"The only person to blame is that monster," he said."Not law enforcement ... we did the best we could.""We still feel like he should be haunted every day," Montalto told reporters, adding that the former deputy's inaction contributed to his daughter's death and to the shock and devastation of the community.
The trial began June 7 and the jury, which includes four women and two men, began deliberations Monday after hearing closing arguments. Peterson could have located and stopped the gunman, prosecutor Kristen Gomes told the jury. But instead of opening a door, looking in a window or seeking information from fleeing students, he chose to take shelter next to an adjoining building, Gomes said. That prevented him from confronting the gunman before he reached the third floor, where six of the shooter's 17 killings were committed.
But Peterson's attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, argued that Peterson is being made a"sacrificial lamb" for failures by elected officials and administrators. He said the evidence proves Peterson's insistence that the gunshots' echoes prevented him from pinpointing the gunman's location is the truth and Peterson did everything he could under the circumstances.