The Scott Peterson trio of publicity jurors were on Greta Van Susteren's show tonight. They were just as inarticulate and slow tonight as they were at yesterdays' press conference. One lost her train of thought in the middle of a comment and couldn't finish her answer to a question. The other two couldn't answer a question at all, and responded they didn't know, they were "lost."

Why they'd find him guilty? He romanced another woman while his wife was missing and he showed no emotion. If how a defendant looks and emotes is being used as proof of guilt, perhaps it's time to shield defendants' faces from jurors.

Ok, fifteen minutes are over, let's get on with the appeal.

Update: A spokesman for Death Row at San Quentin was on. There are 500 + death row inmates living in one building with five tiers of cells, one man to a cell. Peterson, like the others, will live in a 41 square foot cell. He will eat his meals there and spend about 18 hours a day in inside it. It has a bed, toilet and sink. He can have a tv, radio and get magazines in newspapers.

by TChris

Putting unpopular figures on trial is a great way to jump start a political campaign, so cynics might wonder at the timing of Prime Minister Allawi's announcement that members of Saddam Hussein's government will go on trial next week.

War crimes trials against senior lieutenants of Saddam Hussein will start in Baghdad next week, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said yesterday. But other members of the government said little preparatory work had been done for court proceedings. Saddam Hussein is unlikely to face trial until much later.

Complaints that the defendants haven't had access to their lawyers or an opportunity to learn of the evidence against them are apparently untroubling to Allawi, but others take a different view.

Saddam's Jordan-based lawyer, Ziad al-Kasawneh, said: "The Iraqi court will be in violation of the basic rights of the defendants, which is to have access to legal counsel while being interrogated and indicted." Mr Kasawneh, who has not yet met his client, doubted the trials would start next week. "I think Mr Allawi is dreaming," he said. "He cannot make such a bold announcement without consulting with his boss, President [George] Bush."

Newsday reporter Leonard Levitt wrote up Bernie Kerik's retirement dinner at the Sheraton Hotel in April, 2002.

Friday at his retirement dinner at the Sheraton, the night was his[Kerik's]. His publisher Judith Regan purchased a table and produced a film presentation of him. Rudolph Giuliani praised Kerik's conduct on Sept. 11 and said that rather than his being a lost son, "He was the brother I never had."

Source: Newsday (New York) April 22, 2002 Monday (available on Lexis.com)

Arkansas detainee Charlie Cook, awaiting trial on meth charges, began drawing and selling Christmas cards. He earned enough from their sale to enable him to post bond. His wife, also charged, had already made bond.

After visiting with prison missionaries, Cook became inspired to draw winter scenes as Christmas cards. Clarence Yoder, a Mennonite who had visited Cook in jail, liked the cards so much that he took them to his bakery and sold them for $2 each.

"We're trying to stay away from the people and circumstances that have contributed to some of the bad choices we've made in the past," Mrs. Cook told the Harrison Daily Times newspaper.

I've received some great Christmas cards from my jailed clients over the years. Some are creative, some demonstrate the client's emotional nature, some rise to the level of art. I keep them all.

I was on Alan Colmes radio show tonight discussing the Scott Peterson verdict. I was suprised that my sparring partner, victim's rights advocate Wendy Murphy, who makes Nancy Grace seem like a liberal defense lawyer by comparison, is philosophically and morally opposed to the death penalty. She acknowledged that Scott Peterson's life has some value. She said she was opposed to the Laci & Connor Law that made it a federal crime to kill an unborn fetus and believes that right to lifers have politicized the case. We ended up spending a significant portion of the two segments discussing how anti-abortionists can claim to value life but support the death penalty. A caller asked me the question in reverse, how could I oppose capital punishment as murder but not abortion. [My answer: abortion isn't murder, executions are state-sanctioned murders.] How can people can claim to choose life but support killing?

Friday, on Hannity and Colmes, former prosecutor and Fox News Legal Analyst Lis Wiehl said she was opposed to the death penalty. Tonight, Bill O'Reilly said in his opening comments that the jury's decision was "emotion driven." Bill O'Reilly has said many times he's opposed to the death penalty. All of them believe that Scott Peterson killed his pregnant wife. But, the death penalty? That's a stretch.

What's next for Scott Peterson? Does he go right to San Quentin? (No, he hasn't been sentenced yet.) The Sacremento Bee has a page answering these kind of questions.

Michael Leavit was nominated today by President Bush to be our new Secretary of Health and Human Services, replacing the departing Tommy Thompson. One group, Safe Access, has wasted no time in asking for his help:

We urge the next secretary of HHS to bring the weight of overwhelming scientific evidence to reclassifying marijuana in the U.S, in recognition of its medical value. This reclassification will increase long overdue access to medical marijuana for seriously ill people here in the U.S., and will remove the barriers (and potentially serious legal consequences) associated with researching, prescribing and administering this substance by U.S. health professionals.

We have a petition for rescheduling marijuana in front of Health and Human Services right now, as well as a challenge under the Federal Data Quality Act for HHS to correct inaccurate assertions made in their 2001 denial of a prior rescheduling petition. This misinformation has maintained the unnecessary and inappropriate restrictions, and severe legal penalties, that limit access to medical cannabis in the United States to treat serious medical conditions for which it has scientifically shown its value. Further, the continued classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, a classification supported by HHS's flawed recommendations, restrains legitimate medical research in the U.S. on other potential therapeutic benefits of cannabis.

So much for freedom of expression. The New York Museum showing the 'Bush Monkeys' exhibit canceled it despite its popularity.

A portrait of President Bush using monkeys to form his image led to the closure of a New York art exhibition over the weekend and anguished protests on Monday over freedom of expression.

"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created the stir at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show that was scheduled to stay up for the next month. The show featured art from the upcoming issue of Animal Magazine, a quarterly publication featuring emerging artists.

More than 2,000 people showed up to view the exhibit over the weekend.

You can see some more Bush-monkey images here and here (not from the closed exhibit.)

The Death Penalty Information Center will release a report tomorrow showing that the number of executions dropped 40% from 1999 to 2004.

The center also found that fewer Americans support capital punishment and that fewer prisoners are being sent to death rows.

It's time for nominations in the third annual 2004 Koufax blogging awards. Go on over and nominate your favorite blogs. TalkLeft is the proud winner of the award for "best single issues blog" in both 2002 and 2003.

I hope you will nominate us again.

Update: If you don't have your own blog yet, the Washington Post gives you some pointers.

Ironically, the death verdict may bring Scott Peterson one benefit: His appeal will be treated extra seriously by the appellate courts. Every aspect of the trial will be scrutinized and errors that might not have been that big a deal with a life sentence could make a difference now.

Example: This judge was incredibly lax in allowing hearsay. All of his rulings on admission and exclusion of evidence will be reviewed with a fine tooth comb. The pre-trial publicity will now get the attention it deserves, so will the choice of trial venue.

As for those criticizing Geragos for not putting on more witnesses, keep in mind we haven't been privy to many of the judge's rulings on evidence because the hearings were held in chambers. He may have tried and been refused by the judge.

[Note: This was live blogged during the press conference, so it is not in complete sentences.]

Three jurors are holding a press conference. One of them, the woman, is especially inarticulate. The other two talk in generalities. And very slowly. In sum: I listened for an hour and learned nothing.

Of these three, one is a youth football and baseball coach; one is an unemployed mother with four kids; One is a firefighter and paramedic. Their answers are defensive and non-specific, they are very concerned with letting people know they had no opinion when it began.

What convinced them he's guilty?

Juror No. One: When you add it all up, there doesn't appear to be any other option.
Juror No. Two: When you put it all together, it spoke for itself
Juror No. Three: Not one thing convinced them of guilt. Then he added, it was Scott's inconsistent statements. The bodies being found where Scott said he went fishing. The framing theory didn't add up.

Update: Three jurors have agreed to a press conference. No time yet. They are free to accept gifts and money for information about the case in 90 days. Let them talk their heads off--maybe the defense will learn something that will cause a reversal.

Update: Scott Peterson was stonefaced. Juror #9 cried, alternate #5 cried, jurors did not look at Scott, except that juror # 12 gave Scott a little glance. They walked out looking at Sharon Rocha. Geragos had his arm around Scott Peterson as the verdict was read.

Update: Death

Update: The jurors are being brought in.

Update: Some of the jurors have asked to talk to the media afterwards.

Update: All the cable news networks will carry the audio feed of the verdict live.

Update: The lynch mob is already at the courthouse. Fox News estimates 500 of them. Just like the day of the guilty verdict. I won't be surprised to see vendors hawking death t-shirts--either messaging that it should been death or trumping that it is a death verdict. They probably prepared both in advance.

****************

The jury has returned a verdict in the Scott Peterson trial. It will be read at 4:30 pm ET. I'll try to cover it live here.

Comments are open for now, but please keep in mind that this is a defense site, and there will be low to zero tolerance for pro-death views. TalkLeft is a personal site intended to advocate my point of view - not to present both sides.

If you want to rant for death, go over to the Court TV message boards. If you have questions or comments about the trial process, feel free to leave them here.

[Comments now closed, too many people abused them and I don't feel like reading through the drivel to get to the good ones (and there are several of those too)or having to spend my evening making friends with the delete key.]