Laci Peterson’s loved ones gratified by death penalty votes

People whose lives were forever altered by the murder of Modesto’s Laci Peterson might be breathing a little easier, now that it’s certain Scott Peterson won’t suddenly become a lifer.

That was a real possibility before Tuesday, when 54 percent of California voters rejected Proposition 62. It would have eliminated the death penalty and commuted sentences for the 750 inmates on death row including Scott Peterson, to life in prison without parole.

“I just hope people truly understand what (the death penalty) is about,” Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson’s mother, said Wednesday. “It’s not about revenge or paybacks. It’s about due justice.”

The outcome of a rival initiative, Proposition 66 – which would speed up the process of capital punishment – remained too close to call. As of Wednesday, 50.9 percent of votes favored Proposition 66, but elections officials had tens of thousands of provisional ballots across the state yet to count.

Two jurors who sat in judgment of Scott Peterson 12 years ago said they’re pleased with Tuesday’s results.

“Scott Peterson shouldn’t be breathing air, as far as I’m concerned,” said Mike Belmessieri. “He killed a beautiful woman and her unborn child. If I could turn back the clock, I wouldn’t change my verdict.”

Peterson, now 44, was convicted in 2004 of killing his pregnant wife just before Christmas 2002. The bodies of mother and fetus washed ashore four months later in San Francisco Bay, where he had said he fished the day Laci disappeared.

Julie Zanartu, another Peterson juror, did not vote on the measures because she has moved from California, but said voters made the right call. However, she’s as frustrated as anyone that California has not executed an inmate in a decade, and only 13 in 38 years.

“I don’t know why they have a death penalty if they’re not going to use it. It’s just ridiculous,” Zanartu said.

That ineffectiveness spurred both initiatives. Death penalty opponents said abolishing it would save $150 million a year and remove the risk of executing the innocent, while Proposition 66 supporters said capital punishment is a deterrent and that faster executions would save taxpayer money.

“The current system is completely broken,” said Mark Geragos, Scott Peterson’s high-profile attorney, in an email. He had hoped Proposition 62 would pass, he said, “but given the apparent mood of the country, apparently it’s a couple of years premature.”

Facing him in Peterson’s courtroom 12 years ago was prosecutor Birgit Fladager, who two years later was elected district attorney in Stanislaus County, a post she continues to hold. She noted that California voters have been asked nine times to abolish the death penalty, and said “no” each time.

“I think voters realize (the death penalty) is reserved for the worst of the worst, and they want it to be an option,” Fladager said. “It would be really nice if legislators would pay attention to the voters and quit putting roadblocks in front of it.”

Two weeks ago, Rocha, Fladager and other district attorneys and sheriffs from four counties held a news conference to advocate for Proposition 66 and against Proposition 62. Included was Adam Christianson, Stanislaus County’s sheriff.

Tuesday’s voting “tells me the voters are paying attention,” he said. “Voters believe it’s a valuable part of the criminal justice system. These sentences should be carried out rather than inmates sitting on death row for years on end at taxpayers’ expense.”

Also at Rocha’s side two weeks ago was Stacey Boyers-Birdsong, a close friend of Laci’s since third grade. She’s sick of seeing Scott Peterson’s face on the news, she said, and popping up on sites urging “yes” votes on Proposition 62.

“Laci doesn’t have a life,” she said. “Why do we have to keep seeing yours? With the death penalty, maybe some people will think twice before they take a life.”

The voting was more pronounced in conservative Stanislaus County, where 59 percent of votes favored Proposition 66 and 68 percent said “no” to Proposition 62, according to returns tallied early Wednesday.

But statewide results, although incomplete, ran counter to The Field Poll, which on Friday said that 51 percent of likely voters supported Proposition 62, and only 48 percent backed Proposition 66. The Field Poll had erred in only 9 percent of California initiatives over 20 years, according to its sponsors, Field Research Corp. and the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.

Prevote polling did not impress Rocha.

“I would have been really surprised if California had overturned the death penalty,” she said. However, she continues to have no interest in witnessing her son-in-law’s execution, if it ever happens, she said.

Her longtime companion, Ron Grantski, acknowledged pondering the death penalty’s usefulness. “But then I would see what he did to Laci by taking her out and putting her where he did, with total disrespect for her and his own baby, and I think, ‘Why is he still here?’ Fourteen years later, and he’s still here.

“People like that should not be allowed to live,” continued Grantski, who helped raise Laci. “We don’t believe in random killing, but some people deserve to die. The people who voted to do away with the death penalty have just never experienced something like this, so they don’t understand.”

This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Laci Peterson’s loved ones gratified by death penalty votes."