Peterson Judge Sentences Him to Death
Scott Peterson Judge Formally Sentences Him to Death in Slaying of Wife and Fetus
By BRIAN SKOLOFF
The Associated Press

Mar. 16, 2005 - A judge sent Scott Peterson to death row Wednesday for the slaying of his pregnant wife, Laci, after a turbulent court session in which his father-in-law warned him in a trembling voice: "You're going to burn in hell for this."

Judge Alfred A. Delucchi accepted the jury's recommendation that Peterson be sentenced to death, calling the killing of Laci Peterson and her fetus "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous."

Peterson, 32, was invited to make a statement. After several minutes of discussion with his attorneys, he declined.

Wearing a dark suit and shackled at the waist, Peterson stared at Laci's mother without emotion as she told him he deserved to be put to death "as soon as possible."

"You decided to throw Laci and Conner away, dispose of them like they were just a piece of garbage," Sharon Rocha told her former son-in-law. Rocha sobbed as she read from a statement, looking directly at Peterson. "We had to bury Laci without her arms to hold her baby and without her head," Rocha said, her voice breaking.

Laci's father, Dennis Rocha, told Peterson: "You're going to burn in hell for this."

And Laci's brother, Brent Rocha, said he bought a gun during the investigation into Laci's disappearance and contemplated killing Peterson. "I chose not to kill you myself for one reason, so you would have to sweat it out and not take the easy way out," he told Peterson.

The former fertilizer salesman will probably be sent within 48 hours to death row at San Quentin State Prison, overlooking the bay where Laci Peterson's body was discarded, officials said. Peterson became the 644th person awaiting lethal injection in California.

The judge had the option of rejecting the jury's recommendation and imposing a sentence to life without parole, but such a move is all but unheard of. The judge also denied a defense request for a new trial.

He ordered Scott Peterson to pay $10,000 restitution for funeral expenses and an additional $5,000, though the reason for that amount was unexplained.

An eight-months-pregnant Laci Peterson disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002, and prosecutors said Peterson killed her and then dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. The badly decomposed bodies of Laci and her fetus washed ashore four months later.

Prosecutors said Peterson strangled his wife to escape marriage and impending fatherhood and return to the bachelor life. At the time of his wife's disappearance, he was carrying on an affair with Amber Frey, a massage therapist.

Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos, tried to get the judge to allow Peterson's parents to speak, on the basis that they were related to Conner. But Delucchi said the hearing was an opportunity for only Laci's relatives to speak.

At one point during the family testimony, Brent Rocha recounted a conversation he said he had with Peterson long before Laci vanished. Rocha said the former fertilizer salesman lamented about his life not being what he had hoped it to be.

Scott Peterson's father, Lee, shouted, "What a liar!" He walked out of the courtroom after being admonished by the judge.

Ten of the 12 jurors who recommended the death penalty returned to court Wednesday for the sentencing, four months after the panel found Peterson guilty of murder.

"We wanted to see it all the way through to the end," juror Richelle Nice said outside the courthouse.

As prosecutors and Laci Peterson's family left the courthouse, a crowd of about 100 people cheered and clapped.

"Our family is going to make it," said Ron Grantski, Laci's Peterson stepfather. "We're stronger because of this, and Scott got what he deserved."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

You have to have a name like Simpson or Blake to walk.

I think O J is having a welcome to the club party for Blake. You don’t have to worry about them perfuming oral sex on each other because they and their lawyers have already given the USA justice system a blow job. Man it must be great to be stinking rich.

BTW I love the Stones.

There is an interesting point about the Peterson verdict. Under California law the appeals process will probably take twenty years. If Peterson were sentenced to life in prison he probably would be killed within the year because of the type of crime he committed. Since he is on death row and away from the general prison population he will probably live out the twenty years and who knows by then California may do away with the death penalty.

too bad theres over 600 ahead of him ......:-(.....will be more than 20 years before the sentence is carried out...

That's the hypocrisy of the justice system in corporate democratic countries.

Today in Iran a person was given the whip 100 times and then publicly hanged. He raped and killed 16 kids.

I might be wrong but i though the judge said that the verdict could not be appealed. If a guy ever asked to be convicted it was him. Either he was really stupid or mentally insane(both??), with his smirking and smiling he did not endear himself to the jurors at all.
As for the Blake trial it is another case of the prosecution having to try to prove soo much and the defence having to disprove soo little. The guy is obviously guilty but he gets to walk. I find it incredible that Martha Stewart served time and he will not. She was guilty but she saw jail time and Blake will not.

In the USA the justice system is different from state to state. Most states do not have the death penalty. In States that do have them the Southern States seem to execute the most and the quickest. There are some crimes, e.g. kidnapping, that are Federal Offenses and tried in Federal courts.

Blake may or may not be guilty of the crime, but a jury of peers hearing all the evidence in the court case , came to a conclusion, the state failed to provide adequate evidence beyound a shadow of doubt! Blake has admitted this case's legal fees to date of a minimum of ten million dollars. He has yet to face a civil wrongful death suite, where innuendo, slander and libel are permitted(no rules of evidence required here) Justice is not Cheap USA style! a country where DA's and police routinely withhold evidence and or illegally plant same to obtain convictions. In one case the local state coroner, was provided information relating to two hundred and forty seven cases of lethal blunt force trauma to the human head, and in all cases of lethal force by blunt object, showed trauma to the actual brain of the victim. In this particular case she reported no actual brain trauma was observed, and she reported skin tears as actual impact blow points, and yet still eroneously claimed this person was beaten to death in a narrow stairwell(no blood spray/ splatter paterns were detected on top of the walls or ceiling!) When the Jury observed the actual crime scene, it was obvious to all the DA and his state hired professional crony witnesses were talking fiction literally! Obviously State Coroners in North Carolina are not hired for having intelligence(they seem to prefer stupid ignorant ones instead!). The Information provided by news media(all forms) in most cases is very selective and incomplete with many errors/mistakes and/or deliberate ommissions(the TV twits/reporters appear to be the worst offenders) This probably explains why one person in ten, sitting on death row USA are actually innocent of the crime they were convicted for. In Tuillio Texas, a corrupt and venal drug cop deliberately and willingly lied in over 40 cases involving coloured persons for alleged drug trafficking of cocaine, one his victims was actually using an ATM in Oklahoma City at the time of the claimed sale in Texas. The local DA is pushing for a conviction on charges that allow a maximum sentence not more than ten years. Is that justice for sending 42 innocent people to jail with sentences of 30 plus years minimum on fictional information and ruining their lives!

If you ever come to the USA and use the description "coloured persons" you will get your ass whipped or possibly worse. The politically correct and proper term is "African American."

My humble apologies, no insults intended with the phrase I used.

Actually from what I understand, he will never live long enough to be injected according to Court TV because he is so far back in the line. As far as Blake goes, just another celebrity justice for ya. Money talks. I do hear there is a civil suit in the works to "wipe that smile off his face"...hmmmm....

[begin off topic rant]

True as that may be.....(reminds you I do live in the SOUTH) if they are called African American...tell me how does a race hold dual citizenship.....after all I don't call myself European American...or Southern American.......

but i do know that is off topic.......so rant is over...
[/end rant]

agreed.
Also,according to scientists,we all come from africa.

OK now it's my turn to rant!

1. I don't care what people want to be called I just call em what doesn't piss 'em off. Because I got better things to do with my free time.


2. Until the justice system is perfected, I don't think that they should be allowed to put anyone to death. I don't care so much about Simpson and Blake- I cannot judge them as all the info I get is from the media. I do know that there has only been one millionaire on death row that comes to mind. What's that tell ya?

What I do not like is that there are a lot of poor bastards (600?) waiting to get the needle because they couldn't afford a fancy lawyer! What if they didn't do it?

I think life in prison without parole is sufficient as they can no longer be a harm to society. Meantime, new evidence, i.e. DNA for instance can come along and vindicate or validate.

3. And while I am at it, you can take the damn parole system and shove it. Shove it so far that they choke on it. I don't want it to continue.

Because I am sick and tired of these child molesters getting out and killling little kids!! You can't cure these bastards. Once convicted- it's a life sentence period paragraph. Jessica Lunsford, She's the 9 year-old girl who disappeared from her bedroom last month. There were no less than 15 convicted child molesters ON PAROLE living in her area! These freaks are not wired right and no amount of cell sitting is gonna cure them. I see this sh*t every week and I have had it with this insanity. The creep was living across the street, her grandparents never even knew it, could not protect her and now she is dead. Why? Because the parole board lost track of his ass.

I'm done now.