We are pretty shocked by the announcement this afternoon that the District Attorney in Stanislaus County will seek the death penalty for Scott Peterson.

We heard the D.A. say just a few days ago he would provide Scott's lawyers an opportunity to confer with his death penalty committee before making the decision.

Allowing the defense to confer with the committee is standard practice. It's law in the federal system. Scott's lawyers have been on the case for five days. They haven't seen the evidence against Scott and they certainly haven't had time to gather mitigating evidence.

This is a move to (a) make sure Scott doesn't get bond at his bond hearing May 6, (2) avoid a change of venue to a more liberal California county that doesn't pursue the death penalty and (3) further prejudice the potential jury pool by reinforcing the negative portrayal of Scott.

Yes, the crime was heinous, but justice requires that the history and character of the defendant be part of the decision process. Scott is 30 years old with no prior record. We doubt the prosecution has evidence that this was a planned killing.

In fact, we haven't heard one bit of evidence that directly links Scott to the crime. The D.A. says they don't have a definitive crime scene--they can't say for sure where the killing took place. No cause of death has been determined. No forensic evidence results have been acknowledged.

This decision is premature. They are jumping to a conclusion that Scott deserves death, the same way they jumped to the conclusion that he killed his wife with premeditation.

We'll be debating these issues Sunday on Fox News, at 11:30 a.m., EST.