Defense asks for delay in Peterson trial
Attorney has conflict with another trial set to start next week
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Attorney Mark Geragos and Scott Peterson are shown in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
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REDWOOD CITY, California (CNN) -- Defense attorneys for Scott Peterson, who is accused of killing his wife and their unborn son, filed a motion Friday asking for a delay in the case.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos said in the documents filed at the San Mateo County Superior Court that he is representing another defendant in a murder trial that is starting Tuesday in Pasadena.
In the motion, he said his request to have the other trial delayed was denied, and that the trial is expected to last 10 days.
This week, the prosecution and defense in the Peterson case filed a joint motion asking for a two-week postponement of the trial, which was due to begin Monday.
Instead, Judge Alfred Delucchi will hear motions in the case, including one in which the defense asks that the judge first appointed to hear the trial -- Judge Richard Arnason -- be reinstated.
The Stanislaus County District Attorney's office used a peremptory challenge to have Arnason removed, saying it did not believe it could have a fair and impartial hearing before him.
Other motions to be considered include a joint request from both sides asking that cameras be excluded from the courtroom and a motion from the defense to sequester the jury.
Peterson is charged with killing his wife and their unborn son in December 2002.
Laci Peterson was last seen on Christmas Eve 2002. The bodies washed up separately on the shore of San Francisco Bay in April 2003. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Peterson told police that he was fishing in the bay the day his wife disappeared and had launched his boat from the Berkeley Marina, a few miles from where the bodies washed ashore.
Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Al Girolami decided to move the trial from Modesto, where the Petersons had lived, saying media coverage could taint the jury pool.
