Scott Peterson’s Mistress Amber Frey Testifies in Double Murder Trial
by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
August 11, 2004
Redwood City, CA (LifeNews.com) — Testimony in the Scott Peterson double-murder trial resumed Tuesday with Amber Frey, Peterson’s mistress. Prosecutors allege that Peterson’s affair with Frey was his motive for killing his pregnant wife, Laci.
Peterson’s defense team had argued that it was unlikely Peterson would kill his wife for a woman that he only had one date with, but Frey described a relationship that grew quickly.
The two met on a blind date on November 20, 2002. After dinner and dancing, the two had sex in Peterson’s hotel room. A second date followed on December 2, in during which Peterson carried Frey 22-month-old daughter during a hike.
The following day, Frey gave Peterson a car seat, the keys to her house, and asked him to pick up her daughter at day care. When Frey came home, they went to buy a Christmas tree and decorated it together.
Frey testified that she believed that Peterson wanted a future with her, stating that during the tree decorating he told her he was never "close to having children" with anyone else.
On December 9, after being confronted by the woman who introduced him to Frey, Peterson confessed that he had lied about never being married.
Frey testified that Peterson told her "he had lost his wife," and that "He said this would be the first holidays he would be spending without her." Frey said that she understood Peterson’s statement to mean that his wife was dead. When Frey asked if he still wanted a serious relationship with her, "He said absolutely."
Judge Alfred Delucchi met with attorneys prior to Frey’s testimony regarding "potentially exculpatory" evidence that surfaced last week and caused the two day trial delay. Details of the evidence we not discussed in court or made public.
Court TV reported that after Frey was identified in papers following Laci’s disappearance, one of her former lovers, Josh Hart, contacted police. Hart had dated Frey while he was separated from his wife, who like Laci, was pregnant with their first son. After living with Frey for six months, Hart reunited with his wife after their son was born, Frey filed a domestic violence report against Hart and alleged that he had stolen money from her.
Although he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and paid restitution to Frey, Hart claims the charges were trumped up. It is not known whether Hart will testify in the trial, as witness lists are sealed.
The prosecution has been attempting to put forth a case based on Scott Peterson’s erratic behavior, affair, and alleged secret purchase of a fishing boat that could have been used to dump Laci’s body into the San Francisco Bay.
Last week, an investigator from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department testified that he searched 5 hard drives from computers in Peterson’s home and office, and found a file detailing the currents in San Francisco bay, created about the time he researched ads for boats sales on December 7-8.
Prosecutors consider the timing critical because on December 6 the woman who introduced Peterson to Frey said she confronted him about being married. Peterson told Frey and her friend that he had "lost" his wife.
Geragos claims that the prosecution has no murder weapon, no eyewitnesses, and a case built entirely on circumstantial evidence. He has put forth explanations for Peterson’s strange behavior as well as theories that a satanic cult or men with a tan van abducted Laci on the morning of December 24, and attacked investigators for doing sloppy work and focusing on Peterson exclusively.
Scott has pleaded innocent to the double murder charges. The case has received national attention and spurred the passage of numerous unborn victims laws.
The laws allow prosecutors to charge criminals with two crimes when they kill or injure an unborn child as a result of attacking a pregnant woman.
Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, has become and outspoken advocate of Unborn Victims Laws, both for individual states and the entire nation.
President Bush signed a federal Unborn Victims of Violence Law in March. Rocha had voiced her support of the bill, and had criticized members of the Senate, including presidential hopeful John Kerry, who returned to Washington from the campaign trial to vote against the bill.
According to the National Right to Life Committee, 30 states have unborn victims laws, most recently Kentucky and Virginia, and 18 cover mothers and their unborn children.
