The Amber Affair

This is a partial transcript from On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, November 13, 2003.

Watch On the Record every weeknight at 10 p.m. ET!

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Joining us is Amber Frey's lawyer, Gloria Allred. Gloria, you say the decision whether to call a witness or not is complex in its decision-making process. All right, what's the real story? What did they tell you today?

GLORIA ALLRED, AMBER FREY’S LAWYER: Well, they told me today, Greta, that they had made a decision not to call Amber Frey. I don't feel that it's for me to try to guess or even to learn what their reasons are.

VAN SUSTEREN: But they just called you up out of the blue and said, Hey, Gloria, we don't want your client? I mean, what did they say to you?

ALLRED: That she will not be called to testify at the preliminary hearing.

VAN SUSTEREN: No discussion, dialogue back and forth between you and the prosecution about this?

ALLRED: I never feel comfortable in discussing what I discuss with the district attorney's office. But all I can say is...

VAN SUSTEREN: There's no privilege. It's not with the clients...

(CROSSTALK)

ALLRED: No, it's not a privilege situation, but I think that it's a decision that's been made. They are the ones who make that decision. And Amber is ready and willing to testify at trial. Obviously, they have made a decision that her testimony is not needed at the preliminary hearing, and so she won't testify. And that's all there is really to it.

VAN SUSTEREN: But I don't quite get it, Gloria. I mean, you won't talk about a lot of things. I mean, I understand the attorney/client privilege and not talking about your conversations. But you come to the court every day, and you even go to the microphones today, yet you're not giving us very much. I mean, what's the point?

ALLRED: Well, I'm interested, first of all, in protecting the integrity of her testimony. So therefore, I don't talk about what her testimony will be, should she be called. And I'm not interested in giving the defense a preview of her testimony, much as they might like to learn that through listening to me on television. They're not going to find out what it is from me.

VAN SUSTEREN: But they've got that. They know what the tapes are. I assume in discovery, the prosecution has turned that over to the defense, so the defense knows what she's going to say. The only ones who don't know are the rest of us. And we're not necessarily entitled to know because she's not on the witness stand, but I mean, you're not tipping off the defense.

ALLRED: Well, there are some things that I think that they don't know, and I'm going to leave it to them to have an opportunity to cross- examine her, if, as and when she's called as a witness at the trial, which I would fully expect would occur. So I will not be previewing the testimony for them. They'll have to do their own homework.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why wouldn't you have put her on the stand?

ALLRED: At the preliminary hearing?

VAN SUSTEREN: Yes.

ALLRED: Again, I think that there are good arguments to be made for, there are good arguments to be made against.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why not put her on the stand? I don't think they should have, but why not put her on the stand?

ALLRED: OK. Well, my feeling is that she is a victim of Scott Peterson's deception. I think that's a fact, not just a feeling. In addition, I think that were she to be placed on the stand, at this point, that the defense perhaps may try to re-victimize her, try to attack her for doing the right thing, which was going to law enforcement. And she is ready to testify at the trial. I don't think it is necessary to call her now. They should only be doing what they need to do in order to have the judge persuaded that there is enough evidence to hold Scott Peterson for trial. And I think that they're going to have that.

Content and Programming Copyright 2003 Fox News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2003 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, Inc.'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.