San Diego

Defense attorneys for Craig Peyer, the former California Highway Patrol officer accused of murdering an El Cajon woman he stopped while on duty, withdrew a request Monday to exclude fiber evidence from the upcoming trial.

The evidence includes material used in CHP uniform patches, which allegedly was found on the clothing of the 20-year-old victim, Cara Knott.

Peyer, 37, of Poway, is charged with strangling Knott after stopping her on Interstate 15 the night of Dec. 27 as she drove home from her boyfriend’s house in Escondido. Her body was found the next day, below a bridge near the freeway.

Meanwhile, Superior Court Judge Richard Huffman said he will consider allowing prosecutors to question a Georgia doctor already hired by the defense as an expert witness about the scientific validity of a seldom-used technique of analyzing blood that was found on Knott’s clothing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Joe Van Orshoven said he wants to ask Dr. Moses Schanfield of Atlanta about a California forensic laboratory’s analysis of the blood samples with genetic markers to determine whether the results are legally acceptable.

“In our view, this particular person is probably the leading expert in the United States dealing with these markers,” Van Orshoven told Huffman. “It’s a procedure more commonly used in Europe because it requires a level of expertise beyond those available in typical U.S. forensic labs.”

Defense attorney Robert Grimes argued that allowing the prosecution to call Schanfield to testify before Peyer’s Jan. 4 trial would infringe on the defense’s right to hire its own blood-analysis expert to challenge any government expert.

Grimes also told Huffman the prosecution request to call an expert defense witness during pretrial hearings “shows how weak their case is in the scientific community.”

“The fact that they’re talking about having to go to Europe or Canada for an expert in this technique shows it is just not acceptable in this community . . . and shows how desperate they are in something that’s on the fringe of acceptance,” Grimes said.