By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A jury announced Monday it has reached a verdict in the penalty phase of Scott Peterson's murder trial. The panel is expected to deliver the verdict at 1:30 p.m. PT at the San Mateo County Courthouse. Peterson, 31, faces either the death penalty or life in prison without parole for the murders of his wife and unborn son. The six men and six women reached their verdict after deliberating for about 12 hours over three days. They have been sequestered in a hotel during their deliberations, but were not allowed to deliberate over the weekend.
Jurors requested Monday morning that graphic photos of the victims' decomposed remains be brought into the deliberations room. Judge Alfred Delucchi announced that the photos and several items were sent into the jury room "for their perusal." The judge said the panelists also requested Laci's medical records, which include a sonogram of the boy the couple planned to name Conner and a copy of one of the last photos taken of the mother-to-be. That picture shows the 27-year-old seated and smiling at a holiday party 10 days before her Dec. 24, 2002, disappearance. The images the panel asked for tracked visuals that prosecutor Dave Harris used during his summation. He began and ended the argument with the photo of Laci Peterson at the holiday party and moved jurors to tears when he showed the gory images of the remains. "Leaving his wife's body to rot in the bottom of the ocean. Leaving his son's body to be found as trash in debris," he told them. "That is not something that should be rewarded by sparing his life." Delucchi made the announcement after an hour-long closed-door meeting with Peterson, defense lawyers and prosecutors. The jury found the fertilizer salesman guilty of one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in the December 2002 deaths of Laci Peterson and her fetus. Jurors returned the guilty verdict on Nov. 12, after about five months of testimony. | 
