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DA: Peterson Likely to Face Death Penalty

By JIM WASSERMAN
The Associated Press
Monday, April 21, 2003; 12:32 PM

MODESTO, Calif. - When Scott Peterson is arraigned on two charges of murdering his pregnant wife and unborn child Monday afternoon, authorities will most likely seek the death penalty, Stanislaus County District Attorney James Brazelton said.

"It's hard for me to realistically believe it is anything but a death penalty case at this time," Brazelton told ABC News.

Arrested because detectives feared he might try to flee the country, a jailed Peterson waited quietly and courteously for his arraignment.

Alone in a 6-by-9 maximum-security cell in the Stanislaus County jail, Peterson spent the weekend talking to his lawyer and making some phone calls, said Kelly Huston, a spokesman for the sheriff's department.

"He has been treated much like any other maximum-security inmate that we have here," Huston told reporters gathered Sunday outside the jail. Peterson, who wore shackles and a belly chain whenever he was taken from his cell, was "rather quiet" and "very courteous" to his jailers, Huston said.

Although authorities said the proceeding could be delayed for a day, Peterson was expected to be arraigned Monday afternoon on charges that he killed his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son. Prosecutors have not said if they will seek the death penalty.

Scott Peterson, 30, has maintained that he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance, and was fishing in San Francisco Bay when she vanished just before Christmas. Last week authorities found the bodies of Laci Peterson and the baby on the shore of the bay.

Investigators had long declined to name Scott Peterson as a suspect, but even before DNA tests identified the bodies, Modesto police arrested Peterson Friday near San Diego because they feared he might flee to Mexico, according to Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden.

When he was arrested, Peterson had dyed his hair and grown a beard, and had $10,000 in cash with him in his car, according to a law enforcement source. Hours later, investigators learned of the DNA results.

In the jail, Peterson was segregated from other inmates and placed in the jail's maximum security section because of the nature of the charges he faces, and because prisoners have made threats against him, Huston said. The inmates "definitely have some unfavorable opinions of him," the sheriff's spokesman said.

Peterson declined all interview requests, authorities said. His attorney, Kirk McAllister, talked with Peterson Saturday night, but made no public comment on the case.

In an interview with Time magazine Sunday, Peterson's father, Lee, said "police have just bungled this investigation from day one." He added, "We're grieving for the baby, as Scott is for Laci."

Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie, was also critical of the investigation. "You have a district attorney calling this a slam-dunk before there's even an arraignment," she told the magazine. "I'm feeling like I'm living in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union."

"I would like people to use their common sense and look at the big picture," Jackie Peterson said in an interview with NBC also on Sunday. "Why would he go 80 miles fishing, come home with a receipt, and buy gas and food on the way...and the body would be there?" she questioned. "It's too convenient."

Outside the home that Scott and Laci Peterson once shared, a makeshift shrine of flowers, balloons, candles and cards continued to grow, as local residents spent their Easter Sunday paying their respects to the young woman whose death shocked this sleepy farm town in California's bread basket.

Michelle McKinney hugged her daughter and wiped away tears as she watched her 12-year-old son add a blue and gold teddy bear.

"The baby didn't get a chance to live his life and grow up," said McKinney, 33. "She didn't get a chance to enjoy her baby."

A wooden cross covered with aluminum foil on the Peterson lawn read: "We prayed everyday that Laci and Baby Connor would come home. Now, Laci and Baby Connor are home with the Lord."