in Redwood City, a jury decided that Scott Peterson, 32, should be executed

in Redwood City, a jury decided that Scott Peterson, 32, should be executed for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, whose Christmas Eve disappearance two years ago was the opening act in a legal drama that captivated the nation. Judge Alfred Delucchi will formally sentence Peterson on Feb. 25. 
The death sentence came almost 2 years to the date after the disappearance of Laci Peterson, a 27-year-old substitute teacher who married her college sweetheart and was soon to be the proud mother of a baby boy named Conner.
The story set off a tabloid frenzy as suspicion began to swirl around Scott Peterson, who claimed to have been fishing by himself on Christmas Eve and was carrying on an affair with a massage therapist at the time.
The remains of Laci and the fetus washed ashore about 4 months later, just a few miles from where Peterson said he was fishing in the San Francisco Bay.
The case went to trial in June, and the jury of 6 men and 6 women convicted Peterson Nov. 12 of two counts of murder. The case graced more People magazine covers than any murder investigation in the publication's history.