Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)
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California | Scott Peterson case taken up by Los Angeles Innocence Project
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Scott Peterson was convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in 2004.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project has taken up the notorious case of convicted wife killer Scott Peterson in new court filings, ABC News was first to report on Thursday. The group is seeking new evidence from the original trial.
Laci Peterson, who was 27 years old and eight months pregnant, disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002. Her body was found in San Francisco Bay in April 2003.
Scott Peterson, 51, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife and second-degree murder in the death of their unborn son. He was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to death in 2005. He was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Attorneys with the LA Innocence Project claimed that Scott Peterson's state and federal constitutional rights were violated, including a "claim of actual innocence that is supported by newly discovered evidence," according to the court filings.
"New evidence now supports Mr. Peterson's longstanding claim of innocence and raises many questions into who abducted and killed Laci and Conner Peterson," the filings state.
His attorneys are seeking dozens of items they say they could not locate after reviewing the trial files from his prior counsel "after a thorough search," according to the filings. The items include evidence from the investigations into a December 2002 burglary of a home across the street from the Petersons' in Modesto in Stanislaus County, Laci Peterson's missing Croton watch, and a van fire in the Airport District on Dec. 25, 2002, according to the filings. They are also seeking documents from interviews with several witnesses.
Paula Mitchell, the director of the LA Innocence Project, said she found "deficiencies" while reviewing the discovery of Scott Peterson's case and sent a letter to Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero on Nov. 14, 2023, "seeking informal production of numerous specific items of post-conviction discovery," according to a declaration included in the filings.
The letter "includes private identifying information concerning numerous citizens, potential material witnesses, and possible suspects -- as well as sensitive investigative leads relating to Mr. Peterson's claim of innocence-information that was referenced throughout various police reports, tip sheets, and other investigative materials from both the prosecution and the defense that I reviewed," she said in her declaration.
Mitchell also said during her investigation, she has come across "numerous witnesses" who have expressed hesitation or "outright unwillingness" to provide information due to the high-profile nature of the case.
Scott Peterson, who pleaded not guilty, has maintained his innocence and claimed he received an unfair trial based on possible jury misconduct. His lawyers have previously claimed that a woman, known as Juror 7, had not disclosed involvement in other legal proceedings.
In 2020, the California Supreme Court overturned Scott Peterson's death sentence, citing that his jury was improperly screened for bias against the death penalty, according to court documents.
He was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in December 2021 and moved off death row in October 2022.
In December 2022, Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo denied Scott Peterson "relief" in his appeal based on stealth juror accusations.
Scott Peterson's attorney, Pat Harris, said in a statement to ABC News on Thursday that they are "thrilled to have the incredibly skilled attorneys at the LA Innocence project and their expertise becoming involved in the efforts to prove Scott's innocence."
The LA Innocence Project -- which provides pro bono legal services to people incarcerated in Central and Southern California who may have been wrongfully convicted -- said in a statement later on Thursday that it is representing Scott Peterson and "investigating his claim of actual innocence."
"We have no further comment at this time," the organization said.
Mike Belmessieri, who served as a juror in Scott Peterson's trial, told ABC News on Thursday that there isn't a day that goes by where he hasn't thought about the case. He said he supports the LA Innocence Project's review of the case.
"If they think they're going to find something different, that sheds light on something new, I fully support it," Belmessieri said.
Source: ABC News, Alex Stone, Dan Noyes, and Meredith Deliso, January 19, 2024
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.
Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)
Luo Chongchuang, a man who raped and molested multiple girls for a long time, was executed after China's top court approved his death penalty. The execution was carried by the Hainan First Intermediate People's Court, where he was convicted of rape and child molestation and given the death sentence.
Every few years, from childhood until my late teens, my granddad would take me along with him to the small Texas town where he grew up—Normangee, population 522—to visit old relatives and even older graves. The drive took us up I-45, beyond the Houston sprawl, past pine forests, and eventually through Huntsville, epicenter of the state prison system. One of the city’s seven prisons was just off the interstate, and as we passed by I’d stare at the guard towers and barbed wire before turning my attention across the street to the Texas Prison Museum, which had its own mock guard towers in the parking lot. (“Prison” and “museum” were words that never seemed to go together.) Later, I learned that the museum’s central attraction was the wooden electric chair the state used for executions until 1964.
A 20-year-old Jewish man is scheduled to be executed by Iranian authorities on Saturday, according to Iranian media reports. The young man has been sentenced to death following his involvement in a fatal altercation with a local non-Jewish Iranian.
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 – Saudi Arabia has acceded to Kenya’s request to postpone the execution of Stephen Munyakho that was set for Wednesday to allow for further negotiations between all parties. According to Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei, Kenya will be engaging stakeholders in Nairobi and Riyadh, including religious leaders, to agree on the next urgent steps.
Thousands of years ago in ancient China, felonies were not simply punished with a stint in jail, but serious crimes often entailed the amputation of a limb, specifically legs. This harsh culture of punishment, known as yue , disciplined people for various crimes, such as desertion from duties, stealing, or defrauding the monarchy. It was also used in lieu of the death penalty.
David Hosier, who is weeks away from execution, is in a hospital after suffering what a Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman described as a “medical emergency." ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri death row prisoner who is due to be executed next month has been hospitalized because of a “medical emergency,” a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections said.
The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ
Buried on page 554 of the plan is a directive to execute every remaining person on federal death row — and dramatically expand the use of the death penalty. During the final six months of Donald Trump’s presidency, his administration carried out an unprecedented execution spree, killing 13 people on federal death row and ending a 17-year de facto federal execution moratorium.