I guess Geragos is asking for a new jury for the penalty phase
I thought this was an interesting editorial
Laci's legacy (Lia Macko, executive producer, MSNBC)
We learned Friday that Scott Peterson won't be on the golf course with OJ searching for his murdered wife Laci's real killer. Victims' rights advocates breathed a sigh of relief, crowds cheered, and throngs of well wishers left notes and flowers at Laci's home. Despite cocky claims of innocence by the Peterson defense team, the June dismissal of a juror who seemed more likely to grab a beer with Peterson post-verdict than convict him, several juror dismissals in the past week, and the lack of a weapon or even an eyewitness, a panel of twelve moved beyond reasonable doubt to convict the defendant of the premeditated murder of his wife and the second degree murder of his unborn son.
Though it would be undignified to label any outcome in a murder trial a victory, the Peterson verdict does signal something important — and perhaps necessary —about evolving community tolerance for acts of domestic homicide and violence. Statistics on this front are staggering and the demographics would shock many. Murder is the number one cause of death of pregnant women in the United States. A third of female murder victims in recent years were killed by their spouses or others close to them, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and according to the FBI, just more than 800 spouses killed their partners in 2002. Nearly one-third of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, according to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey.
The Peterson case reminds us that perpetrators of domestic homicide and violence often defy stereotypes— this group includes physicians, businessmen, athletes, police chiefs, and religious leaders. The many televised and published portraits of Laci and Scott Peterson as a young, attractive and loving couple remind us that real life villains often look benign, and that yes, these acts of violence could indeed happen to your next door neighbor, friend, or daughter. The disturbing facts and images of the case— the dark, evil Christmas Eve disappearance of a beaming and vital expectant mother— remind us that the unthinkable is possible. But the Peterson verdict helps transmit a message of deterrence to would be abusers that diminishes the aura of permissiveness haunting this realm of law since the conclusion of OJ's trial, the so-called trial of the century. Instead of reinforcing that a husband can get away with the murder —literally —in the state of California, the Peterson jury said the opposite, concluding that even in the absence of direct evidence, an unlikely defendant can be found guilty of murder.