Peterson receives death penalty

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The jury in the Scott Peterson case, repelled by his apparent lack of sorrow and remorse, decided yesterday that he deserves the death penalty for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, almost two years ago to the date.

A cheer went up outside the courthouse as the jury of six men and six women announced its decision after 11 hours of deliberations over three days.

Inside, Peterson reacted with the same tight-jawed look that some jurors said turned them off after seeing little emotion out of Peterson since his wife’s disappearance two years ago.

“I still would have liked to see, I don’t know if remorse is the right word,” juror Steve Cardosi said at a press conference after the sentence. “He lost his wife and his child — it didn’t seem to faze him. While that was going on … he is romancing a girlfriend.”

Peterson still might not be executed for decades — if ever — and it can take years for the appeals process to begin. Since California brought back capital punishment in 1978, only 10 executions have been carried out, an average of 16 years after the sentences were handed down.

The state’s last execution, of Stephen Wayne Anderson in 2002, was for the 1980 murder of an 81-year-old retired piano teacher that netted him less than $100 while the convicted burglar was on the run after escaping from a Utah prison. California’s clogged death row houses about 650 people.

Jurors said they were swayed as much by Peterson’s emotions as by any of the testimony during the trial.

“For me, a big part of it was at the end — the verdict. No emotion. No anything. That spoke a thousand words — loud and clear,” juror Richelle Nice said, responding to a question about whether they wanted to hear a statement from Peterson. “I heard enough from him.”

Juror Greg Beratlis said the jury was convinced of Peterson’s guilt by “many, many things.”

“Those bodies were found in the one place he went prior to her being missing,” he said. “I played in my mind over and over conspiracies: Was somebody trying to set up Scott? Was somebody after Laci? It didn’t add up.”

Miss Nice also described the jury’s repugnance for a man killing his wife and their unborn child, which they already had named Conner.

“Scott Peterson was Laci’s husband, Conner’s daddy — the one person that should have protected them,” she said.

Mr. Cardosi, Miss Nice and Mr. Beratlis were the only panel members to discuss the case yesterday with reporters. The other nine declined to be interviewed.

A crowd of several hundred gathered outside the courthouse for the verdict — a scene reminiscent of when about 1,000 people showed up last month to hear the conviction. The San Francisco Examiner came out with a special edition within minutes of the sentence, with the giant headline “DEATH.”

The victim’s mother, Sharon Rocha, cried quietly — her lips quivering — after the decision was read. Jackie Peterson showed no apparent emotion at the verdict against her son.

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