REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – The judge in the Scott Peterson murder trial denied defense motions yesterday for a new jury and a new venue for the penalty phase of the case, and rescheduled the process to begin November 30.

The penalty phase had been set to begin yesterday, 10 days after Peterson was found guilty of first-degree murder for killing Laci Peterson and second-degree murder for killing her fetus. Jurors must choose between a life sentence or execution.

“We’re going to have to go with this jury,” Judge Alfred Delucci said in rejecting the defense arguments.

Defense lawyer Mark Geragos argued that a new jury was needed because the outcome would be tainted by the ousting of two jurors during deliberations and the outpouring of community support for the guilty verdict.

Mr. Geragos said one of the ousted jurors, the panel’s foreman, told the judge there had been threats to his safety and talk in the jury room of the “popular verdict, the expected verdict.”

Details of the juror’s dismissal have been sealed by the judge.

Mr. Geragos also noted that more than 1,000 people cheered outside the courthouse when the verdict was read November 12.

“This court knows the atmosphere surrounding the courthouse as the cheering section … charitably described as a mob scene, obviously cheering the fact that the jury reached the verdict that they did,” he argued. “I fully expected people to start building the gallows somewhere in the parking lot across the street.”

Mr. Geragos wanted the penalty phase moved to Los Angeles County.

The judge said moving the case elsewhere would be impossible. “Where could I send this case in the state of California that hasn’t been inundated with the media coverage?” Judge Delucci asked.

“My wife knows somebody who just came back from Rome, Italy, and they had the verdict on the radio in Rome, Italy,” the judge added. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Prosecutor Dave Harris argued that there was “absolutely no showing” that this jury had been prejudiced.

The jurors are expected to hear testimony much more laden with emotion than they did during the five-month guilt phase of the trial. The penalty phase is like a miniature trial, but absent most of the typical rules of evidence. It allows jurors to hear pleas for leniency and heartfelt recollections of the victim.