Peterson guilty of killing his wife

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A jury convicted Scott Peterson on Friday of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and now will decide whether the philandering husband whose lurid trial became a TV and tabloid sensation should pay with his life.

Peterson, 32, was convicted of one count of first-degree murder for killing his wife and one count of second-degree murder in the death of the son she was carrying — crimes that prosecutors said were part of a cold-blooded plot to escape marriage and fatherhood for the freewheeling single life.

The five-month trial proved irresistible to the tabloids, People magazine and the cable networks with its story of an attractive, radiant young couple awaiting the birth of their first child, a cheating husband and a slaying for which prosecutors had no eyewitnesses, no weapon, not even a cause of death.

Laci Peterson's mother sobbed as the verdicts were read, and her son wrapped his arm tightly around her. The victim's friends in the gallery, arms around each other, cried. Scott Peterson looked straight ahead with no show of emotion as the verdict was read, then stared down each of the jurors as they were polled to confirm their decisions. The jurors had serious looks on their faces and did not appear to look back.

Cheers broke out among the hundreds of onlookers who gathered outside the courthouse — some of them pumping their fists in celebration upon hearing the news on the radio. They cheered Laci Peterson's family and booed Scott's as they left court. In the Petersons' hometown of Modesto, horns honked as the news reached car radios.

"He's a sicko. He needs to fry. I wanted to see that justice was served," Bob Johnston said outside court.

The verdict capped a tumultuous seven days of deliberations in which two jurors were removed and the judge twice told the panel to start over. One of the jurors reportedly was removed for doing her own research into the case. The final jury deliberated for about seven hours Wednesday and Friday before reaching its verdict, which the judge prohibited from being carried on television.

The same jury of six men and six women will return Nov. 22 to begin hearing testimony on whether Peterson should die by lethal injection or get life in prison without parole. The former fertilizer salesman could face the death penalty because he was convicted of multiple murders.

Prosecutors, defense lawyers and close family members remain under a gag order that prevents them from commenting. Defense attorney Mark Geragos was in Los Angeles when the verdict was announced.