Laci Jury: To Sequester Or Not

The judge in the Scott Peterson case will hear motions Monday on whether or not the jury should be sequestered during the trial.

Neither the defense nor prosecution is talking about the issue, because they are under a court-imposed order not to discuss the case with the media.

The judge is also taking up the issue of jury questionnaires to determine if Peterson can get a fair trial in San Mateo County, California. The defense has already been conducting phone surveys.

The trial is expected to last about six months and putting the jury up in a hotel and feeding them for the duration of the trial would be costly.

An accountant with Los Angeles County said the bill to sequester the jury during the trial of O.J. Simpson came to more than $3 million dollars.

Peterson, 31, could face the death penalty if he's convicted of two counts of murder for the deaths of Laci Peterson and the couple's unborn child. In April, the remains of mother and child washed ashore along San Francisco Bay, two miles from the spot where Scott Peterson said he was fishing on Christmas Eve 2002, when his wife vanished.

Last week, a witness who claimed to have seen Laci Peterson hours after police allege her husband killed her died, potentially dealing a blow to Scott Peterson's defense.

Vivian Mitchell, 78, died of natural causes, according to her family.

She was one of three people who said she saw Laci Peterson alive midmorning on Dec. 24, 2002. Authorities assert Scott Peterson killed his pregnant wife the night before or early that morning, then drove to San Francisco Bay and dumped her body.