down to the, was this at the Modesto Police Department?
Agent Mansfield: It was at the new office of the Modesto Police Department, yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. And this interview, he voluntarily came down to give this interview, correct?
Agent Mansfield: Yes, he did.
Mark Geragos: He wasn't under arrest?
Agent Mansfield: No, he was not.
Mark Geragos: In fact, he was cooperating. In terms of answering the questions, he came down there, even though it was Christmas Day, even though his wife was missing at that point?
Agent Mansfield: Very cooperative.
…
Mark Geragos: And all of this was done in the police station roughly, then, between 1:30 and maybe 4:00 to 4:15?
Agent Mansfield: 4:15, yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. And he was, you indicated, very cooperative throughout?
Agent Mansfield: Yes, he was
Detective Grogan:
Mark Geragos: Okay. Some time that same day, did Brocchini go to the house and also meet up with Scott?
Craig Grogan: On the –
Mark Geragos: 25th.
Craig Grogan: 25th? Yes, that would have been in the morning prior to this interview.
Mark Geragos: And when Brocchini went over there do you meet up with him? Met up with Scott?
Craig Grogan: Yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. And Scott at that point had informed Detective Brocchini that they had already printed up thousands of flyers, and they were organizing a search; is that correct?
Craig Grogan: I'm sorry, sir, can I look at that?
Mark Geragos: Sure.
Craig Grogan: Just this section?
Mark Geragos: Right.
Craig Grogan: Yes.
Mark Geragos: Okay. Now, there was, at that point Scott Peterson had cooperated fully with both you and with Detective Brocchini; is that right?
Craig Grogan: Yes.
Trial quotes showing the immediate suspicion that was cast on Scott:
Greg Reed:
What he told his wife on Christmas Eve (referring to the police) “They think Scott did it”
Detective Brocchini:
Prosecutor Distaso: Were you suspicious, though, of him at that time?
Allen Brocchini: Yes.
Unfortunate trial quote from Detective Grogan regarding follow up on Laci sightings that came in the first week she was missing:
“Well, I can't say that the sightings were automatically a priority for us at that time in the investigation”
Trial quote explaining why someone didn’t come forward who had seen Laci the morning of December 24th:
Mark Mark Geragos: The one thing that wasn't mentioned is that the reason that she was hesitant to call the police is that they were discrediting anyone who claimed they saw Laci, right?
Craig Grogan: That's what that report says.
Trial quote about Laci’s pants.
It was falsely publicized that Laci’s body was found in the pants she was wearing the night before she went missing (which was then used to cast suspicion on Scott). Amy Rocha (Laci’s sister) was looking at a catalog picture of the pants that were on Laci’s body when it was recovered. She was asked if they were the pants Laci was wearing the evening before she went missing. Amy’s response:
“Definitely not the pants”
Trial quote showing information favorable to Scott being removed from a police report.
The police wanted people to think that Laci didn’t know that Scott had bought a boat. A witness was found that confirmed Laci was at the warehouse a few days before she went missing. This confirmed information Scott had told them. Unfortunately, the information about this witness was left out of Detective Brocchini’s report:
Mark Mark Geragos: Can you tell me how that particular piece of information got excised out of your police report?
Detective Allen Brocchini: I excised it.
Trial quote showing this same detective secretly (illegally) taking Scott’s a gun from Scott’s truck the evening of December 24th:
Mark Geragos: You didn't have permission to take it, right? I mean specifically you never, you didn't have his consent, you didn't say, I'm going to take this. You didn't have a search warrant. You just took it, right?
Allen Brocchini: I legally took it. That's right.
Mark Geragos: What do you mean you legally took it?
Allen Brocchini: I had consent to be in the truck.
Mark Geragos: Consent to be in the truck doesn't give you consent to take the property.
Judg: This is all argumentative. We want to know what he did. He had consent to go in the cab of the truck. He saw the weapon. He took it without the consent of your client. That's what happened.
Mark Geragos: Right. And there would be a motion to strike the, "I legally took it".
Prosecutor Distaso: Objection, your Honor. That's, I'm going.
Judge: There is an issue whether it was legally taken or not.
Prosecutor Distaso: There is no issue of that.
Mark Geragos: Of course there is.
Judge: I think there may be. I'm going to strike that "legally taken".
Mark Geragos: Thank you.
Trial quote from Detective Jacobson testifying about telling the truth in the courtroom:
“You know what, Judge, I'm not going to discuss the truth in the courtroom because this all happened.”
Trial quotes from Prosecutor, Rick Distaso’s closing argument:
“It's very simple. The defendant strangled or smothered Laci Peterson the night of February, January, December 23rd, or in the morning while she was getting dressed on the 24th. I can't tell you when he did it. I can't tell you if he did it at night. I can't tell you if he did it in the morning. I'm not going to try to convince you of something that I can't prove. I don't have to prove that to you. I only have to prove that he did it.”
…
“But I have already told you, I can't prove to you whether he killed her in the night or in the morning. I have never wavered from that, or changed that. I'm not going to do it now. So I don't care if you think she got up the next morning. It doesn't change the fact that he still killed her.”