The Los Angeles Innocence Project (LAIP) has recently announced that it will be taking on the Scott Peterson murder case. Peterson, who was convicted in 2004 for the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, is seeking new DNA testing to prove his innocence. The LAIP, an organization dedicated to exonerating those wrongly convicted through forensic and scientific evidence, will be working to investigate Peterson’s claim of actual innocence.
In a statement, Pat Harris, Peterson’s attorney, expressed his excitement about having the LAIP’s talented attorneys join the case: “We are very excited to have the incredibly talented attorneys from the LA Innocence Project lend their considerable expertise to helping prove Scott’s innocence,” he said.
The LAIP has filed documents with the San Mateo Superior Court requesting prosecutors and law enforcement to hand over evidence that was available during the trial. Additionally, Peterson has an active petition for the writ of Habeas Corpus, which is a legal challenge to a prior criminal conviction. The LAIP’s lawyers wrote in the court documents, “Mr. Peterson respectfully requests that the Court grant this Motion and direct the People provide the requested discovery so that further investigation into the claims set forth in the pending Petition can be conducted.”
This recent development comes after the California Supreme Court reversed Peterson’s death sentence in August 2020. The court found that jurors were erroneously dismissed during the trial because they expressed objections to the death penalty on a questionnaire. Peterson was resentenced in 2021 to life without parole.
Peterson’s lack of remorse has been a point of contention. His attorney stated during the resentencing that Peterson is not guilty and therefore does not feel remorseful. One of the jurors from the trial, Mike Belmessieri, stands by the jury’s initial verdict but believes that if there is new evidence, it should be revealed. “If there’s something new, it’s something we didn’t hear,” he said. “I think that would be unfortunate. If anybody was manipulating the evidence or not being honest, and Scott ended up spending 20 years in prison, well, there’s something wrong with that picture.”
Scott Peterson was once described as a loving husband and expectant father until it was revealed that he was having an affair with Amber Frey at the time of his wife’s disappearance. This revelation quickly turned him into “the most hated man in America,” according to Harris. Prosecutors argued that 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. Her remains washed ashore in April 2003.
Suspicious behavior on Peterson’s part also raised red flags. In the weeks following Laci’s disappearance, he sold her car, looked into selling their house, and converted the baby nursery into a storage room. He had also researched ocean currents and purchased a boat without informing anyone. Additionally, Peterson could not provide a clear explanation of the type of fish he was trying to catch on the day his wife went missing.
The LAIP’s involvement in the Scott Peterson case brings hope for those who believe in his innocence. With their expertise in forensic and scientific evidence, they aim to uncover any potential new information that could shed light on the truth. As the investigation unfolds, the true story behind Laci Peterson’s tragic death may finally come to light.
