Opinion ID: 4558196
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Guilt Phase Trial

Text: Peterson and Laci Rocha met in San Luis Obispo, where Laci was attending college and Peterson was working in a restaurant. They married in 1997. They opened and ran a restaurant together in San Luis Obispo. In 2000, they moved to Modesto and bought a house. Laci took a job as a substitute teacher, while Peterson ran a start-up fertilizer company named TradeCorp U.S.A. out of a leased warehouse. Some years after the two married, Laci became pregnant; the baby — whom the couple had named Conner — was due in February 2003.1 On December 23, 2002, Laci went grocery shopping around midday. She also had a prenatal medical checkup. In the late afternoon, both Laci and Peterson went to a salon where Laci’s sister, Amy Rocha, worked. Amy mentioned that she had 1 For clarity, we generally will refer to Laci Peterson (neé Rocha) and Conner by their first names. We will also sometimes refer to members of Laci’s immediate family — her mother, Sharon Rocha; her sister, Amy Rocha; and her brother, Brent Rocha — by their first names. No disrespect is intended to any of these individuals. 2 PEOPLE v. PETERSON