Defense lawyer David Rudolf argues that the amount of blood could have been caused by an accidental fall.

The prosecution called witness after witness to the stand, insisting on three points: the quantity of blood found beside the body, the wounds on Kathleen's head, and the iron poker as the murder weapon. But the witnesses faltered during David Rudolf's clever cross-examination.

In an obstinate contest of eloquence, Michael Peterson's lawyer unveiled the incompetence and partiality of the witnesses.

David Rudolf insisted that the crime scene wasn't properly documented or maintained. Police photos taken on the same day revealed small differences in the bloodstains on the staircase and he suggested that someone may have attempted to clean the scene.

"Well, if it was cleaned up, it was cleaned up by police and not by Michael Peterson. That's the kind of thing that creates questions in the minds of the jurors. I mean, would you want to bet your own life on the competency of Dan George and the Durham Crime Scene Investigators? Because if you wouldn't want to bet your own life on them, then don't bet Michael Peterson's life."

He challenged Dr. Deborah Radisch's autopsy report which stated that Kathleen Peterson died because of a beating despite the absence of any skull fractures or brain injuries. He asked why, in the 250 recorded beating deaths in North Carolina in the past decade, was there not one single incident involving multiple blows to the head which did not include these injuries.

And Michael Peterson shut himself up at home, surrounded by his children and brother, to escape the fury launched upon him by the media. His son Clayton expressed his concern for his father's future. Peterson replied, "The more you worry about me, the more worried I get. Let me worry about you."

Yet he knows the worst is yet to come: the public exposure of his most intimate secrets.