Peterson trial delayed until Monday
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REDWOOD CITY, California (CNN) -- A judge Tuesday recessed Scott Peterson's double murder trial until Monday just as the defense was to begin presenting its case.
After meeting behind closed doors with attorneys for both sides, Judge Alfred Delucchi said that some legal issues needed to be worked out and sent the jury home. The defense was to begin presenting witnesses Tuesday.
Scott Peterson, 31, is charged with murder in deaths of his pregnant wife, Laci, and the couple's unborn son. Their bodies washed up separately along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in April 2003, not far from where the defendant said he had been fishing the day his wife disappeared on December 24, 2002.
He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Peterson's attorneys have suggested someone else abducted Laci Peterson and dumped her body into the bay to frame their client.
The attorneys had been expected to present their case in about six to eight days. They were not expected to call Scott Peterson to the witness stand.
Delucchi said closing arguments are scheduled to begin November 1, and he expects to instruct the jury two days later.
Legal experts have said they believe defense attorney Mark Geragos' first move will be to seek a dismissal due to insufficient evidence, but Delucchi is expected to deny that motion, as he has similar requests in the past.
When the trial began in June, Geragos promised to smoke out the real killers, but legal analysts said his plan has probably changed.
"I don't think we're going to hear Mark Geragos even trying to solve the murder of Laci Peterson," said former San Mateo County prosecutor Dean Johnson. "Ultimately, this will be a battle of the experts."
Prosecution experts have testified that the couple's unborn son died when Laci Peterson did, but defense experts are expected to theorize that the baby was born weeks after Laci disappeared.
CNN's Rusty Dornin contributed to this report.
