Scott Peterson’s hope that the California Courtroom of Enchantment would overturn his homicide conviction have been dashed this week when it as a substitute directed his attorneys to return their case to the identical Redwood Metropolis courthouse the place he has had no luck over the previous twenty years convincing a jury or a string of judges he’s harmless of killing his pregnant spouse Laci and unborn son twenty years in the past.
The Los Angeles Innocence Venture, which took on the infamous case greater than a 12 months in the past, had asserted in an 847-page petition that it had uncovered proof that may “eviscerate” the prosecution’s unique case and exonerate the previous Modesto fertilizer salesman, together with new witnesses who say they noticed Laci strolling her canine at a time prosecutors say she was already lifeless.
However after the California Courtroom of Enchantment for the First District on Thursday rejected its petition, saying claims of latest proof are higher settled within the decrease court docket, Peterson’s attorneys stated they might refile the petition in San Mateo County court docket inside weeks.
Felony protection lawyer and former prosecutor Michael Cardoza, who intently adopted the Peterson trial in 2004, stated nevertheless that these protection attorneys are “grasping at straws” and Peterson’s possibilities of freedom are all however nil.
“Peterson’s appellate claims have ricocheted through the Superior, Appellate, and Supreme Courts, each echoing the last,” Cardoza stated. “Believing they will change their opinions, conclusions, is like debating with a mirror.”
Nonetheless, transferring the case again to San Mateo County will restart what could also be one other lengthy cycle of motions from protection attorneys, responses from Stanislaus County prosecutors and extra hearings — maybe from the identical decide who denied a slough of protection motions to retest DNA on a bloody mattress present in a burned out van and different proof a 12 months in the past.
Peterson’s homicide trial was moved to Redwood Metropolis from Modesto due to extraordinary pre-trial publicity. Scott and Laci Peterson, who had met at Cal Poly and had simply completed adorning their nursery nautical blue, gave the impression to be the right younger couple.
When Peterson returned to their Modesto dwelling from the San Francisco Bay the place he spent the morning out in his fishing boat Christmas Eve, he introduced that Laci was lacking. Public sentiment rapidly turned towards him with the revelation that he was having an affair with a Fresno therapeutic massage therapist, whom he had instructed — earlier than Laci vanished — that he had “lost” his spouse and could be spending his first Christmas with out her. He was arrested after Laci’s physique and that of their unborn son washed up individually on the sting of the Richmond shoreline 4 months later.
Peterson by no means took the witness stand throughout the homicide trial that attracted celeb attorneys and trial watchers and have become such a nationwide sensation that when the responsible verdict was introduced, a whole lot of individuals packed the courthouse plaza and set free cheers.
The Innocence Venture’s prolonged petition included a 126-page, first-person declaration from Peterson, countering a few of the prosecution’s unique circumstantial proof towards him.
“I was in no way responsible for Laci’s disappearance or her death or that of our son, Conner,” he wrote.
Peterson spent many of the previous 20 years on San Quentin’s Demise Row, however was finally transferred to Mule Creek State Jail in Amador County after the state Supreme Courtroom overturned his demise sentence over the dismissal of potential jurors who have been morally against the demise penalty however stated they might comply with the legislation and will impose it if acceptable. The excessive court docket upheld his homicide conviction.
Stanislaus County prosecutors declined to remark Friday and the Innocence Venture wouldn’t elaborate on its assertion that it intends to refile its petition in San Mateo County.
Its public petition, nevertheless, outlines what it believes is new proof, together with {that a} housebreaking at a home throughout the road from the Petersons’ occurred the identical day Laci disappeared, not two days later as prosecutors claimed; {that a} blood-stained mattress present in a burned out van is perhaps linked to the case; that the scale of the toddler discovered washed up on shore proves Laci might need lived for days after her disappearance and level to different killers; and that Modesto police rushed to evaluate Peterson to the exclusion of different suspects.
The unique jury already heard testimony concerning the measurement of the toddler and police missteps from Peterson’s protection attorneys at trial, whereas latest judges have weighed in on a few of the different points.
Cardoza, the previous prosecutor, says he agrees with the Innocence Venture that the Modesto Police made errors investigating the case. He additionally believes Peterson was denied a good trial due to the sensationalism surrounding the case which will have influenced the jury. Nonetheless, he doesn’t imagine it’s sufficient to overturn the responsible verdict and set Peterson free.
“I think that’s pretty much it for Scott unless something Earth–shaking comes up — and there’s nothing,” Cardoza stated. “They could keep trying to write addendums, but it’s not going to work. The courts have been more than clear.”
Initially Revealed: Could 30, 2025 at 3:07 PM PDT
