Scott Peterson found guilty of 1st degree murder of wife Laci, 2nd degree for baby Conner with extenuating circumstances. Jury to reconvene for penalty phase on Nov 22nd. Oddly Peterson attorney Mark Geragos was not in court, nor was his father Lee Peterson.
Perhaps the Rocha and Grantski families were served a little justice today, not that it will mend their heartache, but those who harm pregnant women will face double jeopardy thanks to their efforts.
Posted by feste at November 12, 2004 02:11 PM | TrackBack
Sharon Rocha watches as President Bush signs the Unborn Victims of Violence Act during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Thursday. Standing behind Rocha is her husband, Ron Grantski. The legislation makes it a federal crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman.
Um, dare I say, I was surprised as this
verdict. Of course, that's just my gut
talking. I ain't been following this very
close. But the case seems, on the surface,
a tad flimsy and very circumstantial. I get
uneasy imposing a DEATH penalty unless the
evidence is an ice cold slam dunk ....
Then I think about us lettin' OJ go free, and
I get VERY unsettled about this. Something
don't smell right.
:)
Posted by: jaspar at November 12, 2004 05:15 PMThe one thing Geragos couldn't and didn't try to explain was if strangers killed Laci ...other than his media spin of hippy, homeless drifters or cultists... is how or why Laci was found 90 miles away in SF Bay, at the very spot currents would deposit a body from the fishing grounds Scott introduced as his alibi.
Geragos didn't introduce evidence or testimony to establish an alternative killer or their motivation for driving 90 miles to dump a body. Bodies of drowning victims do turn up in the bay from time to time, but given the millions of people living near or on the bay, which is a large body of water with a several hundred miles of easily accessible shoreline, surprisingly few murder victims turn up on the shores.
Our population centers are adjacent to the bay and our shoreline is a very busy place, the East Bay in particular is overlooked by residential and commercial developments and hundreds of thousands of people use the Eastern shorelines daily to fish, exercise and boating.
One can drive pretty much in any direction away from the Bay and in 15-20 minutes be in a rural or secluded woodland area. We're lucky in that the rural and park lands are very close into the cities...in the East and North Bay hills the rural parklands flow in and around dense suburban areas. So most victims, who are not found where they were murdered, are dumped along backroads or in parklands...not the bay.
For those of us who live in the nine Bay area counties and the Central Valley, the stranger abduction/murderer(s) driving to the Bay scenario just didn't ring true...however Scott, by his own admission, did exactly that.
He won't fry anyhoo...he'll be on death row exercising his appeals... the darling of a cadre of sicko females, publishing books for the next 20-30 years.
Posted by: feste at November 13, 2004 01:19 PM
You ever considered reading out loud and recording
some/all of your comments, and posting them
as downloads? That way I could listen to
your longer posts whilst I'm shaving and such.
Sometimes I am in a great hurry, and I'm one
of those multitask type people. I also love
hearing as much as reading.
Just a thought, utterly off the wall.
:)
Posted by: jaspar at November 13, 2004 05:11 PM