First Degree or Second Degree

I've never commented on the Scott Peterson case because frankly, I didn't much care for it. I think it was greatly overblown by the media and certainly didn't deserve the attention it got, including the breathless coverage on Friday as the verdicts were announced. I hate to say it, but had Lacy been an unattractive minority woman, nobody would have paid any attention to this case at all.

One thing I really don't understand, however, is how the degree of murder was decided in this case. I can certainly understand a first degree murder conviction in Lacy's murder. Scott did a lot of pre-planning and met the test for first degree.

However, how do you commit first degree murder on an 8 month pregnant woman, yet only commit second degree murder on the unborn baby? Surely if you planned to murder the women, the logical assumption is that the baby will also die as a result. Therefore, both should have been considered first degree.

I guess that's why I'm not a lawyer - my thinking is polluted by too much logic.