"Finally, people will hear the other side," says sister-in-law Janey Peterson (at court with Scott's brother Joe and his parents Lee and Jackie) of the defense starting. Photo by: DAVID PAUL MORRIS / AP / POOL
Can Scott Escape His Lies?| Scott Peterson Trial, Scott Peterson
Geragos will also hammer away at the so-called dog-walking witnesses. In his opening statement the attorney promised to produce someone who saw Laci walking the dog that day, which would show, he declared, that Laci "was alive when Scott went to the marina" and thus prove that his client is "stone-cold innocent." But does he have the goods? Geragos has at least several people who will say that they saw someone they thought was Laci after Scott left. If just one of them is convincing, experts believe, it could be game over. "No matter how strong the prosecution's case," says Goldman, "one credible witness, whether right or wrong in reality, unshaken by the government, would be enough to raise reasonable doubt."

Meanwhile, for the two families at the center of the case, the Petersons and the Rochas, the grief over Laci and the months of legal maneuvering have created an emotional tinderbox. The feud between the two camps has been simmering for some time. According to a Rocha family friend, Scott's parents, Lee and Jackie, strongly objected when Laci's mother and father, Sharon and Dennis Rocha (the couple are now divorced), removed various items, including the crib intended for Conner, from the Peterson residence in Modesto several months after Laci's disappearance. By that time Scott had been arrested. For Lee and Jackie, says the source, "it was like, 'How dare you go into our son's house.'" According to the friend, the Rochas have no problem with the fact that the Petersons have stood by Scott: "They're both big enough people to understand" parents' loyalty to their son. But they do object to what they perceive as Lee and Jackie's insensitivity. "It really hurts them when they see the Petersons joking around and sharing a laugh with Geragos," says the source. "They see no humor in that at all."

Through the early stages of the trial the two sides maintained an icy détente, never exchanging words or making eye contact but clearly taking care to avoid confrontation. Then, in early September, things began to boil over when Sharon Rocha's live-in companion, Ron Grantski, and Lee looked like they might come to blows. After Lee challenged Grantski to say where he had gone fishing on Christmas Eve, apparently insinuating that perhaps Grantski had something to do with Laci's murder, Grantski angrily fired back, "You come down here and I'll tell you where I went fishing!" The next day, Laci's brother Brent Rocha exchanged angry words with Lee Peterson outside the courtroom as they both tried to get through a security checkpoint. After that court officials moved the Petersons from their seats behind the defense table, across from the Rochas, to the back of the court. They were later allowed to move back up front after the two families agreed to cool it. "There was a lot of back and forth between them," says one court official, "and we were concerned the jury might see it."