| LACI & CONNER Justice Prevailed |
| Wrongful Death Suit Filed In Peterson Case December 20, 2003 Laci Peterson's family has filed a $5 million lawsuit against her husband, Scott. An attorney for Sharon Rocha -- Laci's mother -- filed the lawsuit on Friday in Modesto because the family wants to make sure "justice is done" in the high-profile case in which Scott Peterson has been charged with the Christmas Eve killing of Laci and the couple's unborn son. "The family wants to be sure that Scott suffers the greatest of civil and criminal penalties to the greatest extent that our legal system allows," Rocha's attorney Adam Stewart told the Modesto Bee. "She wants to make sure justice is done, whether it's in a civil court or a criminal court," Stewart added. Wording in the lawsuit justified the $5 million pricetag by saying: "The imposition of substantial punitive and exemplary damages will in this case be both justified and necessary in order to send out a message from this court to all persons in the United States and throughout the world that such vicious and outrageous savagery inflicted by one human being upon another shall be met with the severest of civil penalties." The Rocha legal team also filed a survival action lawsuit against Peterson in Sharon's role as the administrator of Laci Peterson's estate. It's just the latest legal action the Rochas has taken against Peterson. In September, the Rochas filed a civil suit that sought to prevent Scott from profiting from the intense publicity surrounding the case. In the action filed with the Stanislaus County court, the Rocha family asked for a preliminary injunction that would require any money received for by Scott to go into a protected trust. Those funds would go to the Rocha family if Peterson were to be found guilty and could not be used to pay for his defense team headed by well-known attorney Mark Geragos. The order sought by Laci Peterson's family would prevent Scott Peterson from "expending, disbursing, transferring or other wise utilizing such incomes, funds or assets without the express authorization of the court." The court actions signified the huge rift that has evolved between the two families involved in the case. Months ago, after a request to go to the house that Laci and Scott owned in Modesto was refused by his parents, the Rochas and friends of the family went into the home and removed several items including a rocking chair, baby's furniture and other cherished family memorabilia. On Sept. 2, Scott Peterson parents -- Lee and Jackie Peterson -- were extremely critical of the fact they were not invited to a private funeral where Laci and her unborn son, Conner's, remains were laid to rest. In an email obtained by KTVU to Sharon Rocha, Jackie Peterson wrote: "The past eight months fill the most difficult moments in all our lives. Arriving soon will be more trying times for all of us. We are dismayed at the failed efforts of Judge Giolami to close the coming hearing. Our effort to do so centered on keeping the press from exploiting the lives of Laci and Conner." "Scott is brokenhearted over not being able to protect his family on that fateful day in December and now again not being able to protect the memories of Laci and Conner." The charges Peterson faces carry with them the possibility of the death sentence. Scott Peterson is currently being held without bail in the Stanislaus County jail and has been ordered to stand trial on Jan. 26. HOME INDEX LACI CONNER SCOTT TRIAL WITNESS LIST AMBER PETERSON INDEX TRIBUTES LACI'S HOUSE LACI'S ALBUM PRELIMINARY HEARING |
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