Hello fellow board members.
The Scott Peterson trial and subsequent incarceration on death row, is what brought me to this place.
To be more specific, I heard about Scott Peterson's personal web page, and this association, in the local paper. They did not provide a link, but a little searching and I found you.
I have been running a message board topic on Scott Peterson for quite some time.
I have followed the case as closely as a novice can.
I do not pretend to be an expert at all, but I do note the same things that those more knowledgeable than myself have stated here.
Specifically:
The Media manipulation
The court of public opinion assuming guilt
The lack of Physical evidence
Jury tampering
I read through many of the posts here before posting, but not all of them. I mention this because I wonder if there has been any mention of this being a gender issue and or the fact that the Rocha's have some money and influence.
Speaking of gender, some of the 'commentators' mentioned here come from Court TV. I have long discussed things there and found it to be very gender biased in my humble opinion.
Additionally, a colleague and I, conducted some unofficial polling in grocery store parking lots during the trial.
What stood out the most during this process was that women were 5:1 more likely to say Scott was guilty than men were.
There seemed to be a emotional/vengeful connection for many women because Scott had an affair and Laci was pregnant.
No doubt this was due, in part, to the Media but we also heard statements like "He cheated on his pregnant wife, he needs to die!" Which, one may speculate is an innate emotional response separate from media exposure or bias.
In regards to money and influence:
It has long been practiced in our society that those with money and influence get more media exposure than those who do not.
Does anyone think that the Rocha's did not help fuel this fire by their standing in the community?
It has been talked about publicly a little more recently in the context of missing children getting a lot more media coverage if they are white and come from wealthier families. Mostly, however, it seems to be one of those quiet little secrets that no one discusses in our society. Leading to, in my humble opinion, many miscarriages of justice for both victims and defendants.
Case in point would be the torso of a pregnant woman found in the same bay a year or so earlier.
Up until the Peterson case I had not even heard of this, why did this pregnant torso not get the same media attention?
It seems the public should have been equally as outraged and demanding in seeking justice.
Was the case even solved? Is this another of the leads that did not fit the pre-determined theory of the MPD and not researched more?
My apologies if these issues were already covered in previous posts.
I can not support the Death Penalty because of cases such as Scott Peterson's and those who have been exonerated due to new or previously overlooked evidence.
These cases, even if they are in the minority, demonstrate to me that the burden of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, was not met in the trials and convictions of these people.
Knowing this exists and seeing some of the corruption, ineptness and bias sometimes exhibited by law enforcement, judges, investigators, media, and juries...
I could not support killing anyone in these circumstances.
Des
Hi Des, Interesting post. Yes money talks, we don't need to look very far to see that.The SP case wasn't reported on much in the UK. I posted earlier today on this thread about how most people are unaware of how the media gets to our subconscious thoughts. Anyway, welcome to the board
