Emotional Reaction to Peterson's Sentencing

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," March 16, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Joining us on the phone is Laci’s stepfather, Ron Grantski (search). Ron, of course, was in court today. Ron, your reaction to today’s court appearance?

RON GRANTSKI, LACI PETERSON’S STEPFATHER: Well, It was a long time coming. We were pretty sure that the judge wouldn’t change anything. And it was chilling to hear him say what he thought of Scott Peterson (search) and what a criminal he was.

VAN SUSTEREN: Ron, you were just a few feet away from Scott. He’s been a part of your family for an awful long time. What was it like looking him in the face and telling him how you felt for his double murder?

GRANTSKI: I just can’t — it’s awful hard to imagine, number one, that anybody could do something like that. And I can’t see — for why? For what reason, to ruin somebody’s — to take away our grandchild, his parents’ grandchild — for why? For his ego? It’s just — he’s just a sick son of a gun.

VAN SUSTEREN: Any idea why, Ron? Because I mean, the one question that Sharon said at the sentencing and we’ve heard over and over, if — you know, if a marriage is bad, why not divorce? I mean, what is your theory as to why he did the unthinkable, the murders?

GRANTSKI: I really believe his ego is so big, that he has set up such a big facade about himself in his own mind, that he couldn’t deal with the fact that he was going to have to either give up the house, give up the family, child support. Who knows what made his mind tick? So he took the coward’s way out.

VAN SUSTEREN: Ron, none of us ever wants to be in your shoes or Sharon or Brent or Amy. But the victim impact statement (search), the opportunity to tell a convicted defendant how you feel for the murders, the crimes — what’s it like? I mean, is it something that you — that really helps?

GRANTSKI: To be honest with you, I couldn’t really say what I’d like to say to him because I didn’t want the whole world to know. But somebody somewhere along the line in his life should have told him right from wrong and that you’re going to have to pay. I just think he got away with everything he ever wanted to do in his life, and that’s why he is where he is.

VAN SUSTEREN: I think we’ve lost our connection with Ron Grantski. But we’re joined now here in Redwood City (search) with two jurors who have been very faithful attendees of this trial, Mike Church, who was an alternate juror, and Julie Zanartu. I got that right, Julie?

JULIE ZANARTU, PETERSON JUROR NO. 9: Yes.

VAN SUSTEREN: Julie, you were here today for the sentencing. Why did you come?

ZANARTU: Just to put an end to it. And I wanted to see — I actually wanted to see the reaction of Scott, to see if he had any sort of emotion, because we didn’t see much of it during the trial. So I thought maybe, at some point, there would be. But he’s just flat, nothing.

VAN SUSTEREN: Mike?

MIKE CHURCH, ALTERNATE JUROR: Partly that. I partly wanted to see the other jurors, too. We made some friends over the last six months, and it was an opportunity to get together as a group. So it was nice to get together with them.

VAN SUSTEREN: Julie, you know, so many people dodge jury service. It’s a huge responsibility. Had you ever served on a jury before?

ZANARTU: No.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you realize the huge contribution you’ve made to the community in terms of your time and devotion to this?

ZANARTU: At least every day, somebody tells me how important it is and thanks me for — just for the duration and the hard work and the time. It hasn’t really set in. To me, it wasn’t really a hardship. I was being paid. I wasn’t being — it wasn’t a bad situation, as far as work and everything else.

VAN SUSTEREN: Mike, you’re in an unusual situation because you’re an alternate so you never got to vote. Would you have voted for guilt and voted for the death penalty?

CHURCH: I think I would. Without going through the deliberations, you never know, but from listening to the evidence, yes, I was leaning that way. At the start of the trial, I was thinking that it was a weak case. But as it built up, they convinced me.

VAN SUSTEREN: Julie, what’s it like listening to, like, Sharon Rocha (search), I mean, the mother of — you know, of a murdered child, I mean, listening to her in court? How hard was that?

ZANARTU: She breaks my heart every time when she talks about the murder of Laci. And today, I was just — I was happy for her that she got to just confront him to his face and tell him what — how evil he is. To me, it was just — I don’t know. I don’t know how she feels, but to me, I think it was good that she finally just got to let it out.

VAN SUSTEREN: Julie and Mike, thank you both very much.

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