Post by CCADP on Aug 7, 2005 12:13:55 GMT -5
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.
END
Content and programming copyright 2005 MSNBC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2005 Voxant, Inc. ALL RIGHTS
(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.
END
Content and programming copyright 2005 MSNBC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2005 Voxant, Inc. ALL RIGHTS
