Jury reaches verdict in Peterson trial By BRIAN SKOLOFF Associated Press RESOURCES • Laci Peterson Web site • Modesto, Calif., PD • Criminal Complaint (People v. Scott Peterson) • Key events in Laci Peterson case REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- The jury in the Scott Peterson murder trial has reached a verdict, the judge said today. Judge Alfred A. Delucchi told the court that the verdict would be made public at 1 p.m. Audio of the court proceeding was to be made available for broadcasters but not video, the judge had ruled. The verdict followed the back-to-back dismissals of jurors on Tuesday and Wednesday and a day off of deliberations for Veterans Day. The two dismissed jurors were replaced with alternates and each time, the panel was told to begin deliberations anew. Jurors were deciding whether Peterson killed his pregnant wife, Laci, who vanished Dec. 24, 2002. The trial began with jury selection in March and opening arguments in June. Closing arguments were presented Nov. 1 and 2 and the original panel began deliberating Nov. 3. Prosecutors claim Peterson killed Laci, then dumped her weighted body into San Francisco Bay. The remains of Laci and the fetus, a boy the couple planned to name Conner, were discovered a few miles from where Peterson says he went fishing alone the day his wife vanished. The defense contended someone else killed her. Jurors were given the option of finding Peterson not guilty or convicting him or first- or second-degree murder. First-degree convictions, carrying the death penalty or life without parole, would mean jurors concluded Peterson planned the killings. Second-degree murder convictions don't require a finding of premeditation and carry sentences of 15 years to life for each count. On Wednesday, Delucchi dismissed the jury foreman, a man in his mid-40s who has medical and law degrees. The judge did not disclose his reasoning. The action came a day after the removal of another juror who apparently did her own research on the case, violating the judge's order to consider only evidence presented at trial. While deliberations went on earlier this week, the drama shifted from the courtroom to a parking lot a few blocks away. Defense attorney Mark Geragos parked a replica boat there Monday after the deliberating jurors viewed the actual boat prosecutors allege Peterson used to dump his wife's body. But the replica boat and its contents -- coveralls stuffed with weights and concrete anchors tied to the arms and legs -- quickly became a makeshift shrine, with candles, flowers and hand-lettered signs reading "Rot in Prison" and "Justice for Laci and Conner." Geragos had hoped to show jurors a videotaped experiment performed by the defense during which the replica boat apparently filled with water, but the judge did not allow it. The tape could have bolstered the defenses argument that it would have been nearly impossible for Peterson to heave his wife overboard, as prosecutors contend, without tipping
wait a second, this thing is finally almost about to be over! sweet. so is the consensus he'll get convicted or that there isn't enough evidence even if they all think he did it?
I'm watching this right now as the news is discussing this. The whole clincher and scary thing is, juries in California arent as easy to kill a criminal as we are here in Texas. Heee-Haw!! RM95 is right, he just might get off. Someone on the news just uttered, "If the boat rocks, Scott walks." God bless these families......and burn in hell Scott Peterson.
He's got to be guilty. I'm sorry but does it get any more obvious then this Scott goes fishing The body of Laci turns up in the same place Scott went fishing at.
I think the death penalty is too good for pieces of **** like him. I think life in prison would be much worse.
Life in prison with no possibility of parole is almost a better punishment since he'll spend way more time locked up before he dies.
