Alison Peterson

Witness for the Defendant:  Penalty Phase

December 2, 2004

Direct Examination by Pat Harris
HARRIS: Good afternoon, Alison.
PETERSON: Very nervous.
HARRIS: That's okay. We, this won't take long. Just going to ask you a few questions.
PETERSON: Okay.
HARRIS: You are, set up for the jury your relationship with the Peterson family. You are married. We just had a chance to meet John. You are married to John, right?
PETERSON: Yes.
HARRIS: And how long have you been married?
PETERSON: It will be nine years in January.
HARRIS: So you have been a part of the Peterson clan for how long? Did you date before you were,
PETERSON: Not too long. Just a few months.
HARRIS: You have been a pat part of the Peterson clan about nine years ten years, something like that?
PETERSON: Yes.
HARRIS: What was your initial sort of impressions when you met the Peterson family? I just mean just the Peterson family as a whole.
PETERSON: I thought they were nice, friendly. They welcomed me into their family. I felt at ease with them. Didn't feel like I was the new person.
HARRIS: How about Jackie, specifically?
PETERSON: She has been wonderful to us. Just very caring, giving us lots of advice. And, you know, don't argue with each other, and love each other, and don't waste time being mad. She would help us. When my mom passed away, she helped us out financially.
HARRIS: After your mother passed away, did she become sort of like a second mother to you?
PETERSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: She been,
PETERSON: She is the only grandma my kids have, so,
HARRIS: When you obviously come into the family about nine or ten years ago, Scott had already moved out of the house at that point? I assume he was already gone.
PETERSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: Do you remember where he was by the time you came into the family?
PETERSON: You know, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what he was doing. I think he was in school, but I'm not sure.
HARRIS: Your initial impressions of Scott?
PETERSON: I thought he was cute. He was nice, friendly. Very polite.
HARRIS: Make you feel at ease?
PETERSON: Yeah, definitely.
HARRIS: Did you ever see a sort of a violent side to him, or anything?
PETERSON: Never.
HARRIS: We were told by John, you have two children, right?
PETERSON: Yes.
HARRIS: And one of them is Christine. She is eight?
PETERSON: She's eight.
HARRIS: And Katy is about a year and half, right?
PETERSON: What's that?
HARRIS: Katy is about a year and half?
PETERSON: Yes.
HARRIS: Scott has had time to spend some time with Christine?
PETERSON: Uh-huh.
HARRIS: How does Christine get along with your uncle Scott?
PETERSON: She likes him a lot. She's very shy, so it's taken her, I mean even years with her, with her grandparents, Jackie and Lee. Took her a long time to warm up to them. Like as soon as she saw Scott, she is laughing and playing with him, and teasing. He would chase her around and stuff.
HARRIS: Has he always been very close with her?
PETERSON: We didn't see him that often, but when we did, it was, she was, they were pretty close. They had fun.
HARRIS: The dynamics of the family has been discussed a great deal in this last couple of days. But I would like somebody just kind of come outside and come into the family, could you just tell me, as far as what you have seen from the family and how they interact what is special about it?
PETERSON: They are just good people. They are very friendly, willing to help no matter what. You know. Just always there to support us, or each other.
HARRIS: From what you have grown to know over having gotten to know Lee and gotten to know Jackie, to some degree getting to know Scott, have you seen a lot of Lee and Jackie in Scott?
PETERSON: Yeah. Yeah. He's a good person. He was always very nice and a gentleman.
HARRIS: Does he write you?
PETERSON: Uh-huh, yes. A few times.
HARRIS: You write him back?
PETERSON: Yes.
HARRIS: You had a chance to see he and Laci together; is that correct?
PETERSON: Yes.
HARRIS: When you would go to Modesto, or when they came down for holidays, when you would get a chance to see them?
PETERSON: It was usually when we got get together for Thanksgiving or Christmas we would spend time with them, family get-together.
HARRIS: Was Scott affectionate with her?
PETERSON: Very affectionate. Very doting on her. They were always holding hands or hugging, or, just very happy together.
HARRIS: I know that you have probably been the most recent addition to the family. But having been there for the last nine years and seeing the relationship with the family, could you tell the jury what effect you think putting Scott to death would have on this family?
PETERSON: It would just be devastating. Everything that we have already been through, what Lee and Jackie have been through, have been through, it's just so hard. How do you explain it to your kids? Just be a nightmare.
HARRIS: Thank you, Alison. Appreciate it.