Peterson was convicted in 2004 of first-degree murder in relation to his wife and of second-degree murder of their unborn son. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005.
Prosecutors claim that Scott Peterson traveled to San Francisco Bay with his wife’s body from their home in Modesto, California, and that he dumped it from his fishing boat. “He has to die knowing that everyone stopped looking for Laci because he was having an affair,” said Janey Peterson. “We make no excuse for Scott's behavior in that sense… But unfortunately, a lot of that is being used to convict him of murder.”
Scott Peterson’s defense attorney, Pat Harris, alleged that investigators misinterpreted circumstantial evidence. Investigators later caught the men who broke into the house and interviewed them. The police determined that the men did not abduct Laci Peterson. “We sent our investigator down to interview Lieutenant Aponte who confirmed and signed a declaration saying it was true,” said Harris. “We ask him specifically if he had been interviewed by the Modesto police, and he said, ‘Yes, they interviewed me back before the trial started.’"
On Aug. 24, 2020, almost two decades after his conviction, the California Supreme Court upheld Peterson’s guilty verdict, but overturned his death penalty sentence. The court determined that the 2004 trial court “erroneously dismissed” prospective jurors who opposed the death penalty improperly because the juror questionnaire did not ask if their views would prevent them from following the law. Prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty again.
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