Scott Peterson.Photo: Pool/Getty Images
Nearly 20 years ago, whenScott Petersonwas on trial for the murder of his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son Conner in Redwood City, Calif., the case became a media firestorm.
Now, the case is in the news again after the Los Angeles Innocence Projectannounced last weekthat it had taken on the case, claiming in legal filings that “new evidence now supports Mr. Peterson’s longstanding claim of innocence.”
Scott was identified as the prime suspect after it was revealed he was having an affair with a woman, Amber Frey, who said she did not know he was married. He was arrested in April 2003.
Scott has always maintained his innocence and his lawyers claimed at trial Laci was kidnapped and killed as she walked the couple’s dog after he left to go on a solo fishing trip on Christmas Eve morning.
Laci and Scott Peterson.Modesto Police Dept/ZUMAPRESS.com
Modesto Police Dept/ZUMAPRESS.com
During the highly-publicized trial in 2004, prosecutors built a case against Scott, whose motive they said was to escape his marriage and impending fatherhood. The prosecution called on several witnesses, including Laci’s relatives and Frey, to try and prove that Scott had shownlittle emotionduring and after Laci’s disappearance.
Prosecutors played phone calls Frey recorded at the behest of authorities between herself and Scott in the weeks after Laci vanished in which Scott read her love poetry to Frey,CBS reported at the time. In the calls, Peterson told Frey he didn’t want children and was thinking about having a vasectomy.
Prosecutors alleged Peterson was trying to flee to Mexico when he was arrested, noting he was carrying nearly $15,000 in cash and had dyed his hair blonde and had grown a goatee,NBC News reported.
The bodies of Laci and Conner washed up four months after she disappeared, and prosecutors called to the stand a hydrologist who said their bodies would have likely been dumped in the area where Scott said he’d gone fishing that morning,The San Francisco Chroniclereported. Prosecutors also claimed Scott made cement anchors to weigh his wife’s body down in the bay.
Scott Peterson at Stanislaus County Superior Court in 2003.Ted Benson-Pool/Getty
Ted Benson-Pool/Getty
The defense said that there were no witnesses, no murder weapon, and no evidence of a struggle that led to Laci’s death. Instead, they said law enforcement had been laser-focused on him because of his affair and did not investigate other potential suspects. Scott’s attorneys asserted that someone else abducted Laci during the time she was walking the dog and killed her.
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A San Mateo County jury eventually found Scott guilty oftwo counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death in 2005 and laterresentenced to life in prison.
Scott Peterson.California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP
Today, the L.A. Innocence Project is seeking new evidence in his original trial, arguing Scott’s state and federal constitutional rights were violated. The nonprofit organization is known for its work to exonerate wrongly convicted and incarcerated individuals.
The organization is also hoping to conduct new DNA testing on a blood-stained mattress found on Dec. 25, 2002, in a burned out orange van discovered near the home. The investigation will determine whether the item contained Laci’s blood, which could be argued links her back to the burglars, the organization said.
Pat Harris, Scott’s defense attorney, told PEOPLE: “We are very excited to have the incredible attorneys at the L.A. Innocence Project lend their considerable expertise to helping prove Scott Peterson’s innocence."
source: people.com
