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Move Delays Scott Peterson Murder Trial

Posted on: Saturday, 24 January 2004, 06:00 CST

The Scott Peterson double-murder trial has been postponed for at least a week as the case moves to the San Francisco Bay area and court officials pick a judge.

On Friday, Judge Al Girolami set a Feb. 2 hearing in San Mateo County Superior Court, where he ordered the case moved after ruling that it would be difficult to find unbiased jurors in Laci Peterson's hometown.

The delay came a day after prosecutors exercised their option to remove a retired judge appointed to oversee the trial, which was to begin Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso wrote that Judge Richard Arnason is biased and prosecutors didn't think they could get a fair trial for Peterson in the slayings of his wife and unborn son.

Normally, the move would have guaranteed the removal of Arnason, but defense lawyer Mark Geragos challenged the timeliness of the motion Friday and questioned whether it was filed in the proper court.

Girolami said he would consider the issue and hear arguments at the hearing next month.

Peterson, 31, faces the death penalty if convicted of two counts of murder for allegedly killing his pregnant wife, Laci, in their home and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. In April, her remains and those of the fetus washed ashore two miles from where her husband said he was fishing on Christmas Eve 2002 when she vanished.

The former fertilizer salesman was moved Friday from the Stanislaus County Jail to a cell in the lockup adjacent to the San Mateo courthouse in Redwood City.

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