during all that time? the state argued he was staging the scene. detectives saw what they thought were wipe marks on the stairs. to them, it was an attempt at a clean up. and there were those two wine glasses on the kitchen counter suggesting an evening of maybe too much drink, followed by a tumble down the stairs. thing was, kathleen s fingerprints weren t on either glass. in fact, the prosecution said, kathleen s blood-alcohol content was low enough that she could have passed a roadside breathalyzer test. she wasn t drunk. she wasn t intoxicated. um, she did have a little in her system. but not enough, arguably, to have caused her to not be able to walk up stairs. reporter: was the writer of fiction, making up yet another story, covering up murder as an accident? coming up. michael peterson speaks out about his interest in sex with men he says others knew all about it. this is not a family secret.
they prescribe it. so maybe it s the people prescribing it. and then the people that took too much. so you can hit a wide swath. their defense is interesting one. it will be we sell anything, can t promote anything. we can t do it without an fda approval. we shouldn t even be in your court. the court has rejected that argument. they said you can make it the same judge that is rejecting it. so i don t know where that is going to go. i ll tell you an interesting story. when he was the chief justice of the united states, bill rehnquist was stopped for a dwi on the way home. he wasn t drunk. he had a back problem and he overtook the opioid medication
after oxygen is withheld from the brain for at least two hours. that gives mr. peterson at least two hours to do things before the 9-1-1 call is placed. reporter: what was he doing during all that time? the state argued he was staging the scene. detectives saw what they thought were wipe marks on the stairs. to them, it was an attempt at a clean up. and there were those two wine glasses on the kitchen counter suggesting an evening of maybe too much drink, followed by a tumble down the stairs. thing was, kathleen s fingerprints weren t on either glass. in fact, the prosecution said, kathleen s blood-alcohol content was low enough that she could have passed a roadside breathalyzer test. she wasn t drunk. she wasn t intoxicated. um, she did have a little in her system. but not enough, arguably, to have caused her to not be able to walk up stairs. reporter: was the writer of fiction, making up yet another story, covering up murder as an accident?
suggesting an evening of maybe too much drink, followed by a tumble down the stairs thing was, kathleen s fingerprints weren t on either glass. in fact, the prosecution said, kathleen s blood-alcohol content was low enough that she could have passed a roadside breathalyzer test. she wasn t drunk. she wasn t intoxicated um, she did have a little in her system but not enough, arguably, to have caused her to not be able to walk upstairs reporter: was the writer of fiction, making up yet another story, covering up murder as an accident michael peterson speaks out about it all including his interest in sex with men he says others knew all about it coming up this is not a family secret no, it s not. and then why he thinks kathleen most likely fell after a recent injury. he says she was on major meds. do you remember her being wobbly. oh, my god, yeah. when down the back staircase continues.
kathleen s body, suggesting she may have been attacked well before peterson called 9-1-1. according to prosecutors, lab tests backed that up. kathleen s head injuries had produced something called red neurons, which they say form after oxygen is withheld from the brain for at least two hours. that gives mr. peterson at least two hours to do things before the 9-1-1 call is placed. what was he doing during all that time? the state argued he was staging the scene. detectives saw what they thought were wipe marks on the stairs. to them, it was an attempt at a clean up. and there were those two wine glasses on the kitchen counter suggesting an evening of maybe too much drink, followed by a tumble down the stairs. thing was, kathleen s fingerprints weren t on either glass. in fact, the prosecution said, kathleen s blood-alcohol content was low enough that she could have passed a roadside breathalyzer test. she wasn t drunk.