2 Jan 2004 Opposition to Motion for Change of Venue

(excerpts) Defendant has failed to substantiate any of the claimed facts by admissible evidence, except for one: this criminal prosecution has received widespread media attention. For the most part, the media has attempted to portray this case in a factual format. A few "tabloid" publications have exaggerated claims, or speculated on evidence but these publications are not accepted by the general public as legitimate news sources. Jurors in Stanislaus County have not made up their minds and the defense's own survey says they will wait until they hear evidence in court. If it becomes apparent that a jury cannot be selected during the process of voir dire, a change of venue may be granted to an adjoining county at the time of the trial. The publicity in the instant case has to a great extent been caused by and perpetuated by the defendant, the defense attorney and the defense team. To this day, the defense "team" of experts (Jury consultant Jo-Ellen Dimitrius, Dr. Cyril Wecht and Henry Lee) continues to violate this court's protective order and trumpet the defense theory and/or the innocence of the defendant.

8 Jan 2004 Hearing on Motion for Change of Venue

Judge Girolami ruled in favor of the change of venue, saying that Scott cannot get a fair trial in Stanislaus county or the neighboring counties. 

8 Jan 2004 Schoenthaler survey contained falsified data

Several university students said that they fabricated survey results that went into Professor Schoenthaler's survey. Judge Girolami noted, in the hearing, that he considered the Schoenthaler survey the most thorough of the three surveys offered. Professor Schoenthaler told reports that he had not detected the fraud. The University of California, Stanislaus launched an investigation. 

14 Jan 2004 Judge Marie Silveira denied 995 Motion to Dismiss

Judge Silveira denied the 995 Motion. She also ordered Professor Schoenthaler, who conducted the survey that figured into Judge Girolami's decision to grant the change of venue motion, to appear in court on January 20.

14 Jan 2004 No-sales receipt from Austin's Christmas store

Mark Geragos' private investigator went into Austin's Christmas store and asked William Austin to have two no-sales rung up on the same cash register that Karen Servas checked out on at 10:34 a.m. on December 24, 2002. According to questions put to William Austin at the trial, the PI timed the receipts for only 10 minutes apart on the same day, but they recorded the times of 1:35 and 2:36 and two different dates (Defense H).  The second day involved was January 20.

16 Jan 2004 Motion to Reconsider Change of Venue

The Motion asserts that Judge Girolami must reconsider the change of venue because his decision to grant the motion rested heavily on the Schoenthaler survey, which has since been discredited.  The DAs office requested information on the identity of the 9 students, but the University refused to provide that information.  One witness did come forward and make a statement to an investigator.  According to the Motion, this witness has known Schoenthaler for years and has personal knowledge of his falsifying research data in the past.  She said Schoenthaler directed her to remove data that did not with is projected outcome of the research project. The Motion asks the Judge to: 1) reconsider the venue change; 2) reconsider asking the AOC to determine whether Sacramento would accept a venue change; and 3) to strike all of Schoenthaler's testimony, survey and report.

16 Jan 2004 People's Submission Regarding the Appropriate Venue and Transfer Site & McGowan Hearing

The submission provides the court with cost information on the 3 Bay area counties and Orange county, including air travel, hotels, and car rentals. Also provides media coverage on the case for the four counties. People's preferences are: 1) Santa Clara County, 2) San Mateo County, and 3) Alameda County.

20 Jan 2004 Venue changed to San Mateo County

Judge Girolami denied the People's Motion to reconsider the change of venue and ordered the venue changed to San Mateo County. 

21 Jan 2004  Judge Richard Arnason appointed

The Judicial Council of California appointed retired Judge Richard Arnason to preside over Scott Peterson’s double murder case.

21 Jan 2004 Opposition to Motion to exclude Dempewolf's testimony

People's response to the Defense motion, filed October 7, 2003, to exclude the testimony of Kristen Dempewolf on the grounds that LE did not comply with the requirements of Evidence Code §795 when they hypnotized her.  People claims Dempewolf's hypnosis did not render her pre-hypnosis recollection unreliable nor impair her ability to be cross-examined concerning her pre-hypnosis recollection.

22 Jan 2004 Prosecution's Peremptory Challenge

Exercising its right to reject one judge in a criminal case without reason, DA Distaso filed a Peremptory Challenge for the removal of Judge Arnason, on the grounds that he is "prejudiced against the interest of the party, so that I believe I cannot have a fair and impartial hearing before said judge."

23 Jan 2004 Trial date continued

Judge Girolami ordered the trial continued for one week until February 2, 2004, at 9:00 a.m. in Dept. 2M in San Mateo Superior Court.  First issue to be discussed is the timeliness of the Prosecution's Peremptory Challenge. Defense is to file their brief by Monday, 2 p.m.; and Prosecution their response by Wednesday, 4 p.m.

23 Jan 2004 Scott moved to the San Mateo county jail

"Scott Peterson arrived at the Maguire Correctional Facility at approximately 2:27 p.m. on Friday, January 23, 2004. He was brought into the booking area of the jail by Stanislaus County deputy sheriffs. Mr. Peterson thanked the transporting deputies upon their departure. The transporting officers reported that Mr. Peterson had been cooperative and polite during the journey."

26 Jan 2004 Ted Rowlands subpoenaed by DA

According to Rowlands' Motion to quash the subpoena, the Subpoena did not state the purpose of Rowlands' testimony, but "in a meet and confer conversation, the District Attorney stated it is seeking to compel Mr. Rowlands' testimony to testify about conversations he had with the defendant Peterson, regarding Mr. Peterson's alleged affair with Amber Frey. Despite repeated requests by Mr. Rowlands' counsel, however, the District Attorney has declined to further specify the scope of the testimony sought or when such conversation may have been broadcast" (p 7). The motion claims Rowlands is exempt as a journalist "from the compelled disclosure of any 'unpublished information' obtained during the course of gathering and disseminating information to the public" (p 7). A letter from Rowlands' attorney to Distaso further expands on the purpose of Rowlands' testimony:  "It is your position that Mr. Rowlands should be compelled to testify about conversations he had with the defendant, Scott Peterson, regarding Mr. Peterson's alleged affair with Amber Frye (sic) and his denial of that affair" (Ex. C, Declaration of Grace K. Won).

27 Jan 2004 Amber and Dr. David Markovich move in together

National Enquirer reports that Amber and the father of her unborn child gave up their separate apartments and moved in together. Ron Frey says he has a wonderful relationship with Amber's daughter and the whole family was delighted to watch them together at Christmas and New Year's. Amber's baby is due in April, and is a boy.

27 Jan 2004 New Judge Appointed

Alfred A. Delucchi  was selected to preside over Scott's trial.  A trial judge for more than three decades, Delucchi retired from the Superior Court of Alameda County in 1998 after serving on that court for 15 years. He sat on the Municipal Court of the San Leandro-Hayward Judicial District from his appointment in 1971 until his elevation to the Superior Court in 1984. He has been an active member of the Assigned Judges Program since his retirement.