Scott Called Loving And Generous

The family of Scott Peterson was back in court Monday for testimony in the penalty phase of his murder trial, reports CBS News Correspondent Manuel Gallegus.

The defense is calling 14 more witnesses who knew Peterson as a teenager and young man, including his middle school principal, who called him a "fine school citizen."

"Scott was a young man in whom I had great confidence and nothing that I can envision then or now would suggest to me that the death penalty is appropriate for him," Ronald Roger Rowe told jurors.

The jury must decide whether Peterson will be sentenced to death or to life in prison for the murders of his wife Laci and her 8-month-old fetus.

Peterson's friends and family have described him as a loving son and generous person, someone who never laid a hand on anyone.

Also on the witness stand Monday was Marvin Threatt, former dean of students at Peterson's high school in San Diego, who said Peterson never caused any problems and volunteered for charities.

Students were given a break during the school day to perform charity work, Threatt said.

"Many students would not come back to school on time," he said. "The thing I recall mostly about Scott is that he did always come back on time. He was never late."

Prosecutors claim Peterson smothered or strangled Laci in their Modesto home on or around Christmas Eve 2002, then dumped her weighted body into San Francisco Bay. The remains of Laci and the fetus were discovered about four months later along the bay shore, a few miles from where Peterson says he was fishing alone the day she vanished.

Legal experts say the defense is using a well-planned strategy to persuade jurors to spare his life.

"I think they're basically asking the jury to identify not with Peterson but with the people who care about him," Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said.

But a former prosecutor says the strategy could backfire.

"In the end, if jurors really believe he did it, then every day the defense puts on evidence of him being harmless and kind and patient, it makes Laci look like an even more vulnerable victim," said Jim Hammer, a former San Francisco prosecutor who has been following the trial.