REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Scott Peterson's fate is now in the hands of a jury.

After five months of testimony, a six-man, six-women panel deliberated double-murder charges against the fertilizer salesman in the killings of his pregnant wife and son for about four hours Wednesday afternoon without reaching a verdict.

The panelists, carrying the spiral-bound memo pads they filled during the 184-witness capital trial, filed past Peterson and out of the courtroom at exactly 12 noon.

As the door shut behind them, Judge Alfred Delucchi told the packed gallery, "We'll be in recess until we hear from them."

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The panel will decide whether to convict Peterson of first- or second-degree murder or to acquit him altogether in the killings of his wife, Laci, and unborn son.

Peterson, 32, faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder. A second-degree conviction would mean a sentence of 15 years to life on each of two counts of murder.

Before entering the jury room, the panel heard final arguments from lawyers followed by instructions from Delucchi about legal concepts, including reasonable doubt and circumstantial evidence.

In the conclusion of the summation he began Tuesday, defense attorney Mark Geragos urged jurors to set aside their hatred of Peterson and find him not guilty.

"This case basically comes down to evidence versus emotion," Geragos said.

He pointed to a length of plastic found around the neck of the Petersons' child when its remains washed up on the San Francisco Bay shore. He noted a knot in the tape and said that although the defense never contended it was used to kill the child, it might have been placed around the child's neck by the perpetrators.

"If that's the case, then it is not Scott Peterson who did this," Geragos said. "If that's the case, then the baby was handled outside the womb."

Geragos conceded Peterson did tell his mistress Amber Frey grand lies and admitted that he had a few "chuckles" over the more outlandish ones.

But he asked jurors, "Does any of that lead you to evidence that he did something to his wife and unborn child?

"No, of course not," Geragos said.

In his rebuttal, Distaso ridiculed the defense's theory that someone — perhaps transients in the neighborhood — abducted and held Laci Peterson for a period before killing her.

He mocked the scenario as "a vast conspiracy of homeless who grabbed Laci Peterson in Modesto and then turned her over to the homeless by the bay so they could submerge her [in the bay] for three to six months," he said.

He reminded jurors that they could only disregard circumstantial evidence if there was a reasonable interpretation pointing to innocence.

"If it's not reasonable, you must reject it," Distaso said. "You cannot base a reasonable doubt on an unreasonable interpretation of the evidence."

Jurors will be sequestered in a local hotel and transported to court each day in a chartered bus. The judge assigned 22 court officers to provide round-the-clock security

"See all those guys over there, they're your keepers," the judge told the panelists in the morning, pointing to 13 officers who made a line of navy blue against the wall of the courtroom.

The jurors chuckled. Several appeared to be on friendly terms with the guards already. When they arrived at court Wednesday morning, Juror No. 11 gave a deputy a big smile and a hug. The middle-aged female panelist will have to leave the panel Nov. 15 to undergo surgery if they have not reached a verdict. Alternate 1, who would replace her, giggled and high-fived a court officer as she crossed the sidewalk into the courtroom.

After 23 weeks of testimony and arguments, the panel apparently was eager to begin deliberations. When they first arrived at court, Delucchi told panelists that they would get the case Wednesday "according to your wishes."

Delucchi has said he will give the parties two hours notice of a verdict. Laci Peterson's relatives, most of whom live 92 miles away in Modesto, have agreed to stay near the courthouse. Peterson's parents, who live near San Diego, will also remain nearby. The defendant himself was returned to the county jail to await his verdict.