Dave on MSNBC - ABRAMS REPORT

[CCADP]

I believe it will be tonight between 6 and 7 PM for about 7 or 8 minutes. (Dave on MSNBCs ABRAMS REPORT speaking about Scott Peterson's CCADP website)

[CCADP]

Thought you would like to read this as well....we are sending it to Abrams Report and Catherine Crier as well as to Mr Crittendon and to the warden at San Quentin.

While appearing today on Catherine Crier Live and The Abrams Report; about Scott Peterson's webpage with CCADP; I had the opportunity to hear another guest; Vernell Crittendon of San Quentin's Information Office; speak about personal issues regarding Peterson's life on death row; including just released information about who San Quentin has determined compatable to share common areas and have access to Scott Peterson. Mr Crittendon on both shows itemized a list of a handful of prisoners who have this kind of access to Mr Peterson. On the second show of the evening; MSNBC's The Abrams Report; I interrupted before he repeated the name of one of the prisoners he had just mentioned on the Crier show...to ask him whether he didn't think that a prison officer releasing such detailed info in the public realm identifying by name supposedly dangerous offenders at San Quentin who might be able to do harm to Peterson. What would happen; for example if a person with a vested interest in doing harm to inmate Peterson were to contact one of the individuals mentioned; who has the ability to inflict harm against Mr Peterson....Mr Abrams and Mr Crittendon vehemnetly denied that this was a cause for concern or that any security issues were violated by Mr Crittendons comments. Actually; the situation I described is much more serious than I had time to address on the show.

Crittendon on Court TV's Catherine Crier Live. : "I've also went and taken a look at the exercise yard list and got a little background on the names of some of the folks that he is now; that we have now identified as being compatible with Scott Peterson there on death row." Here he listed a series of names and the backgrounds on the crimes these individuals were convicted of. One of the names was Ricardo "Richie" Roldan. CCADP also maintains a penpal request for Mr Roldan; as we have done for many years.

Evidently the San Quentin does little or no actual checking into 'compatibility' in the time they keep the prisoner in the Adjustment Centre determining where best to place him. I find it very very disturbing that as Mr Crittendon said; "folks that we have identified as being compatible with him"....is one that in March; upon Scott's sentencing; and before he was even transferred to San Quentin, took it upon himself to mail a letter to the NY Post; where; he said - " 3/21/05

“As for killing his wife, that’s his business—but for killing that child, well, he gots to suffer for that.” and " "He'll be a paycheck canteen punk to some crew," -Convicted murderer and Scott Peterson’s fellow San Quentin death row inmate Ricardo “Richie” Roldan, as reported in the New York Post, 3/20/05.

This story was reported in dozens of online blogs and webpages. One example follows :

March 20 The New York Post runs an article based in part on a letter received from death-row inmate Richie Roldan in San Quentin State Prison. In the story, Roldan suggests Scott Peterson may end up paying protection money to some of his fellow prisoners. "He'll be a paycheck canteen punk to some crew," Roldan predicts. The article states that inmates can purchase items at the canteen and at any of 13 approved vendors, including Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Music by Mail, JC Penney, and various mail-order companies selling gifts, office supplies, vitamins and supplements, electronics and typewriters. The San Jose Mercury News reports that jurors are considering writing a book together.

As far as I am aware; Mr Roldan is the only SQ prisoner who made any kind of public comment on Mr Peterson - particularly negative ones regarding Mr Peterson's personal safety. I am very concerned not only for the reasons mentioned above and for the public getting such detailed info on the personal comings and goings of Mr Peterson within the walls of San Quentin; but now we are even more concerned at the lack of knowledge and information/intelligence gathering at the facility regarding one of the highest profile cases in years when a political advocacy group in a foreign country is well aware of these issues when those public officers responsible for the security of the facility and the prisoners therein is unaware.

We intend to make the Peterson family; the Peterson defense team; San Quentins warden and other powers that be within the CA department of corrections aware of their potential liability as a result of their failure to adequetly ensure the protection of Mr Peterson while he is being held in a CA Correctional Facility.

[jojo29]

I saw both shows tonight and I saw Dave jump in. I don't think I have ever heard a prison official ever say anything like that before. I was kinda surprised that Mr. Abrams didn't see why it posed a problem.

[CCADP]

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036652/

and scroll down to ? Scott Peterson 'fan' club

not sure how long it will be there but you can see a bit of dave's appearance from last night.

[CCADP]

For the Warden and for Ombusdman Ken Hurdle at San Quentin. Copying to Catherine Crier; her producer; and the Abrams Report; investigator Tina Church; the Geragos law firm; and some other interested parties.

On further investigation regarding Vernell Crittendon (San Q's information officer)'s public comments and claims regarding Peterson that he made on the recent Catherine Crier Live and Abrams Report shows that I appeared with him on; we learned the following.

Mr Crittenden's claims that Peterson has a new 'self proclaimed nickname'; "Scottie2Hottie"; was one of the things that we found disturbing. The fact is that Mr Crittenden's claim that this was a 'self proclaimed nickname' was not only inflammatory and sensationalistic but an outright lie that does no credit to San Quentin as an institution or its information officer. Mr Crittendon claimed on air that this was something that he had learned directly from Peterson. The true story is below; via Amanda.

"Calling your bluff Vernell Crittendon
By: Amanda
On August 1st, 2005 Vernell Crittendon (San Quentin's official spokesperson) did an interview on Catherine Crier with Dave (Co-founder of CCADP). During the interview, Vernell stated he went to Scott's cell to see how he was adjusting. In the course of the conversation "allegedly" with Scott, Vernell tells the public that Scott has a new self proclaimed nickname. He stated the new nickname is Scott too Hottie. Vernell Crittendon is LYING! The administrators of SaveScottsLife.com received an email from an anonymous source stating Scottie is a hottie. Our administrators were quite amused and in an effort to keep Scott's spirits up and keep him laughing we sent him the copy of the email where I addressed Scott as "Scottie the Hottie, ha-ha (See email below)." Scott is far to humble of a person to have taken this comment seriously. I had put it in the context of a joke. I can guarantee you that Scott did not, as a first party, make this comment directly to Vernell. Vernell screens Scott's letters in an effort to obtain information to irresponsibly pass on to the media in an effort to make the public believe he has more of an intimate knowledge of Scott then he really does. So answer this question for me - Is Vernell Crittendon a public information officer for San Quentin or simply a media whore." - Amanda; webmaster of SaveScottsLife.com (unrelated to the CCADP website).

Now; while this person's final comment may seem extreme to some; this comes from a person whose mail has been read by San Quentin officials; then twisted and turned her words and attributing them to Peterson on North America wide television; in a way to make it detrimental to Peterson both pubicly and within the institution. It does speak to the negative effect this kind of playing to the media has on the professional reputation of San Quentin and its officers.

This sort of sensationalist feeding of the media circus that has grown up around this case serves no purpose to San Quentin; its officers; and certainly is not part of your mandate in housing and protecting the safety of the prisoners under your care; regardless of whether or not it is a case that the public and the media have an interest in.

As I mentioned in my note to you at the prison yesterday : "I am not sure how Mr Crittendon's comments claiming Peterson has nicknames like "Pretty Boy" and "Scottie2Hottie" are expected to further his comfort level amongst other criminals - some dangerous sex offenders - that he has been housed with. "

Again; what interest does San Quentin have in furthering the media circus that has become "The Peterson Show" ? How do the comments that Mr Crittenden has been making; unrestrained; for the past six months; benefit the prison and its mandate? How does San Quentin justify its information officer providing 6 months of personal information on 1 prisoner out of 600 death row prisoners in its care (not to mention the other hundreds in population). Not just tabloid information like what photos Mr Peterson might use to decorate his cell; comments he might make to staff on duty, critiques regarding his mail and correspondents; but on Monday evening he even went so far as to be naming exactly what prisoners have access to Mr Peterson; and what section of the prison he is being held in; and other information as to his movements within the facility.

We are in contact with the Peterson family and the Geragos Law firm representing them regarding this issue and look forward to hearing a response as soon as possible.

Dave Parkinson
Director; Canadian Coalition Against The Death Penalty
416 693 9112 [e-mail]

[CCADP]

ABRAMS: Coming up, convicted wife killer, Scott Peterson speaking out from death row...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABRAMS: It‘s been a while since we heard from convicted murderer Scott Peterson. Now it seems he‘s back with a message. Apparently he wants to say thank you. Canadian anti-death penalty organization is hosting a Web page for Peterson, featuring a personal letter straight from death row. In it, Peterson thanks his supporters for writing to him in prison, even if he‘s not able to write back.

Quote—“At mail call, I‘m encouraged by and enjoy hearing from people. I wish I could respond to express my gratitude and continue to correspond. However, people having sold my notes and sometimes fabricating content preclude me from doing so. It is an irritating unfortunate situation. I‘m tremendously appreciative of your kindness. It has such a wonderful positive effect upon our family.”

The group hosting the Web site says Peterson plans to publish similar public messages a few times a year. Joining me now is Dave Parkinson from the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty. They‘re running the Peterson Web page. And Vernell Crittendon, a San Quentin Prison spokesperson who often fills us in on what‘s happening at death row where Peterson has recently been moved from an adjustment center to an individual cell.

All right, thank you both to both of you. Appreciate it. Mr. Parkinson, let me ask you this first of all. It seems Scott Peterson appears more worried about someone profiting from his words than he does about putting the word out.

DAVE PARKINSON, HOSTS SCOTT PETERSON‘S WEB PAGE: Well, rightly so. I mean since the...

ABRAMS: It‘s more important you think...

(CROSSTALK)

ABRAMS: You think it‘s more important whether people are profiting than whether he can supposedly defend...

PARKINSON: Well, no, but certainly when people are selling his letters on eBay or memorabilia sites trying to make a profit from it and since this media fiasco began with us posting this on the Internet, we‘ve actually had some legitimate news organizations in the U.S. we won‘t mention who have offered us money for a copy of the letter.

ABRAMS: OK. Now, I know your organization provides space for a lot of death row inmates and you‘ve pointed out that some have been released who—the evidence turns out enough to allow them to be freed. But do you worry that championing Scott Peterson undermines your credibility in this sense, that a lot of these people had under-funded defenses. They weren‘t able to investigate. They didn‘t have proper legal defenses, and yet here Scott Peterson had one of the most expensive lawyers in the country.

PARKINSON: (INAUDIBLE) but certainly as you‘re well aware, it‘s primarily a circumstantial case, if not purely a circumstantial case with little or no forensic evidence, DNA, witnesses, what have you. In many of the instances where we had someone who was wrongly convicted, almost 12 people now who originally wrote us from death row proclaiming their innocence, who have since been released and exonerated through DNA or other means, at least in those cases they had a jailhouse snitch‘s testimony. They might have had some fabricated evidence. They might have had wrong eyewitness statement.

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: But the fact of the matter is...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: ... they were much more guilty than a primarily circumstantial case...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: ... where there‘s little or no physical evidence whatsoever.

ABRAMS: But you know, you‘ve done a lot of these cases. Don‘t give me the nonsense about circumstantial cases. The bottom line is circumstantial cases are the strongest cases out there. Eyewitnesses, jailhouse snitches are the type of testimony that lead to overturned verdicts because they‘re so unreliable.

PARKINSON: In some instances they do. In other instances there have been many individuals who have been executed...

ABRAMS: Right.

PARKINSON: ... on primarily the same evidence that we‘ve had people exonerated on. We‘re not taking the stance of guilt or innocence in Mr. Peterson‘s case. We‘re primarily allowing him a forum to do that on his own and he has maintained his innocence since day one.

ABRAMS: Yes, I know, but you‘re also by saying it‘s an entirely circumstantial case and we have all these people who are released with this...

PARKINSON: But it is.

ABRAMS: It may be...

PARKINSON: Even...

ABRAMS: It may be, but circumstantial cases as you know, I‘m not saying that this is the strongest case I‘ve ever seen, but circumstantial cases are the strongest types of cases.

PARKINSON: Oh in some instances they can be. But even Judge Delucchi three-quarters through the trial said if there is a conviction, it‘s in the apple of the lawyer‘s petrie dish. Even he acknowledged the fact that there were so many issues that couldn‘t fully be substantiated that it is (INAUDIBLE) lawyer‘s dream and there are going to be issues brought up and he is certain to get an appeal down the road if these issues are properly addressed...

ABRAMS: Yes, he‘ll get an appeal...

PARKINSON: But again, we don‘t—we‘re not talking about his guilt or innocence on the page. We‘re allowing him to do that as we do for 500 other death row prisoners, primarily in the United States but also in several other countries around the world.

ABRAMS: All right, Vernell Crittendon, what is Peterson up to these days?

VERNELL CRITTENDON, SAN QUENTIN PRISON SPOKESPERSON: Well good afternoon, Dan. And I just wanted to comment on one statement that was made and that is here in the state of California, no inmate on death row has been released because of DNA testing. So I just thought I‘d want to clarify that.

And Scott Peterson is doing well on death row. Was up in death row today just prior to coming to this broadcast and he‘s taken down the picture off of his wall, he and Laci at their wedding. He‘s now put another picture up, which is a picture of he and Laci on vacation sitting out on a beach. He seems to be in very good spirits.

We now have him moved over to the east block where we house the lion share of the death row inmates. And we actually began to identify inmates that are compatible with Scott Peterson that he‘ll be spending the rest of his life with. I thought you might find interesting, just a couple of them I wanted to share with you. One was a man named Ivan Gonzalez (ph) from San Diego who came in 1995.

He had sexually molested a 4-year-old multiple times and at the point of death, 50 percent of her body was burned. He has another gentleman that he‘ll be with is Mike Martinez (ph). Mike Martinez (ph) took a knife and a hammer to a woman and killed her and then repeatedly...

PARKINSON: Mr. Crittendon, is it not a serious breach of security to be releasing details—for the public relations officer at San Quentin to be releasing such detailed information on Mr. Peterson‘s comings and goings within the present facility? I understand it‘s one thing to advise the public how he‘s checked in, fingerprinted, and escorted to a cell, but getting into such detailed information as to who he‘s hanging out with in the prison, does that not compromise Mr. Peterson‘s security and as an official representative of the California Department of Corrections...

CRITTENDON: No...

PARKINSON: ... are you not concerned that giving such detailed information...

ABRAMS: Let him respond.

PARKINSON: ... may compromise...

ABRAMS: All right, Vernell, your response.

CRITTENDON: No, it does not. He is in—only in death row and he is put in with a group of death row inmates that are all compatible with Mr. Peterson. And there will be no other inmates that will have access to him. Of the 637 that we have on death row in the state of California, none of them...

PARKINSON: And now the public at large knows who those individuals are and they know who is in contact with Mr. Peterson within the facility. So how does that not compromise...

CRITTENDON: And there‘s almost 65 of them that are...

ABRAMS: But how—wait, how does it compromise security? I don‘t even understand theoretically how it would. I mean he‘s on death row.

PARKINSON: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well...

PARKINSON: Certainly by knowing who he is hanging out with...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKINSON: ... at any given time within the facility, you know going to yard, the detailed information that‘s been provided...

ABRAMS: All right.

PARKINSON: ... it makes it a lot easier for individuals on the outside who wish harm to Mr. Peterson...

ABRAMS: Yes.

PARKINSON: ... to contact individuals on the inside who may have close contact...

ABRAMS: All right. All right. I‘ve got to wrap it up...

PARKINSON: ... it‘s a serious breach of security.

ABRAMS: Yes, yes, all right.

CRITTENDON: Well I differ with you. I don‘t call that...

(CROSSTALK)

CRITTENDON: ... to be a serious breach...

(CROSSTALK)

ABRAMS: I‘ve got to break here. We‘ve got some quick breaking news here that the shuttle deputy program manager has just announced that they are going to try and fix two pieces of a gap filler dangling from the spaceship there on a space walk on Wednesday. As you know, the Discovery suffered some damage shortly after takeoff and the question has been, are they going to have to go out there in a space walk, which can be risky and try and repair it? The answer is yes they are going to do that. The space walk will begin on Wednesday at 4:14 a.m. Eastern Time.

Take a break. We‘ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABRAMS: That does it for us tonight. We ran out of time with that breaking news, weren‘t able to do the “Rebuttal” and the “OH PLEAs!”, but again that breaking news was that there will be a third space walk on Wednesday to try and repair the damage to the Discovery. That has never been done before, a space walk where they have actually tried to repair something like this.

Coming up next, “HARDBALL” with Chris Matthews. See you tomorrow.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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