The LA Innocence Project has recently begun investigating the notorious case of Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in 2002. The organization has filed new court documents in an effort to gather additional evidence related to the initial trial.
The LA Innocence Project is committed to exonerating wrongly convicted prisoners and provides pro bono legal and investigative services to those in Southern California who were convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Laci Peterson, a 27-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant, went missing on Christmas Eve of 2002.
Laci Peterson
Her remains were later discovered in San Francisco Bay in April of 2003.
51-year-old Scott Peterson was apprehended and accused of first-degree murder for the killing of his wife, as well as second-degree murder for the death of their unborn child. He was found guilty in 2004 and given the death penalty in 2005, but his sentence was later changed to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Peterson, who entered a plea of not guilty, and his legal representatives have consistently asserted his lack of culpability and argued that he was subjected to an unjust trial due to potential misconduct by the jury. His attorneys have previously alleged that one of the jurors, identified as Juror 7, failed to disclose her participation in other legal matters.
According to court documents, the California Supreme Court reversed the death sentence of Scott Peterson in 2020, stating that his jury was not properly screened for any prejudice against capital punishment.
In December 2021, he was resentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole and was relocated from death row in October 2022.
Scott Peterson’s appeal for a new trial based on allegations of a stealth juror was rejected by Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo in December 2022.
