Peterson may never be executed
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – For Scott Peterson, ultimately there may be little difference between a death sentence and life in prison. In California, the chances are greater that a condemned inmate will die in prison than be executed by lethal injection.
California is home to the nation’s most clogged death row, housing 641 condemned men and women, but the state has executed just 10 inmates since it resumed capital punishment in 1978. In that same period, 38 death row inmates have died of other causes: Three were killed by other prisoners, a dozen committed suicide, and the rest died of natural causes.
“This problem of the backlog seems to be insurmountable right now,” said Edward Jagels, Kern County’s district attorney.
Stephen Wayne Anderson was the last California prisoner to be put to death, after languishing on death row for more than 20 years. He was executed in January 2002 for the 1980 murder of an 81-year-old woman.
Members of the Peterson jury who spoke to reporters after Monday’s verdict said they were unaware that Peterson may never enter the execution chamber. Instead, they said they decided on the ultimate punishment because it fit his crime, murdering his pregnant wife.
They said Judge Alfred A. Delucchi told them to believe a death verdict means Peterson would be executed. They did not discuss the slim chances of their death verdict actually being carried out.
Peterson was convicted Nov. 12 of murdering his wife, Laci, and the fetus she was carrying. The jury reached its death verdict Monday on its third day of deliberations.
The judge will formally sentence Peterson on Feb. 25. If Delucchi affirms the verdict, the 32-year-old former fertilizer salesman will be sent to the state’s death row at the notorious San Quentin State Prison, which overlooks the bay where prosecutors say Peterson dumped his wife’s body.
It will be Peterson’s routine for decades to come as his case is appealed.
If Peterson is sentenced to death, he will sit on death row for more than five years before he is appointed an attorney for his first and mandatory appeal to the California Supreme Court.
A big reason for the delays is that there are too many inmates with too few lawyers willing to volunteer for the relatively low-paying job. A condemned Peterson would join about 120 others who do not yet have lawyers.