Peterson trial site narrowed to four counties
Three in Bay Area, one in Southern California
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Judge Al Girolami will decide where the trial will be held after a hearing set for next Tuesday.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- The likely location for the murder trial of Scott Peterson, charged with killing his wife and their unborn child, has been narrowed to four counties, a California state court official said.
Three of the four are in the San Francisco Bay Area, the spokesman for the state courts administration said. The fourth is Orange County in Southern California, according to the state spokesman.
The three Bay Area counties -- Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara -- are favored by Peterson's trial judge, Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami, who approved a change of venue from Peterson's hometown of Modesto last week, agreeing that pretrial publicity could taint the jury pool there. (Full story)
Peterson attorney Mark Geragos had urged that the trial be moved to Los Angeles County.
Girolami will decide where the case will be tried after a hearing set for next Tuesday. Another judge may be assigned to the trial, depending on the eventual site chosen.
Peterson, 31, is charged with killing his 27-year-old wife, Laci, and their unborn son. At an arraignment hearing in December, Peterson denied the charges. (Full story)
Laci Peterson was last heard from Christmas Eve 2002. She was eight months pregnant. Scott Peterson, a fertilizer salesman, told police he left to go fishing that morning and she was not there when he returned late that afternoon.
In April 2003, the bodies of Laci and the couple's unborn son washed up on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, just miles from where Scott Peterson said he had been fishing.
He was arrested days later in San Diego and brought back to Modesto to face murder charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Peterson's trial is scheduled for January 26, but most likely will be postponed because of last week's decision to change the location of the trial.
On Wednesday, Peterson's defense attorneys are expected to ask that the case be dismissed, a request expected to be denied.
