Scott Peterson deserves death for ’02 double murder, mother-in-law says

With misty eyes and firm resolve, Laci Peterson’s mother stood before news cameras in Modesto once again to remind people what it means to lose loved ones at the hands of a killer.

“I support the death penalty because some crimes just warrant the death penalty,” Sharon Rocha said Thursday, less than two weeks before a statewide election that could decide whether capital punishment is abolished or expedited in California. She and a roomful of authorities hope voters reject Proposition 62 and embrace Proposition 66.

“Scott Peterson murdered my daughter and his unborn child,” Rocha, 64, said of her son-in-law, who’s on death row. “He is there for a reason.”

Three days before Thursday’s press conference, Scott Peterson turned 44. He arrived at San Quentin 11 years ago, after a blockbuster trial that convinced jurors he killed his pregnant wife just before Christmas 2002 and dumped her in San Francisco Bay, where the bodies of mother and fetus washed up four months later.

As with all of California’s 749 death row inmates, Peterson has appealed and awaits his turn before the state Supreme Court. But challenges of lethal-injection protocol have stalled executions in this state, where no inmate has been put to death since 2006.

The ineffectiveness has polarized opinions and prompted the rival initiatives. Proposition 62 supporters say commuting death sentences to life in prison is more humane, less costly and eliminates the risk of executing innocent people accused in error, while Proposition 66 advocates say the death penalty is a deterrent and faster executions would save taxpayer money.

If both pass, the one with more votes will prevail.

The latest Field Poll suggests both are struggling to capture majority support among likely voters. With only days left to sway large numbers of undecideds, both sides are pouring big money into ad campaigns.

Proposition 66 supporters on Thursday brought out Rocha as well as Laci Peterson’s close friend, Stacey Boyers, flanked by sheriffs and district attorneys from four counties – Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin and Tuolumne.

“We will always stand with victims of crime,” Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said. “It’s time to stand up for justice.”

Birgit Fladager led the team that prosecuted Scott Peterson before being elected Stanislaus County’s district attorney in 2006. Since then, her office three times has secured life-sentence pleas, without going through costly trials: Columbus Allen Jr. II, who murdered California Highway Patrol Officer Earl Scott in 2006; Jesse Frost, who knifed to death his mother, sister and brother-in-law in Riverbank in 2009; and Cameron Terhune, who shot his parents in Del Rio in 2010. None would have bargained, Fladager said, without the threat of a possible death penalty hanging over their heads.

In 1999, Jim Mele – now Tuolumne County sheriff – helped investigate the slayings of three Yosemite sightseers in another crime that captured headlines across the United States and beyond, ending with a death sentence for Cary Stayner.

“We’re talking about a man who is evil, who needs to be put to death,” Mele said.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke urged voters to “have faith that what we’re talking about is the right thing to do.”

Of anywhere in California, support for Proposition 66 is strongest in the conservative-leaning Central Valley, said the mid-September Field Poll conducted by Field Research Corp. and the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. And nowhere was there less support for Proposition 62 than here, the poll found.

But the reverse was true for voters throughout all of California, where the poll found only 35 percent inclined to vote for Proposition 66 compared to 48 percent who liked Proposition 62.

Latest disclosures show $5 million raised in support of Proposition 66, and $7.3 million for Proposition 62, according to The Sacramento Bee. Opponents of the measures had collected $1.5 million to fight Proposition 66, and $13.7 million to oppose Proposition 62.

Four years ago, California voters narrowly rejected a similar drive to abolish the death penalty, but polls suggest support has eroded in recent years.

“It’s about justice, a local jury saying, ‘This is appropriate for this person,’  ” said Mike Harden, former police chief in Modesto and Oakdale.

In the first few years after her daughter’s murder, Rocha advocated for victims’ rights and stiff penalties for killers, and was an invited guest when President George W. Bush signed related legislation in 2004. With the passage of time, she’s still willing to make appearances for the right cause, but it can be difficult, she said after cameras were turned off Thursday.

“Going back to 2002, to bring it all up again, is not an easy thing to do,” Rocha said.

“Before all of this, I never spoke in public,” she continued. “Laci probably would be saying, ‘My mother is doing what?’ It makes a difference when you have a purpose.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Scott Peterson deserves death for ’02 double murder, mother-in-law says."