Peterson sentenced to death
In the world of criminal justice, nothing has come close in the last couple of years to the Laci Peterson case. A judge in California finally sealed the case today, handing Scott Peterson, 32, a sentence of death by lethal injection.
By law, the judge was required to consider a lesser sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. But instead, the judge, who called Mr. Peterson "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous," according to news agency reporters in the courtroom, chose to formally impose the death sentence that was recommended by jurors in December.
The sheer monstrosity of the case definitely pushed the jury over the edge, and I think that even with the law that requires a judge to consider a lesser sentence, hardly anyone in America that believes in capital punishment would have forgiven the judge for not seeking death. Who else would be more deserving anyway? A man with a beautiful wife and a son on the way decides to kill them in favor of a message therapist?
Hostility against Mr. Peterson and curiosity in his case intensified when he acknowledged an extramarital affair with Amber Frey, a massage therapist from Fresno, that began in the weeks leading up to Laci Peterson's disappearance.
How incredibly selfish. What is worse, there is evidence that Scott murdered for financial gain. He had somehow convinced Ms. Frey, according to bits of her testimony, that he was a "wealthy businessman," when in fact this seems far from the truth. Apparently there was a big debate over Peterson's financial condition (I wasn't really following the case detail by detail from start to finish). That is, whether or not reaping benefits from Laci's life insurance would have helped his start-up fertilizer business. The prosecution argued that he was in a hole (both financially and in terms of impressing his mistress) and felt murdering his wife was one of the ways he could get out of it. The defense, on the other hand, insisted that Peterson was fully able to support himself, his wife, and a son with his finances before the murder, not to mention that Laci would have inherited hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry alloted to her by her grandparents had she lived.
In any case, as much as one can get wrapped up in heated exchanges between legal parties, this case is now put behind us. From the standpoint of most Americans, it seems as if justice has been served once again for a monstrous killer with the face of a car salesman.
By law, the judge was required to consider a lesser sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. But instead, the judge, who called Mr. Peterson "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous," according to news agency reporters in the courtroom, chose to formally impose the death sentence that was recommended by jurors in December.
The sheer monstrosity of the case definitely pushed the jury over the edge, and I think that even with the law that requires a judge to consider a lesser sentence, hardly anyone in America that believes in capital punishment would have forgiven the judge for not seeking death. Who else would be more deserving anyway? A man with a beautiful wife and a son on the way decides to kill them in favor of a message therapist?
Hostility against Mr. Peterson and curiosity in his case intensified when he acknowledged an extramarital affair with Amber Frey, a massage therapist from Fresno, that began in the weeks leading up to Laci Peterson's disappearance.
How incredibly selfish. What is worse, there is evidence that Scott murdered for financial gain. He had somehow convinced Ms. Frey, according to bits of her testimony, that he was a "wealthy businessman," when in fact this seems far from the truth. Apparently there was a big debate over Peterson's financial condition (I wasn't really following the case detail by detail from start to finish). That is, whether or not reaping benefits from Laci's life insurance would have helped his start-up fertilizer business. The prosecution argued that he was in a hole (both financially and in terms of impressing his mistress) and felt murdering his wife was one of the ways he could get out of it. The defense, on the other hand, insisted that Peterson was fully able to support himself, his wife, and a son with his finances before the murder, not to mention that Laci would have inherited hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry alloted to her by her grandparents had she lived.
In any case, as much as one can get wrapped up in heated exchanges between legal parties, this case is now put behind us. From the standpoint of most Americans, it seems as if justice has been served once again for a monstrous killer with the face of a car salesman.
posted by Remz Pokorny @ 8:03 PM
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