Scott Peterson will stand trial on two counts of murder for the death of his wife, Laci Peterson, and her unborn son, and the California fertilizer salesman could face the death penalty if convicted, a Stanislaus County, Calif., judge ruled Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge Al Girolami said that over the past 11 days prosecutors presented enough evidence to show probable cause that Peterson killed his pregnant wife and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay (where it washed up four months after Peterson reported her missing), the Associated Press reports.
Peterson, 30, has pleaded not guilty to the murders. The judge has set an arraignment for Dec. 3 in Modesto.
Prosecutors, who said Peterson killed Laci because he was infatuated with his mistress, presented a loose-knit web of circumstantial evidence that pointed toward Peterson from the moment he phoned his in-laws after returning home from an impromptu fishing trip on Christmas Eve last year.
In a vital ruling, the judge said that a 6-inch strand of dark hair found in Scott's boat on a pair of pliers might be identified as Laci's.
On Tuesday, reports AP, prosecutors presented their final two witnesses, investigators who said they had tracked Peterson's cell phone calls on the day his wife disappeared and the more than 240 calls between Peterson and his mistress, Fresno massage therapist Amber Frey.
Modesto police Detective Jon Buehler said he plotted the cell phone calls that Peterson made on Dec. 24, tracking the calls by cell towers as Peterson traveled from Modesto to Berkeley and back. Transcripts from those phone conversations read by Buehler in court revealed Scott's urging Frey to continue dating him.
Your Reaction
