MODESTO, Calif. -- The rift between the two families involved in the Laci Peterson murder case grew even wider Friday with the filing of a civil suit that sought to prevent her husband and accused murderer, Scott Peterson, from profiting from the high profile case.

In the action filed with the Stanislaus County court, the Rocha family asked for a preliminary injunction that would require any money received for by Scott to go into a protected trust.

Those funds would go to the Rocha family if Peterson were to be found guilty and could not be used to pay for his defense team headed by well-known attorney Mark Geragos.

The order sought by Laci Peterson's family would prevent Scott Peterson from "expending, disbursing, transferring or other wise utilizing such incomes, funds or assets without the express authorization of the court."

The court action is the latest outward sign of the huge rift that has evolved between the two families.

Months ago, after a request to go to the house that Laci and Scott Peterson owned in Modesto was refused by his parents, the Rochas and friends of the family broke into the home and removed several items including a rocking chair, baby's furniture and other cherished family memorabilia.

On Sept. 2, Scott Peterson parents -- Lee and Jackie Peterson -- were extremely critical of the fact they were not invited to a private funeral where Laci and her unborn son, Conner's, remains were laid to rest.

In an email obtained by KTVU to Sharon Rocha, Jackie Peterson wrote: "The past eight months fill the most difficult moments in all our lives. Arriving soon will be more trying times for all of us. We are dismayed at the failed efforts of Judge Giolami to close the coming hearing. Our effort to do so centered on keeping the press from exploiting the lives of Laci and Conner."

"Scott is brokenhearted over not being able to protect his family on that fateful day in December and now again not being able to protect the memories of Laci and Conner."

The lawsuit was filed hours after famed defense attorney Gerry Spence said he has his doubts that Peterson can get a fair trial in the wake of several media leaks including a Modesto Bee article published this week detailing phone calls between the Modesto fertilizer salesman and his former mistress, Amber Frey.

Spence, appearing on KTVU's Mornings On 2 on Friday, said the concept of a fair trial in any case -- especially high-profile ones like the Peterson murder case -- in the current media environment is a modern myth.

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Famed Attorney Gerry Spence Comments On Peterson

"I'm really concerned about a fair trial in the Peterson case," the nationally known defense attorney said. "You take a look at this...All the gossip about his girlfriend, if that's the basis for finding a man guilty of murder than we'd have to charge half the males in this country... It is gossip and not the right thing to have creeping into the court of law."

Spence said the leaks also rob potential jurors of the chance to reach the proper verdict.

"Don't you think (the leaks) should be subjected to cross examination," he said. "Ought not it be given to the jury for the first time in a courtroom (and not in a news report)."

But Spence admitted that leaks have become a major weapon in trying a case.

"I think you have to do that now (leak out information)," he said. "We no longer have a trial in the courtroom, we have trial by the media."

The last 10 days have been filed with bombshells that have damaged Peterson's defense. First a Fresno County Jail inmate came forward through his attorney over the weekend and said he was at a meeting between Peterson and two neo-Nazi bikers on Nov. 29 where the possible kidnapping of Laci Peterson was discussed.

Then attorney Matt Dalton, a key member of the defense team, was for unknown reasons kicked off that team. And then on Thursday came the Modesto Bee article using Frey's phone records to trace some 47 calls between the pair in the three weeks following Laci's alleged death on Christmas Eve 2002.

According to the paper, Frey and Peterson called each other an average of two times daily in late December including four calls on Christmas when a massive search was underway for Laci, who had disappeared from the couple's home without a trace on Christmas Eve day.

At the time of the disappearance, Scott Peterson has told officials he was fishing in the San Francisco Bay off the Berkeley Marina. In April, Laci's partially decomposed body and that of her unborn son washed up on a Richmond shoreline -- north of the Berkeley Marina.

Scott Peterson was arrested days later and charged with two counts of capital murder. He is being held without bail at the Stanislaus County Jail.

The paper said that on Dec. 26, the number of calls between the two shot up to 14. All those calls were made between 3 and 9 p.m. The records also allegedly showed that Frey made calls to the Peterson volunteer search center at the local Red Lion Inn.

The Bee also reported that there were more than 48 calls between Frey and Modesto police. In a follow-up report, Frey's attorney -- Gloria Allred told the paper that she now fears for her client's life.

The newspaper report seemed to be the latest violation of a court-imposed gag order on both sides in the case, but no charges have been filed so far by the Peterson defense team. The judge has se