Scott Peterson’s girlfriend Amber Frey finished her turn on the witness stand, subtly slugging it out with Scott Peterson’s attorney Mark Geragos. Frey’s answers were uniformly cool and calculated. She was almost lawyerly, at times quibbling with Geragos over wording.
Geragos was saying Frey was being coached on the recorded conversations – told what to say by Modesto police detectives. He even offered an explanation for why Scott Peterson was constantly telling her he couldn’t answer her questions.
Geragos adopted the right tone with Frey. He wasn’t too aggressive, and he didn’t go too long. He helped deflate the tapes as much as he could – which was not that much.
On the whole, I was more impressive with Amber Frey than I expected. She was smart, thoughtful and composed, and seemingly not intimidated by Geragos.
She was willing to engage in some verbal fencing. Frey forced Geragos to refine the questions to her liking, challenging his summaries of the evidence, and carefully avoiding conceding too much.
Geragos set-up traps, casually and seemingly nonchalantly stating certain conclusions as fact. She wouldn’t bite at one point, even saying, “You asked several questions, let’s break it down.”
Now will the jurors like the sass? I am not sure. But I am talking about Amber, and not just “Amber the witness.” I expected a “bimbo” and instead found a well-intentioned albeit wounded young woman who seems to have learned a lot in the past year. She was a sucker and a fool to believe Scott Peterson’s charade so quickly and willingly. But she has already paid a hefty price.
Before her testimony, I said, “If she comes in and tells the truth and nothing but the truth, she should leave court a proud woman.”
Today, as Frey begins the rest of her life, she should be holding her head up high.