Scott Peterson is expected to get the death penalty for the murder of his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son in 2002.
Judge Alfred A. Delucchi will decide whether to impose the death penalty after Peterson appeared via videolink for a full hearing on Friday.
The disgraced ex-Pentagon contractor was convicted in April of killing his wife in 2002, and then dumping her body into San Francisco Bay.
His crimes were meticulously planned and executed, prosecutors have said, adding he ditched the body to cover up the fact that he was having an affair.
The judge has asked for an extensive psychiatric report to be submitted to determine whether Peterson is still capable of orchestrating the crimes he is accused of.
According to the judge, if he finds it is, the sentence will be decided at a later date.
On 23 April, Scott Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of his 28-year-old wife Laci Peterson and their unborn son. He was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of their unborn son Conner.
Laci’s body has never been found, but her remains were uncovered in 2003.
He was charged with murdering his wife after investigators discovered that the young mother had gone missing while walking her dog at a park in Modesto, California.
They found her empty, 7.5-gallon (27.6-litre) bathtub at the home she shared with her husband and they picked up their 3-year-old son, Connor, to search for Laci.
After nearly two years of investigation, the Modesto police arrested Peterson in April 2003, and tried him for murder that December.
He maintained his innocence during the trial and – in a recent interview with People magazine – blamed Laci’s family for not believing he was innocent.
Over three days of emotional testimony at his trial, prosecutors portrayed him as a manipulative fraud and devious liar who became increasingly violent when he found out he was going to be a father.
But defence attorney Mark Geragos accused prosecutors of deliberately framing his client for a crime he did not commit.
Speaking after his client’s verdict, Geragos said: “I’ve been accused of a lot of things over the years, and I’ve never seen a jury convict a client and two days later have the case thrown out on a technicality.”
The team at the Sacramento County public defender’s office will appeal the conviction.
In addition to the prison term, Peterson was convicted of concealment and/or abandonment of a body and child abuse.
On both charges, Peterson was given consecutive sentences to the mandatory life in prison without parole.