Penalty phase delayed in Scott Peterson trial

? Judge Alfred Delucchi on Monday denied a request to seat a new jury in the Scott Peterson case and to move the sentencing phase to another county, delaying the procedure until Nov. 30.

While prosecutors had been expected to call their first witnesses to describe their loss of Laci Peterson, defense lawyers for the man convicted of killing the Modesto, Calif., woman were working to uproot the case.

Los Angeles lawyer Mark Geragos filed a motion last week to find a new jury in another jurisdiction to decide whether Peterson should face a life sentence without parole or the death penalty for killing his pregnant wife.

Prosecutors filed their opposition to the motion Monday morning.

Acknowledging publicity surrounding the Nov. 12 verdict was pervasive, Delucchi said it was unlikely that a jury anywhere would not have heard about the case.

“My wife knows somebody who just came back from Rome, Italy, and they had it on the radio in Rome, Italy, not to mention al-Jazeera and everywhere else,” Delucchi said. “I get letters from Mississippi. I get letters from Florida. Everybody knows about this case.

“This is a problem without a solution. A change of venue is not going to change anything.”

In their open-court discussions, Delucchi and lawyers on both sides of the case referenced what Geragos said were problems during juror deliberations.

Juror 5, a doctor and lawyer who was the foreman until his dismissal, said in a private discussion with Delucchi that he felt threatened during the process. Delucchi said the man later backed away from that statement, saying Juror 6, a firefighter who assumed the role of foreman, was facilitating deliberations smoothly.

Geragos and Delucchi also made references Monday that jurors might have discussed post-trial book deals or reaching a verdict dictated by popular public opinion. The cryptic discussion left the matter unclear as to what had actually been talked about during deliberations.

In his motions, Geragos cited a crowd of perhaps 1,000 people who descended on the courthouse to hear the verdict unveiled as it happened. They waved signs, cheered prosecutors and jeered Peterson’s parents, creating nothing short of a mob scene, Geragos said.

“I thought it was something out of an old newsreel where there was a mob outside the courthouse,” Geragos said. “I fully expected someone to start building a gallows in some parking lot across the street.”

Prosecutors agreed that publicity was intense but said there was no evidence it influenced the jury.

Geragos said he would appeal Delucchi’s ruling.