- Dec 28, 2004
- 36,052
- 17
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SF Gate
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Scott Peterson, the Modesto man whose life played out in a courtroom last year like a sordid soap opera, was sentenced during a fury- and grief-filled hearing today to die in San Quentin's death chamber for murdering his wife, Laci, and unborn son.
Peterson, ushered into the Redwood City courtroom with his hands cuffed to his waist just before 9 a.m., showed little emotion as Judge Alfred Delucchi said he had chosen the death sentence recommended by a 12-member jury in December rather than life in prison without parole.
The gallery, filled with family members, Modesto police officers, 10 of the jurors and others, remained hushed as the judge pronounced his sentence at 10:30 a.m., calling the slayings "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous."
Then began the emotional roller-coaster ride.
Six relatives of the slain former substitute teacher rose to take their final verbal shots at her husband, and as each spoke, sparks flew.
Brent Rocha, Laci's brother, led off, saying he had been so enraged that he bought a gun to kill Peterson, but couldn't go through with his plan.
"Did you really hate Laci and Conner that much, or did you dislike yourself?" he said, voice filled with fury. Then as he recalled a time in 2002 when Peterson was complaining to him about living beyond his means, Scott Peterson's father, Lee Peterson, yelled from his seat in the front row.
"You're a liar!" he shouted.
Jackie Peterson, Scott Peterson's mother, also appeared to speak under her breath while Rocha was talking, but her voice was inaudible.
Judge Delucchi immediately admonished Lee Peterson, and warned that anyone else who had an outburst would be removed from the courtroom. Peterson and his son-in-law stormed out of the courtroom, and as he left he muttered, "This is bulls-."
Jackie Peterson soon followed, leaving only Peterson's sister, two brothers, and sister-in-law to witness the sentencing.
Laci Peterson's father, Dennis Rocha, next drew his own rebuke from the judge when he began his tirade by calling Peterson "a piece of s-." The judge warned him to keep his language clean, so Rocha -- speaking in open court for the first time -- switched gears and called Peterson a "Narcissist."
"You were always so arrogant, better than anybody else," he said, staring angrily at the defendant. "You're in love with yourself. That's your problem ... you're going to burn in hell for this."
Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother, topped the emotional parade in a chillingly precise barrage similar to those she has unleashed in earlier proceedings. She berated Peterson as a "murderer" and "baby killer," and said he was an example that "evil can lurk anywhere."
"You're not intelligent at all, you're stupid," Rocha said in her 10-minute condemnation, which started out quietly but quickly built heat. "You're stupid to think you could get away with murder ... You were stupid to believe we would forget about Laci."
"You're selfish, heartless, spoiled, self-centered and you are a coward. But above all you are a murderer," Rocha said. Then in an odd twist she re-enacted what she imagined her daughter and unborn grandson must have been thinking as Peterson was killing them.
First came her guess at Laci's thoughts: "What are you doing? You know how much I love you? I thought you loved me too."
Then she related her idea of what the baby, whose name would have been Conner, might have been thinking: "Daddy why are you killing mommy and me? I haven't met you. Daddy please don't kill us. I promise I won't take her away from you. I don't want to die."
She ended the passage by fixing Peterson fiercely in her gaze and biting off the words: "You deserve to burn in hell for all eternity."
Peterson sat impassively at the defendant's table throughout the proceeding, locking eyes with each person who spoke. When asked by the judge if he wanted to address the court, he consulted with his attorney, Mark Geragos, who then told the judge Peterson would not speak.
Geragos asked the judge if the defendant's parents could speak, since they were grandparents of the baby victim, but the request was denied.
As the enraged family members rose, one after the other, to condemn Peterson, several of the jurors who convicted him cried softly. Several of Laci Peterson's friends in the gallery sobbed loudly.
Peterson was sentenced to death after his defense attorneys asked the judge to throw out the conviction of the 32-year-old former fertilizer salesman and grant him a new trial. Defense attorney Geragos cited more than a dozen reasons why his client deserved a new trial, including judicial errors and jury misconduct.
But Delucchi instantly dismissed the request, ruling that Peterson had been treated fairly during the five-month-long trial.
After the court hearing, family members, jurors and law enforcement officials held a round-robin of impromptu press conferences outside. Although there were smiles and emotions had cooled somewhat, the grief and rage were still just below the surface.
"What's there to cheer about?" asked one juror, Gregory Beratlis of Belmont. "This is a young man with a whole life ahead of him." That life is in essence over now, he said sadly.
Laci Peterson's stepfather, Ron Grantski, visibly struggling to maintain composure, said his family was grateful that California has a death penalty.
"Our family's going to make it," he said. "We're stronger than this, and Scott got what he deserved."
Scott Peterson's family had nothing to say after the sentencing.
Peterson's death sentence ends a two-year saga that began when Peterson reported his eight-months-pregnant wife missing on Christmas Eve, 2002.
Peterson told police that when he left for a day of fishing on San Francisco Bay his wife was planning to take the dog for a walk before doing some last minute errands and preparing for a Christmas brunch the couple was hosting the following day.
When he returned home, he found the dog in the backyard with his leash on but his wife was nowhere in sight.
The search for the missing woman, noted for her dark brown eyes and dimpled cheeks, immediately captured the attention of the national media and police quickly began to suspect Peterson in his wife's disappearance.
Soon Laci Peterson's picture was popping up on televisions all over the world. The fascination mounted as sordid details were revealed drip by drip, starting with an announcement by Fresno massage therapist named Amber Frey that she'd been Peterson's unwitting mistress.
Four months after Laci Peterson disappeared, her body and that of the couples' baby washed ashore near where Peterson said he'd spent the day fishing.
Peterson was arrested near the Mexican border with his hair dyed and carrying $15,000 in cash and wilderness survival gear.
All along Peterson and his family maintained his innocence. The evidence against Peterson was entirely circumstantial and when he hired Geragos, a slick Hollywood lawyer many believed he might get off.
Geragos accused the Modesto police department of rushing to judgment against his client and ignoring leads that would have pointed to the real killer. But the prosecution team laid out a painstakingly detailed case showing jurors mounds of evidence -- including testimony and dozens of taped conversations with his former girlfriend -- that they said led them to believe Peterson murdered his wife then weighed her body down with concrete anchors at the bottom of the bay.
Peterson was anything but a grieving husband, prosecutors said. While hundreds of people were out searching for his missing wife, he was continuing to woo his girlfriend and lying to everyone he talked to including his own mother.
But after hearing five months of testimony, the jury convicted Peterson on Nov. 12 of first-degree murder of his wife and second-degree murder of his son. 12. A month later, after hearing testimony from both Laci and Scott Peterson's family as well as friends and former co-workers of the defendant, they recommended he be put to death.
Peterson now will join as many as 641 inmates on California's Death Row in San Quentin. His case will automatically be appealed to the state Supreme Court. The average death penalty appeal takes 18 years before an inmate is put to death.
Since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1977, only 11 inmates have been executed. The last execution was Jan. 19, when Donald Beardslee died by lethal injection.
_______________________________________
Justice is served.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Scott Peterson, the Modesto man whose life played out in a courtroom last year like a sordid soap opera, was sentenced during a fury- and grief-filled hearing today to die in San Quentin's death chamber for murdering his wife, Laci, and unborn son.
Peterson, ushered into the Redwood City courtroom with his hands cuffed to his waist just before 9 a.m., showed little emotion as Judge Alfred Delucchi said he had chosen the death sentence recommended by a 12-member jury in December rather than life in prison without parole.
The gallery, filled with family members, Modesto police officers, 10 of the jurors and others, remained hushed as the judge pronounced his sentence at 10:30 a.m., calling the slayings "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous."
Then began the emotional roller-coaster ride.
Six relatives of the slain former substitute teacher rose to take their final verbal shots at her husband, and as each spoke, sparks flew.
Brent Rocha, Laci's brother, led off, saying he had been so enraged that he bought a gun to kill Peterson, but couldn't go through with his plan.
"Did you really hate Laci and Conner that much, or did you dislike yourself?" he said, voice filled with fury. Then as he recalled a time in 2002 when Peterson was complaining to him about living beyond his means, Scott Peterson's father, Lee Peterson, yelled from his seat in the front row.
"You're a liar!" he shouted.
Jackie Peterson, Scott Peterson's mother, also appeared to speak under her breath while Rocha was talking, but her voice was inaudible.
Judge Delucchi immediately admonished Lee Peterson, and warned that anyone else who had an outburst would be removed from the courtroom. Peterson and his son-in-law stormed out of the courtroom, and as he left he muttered, "This is bulls-."
Jackie Peterson soon followed, leaving only Peterson's sister, two brothers, and sister-in-law to witness the sentencing.
Laci Peterson's father, Dennis Rocha, next drew his own rebuke from the judge when he began his tirade by calling Peterson "a piece of s-." The judge warned him to keep his language clean, so Rocha -- speaking in open court for the first time -- switched gears and called Peterson a "Narcissist."
"You were always so arrogant, better than anybody else," he said, staring angrily at the defendant. "You're in love with yourself. That's your problem ... you're going to burn in hell for this."
Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother, topped the emotional parade in a chillingly precise barrage similar to those she has unleashed in earlier proceedings. She berated Peterson as a "murderer" and "baby killer," and said he was an example that "evil can lurk anywhere."
"You're not intelligent at all, you're stupid," Rocha said in her 10-minute condemnation, which started out quietly but quickly built heat. "You're stupid to think you could get away with murder ... You were stupid to believe we would forget about Laci."
"You're selfish, heartless, spoiled, self-centered and you are a coward. But above all you are a murderer," Rocha said. Then in an odd twist she re-enacted what she imagined her daughter and unborn grandson must have been thinking as Peterson was killing them.
First came her guess at Laci's thoughts: "What are you doing? You know how much I love you? I thought you loved me too."
Then she related her idea of what the baby, whose name would have been Conner, might have been thinking: "Daddy why are you killing mommy and me? I haven't met you. Daddy please don't kill us. I promise I won't take her away from you. I don't want to die."
She ended the passage by fixing Peterson fiercely in her gaze and biting off the words: "You deserve to burn in hell for all eternity."
Peterson sat impassively at the defendant's table throughout the proceeding, locking eyes with each person who spoke. When asked by the judge if he wanted to address the court, he consulted with his attorney, Mark Geragos, who then told the judge Peterson would not speak.
Geragos asked the judge if the defendant's parents could speak, since they were grandparents of the baby victim, but the request was denied.
As the enraged family members rose, one after the other, to condemn Peterson, several of the jurors who convicted him cried softly. Several of Laci Peterson's friends in the gallery sobbed loudly.
Peterson was sentenced to death after his defense attorneys asked the judge to throw out the conviction of the 32-year-old former fertilizer salesman and grant him a new trial. Defense attorney Geragos cited more than a dozen reasons why his client deserved a new trial, including judicial errors and jury misconduct.
But Delucchi instantly dismissed the request, ruling that Peterson had been treated fairly during the five-month-long trial.
After the court hearing, family members, jurors and law enforcement officials held a round-robin of impromptu press conferences outside. Although there were smiles and emotions had cooled somewhat, the grief and rage were still just below the surface.
"What's there to cheer about?" asked one juror, Gregory Beratlis of Belmont. "This is a young man with a whole life ahead of him." That life is in essence over now, he said sadly.
Laci Peterson's stepfather, Ron Grantski, visibly struggling to maintain composure, said his family was grateful that California has a death penalty.
"Our family's going to make it," he said. "We're stronger than this, and Scott got what he deserved."
Scott Peterson's family had nothing to say after the sentencing.
Peterson's death sentence ends a two-year saga that began when Peterson reported his eight-months-pregnant wife missing on Christmas Eve, 2002.
Peterson told police that when he left for a day of fishing on San Francisco Bay his wife was planning to take the dog for a walk before doing some last minute errands and preparing for a Christmas brunch the couple was hosting the following day.
When he returned home, he found the dog in the backyard with his leash on but his wife was nowhere in sight.
The search for the missing woman, noted for her dark brown eyes and dimpled cheeks, immediately captured the attention of the national media and police quickly began to suspect Peterson in his wife's disappearance.
Soon Laci Peterson's picture was popping up on televisions all over the world. The fascination mounted as sordid details were revealed drip by drip, starting with an announcement by Fresno massage therapist named Amber Frey that she'd been Peterson's unwitting mistress.
Four months after Laci Peterson disappeared, her body and that of the couples' baby washed ashore near where Peterson said he'd spent the day fishing.
Peterson was arrested near the Mexican border with his hair dyed and carrying $15,000 in cash and wilderness survival gear.
All along Peterson and his family maintained his innocence. The evidence against Peterson was entirely circumstantial and when he hired Geragos, a slick Hollywood lawyer many believed he might get off.
Geragos accused the Modesto police department of rushing to judgment against his client and ignoring leads that would have pointed to the real killer. But the prosecution team laid out a painstakingly detailed case showing jurors mounds of evidence -- including testimony and dozens of taped conversations with his former girlfriend -- that they said led them to believe Peterson murdered his wife then weighed her body down with concrete anchors at the bottom of the bay.
Peterson was anything but a grieving husband, prosecutors said. While hundreds of people were out searching for his missing wife, he was continuing to woo his girlfriend and lying to everyone he talked to including his own mother.
But after hearing five months of testimony, the jury convicted Peterson on Nov. 12 of first-degree murder of his wife and second-degree murder of his son. 12. A month later, after hearing testimony from both Laci and Scott Peterson's family as well as friends and former co-workers of the defendant, they recommended he be put to death.
Peterson now will join as many as 641 inmates on California's Death Row in San Quentin. His case will automatically be appealed to the state Supreme Court. The average death penalty appeal takes 18 years before an inmate is put to death.
Since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1977, only 11 inmates have been executed. The last execution was Jan. 19, when Donald Beardslee died by lethal injection.
_______________________________________
Justice is served.
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