Martha Stewart is halfway through her five month prison term. As a Christmas message on her website to her fans , she is advocating sentencing reform:

She suggested Americans should push for reforms in federal sentencing guidelines for nonviolent first-time offenders and particularly for drug offenders, who she said would be better served by rehabilitation than prison.

Martha's job in prison has been cleaning, sweeping and vacuuming - which, she says, she'd rather be doing in her own home. More from Martha's Xmas message:

I beseech you all to think about these women -- to encourage the American people to ask for reforms, both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration for nonviolent first-time offenders, and for those involved in drug-taking. They would be much better served in a true rehabilitation center than in prison where there is no real help, no real programs to rehabilitate, no programs to educate, no way to be prepared for life "out there" where each person will ultimately find herself, many with no skills and no preparation for living.

Martha's lawyers filed this brief (pdf) today in her appeal.

Defense lawyers among you (and anyone else who wants to chime in)--how many appellate issues can you spot from this very detailed report of the deliberations process in the Scott Peterson case?

And how many of you would keep any of these jurors on your next case?

Amber Frey, represented by her lawyer-agent-manager Gloria Allred has inked a fat book deal with Judith Regan of Regan Books (the publisher of Bernie Kerik's book). The book will be out on Jan. 4. The jurors will be free to sell their stories 90 days from the return of their verdict.

As the trial came to a close, Judge Alfred Delucchi reminded jurors that they must wait 90 days before they can accept any compensation for services related to their participation in the trial.

Prediction: First juror with a book deal will be Rochelle Nice with the oddly colored red hair--she's a mother of four young sons, unemployed outside the home, who says she never spent a night away from her kids before being sequestered for deliberations in the Peterson csse. Why didn't she ask to be excused? Any judge I can think of would have granted a mother of four young children a hardship request in a trial expected to last six months. As a mother, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that being a juror in a high-profile death penalty trial that is scheduled to last six months is going to hinder your parenting time and ability. What was the incentive, if not the pot at the end of the rainbow?

It will be 8 years next week that JonBenet Ramsey was murdered and the crime remains unsolved. But, there is new evidence pointing to an intruder, and evidence that the killer may have tried to strike again in Boulder less than a year later, but was interrupted. The victim,, who was sexually assualted but not killed (her mother came in the room and the intruder fled) attended the same dance class as JonBenet. More egg on the face of the Boulder police, who never connected the dots.

Catch the story tonight on CBS' "48 hours." More details by me here, as well as this observation:

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.

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.

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.

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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.]

Bump and Update: The Judge is on the bench. There will be no verdict today. The jury will be sequestered at their hotel for the weekend and come back Monday.

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Bump and Update: It's 3:15 California time and people are entering the Courtroom. It may just be that the judge is dismissing them for the day and they will go back to their hotel....he may be asking the jurors how long they want to deliberate today...there may be a verdict..... for those of you not by a tv who are interested, I'll keep updating as events occur....

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TalkLeft is on verdict watch today in the Scott Peterson case. Audio of the verdict will be broadcast live on the cable news networks. I'll be doing a live chat for the Washington Post around the time of the verdict, and either praising or condemning the jury's verdict I'll be commenting on the case and deliberations tonight on Hannity and Colmes.

I'm leaving comments 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.

Chai Vang, charged with killing six hunters in Wisconsin, may raise a "cultural defense" to the charges against him. Vang, who lives in Minnesota is Hmong. Minnesota has one of the largest Hmong populations in the U.S.

A cultural defense -- or the assertion that a person's different cultural background influenced his or her actions -- can be used as a mitigating factor to help a defendant get a plea deal or a break on his sentence.

Vang says the hunters directed racial slurs at him before the shooting. He has been a spiritual leader to the Hmong community.

According to Alison Dundes Renteln, a political science professor from the University of Southern California who wrote the recently published book "The Cultural Defense," American courts historically have "been extremely reluctant to admit cultural evidence," adding "and that's because most people think 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.'"

Among the factors that might come into play:

The jury has begun deliberating whether Scott Peterson will be sentenced to life in prison without parole or death. When a verdict has been reached, I'll be doing an on-line chat for the Wshington Post. Details to follow. Despite the fact that these jurors appear to hate Scott Peterson, I think there may be a life verdict. All it takes is one.

Mark Geragos gave the second of two defense closings after lunch, Here's the latest from the Court TV blog:

Right off the bat, Geragos makes a startling admission to jurors: "I did not prepare a penalty phase," he says. "I just did not expect your verdict." He tells them that was the reason for the two-week delay between guilt and penalty phases: He had to go interview witnesses. He acknowledges that admitting this makes for a good appellate argument for malpractice.—

Geragos tells the jury a life sentence would mean Scott Peterson spends all of his "natural days" in a cell the size of four of their chairs with another inmate. "Someday, some guard is going to knock on his cell," Geragos says, bringing his fist down three times on the rail of the jury box. "And say, 'Peterson, your mom's dead.' And someday, six months, a year after that, some guard is going to knock on the cell again and say, 'Peterson, your dad's dead.'" Peterson's half-sister, Susan Caudillo, cries in the first row of the courtroom. Peterson stares toward his lawyer impassively. Laci Petersons brother, Brent Rocha, watches him intently.

by TChris

NBA Hall of Fame member and former Houston Rocket Calvin Murphy was acquitted yesterday of charges that he molested five of his daughters. It took the jury less than two hours to return its verdict of not guilty on all counts.

Now Murphy can begin the difficult task of rebuilding his life.

"To hear that people believe in me and found me innocent of those charges, my heart just swelled up and started beating very fastly in my body," Murphy said afterward. "I cannot say enough for what they have done to give me my life back."