Peterson boat sets sail for new home

"It's out of our hands now," said County Supervisor Jerry Hill who sits on the task force.

Although the short move doesn't ship the boat back to Stanislaus County where the crime originated, it does loosen the extra local security needed every time somebody went into the warehouse to book or retrieve evidence. Every time a person enters the facility, extra deputies must be called in because the boat is still considered evidence for future appeals and the chain of custody must be preserved.

The boat cannot be photographed and destroyed, as some large-size evidence is, without the approval of defense attorney Mark Geragos.

The Stanislaus County case was transferred to San Mateo County in January 2004 because of publicity surrounding the initial disappearance of pregnant Laci Peterson in December 2002 and the eventual arrest of her husband after her body washed up at the Berkeley Marina that April.

A San Mateo jury convicted Peterson Nov. 12, 2004 of first-degree murder for killing his wife and second-degree murder in the death of the 8-month-old male fetus the couple planned to name Conner. In December 2004, the jury recommended death and Judge Al Delucchi formally sentenced Peterson the following March.

The boat has remained in storage since the trial but local officials had no right to seek reimbursement, Sheriff Don Horsley said previously.

Earlier this month, however, the state Assembly passed a bill mandating counties that move a criminal trial to pay for all change-of-venue costs, including the storage of evidence.

Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, proposed the legislation after Peterson's trial left San Mateo County with an outstanding bill.<