Peterson Deliberations Resume

It was a long weekend for the Scott Peterson murder trial jurors - not long on relaxation, just long: sequestered in a hotel with no visitors and only censored TV and movies. They took a break from deliberations, which resume on Monday for a fourth day.

Last week, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi has reversed course and barred live television coverage of the verdict, citing concern for the families of Peterson and his wife, Laci, whom he is accused of killing around Christmas Eve 2002.

The verdict will be captured on a live audio feed, which radio and TV stations will be allowed to broadcast.

Friday, jurors sought to review some evidence as part of their deliberations, but the judge declined to offer details.

The judge also said he will not release transcripts from the many private meetings with attorneys held in the judge's chambers throughout the trial. "The defendant's right to a fair trial trumps the public's need to know," Delucchi said.

The judge had earlier said he would allow live TV coverage of the verdict. His reversal came after attorneys on both sides objected.

"I think we're interested more in this verdict as a spectacle rather than for the public's confidence in the judicial system," Delucchi told an attorney for the media. "I'm not here to orchestrate this trial. I'm here to try this case."

Late Friday was a logical time to take a vote because a vote to acquit or even a vote to convict on second-degree murder charges would have meant that the jury's work would be done, notes CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen. Cohen says either that vote wasn't taken or it was taken and there was no unanimity and neither of those scenarios is particularly encouraging to prosecutors.

On the one hand it makes perfect sense that deliberations would continue past the weekend - this was a five-month-long trial, remember, and clearly these are jurors who have stuck it out conscientiously. On the other hand, there was a strong incentive for jurors to get their work done before a long weekend of sequestration, says Cohen.

The problem during deliberations like this is that the trial lasted so long - it began in early June, remember - that memories are bound to be a little shaky inside that jury room. So part of the intellectual impact of the prosecution's case is blunted and different memories can cause friction during deliberations.

Peterson is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of his pregnant wife and her fetus. Defense lawyers say someone else abducted and killed the Modesto woman, then placed the bodies in the water. Peterson could get the death penalty.