The meringue segment on Martha Stewart Living
Scott told Brocchini, during the interview at the police station on the night of December 24th, that he watched a little bit of Martha Stewart with Laci.
PETERSON: Eats right when she wakes up, otherwise she gets sick, 'cause she's pregnant. Ah, I laid around in bed longer, I got up at I don't know, 8 o'clock probably or so. Ah, showered ah we were watchin' her favorite show, Martha STEWART. Watched a little bit of that.
BROCCHINI: You didn't watch the whole thing though?
PETERSON: No.
BROCCHINI: You remember what part you saw?
PETERSON: I don't know, I don't know what they had on, some cooking deal, I don't know, cookies of some sort, they were talking about what to do with meringue.
Brocchini obtained the video of the show that aired on December 24, but didn't notice the short meringue segment. He did note that the show that aired the previous day did discuss meringue. Brocchini provided this information to Detective Jacobson, who then used it as part of his affidavit to obtain a warrant for a wiretap, as evidence that Scott was lying.
DISTASO: Detective, let me show you these two items. First start with number 81. Is that -- is that a tape of a Martha Stewart show that aired on the 23rd of December, ‘02, that you watched?
BROCCHINI: Yes, it is.
DISTASO: And the same thing with the transcript of A. Is that a transcript of that particular tape?
BROCCHINI: I didn't have this on the -- on the 17th of January when I watched that tape, but I have since watched it.
DISTASO: Okay. And looked at the transcript?
BROCCHINI: Yes, I have.
DISTASO: Okay. Is the transcript a substantially accurate transcription of the conversation -- or the contents of the tape?
BROCCHINI: Yes, it is.
DISTASO: All right. And the same thing with number 82 and 82A. Again, is 82 a show that aired on December 24th, oh two, of Martha Stewart?
BROCCHINI: Yes, it is.
DISTASO: And again, you didn't have this transcript when you watched the show; is that right?
BROCCHINI: No. Well, I didn't have it on the 17th of January when I watched it, but I have watched it and compared it to the transcript since.
DISTASO: Okay. And this transcript in 82 A, is it a substantially accurate transcript of the contents of number 82, the show?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
DISTASO: Okay. Now, when you watched these shows originally, what date did you watch them?
BROCCHINI: On January 17th of 2003.
DISTASO: Okay. How is it -- how did you watch it?
BROCCHINI: I plugged it in a VCR, sat in a -- a lunch room and watched it.
DISTASO: Okay. Were you familiar with the Martha Stewart show?
BROCCHINI: I've heard of it. I never watched it before.
DISTASO: Okay. Up 'til December -- up 'til January 17th of 2003, had you ever seen a Martha Stewart show?
BROCCHINI: I'd never watched one. I'd flipped through channels and seen it on there, but I'd never watched one.
DISTASO: The -- when you watched the show on January 17th, what were you looking for, if anything?
BROCCHINI: I was looking for Martha Stewart baking with meringue, or something similar to that.
DISTASO: Okay. And on the 23rd, so December 23rd of oh two, does Martha Stewart bake something with meringue or use meringue?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
DISTASO: And did you notice that when you watched the show on the 17th?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
DISTASO: On the 24th, the show on the 24th, when you originally watched the show, did -- did you see any reference to meringue?
BROCCHINI: No.
DISTASO: All right. The -- when you -- have you since gone back and watched those shows again?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
DISTASO: And did you find out you made a mistake?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
DISTASO: What was your mistake?
BROCCHINI: That the word "meringue" was mentioned in -- on the 24th.
DISTASO: The -- and in the transcripts there of 81 A and 82 A, did you go through and mark the references to meringue on each show?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
DISTASO: And is there a difference in -- how many times, if you know -- I don't know if you know this, but how many times is meringue mentioned on the 23rd? If you need to look at the transcript, you can.
BROCCHINI: Eight.
DISTASO: How many times?
BROCCHINI: Eight times.
DISTASO: Okay. And how many times is meringue mentioned on the 24th?
BROCCHINI: One time.
DISTASO: All right. When you watched the show originally on the 24th, I mean of the -- when you watched the show of the 24th, okay, you originally watched it on the 17th, correct?
BROCCHINI: Of 2003.
DISTASO: Did you hear any mention of meringue?
BROCCHINI: No.
DISTASO: So what happened?
BROCCHINI: I missed the mention of meringue while I was watching the show.
DISTASO: Did you give that information to any other officer?
BROCCHINI: Well, I wrote it in my police report and I gave it to a lot of different officers.
DISTASO: Okay. So you documented in your reports that you had not heard a mention of meringue?
BROCCHINI: That's right.
DISTASO: And did you also document that you heard a mention of meringue on the show on the 23rd?
BROCCHINI: Yes, I did.
DISTASO: And you have since learned that that was a mistake?
BROCCHINI: That was a mistake.
DISTASO: Okay. The -- that information, did you also give that information to Investigator Jacobson?
BROCCHINI: Yes, I did.
DISTASO: And to your knowledge did he use that information as part of an affidavit that he wrote for -- for a wiretap in the case?
BROCCHINI: Yes, he did.
DISTASO: The -- after you watched these shows and documented that information, what -- that was on the 17th of January, correct?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
Mark Geragos played the segment of Martha Stewart that aired on the 24th as part of his Opening Statement. In fact, he played it twice.
Next point, the Modesto PD at that point file a search warrant affidavit, under seal, specifically saying, under penalty of perjury, during Brocchini's interview, claimed he woke up, and watched the Martha Stewart show, according to Scott Peterson, it aired, and the day contains segment about meringue. We learned that the show was date sensitive. Has the dates as part of the program. He ordered, received and viewed it. The meringue segment is included on December 23rd, but is not mentioned on December 24.
Can you play the December 24 segment?
<played recording>
Paris research for book, that’s for you, thank you just going to because we are going to do the egg white story, oh we are going to do meringues? Oh that would be nice.
<end of recording>
Geragos: I played it twice just to make sure Modesto PD could hear it this time.
More information on why Brocchini ordered the tape for December 23, as well as for December 24, came out in the cross examination -- he was trying to establish that Scott had concocted a scheme to watch Martha Stewart somewhere other than home on the 23rd:
GERAGOS: Out of all the days in December, how did you pick the 23rd?
BROCCHINI: Two days.
GERAGOS: Well, you knew by the January 17th, you'd talked to Margarita Nava, right? By January 17th?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
GERAGOS: By January 17th you knew that he wasn't home on the 23rd, from your interview with Margarita Nava, correct?
BROCCHINI: That's right.
GERAGOS: Okay. So you still picked the 23rd?
BROCCHINI: There's TVs everywhere, Mr. Geragos. I don't know.
GERAGOS: So you didn't know, you thought maybe he had gone out and, part of his grand scheme and watched Martha Stewart somewhere else?
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GERAGOS: To the microphone, exactly. Pull it close.
GERAGOS: You had made a leap that he was describing in your reports. You said he was describing what had happened on the 23rd; isn't that your statement in your reports?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
GERAGOS: Okay.
BROCCHINI: That's what I thought.
GERAGOS: Okay. Well, by the time you wrote your report on the 21st, you already knew he wasn't at home on the 23rd?
BROCCHINI: I wrote, yeah, I know. That's right.
GERAGOS: Well, let's take a look at your report on the 21st. The report on the 21st, specifically you say you reviewed the 12/24, 2000 and 2 from the beginning, including commercials; is that accurate?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
GERAGOS: And Martha Stewart baked lemon butter cookies during the first, and then during the second segment there was no mention of meringue during any of this show, correct?
BROCCHINI: That's what I wrote.
GERAGOS: Okay. Then several times during the Martha Stewart, during the show, Martha Stewart commented on it being Christmas Eve, right?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
GERAGOS: And this was a report that was apparently produced on 012103 which would be January 21st of oh three, correct?
BROCCHINI: Yes.
GERAGOS: Okay. Now, that information, yeah, that information was known to you, or you thought was very significant, correct? That's why you wrote it in the report, right?
BROCCHINI: It was an important piece of the puzzle I thought.
Geragos' questioning of Detective Craig Grogan identified the timing of the segment, as well as it's importance to the Scott's timeline:
GERAGOS: Isn't it a fair statement, if that's the case, if this voicemail retrieval and the 10:08 is not accurate, if that, in fact, does not reflect Scott moving, that the only thing that you do know at this point after this trial has started is that Martha Stewart, or a comment about meringue was on Martha Stewart; is that correct?
FLADAGER: Objection. Compound.
JUDGE: It is several questions.
GERAGOS: Let me ask you this. The one thing that you know for sure about the start time is that the Martha Stewart tape, you now have a Martha Stewart tape, correct?
GROGAN: Yes.
GERAGOS: And you are reasonably certain that there is now a mention of meringue on that tape, correct?
GROGAN: Yes.
GERAGOS: And that happened somewhere at about 9:45, 9:46, right in there; isn't that correct?
GROGAN: 9:48, I think.
GERAGOS: Depending on whether the commercials, or what commercials are shown, correct?
GROGAN: I don't know.
GERAGOS: Okay. And that's the one thing that you do know, because obviously, in order to know that there was a meringue, somebody would have had to have heard those words before leaving, correct?
GROGAN: Well, are you saying that, I don't know about the, about the other records, because I still have that information.
GERAGOS: Well, I think you were very candid in saying that practically everybody in this room knows more about the 10:08. The jury has heard. We have heard all of the testimony regarding that. I'm not going to relive it. I just asked you what you know now, in the middle of the trial, is that, or at least after the opening statement, is that meringue was mentioned at a portion of the tape, correct?
GROGAN: I know that meringue is mentioned at a portion of the tape, yes.
Conclusion
Scott was telling the truth when he said Laci was watching Martha Stewart and meringue was mentioned.