Amber's cross examination was delayed today. A serious accident on Hwy 101 delayed some of the jurors and the Judge and attorneys also had some business to discuss in Chambers. And, a witness who came from Florida took the witness stand first
Prosecution Witness #103: Mary Anderson, AT&T Wireless records dept.
Anderson, from AT&T fraud, testified about how the
cell phone tracking works, how they are picked up by the different
cell towers and transferred. The emphasis was the 12-24 call at
10:08 that the Prosecution is using to timeline Scott's departure
from the house. Geragos said he and Jacobsen met with Anderson
yesterday, and Geragos said she told them the call was from an
outside line, not from his cell phone, but then testified today that
the call was from his cell phone. She said there are three things
to check to tell if it is a voicemail check from the cell phone
itself or from another line checking the voice messages for that
cell phone. After reviewing all the records, she concluded that he
made the call from his cell phone. Geragos established that
calls Scott made from his cell phone when he was known to be at 523
Covena, walking around in the front yard on the night of the 24th,
were picked up by three different cell towers. Anderson said
if one tower is busy, another picks it up.
Exhibits
EXHIBIT 203 A-G, A-1: BINDER AND CONTENTS AT&T PHONE RECORDS.
203-A: AT&T SUBPOENA RESPONSE COVER SHEET FOR FRAUD RECORDS -
EASTERN STANDARD TIME, 29 PAGES
203-B: 12-24-02, CELL SITE RADIUS MODESTO
203-D: TEST CONFIRMING CELLULAR TELEPHONE CALL BY SCOTT PETERSON ON
12-24-02 AT 10:08 A.M.
203-E: EASTERN STANDARD TIME, CELL SITE DATA
203-F: PACIFIC STANDARD TIME, 12/20/02 TO 02/15/ 2004
203-G: EASTERN STANDARD TIME CALLS FOR 12-23 TO 12-26-02
203 A-1: PACIFIC STANDARD TIME SUMMARY OF MONTHLY CHARGES FOR SCOTT
PETERSON, 14 PGS.
EXHIBIT 204: BINDER AND CONTENTS, AT&T PHYSICAL CELL
SITE CONVERSION CHART. (sealed)
EXHIBIT 205: BINDER AND CONTENTS AT&T PHYSICAL CELL SITE LOCATIONS.
(sealed)
EXHIBIT 206-A: JACKIE PETERSON, (858-232-2203), FEB. 14- APRIL 19,
2003 (sealed)
EXHIBIT 206-B: SCOTT PETERSON, (209-505-0337), 11-1-02/ APRIL 18, 03
(sealed)
EXHIBIT 206-C: SAN DIEGO CRATING & PACKAGING, (619-204-7166),
11-1-02/5-1-03 (sealed)
EXHIBIT 206-D: SCOTT PETERSON, (209-499-8427),
9-29-02/2-24-03.(sealed)
EXHIBIT 206-E: CALIFORNIA LATHAM, (415-990-1817),
4-2-03/4-19-03. (sealed)
Prosecution Witness #102: Amber Frey
Geragos cross examined Amber.
When Amber did take the stand, Geragos ruffled some feathers by
first saying he didn't have any questions, then with the jaws in
full drop he quirps, just kidding. Those in attendance say the
reaction was mixed.
Amber seemed to have convenient memory lapses during the cross. She
often said she didn't remember, or she couldn't be sure. What
Geragos was able to pull from her this first day was a clearer
picture of how Amber got into the relationship with Scott, a little
bit of the nature of the relationship, and how Richard Byrd fit into
her growing suspicions about Scott. Geragos emphasized the amount of
drinking and sex the couple had in their 4 dates.
He drew attention to the call chart, with no calls between November
19-23; Amber responded she was sure Scott called, and he must have
used a pay phone. Amber had 3 phone calls with Byrd on the 8th, plus
a visit with Shawn, but she didn't remember if they talked about
Scott. On the 21st she had another lengthy phone call with Byrd, but
couldn't recall if they talked about Scott, but possibly they did.
Byrd, she says, is the one that first became suspicious of Scott,
but she didn't remember just when that was. Byrd asked her, when do
you want me to check this guy out? He said he would after David
Perez, his roommate, returned. Perez is a detective in Sacramento,
and has a larger database Amber said than the one Byrd had access to
in Fresno.
No calls from the Dec 20-24th, but Amber said he called from
Sacramento. She called the number back, and no answer. She thought
he was at the airport there, so she called and had him paged. He did
not answer the page. She called Scott twice on Christmas and left
messages. Then Doug Sibley (Shawn's uncle) called Scott using Amber's phone.
Geragos asked Amber how many times she called Scott on the 26th; she
couldn't remember. He showed her the phone records and had her count
them. 14. But they weren't all connections. She said she was trying
to contact him to thank him for the Christmas present, which Geragos
showed to the Jury.
Amber went to a friend Denise's house on the 28th and they did an
internet search on Scott but didn't find anything. On the 29th she
called Byrd and then went over to his house. She had met with Byrd
on the evening of the 24th, but didn't recall if they talked about
Scott. On the 29th, she told Byrd she was suspicious of Scott.
On the 29th, Byrd called her at 3:09 pm and left a message. She
called him back at 6:20 pm, and he told her Scott may be connected
to a missing woman in Modesto. He gave her the tipline to call, and
she did. She did not call Scott.
On Dec 30 she met with Brocchini and Buehler in Madera. They told
her Scott was a suspect, but they weren't making that public. She
admitted it was her idea to pretend that she was pregnant so she
could get more out of Scott. She had no problem with cooperating by
taping the conversations with Scott.
Geragos asked Amber if she confided in Byrd about her cooperation
with the MPD; she couldn't recall. She was at the MPD on the Jan 6
call when she confronted Scott, so she could be prepped and guided
in what to ask.
Geragos closed his cross for the day with a grilling on whether
Amber taped all the calls between her and Scott and/or reported
them. She repeatedly said she taped all calls. She said it was never
brought to her attention that MPD didn't believe she had taped all
the calls, and she didn't find out about the wiretap on Scott's
phones until after his arrest.
Geragos will continue his cross examination on Tuesday.
Prosecution Witness #102: Amber Frey
Conclusion of Geragos' cross examination. LE
told Amber that Scott was tracked in Fresno & they were worried
about her & that's why they wanted her in Modesto on Jan 6,7, & 8.
But this was not in any report. Seems they lied to her, told her
Scott was in Fresno and tried to make her afraid. That's why she
went to Modesto. LE wanted her in Modesto to watch her calls with
Scott, feed her info & questions to ask. Buehler and Hagen (FBI)
monitored her calls while there.
Did Scott ever tell you he loved you? Not in so many words. Back &
forth...finally admits he never told her he loved her.
On 1/8, taped call introduced by Geragos, Scott tells Amber he has
an Attorney. Gives her Attorney's name, spells it for her, gives ph#
to attorney & also tells her Attorney told him not to talked to her,
he would be pissed if he found out. And he tells her about PI they
hired.
Purpose was to get incriminating info? No, to get evidence of
innocence or guilt. Conversations offered by Prosecution points to
evidence of guilt. Amber says other call show different perspective.
Scott tells Amber he would never hurt her. He concedes he hurt her
emotionally, but would never harm her physically. Amber says Laci is
missing because you love me? Scott says no, she's missing because
somebody took her. LE's theory, SP loved AF = motive? Amber
says I don't know what their theory was, you'd have to ask them.
Conversations about media attention...SP saying hope they don't
bother you like they hound me. They commiserated over media
involvement.
Tape from the 7th, AF, what if LE arrests you? SP, I had nothing to
do with it. Geragos, did that summarize to you he didn't do it? No.
Did he ever try to talk you out of going to LE? I don't recall. Did
he try to dissuade you? I don't recall. Back & forth, AF finally
admits he didn't try to dissuade her from going to LE.
What happened to the notes LE passed to you? I don't
know, you'll have to ask them. OK, now the pic's from the NE, you
had 2 prints made? yes. You gave one set to LE and the other to your
Father? yes, to put in a safety deposit box. Did you ask your Dad if
he sold them? inaudible response, Marlene couldn't hear.
Dave Giardelli happened 3 years prior to Laci gone missing. Says
they had a relationship, but are now just friends. He told her 3 yrs
ago he lost his wife. More recently, she ran into wife at car
wash...he kept lie up for 3 years.
2-19, kiss off conversation. Did Buehler tell you to do this? yes,
he wanted to see SP's reaction. Did he tell you he needed to be
present? I don't recall. Did he tell you to tell SP no more contact?
yes. Did he tell you he was upset with you for doing this on your
own, outside his presence? I don't recall. How did you perceive his
reaction? I was shocked.
Byrd was at Amber's on the morning of 12-30, but left before LE
arrived. She also saw Byrd on the 29th between 2-11pm at Doug
Sibley's house.
Prosecution Witness #104: Daniel White, AT&T, Dir Technical Operations
White confirmed that cell phone tower locations could not be used to precisely identify a person's location, mostly because the records being discussed were created for the purpose of detecting cell phone fraud, they were not intended to be used by law enforcement in cases such as this. Geragos capitalized on that point to further his argument from Mary Anderson's testimony yesterday. Much of the focus was on the Dec. 24 call to voice mail at 10:08 am. That voice mail call is critical to the Prosecution's claim. What I got out of the testimony is that usually the cell phone records can determine within a very small range where the caller is, but not always. White said he could not rule out the exceptions to the usual pattern until he had checked more records for site traffic at that time on the 24th. He hadn't yet checked these records because he wasn't asked to.
Prosecution Witness #105: Steven Jacobson, Stanislaus County DA Investigator
Jacobson's testimony centered mostly on his qualifications to conduct a wiretap investigation.
Prosecution Witness #105: Steven Jacobson, Stanislaus County DA Investigator
Jacobsen did two tests to determine where Scott was at that 10:08 call on the 24th. He drove from Covena to the Warehouse using three different routes: turning from Covena onto Edgebrook, turning from Covena onto Encina, and turning from Covena onto Miller. Each time the call was picked up by Brighton cell tower and handed off to 10th & D. He did the test for the latter two routes in June 2004. He called a person that was using a stop watch and was on the phone precisely 1 min 21 sec, the duration of Scott's call.
Jacobsen explained how the wiretaps work. The audio part of the phone call is recorded in a wave file; the data is also collected but then has to be married to the wav file. The wiretaps run on a penlink system from a company in Nebraska. He said he didn't have enough training, inquired about more training, it would cost over $700, so he didn't get it. Jacobsen said he didn't want to get into his "employer," not the place for that. A gentleman came from Nebraska to help out. The data and wave files are stored in a buffer. They lost 176 calls. Jacobson conceded that wiretaps are a measure of last resort, indicating the other avenues yielded no evidence.
Jacobson also monitored the calls between Amber and
Scott. He didn't trust Amber and thought there was a
conspiracy between them. She wasn't recording all calls
between them. Jacobson continued to be suspicious until a week
before his testimony, when Buehler convinced him Amber was straight.
Wiretaps entered as exhibits and played for the Jury:
•Calls made by Scott from his cell phone on January 11
People's 207A Diagram, Morning of January 11
People's 207A-4 Overview Of Map
People's 207A-2 & A-3 10:48 am, Jackie Peterson
People's 207A-5 12:55 pm, voice mail from Sharon Rocha
People's 207A-6 & A-7 12:56 pm, Sharon Rocha
People's 207A-8 & A-9 1:01 pm, Lee Peterson
People's 207A-10 & A-11 1:21 pm, Guy Miligi
People's 207A-12 1:25 pm, voice mail to Mike Richardson
People's 207A-13 & A-14 1:31 pm, Heather Richardson
People's 207A-15 2:02 pm, Robert Weaver
•Calls about selling the house
People's 207C-1 Diagram of calls
People's 207C-2 January 22, 2003, 5:39 pm Brian Argain
People's 207C-3 January 23, 2003, 5:42 pm voicemail for Brian Argain
People's 207C-4 January 27, 2003, 5:41 pm Brian Argain
People's 207C-5 January 29, 2003, 3:32 pm Brian Argain
•Calls about the Longview Washington Sighting
People's 207D-1 Diagram of calls
People's 207D-2 January 30, 2003, 9:09 pm From Rita Cosby
People's 207D-3 January 30, 2003, 9:18 pm From Heidi & Aaron Fritz
People's 207D-4 January 31, 2003, 8:28 am From Michael Reel
People's 207D-5 January 31, 2003 time unknown Voicemail from Jackie Peterson
People's 207D-6 January 31, 2003, 9:28 am Jackie Peterson
People's 207D-7 January 31, 2003, 10:02 am Longview WA Police Dept.
People's 207D-8 January 31, 2003 10:11 am Jackie Peterson
People's 207D-9 January 31, 2003 11:23 am Voicemails from Rita Cosby & Eric Olsen
People's 207D-10 January 31, 2003 11:25 am Eric Olsen
People's 207D-11 January 31, 2003 4:09 pm Checking voicemail
People's 207D-12 January 31, 2003 7:38 pm Amber Frey
People's 207D-13 February 1, 2003 10:08 am Amber Frey
People's 207D-14 February 1, 2003 10:55 am Amber Frey
People's 207D-15 February 1, 2003 1:06 pm Amber Frey
People's 207D-16 February 2, 2003 3:54 pm Voice message for Janey Peterson
People's 207D-17 February 2, 2003 5:03 pm Janey Peterson
People's 207D-18 February 3, 2003 9:08 am Voice message from Rita Cosby
People's 207D-19 February 3, 2003 2:39 pm Voice message for Joan Faria
People's 207D-20 February 3, 2003 2:39 pm Detective Jacobs, Longview PD
Prosecution Witness #105: Steven Jacobson, Stanislaus County DA Investigator
Prosecution Witness #90: Lydell Wall, Stanislaus County Sheriff's Dept.