# TV and Scott Peterson **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 12, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449 "2004-12-12T14:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/21 "2004-12-13T21:50:29Z")
Unanimous, too. I’m gobsmacked. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/22 "2004-12-13T21:55:07Z")
I’m not. I can’t see how this jury could have come back with any other verdict. Well, they only had one other choice, but you know what I mean… ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/23 "2004-12-13T21:55:14Z")
I’ve said it before and took shit, and I’ll say it again. This man was convicted long before he went to trial. As disappointed in this verdict as I am, I can’t say I’m shocked. Hopefully someone in the state supreme court will have the foresight to realize thia. Sam ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/24 "2004-12-13T21:59:24Z")
> [@pugluvr](#): > > Unanimous, too. In a penalty phase, it has to be in order to be a verdict at all. A deadlock results in automatic life. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/25 "2004-12-13T22:39:11Z")
I have NPR on every day, all day long, and today is the first time I’ve heard the Peterson case mentioned. If TV news, and TV in general bugs you, NPR is a great alternative. I agree with the OP. Not that it makes any sense, but I feel like other murder victims and their families have been shortchanged by the media, their losses haven’t been acknowledged. If someone in my family was murdered, I’d want some public outrage. Or maybe I’d just want the reporters to get the hell off my doorstep – I don’t know what I’d want. (I said it didn’t make sense.) ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/26 "2004-12-13T22:59:03Z")
> [@GaWd](#): > > I’ve said it before and took shit, and I’ll say it again. This man was convicted long before he went to trial. As disappointed in this verdict as I am, I can’t say I’m shocked. Hopefully someone in the state supreme court will have the foresight to realize thia. > > Sam Yeah, that was mostly me, and I’m afraid I’m about to do it again. It really disturbs me that someone who works in the field of law (yes I know you’re not an attorney) would be so dismissive of the jury/court process. As I type this I’m listening to some of the jurors on the case none of whom seem to be a part of this mindless mob justice you keep portraying. What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/27 "2004-12-13T23:27:57Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I think the media is lazy and this story is all too easy to cover. And the viewing public is not? **Bob** and **Lib** got it right. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/28 "2004-12-13T23:38:39Z")
Today at lunch, the local restaurant had the TV blaring about the Scott Peterson trial. Luckily, I had my phone with me. It’s one of those smart phones, and it’s got an IR port. A while back I downloaded a universal remote control program for just this sort of situation. I pulled out my phone, looked up the remote codes for that TV model, and turned the damn thing off. Nobody noticed. Kinda says something, don’t ya think? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/29 "2004-12-13T23:53:37Z")
So does anyone else care that Daniel Pelosi got convicted today, or is that just a “New York Murder” thing? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/30 "2004-12-14T00:14:36Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > So does anyone else care that Daniel Pelosi got convicted today, or is that just a “New York Murder” thing? I don’t know a thing about it. Can we please get the details in an independent, luridly-written crime story type thread? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/31 "2004-12-14T00:20:04Z")
> [@pugluvr](#): > > I don’t know a thing about it. Can we please get the details in an independent, luridly-written crime story type thread? He killed the rich husband of his lover while the divorce proceedings were underway. She married him with a pre-nup, so when they divorced, he got squat. She died. (Natural causes.) So now he’s not rich, and he’s got 25 to life. Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. Oh, lurid. Please insert the appropriate words where you like: sneaked leer vicious depraved greedy crept bludgeoned maniacal ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/32 "2004-12-14T00:25:04Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > Yeah, that was mostly me, and I’m afraid I’m about to do it again. It really disturbs me that someone who works in the field of law (yes I know you’re not an attorney) would be so dismissive of the jury/court process. As I type this I’m listening to some of the jurors on the case none of whom seem to be a part of this mindless mob justice you keep portraying. What’s up with that? Cynicism? Jadedness? The understanding that 9 out of 10 people are weak/ignorant/dumb enough to be swayed by 2 movies of the week? A further understanding that cute pregnant white\* girls who are well off\* capture headlines around the globe around the holidays more than the rest of those who were murdered, abused or went missing the same day? My eyes roll everytime I think of the case, the sensationalism, the media coverage and the blind public. Hell, I don’t even think the guy is innocent, but I’m certainly not convinced the he’s guilty. Sam \*- Yes, I understand that she’s not _technically_ white. But she’s Portuguese(like me), and that makes her not hispanic in image, name, language or extraction. I also know that her family isn’t rich, but they sure are comfortable by all outward appearances. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/33 "2004-12-14T00:40:01Z")
> [@Brunhilde](#): > > What surprises me is that, as dramatic as the Peterson case is, there is even more dramatic stuff going on in the world. The example which springs to mind is the election crisis in Ukraine: attempted murder, poison, a huge peaceful protest of pro-democratic youths, and Putin as the grand puppetmaster. However, there is very little airtime devoted to that in comparison to the Peterson case. It seems as though we are driven to the [relatively] small importance. I don 't mean to denigrate the tragedy; both families have the right to be devastated, and what occured was horrible, and Scott should recieve the death penalty. However, we have something that can affect foriegn policy for decades going on in the Ukraine, and v. few people know all that much about the major players. But some of us (although I am a man) are fascinated with relationships, our own and how they compare to others. My mind just boggles with how a man could presumably have the kind of life that many of us males would envy, (beautiful wife, everyone loves her), and kill it for some woman who is lonely, ugly and has a kid also. If I was a woman, I think, I would wonder, “how could Laci miss the signs?” But how many of us think that there might be some fascinating lesson in learning more about the election irregularities in the Ukraine and pondering the implication that Russia may be edging toward empire building? What would you do with that knowledge anyway? Vote Bush out in four years? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/34 "2004-12-14T00:49:21Z")
> [@grienspace](#): > > But how many of us think that there might be some fascinating lesson in learning more about the election irregularities in the Ukraine and pondering the implication that Russia may be edging toward empire building? What would you do with that knowledge anyway? Vote Bush out in four years? Not the empire building so much, but now that the news is out about Yuschenko being poisoned with dioxin, what do you want to bet we’ll start hearing more about Ukraine on the major news channels? “Poisoned? Really? Damn, now **that’s** something Joe Public can relate to!” [http://www.mg.co.za/content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=176447](http://www.mg.co.za/content/l3.asp?cg=BreakingNews-InternationalNews&ao=176447) ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/35 "2004-12-14T00:53:36Z")
P.S.- Stuffy, I work in family law mostly and thankfully most trials are no-jury trials in which we don’t rely on people to judge the fate of children in a bad marriage colored by dis- and mis- information, mud-slinging, trash-talking, outright lying and emotion. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/36 "2004-12-14T00:55:13Z")
Will justice be served? Perhaps when I’m rocking on the front porch of the old dopers home. 15 and and half fucking appeals will now be launched, while the taxpayers pay for his three hots and a cot, his benefits, and the rest of the shit he doesn’t deserve. Having been found guilty by a jury of your peers, your ass is taken out back, and you are hanged by the neck until dead. I don’t understand why we stopped doing things in such a simple and expeditious manner. Give me that for reality TV, anyday. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/37 "2004-12-14T01:14:48Z")
I watch the first 15 or 20 minutes of the Today Show each morning so I’ve kept up with the trial and find it interesting. It has nothing to do with a 5’ tall pregnant woman getting her head cut off and dumped in a bay by her husband where her corpse then ejected the dead baby. The world is so fucked up today that something along those lines happens far too often. What is interesting is Scott Peterson’s web of lies which eventually came back to bite him on the ass. The cases both sides put forth in court were also very interesting. Crime and human nature are interesting things and this one was a prime example of just how fucked up someone can be. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/38 "2004-12-14T01:24:17Z")
As glad as I am that this case is over, I am a bit scared that the jury convicted him based on his demeanor. No one can look sad for 2 years while sitting in a court room. If you were innocent you would almost have to block off any emotional attachment just to survive. What the fuck does a juror know about that? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/39 "2004-12-14T01:28:48Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > He killed the rich husband of his lover while the divorce proceedings were underway. She married him with a pre-nup, so when they divorced, he got squat. She died. (Natural causes.) Waitaminit, which “he” got squat? She didn’t divorce Pelosi, they weren’t married. Or do you mean that _she_ got squat? > [@This Year's Model](#): > > So now he’s not rich, and he’s got 25 to life. Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. Don’t forget that the defense’s argument was that all the witnesses who testified that the defendant copped to the murder were liars, and that it was possible that the decedant was bludgeoned to death by an anonymous lover he had just met that night at a gay bar that no one remembers him being at, though he made a phone call from nearby. How’s _that_ for lurid? And as for “over”, the Peterson trial will never be over. Just ask JonBenet Ramsey’s family. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449/40 "2004-12-14T01:35:21Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > As glad as I am that this case is over, I am a bit scared that the jury convicted him based on his demeanor. No one can look sad for 2 years while sitting in a court room. If you were innocent you would almost have to block off any emotional attachment just to survive. What the fuck does a juror know about that? Who said the jury convicted him based on his demeanor? Obviously the prosectution had to have some sort of case beyond, “Look at Scott, he’s not said, give him the death penalty”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-scott-peterson/279449.md?page=3)