Guilty: Jury next to decide if he'll be executed (Peterson trial)

modbee ^ | 11-13-04

[LouAvul]

REDWOOD CITY -- Two families hung on a single word: Guilty.

The word knifed through the air in a San Mateo County courtroom Friday, ending almost 23 months of uncertainty for Laci Peterson's family and plummeting her husband's relatives into a desperate wait to see whether he will be sentenced to death.

Scott Peterson is guilty of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son, jurors decided after deliberating for less than eight hours, an abrupt climax to a wrenching legal odyssey.

Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, began sobbing as a court clerk read the first verdict: guilty of murdering Laci Peterson.

......snip.......

The six-man, six-woman jury returned a first-degree murder conviction in the Christmas Eve 2002 slaying of Laci Peterson, 27, and second-degree murder in the death of a baby to be named Conner.

Whether Peterson will be sentenced to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole, will be decided in a second trial phase set to begin Nov. 22.

The 32-year-old fertilizer salesman from Modesto smiled and chatted with one of his attorneys before the jury entered the courtroom. He showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

.....snip.........

Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie Peterson, dropped her head as the verdict was read. Noticeably absent from the courtroom was the defendant's father, Lee Peterson, and the lead defense attorney, Mark Geragos.

"I feel bad I wasn't there," Geragos said by phone shortly after the verdict was read. He declined to comment further.

Geragos was in Southern California and had not anticipated a verdict coming back so quickly, a friend of the Los Angeles attorney said. Deliberations restarted Wednesday after the dismissal of the jury foreman, and jurors did not deliberate Thursday because of the Veterans Day holiday.

[LouAvul]

"I feel bad I wasn't there," Geragos said by phone

Heck of a guy, eh? (Sarcasm=off)

[BenLurkin]

There is a VERY good chance the jury will come back with death, IMO.

[WhosJohnGalt]

I'm pretty sure the other inmates have decided on Scott's sentence.

[misharu]

What good will a Death sentence do? Don't they have a moratorium reduing death to life imprisonment? Send him to a state that ACTUALLY carries out death penalties. (MO, TX, FL to name a few.)

[najida]

My brother and I discussed this over lunch today. When you line everything up, from the planning, the lying, the complete lack of remorse.

The death penalty is the only choice.

But like others have said, if he gets life in prison, it will be a short one.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Yeah, Geragos is truly salted earth. Hmmm, wonder where Scott's dad was? I missed the reading of the verdict, so I didn't see who was in the courtroom.

Joy, pinging you from our previous conversation.

[ALASKA]

I'm pretty sure the other inmates have decided on Scott's sentence.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings, nor would it if OJ had a fatal accident...........

[TheSpottedOwl]

What good will a death sentence do? I was going to say that it would mean that the taxpayers wouldn't have to feed and clothe his worthless ass for the next 50 yrs, but then I remembered how long it will take for the appeals to finally be exhausted.

Even though it's a run on sentence, I'm going to leave it. CA is terrible when it comes to carrying out death sentences. At least he can't hurt anyone else.

[Howlin]

He was in San Deigo.

[Guillermo]

Death Row in San Quentin prison is pretty brutal in and of itself.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Well they live in San Diego, but I'm wondering why he wasn't there in the courtroom? Ahhh, who cares.

[Sacajaweau]

No doubt that Scott's motive was "TO BE FREE"...no wife, no child...AND Laci's assets. What a Plan!! Perfect!!

But God had the other page of the Plan and voila, the bodies emerged at the site of his alibi. Imagine that!!

[pete anderson]

Scott Peterson:

Going from Selling Fertilizer to Being Fertilizer.

[Sacajaweau]

Scott will have a chance to deal for "Mercy". He can stipulate a full confession to guarantee "No Death Penalty". I do believe this will happen. He has everything to gain and his life to lose. The jury has the cards!! Scott will fold.

And Geragos will walk away with a cool mil at least!!

[Artemis Webb]

Darn shame we can't throw him in the lake and let the little fishies eat him.

[Paradox]

I would not be in favor of the death penalty in this case. Having said that, my support of the Death Penalty has been waning these last few years.

[maxwellp]

Of all the stupid public figures in recent memory, Scott Peterson has to be the dumbest. If he no longer wanted to be married to Laci all he had to do was divorce her. Yes, he'd have to pay alimony and child support, but Laci was very pretty and would probably have married again. He'd have to pay child support for 18 years. But isn't that a better scenario than now facing death or life in prison? And of the two I don't know which is worse.

[libstripper]

The only thing a death sentence will really do, and do quite well, is keep him in prison for the rest of his vile natural life. California seldom carries out the sentences and, when it does, it usually takes about 20 years from sentenciong to execution.

The problem with "life without parole" is that, even in the most henious cases, it often doesn't work out that way. Nathan Leopold, one of the murderers of Bobby Franks in Illinois in the 20's or 30's was given "life without parole." Nevertheless, when he was about 58 years old, he received clemency and was back on the street. Charlie Manson and his gang haven't yet received parole, but they keep trying.

All this means that no one on this panel who's on a jury and has a choice between giving a death sentence or "life without parole" should really consider "life without parole," because it's essentially a defense attorney's bait and switch trick. A death sentence, even if it's never executed, will effectively keep the subject on death row for th rest of his or her natural life filing appeals and petitions, a vastly better thing than probably back on the streets.

[bikepacker67]

Execution is too good for this scumbag.

I want to see him violently, and humiliatingly murdered in prison - that would be 'eye for an eye'

[bannie]

Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie Peterson, dropped her head as the verdict was read. Noticeably absent from the courtroom was the defendant's father, Lee Peterson, and the lead defense attorney, Mark Geragos.

I'm not sorry for Peterson's mother (So, set me a'fire). She's had no pity for Laci's family. She told her son, "deny, deny, deny." These were no strangers whom he murdered. That mother didn't give a damn about those whom her son injured.

I think the dad was ashamed of his son for being the murderer the he and his wife know peterson is.