Free Republic

DURHAM, N.C. - Novelist Michael Peterson was convicted Friday of murdering his wife, whose body was found in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase in their home. Peterson, 59, remained motionless as the verdict was read and each juror asked if he or she agreed with it. With the verdict, he was automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole. Peterson, whose books include the 1990 Vietnam novel "A Time of War" and its 1995 sequel, "A Bitter Peace," was convicted of beating his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, in December 2001. Prosecutors said he may have...