Death Penalty News

Scott Peterson's attorneys said they plan to appeal to a higher court. SAN MATEO, Calif. -- A California judge has denied Scott Peterson's attempt to present new evidence that his attorneys claim exonerates him in the murder of his wife and unborn son. Laci Peterson disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002 when she was eight months pregnant. Her body was found in the San Francisco Bay in April 2003. Scott Peterson, 53, 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. A jury found him guilty following a six-month trial in 2004.

More than two decades after Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, California, home, the murder case that captivated the nation continues to draw legal challenges, public debate and renewed attention. As the year comes to a close, Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son Conner, remains behind bars, serving life without the possibility of parole. His wife disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002, and a few months later, the remains of Laci and Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay.

LA Innocence Project says it will refile its case in Redwood City courthouse, believing new evidence "exonerates" him Scott Peterson’s hope that the California Court of Appeal would overturn his murder conviction were dashed this week when it instead directed his lawyers to return their case to the same Redwood City courthouse where he has had no luck over the past two decades convincing a jury or a string of judges he is innocent of killing his pregnant wife Laci and unborn son two decades ago. The Los Angeles Innocence Project, which took on the notorious case more than a year ago, had asserted in an 847-page petition that it had uncovered evidence that would “eviscerate” the prosecution’s original case and exonerate the former Modesto fertilizer salesman, including new witnesses who say they saw Laci walking her dog at a time prosecutors say she was already dead.

Face to Face with Scott Peterson has landed on Peacock, placing renewed focus on his efforts to get a new trial. The new docu-series is worlds apart from American Murder: Laci Peterson , which dropped on Netflix earlier this month and looked at the many disturbing details that led to Scott’s conviction for the 2002 murder of his wife Laci and their unborn child Conner.

(NEW YORK) — The district attorney in Stanislaus County, California, has filed new paperwork in court opposing a motion by Scott Peterson’s defense team — the Los Angeles Innocence Project — for DNA testing in the murder case of Laci Peterson and Conner Peterson. In a more than 300-page filing on Monday, the DA’s office addresses the 14 items the defense is requesting DNA testing for and why they say these have already been tested, litigated, are unrelated, or the burden has not been met to retest them.

Scott Peterson was convicted in 2004 in the deaths of 27-year-old Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant, and the couple's unborn child. The two-decade-old murder conviction of Scott Peterson was the focus of a court hearing Tuesday when the Los Angeles Innocence Project revived the case in a Northern California courtroom.

Less than two months after the Los Angeles Innocence Project took up the case of convicted murderer Scott Peterson, a judge in San Mateo County, California, has scheduled a status hearing. The court confirmed Peterson will be represented by the LA Innocence Project, and it is believed the status hearing will be in response to the group requesting new evidence from the original trial in an attempt to exonerate Peterson. RELATED |  Scott Peterson case taken up by Los Angeles Innocence Project

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.

Amber Frey, the ex-girlfriend of Scott Peterson who later testified against him, is speaking out exclusively to Fox News Digital after a judge denied his bid for a new trial , saying among other things: "The truth doesn't change over time." Just one day after California Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo announced that she was not granting Peterson a new trial in the murders of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, Frey, who was revealed to have had an extramarital affair with Peterson, is breaking her silence. "It's relieving to hear Scott Peterson will not get a new trial," she said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital by her longtime attorney, Gloria Allred. "I would have been willing to testify again. However, I am relieved that my testimony will not be necessary. If I were called to testify, I would give truthful testimony again, for the truth doesn't change over time."

Scott Peterson, who was convicted by a California jury of killing his pregnant wife Laci Peterson in 2002, has been denied a new trial.  The 50-year-old Peterson and his legal team argued that a juror in his 2004 murder trial committed misconduct and he deserved a new trial. However, on Tuesday a San Mateo County Superior Court judge ruled she had not. In a statement to CBS News, Peterson's attorney, Pat Harris, said they were "disappointed" by the ruling, but that "this case is not over," adding that they had new evidence that supposedly proves Peterson did not murder his wife. Laci's disappearance in 2002, and Peterson's subsequent murder conviction, gained widespread media attention. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder of his 27-year-old wife, as well as second-degree murder of their unborn son they had planned to name Conner. Prosecutors said that Peterson dumped Laci's body into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve of 2002.  Jurors imposed...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Scott Peterson has been moved off death row more than two years after the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence for killing his pregnant wife two decades ago, corrections officials said Monday. Peterson was moved last week from San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco to Mule Creek State Prison east of Sacramento.  A new mug shot taken Friday shows Peterson, 50, with salt-and-pepper stubble compared to his previous clean-shaven look. Jurors imposed the death penalty after convicting Peterson of the first-degree murder of Laci Peterson, 27, and second-degree murder of the unborn son they were going to name Conner, dumping them into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. The state’s high court overturned that sentence in August 2020 after finding that potential jurors were improperly dismissed for saying they personally disagreed with the death penalty but would be willing to follow the law and impose it. A state judge is now consid...

REDWOOD CITY — Scott Peterson’s lawyers made their final appeal in court Thursday to convince a judge that his conviction for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and unborn son two decades ago should be overturned because a “feisty” juror with a history of domestic violence was biased against him from the start. But Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo appeared skeptical that they had made their juror misconduct case, suggesting during questioning from the bench Thursday that perhaps it was Peterson’s lawyers, not the juror, who had messed up from the start. When Peterson’s lawyer Cliff Gardner said that juror Richelle Nice lied when she testified earlier this year that she was the aggressor, not the victim, during a fight with her boyfriend two years before she was chosen for the Peterson jury, the judge asked why Gardner didn’t call the boyfriend to the stand to refute her. When Gardner suggested that the juror had concealed her true bias against Peterson on the original jury ...

Juror Richelle Nice wrote several letters to Peterson after his conviction, and wrote a book about her time on the jury panel Attorneys for Scott Peterson are appealing his conviction — and they claim that the actions of one of the jurors in his murder case may mean that the convicted killer didn't get a fair trial. Scott, now 49, was convicted in 2005 of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the 2002 death of Laci and their unborn son, who was to be named Conner. He was sentenced to death row, where he remained for about 15 years. But Peterson scored 2 major legal victories in 2020. The 1st victory was in August, when his death penalty sentence was overturned, meaning that he would face a new penalty phase trial. The 2nd victory came in October, when the California Supreme Court ruled that a lower court should take a 2nd look at his case to determine whether his guilty verdict should be overturned. Defense attorneys claim that a juror, Richelle Nice, lied during jury selection when ask...

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) — A juror in Scott Peterson’s two-decade-old murder trial will be granted immunity before testifying at a hearing that could determine whether a new trial is granted, authorities said. The offer to Richelle Nice will come before she testifies at a Feb. 25 evidentiary hearing, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager announced Monday. Nice was Juror 7 in the trial that ended in 2004 with Peterson’s conviction for killing his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son. Prosecutors say Peterson took his wife’s body from their Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002 and dumped her from his fishing boat into the San Francisco Bay, where her body and that of her unborn son washed ashore separately in April 2003. Peterson’s lawyers want to overturn his murder conviction on grounds of bias and misconduct. They contend that Nice lied on a jury questionnaire when she denied having been the victim of a crime or involved in a lawsuit. Attorneys say Nice did ...

Peterson is serving a life sentence for the 2002 murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son Scott Peterson has scored several legal victories in the past two years — and he is telling family members that he expects to eventually be released from custody. "He feels confident that he will get out of prison someday," a family member tells PEOPLE. "He is hopeful that he will be a free man again. He feels encouraged based on the events of the last two years. Scott, now 49, was convicted in 2005 of two counts of first-degree murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. He was sentenced to death row, where he remained for about 15 years. But Scott scored two major legal victories in 2020. The first victory was in August, when his death penalty sentence was overturned, meaning that he would face a new penalty phase trial. The second victory came in October, when the California Supreme Court ruled that a lower court should take a second look at his case to...

After being resentenced to life without the possibility of parole, Scott Peterson is looking ahead to the hearing that will determine if his conviction for murdering his pregnant wife will be overturned.  The evidentiary hearing will focus on one of 19 claims in Peterson’s petition for habeas corpus filed by his defense team in 2015. It alleges a biased juror lied on a jury questionnaire about being the victim of a crime and party to a lawsuit so that she could sit in judgment of Peterson.  Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo will make a decision within 90 days of the hearing’s conclusion in March, but no matter the outcome there are legal options for the losing side, which could take years to exhaust.  RELATED | Scott Peterson transferred from death row ahead of resentencing The California Supreme Court in October 2020 ordered that the issue be decided by a judge in San Mateo Superior Court, where Peterson’s 2004 trial was held due to the pretrial publicity in S...

(CNN) -- Scott Peterson has been resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the deaths of his wife and unborn child, a California judge ruled Wednesday. Peterson, 49, was convicted in 2004 for the murders of his wife Laci and their unborn son Conner. Peterson was originally sentenced to death. In August 2020, the California Supreme Court reversed Peterson's death sentence after finding that potential jurors were dismissed erroneously, in part because they expressed general objections to the death penalty on a questionnaire. Judge Anne-Christine Massullo on Wednesday ordered Peterson to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of Laci and a concurrent sentence of 15 years to life for the second-degree murder of Conner. Laci Peterson's family members tearfully addressed Peterson in court. "You didn't want the responsibility of being a father. You're a coward," Laci's mother Sharon Rocha said....