REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – The Scott Peterson murder trial took yet another strange twist yesterday when the judge removed the jury’s foreman amid a week of pressure-packed deliberations – the second straight day that a juror was sent home.

The judge did not disclose why he removed the juror, a man in his mid-40s who has medical and law degrees. He was replaced by an alternate whose future son-in-law owns a restaurant that the Petersons themselves once owned.

For the second day in a row, Judge Alfred Delucchi told the new panel to start over with its deliberations.

“You must therefore set aside all past deliberations and begin deliberating anew,” he said yesterday.

The back-to-back removal of jurors is unusual but does not signal that the jury is either hopelessly split or moving toward a swift verdict, experts said.

The emotionally charged courtroom drama has become a national obsession, and some observers said jurors may be succumbing to the pressure of being in an intense and prolonged spotlight. They have endured a five-month trial and have been sequestered since deliberations began one week ago.

“I think all the strange happenings with the jury can be attributed to the fact that they’re in a pressure cooker. They know there will be a great deal of scrutiny no matter what decision they make,” said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson.

Robert Talbot, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law who has been periodically observing the trial, added: “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Some jurors sat impassively, grimfaced, as Judge Delucchi announced the latest change. Others were seen smiling slightly, and one even shook the new foreman’s hand. The trial started with six alternates, and yesterday’s move leaves the jury pool with just three remaining alternates.

Jurors are deliberating whether Mr. Peterson, 32, killed his pregnant wife on Christmas Eve 2002 and dumped her weighted body in San Francisco Bay.

The remains of Laci and the fetus were discovered a few miles from where Mr. Peterson claims to have gone fishing alone the day his wife vanished.

The former fertilizer salesman faces up to life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.

The trial has seen much jury-related drama this week. On Tuesday, a juror was removed for an unspecified violation of court rules. Yesterday, it was the foreman.

The newest juror was questioned during jury selection about his distant connection with the Petersons, and attorneys on both sides agreed he would not represent a conflict. His daughter is engaged to a man who owns the restaurant in the town where Scott and Laci Peterson graduated from college. The future son-in-law worked for the Petersons when they owned the cafe after college. The new foreman is a man who works as a firefighter and paramedic.

In another development adding to the trial’s circus-like atmosphere, a boat identical to the one prosecutors allege Mr. Peterson used to dump his wife’s body into San Francisco Bay turned up in a parking lot several blocks from the courthouse, attracting a parade of onlookers and media.

It is the same boat defense lawyers apparently used to conduct a videotaped experiment, during which they claim the boat nearly capsized and filled with water as they attempted to heave overboard an object weighing roughly the same as Laci Peterson.