THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE TURNING SLOWLY IN CALIFORNIA...from the SacBee...

Some highlights...

Long appeal process stands between Peterson, execution
By Sam Stanton -- Bee Staff Writer

Scott Peterson won't get to San Quentin before late February, but he'll have plenty of time after that to learn the ropes.

Assuming the judge in his case affirms Monday's jury decision to sentence him to death, Peterson probably won't face the real prospect of execution before 2020, if then.

Lengthy appeals processes and a massive backlog of death penalty cases make the average length of stay on San Quentin's death row 16 to 17 years before an execution is carried out, officials say, compared to about 10.4 years in Texas and 11.8 years in Florida.

"As soon as somebody gets a death sentence in California, it takes at least five years before that individual is appointed an attorney to represent him or her in the next step of the process, to the California Supreme Court," state Corrections spokeswoman Margot Bach said. "And it takes anywhere from 10 to 15 years for them to hear that case."

....Darrell Keith Rich, the so-called Hilltop Rapist who terrorized the Redding area in 1978, illustrates how long it can take to carry out a sentence.

Rich was convicted on Jan. 23, 1981, and executed March 15, 2000.

"I remember one mother saying to me just how completely unfair it was that her daughter had been in the ground for 20 years and he'd been living and breathing on this earth for the entire time," said Scott, who witnessed the execution as district attorney.

Rich's experience still is not the most extreme case. Lavell Frierson was convicted of murder in Los Angeles in 1978 and sentenced to death, and has lived on California's death row longer than any other inmate.

With 641 condemned prisoners, California has the largest death row in the country, and has managed to execute only 10 inmates since resuming executions in 1992.

By contrast, Texas, which has 444 condemned prisoners and ranks second, has executed 336 inmates since resuming capital punishment in 1982. Florida, with 365 condemned prisoners, has executed 59 since 1979.

Much of the delay in California stems from the fact that the state Supreme Court must review all death cases, and that it can only deal with a handful each year, experts say.

"The reality is there are about 640 people on death row right now, and we put more on at about 35 a year," Heller said. "The Supreme Court entertains five or 10 a year."

....Meanwhile, Peterson, 32, is set to face sentencing Feb. 25, and if the judge affirms the death sentence Peterson could be taken to San Quentin that day.

But he will not go to death row immediately. Instead, he will be housed in an adjustment center for a few weeks, where officials will determine whether he is a danger to himself or other inmates.

"Everybody understands who he is, and they're going to be watching him," Bach said. "It's not like he's going to be a marked man. Most condemned inmates do not come into contact with other condemned inmates."

Once prison officials decide who Peterson can be around and remain safe from harm, he will be given a 9-by-12 cell on death row with concrete walls on three sides and bars on the fourth.

If he buys himself a television, he will be able to plug it into the prison's cable system and view news programs and educational channels such as the Discovery Channel, Bach said.

He can receive visitors, have legal visits and exercise in a barren recreation yard, and he will eat three meals a day - two hot and one sack lunch - in his cell every day.

And from certain spots in the prison, he'll be able to see the San Francisco Bay, where the bodies of Laci and Conner Peterson were dumped.

"It's ironic," Bach said. "He could be looking at the scene of the crime every day."

And from certain spots in the prison, he'll be able to see the San Francisco Bay, where the bodies of Laci and Conner Peterson were dumped.

"It's ironic," Bach said. "He could be looking at the scene of the crime every day."

But not all death row inmates last long enough to see execution. Since 1981, 25 have died of natural causes.

One was shot on the exercise yard, another was stabbed and another died after being sprayed with pepper spray.

Twelve others couldn't take it, and committed suicide.