With a full house of family members on both sides, Scott Peterson's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, began his closing statements in the double-murder trial on Tuesday morning by asking the jurors if they "hate my client."
"That's the sum total of what we heard yesterday," Geragos said of the prosecution's closing arguments. "Twelve minutes of scenario of what happened and four hours of 'This guy is the biggest jerk and liar that ever walked the face of this earth…hate him, hate him, hate him.'"
In what Geragos called "the ever changing theory of this case," he said the prosecution hopes "if you hate him, then you'll convict him."
He then spent the rest of the morning attempting to debunk the 43,000 pages of discovery collected by 300 cops in more than 10,000 manpower hours of investigation.
"What's been proven is that Laci was alive on the morning of Dec. 24 when Scott left," Geragos told the jury, ticking off several facts, including that Laci's pajamas were out, a curling iron was in the bathroom, and the computer logon that morning showed that someone had accessed a shopping Web site, looking at scarves and an umbrella stand.
"What we've presented to you right here is reasonable doubt," he said, pointing to a written set of jury instructions that said jurors must "not be influenced by pity or prejudice for the defendant." "You're not supposed to decide this case on whether or not you like Scott Peterson."
Peterson, a formed fertilizer salesman, is charged with the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and the couple's unborn son. Laci Peterson disappeared from the couple's home on Dec. 24, 2002. He has pleaded not guilty.
Should the jury decide to convict Peterson, they will have two choices before them: first- or second-degree murder. The latter would spare him the death penalty.
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