| Jury requests to view boat
It's unclear why, but sources say jurors will get a chance Monday Friday, November 5, 2004 Jurors deliberating a verdict in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial have asked to see his boat again. Sources requesting anonymity because of a court-imposed gag order said Friday that jurors will be allowed to see the boat on Monday. It was unclear why they want to. In late July, the 12 jurors and five alternates took a brief field trip to view Peterson's boat. Bailiffs escorted the jurors through an underground walkway leading from the San Mateo County Courthouse basement to a secure location nearby, where they saw the boat. During the trial, prosecutors showed photographs of the boat to jurors, trying to prove that a woman of Laci Peterson's size could fit into the boat in multiple positions — and not be easily seen by someone looking from afar. Peterson, 32, is accused of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, around Christmas 2002. He faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder. The defense contends that someone could have easily spotted a body in the boat and that the boat would have capsized if anyone had tried to put a body overboard. The 12 regular jurors started deliberations Wednesday. The jury worked about seven hours Friday before breaking for the weekend. Friday afternoon, attorneys on both sides went into Superior Court Judge Alfred Delucchi's chambers for more than 45 minutes. They refused to comment after emerging. "Don't even think about it," defense attorney Pat Harris said as a reporter drew a breath to ask him a question. Moments earlier, Harris was on his cell phone outside the judge's chamber. Lead defense attorney, Mark Geragos, was not present. Jury deliberations are set to resume Monday. In the meantime, jurors are spending the weekend at the hotel where they have been sequestered for the duration of deliberations. No excursions are planned, media coordinator Peter Shaplen said, and no visitors are permitted. The jurors are allowed to watch sports and movies, and they can make — but not receive — phone calls. They can use computers only without Internet service, and they are barred from news in any form. Media and onlookers swirled around the courthouse for much of Friday. Sheriff's deputies confiscated the memory card from a woman's digital camera after she tried to take pictures of jurors as they entered the courthouse Friday morning, a sheriff's spokeswoman said. It was unclear if the woman had in fact photographed any jurors in violation of the judge's order, Lt. Lisa Williams said. "She wasn't arrested; she wasn't charged with anything," Williams said. Just before noon, a delivery man quickly became a media target. Several reporters followed him as he left the courthouse, grilling him on what the jurors had ordered for lunch from a delicatessen a few blocks away. Shaplen said jurors order lunch from a menu and eat in the courthouse. They were allowed to eat wherever they chose during the five-month trial, before their sequestration began. For breakfast, the jurors and alternates have a buffet at their hotel. They order dinner from a hotel restaurant and can receive room service at their own expense, Shaplen said. Howard Varinsky, the prosecution's consultant during jury selection, rebutted Friday the notion that having Juror 5, a doctor and lawyer, as the foreman, boded well for the defense. "What you're all responding to is the myth that you should never have a lawyer as a juror, because they're too detail-oriented and just too picky, let alone a lawyer-M.D.," Varinsky said. "You know what? It could go both ways. "I felt this guy works from a framework of logic," Varinsky said. "The prosecution will take logical jurors, common-sense jurors any day rather than nutcases." HOME INDEX LACI CONNER TRIAL SCOTT ALIBI-WITNESS LIST |
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| Defense Jury Consultant Howard Varinsky |
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| LACI & CONNER "Our Thoughts and Prayers go out to the Parents and Grandparents of Laci and Conner. May God be with you through this difficult time" AUDREY PLAYER * Ontario, Canada * GUESTBOOK |
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