And really, is anyone surprised by this news

Remember Scott Peterson? Granted, lots of other things have taken precedence of late, but his murder trial has gone to the jury, and they’re having just a bit of trouble:

**REDWOOD CITY, California (AP) — In a

sign of possible discord in the jury room, the judge in Scott

Peterson’s murder case lectured the panel Monday about the importance

of deliberating with an open mind.**

“Do not hesitate to change

your opinion for the purpose of reaching a verdict if you can do so,”

Judge Alfred A. Delucchi said after summoning jurors to the courtroom

just an hour-and-a-half after they resumed deliberations.

“The

attitude and conduct of jurors at all times is very important,” he

added. “It is rarely helpful for a juror at the beginning of

deliberations to express an emphatic opinion on the case.”

The jurors listened with serious, even grim expressions before they were sent back into the jury room to deliberate.

It

was not immediately clear what led to the judge’s instructions, but

trial observers speculated jurors are beginning to reach a deadlock.

Hmm, if it walks like a hung jury…although I’ve thought since the beginning–certainly since he was bound over for trial way back in early 2003–that Peterson would be acquitted.  Although I haven’t read up on the case as closely as I once did, there’s one point that I’m reasonably certain has not been taken up in open court, and that’s what he was doing his freshman year of college.

To wit: in a January 23, 2003 article in the Modesto Bee, Ty

Phillips wrote a biographical profile of Peterson that included this

piece of information:

Scott graduated from high school in 1990. He briefly attended Arizona State University on a partial golf scholarship, but he moved back with his parents, who had bought a house in Morro Bay.

 

He

moved out about six months later, telling them that he was too old to

be living at home. He began working three jobs to put himself through

Cuesta College and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis

Obispo.

 

Out of all the information in that article, the fact that Peterson went to ASU and returned home to his parents was the only loose end. Not long after Peterson was arrested for his wife’s murder, I emailed Phillips about it, asking if he knew anything more. I didn’t keep the exact response, unfortunately, but essentially, Phillips said that he and other reporters tried to find out more, and got nowhere.

So what then? Is it simply a red herring, or a case of a wall of information being rather damning? I do wonder if anyone really investigated Peterson’s time in Arizona, and if there’s any sliver of light that it could shed on what’s happening now–whether he’s convicted of murder or most likely, not.

I’m guessing we’ll never really know one way or the other.