Scott Peterson's defense lawyers tried to portray his former mistress as a calculated seductress and liar who was more obsessed with him than he was with her.
In testimony Monday that fell short of the heated exchange expected between Amber Frey and defense lawyer Mark Geragos, the former mistress insisted she taped and turned over to police all telephone calls she had with Peterson after being prompted to do so by authorities investigating the disappearance of Peterson's pregnant wife, Laci.
Last week, jurors heard 40 wiretapped calls between Frey and Peterson during which he is apologetic for lying to her about being married but evasive in his answers about his wife's disappearance and the couple's relationship.
He continued to romance Frey even as police searched for his missing wife. But under cross-examination Monday, Geragos prodded Frey about the taped calls, implying she did not fully cooperate with police.
According to police reports, authorities were suspicious that Frey may not have been taping all of her calls with Peterson or may have neglected to turn over some tapes, Geragos noted.
Frey maintained she cooperated fully.
"I recorded all conversations," she said.
"Did you ever not turn over tapes," Geragos asked.
"I turned over every tape that I recorded," Frey replied.
"Did you ever make or receive calls from Scott Peterson that you didn't immediately tell detectives about?" Geragos prodded.
"No," Frey said.
"At any point did you hide any information ... from the Modesto Police Department?" Geragos again asked.
"No," Frey said, all the while maintaining her composure, answering questions in an even-toned voice speaking directly to Geragos, never looking at Peterson or the jury.
It appeared as if Geragos was preparing to provide proof that Frey did indeed speak to Peterson without alerting authorities. She acknowledged she was unaware that police had also wiretapped Peterson's telephones.
Geragos also tried to downplay the prosecution theory that Peterson was obsessed with Frey and that the affair was his motive for murder, portraying the relationship as one-night stands where Peterson could simply get sex.
Geragos noted that on Dec. 26, 2002, Frey called Peterson 14 times. She said she wanted to thank him for a Christmas gift, but Geragos made it appear as if she was obsessed with Peterson.
He later portrayed her as a calculated seductress who would try anything to entrap Peterson into admitting he was involved in Laci's disappearance.
Frey testified she told police she had sex with Peterson at least three times, once without a condom.
"At that point you tell them you could basically use the ruse that you were pregnant and they could use that ... and see if that would elicit some information?" Geragos asked.
"That was the concept," Frey said. "At that point, I was willing or open to anything ... in assisting the police if that would help in any way."
Even so, Peterson never admitted involvement in the crime in the wiretaps that were played for jurors, even proclaiming his love for Laci.
"The idea was to try to get him to admit something, to admit some involvement, that he had something to do with Laci's disappearance?" Geragos asked.
"I questioned him many times in different ways, yes," Frey replied.
Trial watchers speculated on Geragos' tactics.
"I think he's just trying to take away the idea that Amber Frey is the motive for murder," said former San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer.
As Frey initially took the stand, there was a hush in the packed courtroom.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi looked to Geragos to begin questioning her. There was silence.
"No questions, your honor," Geragos said. The courtroom was abuzz with whispers. The judge looked bewildered, his mouth agape.
Prosecutors seemed stunned.
"Just kidding," Geragos said with a grin, prompting muffled chuckles from a few jurors and members of the audience.
Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred, later scoffed at the remark.
"It's really not appropriate to be making jokes during a double-murder trial," Allred said outside court.
Legal observers have said Geragos would be wise to keep his cross-examination short because the telephone wiretaps between Peterson and Frey revealed no solid evidence that Peterson committed the murders.
Frey is due back on the stand Tuesday.
The judge delayed Frey's cross-examination last week because of a "potential development." The details of the delay were not publicly revealed.
Legal analyst Dean Johnson told NBC4, "I think the delay is, in part, tactical. The timing of it certainly creates more anxiety on the part of the witness. Makes her wonder what they're talking about, and what evidence they plan to introduce."
Earlier Monday, a wireless telephone expert testified about Peterson's cell phone records in the days after Laci vanished. Authorities used cell phone towers to track Peterson's calls and movements on Dec. 24, 2002, the day Peterson reported his wife missing.
Prosecutors are working to establish a timeline that they say places Peterson near his Modesto home within 10 minutes of when a neighbor said she found the Peterson's dog loose in the neighborhood, indicating Laci Peterson had already disappeared.
Mary Anderson, of West Palm Beach, Fla., the director of national subpoena and court order compliance for AT&T Wireless, said records indicate Peterson made a call to his voicemail at 10:08 a.m. on Dec. 24. That call bounced off a cell tower near the Modesto area, according to the records.
But on cross-examination, Anderson acknowledged the records "are not 100 percent accurate."
Peterson has said he left his home that morning and headed for a fishing trip on San Francisco Bay and found his wife missing when he returned home.
Geragos pointed out that other calls placed by Peterson while he was standing in his front yard indicate the calls bounced off of several different towers.
Anderson testified that cell phone calls to voicemail cannot always be accurately tracked to specific towers.
"There appear to be some anomalies there," Anderson said.
Prosecutors allege Peterson killed his wife in their Modesto home on or around Dec. 24, 2002, then dumped her weighted body from a small boat into San Francisco Bay.
The badly decomposed remains of Laci Peterson and the couple's fetus washed up along a bay shore in April 2003, not far from where Peterson said he launched a solo fishing trip the day he reported her missing.
His defense attorneys claim he was framed after the real killer learned of his widely publicized alibi.
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