Lessons from the Peterson case: Never utter anything ambiguous about anyone who might end up dead
The press is ecstatic - ah, sweet memories of the fabled OJ trial are temptingly dancing through their heads! A really decorative murder case! A pretty corpse (before she expired, I mean), a goodlooking scumbag of a suspect and the heartbreak of a dead baby! What better makings of top ratings!
The Laci Peterson murder case - now playing on all tv channels - is one that makes me eternally happy that I don't watch TV and tend to avoid the crime news stories. But unfortunately I'd have to wear a brown paper bag over my head constantly to avoid all exposure, and not wanting to alarm either the neighbours nor the men in white coats I haven't yet quite pulled that one. But I have to admit, I am seriously considering doing it.
I shall now pretend you don't know what I am talking about (you're either Amish, were just released from a really strict monastry or nunnery or are not living in the US) : Pregnant woman in the SF Bay area vanishes, her body and the baby's are found in the bay couple of months later. Husband is found to have had a girlfriend all along and is charged with double murder. A death penalty case.
The press is having a field day out there. A TV movie was released before the trial even started. A book (perhaps more than one, I am not up to date). Countless stories in the press, and not only in the rags. The web? If you google "laci peterson" you come up with an astounding 135 000 entries. A radio station polled their listeners - Is The Husband Guilty? Or Not? and put the results out on a billboard on the road to the town where the trial is held (by the way, most people think he did it). It's a veritable media circus, just as we expected.
So I think I made it clear I don't much careabout the case, but some things penetrated even my mental force shield. Like the sheer bloody number of family witness statements for the prosecution - it seems every single family member with any blood ties to the dead woman was able to remember something damning that the husband said. What impressed me most about these statements is that none of the witnesses came out with them in the first month after the woman was missing but only remembered them when suspicion turned to the husband. Now, I'd not want to be quoted saying that the family of the dead woman is lying or anything (I am sure they are not), they desperately need to make sense of the death of someone they loved, and the husband seems quite a scumbag. But hell, the stuff they now remember as suspicious!
Couple of months before the woman went missing, her sister asked the husband if he was ready for fatherhood. He replied, "I was kinda hoping for infertility." Now, if I ever heard a good answer, there it is. I believe it is exactly what a lot of men feel in the face of impending fatherhood (and if you'd quiz the women, a lot of them might aggree as well). And now go on, read through what the family remembered as suspicious behaviour on their son-in-laws part. These people have powers of memory that far surpass mine (and most everyone elses as well, I suspect). I mean, I can't exactely remember what I ate for dinner the day before yesterday (this is actually a lie. It was salad. It always is salad) much less who called me when, saying what more than a week ago.
Well, I better hope and pray my better half never goes missing or is found floating face down in the drink. My past remarks would surely condemn me flat out. I do remember death threats ("if you ever do THAT again, I'll KILL you"), suddenly less idle than I thought; my scheming behaviour as witnessed by others, like insisting that he finally get a really big life insurance to keep me save should he keel over. I thought it was kinda cute at the time (well, I wasn't completely sober and I had just read a book about poverty in old age. So there. Perfectly reasonable). And to my utter horror I realized that I am not able to give a coherent story about what Mick did this evening without contradicting myself several times. What did he wear? Was it the black leather or the white lace thingie? I just can't recall!! Oh my god, that's near as good as proof I invented the whole story, isn't it?
(Mind you, my husband is in excellent health so far. He hasn't yet gotten that big life insurance I've been hinting at. Anyway, I plan to be very careful about details in the future. My story will be watertight and won't be confusing and contradictory. I learned my lesson here) .
By the way, while it is hard to forsee the outcome of a trial, this has never stopped people willing to wage a bet. I checked it out and there are odds for any possible outcome of the Peterson trial - not guilty, mistrial, guilty and then the sentencing specifics. I actually liked the coldness of it.
The Laci Peterson murder case - now playing on all tv channels - is one that makes me eternally happy that I don't watch TV and tend to avoid the crime news stories. But unfortunately I'd have to wear a brown paper bag over my head constantly to avoid all exposure, and not wanting to alarm either the neighbours nor the men in white coats I haven't yet quite pulled that one. But I have to admit, I am seriously considering doing it.
I shall now pretend you don't know what I am talking about (you're either Amish, were just released from a really strict monastry or nunnery or are not living in the US) : Pregnant woman in the SF Bay area vanishes, her body and the baby's are found in the bay couple of months later. Husband is found to have had a girlfriend all along and is charged with double murder. A death penalty case.
The press is having a field day out there. A TV movie was released before the trial even started. A book (perhaps more than one, I am not up to date). Countless stories in the press, and not only in the rags. The web? If you google "laci peterson" you come up with an astounding 135 000 entries. A radio station polled their listeners - Is The Husband Guilty? Or Not? and put the results out on a billboard on the road to the town where the trial is held (by the way, most people think he did it). It's a veritable media circus, just as we expected.
So I think I made it clear I don't much careabout the case, but some things penetrated even my mental force shield. Like the sheer bloody number of family witness statements for the prosecution - it seems every single family member with any blood ties to the dead woman was able to remember something damning that the husband said. What impressed me most about these statements is that none of the witnesses came out with them in the first month after the woman was missing but only remembered them when suspicion turned to the husband. Now, I'd not want to be quoted saying that the family of the dead woman is lying or anything (I am sure they are not), they desperately need to make sense of the death of someone they loved, and the husband seems quite a scumbag. But hell, the stuff they now remember as suspicious!
Couple of months before the woman went missing, her sister asked the husband if he was ready for fatherhood. He replied, "I was kinda hoping for infertility." Now, if I ever heard a good answer, there it is. I believe it is exactly what a lot of men feel in the face of impending fatherhood (and if you'd quiz the women, a lot of them might aggree as well). And now go on, read through what the family remembered as suspicious behaviour on their son-in-laws part. These people have powers of memory that far surpass mine (and most everyone elses as well, I suspect). I mean, I can't exactely remember what I ate for dinner the day before yesterday (this is actually a lie. It was salad. It always is salad) much less who called me when, saying what more than a week ago.
Well, I better hope and pray my better half never goes missing or is found floating face down in the drink. My past remarks would surely condemn me flat out. I do remember death threats ("if you ever do THAT again, I'll KILL you"), suddenly less idle than I thought; my scheming behaviour as witnessed by others, like insisting that he finally get a really big life insurance to keep me save should he keel over. I thought it was kinda cute at the time (well, I wasn't completely sober and I had just read a book about poverty in old age. So there. Perfectly reasonable). And to my utter horror I realized that I am not able to give a coherent story about what Mick did this evening without contradicting myself several times. What did he wear? Was it the black leather or the white lace thingie? I just can't recall!! Oh my god, that's near as good as proof I invented the whole story, isn't it?
(Mind you, my husband is in excellent health so far. He hasn't yet gotten that big life insurance I've been hinting at. Anyway, I plan to be very careful about details in the future. My story will be watertight and won't be confusing and contradictory. I learned my lesson here) .
By the way, while it is hard to forsee the outcome of a trial, this has never stopped people willing to wage a bet. I checked it out and there are odds for any possible outcome of the Peterson trial - not guilty, mistrial, guilty and then the sentencing specifics. I actually liked the coldness of it.
posted by An Opinionated Woman @ 9:32 PM
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