Ousted Laci Juror: Not Convinced

Within moments of being dismissed as a juror in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial, Justin Falconer began spouting his opinions — that the prosecution's case is too weak to convince him Peterson is a killer.

"All the prosecution witnesses have pretty much been just as good a witness for the defense as they were for the prosecution if not in some cases better for the defense," Falconer said Thursday on CBS News' The Early Show. "And I haven't heard any testimony whatsoever that would lead me to believe that he was guilty."

That ought to be a little disconcerting to prosecutors, said CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen.

Falconer wouldn't comment on what the other 11 jurors, each of whom the judge questioned privately, were saying about the case.

Falconer, who was dismissed Wednesday, said the judge told him media coverage of his brief encounter with a witness had become an intolerable distraction. Falconer was replaced with an alternate.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos immediately demanded a mistrial, which Judge Alfred A. Delucchi denied.

"I've got a client who is on trial for his life," Geragos said, blaming intense media coverage for the flap.

"This won't derail the case unless it takes so long that other jurors have to be removed for one reason or another and the alternate jury pool gets whittled down to nothing," said Cohen. "So I suppose this might force prosecutors in particular to speed up their case in order to get it done sooner rather than later."

The jolting turn of events came just before Geragos launched into a caustic cross examination of Detective Allen Brocchini.

But just as Geragos began his aggressive questioning, the judge recessed for lunch so that "everybody sort of calms down."

Brocchini was due back on the witness stand Thursday.

While Delucchi didn't specify why he dismissed Falconer, outside court the juror said the judge told him the deciding factor was his televised exchange with the brother of Peterson's slain wife, Laci. A video camera recorded the juror joking with Brent Rocha inside the courthouse last week.

Falconer, a 28-year-old airport screener, summarized what the judge said was his reasoning: "It was just too much of a distraction." The transcript of the judge's questioning of Falconer before his dismissal was sealed.

The juror said he had discussed with his girlfriend media scrutiny of his exchange with Rocha, along with newspaper and TV reports that claimed he had interacted with Peterson and his lawyer. Falconer and Geragos denied any exchanges.

Prosecutors allege that Peterson, 31, murdered his pregnant wife in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002 — an affair his alleged motive. They charge he then dumped Laci Peterson's body into San Francisco Bay, using a cover story that he went fishing.

Defense lawyers assert that someone abducted Laci Peterson that day, then framed her husband after hearing his widely publicized alibi.

Prosecutors are still calling witnesses and Peterson's lawyers have yet to mount his defense as the trial nears the end of its fourth week.

Last Thursday, Falconer briefly spoke with Rocha at a courthouse metal detector. Falconer appeared safe after Delucchi determined Monday that he hadn't "done anything wrong," according to the transcript of a closed-door meeting.

"There was a news camera right next to us," Falconer said. "I had commented that I was ruining the shot for the news camera, and that he wasn't going to be in the news today. That was what it was, and it was nothing else. It was just a fast statement, kind of joking around, and that was it."

According to the transcript, Falconer said he hadn't discussed the Rocha incident. However, he added that he did discuss coverage of the case with his girlfriend.

"It wasn't testimony or it wasn't evidence that we were discussing," he insisted. "[The other jurors] were giving me a pretty hard time about the media and the things that they were saying about me on air. And so that's what we were talking about."

But he agreed that "it was becoming a huge distraction."

Falconer told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm he doesn't believe the prosecution's theory that Scott Peterson may have killed his wife because he was having an affair with another woman.

"I don't really buy into that. I think if the affair was going on for years ... that would have been one thing. But you're talking about four dates. I can't imagine a person uprooting their life for four dates," Falconer said. "I was having problems buying into the financial motive too, because Laci was worth a lot more money alive than she was dead."

Meanwhile, Geragos continued his attack on the investigation, even getting the detective to admit he had made a mistake — Geragos has claimed all along that police bungled the case.

Peterson told police he and Laci had been watching a Martha Stewart show that referenced meringue on the morning he left for his fishing trip. In their opening statements, prosecutors said there was no mention of meringue on the Martha Stewart show that aired on Dec. 24, only on Dec. 23, implying Peterson had lied.

In his own opening remarks, however, Geragos showed that meringue was mentioned on both the Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 shows.

On Wednesday, he pointed to Brocchini's police report where the detective noted that no meringue was mentioned on the Dec. 24 show.

"That's what I wrote," Brocchini said. "But I was wrong."