The lead prosecutor in Scott Peterson’s murder trial is urging a San Mateo County judge to reject attempts to revive his decades-old case.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, a California jury found Peterson guilty of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, in 2004. He was sentenced to death.
Peterson managed to have his death penalty overturned in favor of life imprisonment without parole. Now, his latest appeal, supported by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, claims that previously untested DNA evidence could implicate someone else in the murders and that Peterson could be innocent.
Prosecutors disagree.
In a 337-page court filing opposing the motion, prosecutors described the “overwhelming” information that led a San Mateo county jury to convict him, noting, in part, Peterson’s repeated lies, a mistress, and a boat trip in San Francisco Bay.
Court documents stated that a police K-9 detected Laci’s scent at a boat ramp in Berkeley, where Peterson said he was when she vanished in December 2022. Laci’s hair was also found on a pair of needle-nose pliers recovered from Peterson’s boat.
Further, an autopsy indicated that Laci’s body was weighted to the sea floor before disintegrating and washing ashore in the San Francisco Bay.. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Peterson made multiple homemade anchors from concrete and rebar.
Read the prosecution’s response below.
Scott-Peterson-Opposition M… by Leigh Egan
According to The Modesto Bee, most of the defense’s requests stem from a theory that Laci was kidnapped and killed by someone other than Peterson. The L.A. Innocence Project highlighted a burned van, which was located within proximity of Petersons’ Modesto residence and around the time of Laci’s disappearance.
The “orange van theory” claims that someone forced Laci into a van while she was walking her dog at La Loma Park. According to the defense’s DNA petition, they argue that the van she was allegedly abducted in corresponds to the same stolen vehicle later discovered burned by the Modesto Police Department.
“This item was tested and a male profile was developed. There is no legitimate DNA test that will turn the male profile into a match for Laci. This item was taken from a stolen orange van which was never connected to the Peterson case and the prior DNA testing has eliminated any possibility of any connection, but testing is still requested,” the DA responded, in part. “This demonstrates a fishing expedition in search of a boat.”
Scott Peterson — who claimed he was fishing in Berkeley when his pregnant wife vanished — was ultimately arrested in San Diego County with $15,000 in cash in his possession.
The California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence in 2020 after jurors who disagreed with the death penalty (but were willing to impose it) were found to be unfairly dismissed from the case.
There were also issues surrounding prejudicial misconduct after a domestic violence victim was put on the jury.
In 2021, Scott Peterson was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole for the slayings. Later that year, a judge denied his bid for a new trial.
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[Featured image: FILE – Photographs of Laci Peterson are placed at a memorial outside the home of Scott and Laci Peterson, Sunday, April 20, 2003 in Modesto, Calif. A California judge has rejected a new murder trial for Scott Peterson. The decision Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, comes nearly 20 years after Peterson was charged with dumping the bodies of his pregnant wife, Laci, and the unborn child they planned to name Conner into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)]
