Sentence ruling delayed

GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

REDWOOD CITY - Scott Peterson will have to wait until March 16 to learn if he will die by lethal injection as jurors recommended.

Judge Alfred Delucchi, granting the five-day delay Friday, also sealed a 122-page written request by Peterson’s attorneys for a new trial. It will remain under wraps until after prosecutors submit their response March 9.

The 32-year-old fertilizer salesman from Modesto killed his pregnant wife, Laci, just before Christmas 2002 and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. Jurors in San Mateo County, where the six-month trial was moved to escape crushing publicity, decided Dec. 13 that Peterson should be executed.

Formal sentencing originally was scheduled for today, but later postponed to March 11.

None of Laci Peterson’s family members attended Friday’s brief hearing.

Outside the courthouse, Scott Peterson’s mother, Jackie Peterson, said her family continues to receive letters of support.

Three jurors who sat in judgment of Modesto’s most notorious murder defendant attended the hearing and sat in a reserved portion of the courtroom, just in front of reporters.

John Guinasso, a Teamster formerly known as Juror 8, said curiosity brought him to the courthouse. He wanted to observe “from a different perspective, from the gallery,” he said before the hearing.

Also Friday, prosecutors broke their long-held silence with a short appearance on Court TV filmed in front of the courthouse steps.

“Amber’s testimony was very important,” said prosecutor Rick Distaso of his star witness, Amber Frey, who was having an affair with Peterson when his wife went missing. “I thank her for coming forward and I think she did a good job.”

Prosecutor Dave Harris said media furor outside the courtroom did not affect his team’s approach, which proved successful in the end. “We had a plan and we followed that plan,” he said.