Jury recommends death for Peterson
Victim's stepfather says 'justice was served'
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|  VIDEO |
 Jurors speak out after recommending death for Scott Peterson.
 CNN's Jeffery Toobin, Rusty Dornin and analyst Chuck Smith evaluate the sentence.
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REDWOOD CITY, California (CNN) -- Laci Peterson's stepfather said Scott Peterson "got what he deserved" when the jury in his murder trial recommended Monday that he die by lethal injection for killing his 27-year-old pregnant wife.
"It's still a nightmare. It should never have happened. It's hurt too many people for no reason," Ron Grantski said. "But justice was served."
The conclusion of the trial came at a "very hard" time of the year for Laci Peterson's family, Grantski said.
Wednesday marked two years since her mother and stepfather last saw her alive, and Christmas Eve will be the second anniversary of her disappearance.
Cheers went up from a crowd of several hundred outside the courthouse Monday as the jury announced its decision after 11 1/2 hours of deliberations over three days.
Peterson, a 32-year-old former fertilizer salesman, clenched his jaw when the verdict was read and leaned over to speak with his attorney, Mark Geragos, but showed no other emotion, according to The Associated Press.
Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, cried -- her lips quivering. Scott Peterson's mother, Jackie, showed no apparent emotion, according to the AP.
The jury had two options in deciding Peterson's fate for killing his wife: life in prison without parole or death.
On November 12, the same six-man, six-woman jury convicted Peterson of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the death of Laci, who was eight months pregnant, and of second-degree murder in the death of the fetus, which the couple planned to name Conner.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi will formally sentence Peterson on February 25. He has the option of reducing the sentence to life.
If Delucchi upholds the jury's recommendation, Peterson will be sent to death row at San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco.
Three jurors spoke at length in an emotional news conference after issuing the verdict, saying Peterson's own lack of visible emotion during the trial helped convince them it was the correct decision. (Full story)
"It just seemed to be the appropriate justice for the crime, given the nature and how personal it really was, against his wife and his child," said jury foreman Steve Cardosi.
"A big part of it was at the end, the verdict -- no emotion, no anything. That spoke a thousand words," juror Richelle Nice said.
"Scott Peterson was Laci's husband, Conner's daddy -- the one person that should have protected them."
Members of Scott Peterson's family, many of whom had taken the stand to ask jurors for mercy, did not comment on the sentence.
Stanislaus County District Attorney Jim Brazelton, whose office prosecuted the case, said Monday's sentencing verdict was a "just conclusion."
"We appreciate the hard, long work that the jury did. It wasn't a piece of cake for them," he said. "This was about six months of long, hard days of listening to a lot of testimony, paying attention to all of that testimony and putting it in the proper places."
Geragos told reporters after the sentencing verdict that the defense would pursue "every and all appeals," adding that it's "a very difficult time."
It could be years before even the first phase of the appeals process begins. The sentence might not be carried out for decades, if ever.
California's death row has grown to house about 650 condemned men and women since the state restored capital punishment in 1978, according to the AP.
Only 10 executions have been carried out since then. The last one was in 2002 -- for a murder that happened 22 years earlier.
A nation riveted
From the start, the story of a beautiful, young, missing pregnant woman immediately grabbed the public's attention.
But as the investigation unfolded, details of the case elevated it to the level of near-daily coverage by cable TV networks and tabloid publications.
Laci was reported missing from the couple's Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002, the same day her husband said he went fishing alone in San Francisco Bay. Police searched the Peterson home but found no clues.
A month later, massage therapist Amber Frey revealed she had had an affair with Peterson, saying he told her he was single. (The Peterson-Frey phone calls)
|  After the jury recommended death for Peterson, some spectators outside the courtroom celebrated. |
By mid-February 2003, police had removed dozens of items in a second search of the Peterson home and also began taping Peterson's phone calls.
He was not arrested until April 2003, after the remains of Laci and Conner washed up on the shore of San Francisco Bay.
At the time of his arrest in San Diego near the Mexican border, Peterson's hair was dyed and he had grown a goatee. A few days later, he was charged with two counts of murder.
Prosecutors said -- and jurors agreed -- Peterson killed Laci by strangling or smothering her, then dumped her weighted body into the bay.
Laci's body was discovered a few miles from where Peterson said he went fishing the day his wife was reported missing.
Prosecutors said Peterson killed his wife because he wanted to live as a freewheeling bachelor, unencumbered by a wife and child.
Citing adverse local pretrial publicity, Peterson's defense asked for and received a change of venue from the couple's hometown of Modesto.
Jury selection began in March. The trial began in June, and testimony concluded in September. Jurors began deliberations November 3, and nine days later they announced their guilty verdicts.
Emotional penalty phase
Emotions ran high during the penalty phase, and jurors heard wrenching testimony from relatives of both Scott and Laci.
|  Defense attorney Mark Geragos will pursue "every and all appeals." |
On the first day, a number of jurors broke into sobs as Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, recalled she spent her first Mother's Day without her daughter lying on the floor crying.
"She was taken away from me," Rocha screamed at Peterson. "Divorce is always an option, not murder."
Peterson's mother, Jackie, was the last witness to testify, and she begged jurors to spare her son's life.
During his closing arguments, prosecutor David Harris called Peterson "the worst kind of monster."
But defense attorney Pat Harris told the jury that Peterson "has a lot of good in him" and would be a good candidate to help others in prison.
CNN's Rusty Dornin contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
