Breaking News: Scott Peterson Verdict Reached

[Drbio]

It will be announced at 4pm EST.

[EricaLubarsky]

that devil is guilty.

[u2sarajevo]

Guilty as sin.

So say the jurors.

[Dooby]

Special circumstances=death penalty.

[u2sarajevo]

Also of the baby!!!!

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Justice has been served!

[sike]

GUILTY! he's going down

[Caliente]

The look of no surprise.....

[u2sarajevo]

The look of a father/husband that murdered his wife and child.

Pathetic.

[Drbio]

If there were any justice in this world, they would sentence that worthless piece of garbage to ten minutes in a room with me.

After that, you could close the case and burn the file.

[mavsman55]

I wish the death penalty weren't as humane. I would like nothing more than to see this rotten piece of garbage killed in the exact same way that he slayed his wife and child. Pathetic.

Have fun in hell, Scott.

[Caliente]

Rest in peace Laci and Conner.

Laci Peterson

[TripleDipping]

Am I the only one who's still feeling uneasy about this case?

Sure, he was found guilty. His lawyers will seek appeals after appeals and loopholes of the justice system will be exploited at every possible angle.

It may be a long, long time before we can finally see justice being served.

[MavsFanFinley]

As some of you know, I live in Modesto. You can't imagine the relief and joy the people of this city are feeling today after hearing the verdict.

[mary]

I have a question for anyone in the know - its my understanding (and I surely could be wrong) that the difference between second and first degree is the presence of premeditation. I was wondering what would be the logic behind differentiating the two counts. In other words, how could one be premediated, and not the other? I'm sure I'm missing something, as I haven't really kept up with it.

This news definitely made my day.

[Smiles]

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking why someone should be punished less severely if the murder he committed was only considered for a second - rather than plotted out over a longer period of time?

Or are you asking what legally determines whether a case is tried as first or second degree?

[mary]

Originally posted by: Smiles
I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking why someone should be punished less severely if the murder he committed was only considered for a second - rather than plotted out over a longer period of time?

Or are you asking what legally determines whether a case is tried as first or second degree?

No to the first part....yes to the second.

I really have two questions.

1. Is premeditatation an element of second degree murder?

If no, then

2a. How could Laci's death have been premeditated, but not Connor's.

If the answer is yes, then

2b. What distinguished the two charges?

I've always assumed the following definitions of murder:

One: includes premeditation

Two: no premeditation

Three: more defined by some type of criminal negligence.

Of course, everything I know about the justice system, I learned from Matlock.

[BiteMeVescey]

It may have to do with the fact that Connor was not considered the "direct target" of the attack. His death was a result of Laci's death. Now granted it would seem obvious that he intended to kill his son as well, but it was probably easier to make the 2nd degree charge stick.

BTW folks this case will be ongoing for a while. Even the judge said during the trial that this case was an apellate court petri dish that was waiting to be put in the incubator (paraphrase).

[Drbio]

Extra points to BMV for the correct use of a biological metaphor. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Caliente]

Peterson gets death penalty

03:50 PM CST on Monday, December 13, 2004

Associated Press

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – A jury in Redwood City, California, has decided that Scott Peterson should be executed for killing his wife, Laci, and her fetus.

Jurors made their decision on the third day of deliberations and shortly after they asked the judge to see 13 pieces of evidence, including autopsy photos and aerial pictures of the bay where prosecutors said Peterson dumped the body.

They also asked to see the widely publicized photograph of Laci Peterson wearing a red maternity pantsuit with her hands folded across her lap.

It was not immediately clear what the rest of the evidence was, but almost all of it was presented by the prosecution at trial.

Jurors took the weekend off following 8 ½ hours of deliberations Thursday and Friday. They were sequestered at a hotel over the weekend.

The same jury of six men and six women found Peterson guilty Nov. 12.

Defense attorneys called 39 witnesses over seven days in the penalty phase of the trial. Prosecutors called just four of Laci's family members, all on the first day, Nov. 30.

The judge will formally sentence Peterson on Feb. 25.

Peterson, 32, was convicted of two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, Laci, and her fetus. Prosecutors say he strangled or smothered his wife on or around Christmas Eve 2002 and dumped the body in San Francisco Bay.

Peterson claims he was fishing alone that day.

[DubOverdose]

This was still going on? I've been at college since the end of August and NEVER watch tv anymore. Didn't this guy drown his pregnant wife in the ocean or something?

[Caliente]

Scott Peterson sentenced to death

12:29 PM CST on Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Associated Press

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Scott Peterson was sentenced to death Wednesday for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, more than two years ago.

Judge Alfred A. Delucchi denied a defense request for a new trial before upholding the jury's recommendation that he be sentenced to death, calling the slayings of Laci and her fetus "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous."

"The court is satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Scott Lee Peterson, is guilty of first-degree murder" and second degree, Delucchi said.

Peterson, shackled at the waist and wearing a dark suit, was escorted into court under heavy security. He will be sent to death row at San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco, the infamous lockup that overlooks the same bay where Laci Peterson's body was discarded.

Peterson, 32, was convicted Nov. 12 of two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife and her fetus. The jury recommended the death penalty a month later.

In court papers unsealed Monday, Peterson's lawyers requested a new trial. Among the claims made by defense lawyer Mark Geragos was that Peterson's telephone calls to Frey should not have been used at trial. He said Peterson never implicated himself in the crime during the calls and that authorities should not have tapped his phone.

Geragos also said prosecutors withheld evidence that a state prison inmate claimed he heard that Laci Peterson had interrupted a burglary at a neighbor's home in Modesto on Dec. 24, 2002, the day she was reported missing.

Scott Peterson claims he went fishing that day, and Geragos says the tip "points to the conclusion that Laci was alive after Scott left for the day."

But prosecutor David Harris said the burglary happened two days after Laci Peterson's disappearance. He said the evidence would not have changed the verdict.

Geragos said he became aware of the tip about six weeks before the verdict and later discovered "a small notation in hundreds of pages of tip sheets" provided by prosecutors before the trial.

He said it took several weeks to investigate and prison tapes that would have confirmed the tip were no longer available.

"If the evidence were presented at a retrial, it is highly probable a different result would have occurred," Geragos wrote.

Harris said the tip was provided to defense attorneys a year before the trial started. "His claim is reminiscent of the 'boy who cried wolf,"' Harris said.

The motion for a new trial, filed Feb. 25 in Redwood City, also claimed the judge erroneously dismissed two jurors, and erred in denying Geragos' motion for a second change of venue.

[Smiles]

See how you like doing the backstroke in the lake of fire, fool.