| Peterson Guilty
By Richard Cole -Daily News Staff Writer REDWOOD CITY, Nov. 12, 2004 A San Mateo County jury found Scott Peterson guilty of first-degree murder this afternoon for the slaying of his wife Laci. Jurors found the former fertilizer salesman guilty of second- degree murder in the death of the fetus she carried. Peterson, 32, now faces a possible death sentence or life in prison. Hundreds of people gathered outside the San Mateo County courthouse in Redwood City cheered as the verdict was read. The verdict was broadcast live around the world and television cameras captured onlookers outside the court cheering. Police were called in from throughout San Mateo County to help with anticipated crowd control problems. The jurors who listened to 188 witnesses over five months, and were given the case Nov. 3 by Judge Alfred Delucchi. Deliberations began anew yesterday when an alternate was seated on the panel. The same jurors must now decide whether Peterson will die by lethal injection or serve life in prison without parole. The case drew international attention from a populace captivated by the pregnant Laci's brilliant smile and concerned about her fate, pushing the story onto television and the front pages of newspapers around the world. During the trial prosecutor Rick Distaso successfully portrayed Peterson as a would-be jet-setter who came to resent being tied down by his pregnant wife and his staid job selling fertilizer. Instead he wanted the life he lied about having in recorded phone calls to his willowy blond mistress Amber Frey -- trips to Paris and Brussels, vacations in Kennebunkport, and fishing excursions to Alaska. Peterson carefully planned out his pregnant wife's death, prosecutors said, buying a boat in early December, checking Bay tides and killing her just before Christmas 2002. He then dumped her body in San Francisco Bay while on a supposed fishing trip. Peterson tried to disguise his role in her murder by portraying Laci's disappearance as an abduction by transients or burglars while she was out walking the family dog McKenzie. Witness after witness portrayed Peterson as detached from the search for Laci, and more interested in Frey than in the fate of his wife and son. The most powerful evidence in the case surfaced April 13 and 14, 2003, when Laci's and Conner's bodies washed up in San Francisco Bay -- just onshore from where Peterson admitted he went fishing the day they disappeared. Experts testified Laci's body was likely held down by concrete anchors in the precise spot where Peterson went fishing until an April 12 storm pulled them from the bay bottom. And a dog handler traced Laci's scent to the Berkeley Marina, where prosecutors charged he took his wife's body hidden in his 14-foot-aluminum fishing boat. Police also found a hair of Laci's wrapped around a pair of pliers found in the bottom of the boat. Although defense attorney Mark Geragos tried to portray the case against his client as a rush to judgment, the location of the bodies proved fatal to the defense. Laci's mother Sharon Rocha and stepfather Ron Grantski turned on their son-in-law after they found out from police about Frey in mid January 2003. They have since championed their daughter's cause, and testified against Peterson during the trial. HOME INDEX LACI CONNER TRIAL SCOTT ALIBI-WITNESS LIST WIRETAPS EVIDENCE PHOTOS PLIERS AMBER DOGS JURORS |
| LACI & CONNER "I am glad to know that the jury has spoken and maybe there will be some peace for you and yours" RANA * CA * GUESTBOOK |
 |
 |
|
 |
|