Coming to grips with the truth

I understand that many people are very convinced that Scott Peterson is stone-cold guilty.  Or as radaronline put it, "the nation's most cold-hearted killer since OJ." In an article published just today,  Radaronline reported excerpts from the Enquirer-produced documentary on Investigation Discovery channel.

I also understand that investigators and DA's have confidence in their cases -- I don't think it would be too healthy if they were always second-guessing themselves.  However, I think a great deal of objectivity and humility is essential in a job that has the authority to affect people's lives in a very profound way for a very long time.

Mark Smith is a private investigator out of Tracy, CA.  His website. Mark Smith Investigations, gives this summary of his investigative experience on the About Us page, emphasis added.

Hello, my name is Mark Smith and I'm the owner of Mark Smith Investigations.  I recently retired from a 28 year law enforcement career. I spent the first 10 years of my career as a municipal police officer and detective in the San Francisco Bay Area. I spent the last almost 18 years as a Criminal Investigator and Lieutenant of Investigators for the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office. While working with the District Attorney I worked assignments in Homicide, Major Narcotics, Public Corruption, and Mortgage Fraud. I was most recently assigned to the FBI's San Joaquin Valley Mortgage Fraud Task Force and was cross-designated as a Special Deputy United States Marshal. I worked real estate and mortgage fraud cases enforcing both State and Federal law and helped to prosecute cases in both State and Federal Courts.

While with the District Attorney I spent seven years as a Lieutenant supervising a staff of Criminal Investigators and civilian employees. I supervised the District Attorney Investigations staff that was assigned to the Scott Peterson murder trial and I coordinated much of the logistics for the trial. Also while with the District Attorney I conducted numerous internal employee investigations for misconduct as well as numerous pre-employment background investigations. I also worked many criminal investigations involving government employees, including cases involving police officers and elected officials.

Mark Smith has been commenting on the A&E Murder of Laci Peterson Facebook page.  To do so is his right.  He is no longer with the DA's office and the gag order was lifted by Judge Delucchi in March 2005 after the sentencing.

He frequently comments on the "lies" in the series, often attributing those lies to the Peterson family or the SPA group.  He expects people to take his word for everything he says because he "was there."  And he actually was there.  However, he does not have a good command of the facts and corrects the alleged lies in the series with his own lies -- or should I more politely say, his own misinformation.

One particular "lie" that he accused the SPA team of in last night's episode involved public knowledge of Scott's fishing route from the Berkeley Marina to Brooks Island.  He argues that the MPD did put out information early on that Scott went to the Marina, but it was a long time before the media was aware of Scott's claim to have been by Brooks Island.  Here is a major portion of his comment.

As a member of the SPA Team, I have collected a lot of information over the years, especially media coverage.  I don't know exactly what Smith means by "a long time," as time is relevant, but there was media coverage of the MPD search of the Brooks Island on January 4, 2003.  That was only 2 days after the MPD released photos of Scott's truck and boat and asked if anyone recalled seeing the truck or boat to call the MPD.

How do I know there was media coverage of the search of Brooks Island on January 4?  Because the Modesto Bee newspaper carried the story the next day, complete with pictures and an interview with Sgt. Ron Cloward, who was overseeing the search.  It's most likely that, given the intense coverage of this case, the TV networks showed footage of the search and identified where the search was taking place as it was happening on the 4th, and the newspapers followed up with details in the next morning's edition on the 5th.  The Modesto Bee certainly did.

The Modesto Bee article not only specifically stated that Scott launched his boat at the Marina but that he also "went northwest and fished around Brooks Island."  The Modesto Bee newspaper even included a map insert showing Brooks Island. 

Now you can determine for yourself whether 2 days is "a long time."