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Scott Peterson's First Day on Death Row is One to Forget
Scott Peterson's first full day on "Death Row" in San Quentin's maximum-security prison is one he'd soon rather forget.
Peterson's day started off well. After being processed, Peterson was introduced to his new cellmate, Earl Goings. Goings, on death row for 1984 murder of Sam the Eagle, the mascot of the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, is seen in the prison as a preferred partner. Every cellmate of Goings' since his 1986 incarceration in San Quentin has had their death sentence delayed or pardoned.
However, Peterson's good fortune would soon fade. Before lunch, Peterson was invited to participate in the prison March Madness pool. "The winner of the pool usually gets some extra goodies," said prison guard Mo Blacka. Blacka cited money in the canteen and extra phone time as "official" prizes offered by the prison. "I'm not sure he knew about the unofficial prizes, though," said Blacka.
"It's widely known that the winner of each round of the pool is allowed to select one inmate as his 'helper' for the week. Although we have no concrete knowledge of this, I'm pretty sure it happens every year," confessed Blacka. "I didn't want to say too much to him about it, but I kind of had to chuckle when he picked Winthrop and Delaware State to make it to the Final Four."
By Thursday night, Peterson had been informed by Goings that he would most likely be the loser in the pool. Guards heard Goings laughing at Peterson before bed on Thursday: "Who only gets one game right?"
Benjamin Dover, incarcerated in San Quentin since 1995 for the murder of his family at Disneyland, correctly picked all 16 games on the first day and appears to be in the best position to win first round of the tournament. Goings confirmed to Peterson Friday morning that Dover had inquired about Peterson. Said Goings, "Ben just wanted to know how such a handsome, young man could be accused of committing such a horrific crime. He definitely wants to get inside of Scott to understand him better."
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