High school friend testifies on Scott's behalf

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REDWOOD CITY- To family members, convicted murderer Scott Peterson was “Scooter” or “Spalding” or “the Kid.”

He was “kind of like a renaissance kid” who worked hard, excelled at golf, visited Mexican orphanages, volunteered to help the mentally handicapped and was “truly sincere,” “very gracious and very thoughtful,” a high school friend testified this morning.

“Scott was like a brother to me,” Aaron Fritz said. He was among four witnesses who took the stand this morning to argue against sentencing the 32-year-old fertilizer salesman to death in the murders of his pregnant wife and unborn son.

“If I ever had a child, I want them to have friend like Scott,” said Fritz, whom Peterson befriended in high school after Fritz moved from Indiana.

Sometimes, Fritz said, he found himself in situations where he would ask: What would Scott Peterson have done? “His conscientiousness was very contagious,” Fritz said. “(He was ) kind of like a renaissance kid standing in front of you.”

The same jury that convicted Peterson Nov. 12 of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Laci, and second-degree murder in the death of the fetus she carried is weighing whether to recommend a sentence of death or life in prison without parole.

Peterson’s sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, broke down in tears on the standThursday as she recalled a Christmas present he had gotten her after she married into the family.

“I think it was the first Christmas, when Joe and I were married,” Janey Peterson said after bowing her head as she tried to compose herself. “He gave me a big pair of fuzzy bear slippers. … I think he was 15.”

Scott Peterson, seated at the counsel table, wiped away tears several times during his sister in-law’s testimony, occasionally looking down.

Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha, left the courtroom twice during the morning’s proceedings, her face expressionless.

Jurors saw pictures of Scott Peterson from his junior high yearbook, including one where classmates had voted him and two other students the “friendliest.”

His best friend from junior high, Britton Scheibe, sensitive of the victims’ family, acknowledged initially being uncomfortable about testifying, but said he ultimately felt compelled to take the stand.

“When it came right down to it, I felt like it was the right thing to do in this situation,” Scheibe said. “Not only for him but his family, and I don’t believe that he deserves to be executed.”

Joan Pernicano, a family friend whose son was in Cub Scouts with Peterson, said she couldn’t square what she knew of him with the image of him as a killer. “I can’t reconcile the accusations with the person that I’ve known,” Pernicano said. “It just doesn’t go together.”

Pernicano also said she was concerned with the toll a death sentence would exact on Peterson’s mother, Jackie.

“I’ve watched her health deteriorate,” Pernicano said. “It’s so horrendous for me, and I’m so concerned for her health.”

Juror 11, a woman who subtly acknowledged Sharon Rocha after the jurors had delivered a guilty verdict, pursed her lips and turned away from Pernicano for several moments when the witness questioned the charges.

“I think today the defense has gone too far,” trial observer and former San Francisco prosecutor James Hammer said. “I think the jury is having a hard time swallowing it. … They’re stretching too far. Comparing him to Jesus, I think, is offensive and could really backfire. … I think the defense came close to painting Scott Peterson as the Dalai Lama of San Diego.”

Robert Talbott,a University of San Francisco University law professor, said the defense was succeeding in shifting focus.

“Jurors are all watching her (Janey),” Talbott said. “I think Geragos is doing an effective job of shifting the focus to the Petersons. He’s pulling the emphasis away from the horror of the crime to the effect on the family.”