Why Brocchini is blowing the case

Grogan enumerated 41 reasons why Peterson ended up as the suspect in the murder of his wife. During the prosecution's direct exam, some reasons were so innocuous as not obtaining a receipt for a gas purchase in Livermore.

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Michael Cordoza, Alameda defense attorney and media commentator.

Rather than the 41 reasons for suspecting Peterson, perhaps the focus should turn to the seven reasons Detective Allen Brocchini blew the case:

1. After an interview with Peterson in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, Peterson told Brocchini he and Laci were watching a Martha Stewart episode which contained something about "meringue." Detective Brocchini ordered the Martha Stewart videos from both Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, and claims to have never heard the word "meringue" on the Dec. 24 tape. This word clearly was heard on the Dec. 24 tape during opening statements. Brocchini's mistake led to an affidavit that led to a wiretap of Peterson's phones.

2. Brocchini knew about Peterson's relationship with Amber Frey on Dec. 30, 2002. On that day, Brocchini, along with Detective Buehler, met with Frey, purchased a phone-recording device and Frey agreed to tape all her conversations with Peterson. This interview to elicit Frey's cooperation took an hour.

3. In January 2003, Brocchini received a tip on the tip line about a recently purchased $250,000 life insurance policy on Laci Peterson. After investigating with Peterson's insurance agent, Brian Ullich, Brocchini was informed the tip was false. However, Brocchini passed on the information to the Rocha family around the same time that news broke of Frey's relationship with Peterson. The Rocha family notified the Modesto Bee, and on the morning of Jan. 17, 2003, an article about the life insurance policy headlined in the paper. Brocchini called Peterson's friend, Michael Richardson, at 6:40 a.m. and told him to read the article, to "plant the seeds of suspicion" and turn Peterson's friends against him.

4. Shortly after the Jan. 17 article in the Modesto Bee, Sharon Rocha, along with friends Sandy Rickard and Lynn Perreira met at Patty Amador's house. Detective Brocchini had convinced Sharon and her friends of Peterson's guilt. The women conducted a brain-storming session to itemize a list of all of Peterson's suspicious activities. Sandy Rickard testified that: "Sharon and I were at a friend's home and we were sitting down making notes on things that we remembered from the 24th. And when I recalled it at that time, I called Detective Grogan right away. Patty and Lynn were in the house. Sharon and I were sitting at the table. I was unaware of Patty making that phone call at that time. Sharon went in the other room to call the detective. When she was through talking to him she handed me the phone." That was the first night Sharon reported that Peterson said Laci was 'missing.'"

5. In March of 2003, Brocchini still had unfinished business with Peterson. Brocchini had obtained a series of 23 checks Peterson had written to himself from the Tradecorp account. Brocchini itemized the checks and sent the list to Ross Lee, the corporate attorney for Tradecorp. Brocchini told Lee if Tradecorp wanted to pursue possible embezzlement charges, he would put Lee in contact with one of Modesto's economic crimes unit, because: "this is a small but important piece of the overall investigation." Brocchini was out to ruin Peterson's business. Lee reported back to Brocchini on March 19, 2003, that no fiscal improprieties occurred.

6. Brocchini, working on another case, went to the home of Judge Began to have a warrant signed. Judge Began's husband is chief of a section in the Stanislaus County DA's office. Judge Began asked Brocchini how the Peterson case was going and Brocchini discussed the smell of bleach in the Peterson home. Bleach is the solvent of choice in the destruction of forensic materials. Although Brocchini denied he told Judge Began about the odor of bleach, Geragos asked Brocchini: "Is there any reason why you can think of that Judge Began would remember you saying that? Would she make that up?" Perhaps this is the origination of the rumored smell of bleach in the Peterson house.

7. The most incredible portion of Brocchini's testimony came from a questionable report. Matt Dalton and William Pavelic, a couple of investigators for Geragos, met with Greg Smith, a Realtor who showed them the Peterson warehouse building, which was for lease. The investigators heard that warehouse neighbor, Peggy O'Donnell, owner of "Adventures in Advertising," saw Laci at the warehouse on Dec. 23 and allowed Laci to use her bathroom since Scott's bathroom was almost inaccessible due to pallets of product. The courtroom listened to Brocchini's audio-taped dictation of the Peggy O'Donnell incident. However, when the actual written report was shown on the overhead projector, the crucial paragraph about Laci's presence at the warehouse on Dec. 23 was missing. When Geragos asked Brocchini how that particular piece of information got excised out of his police report, Brocchini replied: "I excised it." The insinuation was clear: Brocchini ignored any exculpatory evidence, and fully concentrated on incriminating Peterson. The reason why this was such powerful testimony is that Peterson's office has a window that looks out into the warehouse bay. The boat was in direct eyeshot through the window. Laci must have seen the boat.

To this day, when Brocchini's name is mentioned in the courtroom, some in the court evoke a slight involuntary jerk. Clearly, Brocchini has lost all credibility.

My speculation is that Detective Grogan may have been rescheduled to a later date due to Brocchini's disastrous testimony. Grogan had personally produced roughly 3,200 pages of the 40,000-plus pages of discovery. My suspicions were somewhat founded when DA Birgit Fladager ended her initial direct examination of Grogan with a checklist of items Grogan corrected before testifying. The list included amended reports with excised information, which had been restored.

Valerie Harris has followed the Scott Peterson trial since its beginning. She is currently working on a book, "The Peterson Trial: From the inside out."