California | Scott Peterson’s case is back in Stanislaus Court Friday

Scott Peterson’s case is returning to Stanislaus Superior Court Friday for the first time since national publicity resulted in a transfer to San Mateo County before his murder trial began 16 years ago.

What exactly will be discussed at the hearing is not yet clear; the California Supreme Court in two separate rulings recently overturned Peterson’s death sentence and ordered that allegations of prejudicial misconduct by a juror be heard by a Judge in San Mateo Superior Court.

“If I had to speculate my guess is that the prosecution will ask the court to allow them additional time to make the decision on whether to retry the penalty phase based on what is going on in San Mateo,” said Pat Harris, who served as co-counsel to Mark Geragos during Peterson’s trial.

He said he was awaiting additional documents to be sent to him from the court regarding the hearing.

District Attorney Birgit Fladager would not say Tuesday whether she’s made a decision to retry Peterson’s penalty phase.

Scott Peterson’s sister-in-law Janey Peterson said by phone, “Clearly it wouldn’t make sense to retry the penalty phase when the entire conviction could be overturned in a few months.”

Friday’s hearing is scheduled before Judge Nancy Leo.

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT OVERTURNED DEATH SENTENCE

The California Supreme Court in a unanimous opinion in August overturned Peterson’s death sentence on the grounds that the trial judge in San Mateo, Al Delucchi, wrongly excluded 13 potential jurors who stated they were opposed to the death penalty because he didn’t first determine whether they could put their beliefs aside and follow the law. Delucchi died in 2008.

In the same opinion, which was made in response to Scott Peterson’s automatic appeal, the court upheld his 2004 conviction for killing his wife, Laci Peterson, and the couple’s unborn son, Conner.

But last week the court made a ruling in Peterson’s petition for habeas corpus, which could lead to his conviction being overturned.

The court ruled that a San Mateo Superior Court Judge must decide whether prejudicial misconduct by a juror occurred when she failed to disclose that she’d been a the victim of a crime and obtained a restraining order against the perpetrator.

Whether the two separate issues of Peterson’s sentence and the juror misconduct will continue in two different Superior Courts is undetermined.

“Bottom line for our family is we have been wanting to get back into the courtroom to have this case heard again, whether it be for the penalty phase or a new trial we are grateful to present the new evidence we have,” Janey Peterson said.

WILL PETERSON APPEAR IN PERSON, REMOTELY?

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Stanislaus Superior Court has been live-streaming many of its hearings to maintain both social distancing guidelines and the public’s right to access. Many incarcerated inmates are also appearing remotely from jail or prison.

Court officials could not immediately be reached for comment about whether Peterson’s hearing would be live-streamed or if he would appear in person or remotely. He remains in custody in San Quentin state prison.

Scott Peterson | FIND related content here

When oral arguments were given before the California Supreme Court in Peterson’s automatic appeal they were done over video conference and Peterson did not take part.

Harris said he will represent Peterson on matters related to his sentence and attorney Cliff Gardner will appear on matters related to the juror misconduct.

No hearing has been scheduled yet in San Mateo Superior Court, according to its website.

Fladager said either she or Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris will appear on both matters. Both worked on the original prosecution team.

While Pat Harris said he will represent Peterson, Fladager said the issue of whether Peterson will need a public defender will be discussed at Friday’s hearing.

Laci Peterson was about 8 months pregnant when she disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002 from her Modesto home.

A few months later her body and that of her unborn son were found along the shore of the San Francisco Bay, less than two miles from where Peterson said he fished on the day of Laci’s disappearance.

Peterson’s defenders have pointed out that the police widely publicized his Dec. 24 alibi.

Source: modbee.com, Erin Tracy, October 20, 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

Florida executes Dominick Occhicone

Florida executes 2 men in a day. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made Florida's death chamber the nation’s busiest at the end of his final term. STARKE, Fla. — Florida on Tuesday became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day, the last an 80-year-old man who was the second-oldest inmate known to receive a lethal injection in modern U.S. history. Hours earlier, the state executed a former police officer convicted of killing a young girl.

Two Executions In Six Hours: Florida Set For Historical Double Execution Tuesday

Florida is preparing to execute two death row inmates on Tuesday, July 28, in an action that would mark the state’s first double execution in more than 60 years. Former police officer James Duckett, 68, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12 p.m., followed six hours later by 80-year-old Dominick Occhicone at 6 p.m. If carried out, these will mark the 39th and 40th executions under Gov. Ron DeSantis and the 11th and 12th in the state since the beginning of 2026. In response, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) has launched petition and letter-writing efforts asking DeSantis to halt both procedures. The group has organized two public vigils outside Florida State Prison in Raiford, set for 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., contingent on whether stays are issued.

Florida | 49 years on death row, killer of Bonita Springs teen learns death date

A Fort Myers man on death row for nearly five decades learned his execution date as Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his order Thursday, July 30. Harold Gene Lucas, then 24, shot and killed his 16-year-old girlfriend, Anthia Jill Piper in Bonita Springs on August 14, 1976. Lucas was 24 when he was charged in Piper's shooting death at her parents' home on Aug. 14, 1976. The execution is set for Sept. 1 in a state that has accelerated its pace under DeSantis the past two years, with a record of 19 executions in 2025. Piper was shot seven times by Lucas, who claimed to be intoxicated.

Florida executes James Duckett

Double execution: 1st of 2 inmates is put to death in Florida Florida has executed James Duckett, a 68-year-old former cop convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl in 1987. The state is set to execute an 80-year-old man 6 hours later for a 1986 murder. Florida carried out the 1st double execution in more than 60 years, executing former police officer James Duckett and later scheduling the execution of 80‑year‑old Dominick Occhicone, amid Governor Ron DeSantis’s aggressive push to increase death penalties in the state. Florida has put to death the 1st of 2 inmates in the state's 1st double execution in more than 60 years amid an aggressive death penalty push by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Florida | Former warden recalls botched electrocution that left him battling PTSD for 13 years and turned him into an abolitionist

Ron McAndrew anticipated it would be just another standard execution. He had been assigned to carry out the death of Cuban refugee Pedro Medina via electric chair within the confines of Florida State Prison. Fifteen years had passed since Medina's conviction for the murder of 52-year-old Dorothy James, and McAndrew's responsibility was to oversee the administration of lethal electrical currents to his brain. Having already supervised two previous executions using the identical procedure and raised in a community that strongly supported capital punishment, he expected a swift conclusion with justice delivered.

Iran erects iron gallows in Isfahan protest square

An iron gallows has been erected in an Isfahan square where protests erupted in January. Families of several of the 10 remaining prisoners sentenced to death have been summoned for farewell visits. An iron gallows erected in Ali-Khani Square in the central Iranian city of Isfahan has raised fears that the regime is preparing to publicly execute protesters arrested during nationwide demonstrations in January. Sources who spoke with Iran International said large numbers of security forces had been deployed in the area, while the families of several prisoners sentenced to death had been summoned to the prison for farewell visits.

North Korea | 'I was only 9': North Korean defector recalls childhood memory of public execution

Kim Eun-joo was 9 years old when her teacher stopped their lesson and told the class to follow her outside. The children were marched to a public execution ground in North Korea. “I would cry even when our family dog died,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “But the first time I watched humans killing a human, I had no words for what I was feeling. It was the most brutal scene I have ever seen, in any movie or in real life.” The memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a human rights advocate after defecting from North Korea, Kim recently brought that childhood scene to the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, where North Korea’s use of public executions and capital punishment was officially placed on the agenda for the first time.

USA | What happens in the final weeks before an execution? These reporters were inside the room.

The journalists behind ‘The Last 12 Weeks’ earned extraordinary access to a death penalty defense team—and faced difficult ethical choices Many defense lawyers are naturally cagey. They work in a pressure cooker, protecting their clients’ rights while fighting for the best possible outcome. And arguably, the stakes can’t get any higher than trying to save a client’s life. So no, defense lawyers don’t usually invite journalists into strategy meetings. But that’s what happened when Marshall Project reporter Maurice Chammah and Serial Productions senior producer Alvin Melathe spent the final few months before a Texas execution embedded with a capital defense team.

19 July 1943 | Auschwitz's Largest Public Hanging: 12 Polish Prisoners Executed in Escape Reprisal

OSWIECIM, Poland — The SS carried out the largest public hanging in Auschwitz history on July 19, 1943, executing 12 Polish prisoners before other inmates as collective punishment for escapes and civilian contacts. The victims, all from the camp’s surveyors’ labor unit, were hanged on gallows built in front of the camp kitchen during an Auschwitz I roll call. The SS orchestrated this reprisal following prisoner escapes from the surveyors’ detail and unauthorized communication between inmates and civilians. Camp authorities used the recent escapes as a pretext to impose collective punishment.

Idaho | How Bryan Kohberger’s Guilty Plea Move Could Be His Death Sentence

If Bryan Kohberger successfully withdraws his guilty plea and goes to trial for the murders of four University of Idaho students, it could lead to him being sentenced to death, experts told Newsweek . Kohberger, 31, filed a handwritten petition on Monday from the Idaho Maximum Security Penitentiary, where he is serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen in a rental home near the university's campus in Moscow, Idaho, in 2022. Kohberger pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbings just over a year ago, a month before jury selection was set to start.

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