Original subtitles

♪♪

I had nothing to do with Laci's disappearance.

I'm not going to waste the time defending myself.

I don't really care what those people out there think.

When people accuse me of some involvement,

and I had nothing to do with her disappearance,

but people still accuse me of it.

My response is the same to all of them,

"Thank you for being aware of her missing from our family,

and please do what you can to bring her home."

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to "How It Really Happened."

I'll Hill Harper.

By all appearances, Scott and Laci Peterson

were a loving couple excited

about the birth of their first child,

but when a young mom-to-be vanishes on Christmas Eve,

their storybook romance turns into a tale of murder,

lies, and betrayal.

No one wanted to believe that the handsome,

charming husband could harm his wife or unborn child,

but after their bodies washed up on the shores

of the San Francisco Bay,

Scott Peterson is arrested and charged with murder.

So did he do it?

Tonight, the case against Scott Peterson.

Here's how it really happened.

♪♪

CNN has confirmed that Scott Peterson,

husband of missing Laci Peterson,

is under arrest tonight.

Reporter: Scott Peterson is under 24-hour watch

at the Stanislaus county jail.

To everyone who knew Scott,

the idea that he could be a suspect was unthinkable.

If you knew Scott and if you knew Laci,

they were the couple everybody wanted to be.

Caudillo: She and Scott were just thrilled

about the coming of their baby boy.

I mean, this was a big event for them,

and everything was going wonderfully.

On the morning of December 24th,

Scott says he left early in the morning

to go fishing on the San Francisco Bay.

Reporter: Early Christmas Eve, Laci took her dog McKenzie for a walk.

Later that morning, McKenzie was found but Laci wasn't.

When he had called me and told me that Laci was missing,

I remember thinking to myself,

"Missing? What do you mean missing?"

Jordan: There were many theories about what happened to Laci,

but police had their suspicions early on.

Rowlands: The officer that was called to the house

on the 24th of December told detectives,

"Watch out for the husband because he's acting strangely."

Buehler: Scott behaved unusual from the start.

Scott seemed helpful, but not 100%.

There were too many things that didn't add up.

When he got home, saw that Laci's belongings were there,

her vehicle in the front drive,

the dog, everything, but no Laci, he took a shower.

He ate some pizza, and he washed clothes.

Buehler: If he was worried about his wife,

why did he wash his clothes?

Why did he eat the pizza?

Why did he take a shower all before he even called Sharon

to see where Laci was?

On the initial walkthrough of the Peterson home,

police spotted what you might call subtle clues.

There's, like, you know, not any obvious evidence of foul play.

They notice a pail and a mop.

I said, "What about the mop bucket?

Why is the cement all wet outside?

Did you, like, mop up?"

He had an excuse or an answer for everything.

Karas: Detectives take Scott to his warehouse on Christmas Eve.

He tells them there's no electricity at the warehouse.

Which, of course, was a huge lie.

So it forced Al to have to turn his car

pointing into the warehouse with the overhead door rolled up

with his headlights on so he could look around in there.

They observe some dust on a wooden table

or something that looked like he was making his own anchor.

There were the concentric rings of residue

that Al Brocchini spotted on that trailer

which suggested that it wasn't just one anchor made,

but it was actually four or five.

They knew Scott Peterson was in the San Francisco Bay.

He had a receipt at the Berkeley Marina.

And the prosecution's theory was is that he used those anchors

as a way to weigh down Laci's body

when he threw her into the San Francisco Bay,

so they spent a lot of time

searching the Bay in San Francisco.

Brocchini: During the search of the marina,

we had set up a podium in the parking lot.

We had a sergeant that was assigned there

that could help answer questions.

The press was there.

Boats are out there searching,

and we were keeping an eye on Scott.

We found out that Scott was actually up

in the San Francisco Bay area

watching searchers search for Laci during that period of time.

The odd thing was that Scott didn't drive his own car.

First he borrowed one from a friend,

and then he rented one from Enterprise,

but police were still able to track him

to the Berkeley Marina.

Brocchini: He didn't, like, contact anybody there and say,

"How's the search going," or "How's it going?"

He just watched, and then he drove all the way home.

The investigators thought that was very suspicious

that he was watching them search the San Francisco Bay.

And so a total of five times,

we either followed him to the marina

or we tracked him there with the tracker on his car.

His conduct just didn't make sense.

Reporter: There will be a candlelight vigil

in about 2 hours there in Modesto.

♪ Amazing grace How sweet ♪

At the vigil, it became apparent that there was a stark contrast

between Sharon Rocha and Scott Peterson.

Reporter: Casey Jordan, as you look at this,

what really stands out in this case?

What perplexes you the most?

Jordan: Well, I think almost everyone'll agree

that it's the behavior of Scott Peterson.

From the very first day that Laci was reported by Scott

as missing, his demeanor was odd.

McAllister: Well, I mean, you could say he had a full plate.

He was looking for his wife.

He was the focus of the police investigation,

and he knew that.

He was hounded by the media and others.

It was a pretty stressful time for him.

Rowlands: Boy, they really seem convinced

that you are withholding something.

They do seem convinced of that

by what you see in the media, certainly, and again,

they're -- we're all in a terrible situation here,

and I've been cooperative with the police

and continue to be.

And no one can judge our son by his behavior

because they've not been there.

Police briefing reporters tonight

about their search for a missing pregnant woman

talked at length about her husband.

Brocchini: The longer this went on, we felt Scott was involved.

We thought or we had enough evidence

that okay, Scott did this.

He's the only one that knows what really happened.

Jordan: A few days after Laci disappeared,

police are contacted by Amber Frey,

and she tells them that she is Scott's girlfriend.

Scott told me he was not married.

We did have a romantic relationship.

Laci Peterson's family instantly turned on Scott.

Scott Peterson became public enemy number one.

Jordan: After the bodies were found near the San Francisco Bay,

Modesto police were able to obtain a warrant.

Wesden: Scott Peterson has been arrested.

He'll be charged with capital murder.

It's Monday, April 21, 2003.

I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting live.

First, in California, Scott Peterson suspected

of killing his wife and unborn son

just went before a judge to answer the accusations.

Reporter: At his arraignment today, he pleaded not guilty.

Because he is charged with more than one murder,

prosecutors could seek the death penalty.

The prosecution theory of the case

was that Scott Peterson murdered Laci some time

on the evening of December 23, 2002.

And then, of course, on that same evening

that Laci had a phone call with her mom, Sharon,

which was the last time that we can show anybody

actually spoke to Laci outside of perhaps Scott.

Police believe it was a soft kill,

meaning something that doesn't leave

a lot of forensic evidence behind.

Jordan: There was an indentation in the bed

to led police to believe that Scott had knelt over Laci

and either strangled or suffocated her.

Killing her in the bed, having enough body weight

to be able to crush three ribs as he's doing it.

The medical examiner said that it appeared

that the broken ribs were around the time of death.

They also believe that Scott wrapped up

her body in something,

put duct tape around her, and put her in his truck

and transported her to the warehouse

where he then put her in a boat.

Buehler: We confirmed that somebody her size would fit in the boat

because one of the clerks that worked at the DA's

office was about the same stage pregnancy as Laci was,

and we did a photo demonstration of her curled up inside the boat

where she fit in there with no problem.

And then drove to the Bay almost 90 miles away to dump her body.

Scott did several things that made police think

maybe this was premeditated.

Karas: He had bought a two-day fishing license

dated December 23rd and 24th, and he bought it

just a few days earlier, like December 20th.

Three weeks before Laci even goes missing,

he tells Amber Frey that he lost his wife.

Why would he say that he had lost his wife

long before Laci went missing?

Jordan: Scott went right out, within a month after she disappeared,

and sold her car.

If your wife is missing and you want her to come home,

why would you sell her car?

He wanted to sell the house furnished within a month or so.

He decides that he not only wants to rent the porn channel

on his cable subscription,

but he upgrades it to the XXX variety.

All these things, if you really look at them separate,

none of them really mean anything,

and they don't hold much significance,

but if you put them together,

it's almost like a jigsaw puzzle on your kitchen table.

You might have a few pieces missing,

but you know what the picture is.

I think people were scrutinizing him so closely

that anybody would look peculiar.

I do have some doubt in this case.

♪♪

We're not into arguing reasonable doubt in this case.

We've set the bar extremely high,

and that's to prove that Scott is not only factually innocent

but to figure out exactly who it is

did this horrible thing to Scott's wife

and to Scott's son and to their grandson.

You got to understand that a lot of murders

don't happen in front of witnesses,

so this case had to be built on circumstantial evidence,

but there's no evidence of exactly when she died

or how she died,

so police had to look at Scott Peterson's conduct

and his many lies.

I do have some doubt in this case.

I think people were scrutinizing him so closely

that anybody would look peculiar.

Rowlands: From the very instant that the police encountered

Scott Peterson, they were suspicious.

Scott Peterson knew he was a suspect in this case

because the police were rummaging through his home

within days of his wife's disappearance.

Within 2 or 3 days of Scott being put under the microscope,

he hired local attorney Kirk McAllister,

who was a former prosecutor.

McAllister was soon replaced after Scott's parents

reached out to high profile defense attorney Mark Geragos.

I got a phone call from Scott's dad,

and then I ended up talking to Scott's mom.

And by the time I was done talking to them,

I was intrigued.

And they asked me to go visit him,

and I did, and I became convinced,

once I visited him, that he wasn't good for this.

Scott's parents have gone public saying that they believe

that the police here bungled this investigation.

And the police did a lousy investigation.

They should go back and look at it again.

Lee: Someone took Laci and the baby's life,

and we're going to find them.

We're going to make every effort.

They believe that there were other credible

leads that weren't followed

because they were so focused on their son.

Woman: Scott's parents have been saying that the police

have convicted their son before even a trial

and insist that the police are avoiding other leads,

what other leads are they referring to?

The defense strategy relied heavily on unexplained events

that coincided with Laci's disappearance.

First there were Laci-sighting witnesses,

people who saw Laci walking the dog

after Scott left for the marina.

We had tips from people saying they thought they saw Laci

walking the dog in the neighborhood.

The fact is that the eyewitnesses

who saw Laci Peterson all share a common theme,

and that's the fact that they phoned the police,

that they tried to tell their stories,

and in every case, the police failed to follow up with them.

Rowlands: One of the reports that came out was that someone had seen

a brown van in the neighborhood that caused a lot of suspicion.

There was a woman who was sexually assaulted

in a van in a park.

Buehler: It was a tip that was called in to our tip line

from a sexual assault counselor.

People who assaulted her were satanists.

Man: There have been news reports suggesting

that maybe the people in the van had 666 on their shirts.

Cole: Now the cops did go out and they talked to people

they thought were the right people in the van,

and that was it.

That was the end of that.

There was no evidence that Laci was ever in that van.

Woman: Hi, Larry.

My question is, there were reports that Laci's neighbor

was robbed the same day as her disappearance.

Could there be any connections to that?

The date of the burglary is still a sticking point

between prosecutors and Scott's lawyers

because it basically sets the timeline of what happened.

The defense insists that the burglary took place on the 24th,

the same morning that Laci disappeared.

Police believe the burglars.

The burglars told them that,

yes, they're guilty of the burglary,

but it happened on the 26th.

That's two days after Laci disappeared

making the burglary irrelevant,

but it's still a bone of contention today.

Geragos: On the 26th, there was a media camped out on that front lawn

literally doing live shots

where they're facing the house that was burglarized.

Brocchini: What they said was when they did the burglary,

all the cameras were out there.

Geragos: The Modesto PD has said, "Well, the burglars had said

it was the 26th, so we believe the burglars,"

and I just -- you know, really?

They both took polygraphs.

They both passed polygraphs.

Rowlands: But the Peterson family, specifically, and his attorneys

believe this is a huge mistake by the Modesto police.

Reporter: Mark Geragos gave a bold finish to opening statements,

proclaiming Scott Peterson is not only innocent

but stone cold innocent.

I've never seen anything like this.

It was a complete disaster for prosecutors.

♪♪

King: Tonight, Scott Peterson back in court with jury selection

underway for his upcoming double murder trial.

Who's going to decide his fate?

The first of hundreds of potential jurors

started filling out 30-page questionnaires today.

Reporter: You could have heard a pin drop in the courtroom

as the first 100 prospective jurors

were introduced to the defendant.

Scott Peterson stood, turned to the audience, and said,

"Hello, good morning to you," and smiled.

He stood up and kind of just waved kind of almost like,

you know, one of those pageant waves,

you know, at the crowd, and smiled.

Jordan: There may have been quiet in the courtroom,

but just outside, it was more like a circus.

Rowlands: The trial is in the San Francisco Bay area,

and near the courthouse,

a radio station took out this huge billboard.

Picture of Scott, orange hair, in an orange jumpsuit,

that said something like...

"Man or monster?"

Any potential juror heading to the courthouse

would have seen that billboard.

Obviously, the community had judged Scott guilty.

I wanted a change of venue.

King: Jury selection delayed in Scott Peterson's murder trial

so the judge can consider a new motion for a change of venue.

Grace: Well, I can understand why Mark Geragos

says it's so hard to get a jury

because he wants to go to a different location.

I wanted Orange county.

I figured that would probably have the greatest percentage

of adulterous golfers anywhere.

The judge denied the change of venue request

because he believed they could find an impartial jury

in San Mateo county.

The jury selection process concluded here this morning.

Six men and six women have been chosen to decide

Scott Peterson's fate.

Beratlis: I think everybody was pretty nervous.

I was pretty somber about it.

You know, I did not know what to expect.

Today, 12 jurors in Redwood City, California,

heard opening statements in Peterson's trial.

Day one of the Scott Peterson trial

proving to be a one-sided affair as the prosecution

is taking all day to lay out its opening remarks.

It was one of the most thorough

opening statements I've ever seen.

He dismantled Scott Peterson's

multiple statements to the police,

to the media, where he made inconsistent statements,

where he lied.

The problem was that one of Scott's

lies that they presented to the jury,

they didn't quite get right.

In the opening statements,

the prosecution screwed up horribly.

They came out and told the jury that Scott had lied

about watching Martha Stewart on TV.

The prosecutor claimed that when Laci disappeared,

Scott said she was watching the Martha Stewart show.

They told the jury the show Scott claimed to watch

never aired that day.

Well, it did air, and the defense played it for the jury.

This is a recipe inspired by one of my favorite pastry chefs

in Paris, Monsieur Lerche.

That hurt because the prosecution had said,

"Oh, that was one of Scott's lies."

I played it twice in case Brocchini

missed it the first time I showed it.

The defense had two words for the prosecution's case

against Scott Peterson today -- Flimsy and circumstantial.

Christian: Geragos, in his opening statement,

was able to throw a lot of doubt into the prosecution's theories.

Man: In less than 3 hours, Geragos showed the jury maps

pinpointing multiple Laci Peterson sightings

the day of her disappearance,

autopsy photos of the baby the family called Conner,

saying the baby was born alive after Laci disappeared,

and he pointed out how detailed searches of the Peterson house

and warehouse produced no evidence of murder.

Mark Geragos gave a bold finish to opening statements,

proclaiming Scott Peterson is not only innocent

but stone cold innocent.

It was a complete disaster for prosecutors

in the early stages of this trial.

Every witness they put on, Mark Geragos

would twist and turn

and flip that person into a defense witness.

There were a lot of cynics who were commenting

that there's a lot of smoke, but you know,

nothing that was really solid against Scott Peterson.

Reporter: There are many questions.

How did Laci Peterson die?

Was her baby born alive?

The defense was basically saying, you know,

"We're going to show you how the prosecution did not do

their due diligence in this investigation."

Reporter: The defense wants the jury to know

that many tips in this case were not investigated by police.

They were actually asking the prosecution,

"Did you ever investigate? Did you ever follow up?

Did you talk to the person on the bridge?

Did you check with the bikers in the neighborhood?"

I mean, it was just kind of like there was a lot of loose ends.

Then just 3 weeks into the trial, a jury shake-up.

One of the jurors was accused of misconduct.

Is there jury trouble at the Scott Peterson trial?

Fairly early on in the prosecution's case in chief,

juror number five, Justin Falconer,

had actually spoken to Laci's brother,

Brent Rocha, at the metal detectors.

Cooper: There was a pool camera which caught a juror

actually talking to Laci Peterson's brother.

Karas: You are not supposed to have any contact,

you know, with the family.

And Falconer had to have known who Rocha was.

Justin Falconer is a 28-year-old airport screener.

Today, he was thrown off the case.

He was very pro defense.

Then Falconer started showing up on TV talk shows.

Oh, he'd be innocent.

The prosecution hasn't shown us any reason to believe otherwise.

I remember being annoyed at that only because

he didn't hear all the evidence.

The only thing solid they have is the fact that,

you know, Laci did wash up where she did

and Scott did place himself there,

but even that's speculation as to how she got there.

It seemed like he was everywhere speaking his mind,

and according to his mind, Scott Peterson should get off.

Grace: Stories of sex and suspicion.

Cardoza: Those tape recordings spoke for themselves,

but they were about an affair,

not about his maybe killing his wife.

♪♪

Welcome back to "How It Really Happened."

The prosecution's case against Scott Peterson

was built largely on circumstantial evidence

that the defense appeared to easily undermine.

Momentum was shifting,

and it looked like Peterson might just get off,

until Amber Frey, the State's star witness, took the stand.

Zahn: Tonight, the star witness in the Scott Peterson case --

champagne, strawberries, and sex,

the ex-mistress takes the stand.

King: Detailing their relationship, including the first date,

which ended with them spending an intimate night together.

Up until Amber Frey took the stand,

the prosecution seemed to be stumbling.

Amber Frey had secretly recorded

more than 100 phone calls with Scott

all after his wife had disappeared.

I can't stress enough how the tables turned in the trial

once Amber Frey was on the stand

and these recordings were played.

Jordan: The tapes recorded at the request of the Modesto

police dropped bombshell after bombshell.

Rowlands: Amber tells the jury about the call

that she received 3 weeks before Laci disappeared

where Scott told her that he had lost his wife.

There was a physical reaction

that you could see in the jurors.

They were getting disgusted.

She starts to press him and saying,

"Hey, what's going on, Scott? What's the deal?"

They looked at Scott Peterson as being so odd,

so different that he was not only a cheat,

but in their minds he was capable of anything,

including murder.

And it just got worse for the defense.

The jury heard how Scott had lied to Amber.

He told her he was in Paris on New Year's Eve.

But he was actually in Modesto at a vigil for his missing wife.

He's at a vigil for Laci, and he's calling his mistress.

Karas: He was in the crowd, refusing to go up on the stage

with all the other family members.

Jurors were absolutely disgusted

listening to this guy tell these incredible lies.

Those tape recordings spoke for themselves,

but they were about an affair,

not about his maybe killing his wife.

The prosecution's final witness, number 174,

was Detective Jon Buehler.

He described for the jury what was in Scott's possession

at the time he was arrested.

He was in San Diego and clearly headed for the Mexican border.

Scott was in a little two-door convertible red Mercedes.

He had two or three cell phones, climbing rope, neck ties,

toothbrush, his brother's driver's license,

a book from Amber, a picture of his wife,

dress shoes, hiking shoes, and flip-flops.

He's got $14,932 in cash.

He could go from the beach to the yacht club

to the Sierras in the same day

and look like he belonged at all three places.

These were the things that I was explaining to the jury

so they could draw their own conclusion.

After 19 weeks of testimony, the State has finally rested.

The evidence is on the table,

but is it enough to get a guilty verdict?

Then it was the defense's turn.

King: Tonight, Scott Peterson's defense finally making its case.

Will Mark Geragos put Scott Peterson on the stand?

The defense had made a lot of bold promises

during opening statements.

What the defense felt was a critical demonstration

involving Scott's boat was denied by the judge.

The state's theory was that he had four anchors

that he had made, four cement anchors.

Reporter: They charged he used them to weigh down his wife's body

when he threw her into the water.

But the defense reached a different decision,

so they got the same model boat, and they got a mannequin

rigged up with the exact weight of Laci.

They put on four anchors.

They went out into the Bay, and they videotaped it,

and they pushed that dummy over the side of the boat,

and in each of those tests, the boat capsized.

They went back to court,

wanted that videotape into evidence,

and Judge Delucchi said,

"No. It's not scientifically accepted."

Reporter: Observers say so far Geragos is not delivering the dramatic case

he promised in opening statements.

Many thought that the only person who could save

Scott Peterson was Scott Peterson.

Would he take the stand?

King: We're going to start tonight with Michael Cardoza.

Larry, the defense team came to me

and asked me if I would conduct

a mock cross-examination of Scott Peterson.

I can't tell you how he did.

I think you can draw your own inferences.

Scott Peterson did not testify in the trial.

After just 1 week, the defense rests,

and now, it's in the jury's hands.

Out of the blue she goes, "He's got to fry.

He's guilty."

She was ready to hang him at that point.

What the hell is going on?

Nancy Grace, there's no other way to put it.

Where are we?

Larry, you're right, there is no other way to put it.

♪♪

Fladager: How can you convince a jury that someone

who may look so normal is capable of doing

something so extraordinarily evil?

Reporter: Redwood City, California.

After months of testimony, hundreds of witnesses,

the jury finally has the Scott Peterson case.

As a member of the media covering the trial,

once it went to the jury,

you have nothing to cover except the wait,

and you could feel the tension.

Cooper: They've been in the jury room for 2 days now

and still no sign of a verdict.

Like everything else in this case,

even jury deliberations were filled with drama.

Grace: Emotions in the Scott Peterson trial

are running high tonight.

The six men and six women of the jury

are apparently deeply divided.

I just remember the deliberation was really tense.

I think everybody was pretty nervous.

King: Tonight, a Scott Peterson jury shake-up.

Juror number seven dismissed

after a hearing into possible misconduct.

During deliberations juror number seven, a woman,

was dismissed because she had gone online

to look at something, and that's a no-no.

All of a sudden, she says, "I think I might have done

something that I shouldn't have done."

She did some sort of independent research

and came back and reported her findings.

In other words, "You're not allowed to learn more."

Varinsky: You have to get all of your evidence from the witness stand.

Karas: The woman who replaced juror number seven was Richelle Nice.

Richelle comes in, and we're starting all over

because now we've got another juror,

and we want to do it right.

Karas: A lot of the jurors had nicknames from the press,

and her nickname was Strawberry Shortcake,

which was, you know, a term of endearment.

Reporter: This is a woman who is in her late 20s, early 30s,

she's referred to by some as Strawberry Shortcake.

She dyes her hair different colors.

She has four children

and has been very emotional during the trial.

So now we start all over again.

So we went through it, and out of the blue,

she goes, "He's got to fry. He's guilty."

That is not a person that vetted this evidence,

that went through it carefully.

She was running on all emotion.

And we're like, "No, no, cool your jets.

We want to go through this.

We're not going to be swayed just because you walk in

and say we got to move forward,"

and we had a process, and we wanted to make sure.

We just don't make a decision just like that.

King: Tonight, another Scott Peterson juror dismissed,

second one in 2 days, and this time it's the foreman.

The foreman basically quit the jury.

Reporter: We understand there had been a battle in the jury room

early on, a lot of contention

that was allegedly with juror number five.

Apparently when he was removed,

it removed a lot of that contention.

Beratlis: He held a degree as a doctor and held a degree in law.

So we thought he was the perfect choice for a foreperson,

but you just saw his demeanor change.

He wanted to go very slowly through all the evidence

that the prosecution has laid out.

A lot of jurors didn't want to do that.

They were saying, "Come on, there's enough here,"

and they argued and they argued.

It was the way he was conducting the proceedings

that really alienated some of the jurors who were upset.

So he wanted out, and he got replaced.

King: What the hell is going on?

Nancy Grace, there's no other way to put it.

Where are we?

Larry, you're right.

There is no other way to put it.

Having three jurors thrown off of one jury

in this this short space of time is basically unheard of.

Reporter: A new day, a new juror.

It is the latest surprise from the tumultuous jury

deliberations in the Scott Peterson trial.

There's a lot of speculation there could be a hung jury.

I think so many of us were convinced

that this jury would just never be able to reach a verdict.

Rowlands: We figured, all right,

it's going to be several more days then,

but it only took a matter of hours,

and we got word that there was a verdict.

Reporter: This is CNN breaking news.

The verdict in the Scott Peterson murder trial

is finally in.

Karas: The judge did allow an audio feed,

meaning, like, big speakers were outside on the plaza

to hear the reading of the verdict.

Man: The judge is taking his seat on the bench.

Reporter: Outside the courthouse,

hundreds of people who have been following this trial

came to see the verdict firsthand.

Grace: To the end, this was really a cliff-hanger for everyone.

No one knew which way this was going to go.

Karas: I'm watching the jury file in.

And the jurors are coming into their seats,

and I saw the black female juror looking

Sharon Rocha's direction.

And give a...

I was thinking, "Oh, my God, he's going to be convicted."

Woman: The State of California versus Scott Peterson.

We the jury in the above-entitled cause

find the defendant Scott Lee Peterson guilty

of the crime of murder of Laci Denise Peterson.

We were stunned.

Beratlis: I do remember looking over at Scott

when the verdict was, looking for a reaction,

and Scott, I don't know if he was drugged up or not,

but there was no reaction.

It was basically maybe disbelief,

but he just kind of stared into space.

Woman: Peterson guilty of the crime of murder...

[Cheering]

Once you got over that shock,

you could hear outside the roar of the crowd.

[Cheering]

It was as if we were in the Roman Colosseum

and the emperor had given the thumbs down sign

and everyone was thrilled that that poor Christian

was going to get eaten by a lion.

[Cheering]

Beratlis: I do remember, from where we were,

we could hear the crowd through the window

screaming and horns honking.

[Car horns honking]

Beratlis: It didn't make us happy.

It was a quiet moment.

Blitzer: Scott Peterson is guilty of murder,

first degree murder, for killing his wife, Laci,

and he's guilty of second degree murder

for killing their unborn son, Conner.

Christian: Scott didn't really show much reaction to the guilty verdict,

but according to a recent A & E documentary

and it's his first interview since this conviction,

he told his sister-in-law, Janie,

something completely different.

Man: Prosecutor Dave Harris told jurors, quote...

After the verdict and during the sentencing phase,

Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, got up and spoke.

You could feel her pain and her anger.

She turned to Scott and said,

"You could have gotten a divorce.

Why did you have to kill her?"

Sharon couldn't have been more powerful.

She was moving.

She was articulate, emotional.

It was everything a prosecutor could ask for.

♪♪

There was a juror that, come to find out later,

had lied about her past.

And I have one comment for Scott.

♪♪

Reporter: The tension here is mounting.

There are already a couple of hundred people here anxious

to hear what the final judgment will be against Scott Peterson.

Will it be life in prison without parole,

or will they sentence him to death?

Reporter: The audio feed is starting.

Let's listen to the courtroom.

Woman: People of California versus Scott Peterson.

We the jury in the above-entitled cause

fix the penalty at death.

Reporter: There were no tears.

Scott Peterson showed no emotion,

very, very stoic, very somber in that courtroom.

King: Tonight, Scott Peterson's jury recommends the death penalty,

and his attorney vows to pursue all avenues of appeal.

It became apparent to me within the first week

or 2 weeks of the trial

that there were jurors on that case who,

they didn't care about the evidence.

They had an agenda.

Jordan: Mark Geragos said he always had reservations

about that jury pool,

but I don't think anyone expected what happened next.

Outside of the courthouse, a few of the jurors

held an impromptu press conference.

He is a jerk, and I have one comment for Scott --

you look somebody in the face when they are talking to you.

Well, Scott came in with a great big smile on his face, laughing.

If you saw the reaction of the jurors to the verdict,

when they came out and they were basically trash talking,

you could see that this was not a deliberative process for them.

He's on his way home, Scott figures.

Well, guess what, Scotty.

San Quentin is your new home.

And it is illegal to kill your wife and child in California.

I was really disgusted by that.

The way they reacted with the emotion, with a viciousness.

I just turned away and said, "My God, this is a mob."

The juror called Strawberry Shortcake, my Lord.

There was a juror that, come to find out later,

had lied in voir dire about her past

and having her been a victim of domestic violence.

Scott Peterson was Laci's husband, Conner's daddy,

and for him to have done that --

We know now according to the defense,

that she wasn't completely candid

in her jury questionnaire.

Geragos: Richelle, mind you, was not in the jury initially.

She's the subject of the appeal and rightfully so.

Christian: Juror Richelle Nice denies that she lied

in her jury questionnaire,

but that's just one of the many issues

that come up in Scott's appeal.

His appeal also places a lot of emphasis

on his attorney Mark Geragos,

and it cites ineffective assistance of counsel.

Nancy, what do you think?

Well, I'll be blunt.

I think he lost basically in opening statement

when he promised to deliver things to a jury

he never brought forward.

Karas: One thing the defense cannot say

is that they didn't get a fair trial.

Mark Geragos promised the jury

that they would hear from witnesses

who saw Laci after Scott left to go fishing,

but he never put them on,

but he could have, and he didn't.

Scott's appeal argues that there were several pieces of evidence

that were never presented at trial,

and his new lawyers believe that may have cost Scott his freedom.

Look, if I get found ineffective on this case,

what's called IAC, more power to him.

Nothing would make me happier.

If he gets a new trial based on that, I want that to happen.

Cardoza: I don't believe the appeal is going to work in this case.

I believe that the most Scott Peterson can hope for

is that the Supreme Court reduces his death penalty

to a life without possibility of parole.

I think that this case will get reversed.

If there's any justice, this case will get reversed.

Did Scott Peterson really kill Laci?

It really all depends on who you ask.

Rowlands: I don't doubt that Scott Peterson is a schmuck

and the strangest man I've ever encountered,

and his behavior is unexplainable,

but I have my doubts in how he was able to pull it off,

how he was able to physically pull it off

without leaving a shred of evidence.

Brocchini: The last person that ever saw Laci alive was Scott Peterson,

and the last person that saw her dead was Scott Peterson,

so there's no doubt in my mind that Scott Peterson did it.

I'm one of those small guys on the island of Scott's innocence.

I probably will go to my grave believing that.

Jordan: I believe the jury in this case was a very thoughtful jury.

They took one vote, and they took it seriously,

and it was unanimous for his guilt.

When they delivered that verdict,

I don't think there was a person in America

that thought they got it wrong.

Beratlis: I don't regret my decision making on his guilt.

I believe he's guilty of that.

I listened to what was said in that courtroom.

I followed what I was told by the letter of the law,

and I didn't do anything else.

We found him for death.

We basically killed a man.

I don't take that lightly.

♪♪

Scott Peterson was sent to death row

at San Quentin State Prison in California.

The prosecutor spent $2.6 million

on a trial that put him there.

184 witnesses testified and 12 jurors sealed his fate.

Was he railroaded as the defense claims or did he,

as the jury concluded, commit these heinous crimes?

In 2004, Sharon Rocha played a key role

in getting Laci and Conner's law passed.

Known as the Unborn Victims of Violence Act,

the federal law makes a crime against a pregnant woman

a crime against two separate people.

I'm Hill Harper.

Thanks for watching.

♪♪