Experts with no expertise

Truth Be Told facebook page provides a good summary of the points made in Scott's brief about two so-called experts that testified at trial.  If you aren't already following this facebook page, I highly recommend it.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/scott-peterson-case-truth-be-told/experts-with-no-expertise/479717512041034

The DAs are not dummies -- they knew, as we now know, that there was a lot of evidence that showed that Laci went into the Bay after December 24, 2002 -- not only did that open the way for someone else to have put her there, it made it virtually impossible for Scott to have done so.  The only way they could cover up, or mitigate this exonerating evidence, was to create the illusion, through phony experts, of a direct link between Scott and the recovery sites.

This isn't "All About Amber"

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/07/scott-peterson-appeal-amber-frey-ex-mistress-laci

Hopefully, the 2nd trial judge will be courageous enough to rule that the Amber testimony has nothing of value to explain Laci's disappearance and only served to prejudice the jury against Scott -- so Amber can sit on home on the couch and watch it all on TV.

However, I do hope Ron Frey is right when he said that he hopes that at the 2nd trial, we'll finally learn what happened to Laci.  That will only ensure to win Scott's full acquittal.  Hopefully, we don't find out that somehow his daughter had something to do with it, or some knowledge of what went down.  But it's quite a frequent occurrence that a witness at the trial that convicted an innocent person was actually involved in some manner.

Death penalty tossed in killing of rocker's mom

This is very good news for Scott -- as this is a critical issue in his appeal, as noted in the article.

The California Supreme Court on Monday tossed out the death sentence of a man convicted of murdering rock guitarist Dave Navarro's mother and her friend nearly 30 years ago — a ruling that could affect the cases of Scott Peterson and other death row inmates.

The unanimous court said the trial judge presiding over the trial of John Riccardi improperly dismissed a prospective juror because of her conflicting written responses in a questionnaire asking her views of the death penalty.

The court said the judge was required to delve deeper into the juror's death penalty views and determine if she could impose the death sentence is she believed prosecutors proved their case.

Peterson and a few other California death row inmates are appealing on similar grounds.

Peterson was convicted of killing his wife Laci, who was 8 months pregnant with their son, and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. Investigators believe Peterson either strangled or suffocated his wife.

Peterson has always maintained his innocence and claims in his appeal filed earlier this month that the trial judge presiding over his 2004 trial wrongly dismissed 13 jurors who said they opposed the death penalty but could follow the law and impose it if warranted.

In 1984, a narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that reversal of the death penalty is automatic when potential jurors are dismissed because of their written answers to questions about their views on capital punishment.

Peterson's attorney Cliff Gardner argued in his appeal that the mistake occurred in the Peterson trial and may be the basis of appeals of a few other death row inmates.

The last California execution occurred in 2006. Lawsuits in federal and state courts have forced a temporary halt to executions.

In its ruling Monday, the state high court upheld Riccardi's murder conviction. Once a noted body builder, he was convicted of killing former girlfriend Connie Navarro in a jealous rage. Her friend Sue Jory also was killed. Navarro's son played guitar for the band "Jane's Addiction."

It's now up the California attorney general to determine if another penalty phase will be held or if Riccardi is taken off death row and sentenced to life in prison.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said that ruling "compels the reversal of the penalty phase without any inquiry as to whether the error actually" led to an unfair trial. The chief justice wrote separately to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the automatic reversal in such cases.

The juror in question, identified only by the initials "N.K." in the ruling, wrote on the questionnaire that she supported California's reinstatement of the death penalty and stated that it is not used enough.

But later in the questionnaire, the juror gave answers that suggest she opposes capital punishment.

"I'm afraid I could not feel right in imposing the death penalty on someone even though I feel it is nessasary (sic) under some circumstances," N.K. wrote.

Cantil-Sakauye wrote that the trial court judge should have questioned her more instead of dismissing her as he did.

The chief justice said the juror's conflicting answers meant either she "feared that actually being on a death jury would be difficult or uncomfortable, or she was advising the court that she could not impose a decision of death, even if the evidence warranted its application. From the questionnaire alone, we cannot possibly determine which scenario prompted her answers."

Riccardi was arrested in Houston eight years after the killings when "America's Most Wanted" aired a segment on the 1983 crime. A tipster recognized him and alerted authorities.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/16/death-penalty-tossed-in-killing-rocker-mom/#ixzz20rPDxMqG