California | Scott Peterson will know within 90 days whether he will get a new trial

Former Modesto resident Scott Peterson will know within 90 days whether he will get a new trial in the death of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.

Peterson’s attorney, Cliff Gardner, argued Tuesday before the California Supreme Court that his client get a new trial because of errors by the trial judge. Gardener claimed they included dismissing potential jurors opposed to the death penalty, creating a jury predisposed toward the death penalty, and not moving the trial to another location because of the massive pretrial publicity against Peterson.

Supervising Deputy Attorney General Donna Provenzano with the state attorney general’s office argued the trial judge provided Peterson with a fair trial, there is no evidence jurors were anything but fair and impartial, or that Peterson would have gotten a different outcome had the trial been moved.

She said prosecutors marshaled and presented a “mountain of evidence” at the trial that pointed to Peterson as the murderer of his wife and unborn son.

Provenzano said the trial judge had extensive experience with death penalty cases but conceded if the supreme court justices decide the judge erred in excluding even one juror then the remedy would be to redo the penalty phase of the trial to determine whether Peterson should get the death penalty or life in prison.

RELATED | California | Scott Peterson asks court to overturn murder conviction and death sentence

Gardner asked the judges to redo the penalty and guilt phases of the trial. Jurors determine whether a defendant has committed the crime he is charged with in the guilt phase.

The justices have up to 90 days to reach a decision after Tuesday’s oral arguments, which were conducted by video conference because of the new coronavirus pandemic. Peterson, 47, did not take part. He is at San Quentin State Prison.

The justices asked few questions and those they did were directed to Gardner and focused on determining when moving a trial, called a change in venue, is warranted.

Laci Peterson vanished Christmas Eve 2002

Laci Peterson was about 8 months pregnant when she disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002. Peterson said he had gone fishing that day in the San Francisco Bay and returned to an empty home. The remains of Laci and Conner eventually were found less than a mile apart along the shore of the San Francisco Bay, less than two miles from where Peterson said he fished.

A San Mateo County juror convicted Peterson of murder in November 2004 and decided he should die the next month.

The trial was moved from Stanislaus County to San Mateo County because of the pretrial publicity, but Peterson’s defense team argued that was not sufficient. They wanted the trial moved to Southern California because they believed that is where a more impartial jury could be found.

Gardner also argued the trial judge erred by not letting the defense team examine Peterson’s boat without the prosecution being present and by allowing two juror to sit inside the boat and rock back and forth in it while it sat on a trailer. The prosecution argued that Peterson weighed down his pregnant wife with homemade anchors and dumped her body in the bay from his boat.

The defense wanted to determine whether the boat would capsize if Peterson had disposed of his wife that way.

Besides this automatic appeal of his death sentence, Peterson has what is called a petition for habeas corpus pending with the court. Unlike the automatic appeal, which focuses on alleged errors made by the trial judge, the petition can introduce new evidence to show the conviction or sentence was wrong.

Peterson also has remedies he can pursue through the federal courts.

Peterson’s appeal comes as Gov. Gavin Newsom put in place a moratorium on the death penalty in March 2019, suspending all executions while he is governor. But California’s last execution was in 2006, and only the state’s voters can abolish the death penalty.

And the moratorium has not stopped prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, including in the December 2018 murder of Newman police Cpl. Ronil Singh. 

The Stanislaus County district attorney’s office recently announced it will seek the death penalty against defendant Paulo Virgen Mendoza.

Source: modbee.com, Kevin Valine, June 3, 2020

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde