11/12   Scott Peterson found guilty of murder.
        \_ 1st degree for Laci, 2nd degree for their unborn son.
           \_ 1st degree with special circumstances, which qualifies him for
              the death penalty.
              \_ Am I the only one who thinks that there should be different
                 standards of proof for conviction and a death sentence?  I'd
                 roughly say you need about 98% confidence to convict someone
                 of a criminal offence (1 wrongly-convicted person for every
                 50 real criminals).  But I think you need 100% certainty to
                 give the death penalty, because there really is no appeal for
                 the innocent once they're dead.  I'm anti-death penalty, but
                 not for the truly guilty, but there's the rub.
                 \_ There *are* different standards of proof for conviction
                    and a death sentence.  -tom
                    \- i dunno what tom is talking about but one possibly
                       significant difference is the jurors have to be
                       "death certified" meaning they have to be willing to
                       entertain the death penalty. so the question is "if you
                       weed out all the no-death penalty people from the jury
                       pool, is the remaining group more likely to be pro-
                       prosecution". this is the definitive book on how
                       juries operate today: http://csua.org/u/9y0
                       there are certainly more appeal procedures, but i
                       dunno if in law there is a different standard, as
                       there is for treason. --psb
                    \_ Really?  I thought it was that the crime and special
                       circumstances both needed  no 'reasonable doubt'.
                    \_ Not sure what you mean by there are different
                       standards of proof for conviction and death
                       sentence (sentencing in most cases is at the
                       judges discretion). Anyway, CA Pen. Code only
                       allows for death penalty in the case of 1st
                       degree pre-meditated murder (there are other
                       type of 1st degree murder, including felony
                       and Taylor). The burden of proof for showing
                       pre-meditated 1st degree murder is the same
                       as for other crimes (beyond a reasonable
                       doubt), but the requirements to show pre-
                       meditation are quite high in CA (must show
                       planning, motive, manner and can't use
                       post killing evid. for this). Also in CA,
                       any case in which the def. is sentenced to
                       death MUST be reviewed by the CA S. Ct.
                       BTW, the 2nd degree murder conviction for
                       the unborn child makes no sense. If he
                       pre-meditated to kill Laci, then there
                       is no way for him to not pre-meditate the
                       killing of the kid. The only way I can
                       think of that the jury came up with this
                       is that they didn't believe he had a good
                       motive to kill the kid, even though he
                       had planning and manner.
           \_ So why isn't abortion murder again?
              \_ Abortion is embryos that do not have higher cognitive
                 function.  An 8-month fetus is more-or-less a newborn baby.
                 A 3-month embryo is closer to a worm, developmentaly.
                 \_ partial birth abortion at 9 months., murder?
              \_ CA Penal Code Sec. 187 exempts (1) legal abortion,
                 (2) doctor's who act in the best interests of the
                 mother's health and (3) where the mother gives
                 consent. The fetus has to be older than seven
                 wks or so.
        \_ That's a surprise to me.  I think he's guilty but I thought he was
           going to be acquitted by benefit of the doubt or some technicality
           or some nonsense.
        \_ cuz he's white.
        \_ YEAH, JUSTICE IS SERVED!!
                \_ OK, why wasn't it now?
        \_ ok, so when are the white men going to the streets of LA
           and start looting/protesting at the Koreans, like what happened
           in the Rodney King and the 4 racist LA cop case?
                 \_ i think you're getting your race riots confused
           \_ whitey takes it up the ass, and there was much rejoicing.
           \_ There's not much to pillage in Modesto.
           \_ Huh? These two cases have nothing in common. Do you think
              that most white people think Scott Peterson was innocent?
              \_ Did most people think OJ was innocent?
                 \_ What does OJ have to do with Rodney King?
                    \_ Riots.
                       \_ Did anyone riot after the OJ verdict?
                          \_ Uhm, the guy you're arguing with is clearly either
                             a troll, or fuck-stupid.  I suggest leaving him be
                             with his ill-informed commentary.
                          \_ They would have if the verdict was guilty.
                             \_ And you know this because...???
                                \_ Rodney King. Ta da! Tied it all
                                   together!
                                   \_ You are an idiot. But you probably
                                      already knew that.
                                      \_ Because you said so? Hardly.
                                         \_ You're right...you clearly don't
                                            know.  Poor thing.
        \_ So they replaced one juros and started deliberations all over?
           All-in-all, how much deliberation was there?  Wasn't that pretty
           quick?