Latest Legal Lowdown

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," July 30, 2004 that has been edited for clarity.

Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and listen to the "Radio Factor!"

TONY SNOW, GUEST: In the Impact segment tonight, more controversy in the high-profile trials of Scott Peterson and Kobe Bryant.

Joining us now from Los Angeles for more on the Peterson case is Fox News legal editor Stan Goldman. And from Denver, Craig Silverman, former chief deputy district attorney in that city. He's been following the Bryant situation.

Stan, let me begin with you. First, there always seems to be a little bit of action in the Peterson trial. The most recent attempts now have been once again a request for a mistrial that is going nowhere. Why?

STAN GOLDMAN, FOX NEWS LEGAL EDITOR: Well, this was such a long shot. You know, I got to tell you a story. I was talking to Mark Geragos on Tuesday. And I said, I tell you what, Mark, can I have first dibs on an interview right after the case is dismissed on Thursday, once you run your motion? And his response was, Stan, not only will I give you the first interview if the case is dismissed, I'll buy you dinner at the best restaurant in San Francisco and give you a 500 SL Mercedes Benz.

SNOW: The question is then why file such a motion if it's going to waste the court's time? I mean, it keeps me and you busy, but why do that?

GOLDMAN: Well, because you ask — in any negotiation, you ask for the moon and try to get more than you think you might have gotten otherwise. What Mark Geragos was doing was — not that he didn't believe in his motion. He actually believes that a police officer in this case conspired to prejudice the client, the case against his client. Proving that's a rather difficult thing. And he wasn't able to prove it, but I think what he was going for was an admonition, an instruction from the court that this officer had misled the jury. And he didn't get that either.

What he got was the right to recall this officer and cross-examine him again on mistakes allegedly that the officer made, which are important mistakes, by the way. It was an important bit of testimony that the officer apparently may have fudged on a bit. So it's important for Geragos to recall that officer, but he didn't get nearly as much as he'd hoped for.

SNOW: Stan, I want to revisit something that happened last week — that happened recently, which is one of the jurors was dismissed and later came out and told the whole press, you know, the prosecution's case stinks.

Now if you're a member of the prosecution team, and the criticism was in some detail to wit, that they were repeating the same small details, and not really doing anything to move the ball forward on Scott Peterson, what's your reading of this? Is there a sense that in the jury room things are not going well for prosecutors?

GOLDMAN: He could be just the ideal defense juror. Everybody else could be agreeing with the prosecution.

I'll tell you the prosecution's problem. It's almost, I've decided, as if they're being too scrupulously ethical. They're trying to put on every single frame of evidence in this case, whether it helps them or hurts them. And after a while, it's like the boy that cried wolf. They put on evidence about suspicious stains that look like blood in various places. And the jury perks up and goes, oh, suspicious stains. Is it Laci Peterson's? Is it Scott's? What is it? And then eventually, a few hours later, a few days later, the jury will learn, oh, no, no. It was negative for blood.

Why did you bring it up? And the answer is they brought it up because they're literally putting this case in, the investigation completely a frame at a time. and they're not telling a story. They're almost not being advocates in this case. And it's having a very strange effect.

What they're proving is not very important. And what's important they have yet to prove.

SNOW: All right, Craig Silverman, let's turn to the Kobe Bryant case. Terry Ruckriegle, the judge in charge of the case, again apologizing. The woman bringing charges now. For the third time, I think her name is leaked out. How tough is it to keep a secret? I mean, the court ought to be able to handle this. What's going on?

CRAIG SILVERMAN, FORMER DEP. DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This was really a double error, Tony. After all, not only was her name revealed, but this was an order that was supposed to be filed under seal. But some staff member of the court made a big mistake and the judge apologized. I understand he's sending the alleged victim a personal note of apology as well.

SNOW: He has actually — he read an apology in open court today for the release of those things. In your opinion, does this in any way prejudice the trial?

SILVERMAN: You know, I don't think it really does. The evidence is going to be the same regardless. It's like a baseball game. I'm going to the Rockies-Diamondback game tonight. There may be three errors in that game. The pitcher just has to overcome that.

Really, these are mistakes that won't affect the trial. There have been some negative leaks that have affected Kobe Bryant as well. In fact I was on "O'Reilly Factor" last time talking about that.

SNOW: OK. In about four weeks, this trial is going to begin. And already the defense team has started sending out paralegals to look at stuff. There are, what, 600 potential jurors? And I'm fascinated by the fact that they're already looking at things like bumper stickers and garbage of potential jurors. Is that normal?

SILVERMAN: Well, it's normal if you have the resources of Kobe Bryant and/or the state of Colorado. Both sides are trying their hardest. And you can learn a lot by looking at somebody's house, looking at their car, looking at bumper stickers, and doing a background check before they even arrive in court.

SNOW: All right, very quickly, meanwhile the plaintiff has got nearly $20,000 from the state. Is that exorbitant?

SILVERMAN: It's an extraordinary amount.

SNOW: OK, Craig Silverman, Stan Goldman, thank you both.

Copy: Content and Programming Copyright 2004 Fox News Network, L.L.C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2004 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, L.L.C.'s and eMediaMillWorks, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.