The murder trial of Scott Peterson will shift gears Wednesday.
Judge Alfred Delucchi will hear arguments Wednesday morning from an attorney representing news organizations. The media groups want a closed-door motion and discovery hearings between lawyers and the judge to be open.
When testimony resumes, Modesto police Detective Henry "Dodge" Hendee is expected to return to the witness stand.
During Tuesday's testimony, the detective described some of the evidence he collected from the Peterson trial, including a "claw hammer" and cement chunks from the back of Peterson's truck.
Prosecutors have alleged that Peterson used home-made cement anchors to weight his wife's body down.
Defense lawyers maintain someone else abducted Laci Peterson and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay to frame her husband.
An evidence technician who examined Scott Peterson's body for scratches or bruises shortly after his pregnant wife vanished testified Tuesday he found nothing unusual.
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Doug Lovell of the Modesto Police Department said he wanted to see whether there was evidence Peterson had been involved in a struggle, as police became increasingly suspicious he was responsible for Laci Peterson's disappearance.
"He was asked to strip down to his shorts," Lovell said.
"Did you notice any scratches or marks or anything on his body?" asked defense lawyer Mark Geragos.
"No, I didn't," Lovell replied.
The examination was done more than a week after Laci Peterson was reported missing on Christmas Eve, 2002.
Prosecutors at Peterson's double-murder trial first called Lovell to testify about video and pictures taken of Peterson's home, part of their strategy to show how meticulously authorities documented the suspected crime scene.
But in yet another example of how defense lawyers have tried to score points using prosecution witnesses, Geragos used Lovell to bolster his claim that scant evidence implicates Peterson.
Prosecutors are still mounting their case that Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto, Calif., home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, trucked the body to San Francisco Bay in a large tool box and plunged it overboard from a small boat.
Defense lawyers maintain someone else abducted Laci Peterson, held her captive while police focused on her husband, then dumped her body to frame Peterson after the media widely circulated his alibi -- that he was fishing alone on the bay when his wife disappeared. The remains of Laci Peterson and her fetus washed up near where Peterson said he was out on the bay.
Peterson, 31, could face the death penalty if convicted.
Following Lovell's cross-examination Tuesday, prosecutors continued to detail the minutia of the search for evidence, calling a detective who said he found suspected blood samples inside Peterson's truck. Detective Henry "Dodge" Hendee told jurors he collected samples near the driver's door handle and on the steering wheel.
It has not been publicly established whether the substance was blood. In prior testimony, relatives said Peterson told them he had cut his hand and that police would likely find blood in the truck.
Hendee said he also collected as evidence a "claw hammer" and cement chunks from the back of Peterson's truck. Prosecutors allege Peterson used homemade cement anchors to weight his wife's body down.
Hendee later testified he was assigned to search the nursery in the Petersons' home "for any possible evidence ... body fluids, blood, anything that was out of the ordinary that might indicate there was a crime."
He said two pairs of black women's maternity pants in a bag inside the home raised his suspicions, but did not elaborate. Peterson told authorities his wife was wearing black maternity pants when he left to go fishing the day he said he last saw her.
Prosecutors then turned to their only piece of physical evidence presented so far -- a single strand of dark hair found on a pair of pliers in Peterson's boat.
Hendee said he noticed the hair while examining and collecting items from the warehouse where Peterson stored the 14-foot Gamefisher. During Peterson's preliminary hearing, experts testified that DNA testing indicated the hair likely came from Laci Peterson.
Prosecutors claim Laci never knew about the boat, that her husband purchased it weeks earlier for the sole purpose of disposing of her body.
Peterson insisted he told his wife about it and a witness told police Laci Peterson visited the warehouse after the boat had been purchased. That, the defense contends, could explain how the hair got on the boat -- if it indeed belonged to Laci, a point the defense has not conceded.
Legal analyst Dean Johnson told NBC4 that Tuesday was a field day for the defense and that the testimony is a no-lose situation for them. "If there is trace evidence in the Peterson household -- Laci's hair, fibre, Laci's blood ... so what, it was Laci's house," said Johnson. "If there's no trace evidence, they can just say 'Look, no trace evidence,' obviously the prosecutiuon was wrong and this was not the scene of a crime," said Johnson.
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