California Supremes Deny Peterson's Petition

The California Supreme Court is reporting here that it has denied Scott Peterson’s petition for an emergency stay of penalty phase proceedings, scheduled to start Tuesday morning. Mark Geragos, Peterson’s lawyer, requested a new jury and change of venue. In his brief Geragos argued that when jurors were released from sequestration, the community congratulated and celebrated them like “members of a winning Super Bowl team.” Consequently, “any ‘lingering doubt’ one or more jurors might have had about Mr. Peterson’s guilt, a doubt which defense counsel could invoke at the penalty phase trial, was extinguished” and the jury is “presumptively disabled” from determining whether Scott Peterson should receive the death penalty.

For more information, check out coverage at CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle.