Laci's Mom Sues, Lambastes Scott

Files Two Wrongful Death Suits; Harshly Criticizes Him

(AP)  Laci Peterson's mother filed two wrongful death lawsuits Friday against her son-in-law that include her harshest public comments to date about the man accused of killing her pregnant daughter.

Sharon Rocha's lawsuits, filed nearly a year after her daughter vanished, characterize Scott Peterson's conduct as "willful, wanton and outrageous beyond the ability of ordinary human beings to comprehend."

Peterson, 31, has pleaded innocent to charges of murdering his wife and their unborn son. Their remains washed ashore in April in San Francisco Bay, near where Peterson said he was fishing Christmas Eve when his wife went missing from their Modesto home 80 miles away.

Rocha's lawsuits, which seek more than $5 million, ask the court to set aside any future earnings by Peterson in a trust for Laci Peterson's heirs.

Peterson's attorney Mark Geragos would not comment directly on the civil suits, filed in Stanislaus County Superior Court, because the criminal case is ongoing. "It's all going to be moot when he's found not guilty," Geragos said.

Rocha testified at Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing in October that she thought the world of him until her daughter disappeared. Laci Peterson's family stood by him for a month after her disappearance, but their support ended when he admitted he had been having an affair.

The lawsuits are not expected to be heard until the criminal case has been decided.

The double-murder trial, in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, is scheduled for Jan. 26 but could be postponed if a judge decides Peterson can't get a fair trial in his widow's hometown and moves the case elsewhere.