It’s been greater than 20 years since Scott Peterson was sentenced to demise for the homicide of his pregnant spouse Laci in suburban California. For a lot of, the case was thought-about open and shut.
Then, in late April, the Los Angeles Innocence Challenge (LAIP) made a seemingly bombshell announcement.
The nonprofit declared in a courtroom submitting that after a year-long investigation it had uncovered new proof that “eviscerates” the prosecution’s principle of what occurred, and proves Peterson’s innocence.
“This new proof undermines the prosecution’s whole circumstantial case in opposition to Petitioner, and reveals that the jury relied on false proof, together with false scientific proof, to convict him,” the group, which offers professional bono authorized providers to folks it believes have been wrongfully convicted, said in a prolonged petition filed to a state appeals courtroom.
The information marked a serious improvement in a case that has transfixed the US since Laci Peterson was first reported lacking whereas eight months pregnant on Christmas Eve 2002. However what does it imply for the 52-year-old Peterson, who has all the time claimed he didn’t commit the crime, and the efforts to overturn his conviction?
The burden on Peterson is excessive, stated Eric Faddis, a trial lawyer and former deputy district lawyer, however the LAIP seems to have carried out a considerable investigation and generated what they consider are compelling causes to take one other look.
“The query for the courtroom will likely be: do all of those potential errors quantity to sufficient as a way to resolve that had the jury heard about this new proof they’d have drawn a unique conclusion?” stated Faddis, a founding accomplice of agency Varner Faddis.
When the LAIP introduced in January 2024 that it was investigating the Peterson case, the information was met with skepticism and in some instances scorn.
Laci Peterson, 27, disappeared from her residence of Modesto, a metropolis of 200,000 in California’s Central Valley, in December 2002, drawing intense and widespread media protection. The stays of Laci and her unborn baby have been recovered from the San Francisco Bay in April 2003.
Scott Peterson, on the time a 30-year-old fertilizer salesman, was a suspect from the outset, and it was rapidly revealed he had engaged in a number of affairs. One girl got here ahead publicly, saying that they had a romantic relationship and that Peterson had claimed he was a widower getting ready to spend his first Christmas alone earlier than his spouse’s disappearance.
Prosecutors argued in the course of the intently watched trial that Peterson didn’t wish to be a father and smothered his spouse round Christmas Eve earlier than utilizing a newly bought fishing boat to dump her physique into the bay. Peterson had informed police that he had been out fishing on the Berkeley Marina within the San Francisco Bay the day Laci disappeared. Her stays have been ultimately found just some miles from the marina.
He was convicted of the killings in 2004, and sentenced to demise the next yr. The California supreme courtroom overturned the demise sentence in 2020 over a juror difficulty, and he obtained a brand new sentence of life with out the opportunity of parole.
Nevertheless, Peterson has maintained his innocence, and claimed he obtained an unfair trial by police extra targeted on arresting him than investigating what occurred to Laci. In 2022, he sought a brand new trial alleging that his unique trial was tainted by a juror who lied about her historical past of abuse – a decide denied his request.
In a courtroom submitting, the LAIP, which filed motions searching for DNA testing and discovery, argued that the prosecution suppressed and destroyed important exculpatory proof earlier than the trial and violated Peterson’s rights to due course of and a good trial.
The submitting lays out what the LAIP describes as new proof in help of a principle Peterson’s protection argued throughout his trial – that Laci was kidnapped and held for a number of days by another person, earlier than she was killed and her physique dumped within the bay in an effort to “shift blame” on to Scott (it was extensively reported that he had been fishing within the space the day of her disappearance).
The LAIP presents new proof exhibiting a house throughout the road from the Petersons was burgled the day of Laci’s disappearance, and {that a} witness reportedly heard a dialog between the burglars that Laci noticed them and confronted them. The group additionally says it has obtained new “sworn statements” from witnesses who reported seeing Laci within the neighborhood after prosecutors declare Scott killed her.
It additionally argues it has uncovered new proof linking the burglars to a van that was set on a fireplace close by and had a mattress inside with “obvious bloodstains”. The submitting states the prosecution suppressed proof of the police investigation into that incident and that it has not been subjected to extra “exact DNA testing” to ascertain a hyperlink to Laci’s case.
As a part of their investigation, the LAIP stated it interviewed a retired Los Angeles police division lieutenant and police practices skilled who reviewed police reviews within the case and concluded that the Modesto police division investigation was disorganized and didn’t adhere to straightforward police procedures.
A key argument from final month’s submitting emphasizes that new analysis and strategies to find out fetal development point out that the Peterson’s unborn baby was older than the prosecution’s skilled witness, Dr Greggory DeVore, stated – which means Laci was killed days after the prosecution claimed.
“New proof by Dr Doubilet reveals that latest medical analysis printed in peer-reviewed medical journals establishes that Laci and Conner weren’t killed till days after Laci was reported lacking, at a time Petitioner couldn’t presumably have been liable for their deaths,” the submitting states.
“These new scientific analysis and longitudinal research all present that Dr DeVore’s opinion – which was based mostly on a research printed in 1984, when fetal biometry analysis was in its infancy – was fallacious.”
Paula M Mitchell, the director of the Los Angeles Innocence Challenge, argued within the petition that the prosecution’s case was fully circumstantial, and that it was extremely probably the jury wouldn’t have reached a responsible verdict if that they had heard the proof specified by the petition.
“For my part, as soon as the police locked on to Mr Peterson because the prime suspect, that they had little interest in discovering proof exhibiting that somebody aside from Scott could have kidnapped Laci Peterson as a result of that proof didn’t match with their working principle of the case,” Mitchell wrote.
The re-examination of the case has, maybe unsurprisingly, proved controversial. After the information broke, the famed New York-based Innocence Challenge made an announcement noting the LAIP is “wholly unbiased” from its group.
Neama Rahmani, the president of West Coast Trial Legal professionals and a former federal prosecutor, stated he was shocked in some ways in which the LAIP determined to work with Peterson. “They’ve achieved good work,” he stated. “There’s simply a lot proof [against Peterson].”
He expressed skepticism on the LAIP’s findings, and arguments of Peterson’s innocence, stating he didn’t see any “deadly flaws” within the case.
“Perhaps it’s the previous prosecutor in me, however if you’re having an affair and your pregnant spouse finally ends up many miles away from her residence, very near the place you have been fishing, doesn’t strike me as an excellent protection case.”
“I don’t suppose this is sufficient to get Scott Peterson a brand new trial. The usual on the subject of habeas aid may be very excessive,” he stated. “I don’t suppose this new proof exonerates Scott Peterson. I don’t suppose a lot of that is that new.”
Faddis agreed that assembly the usual for aid is tough, however stated the LAIP had made a “compelling” try.
Included within the petition was a declaration from Peterson describing his conduct in his marriage as “disgraceful and immature” however denying he performed a job within the demise of his spouse and their unborn baby, who that they had deliberate to call Conner.
“I’ve steadfastly maintained my innocence from the second my spouse went lacking on December 24 2002, all through my trial, attraction, and post-conviction proceedings, and to this present day,” he wrote. “I had completely nothing to do with the disappearance and deaths of my spouse and son.”
