Peterson's ex-mistress set to testify
Test results pending on tarp found near body
REDWOOD CITY, California (CNN) -- Taped telephone conversations between Scott Peterson and his former mistress, Amber Frey, are expected to make up the heart of testimony when Frey takes the stand in Peterson's double murder trial Tuesday morning.
Frey began taping calls in December 2002, after meeting with detectives less than a week after the disappearance of Peterson's pregnant wife, Laci.
"The prosecution can argue that there is a motive for murder, and we'll see Scott Peterson wormed his way into her life and into her heart," said Frey's lawyer, Gloria Allred.
Allred described her client -- a 29-year-old massage therapist and a single mother of two -- as nervous but prepared. Her testimony is expected to last at least a week.
Peterson is charged with killing his wife around Christmas Eve 2002 and dumping her body into San Francisco Bay.
The remains of Laci Peterson and the couple's unborn son washed ashore separately in April 2003, not far from where Peterson said he launched his boat on a Christmas Eve fishing trip.
Peterson could face the death penalty if convicted.
Proceedings came to an unexpected halt last week, when Judge Alfred Delucchi stopped proceedings to allow the defense to test newly discovered evidence. Peterson's lawyer, Mark Geragos, has said the new evidence could help his client, and Delucchi said the trial could not go forward until tests were complete.
A source close to the case said the tests involve a plastic tarpaulin found near Laci Peterson's body. The source said police at the scene described it as smelling as if a body had been wrapped inside.
The tarp came from a Canadian cement company that used it to cover pallets of concrete mix for work on a bridge near where the body turned up.
Prosecutors have argued that Peterson wrapped up his wife's body at a warehouse near the couple's home in Modesto, carried it to a Berkeley marina in his boat and dumped it in the bay from there.
His defense team argues that if the tarp being tested had held Laci Peterson's body, it would undercut the prosecution's theory of the case.
CNN's Ted Rowlands and Rusty Dornin contributed to this report.
