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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
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Location: United States of America
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 Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:25 pm Peterson sentenced to death for wife's slaying |
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| Quote: | Woman's family explodes at husband, Peterson family
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Posted: 4:25 PM EST (2125 GMT)
REDWOOD CITY, California (CNN) -- A California judge Wednesday sentenced Scott Peterson to die by lethal injection for killing his pregnant wife and her fetus, calling the deaths "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous."
San Mateo Superior Court Judge Alfred Delucchi noted that Peterson's unborn child never had a chance to draw a breath.
Delucchi made the remarks as he denied an automatic motion to mitigate Peterson's sentence. The judge also denied a motion filed by defense attorney Mark Geragos seeking a new trial for Peterson.
Wednesday's sentencing included dramatic moments from the slain woman's family, who vented their anger at Scott Peterson and his family.
"You're evil and still have the readiness to commit evil," Laci's brother, Brent Rocha, told Scott Peterson. "How does it feel to be a baby killer?"
Rocha said that every time he came to court, "I think that my sister's head is probably rolling around in the bottom of the bay."
He told Peterson he had bought a gun, but said he was glad he had not killed the defendant, saying now Peterson would have to wait for death. He called Peterson "arrogant" and said it was time for him to face reality for his actions.
Other family members, such as Laci's father and stepfather, used profanity in addressing Peterson, resulting in an admonishment from Delucchi.
After Peterson's father, Lee, jumped up and began yelling at Brent Rocha, calling him a liar, Delucchi threatened to have Lee Peterson removed from the courtroom. Lee Peterson walked out, followed shortly thereafter by Peterson's mother, Jackie.
"I never liked you," Dennis Rocha, Laci's father, told Peterson. "You're going to burn in hell."
Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, told Peterson he was "stupid, stupid to think you could get away with murder," and told him he had "no love, no feelings, no heart, no soul."
"You're selfish, heartless and self-centered," she said. "You're a coward and an evil murderer. ... We had to bury her without arms to hold Conner and (without) a head to look at him."
Wearing a suit, but handcuffed, with a sheriff's deputy hovering over him, Peterson shook his head during Brent Rocha's remarks, but stared straight ahead as other family members spoke. He did not speak on his own behalf before being sentenced.
Legal steps remain
After Wednesday's sentencing, jurors in Peterson's trial expressed satisfaction with the judge's decision and called for closure.
"The judge went with our recommendation," added jury foreman Steve Cardosi, "so justice has been done." (Reactions to Wednesday's sentencing)
Members of Laci's family, Modesto police and prosecutors have scheduled a news conference Thursday on the case, saying they decided to do so after being deluged with requests for interviews.
Peterson, 32, was convicted November 12 of killing his wife, Laci, who was eight months pregnant at the time, and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. (Peterson found guilty)
The same jury that convicted him recommended a month later that he receive the death penalty. (Jury recommendation)
Laci Peterson was reported missing from the couple's Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002. Her torso and the fetus washed up on shore in April 2003.
Officials said Peterson would be transferred within 48 hours from the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City to California's San Quentin State Prison, where he will become the 641st person on the state's death row.
But his execution is a number of legal steps -- and more than likely a number of years -- away, and he is actually more likely to die of natural causes than be executed.
His death sentence carries a mandatory appeal, and his attorneys may file additional appeals, meaning the case could drag on for years.
In addition, despite the large number of inmates on death row, California has executed only 12 people since its death penalty was reinstated in 1978. The most recent execution in California, that of Donald Beardslee, was carried out in January after the inmate spent more than 20 years in prison.
For security reasons, Peterson will receive a special escort to San Quentin, officials said.
Delucchi also ordered Peterson to pay $10,000 in restitution for Laci's funeral expenses.
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SOURCE
Last edited by Theresa on Thu Mar 31, 2005 7:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Lord Borg
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Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 11214
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| Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:39 pm |
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Good, what a jerk he is. Her family has an understandable hatred towards him now but why always?
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:44 pm |
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For some reason I missed that she was decapitated. What a sick bastard. Most of the jurors commented on his lack of emotion. Laci's family really lit into him.
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Zeke Zabertini
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Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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| Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:41 pm |
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Well, as I've said before, there's no better way to dispose of a criminal than by execution. I do wish they'd be more efficient with it though. It's such a long process now that it costs taxpayers more to kill someone than it does to keep them imprisoned for the rest of their miserable lives.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
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| Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:47 pm |
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Right, Zeke. Unless they had him do hard labor, which they wouldn't, the Death Penalty is the only quality option. Now, the debate isn't about the death penalty here, if one wanted to coin it that way, but it would be the maximum punishment. Anyone who commits such a crime deserves the maximum punishment, whatever it may be.
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Zeke Zabertini
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| Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:52 pm |
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I would think that life in a cell would be a harsher punishment than death. Once a man is dead, he is free of all this world's concerns. Unless you believe in a harsher retribution in the afterlife, which is a perfectly valid opinion, death is very much preferable to a life without freedom. It reminds me of that old quote: "Give me liberty or give me death."
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Republican_Man
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| Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:55 pm |
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Actually, they are able to socialize in prison and do more things, like join gangs, etc. With the system now, THAT is the easy way out.
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Theresa
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Location: United States of America
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| Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:56 pm |
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I know that this is a bit gruesome, but can anyone tell me how it is that Connor came to be outside his mothers body?
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Zeke Zabertini
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:02 am |
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Connor?
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Theresa
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:06 am |
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Yes, he's the "unborn baby". He washed up one day, and Laci the next.
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Zeke Zabertini
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:16 am |
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Ah, yes. I recall that vaguely from the initial news reports. Wasn't she sliced open or something? I'd have to look it up. Nasty stuff, undoubtedly.
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Republican_Man
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:20 am |
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| Theresa wrote: | | Yes, he's the "unborn baby". He washed up one day, and Laci the next. |
You know what's interesting? He was convicted of 2nd Degree murder for the "unborn baby," and yet abortions, and in many places partial birth abortion, are not considered murder!
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Theresa
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Location: United States of America
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:24 am |
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| Zeke Zabertini wrote: | | Ah, yes. I recall that vaguely from the initial news reports. Wasn't she sliced open or something? I'd have to look it up. Nasty stuff, undoubtedly. |
I had heard, only today, that she had been beheaded. I missed a lot of the coverage on this one. This would be one of the circumstances where I'd feel capital punishment was warranted. You'd have to be a heartless bastard to do this, and all the things he did following. JMO, though.
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Zeke Zabertini
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:34 am |
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As is most everything; just an opinion. RM makes an interesting point. Amusing that they could get him on that charge. I still don't have a firm stance one way or the other on abortion, but I can definately appreciate the double standard that's employed. To be fair though, the right to an abortion as upheld by the Supreme Court was based on the mother's choice. That "abortion" was decidedly not the mother's choice.
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Theresa
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Location: United States of America
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:38 am |
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Well, into the third tri-mester, isn't it legally considered a baby? Though..., partial birth abortions..., soooo freaking sick. But she was in her 8th month... Yeah, it's interesting, 
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Zeke Zabertini
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:42 am |
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Well, the Supreme Court created the trimester system as a part of its ruling. They ruled (paraphrased) that in the first trimester abortion can not be regulated, it is completely up to the woman. In the second trimester, states can regulate the circumstances under which an abortion can be performed, but not ban it. States can ban abortion in the third trimester if they so wish.
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Hitchhiker
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 10:42 am |
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| Republican_Man wrote: | | Right, Zeke. Unless they had him do hard labor, which they wouldn't, the Death Penalty is the only quality option. Now, the debate isn't about the death penalty here, if one wanted to coin it that way, but it would be the maximum punishment. Anyone who commits such a crime deserves the maximum punishment, whatever it may be. |
They should have him single-handedly build that oil pipeline to Alaska. 
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Jeff Miller
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 10:44 am |
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Well the jury found him guilty, the judge sentenced him to death, Justice has been surved. I don't think this would have gotten the national attention that it did if a baby wasn't involved. it would have just been another murder just like one of the 75 that happened here in cowlitz county last year. And to answer your question RM Abortions are not considered murder because there are clinics that women can go to early in the birth to get rid of it.
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Theresa
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Joined: 17 Jun 2001
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Location: United States of America
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:05 pm |
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It got national attention because of what Scott Peterson did before it was discovered that Laci and Connor were actually dead.
Just like the Susan Smith case.
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Jeff Miller
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:17 pm |
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Susan Smith? it may not be the same woman I'm thinking about is she the same one who drowned her 5 kids in a bath tub?
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Theresa
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Joined: 17 Jun 2001
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Location: United States of America
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:21 pm |
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No, she's the woman who put her two little boys in the back seat of a car, and then pushed it into a lake. She then claimed that a black man had stolen her car with the kids in it, and there was a nationwide manhunt.
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Beta6
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:11 pm |
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| Theresa wrote: | | No, she's the woman who put her two little boys in the back seat of a car, and then pushed it into a lake. She then claimed that a black man had stolen her car with the kids in it, and there was a nationwide manhunt. |
lol, what a sick woman. I never heard about this case.. lol. sad tho
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:14 pm |
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Thouasand words, no?
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Beta6
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:44 pm |
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I don't agree with giving him the death. One, I am against it, And two I don't see how they can put a man to death with circumstantial evidence. I'm not saying he didn't do it or he did... But it just dosn't make sence.
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Zeke Zabertini
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| Thu Mar 17, 2005 4:45 pm |
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Well, it's a tough decision. From a practical perspective, I'd rather just get him out of the way than lock him up forever.
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