In strange twist, Peterson judge removes another juror

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - The Scott Peterson murder trial took yet another strange twist Wednesday when the judge removed the jury's foreman after a week of pressure-packed deliberations that have only added to the courtroom drama in the case.

The judge did not disclose why he removed the juror - the second such dismissal in as many days. The latest ousted juror was replaced by an alternate whose future son-in-law owns a restaurant Scott and Laci Peterson once owned.

For the second day in a row, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi told the new panel to start over with its deliberations.

The back-to-back removal of jurors is unusual but does not signal the jury is hopelessly split or moving swiftly toward a verdict, legal experts said.

Some observers said jurors may be succumbing to the pressure of being in an intense and prolonged spotlight. They have endured a five-month trial and have been sequestered since deliberations began Nov. 3.

"I think all the strange happenings with the jury can be attributed to the fact that they're in a pressure cooker. They know there will be a great deal of scrutiny no matter what decision they make," said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson.

Some jurors sat impassively as Delucchi announced the latest change. Others were seen smiling, and one shook the new foreman's hand.

The trial started with six alternates, and Wednesday's move leaves the jury pool with just three remaining alternates.

Jurors are deliberating whether Peterson, 32, killed his pregnant wife on or around Christmas Eve 2002 and dumped her weighted body in San Francisco Bay.

The trial has seen much jury-related drama this week. On Tuesday, a juror was removed for an unspecified violation of court rules. On Wednesday, it was the foreman, a man in his mid 40s who has medical and law degrees.

The newest juror was questioned during jury selection about his distant connection with the Petersons, and attorneys on both sides agreed he would not represent a conflict.

His daughter is engaged to a man who owns the restaurant in the town where Scott and Laci Peterson graduated from college. The future son-in-law worked for the Petersons when they owned the cafe.

The new foreman is a firefighter and paramedic. In the trial, he at times seemed uninterested, specifically during the playing of recorded conversations between Peterson and his mistress, Amber Frey.

"He was one of the jurors who seemed most bored during Amber Frey's testimony," said Jim Hammer, a former San Francisco prosecutor who has been observing the case. "He seems very mainstream, which is good for the prosecution."

Talbot disagreed, saying the new foreman could bode well for the defense.

"Juror No. 6 was probably one of the leaders of the defense faction, given his demeanor during the trial," he said. "And now it seems the faction of the jury in which Juror No. 6 was on has taken over leadership of the jury and it may not be in disarray at all. It may be heading for a verdict a lot faster than we thought."

In another development, a boat identical to the one prosecutors say Peterson used to dump his wife's body into San Francisco Bay turned up in a parking lot blocks from the courthouse. It is the same boat defense lawyers apparently used to conduct a videotaped experiment, during which they claim the boat nearly capsized and filled with water as they attempted to heave overboard an object weighing about the same as Laci Peterson.

It was unclear who put the boat there.

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