Juror panel grows by two
The Peterson Trial
By JOHN COTÉ
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: April 6, 2004, 02:54:09 PM PDT
REDWOOD CITY -- Two more prospective jurors -- a financial services recruiter and a high school teacher -- qualified Monday for Scott Peterson's double-murder trial, bringing to
17 the number of people slotted for the final selection phase.
Eleven other prospective jurors were excused. Both women who qualified were ordered to return to court May 13, when Judge Alfred Delucchi hopes to have 70 to 80 prospective jurors. Attorneys will then use chal-lenges to reduce that group to 12 jurors and six alternates.
Peterson, 31, has pleaded not guilty to charges he murdered his wife, Laci, and unborn son, Conner, on or just before Christmas Eve 2002. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The teacher, who giggled and smiled frequently, said she would quit her job if selected to serve.
She triggered a roar of laughter in the courtroom after Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos, asked her whether she would be troubled if he didn't mount a vigorous courtroom defense because prosecutors have the burden of proving guilt.
"If that happened to me and you were doing nothing," the woman said, "I would probably fire you."
In other developments:
Two of the legal players in the case brought their children to court Monday. Geragos' 10-year-old son, Jake, sat in the front row of the courtroom behind his father. When a cell phone rang at one point in the proceedings, Geragos wheeled around and looked at his son, who shook his head no. Geragos last week was accompanied to court by his 12-year-old daughter, Teny. Geragos used to tag along with his attorney father when he was young.
Howard Varinsky, the prosecution's jury consultant, was accompanied in court Monday by his 16-year-old daughter, a high school sophomore on spring break.
At Geragos' request, Delucchi recently gave Peterson permission to use a laptop computer -- without Internet access -- while in the San Mateo County Jail to review evidence, including scanned documents and digital audio, video and images.
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