Scott Peterson attempts to poke holes in murder conviction through LA Innocence Project

Written by James Torrez

SAN MATEO, Calif. (FOX-35)- New attorneys for convicted killer Scott Peterson returned on Tuesday to San Mateo County courthouse to resume trying to poke holes in his guilty conviction for killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn child more than 20 years ago. 

The hearing was an incremental one; it was to hear arguments on what documents to seal, including the identities of new witnesses, defense attorneys argue, could help be enough to call for a new trial. In the end, the hearing lasted just a few minutes and both sides agreed the items in question were either already sealed or redacted.

"The defense basically withdrew their motion because really what they were already asking for sealing was already sealed," said Paula Canny, a local criminal defense civil rights attorney in San Mateo County. She's not on the Peterson case, but has followed it for years and attended Tuesday morning's hearing.

The LA Innocence Project suggests in court documents that Laci Peterson may have witnessed a Christmas Eve break-in across the street from the couple’s home in Modesto and been kidnapped and then killed by the burglars.

In March, Peterson's new lawyers asked the judge to get access to thousands of pages of court records as well as video and audio recordings, which they said Peterson was never given access to before. 

"Everything the defense knows now, the defense shouldve been given in 2003," said Canny. "And I don't think they were and that falls on the prosecution."

LAIP attorneys also asked to do DNA testing, specifically of a bloody mattress found inside the burned van outside the burglary near Peterson's home. There is a scheduled hearing in May on the DNA motion.

Peterson's lawyers are hoping to find some discrepancies in the case to have enough evidence to ask for a new trial. 

The filings in San Mateo County Superior Court represent a longshot bid to exonerate the 51-year-old Peterson, two decades after his arrest captivated the nation.

Legal experts have told KTVU that Peterson has tried for appeals and new trials before, but now, his defense is trying a different approach...

"This is digging into the evidence, what did the police do, did they look at all the evidence, did they turn away from something, at the chance something was exculpatory," attorney Michael Cardoza said. 

Peterson was sentenced to death after a jury found him guilty of murder in the deaths of Laci and the unborn child they planned to name Conner. Prosecutors said he killed Laci and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. The death sentence was later overturned, and he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

The attorneys who prosecuted him from the Stanilslaus County District Attorney's Office will be in the courtroom too. 

Peterson is expected to appear via Zoom again from the Mule Creek State Prison, about 100 miles away.