Posted on 12/08/2004 10:19:37 AM PST by Former Military Chick
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A former neighbor of Scott Peterson drew on her own family's experience with capital punishment Tuesday to try to dissuade jurors from sentencing the convicted killer to death.
Susan Medina, who lived across the street from Peterson and his wife, Laci, testified that, when she was a child in the Philippines, her grandfather was murdered and her father later watched as the killers were put to death in the electric chair.
"My father was the sweetest man in the world," Medina told a rapt courtroom in a voice barely above a whisper. "He witnessed it. He was never the same. Never spoke of it."
Jurors, who are to begin deliberating Peterson's fate Thursday, appeared riveted by Medina's account. One female panelist — No. 7 — wiped away tears as Medina's voice cracked with emotion.
The petite woman testified briefly in June in the guilt phase about neighborhood goings-on the day Laci Peterson was reported missing. Her testimony Tuesday touched only slightly on her interaction with the Petersons before defense attorney Pat Harris began questioning her about the potential impact of a death sentence.
Asked by Harris if she thought Peterson's life should be spared, Medina cried softly and then said, "I'm a nurse. I have witnessed the joy of childbirth and the sadness of death. In my mind, I have a mental collage of death. The people that were executed continue to haunt me."
After prosecutors declined to cross-examine Medina, she turned to the jury. "Have a Merry Christmas," she said.
After leaving the stand, Medina, who had been sitting behind Peterson's parents in the defense section before her testimony, approached Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, who sat clutching a tissue in the front row. Medina leaned down, grasped Rocha's hand and spoke softly to her. Rocha nodded and whispered something back.
Medina's testimony was the most compelling of the six witnesses who took the stand on Peterson's behalf Tuesday. They included a former golf coach, a college professor and a business associate.
The jury will hear closing arguments Thursday and then start their deliberations. Once they begin weighing evidence, the panel will be sequestered.
In their deliberations, jurors can consider the character testimony of the defense witnesses as they decide whether Peterson deserves a sentence of death or life in prison without parole for murdering his wife and unborn son in December 2002.
Abbas Imani, who employed Peterson as a waiter for four years, called him "the politest and most courteous person I've ever met in my life." He said Peterson was exceptionally kind to his elderly customers, even serving one woman a meal on a tray in her car when she was too ill to come into the restaurant.
"Everybody is heartbroken," said Imani, who cried into a handkerchief throughout his testimony. "Such a tragic thing to happen to both families, just not believable."
Another witness, Eric Sheras, who lived near the couple in college, recalled Peterson as kind and even-tempered. He said that, when his dog fought with the couple's golden retriever, Mackenzie, Laci Peterson became angry and tried to punch his animal, but Peterson "calmed everyone down."
He described the Petersons as "an average couple" who rarely fought.
Jim Gray, who bought a packing business from Peterson and remained friends with him, told the jury he was "just a super guy" and that he and his wife were "the perfect couple."
"Laci was just a bubble and Scott would see this and cherish it," he said.
Peterson's golf coach at Cuesta College, Hugh Gerhardt, testified that Peterson was a good golfer who showed confidence, but not arrogance. He said that, when his brother went missing while snowmobiling, Peterson immediately called and offered to join the search effort.
Robert Thompson Jr., a college professor who taught both Scott and Laci Peterson in an agricultural economics course, recounted how the couple befriended him, inviting him to dinners and golf outings. He said Peterson, an "A-, B+" student, was memorable among the 10,000 students he taught in his career. "He seemed more mature, more focused, like he was fully formed and well raised. The kind of student who sticks out," he said.
Asked how a death sentence would affect him, Thompson answered, "It would be just like somebody ripped out my heart."
Prosecutor Dave Harris, who had not cross-examined any of the defense's previous 32 witnesses in the penalty phase, chose to ask Thompson a single question: "How has Laci's murder affected you?" Thompson acknowledged that he was close to the mother-to-be as well as her husband and replied, "I miss her terribly."
At the defense table, Peterson was uncharacteristically emotional. He wiped his reddened eyes with a tissue as Thompson and Imani testified.
Throughout the penalty phase, the defense has emphasized the damage a death verdict would do to Peterson's parents. Several witnesses have testified that such a sentence would destroy the family, especially the elder Petersons.
At a hearing Tuesday afternoon to discuss jury instructions, defense attorney Mark Geragos requested that Judge Alfred Delucchi not give the usual instruction to the panel to put aside sympathy for the defendant and his family. He argued that the Petersons qualified as victims because they were blood relatives of Scott and Laci Peterson's unborn child.
Delucchi, however, denied that motion, saying the law required him to give the instruction. It reads, "Evidence, if any, of the impact of an execution on family members should be disregarded unless it illuminates some positive quality of the defendant's background or character."
The panel of six men and six women convicted him Nov. 12 of two counts of murder.
I know she loves her son, she lost her grandson, but, Scott was convicted of the worst of the worst crime. Death is the write sentence.
"Have a Merry Christmas," she said.
This witness will be lucky to escape going to jail herself. Imagine, saying Merry Christmas, whild under oath, in an open courtroom. The nerve!
How dare the witness even think of touching Laci's mom.
I for one am sick of hearing what a lovely family the Peterson clan is. I read somewhere at the beginning of this whole thing,( and correct me if I am wrong on this or if it was proved wrong) but it was said that Mr Peterson was fooling around with Jackie while his wife was expecting and it so happened Jackie found herself in a family way. So Lee left his wife and married Jackie....If this is all true then Scott came from a family with odd standards.
All that said, it is sad for the parents of Scott to be facing this. I wonder if they are in complete denial of what has happened. Scott displayed such odd behaviour all during this ordeal and how they could not question it is beyond me. And this PEterson family is in stark contrast to the Hacking family who did the right thing in confronting their brother/son to tell the truth and in the end turned him in...says something to me about the differences between those families.
Evidently that moment after the witness left the stand has been discussed that others should have done that to show that they understand their pain.
Nice reminder of when Laci and Connor died, wasn't it. These witnesses are full of Freudian slips...and they're Defense witnesses.
There's something just not right about these creepy Petersons.
I hope the jury ignores all this defense "Scott is a life worth saving" bull.
Baby pictures of Scott up in courtroom........gag
Mom is on the stand, Gerago is doing the examination.
Court TV making a deal of her oxygen tank.
23 photo's put into evidence
I just do not know what the right approach is, tossing hands up in air.
Hey, CG. I think you are correct about Lee and Jackie having an affair when Lee was still married to someone else. Very creepy family to be sure.
Hey, I bet even Hitler was a baby once.
Charlie Manson too!
I thought the sentencing phase was about the guilt of the perpertrator, not the guilt trip of the jury.
Jackie talking about her health, lungs.......she's supposed to avoid stress..........here we go
FYI..Scott's final crime is that he has bankrupted his parents..they sold everything, including their house, to raise the money for Geragos' fee..They have nothing..
No sh** Sherlock.
I can't see how a jury could choose to spare his life without Scott's professing remorse, admitting and accepting his guilt. And he can't do that now. In effect, Geragos' strategery has screwed his client..Nice touch, eh?
They should just take the clown to the back of the court parking lot and stone him.
I am sure all those trial groupies that showed up for the verdict would participate.
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