Having taken a whipping by legal observers for his lackluster performance during the 23-week double-murder trial of Scott Peterson, Stanislaus County District Attorney Rick Distaso seemed to pull it all together when he began deftly assembling the pieces of the case for jurors during his four hours of closing arguments Monday.
"There is nothing extraordinary about this case," Distaso told jurors. "It's a simple case where a man murdered his wife." The jury is expected to begin deliberations as early as Wednesday.
"He's doing an excellent job," Court TV's Catherine Crier told PEOPLE about Distaso's performance. "I've heard he's a great closer. He's connecting with the jury."
Several jurors nodded their heads, as if in agreement with Distaso, as the prosecutor made his case, claiming the former fertilizer salesman murdered his pregnant wife Laci on either Dec. 23 or 24, 2002, and then dumped her body – including her unborn son Conner – into San Francisco Bay.
"I can't prove which day, but that doesn't matter," Distaso told the jurors. "He didn't want that dull married life. He did not want that baby. The reason he killed Laci Peterson was because Conner was on the way."
Contrasting images of a pregnant and smiling Laci with a picture of her grisly remains on the beach – as well as a snapshot of Scott smiling at the candlelight vigil for Laci with a picture of an obviously distraught Sharon Rocha (Laci's mother) – Distaso hammered home how Scott repeatedly lied about his "private life and public life."
As this took place, the defendant, sitting between his two attorneys, Pat Harris and Mark Geragos, solemnly kept his eyes on the jury, not even glancing up when oversized photos of him with his mistress, Amber Frey, sitting on his lap were flashed before the court.
Should the jury decide to convict Peterson, 31, they will have two choices before them: first- or second-degree murder. The latter would spare him the death penalty. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
As they left the courtroom for the day, Scott Peterson's family had no comment about Distaso's presentation. Lee Peterson, the defendant's father, would only say, "It's our turn tomorrow."
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