tv Justice With Judge Jeanine FOX News March 22, 2015 1:00am-2:01am PDT
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on december 24, 2002, shortly after 5:15 p.m. i received a phone call and heard the devastating words that forever changed my life, lacy's missing. i knew in my heart that something terrible happen to my daughter and grandson. my world collapsed around me. >> of the more than 16,000 homicides in 2002 none captivates the nation like the outrageous murder of sharon roach's pregnant daughter lacy
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peterson. tonight we test the evidence that led to his conviction and review his death sentence and expose his privileged life in san quentin prison. here at the haul of justice in san matteo county, california, scott peterson was sentenced to die by lethal injection after being convicted for the murders of his wife lacy and unborn child conner. now he joins 725 other condemned inmates comforted by the fact that california has not executed anyone since 2006. still, his lawyers are using the time to appeal his death sentence saying that scott could not have killed conner because the child had not been born. tonight we'll test the constitutionality of that controversial claim and probe
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whether the jury did the right thing when they sentenced to death the young fertilizer salesman whose alibi stunk worse than the product he sold. >> lacy meant the world to me. she was my only daughter and my best friend. >> christmas eve 2002, 27-year-old lacy is missing from her suburban home in modesto. where is her husband? looking for big fish in a small boat or so he tells the lead detective. >> scott said he was fishing but didn't know what he was fishing for. he was talking to fishermen at the time. he didn't know what bait he was using. >> scoot is no fisherman. her family thinks that scott is at the country club golfing. >> can i help you? >> my son-in-law called. he's been playing golf this morning. left at 9:30.
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my daughter has been missing since this morning. >> lacy's family didn't know he owned a boat which he purchased for $1400 in cash. >> he had gone fishing. she was there at the house. he returned and she was gone. all he could say is she was there when he left and he got home and she wasn't there. >> whenever a spouse is killed, particularly a wife, i always initially suspect the husband. at what point did he go from the victim or the bereaved husband of the victim to the suspect? >> almost immediately. >> he took all his clothes off and put them in the washing machine and ate some cold pizza and took a shower. he drank some milk and checked his e-mail and then he called sharon. >> there are these questions that continue to swirl around your son-in-law. you know, and his alibi.
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is it safe to assume that -- you have questions as well? >> no, i have spoke to scott many times. scott is such a loving person to lacy. if you knew scott you wouldn't have any doubt. >> there was plenty of doubt in my mind. scott's alibi seems implausible. after telling everyone he was golfing why admit he was fishing so far from modesto. >> 90 miles. a lot of rivers and lakes in between. but it's not unheard of for avid fishermen to make that drive. and he does have some proof he was here. but his alibi is far from airtight. while he does have a time stamped receipt that he paid the launch fee for his boat. skeptics wonder whether he paid the five bucks to give himself
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an alibi. >> our thought is he was was worried that he was seen there and changed his alibi from golfing to fishing that day. >> once committed to his alibi scott tries to perfect it with a series of phone calls on the long drive home. one call to lacy. >> it was showered in i love yous and things like that. seems like the ideal thing for a husband to say to a wife. but married for five years, with a baby on the way, maybe it was sincere but it didn't seem like it. it seems like a message you leave to take the focus off you. >> the brother also receives calls. >> there were multiple messages from a frantic scott. have you seen lacy. do you know where lacy's at? these are over a period of two and a half hours. >> did christen talk to her? >> one thing i pointed out to
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the authorities from the messages, it that it was very clear there was noise. tire noise, road noise. he was driving every time he called. >> he was on the road when he was calling you? >> right. >> probably driving back from berkley marina? >> that appears to be what was going on. >> the detectives find something disturbing in his boat. five homemade cement anchors. >> there were five rings on that trailer with cement around them. as if there was a bucket. we only found one anchor. we only find one. if you make five and only find one and when the body is recovered right close to where he told me where he was fishing and recovered with no head and no hands and no feet i can get
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they might have been on the body when it went in the water. >> the day after christmas in 2002 as the community rallies around scott, the family offers a cash reward. >> we want to know where she is and want to know she is safe. >> when i met him he is being a meat of fact, nonchalant, no urgency in his voice. there was urgency in the neighborhood. >> scott stands on the sidelines and cops grow more wary. >> on the 26th we went to his house with a search warrant. we were going to process the house as a crime scene. we didn't tell him that's what we were doing. but when we go over there we ask for permission to do that. but scott wouldn't give us permission to search his house. scott looks at me and says al, where's the trust? that's what he says to me. and i said where is the trust? we're trying to find your wife. >> these are the things that were strange about him that we
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didn't see about family members and friends. >> as the investigation proceeds, scott takes a special interest in the search around berkley marina. >> he is coming back to the scene of the crime as far as i'm concerned and checking it out and making sure we are not finding something. >> one time there was a false alert where the searchers had found something and it was possibly a body. but it was an anchor. there was a phone call that was made to scott that went to his voice mail because he screened his calls. when he was told it wasn't lacy and just an anchor. we could hear him do a subdued whistle. >> this is mom. it's about a quarter to 1:00. i just got a call from ron cloward. it was a boat anchor. it wasn't lacy.
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>> if that -- that speaks -- he was so relieved. that it wasn't her. because he -- you know, i believe he knew. he knew we were looking in the right place. >> despite rampant suspicion and circumstantial evidence, scott peterson maintained substantial support even from lacy's family and friends until a 27-year-old brave, blonde massage therapist told the world about her and scott. scott. >> i met scottman (sternly): who you think you're going? mr. mucus: to work, with you. it's taco tuesday. man: you're not coming. i took mucinex to help get rid of my mucusy congestion. i'm good all day. [announcer:] mucinex keeps working. not 4, not 6, but 12 hours. let's end this
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>> amber is the uncomplicated 28-year-old massage therapist romanced by scott peterson even as he plotted to kill his pregnant wife. >> scott told me he was not married. we did have a romantic relationship. >> amber surfaces on january 24th, 2003. a month to the day after laci peterson goes missing. >> laci peterson's family distanced themselves from scott peterson. >> amber frye of fresno publicly acknowledged she had been involved in a romantic relationship with scott peterson. >> suddenly scott has a motive and an image problem. >> before we got to amber, there was nothing that suggested that this guy wasn't the person you want to have as a son-in-law, as a neighbor, anything like that. once amber was discovered and we found out what he was up to, it put a new shade on him and we
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could see him through a different light. >> amber is matter of fact about the case. >> how did you meet? >> a girlfriend of mine met him through work and they had spent time talking about relationships and she said i really think he sounds like a really incredible great guy, perfect for you. looking for, you know, his soulmate. >> when you met him, what was that like? >> i was pleasantly surprised. >> peterson seduces amber on his first date in november. he makes an excuse for not being there with her on thanksgiving. >> when did you suspect he was a liar? >> the first indication was when he was telling me he was going out of state or to europe and he had a modesto p.o. box that was
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going to be forwarded. it didn't settle well with me. >> what was his excuse for not being with you on thanksgiving? >> he was going on a fishing trip. >> and for christmas? >> he was going to be away in europe. he had some friends that he was going to meet up with and a little traveling along the way. >> and seeing the news that the frantic search for the pregnant woman on december 29th, one of amber's friends a fresno cop tells her the man she is dating is a fraud. >> what was your reaction when your friend came to you and told you this is the guy, the husband of a missing woman. what was your reaction? >> i would say for a brief time i was in shock. and i couldn't speak. i just -- i mean, i cried at that point. i went into the other room and contacted the modesto police
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department. >> the detective is there when the phone rings. >> it's amber and she's telling me i met scott on november 19th. and he told me he wasn't married and he's my boyfriend and we'd go to the crist mat party together. and i'm like, amber, don't tell anybody you called here. i'll be right there. >> as soon as he got off the phone he jumped off his chair like he was ejecting from a fighter jet and said we're going to fresno. >> he showed me all these gifts. >> we found a gal with incredible recall ability, very articulate. >> why didn't you call scott when you found out he had been lying? why did you call the authorities first? >> because his wife was missing. i didn't see a point to go to him first. >> i bought her a tape recorder and a cassette. a bunch of cassettes and hooked it up to her cell phone and i'm
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not even two or three minutes after i did that, the phone rang and i saw scott peterson's number on the phone. i said just act normal. >> before he killed laci, scott admitted he lied about not having been married but claimed that his wife is already dehe fd me he had never been married and that it was very painful and without saying much that this will be the first holidays without her. and the indication that she know longer was in -- as he indicated, alive. >> what did you think happened to her? >> in my mind i thought maybe he lost her to cancer or a car accident. i just felt it was inappropriate for me to pry in that sense since it sounded recent. >> we found out he's telling his girlfriend that his wife is missing two week's before she is missing, significant.
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clue for us to keep looking at scott. >> december 14th, scott and amber attend a christmas party in fresno. laci is photographed alone at a holiday party miles away. in ten days she would be gone. the investigators listen in on scott's calls often made as he is surrounded by laci's family and friends. >> he is talking to her saying he is in paris running on the cobblestones and the fireworks are awesome. >> i'm near the eiffel tower, new year's celebration is unreal. >> it was definitely a challenge. >> a challenge but also was it painful for you? >> absolutely. i mean, during that time, i mean, there was mixed emotions of you know, crying and just disbelief and some anger just like, i -- you know, he's at a
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vigil and telling me he's here, it's just so bizarre to me. >> for more than two weeks, amber works with modesto cops tape recording conversations. >> she disappeared before christmas. >> you told me you lost your wife. what was that about? >> she -- she was alive. >> what? >> confronted by the "national inquirer," police scramble to inform laci's parents for the first time that the son-in-law they have loyally stood behind has a secret lover. >> i am very sorry for laci's family. and the pain this has caused them. >> on january 24th, 2003, they hold a press conference.
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>> i pray for her safe return as well. >> for all its twists and turns and shocking revelations when scott peterson murdered laci he followed in the footsteps of countless loving husbands all of whom thought who could suspect me? this is kevin returning to his childhood home. this is the smell of baked pears, making him feel warm. then pie crust, as he wonders if it's too soon to ask what's for dessert. now vanilla, reminding him of pep talks with mom and slightly inappropriate advice from dad. new air wick life scents in mom's baking, the first constantly changing fragrance that acts like real life and says 'welcome home, kev-y bear.' this is him, secretly loving the name kev-y bear. air wick home is in the air. how do i get hotel deals nobody price-line ne-go-ti-a-tor!uy. i know this guy... konohito... and this guy... who knows a guy.
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graffiti." if town had never seen anything like this before december 2002 when lovely eight-month pregnant laci peterson was reported missing by her husband scott. >> this doesn't happen. it's not one of your friends or neighbors goes missing pregnant eight months. >> both couples are expecting and carrying boys and both couples decide to name their new sons conner. >> it was our first pregnancies, an adventure we were both going on. she was very dynamic and wasn't afraid to talk to anybody. >> like most family and friend,
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the reeds support scoot and believe his alibi. when i meet her they are standing behind scott. >> they have just always been a team. >> until they discover the affair with amber frey. >> most people changed their belief and attitude and starting to separate themselves from the support that he had already gathered from everybody else. >> and it's not like people don't have affairs. but when your wife is missing and she's pregnant and you're having an affair and living this double life it's not normal behavior. >> michael cardoza had the unique experience of
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cross-examining scott peterson. >> when a husband or wife cheats do they tell the truth about it or do they lie to their spouse? and because they lie, does that mean they go out and commit a murder? >> how about calling amber frey from the candle light vigil and saying he is in paris? >> you're cheating and lying to your paramour too. >> it's devastating. >> laci's family also learns scott has taken out a $250,000 life insurance policy on his wife's life. at which point, laci's brother tells scott he's on his own. >> since scott is no longer communicating with anyone in laci's family, i at no longer supporting him. >> earlier in the investigation, i corner scott as he plays the dutiful husband, supervising the
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production of missing wife poster. he tells his half sister of our encounter. >> he says scott, i know you did this, tell me man to man. scott was clearly rattled by this. he said he just kind of ignored him and left. >> not going to waste time defending myself. i don't really care what those people out there think. when people accuse me of some involvement and i had nothing to do with her disappearance. >> scott turns to other media for support. a bad idea since his story of having told his pregnant wife laci about his girlfriend amber seems so false. >> do you really expect people to believe that an eight and a half month pregnant woman learns that her husband has an affair and is saintly and casual about it accommodating and makes peace with it?
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>> yeah, you don't know. no one knows our relationship but us. >> the interviews are evidence of his crime. >> did you murder your wife? >> no, no. >> with most now convinced that scott had killed his pregnant wife he continues his pursuit of amber. >> if you think i had something to do with her disappearance, is that so wrong? >> what? >> yes, it is. >> how is it such a coincidence to that story from what you're telling me right now. you have the audacity calling me sweetie right now. >> he keeps calling you sweetie? >> as if nothing changed. >> and your reaction the that? >> at the one point when i was able to let it out i was like are you kidding me? are you serious? >> amber's attorney, gloria allred. >> he obviously underestimated
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now back to geraldo rivera reports. >> welcome back to our special report. scott peterson, ten years condemned. it was a murder trial that captivated the country after the court granted a defense motion to change venue and move to case to the san francisco bay area. jim hammers the former head of the homicide division for the san francisco district attorney. a lot of husbands sadly kill their wives and not an
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inconsiderable amount of women kill their husband. why did scott peterson think he could get away with it? >> he almost did. if you don't have a murder scene or a body, those are tough cases. some guys get away with it. i wonder if her body never floated up would there have been enough to convict him. >> the body found was that of a baby boy and on monday was that of a woman. >> after four months two bodies wash ashore where scott told investigators he had been fishing on christmas eve. >> laci peterson was pregnant with a baby boy when she vanished from her home. >> it's the break that investigators need to bust their only suspect but where is he? craig now with the details on scott peterson's not so great escape. >> april 14th 2003, laci
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peterson washes up on the shores of the san francisco bay not far from where scott said he went fishing. state agents had been surveilling him. in charge of a surveillance team here in the san diego area where scott eventually made his way south. he was suspected he was fleeing trying to get out of the country. >> we were prepared in the event he tried to go into mexico to take whatever action was needed to contain him from doing that. >> awaiting confirmation on the identity of the bodies for four days a team of special agents tail scott who is on familiar ground. san diego is where scott grew up. his family lived here. with his knowledge of the area, scott did his best to escape. >> he was trying to lose us on surveillance. he was trying to lose the police presence. >> what did your agents notice in the days before the final
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takedown? >> our agents noticed that he had dyed his hair, mustache and beard to an orange color. >> their goal, to keep scott in sight until they get confirmation on the dna so they can bust him. but scott keeps moving, often switching vehicles to elude detection. on april 18th, agents track him to this neighborhood. but scott bolts in a 1984 mercedes that cops hadn't seen before. >> we didn't know he was in the mercedes until that morning. >> he bought the mercedes with cash using his mother's name, jacqueline. are you jacqueline, the seller asked? it's like i'm the boy named sue. >> scott takes off from this neighborhood at a high rate of speed. >> he went from san diego county to riverside in orange and the only purpose was to try to lose
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surveillance. >> in other words, it was his o.j. moment. he was taking off? >> well, absolutely. he knew that the time was nearing that the dna results were coming and didn't like the fact that we were still conducting surveillance and still knew his whereabouts. >> after successfully eluding police during a six-hour pursuit, special agent limon happened to catch a glimpse of scott peterson heading down this road in the opposite direction. >> if you lose a car for two minutes in a populated area, they're gone. >> worried that next time they could lose him permanently they decide to take peterson down. >> he forced our hand and we had to stop and arrest him before the dna results came in.
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>> limon pursues scott to the country club. >> he wasn't think he was being chased by the paparazzi. >> obviously he was not. a couple days prior he approached a couple of our officers and asked if they were local or state officers and never mentioned anything about the media or paparazzi. it was clear to him that the police were following him. >> scott is found with his brother's driver's license, $10,000 cash, a bottle of vie -- viagra and survivor gear. >> he had everything he needed to keep you alive in the woods for two weeks or so.
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>> scott peterson has been arrested. >> when scott peterson was handed over to the modesto police he had the audacity to ask the cops who chased him for $10,000 they seized to pay for his defense. his family were never charged with aiding a fugitive because the warrant for his arrest was not issued until the medical examiner's report was released and confirmed that the bodies belonged to laci and conner. >> scott claims that because the child was on born he could not be killed. that plus scott's of all the places in your house, this one's the busiest. so you want it to be the cleanest. that's why you need lysol. because when you use bleach, some stains are left behind.
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guess what, scotty? >> san quentin is your new home. >> it's illegal to kill your wife and child in california. >> you have no know how difficult it was given the enormous interest in this case, to find a fair and open minded jury. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. people versus -- >> seemed to me, mark that this one really was a body blow to you. you seemed staggered by it.
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>> i had invested over a year into that trial. fervently believed in the client and had a hung jury by all accounts until the judge removed juror after juror after juror. it was like no experience i had ever had before. >> how did you believe in a client that everyone else thought was guilty? >> one of the things that was disturbing to me was the reaction by people when he was arrested and taken into the sheriff's department. it was a mob scene people saying hang him, lynch him, it was a monster. that affected me. this should not be -- in this day and age someone should not be presumed that guilty from the get-go. >> a defendant's right to a fair trial -- >> fighting that lynch mob mentality he argued for a change of venue.
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so the trial was moved to redwood city which is just across the bay from where the bodies of laci and conner were found. >> how hard was it to get a jury? >> one of the toughest i've ever done. >> to the jury, this grainy evidence of scott's interrogation. when cops show him the picture of himself with amber frey, scott's response, is that supposed to be me? >> do you think scott in his heart of heart knows and he is a great actor? >> absolutely a great actor. he's a phony. absolutely. >> it's almost as if he convinced himself he didn't do anything wrong. >> it's hard to look at him, hear him lie when he is lying to amber. but does that get you over the hump of there was no forensic evidence in the house? there was no forensic evidence
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in the warehouse. the timing didn't make sense. none of the prosecution's theories made sense. >> he put on a vigorous defense. what you learn in almost 30 years of law enforcement is hen they don't have a good case they go after the police and he went after me and it was painful. >> excellent attorney. he just -- he's a very skilled gentleman. you hear so often the statement that you just get a good attorney and he'll get you off. well, this, if anything proves that that doesn't always work. >> julie, do you worry about making the right call? >> i don't worry about it at all. i have no doubt he killed laci and conner and it was a cruel and heinous thing to do. >> and john, any doubts? >> not one day has gone by where i think i made the wrong decision. >> i have no doubt that scott
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peterson is guilty. >> what was it about this that was so troubling to people? >> it was scott -- not really getting involved in the search for laci, having an affair on the side while her body was in the san francisco bay. and when we saw the pictures, it was disturbing. >> and what about the fact that laci was pregnant? >> that to me was the reason he killed her. i believe he wanted to do away with the baby. it just -- for whatever reason, he didn't want the responsibility. >> as you sit there tonight, you believe your client is innocent? >> i do. when this makes its way to federal court it's my belief ultimately that's where he will get vindicated to the extent he gets a new trial. >> do you think the death of the unborn child should not have been a special circumstances?
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>> he was convicted of a first degree of laci and second degree of conner. >> do you think that the second degree murder charge is invalid because the child had not been born. >> correct? >> there are a lot of people who believe an almost fully gestated fetus is fully formed. >> until this case, no such federal law existed. >> they have laid to rest their daughter laci. >> one does now signed by president george w. bush with laci's mom in attendance. >> along with laci's mom, melissa hart played a key role in getting the law passed. >> there was a gap. if a federal crime was committed, there was no opportunity for a prosecution for a second crime. >> describe sharon roach's loss.
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>> sharon loss future hopes and dreams as well her achievement of being a mother of a lovely young woman, laci. >> i can only hope that the sound of laci's voice begging for the life of her unborn child is heard over and over again for "n" the mind of that person for the rest of his life. >> we reached out to both the roaches, laci's family and the peterson's scott's family, both declined to participate in the program. coming up,
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put off that facade of being calm and compos pd but you could see a veal of nervousness about him. >> the prison hasn't changed that much since i interviewed charles manson more than 25 years ago. it still houses more death row inmates than any other prison nn the country. now that he's been transferred to another institution, the most notorious prison nn san quinton is probably scott peterson. >> five men in search of redeposition. we welcome you. you have been scott peterson inside. >> i have. right now while we're standing here scott peterson is living inside a single cell inside north bay. it's the exclusive.
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it's the best that you can ever hope to serve. they have a basketball court, a half court. they have an outdoor shower, toilet, they have cable. and it's protected from the sun with a roof. >> you saw scott peterson? >> i did. i saw this quite i would have to say buff-looking young man with his shirt off and with these white boxer shorts basically and he was playing basketball. it looked like you were watching some college athletes out on a neighborhood court play basketball. >> you've been around aare the of prisons. it sounds to me that what you describe is the kushyest environment. >> they are not having the life scott peterson is having.
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scott peterson has an exclusive life inside san quentin. >> there are two murderers. those who understand what they have done and deeply regret it and others who are in denial or who hated the person they killed so badly that they are really unredeemed in many ways. where is scott peterson. >> 57,000 people in the united states are released from state and federal prisons on murder convictions after they have taken responsibility, after they've shown remorse, after they are done the work to rehabilitate and become people that can come back to american society. scott peterson is not someone who has shown remorse, who was taken responsibility. >> no remorse and no responsibility? >> apparently. >> in thinking about takeaways from the notorious scott peterson murders with several come to mind. don't kill your spouse. no matter how cler you think you are, you're going to be the
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prime suspect. and if you did it, 99 times out of 100 you're going to get caught. more importantly if you've got a beef with your husband or your wife, that's what divorce is for. in terms of the death penalty statute, it's a big fraud. whatever the voters of the golden state think they're doing, it is obvious they there is no stomach for imposing the ultimate sanction and they should stop pretending there are. 725 condemned men sit here wondering whether they'll be executed before they kei of old age. old age is going to win. finally about that defense appeal trying to argue that connor was not a person who could be murdered because he had not yet been born. connor was a child, fully formed. and even if it hadn't been, laci wanted to give him life and her creep of a husband deserve to
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rot in hell for taking that life before the child had a chance to take a breath of air. thanks for watching. thanks for watching. i'mman (sternly): where do you think you're going? mr. mucus: to work, with you. it's taco tuesday. man: you're not coming. i took mucinex to help get rid of my mucusy congestion. i'm good all day. [announcer:] mucinex keeps working. not 4, not 6, but 12 hours. let's end this
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hello, welcome to "justice." i'm judge jeanine pirro. thanks for being with us tonight. signing any deal or agreement with iran would be a disaster. it would be a problem for me and it would be a problem for you. >> this year we had the best opportunity in decades to pursue a different future between our countries. just over a year ago, we reached an initial understanding regarding iran's nuclear program and both sides have kept our commitments. iran has halted progress on its nuclear program and even rolled it back in some areas. the international community, including the united states, has provided iran with some relief from sanctions.
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