Conner was older when he died, defense expert says

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1:52 p.m.: Conner Peterson died no earlier than Dec. 29, 2002, a medical expert said this morning in testimony meant to cast doubt on Scott Peterson’s opportunity to kill his pregnant wife.

Also this morning, a judge living in Scott and Laci Peterson’s neighborhood testified that he pointed out sandals near the street by their home to a Modesto Police detective one day after the substitute teacher’s Christmas Eve 2002 disappearance. But the detective showed little interest and did not collect them as potential evidence, the judge said.

Dr. Charles March, a gynecologist and fertility specialist, provided the latest round in what has become a battle of the experts in Scott Peterson’s double-murder trial.

A prosecution fetal development expert testified earlier that Conner Peterson, whose birth was expected in February 2003, died about the time authorities think his father killed his mother and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay.

But March, relying on different information about the conception date and an alternate birthdate estimate, said the other expert was off by five or six days - and Conner Peterson might have lived into January 2003.

“All the information says that on Dec. 23 (2002, Laci Peterson) was absolutely, unequivocably not 33 (weeks), one (day pregnant,) but (Conner was) six days younger than that,” March said. “So the baby’s date of death would have been 12-29.”

If that’s true, Scott Peterson - who came under heavy police scrutiny after Christmas Eve - almost certainly had no opportunity to kill his wife, his defense team contends. His attorneys say someone else, perhaps transients in Dry Creek Park, must have kidnapped her.

Prosecutors say he deserves the death penalty for planning the demise of his wife and unborn son.

Judge Alfred Delucchi told jurors that lawyers assured him they expect to finish presenting testimony next week. Opening statements in the high-interest trial began June 1, and Peterson’s team began calling defense witnesses Monday.

March is expected to continue testifying this afternoon.

Also this morning, Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova said he and the Modesto detective saw sandals a few yards from the Peterson driveway as the two walked on Christmas 2002.

They were talking because Córdova thought a man who asked him for money two days earlier might have been a thief.

“I think I made a comment that I wondered if (the sandals) had anything to do with Ms. Peterson’s disappearance,” said Córdova, Stanislaus County’s chief deputy public defender before taking office as a judge in April 2003.

But the detective left the sandals, Córdova said. He said he mentioned them again to Modesto Police Detective Doug Ridenour on Dec. 26, 2002.

Under questioning by Chief Deputy District Attorney Birgit Fladager, Córdova described the footwear as platform sandals with heels of 1½ to 2 inches and an orange flower pattern.

She indicated that Córdova had told an investigator that they didn’t look like walking shoes, but he said, “I believe that was suggested to me by someone else.”

The shoes Laci Peterson wore when she vanished may not have been recovered, according to testimony. Her remains were missing the feet, hands and head when found nearly four months later less than two miles where Scott Peterson said he fished alone the day she disappeared.