Soulmates -- say these types of words to each other:
"I, Michael, do take thee Kathleen, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To live
together in marriage. I promise to love you, comfort you, honor you,
keep you -- for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in
health -- and forsaking all others… be faithful only to
you, so long as we both shall live."
Soulmates -- make these types of promises to each other. Some of you may
have made that type of promise to another person at one time in the past.
Michael says that Kathleen is his soulmate. His lawyer told you that, yesterday.
Did he honor her? Did he keep her? Did he forsake all others? And was he
faithful only unto her? You all know the answers to those questions. The
answer to every one of those questions -- is "no".
Now. That 9-1-1 call.
You know, it is what brought us all together. We've spent a long time
together now. It's almost like we know each other to a certain extent, because
we've spent so much time together, in a difficult situation. It's been difficult
for all of us. We're tired, all of us. We're ready for it to be over. We've
been here since May. You all have been here at least since July.
The defense contends that that 9-1-1 call began a tragedy for Mr.
Peterson. The state contends that the tragedy for Kathleen began long before
that 9-1-1 call… long before that. Part of that reason is because of
people like Brad. But now, we're gonna come back to Brad…
The 9-1-1 call did result in a number of things: firemen, EMS personnel,
Durham police officers, Corporal McDowell -- they all ended up there together,
and they enter 1810 Cedar Street with the assumption that they've been given
accurate, truthful information from the 9-1-1 call -- because they need accurate
and truthful information to render effective assistance to Kathleen.
Immediately upon entry into that home -- and upon seeing what they saw in
that stairwell, and you've seen it too now, or at least seen some replica
of it -- flags started going up. It's been a long time since you've heard
their testimony, but I contend to you that all of them, all of the
EMS workers, all of the firemen and every officer that was first on the scene
told you… that something just didn't add up.
Something wasn't right…
There was too much blood to be a fall. The blood was too high up on the walls
for it to be a fall. The blood was dry. That was suspicious because, as you
know -- and Corporal McDowell told us about this very clearly -- she heard
that call come out of her radio, where at first… Mr. Peterson told the
9-1-1 personnel, that she was breathing -- within moments, he's talking to
them again and he saying that "she's not breathing"…
So when the personnel walk into the home… the firemen, the EMS personnel,
the police officers… it was like -- this doesn't add up. …There
was a reason it didn't add up. …So they go into the home. You know what
they saw. You've seen it a gazillion times. And then what happened?
Well, what did they have to contend with? Well first of all they're having
to deal with Mr. Peterson. He's acting hysterical. They're trying to get
basic information from him, you saw that EMS -- I believe you saw it or you
surely can see it, that ambulance report -- most of it's blank on the front
because Mr. Peterson wouldn't give them any information -- information they
needed to know. So they've got that to contend with.
Well then there's Todd. He's the one with the attitude. He's belligerent.
He won't follow simple instructions to be quiet. He won't stay in one place.
You heard Jim McVay and McCallop tell you, they had to keep calling Sergeant
Wilkins in -- Todd wouldn't be quiet. Todd would not follow simple instructions.
The man with the attitude. They had to contend with that. While they're trying
to do their work they having to deal with Todd, who'd been to drinking…
at the party.
Then they got Todd's friends that didn't even bother to come testify in this
trial -- Christine and Heather. You had to rely on a piece of paper as far
as their testimony. They got to contend with them. …They've got neighbors
that are trying to come in.
They've got Ben -- well Ben's drunk. Ben is just plain drunk. Ben Maynor.
They've got to contend with that drunk person. Then they -- They've even
got growling dogs to contend with. They've got a 10,000 square foot house,
and a lady -- poor lady lying there, deceased, and it appears to them that
she's been dead for some period of time, but then, they're confused about
this call they've received. So that's what they start out with.
But now Corporal McDowell does the right thing. Because she has been
trained well. And she is intelligent and she is competent. She calls
for help. She calls C.I.D. She gets in touch with the sergeant. She knows
they're gonna need some extra people, because something's not right...
She does exactly what she's supposed to do.
Now you've heard so much about crime scene contamination. Was this crime
scene perfect? Well, you know -- a lot of you put down in your jury
questionnaires that you watch "C.S.I." or programs like that. You probably
watch "Forensic Files" on the c***t TV channel. There is no such thing as
a perfect crime scene. There's no such thing.
Police officers, when they go to a crime scene, have to take the scene as
it is. Sometimes it might be an outdoor scene where it's raining -- snowing
-- it might be a situation where there's a body that's found that has been
there for a long period of time. Days -- months. Crime scenes are of all
different types -- all over this county. But you take a scene, and do the
best you can with it.
There's been no evidence in this case that anything that was done to that
scene, altered the walls -- nobody was walking on the walls. There's been
no evidence, no credible evidence, that anybody did anything to the stairwell.
Now to hear them tell it, there was Luminol that was done in one portion
of that stairwell. Well if you believe that, then you're just gonna have
to believe that Duane Deaver is just a liar. And he has no reason
in the world to come up here and lie to you. So there's been no credible
evidence that anything was done to alter that stairwell.
And there's been no evidence that even if somebody, was even near the stairwell,
or even in the general area, that anything would have changed Duane Deaver's
results… the results that he found in this case.
To evaluate the crime scene however, you have to think about what was done
prior to the arrival of the EMS workers, the firemen and the police
officers.
Well nothing was really done to refute the testimony of Dr. Bouldin. I argue
to you he's one of the most important witnesses that you heard from in this
case. Dr. Bouldin told you that in his area of expertise -- and he is
a qualified expert with impeccable credentials -- that the average time for
those red neurons to be found, would be 2 hours, that he's never seen any
-- thing less than 2 hours. What that means to you is… Kathleen was
unconscious for at least 2 hours. That gives Mr. Peterson at least
2 hours to do things, before the 9-1-1 call is placed.
Now, Mr. Rudolf mentioned to you yesterday, that the State contends that
he staged the scene, well there were some things that were
done. You can call it whatever you like -- but Mr. Peterson had at least
2 hours to do some things before help arrived.
What did he do?
Well, as you know, he took his socks and shoes off. Now isn't that a strange
thing for a grieving spouse to do? And you know that he did because
they're in the photograph. Why in the world would he take his shoes and socks
off? And I can't answer that question, but he obviously did. He threw them
down here in the hallway.
What else did he do? Well, we contend to you that he did try to clean
up.
This WINDEX bottle is in a strange place -- and you all remember State's
Exhibit P-150? There was a reason we presented this to you. You heard from
all the witnesses, that knew anything about this house, that all the cleaning
supplies were in that utility room. Look at how that WINDEX bottle is placed
under that cabinet. You see it on top of, some type of implement that looks
like it would fall over, if given the opportunity. It's in the wrong place.
That's not where it should be.
What else did he do? Well we contend to you that he positioned her body,
because you have seen -- you've seen enough pictures of Kathleen lying there
-- her body does not look like it is in a natural position.
We also know that he did something with those wineglasses. Now, you
remember this photograph P-139? One clean and one dirty glass. Have you asked
yourself why that would be?
Well there's no question that apparently they were drinking some alcohol
that night. But we argue to you that the reason there's -- they both should
be dirty if they're drinking throughout the evening, hopefully, we can agree
upon that -- the reason one is clean and one is dirty, I contend to you,
is that somewhere along the way the other dirty one -- probably during the
assault, or perhaps she was holding it when she was assaulted -- the dirty
one that she had -- got broken.
That's why one is clean and one is dirty. But in order for him to cause people
to try to believe that they'd been drinking, that her alcohol somehow caused
her to loose her balance and fall -- there needed to be two glasses there.
And you know how you can know that, too?
You saw the two bottles of alcohol that were open? Both of those bottles
are the type of alcohol that would hold a clear color of alcohol --
a clear color of alcohol -- not some type of pink or shaded alcohol.
That's why there's really no mystery to that alcohol smell down that drain,
because there's another empty alcohol bottle somewhere -- perhaps in a trash
can or somewhere -- that held this pink alcohol. And I contend to you that
part of the staging meant that Mr. Peterson, in order to put some alcohol
in the bottom of these glasses -- the other two bottles were empty -- he
grabbed another bottle of alcohol -- where that bottle is we don't
know -- poured the alcohol down the drain and left a little bit of residue
in these glasses, because otherwise this pink liquid doesn't add up…
not to the bottles that were found…
What else did Mr. Peterson do? Well, we know that he tried to wash his hands
in the sink. You saw the blood on the side of the sink. You saw the blood
-- or you know that there was blood in the laundry room sink -- or at least
the Luminol tested positive there.
And somewhere he put a weapon. Was it the blowpoke? We can't be absolutely
certain, and we're not required to be absolutely certain, but that weapon
went somewhere.
But now, why did he do all these things? And you need to keep in mind, we're
not dealing with the average individual over here. We're dealing with a
fictional writer. Some people even say he's a good fictional
writer. He is a person who knows how to create a fictional plot -- and in
this case, he has tried to create one. He tried to sell it to the EMS
workers… didn't work -- not ultimately -- he tried to sell it to the
firemen, he tried to sell it to Corporal McDowell, to Connie Mack Bullock,
to Pascal, to Art Holland. He tried to sell it to his family… and in
this courtroom, he's tried to sell it to you -- a fictional plot.
[MISSING
SECTION]
If he's so sad, you all have watched his demeanor here in the courtroom…
[OBJECTION] He's been laughing during his own first degree murder trial.
If he's so sad, what does he find -- there's nothing -- there's nothing funny
about being on trial, or there shouldn't be anything funny about being
on trial for first degree murder.
[MISSING
SECTION]
Mr. Rudolf said that the state had experts that engaged in "junk science"?
What do you call spittin' ketchup across the courtroom? Throwing red ink?
What do you call that? Did that seem scientific to you? I call that
junk science… spittin' ketchup over there towards the State's table…
Now what else has the defense contended to you? Well according to them, there's
some type of conspiracy theory that's going on here. Between my boss, the
elected District Attorney, the Durham police department, I guess Chief Chambers
(sic) is in on it somehow, the S.B.I. -- let's go ahead and get Robin Pendergrass
(sic) into it… the medical examiner's office -- Everybody's in cahoots!
He started telling you about that in jury selection. Remember when he said,
"Well… Mr. Peterson's really down on the police department." Look at
all these articles they've marked into evidence. Oh, he says bad things about
the DA's office, you know, he's critical of everybody, and he's looked upon
worse than other people… You remember. Every single one of you were
talked to about that in jury selection, he started way back in May -- Mr.
Rudolf did.
They're just really not gonna give him a fair shake. So we're just gonna
frame him for murder..? This defendant is so arrogant that he thinks that,
State employees -- government employees that work for your state now, for
your courthouse, that work in this courthouse -- this very courthouse in
our county -- he is so arrogant that he thinks that we would all risk our
reputations, our integrity… [OBJECTION] … our jobs and even
our freedom. For him? He's that important? I think not. But that's just how
ridiculous some suggestions have been to you.
Let me assure you that there are other cases. There are other people
that are prosecuted, and he's not so special that we're willing to risk
everything for him. [OBJECTION]
Now a lot's been said yesterday about Elizabeth Ratliff. First of all, let's
get one thing straight… Do you honestly think that I went to
OUTBACK with my two small children, and gave a refresher course on
the Elizabeth Ratliff situation? As an act of "southern hospitality" -- these
people traveled all the way from Germany from different states. Was there
anything wrong with going out to eat with a group of people -- to socialize?
Do you honestly think I'm going to discuss a murder case at OUTBACK
with my two small children? I think not. That's just how ridiculous some
suggestions have been to you.
[STANDING OBJECTION]
Why did the State take up the time, trouble, effort… of exhuming the
body of Elizabeth Ratliff? You know it began with Margaret Blair and Rosemary
Calloway.
When they first heard of how Kathleen was found, that she was deceased, they
did contact Art Holland because something didn't add up -- again.
And that was before they even knew all the rest of the details. Now yesterday,
Mr. Rudolf made fun of the similarities between the two cases. He made fun
of each one individually. You cannot take them individually. You have to
look at the totality of the circumstances, and then you have to compare the
totality of the circumstances to the totality of the circumstances in this
case. Now we have prepared a chart of some of the similarities, and we'll
go through these briefly.
Both victims found at the bottom of the stairway
Large amount of blood present at both scenes
Both victims are female
Both victims in mid 40's
Both victims had a close, personal relationship with the defendant
Both reported severe headaches before death
The time of day was similar
They both had social lives with Mr. Peterson
Peterson was the last known person to see both of them alive
No evidence of forced entry
No evidence of property taken
The defendant was the one that reported to authorities that the death was
by accidental fall
Both die due to head wounds
Same number of scalp lacerations
Same general location of scalp lacerations
Both victims had defensive wounds
Both places blood spatter was high up on the wall
The defendant was in charge of their effects afterwards
He was in charge of each estate
He received money and goods after each death
There were no eye witnesses to either death
No weapon was recovered after the death
Now each one of these individually, Mr. Rudolf made fun of, but I argue to
you that you have to take them in totality. Totality. And these were the
things that Rosemary and Margaret didn't even know. And what then was discovered?
Well, once Dr. Radisch did that autopsy, their suspicions were confirmed.
She did in fact die as the result of a homicide. And once this was discovered
-- now you know why this was presented to you.
Do you really believe that lightning strikes twice in the same place? Do
you?
Do you really believe that this was a huge coincidence? Maybe you do.
This defendant knew the blueprint of how to make this type of situation look
like an accidental fall, because it had worked -- one time, and he tried
to make it work again -- but it didn't work this time.
Mr. Rudolf has made a whole lot about this blowpoke, the one that mysteriously
appeared in the courtroom two days before the defendant rested. Now he talks
about somebody waiting to do something. On September 21st on Sunday, they
were -- apparently they met with the judge. You know what "ex parte" means?
"Ex parte" means that we didn't know anything about it. It means the State
wasn't -- nobody let the State know anything --
[STANDING OBJECTION]
At any rate on September 21st on Sunday, two days before the defense rested
their case, they called their photographer from Chapel Hill. Now the
photographer, I argue to you is once again another person who exaggerated
their testimony. Why is that? Do you remember the judge had to keep sustaining
my objections because he wanted to be an expert in cobwebs, dust, and dead
bugs. He kept trying to say -- it's true! -- he kept trying to say that because
the passage of time he took these photographs.
A dead inch worm. Got that photograph. Cobwebs. Cobwebs can form over a short
period of time. You probably know that just from your own home, or from your
yard or your deck or something like that. Oh here's a little dust. It looks
like a spider leg here. This was suppose to be type of -- something to make
you think that blowpoke had been there since December 2001 I guess.
Here's a little bit of dust. I don't know about you, but dust collects on
my coffee table overnight. Here's a cobweb -- that's significant. Here's
a little bit of …goo or something.
But on September 21st on Sunday they've got a photographer over there because
all of a sudden -- we found that missing blowpoke! Well ladies and gentlemen
-- first of all what happened to this? There's been no explanation about
that. Where is the end of it? If you had a piece of junk like this in your
house wouldn't you just throw it away? Granted, apparently that garage was
filthy, but wouldn't you just throw it away?
We don't really know what this is. You've been given no information about
who found it -- it surely wasn't the photographer -- when it was found --
why it was there? So I argue to you that defense exhibit 280A is just a piece
of nothin'. Nothin'.
We have never told you that we are absolutely certain that it was the blowpoke
that killed Mrs. Peterson. We do believe if it wasn't the blowpoke
that Candace had given them that it was something similar to that and you
heard from expert testimony why we believe that. Dr. McElhaney... Dr. Radisch...
You've heard why we believe it was something of that sort.
But now, the defense contends they didn't know anything about a blowpoke
until -- what'd they say? May? Well, that must mean Ruth Brown is a liar.
'Cause she told you that back in October of last year -- she's the lady that
works in the property room -- the blowpoke was sitting right there. But Dr.
Lee -- with his magnifying glass, I guess -- and all the rest of those people
they brought over there from out of state, they were there at the police
department, the items were there. Ruth brought out what they asked for. And
they talk about us pulling something last minute when they dared to pull
that piece of evidence out in front of you, two days before they rested?
Does that make common sense to you?
What else did the defendant contend? Remember he had -- Mr. Rudolf had those
ten things yesterday? Number three or number four, I guess, was about…
Mr. Peterson's grief. Is he really a grieving spouse? Why didn't he -- if
she really died and he found her like that -- if he really found her prior
to her death, which is what he said on the 9-1-1 call, why didn't he try
to give her CPR? You ever ask yourselves that? There's been no information
about that.
If he is really a grieving spouse why did officer McCallop see him checking
his mails on his computer, while he was in that study? Would you really be
checking your email? Would you really be checking your emails if your spouse
was lying out in the hallway with blood everywhere?
Why did he make Candace arrange all the funeral things -- funeral arrangements?
He distanced himself from that. Why should her sister have to do this? Why
couldn't he do it himself? She wasn't even from Durham, and she was having
to do everything. Why, while the rest of them are grieving the loss of their
sister and their loved one, why is he calling photographers over there to
take pictures of the stairwell and boarding it up? You don't find it strange
that he has had his deceased wife's blood in his stairwell, right there?
You all saw it. For eighteen months . . .
[SECTION
MISSING]
. . . He thought he would refute people that were actually there.
How about Dr. Bandak? Well, the reason we called that, or I termed that…
animation, a cartoon, is because, as you remember I asked him… didn't
he have some hardware or software that he could put on his computer that
would actually reflect body movements and things? He does have that accessible
to him, but instead he chose to create a frame to frame animation, re-enactment,
whatever you want to call it, of the most likely scenario.
Now, if you are really thinking about believing that that is the way that
it might have occurred, ask yourself this -- "How many times has Mr. Rudolf
said what she had on board?" But that's what he calls it. What evidence have
you heard that Kathleen was experiencing any medical condition that night?
Christine and Heather who testified from a piece of paper, since they didn't
bother to come, their information was, or at least Christina's was, that
they're snuggled up, or they're on the couch, or they're watching some movie.
You've heard that a zillion times now. Have you heard anything about her
having a headache that night?
Had you heard anything from Helen Prislinger? I asked Helen. Well did she
have slurred speech? Did she act drunk? Was she high? You didn't hear anything
about any information that she had slurred speech, that she was walking funny.
You heard no information about any medical condition that would have caused
her to just collapse in a stairway and just fall down like that animation
showed.
Mr. Rudolf apologized to you for saying he was gonna do things in his opening
that he didn't? Well -- who did he tell you he would present to you in his
opening, that he did not -- regarding this subject matter? Dr. Green.
…Where's Dr. Green?
Dr. Green was supposed to come in here and tell us… remember this from
the opening? Mr. Rudolf said, he'll tell you that Michael called and said,
"Oh my goodness -- Kathleen's lost her vision!" "Ocular migraine!"
Where's Dr. Green?
We did not hear from him. And I argue to you that an apology isn't gonna
work! Maybe Dr. Green could have given us some insight, but see you've been
given no information that Kathleen was in anything other than good health
on December 8th of 2001.
But now according to Dr. Bandak we've got the most likely scenario.
Okay. You remember when I had him up here and I asked him, "Now Dr. Bandak,
if this thing happened even sort of like they've shown on that screen about
15 times, why didn't she have bruising to her buttocks?" Well you know he
couldn't answer that one too well. Maybe he hadn't thought about that.
Maybe some of you have fallen before, maybe some of you know somebody that
has fallen before. Think about that re-enactment… How many time did
you see her buttocks hit the steps? Don't you believe she'd get some bruises
to her buttocks? I argue to you, just like Mr. Rudolf says -- the absence
of things is very important? -- the absence of bruising to her buttocks is
very important. Because if she really did fall -- even somehow like
that video, that re-enactment -- she would have had bruising to her buttocks.
That's one reason you know it didn't happen that way.
Now let's take a look at agent Deaver, Dr. Radisch and Dr. Butts.
I don't think Mr. Rudolf mentioned much about Dr. Butts. Wonder why? Impeccable.
Professional. Has performed over 5,000 autopsies. And now you got to give
it to him, that seems like that would be just a horrible occupation for the
average person, but boy they're good at it.
Agent Deaver, Dr. Radisch and Dr. Butts, you know what? They're state employees
just like most of us who work here at the courthouse, and they work for your
state. They work for your state, North Carolina. Not Chicago, Illinois --
not Connecticut. They work for us. They gave you truthful and accurate
information. And you know what? They didn't get paid, not one penny extra,
for coming in here. Deaver should have -- my goodness what he had to go through
on the witness stand but no, he didn't get an extra penny.
They might not have written books that they're signing and autographing for
everybody. They might not travel to all the rest of the states and give seminars
and lectures. They're not allowed to actually. Its not that they're not good
enough to -- it's that they're not allowed to. They might not appear on Larry
King Live or c***t TV. But you know what? They are tried and true. Tried
and true, 'cause they work for us… for our state.
[OBJECTION]
They wouldn't come in here and give you inaccurate information. They're not
going to do that.
[OBJECTION]
Now who was another one of the State's experts that I argue to you, gave
you very accurate, very reliable information? Dr. McElhaney. And yesterday
Mr. Rudolf really seemed to agree that Dr. McElhaney knows what he's talking
about. His credentials, I argue to you are impeccable. What did he say in
his report about this case?
First of all, he said that there were six considerations that he looked at
to establish the cause of the scalp wounds. First -- their location. Two
of the lacerations started about one and a half inches from the top of the
head. Falling backwards, it was his opinion that it would be very difficult
to achieve direct contact with that part of the head.
Secondly -- the length of the lacerations. He testified to you that several
lacerations extended over the occipital curve or bulge, and that a straight,
stiff edge alone would not cause a pressure ridge long enough to cause such
a long laceration. Rather, he said, the head would have to roll down the
impacting surface, and he said that this could happen with a blunt object
-- like a blowpoke, or something similar to that -- impacting the head and
causing the head to flex forward.
Thirdly -- the severity of the lacerations. The severe lacerations were caused
when the scalp was rapidly compressed against the skull, such that the underlying
tissue doesn't have time to move laterally out of the way
Fourth -- the number of the lacerations. In his opinion there are at least
five separate lacerations, and each would require a separate impact. The
head could not bounce on the steps sufficiently to reach the critical velocity
required to lacerate. He testified that for this bounce to cause the severe
lacerations that occurred on the head, it would have to bounce at least three
feet high. One reason that couldn't happen is because the head is attached
to the body. Also there was not going to be enough energy exchanged for that
to happen.
Fifth -- the direction of the lacerations. He told you that three of the
major lacerations were vertical -- or up and down -- and that direction was
not consistent with contact with the rounded edge of a stair-step or a flat
surface.
And lastly -- energy. He talked a lot about energy. He said that it would
take a certain critical velocity to cause the scalp to split, and the absence
of a skull fracture or brain injury is more likely to occur from contact
with a light-weight object than with the relatively heavy head striking the
step or wall at a velocity sufficient to split the scalp.
Now with those six things in mind, I argue to you that he was a very important
witness to refute the defendant's contention that Kathleen died as the result
of a fall. Dr. McElhaney told you that it just simply -- under his field
of expertise -- could not have happened that way.
Now, who else did the defense bring to you? Major Palmbach.
Well, according to Major Palmbach we need to brace ourselves in Durham, cause
we've got problems. We need to call a special session of the City Council.
Call Mayor Bell. Get the City Manager involved.
We need to fire all the police officers in Durham. We're just gonna have
to get rid of all of them. Pascal, Bullock...all of them are just gonna have
to find another job...Art... they're all fired. We're just gonna have to
hire some new ones -- from Connecticut, I guess, according to him -- cause
the people we got are just incompetent! They don't know what in the world
they're doing. They've not been trained properly. And maybe if we can't get
all our officers from Connecticut, we'll bring Palmbach and Dr. Lee down
here to train our people.
Do you honestly believe that our police department -- that all our police
officers are just incompetent? ...That they don't know what they're doing?
Do you not believe that they were doing the best they can?
They didn't have an interest in the outcome of this case. You know, it would
have been easier for everybody if it was an accident. It sure would've been
easier for them. They could just declare it an accident and go on to the
next call. Go on to the next call -- break-in, burglary, robbery, rape --
whatever else was gonna happen on the streets of Durham that night, and move
on with business.
Look at all they've had to endure on this witness stand. Look how they had
to suffer during cross-examination. But I argue to you that our police department
here in Durham is competent. They do know what they're doing, and
they did the best they could. They did the best they could to try to figure
this thing out, and do their job as effectively as possible.
Now, there are -- I'm sure there are nagging questions in your mind about
certain things in this case. One of those, most likely is motive,
and I argue to you -- Mr. Hardin mentioned this to you in opening -- that
there are certain things that the State contends converged, that particular
night or that particular weekend. And no matter how Mr. Rudolf wants to paint
it -- that they have all this money and all this net worth -- there
were some problems financially. You know that now. And although you
heard the financial information a long time ago -- there were problems. $143,000
in credit card debt? Do you think that's normal?
[Sentence
Missing]
You saw those IRS forms -- or the income tax forms, he wasn't making any
money. Now there she is, the bread-winner, going off to work every day, and
look at the work environment she was in. Of course she was stressed out --
she was having to fire her own friends. She was having to fire her own friends,
and then worry about her own job. Of course there was a financial strain
there. No wonder. Can you imagine how she felt? When she's the bread-winner
and she might lose her job?
And then there's Brad. …People like Brad… Now…
Do you really believe that Kathleen knew -- that Mr. Peterson was bi-sexual?
Does that make common sense to you, that it was okay with her to go to work
while he stayed at home and communicated by email and telephone with people
he was planning on having sex with? Does that make sense?
Go on off to work honey, I'm gonna be talking on the computer with some of
my boyfriends…
Does that make sense to you? With his soulmate going to work? Does it make
sense to you? And you know, these emails are so nasty they can't even be
read out loud -- the language in them's so filthy. Did you notice that one
of them was sent at, about three o'clock in the -- at 3:36 in the morning?
Oh. So to hear Mr. Rudolf tell it yesterday, it was okay for Kathleen to
be sleeping in their marital bed while Michael Peterson is at the computer
emailing Brad. Does that make common sense to you? It was okay for her to
be getting her sleep so she could go to work the next day, for him to carry
on like that?
And this isn't just a computer relationship. I know you don't need to see
these naked pictures again, but you know don't forget Brad. It's not just
a computer relationship, like a chat-room. He's got his picture -- he's
downloaded his picture… front-side up and backside up -- naked. And
he's so interested in Brad that he had Brad mail him the only picture of
Brad you can look at -- cause at least he's got his clothes on. Brad's emailing
him his picture in his uniform, getting all pepped up before they're gonna
meet on September 5th.
And you remember what was said about that? I asked Brad what they were gonna
do -- he told you. And I don't mean to offend anybody but he did say
they were gonna have anal sex.
Do you really believe that was okay with Kathleen? In one of these emails,
you can tell it was something on the sly, because he mentions about how they've
got to communicate in some way that I'd argue to you would surely make you
believe that Kathleen didn't know. If you are confused at all about Brad,
as painful as it is, you need to request these emails go back there in that
jury room, and refresh your memory on the content of them.
Because as you know, the only reason that meeting didn't take place was because
of Brad. It wasn't because of Mr. Peterson. He was fired up and ready to
go. Even got the price right.
And you honestly believe Kathleen Peterson knew about that? Would have approved
of that? Can you imagine? How in the world would she hold her head up high
at her arts council meetings and the… all the corporate atmosphere she's
in… Do you honestly think that she would have approved of that type
of activity? And it wasn't just Brad.
You saw the rest of the things on his computer. Once again, these things
are so filthy we can't even show them on TV. Filth. Pure T filth. This isn't
people involved in a relationship. This is any which-a-way. Absolute -- this
is called hard core porn. Do you think she approved of this type of activity
while he's off at work, or sleeping? I argue to you that doesn't make sense.
And that's not the way that soulmates conduct themselves. That is not.
Now, in a moment Mr. Hardin will be addressing you and he'll argue to you,
more about how the state contends that we believe that these things converged
together for this horrible, horrible -- horrible event to have occurred on
December 9th.
In the beginning on my argument I told you that… or I agreed with you
that, we all are tired, and I'm getting ready to sit down and let Mr. Hardin
take over.
We do thank you. All of our lives have been disrupted. But it's worth it,
to find the truth and to seek justice. Not just for Michael Peterson, to
seek justice for Kathleen. She's the one that died a horrible, brutal death.
Nobody deserves that. Not even a DOG deserves to die like the way she had
to die. Can you imagine the pain and suffering she endured? You can just
look at the pictures of the back of her head and just -- try to fathom that
thought.
But you know, we will be finished with this case one day. Believe it or not.
We're all gonna get back to our normal lives, hopefully… And the day
you return your verdict, whatever day that might be, you'll go home... in
the evening, you'll ready yourself for bed. Before you go to bed you'll probably
have a conversation with -- either your maker… your child… maybe
even your pet… your spouse… your significant other -- and then
you'll lay your head down and close your eyes… and begin to fall asleep
. And you know as long as you've done what you believe is right in this case,
nobody will fault you for that. Not a person in this courtroom ,
not a person watching TV -- nobody will fault you for that, as long as you
know that you have done the right thing.
I argue to you, that after you consider this case fully, you consider all
of the evidence, and after you apply the evidence to the law and you use
your common sense -- that the only right thing for you to do in this
case, is to return a verdict of guilty. Michel Peterson is guilty of 1st
degree murder.
Thank you so very much for your attention.
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