Prosecutors Try to Clear Up Confusion as Peterson Trial Nears End

As they prepare to wrap up their murder case against Scott Peterson in the death of his pregnant wife, Laci, even prosecutors have acknowledged their case has at times left jurors scratching their heads.

More than 160 witnesses have been called in four months of testimony to discuss everything from tide tables to the chemical composition of cement. What prosecutors haven’t come up with is a murder weapon, crime scene or cause of death.

Stanislaus County Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick Distaso acknowledged confusion in the case when he sought to bring in an out-of-order witness, interrupting DNA testimony.

“Don’t you think that will confuse the jury?” Superior Court Judge Alfred A. Delucchi asked.

“Your honor, they’re already confused,” Distaso replied.

But legal experts said prosecutors’ luck appeared to change when a Modesto detective testified recently, providing the first detailed narrative that stitched together the many circumstances that cast suspicion on Peterson.

Then came aerial video footage detailing how close the bodies of Laci Peterson and her fetus were found to where Peterson said he was fishing Dec. 24, 2002, about the time she disappeared. The footage was “haunting and effective,” said former prosecutor and trial observer Jim Hammer.

The prosecution expects to present its last witnesses this week in an effort to prove that Peterson killed his eight-month pregnant wife in their Modesto home and later dumped her weighted body into San Francisco Bay. Her remains and that of the fetus washed up in April 2003, not far from the Berkeley Marina where Peterson launched his boat for what he said was a solo fishing trip.

Jurors at the San Mateo County Courthouse have heard Peterson lie repeatedly in wiretapped phone calls with his girlfriend, Amber Frey, and in television interviews when asked about the affair. He also lied to friends and family, telling some he was in Southern California when he was driving around the San Francisco Bay Area, where authorities were searching for the bodies.

But until Modesto Police Det. Craig Grogan testified, some experts wondered whether prosecutors had proved only that Peterson was a cheating husband who mooned after his girlfriend while pretending to mourn his wife.

Grogan, the lead investigator, in more than a week of testimony explained why police were so sure Peterson killed his wife:

* Police dogs picked up Laci’s scent at the marina.

* Peterson’s alibi put him close to where the bodies were found.

* Fishing tackle found on Peterson’s boat was meant for freshwater angling, not the saltwater sturgeon he told authorities he was seeking.

* Peterson told some people on the night Laci vanished that he had been golfing all morning, leading police to believe he had not settled on an alibi.

* Shortly before Laci’s disappearance, Peterson had researched deep water currents in the bay.

Also important was expert testimony that Laci’s fetus died about the same time she vanished. The defense contends that the baby was born at full term after Laci was abducted, which would mean it died when Scott Peterson was under surveillance.

“It was the single fact [the prosecution] absolutely had to prove to stay in the game,” trial watcher and former San Mateo County prosecutor Dean Johnson said.