Should he have a First Amendment right to do this?
Laci Peterson's mom outraged over former son-in-law's blog (CNN) -- Scott Peterson was convicted November 12, 2004, for the deaths of his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child. He may be locked up in San Quentin State Prison and facing the death penalty, but he is not cut off from the outside world.
Peterson has a personal Web site that includes photos of him and Laci. It also links to his family's Web site and that Web site includes a blog message from Scott discussing what he calls his "wrongful conviction."
Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother, appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday to talk about his Web site and what she thinks of her former son-in-law.
Some highlights:
Larry King: What do you make of all this?
Sharon Rocha: Well. First of all, I think I could say that being on death row is supposed to eliminate a lot of rights and privileges of the inmates. In the whole scope of things, this is a very minute matter, but it isn't right that they should have access to the Internet, either direct access or through somebody else. Watch Rocca discuss Scott Peterson with Larry King »
King: How and when did you first find out about Scott having this Web page?
Rocha: Just a couple of days ago. A friend of mine had told me about it.
King: Have you seen the page?
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Larry King Live
Rocha: I have. And I understand it's the family blog, which, you know, they're entitled to have that. But I still feel that it's not right that Scott has the ability to speak on the Internet through his family or friends or whomever.
King: So you think a family blog is OK?
Rocha: Everybody's entitled, you know, to their opinion, and I see nothing wrong with having a family blog.
King: He has only two blog entries on his personal page. One says he's encouraged by the mail he receives and he enjoys hearing from people. His prison mail address is also posted. What do you think of that?
Rocha: Well, I think that is public knowledge. There are different Web sites that you can go to get that prison. But as far as being encouraged from other people, I'm sure he is. But the point is I don't think he should be able to access the Internet, either directly or through anybody else.
King: Do you have any qualms about people writing to him? Does it bother you at all?
Rocha: No, it doesn't bother me. To be perfectly honest with you, Larry, I really don't spend a lot of time thinking about Scott. I think about Laci all of the time, but I don't give a lot of thought to Scott.
King: In his first blog posting, Scott writes, "some people have done things to profit off my wife and son having been taken from me and murdered." How do you react to a statement like that?
Rocha: Well, that's true. There have been a lot of people who have profited from that. But I don't feel that he should be one of those because he's responsible for Laci not being here. I know many inmates are claiming that it violates their rights, their right to freedom of speech not to be able to have communication with, through the Internet or what have you. But they are there for a reason and that reason is that they took the right of their victims. They took their freedom of speech away from them and literally slammed the lid on their opportunity to ever speak again.
King: Have you complained to the prison or anybody in authority about all of this?
Rocha: No, I haven't. It's not something that I've even thought about. I read an article in "The (Los Angeles) Times" about victims in other states who attempted to have legislation passed only to have it ruled as unconstitutional by a judge. So I don't know if there's really anything that can be done about it.
King: So you have no recourse, in a sense.
Rocha: At this time, it seems to be that way, unless there's some new legislation that can actually be passed and not ruled unconstitutional.
King: Frankly, Sharon, you don't seem outraged.
Rocha: Well, it is outrageous for this to even be happening. I just feel that, you know, it just does a great injustice to the victims and their families. They can no longer speak for themselves. And being on death row is supposed to eliminate an inmate's privileges. And this just flies in the face of justice, as far as I'm concerned, that OK, so they said they can't use the Internet, they go around it and they use it in another way. It is outrageous. I am outraged.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/18/laci.peterson.mom/index.html
