The California Supreme Court overturned convicted murderer Scott Peterson's 2004 death sentence. Oh well, we kind of knew that was possible.
Our buddy (now) Mark Geragos called in to tell us what this means for his former client. Listen to Gary & Shannon spar with Marc below.
Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother declined comment as did the Stanislaus County District Attorney's office.
Mark famously, infamously called John & Ken morons during this trial . But, we've come to like him from an entertainment perspective.
As much as we would love to see Scott Peterson fry like the despicable murderer that he is, this state is so corrupt that we won't continue executions anyway.
In a written decision dated Monday, the court upheld Scott Peterson's guilty judgment. "Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case," the court said. "We reject Peterson's claim that he received an unfair trial as to guilt and thus affirm his convictions for murder."
But the court did note that "the trial court made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection that, under long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent, undermined Peterson’s right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase."
The court said it was required to reverse the death sentence after determining that the trial court "erroneously dismissed" prospective jurors who said they opposed the death penalty, "even though the jurors gave no indication that their views would prevent them from following the law."
Listen to Gary & Shannon spar with Mark Geragos below