Joke begins Frey's cross-examination
Ex-mistress says friend told her Peterson sought 'soul mate'
REDWOOD CITY, California (CNN) -- Scott Peterson's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, was in a joking mood Monday as he began the long-awaited cross-examination of Peterson's former mistress, Amber Frey.
After Frey took the stand, Judge Alfred Delucchi called for Geragos to begin the questioning.
"No questions, your honor," he said. But he quickly added, "Just kidding." Laughter filled the courtroom.
The levity was lost after Geragos began questioning Frey about her introduction to Peterson through her friend, Shawn Sibley. Frey testified that Sibley said Peterson was looking for a "soul mate."
He also questioned her about their first date in November 2002, including the amount of alcohol that was consumed.
Frey, a 29-year-old massage therapist and single mother of two, told the court that Peterson told her a string of lies as their relationship progressed, including denying he was married.
Peterson, 31, is accused of killing his 27-year-old wife, Laci, and their unborn son on or around December 24, 2002. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted. Frey testified that she did not hear from Peterson from December 23 to December 30.
Frey contacted Modesto police detectives after learning that her lover was not only married but a suspect in his wife's disappearance.
Jurors have spent several days listening to taped phone conversations between Frey and Peterson -- tapes Frey made at the request of the police.
The tapes are a big part of the prosecution's case because it has no murder weapon or eyewitnesses to present.
Delucchi ruled Tuesday that evidence about any relationships Frey had before she began dating Peterson would not be admitted during her cross-examination.
But the judge said anything mentioned in the phone conversations "is fair game."
Frey ended her relationship with Peterson in a February 19, 2003, call in which she told him: "I think it would be best if you and I didn't talk any more until there's a resolution."
Frey testified she told police that she had sex with Peterson at least three times, once unprotected.
She said she suggested to investigators that she tell Peterson that she was pregnant to draw him out in their conversations. They declined to have her use the ruse.
At one point Geragos tried to get Frey to admit she had not been completely honest with investigators about the taped conversations.
Frey testified that she had recorded all her phone calls with Peterson and turned the tapes over to police.
But Geragos contended that in written reports investigators expressed concerns that Frey was not telling them about all of the calls because a wiretap of Peterson's phone indicated there were more calls than she had reported.
Frey said the Modesto police department never talked to her about the issue.
Outside court, Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred, called Geragos' cross-examination "a PowerPoint presentation without any power and without any point."
"I can't tell where he's going. I can tell you he's gone nowhere," said Allred, who has clashed repeatedly with Geragos during the case. She said Frey was "a model witness."
Frey's cross-examination is scheduled to resume Tuesday.
Tracking Peterson by phone
Earlier Monday, Mary Anderson, a wireless fraud expert from AT&T, took the stand to talk about whether data on mobile phone calls could show where Peterson was at the time of the call.
She testified that no system is completely accurate and although AT&T detected the calls coming from certain towers, it is not a completely accurate way to track someone.
On cross-examination by Geragos, Anderson conceded that even when someone is standing in one location, the cell towers can switch.
This furthered the defense's contention that that cell phone reports are not an accurate means of proving someone's whereabouts.
Prosecutors allege that Peterson killed his wife, who was eight months pregnant, in their Modesto home, then drove to San Francisco Bay and dumped her weighted body from a small boat he had purchased weeks earlier.
The decomposed remains of Laci Peterson and the couple's fetus washed ashore in April 2003, not far from where Peterson said he launched a solo fishing trip on Christmas Eve, the day she was reported missing.
CNN's Susan Richter contributed to this report.
