Geragos delivers final argument

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3:43 p.m.: REDWOOD CITY - Executing Scott Peterson would not make Laci Peterson’s family whole, but it would perpetuate a senseless cycle of violence, lead defense attorney Mark Geragos argued this afternoon before jurors began deliberating Peterson’s fate.

“I don’t think killing Scott will give anybody one minute’s worth of solace,” Geragos said, adding that strapping his client to a gurney and “sticking a needle in his arm” wouldn’t erase a family’s pain.

“None of this is going to bring back Laci,” Geragos said. “None of this is going to bring back Conner.” The same jury that convicted Peterson Nov. 12 of murdering his wife and unborn son heard about a 45-minute argument from Geragos before leaving at 2:15 p.m. to begin deliberations.

Before they retired to the deliberation room, Geragos pleaded for his client’s life.

“I’d get down on my knee if it wouldn’t look so contrived,” Geragos said.

Geragos started by apologizing to the jury for not preparing a penalty-phase case, saying he was convinced Peterson would not be convicted on capital murder charges.

A prison term without the possibility for parole, the only other sentence the jury can consider under state law, was a horrible enough punishment, Geragos argued.

His client would live out his days in a cell as big as a king-sized mattress, Geragos said.

“That cell will have a bed to lay on and a cold metal toilet, and he will share that cell with a friend. And that friend will be his cell mate,” Geragos said. “He will stay in that cell every single day until he dies. … He knows that if he tries to leave for 15 minutes to exercise, to take a shower, that he’s going to have to look over his shoulder, that he’s going to be a marked man. He will be the biggest target in any prison.”

And in prison, Peterson’s life would pass, Geragos said, strolling in front of the jury box.

One day, “some guard is going to walk by and knock on the cell and say, ‘Peterson, your mom is dead,’”

Geragos said, rapping his knuckles on the rail of the jury box, his voice resonating in the courtroom.

Scott Peterson’s sister, Susan Caudillo, burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie, who uses an oxygen tube to breathe because of a lung ailment, pleaded for her son’s life Wednesday. Other family members have speculated she would be overcome by a death verdict.

The year after that, there would be another knock on the cell, Geragos said, again rapping the bar to the jury box: “Peterson, your dad’s dead.”

He appealed to jurors individually, saying if one was opposed to death he or she should stand firm. A unanimous verdict is needed for a sentence. If there is a hung jury, Peterson will be sentenced to life in prison without parole by default.

Some legal analysts hailed the closing as an effective counterweight to a powerful argument earlier in the day by prosecutor Dave Harris.

“Geragos made the case that there will be justice for Laci without death for Scott,” Redwood City criminal defense attorney Dean Johnson said.

Burlingame defense attorney Paula Canny said Geragos basically admitted malpractice when he acknowledged he hadn’t prepared a penalty phase case until after the verdict came in.

“(But) he took responsibility and that was brilliant, smart and truthful,” Canny said.