Developments Tuesday in the Scott Peterson case
"WHAT'S NEXT: Defense attorneys were to conclude their closing arguments Wednesday, followed by the prosecution's rebuttal."........
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Network Teams With Juice Wireless to Offer Up-To-The Minute Alerts of Peterson Trial Verdict Via Cell Phone Text Messages Viewers Opt-in on Courttv.com to Receive Free Text Messages When Jury Finishes Deliberating and When Verdict is Delivered
NEW YORK, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- As closing arguments begin in one of the decade's most shocking murder trials, Court TV® -- The Investigation Channel(TM) and its website, courttv.com, offers continuous coverage and analysis, and, for the first time, in partnership with Juice Wireless, an exclusive "Verdict Alert" in the form of text messages delivered to mobile phones. Viewers signing up for the free service at CourtTV will receive two separate alerts: the first will appear when jury deliberations have ended; the second will arrive the moment that the verdict is read (approximately thirty minutes later), and will contain the "guilty" or "not guilty" message. Both messages will direct the receiver to Court TV and courttv.com for additional breaking news. Scott Peterson is accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son in Modesto, CA in December 2002.
If convicted, Peterson could face the death .........
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Lawyer asks jury not to convict Peterson because he is a 'jerk'
Redwood City, Calif. - Scott Peterson's lawyer pleaded with the jury Tuesday not to convict Peterson of murder just because prosecutors made him look like a "jerk and a liar."
Mark Geragos said in closing arguments that the evidence shows Peterson did not murder his wife, Laci, and the fetus she carried, and that he had no motive to do so.
Geragos suggested that the prosecutors had made the jury hate his client. But he added: "You're not supposed to just decide this case on whether or not you like Scott Peterson."......
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Scott Peterson listens intently at the beginning of the defense's closing arguments in Redwood City on Tuesday.
FRED LARSON/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
REDWOOD CITY — Scott Peterson concocted lies to his girlfriend in early 2003 because if she knew he was married, she might tell reporters and people would stop looking for his pregnant wife, his attorney said Tuesday.
After his lover, Amber Frey of Fresno, revealed their affair, Peterson kept calling her because he needed someone to talk to, Los Angeles defense attorney Mark Geragos said.
"This is a guy who literally got caught with his pants down," Geragos said in a lively closing argument that wasn't finished when court ended Tuesday. "He did what he thought he had to do because he fully expected Laci to come home."
Scott Peterson, 32, nodded at that point.
He could face the death penalty if convicted of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, on or just before Christmas Eve 2002.
Jurors will begin deliberating today or ........
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Scott Peterson is an innocent man who ``literally got caught with his pants down,'' and just because he had an extramarital affair doesn't mean he killed his pregnant wife and their baby she carried, defense lawyer Mark Geragos told jurors Tuesday in the first part of his closing argument.
Geragos challenged the jurors to set aside the hatred and passions that prosecutor Rick Distaso may have whipped up during his argument Monday, and instead look at the evidence. There is none, he said.
``Do you all hate him? That is the sum total of what you heard yesterday,'' Geragos said as he stood before the jury. ``We haven't heard who, what, when, where or why. We're just supposed to convict him.''.......
Peterson Jury Is Asked to Put Aside Feelings for Defendant
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 2 - The lead defense lawyer in the Scott Peterson murder trial, Mark Geragos, urged jurors on Tuesday to put aside any hatred for his client's boorish ways.
He told them instead to ponder the still unexplained death of Mr. Peterson's wife, Laci, a killing for which he said there were no witnesses, no evidence of a fatal struggle, no murder weapon and no motive.
In his rapid-fire closing argument, Mr. Geragos summarized the case much the way he had begun, conceding that Mr. Peterson, charged with killing his wife and her fetus, could clearly be viewed as a "jerk" and a "liar.".......