Scott Peterson returns to court with support from the LA Innocence Project

By Web staff

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    Los Angeles (KCRA) — Scott Peterson returned to a courtroom by Zoom on Tuesday in the latest development since being convicted nearly 20 years ago of murdering his wife Laci and their unborn child on Christmas Eve in 2002.

Peterson’s death sentence was overturned in 2020, but he’s still serving a life sentence while maintaining his innocence and hoping for a new trial.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Innocence Project took up Peterson’s case, requesting to look at some of the evidence used in his trial.

Paula Mitchell with the Innocence Project said Tuesday there were “very alarming deficiencies” in what was presented to Peterson’s defense at the time of his trial.

The group filed motions in the case for a post-conviction discovery, sealed court records, DNA testing and exhibits in support of the DNA testing.

Some of the items requested by the defense are to go along with the theory that Peterson’s death was connected to home burglaries in the couple’s Modesto neighborhood. According to the theory outlined in court documents, Peterson witnessed a crime in progress, was abducted and then her body was put in the bay near where Scott Peterson had been fishing to implicate him based on information in the media.

Items mentioned in the court documents include cloth from a mattress booked into evidence by police that was recovered from an orange van that was set on fire in the Peterson neighborhood.

Legal analyst Paula Canny said that if Laci Peterson’s DNA was on the mattress that was in the torched van “that is huge and I think that that kind of evidence is what the defense and the LA Innocence Project is trying to find.”

“If that’s her DNA, it means Scott Peterson didn’t kill her,” she said.

The defense also wants tests on a work glove and hammer that were recovered at a home across the street from the Peterson’s residence that had been burglarized.

Mitchell said what is requested “is not a fishing expedition.”

All of this was around the time that Laci Peterson disappeared in December of 2002.

The defense also wants testing done on a Target bag and duct tape that was found inside that bag near her body in the San Francisco Bay.

Tuesday’s brief status conference hearing focused on scheduling future hearings. A hearing on a motion to seal proceedings will take place on April 16. Another hearing on the DNA motions was scheduled for May 29. Another hearing about discovery proceedings will take place on July 15. Peterson will attend each of the hearings by Zoom from Mule Creek State Prison.

Scott Peterson was found guilty in a San Mateo Court after the remains of Laci and her unborn son Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay in 2003.

Peterson told investigators he had gone to fish in Berkeley, a few miles from where the remains ended up surfacing.

In December, Peterson’s request for a new murder trial was denied. Peterson alleged the resulting trial that gripped the world was tainted by a rogue juror who lied about her own history of abuse to get on the panel that initially sent him to death row.

Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo found there was no evidence to support the defense claim that Juror No. 7, Richelle Nice, committed misconduct during jury selection.

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