The Los Angeles Innocence Project has taken up the case of a man who was found guilty in 2004 of killing his wife and unborn child, according to ABC News.
In one of the most notorious murder trials in the state, Scott Peterson was found guilty of the deaths of his wife, who was pregnant, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child. According to ABC News, the LA Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to acquitting wrongfully convicted individuals, is taking up the case.
According to the website, the LA Innocence Project is made up of lawyers who try to use scientific advancements like DNA testing to clear convicted individuals.
To demonstrate that one or more people may have killed the two, attorneys for the Innocence Project filed many motions in San Mateo County Superior Court this week.
According to ABC, the documents indicate that fresh information backs up Mr. Peterson’s long-standing denial of guilt and casts doubt on the identity of the person who kidnapped and murdered Laci and Conner Peterson.
According to a social media post by ABC7 reporter Dan Noyes, Scott Peterson’s attorneys are concentrating on a few males who were involved in a break-in across the street from the Peterson residence.
In December 2002, Scott Peterson filed a missing person’s report from their Modesto, California, home. When Laci Peterson vanished, she was almost seven months pregnant. According to authorities, Laci and Conner’s remains were discovered separately in April 2003 after they washed ashore in San Francisco Bay.
The execution sentence of Scott Peterson was overturned by the California Supreme Court in 2020 when it was discovered that prospective jurors had been mistakenly excluded, in part because they had indicated on a form that they opposed the death penalty in general.
However, the state’s top court maintained the convictions, concluding that the trial was conducted fairly. Scott Peterson received a new sentence in 2021 that carried a life term without the chance of release.
According to ABC News, the L.A. Innocence Project is currently requesting additional evidence in Scott’s initial trial, claiming that Peterson’s federal and state constitutional rights were infringed.
Updated witness testimony, cited by the organization’s attorneys, indicates other areas of interest, including the burglary of a Modesto home across the street from the Petersons in December 2002.
Scott was alone on a Christmas Eve morning fishing excursion when his attorneys had previously claimed his wife was slain after she saw the men sneaking into the neighbor’s house while out for a dog walk.
As stated in the pleadings, “after a thorough search,” his attorneys are seeking dozens of materials that they claim they were unable to find after going over the trial files from his previous counsel. According to the complaints, Peterson’s federal and state constitutional rights were infringed.
In 2022, Peterson’s attorneys requested a new trial, but the judge denied their request. They claimed that a juror had fabricated information about past abuse to gain a place on the panel, tainting the proceedings.
Following his arrest in April 2003, Peterson was accused of killing his wife in the first degree and his child in the second degree. Amber Frey, Peterson’s girlfriend, began collaborating with detectives and provided testimony during his trial.
Before Laci passed away, Frey dated Peterson for a month. According to investigators, Frey was aware of Peterson’s wife’s passing.
In 2004, Peterson was found guilty of murder in San Mateo County.
Paula Mitchell, The Director Of LAIP’s Statement About Scott Peterson
The Los Angeles Innocence Project’s director, Paula Mitchell, stated in the filing that during LAIP’s review and following some initial investigation, he discovered that many of the items mentioned in the police report about Mr. Peterson’s case were absent from the discovery that was given to the defense during the trial.
According to Peterson’s previous attorney Cliff Gardner, the organization took up the case because Peterson was no longer eligible for a court-appointed attorney for habeas corpus procedures following the overturning of his death sentence.
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