MODESTO, Calif. -- Scott Peterson pleaded innocent Wednesday to charges of murdering his wife and unborn son. A judge scheduled his trial to begin Jan. 26.\nIt was the second time that Peterson, 31, had answered the charges that could send him to death row. He first denied the accusations after his arrest in April. A judge decided last month there was enough evidence for prosecutors to take the case to trial, so Peterson was arraigned again.\nJudge Al Girolami set the trial date and scheduled a hearing for Jan. 6 so the defense can request that the trial be moved from Stanislaus County. He also planned to set hearings for the defense to challenge wiretaps, the use of devices that tracked Peterson and cadaver-sniffing dogs used to search for Laci Peterson's scent in the boat her husband said he took fishing the day she vanished.\nDefense lawyer Mark Geragos, who is simultaneously representing Michael Jackson, also persuaded the judge Wednesday to order prosecutors to return Scott Peterson's pickup truck to his family.\nIn court papers, prosecutors said they don't want to return the 2002 Ford pickup because they believe it was used in the murder of Peterson's pregnant wife. They said they believe Scott Peterson bled inside the truck's cab while using the vehicle to haul his wife's body to his fertilizer warehouse and then to San Francisco Bay.\nIt was the first time prosecutors had hinted at parts of their theory behind the slaying and the first mention that Peterson was injured.\nThe defense wanted the truck returned to Peterson's family because he faces mounting legal bills and continues to pay $643 in monthly auto payments.\nLaci Peterson, 27, a substitute teacher who was eight months pregnant with the couple's first child, was reported missing Christmas Eve when her husband returned from a purported fishing trip at the Berkeley Marina. Her remains and her fetus washed ashore a few miles from the marina in April.
The allegation that her body was taken to Peterson's warehouse indicates she was probably killed at the couple's home, explaining why lawyers grappled at the preliminary hearing over a mop and bucket used to clean up the kitchen area in the couple's house.\nThe charges Scott Peterson faces say his wife was killed on Dec. 23 or Dec. 24. Authorities believe her body was weighted down and tossed into the bay.\nStanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton said in the court papers that cement-like material was found in the bed of the pickup truck. A detective at the preliminary hearing said there was evidence Peterson fashioned several concrete anchors using a bucket in his warehouse, but only one of those anchors was found in his boat.\nGirolami also refused to lift a gag order Wednesday or unseal any of the sealed court documents. A lawyer representing The Modesto Bee and four other newspapers had asked the judge to release police reports filed in support of arrest and search warrants now that some of that evidence has been revealed in the preliminary hearing.
