2nd Theory in Peterson Case Offered

Jurors in the Scott Peterson murder trial were given an alternate explanation -- involving a mysterious white van and scruffy men -- to explain the disappearance of Peterson’s pregnant wife, Laci, on Christmas Eve 2002.

In a taut opening statement, Peterson’s high-profile lawyer, Mark Geragos, said Wednesday that he would offer evidence contradicting every element of the prosecution theory that Peterson killed his wife because she was inconveniently pregnant and a hindrance to his relationship with a new girlfriend.

“Clearly, if you want to call him a cad, or say he is boorish, we’re not going to dispute it,” Geragos said. “This is a murder case. There has to be evidence in a murder case.”

In a two-hour statement before the six-man, six-woman jury, Geragos also foreshadowed what is likely to be a full-scale assault on the competence and integrity of the Modesto Police Department.

He said he would introduce evidence that Laci and unborn son Conner did not die over the Christmas holidays as police contend. In fact, Geragos said, Conner, whose birth had been due in February, was born alive and killed afterward. Twine found wrapped around his neck could not have been looped the way it was by accident of tide and entanglement of flotsam in the bay, as the prosecution contends, Geragos said. It was placed there by human hands, he said.

“Why does this matter?” asked the lawyer. “If they lived beyond Dec. 24, Scott Peterson had no involvement.”

Attorney Jim Hammer, a former San Francisco prosecutor, said the baby’s age at death could be an explosive and contentious issue as the trial goes along.

“This could be what the glove was to the O.J. Simpson case,” he said.

In their haste to make a case against the smooth-talking Peterson, Geragos said, investigators all but ignored contradictory information. As an example, he cited a blunder over Martha Stewart’s meringue.

Peterson told police that when he left on the morning of Dec. 24 to go fishing, his wife was watching a Stewart television show in which the hostess discussed making meringue. In asking a judge for a search warrant of Peterson’s house, detectives said the show contained no references to meringue. That was proof he was lying, investigators told the judge.

But in the tape Geragos played for the jury Wednesday, Stewart is plainly heard talking about making meringue. Geragos played it a second time, “so the Modesto Police Department could hear it.”

“Not only is Scott Peterson not guilty, but he is stone cold innocent,” Geragos said.

Laci’s disappearance spurred an intense investigation and manhunt and ultimately made her a figure of tragedy, when her and Conner’s remains washed up on the shores of San Francisco Bay in April 2003.

As opposed to prosecutor Rick Distaso’s methodical, extremely detailed, four-hour opening the day before, Geragos’ approach was economical and animated. He strode up and down in front of the jury, seeking eye contact.

It’s not known how the contrasting styles will play to the jurors, but legal observers gave high marks to Geragos’ sharply mounted attack on the prosecution’s evidence and theories.

Beyond trying to raise doubts about the evidence, he said he would supply another explanation for Laci’s disappearance and murder, one he accused police of failing to check out.

Among the thousands of tips police received, there were several from people who said they saw someone of Laci’s description with some homeless-looking men.

One tipster, a former police officer, reported seeing the woman being pulled into the van by the arm.

“The police did nothing about that,” Geragos said.

Laci was known to be a fierce anti-crime activist who readily confronted the homeless people who camped out in the five-mile-long riverbed park at the end of her street.

Geragos tried to plant the seed that Laci may have been kidnapped by someone with a grudge against her as she walked her golden retriever, McKenzie, that day.

Months ago, the lawyer publicly floated the idea that Satanists might have been involved in her disappearance. But he made no mention of that Wednesday.

Most of the day was taken up by Geragos’ attempts to refute, one by one, the pieces of circumstantial evidence cited by the prosecution.

To allegations that Peterson only recently took up fishing as part of his murder plot, Geragos said he would show that his client had fished since he was 3 years old and had owned several boats.

As for Peterson’s frequent visits to the Berkeley Marina after Laci’s disappearance that were tracked by global positioning satellites, Geragos said that wasn’t strange at all.

Peterson only went there after the local newspaper, the Modesto Bee, reported that divers were searching the bay for Laci’s body, the lawyer said.

Turning to the prosecution’s contention that Peterson’s motive was that he didn’t want children who would mess up his comfortable life -- he had just purchased a country club membership -- Geragos said his client was delighted that Laci was pregnant. He had even changed his work schedule on days she was ovulating to increase the chances of conception, Geragos said.

The defense attorney scoffed at the idea that Peterson would “chuck his entire life with Laci” to be with his new paramour, Amber Frey. “They had only had two dates,” Geragos said.

As for Peterson being head-over-heels in love with the willowy blond from Fresno, Geragos said the two were squabbling at Christmas because he didn’t call enough.

At the time, she didn’t know he was married. When he finally told her he was married and his wife was missing, Peterson said in a phone call he didn’t know was taped, “I love Laci. I love Laci, no question,” according to Geragos.

However, the attorney did not provide an explanation for some other things, such as why Peterson, who had a vehicle, often rented a car to drive to the marina. Or the fact that Laci’s remains washed up 110 days after her disappearance in the same area where Peterson admits going fishing.

Nor did Geragos explain why his client apparently gave different stories about his whereabouts Dec. 24.

Although he told most people, including the police, that he went fishing and provided a launch receipt to prove it, Distaso said Peterson told two people he was out golfing.

“I expected a lot of smoke and mirrors,” said Gloria Allred, Frey’s attorney.

After Geragos’ opening, the first witness, Peterson housekeeper Margarita Nava, testified about cleaning the home Dec. 23. She said that Laci was tired but that nothing was out of order.

Times correspondent Donna Horowitz contributed to this report.