a verdict, but not an ending

scott peterson was found guilty on both counts of murder yesterday.

as both sides reflect grief, relief and guilt, the verdict now becomes an endless discussion of the case and upcoming appeals.

i was truly shocked that he was found guilty. in a "CSI" world where evidence and reasonable doubt exists, this jury came back pretty quick to deceide a man's fate. especially since there was no crime scene, murder weapon, witnesses, time of death, or confession.

what there's little doubt about is who could/would have killed laci peterson. even with the weak motive that scott wanted out of his marriage, who else really would have wanted her killed?

so the musical chairs jury came back with a verdict after a strange few days of boat rocking and jury booting. some 5 hours of debate and both sides were back in the court room to hear scott peterson's fate.

sighs and tears in the court room as apparently peterson looked straight ahead. cheers outside as if this was a winning college football touchdown. then came the jeers and heckles towards scott peterson's mother. ahhh, classy.

despite the verdict, this is only the begining of the appeals process and debates on how he did it. the catch 22 is on the death sentance. if he begs for mercy from the court to live, he will no doubt have to admit his crime. but if he does, he certainly loses any attempt at appeal. gotta love the justice system. oh, and out of over 600 death convictions in california since the 1970's, only 10 have actually been killed. yeah tax payers.

hopefully this will bring closure and an opportunity for both sides to start to move on and rebuild their lives.