Scott Peterson’s strongest argument for overturning him Murder conviction According to one criminal defense attorney, it could end up being a long shot.
Peterson’s lawyers filed a petition Monday seeking to overturn the 2004 murder conviction. Peterson was convicted in 2002 of killing his wife, Rashi and his unborn baby.
Los Angeles The Innocence Project, which took over Peterson’s case, filed a court petition on Monday, alleging that it contained “substantial new evidence.” Peterson’s lawyers argued in the petition that Peterson’s due process and fair trial rights should be denied at the 2004 trial, and his conviction should be overturned. The petition contains evidence handed over by a state that had not been previously disclosed.
According to the newly filed petition, 17 witnesses who lived or worked in Peterson’s neighborhood reported on the morning of December 24, 2002 that they had “see an explanation of a woman walking her dog in a nearby neighborhood and a nearby park,” after Scott left that day.
Scott Peterson asks to cast a murder conviction, citing “substantial new evidence.”
At the Christmas party on December 14th, 2002, Scott Peterson and Amber Frey knew that Scott Peterson was a married man before the murder of Lassi Peterson and before Frey. (California Superior Court, San Mateo County)
Peterson’s lawyers alleged that none of the detectives assigned to the LACI search had conducted eyewitness interviews with people who reported seeing Laci and her dog.
His lawyers confronted a robber on December 26, 2002, trying to break into a house on the street, saying in a court application. According to Scott Peterson’s lawyer, this happened after he left for a fishing trip.
The filing argues that the scented dog used by law enforcement could not pick up Laci Peterson’s scent as he has evidence that she was still alive on December 28th when prosecutors alleged that the dog picked up her scent.
Sitting, Scott Peterson speaks to Attorney Pat Harris on February 25, 2022, during a break from hearing at San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood, California. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, Pool)
Criminal defense attorney Keith Johnson told Fox News Digital that the petition was Scott Peterson’s “most powerful” argument to overturn beliefs, but it’s likely still a long shot.
“I think the most powerful argument the Peterson team has is,” Johnson said. “I don’t think it’s going to overturn the capital case, because this judge doesn’t support what the ju judge has already decided, so that’s the biggest issue.”
Scott Peterson was attacked in a California prison by a fellow murderer: Corrections
Scott Peterson on October 21, 2022 (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Department via AP)
Johnson likened Scott Peterson’s lawyers to attempt to overturn their beliefs to “Harried Mary.”
“If habeasants petitions identify with it like sports, then it’s like Mary of Hail,” Johnson said. “It’s like a shot of half-courts that has run out of time. So, they’re very rarely accepted, but I know a fair number that was allowed. The whole theory is that all of the other appeals have been exhausted and not succeeded.”
He said Scott Peterson’s lawyers were about to argue that the investigation was “miscontrolled.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Peterson was found guilty of murdering his wife Rashi in 2004 and guilty of the death of the couple’s unborn baby, Connor. Laci Peterson disappeared from Modesto, California in late 2002 on Christmas Eve. Pedestrians discovered the body of a fetus that had been decomposed at the time in the San Francisco Bay in April 2003.
In the petition, the lawyer accused the ju judges of not listening to evidence that they believed to have changed the outcome of the trial, accusing the prosecutor of potentially destroying the evidence.
Scott Peterson and Rasi Peterson in stills from “American Murder: Rasi Peterson.” (Provided by Netflix)
“Every aspect of the prosecutor’s theory regarding how the crimes in this case were committed now has been shown to be false,” the petition states. “The new evidence in this revised petition shows that the entire theory of the prosecution’s case was incorrect.
“In some cases, there is no adverse error sufficient to justify the relief, but in the event of a large number of constitutional or statutory violations, the court concludes that cumulatively undermines the conviction and confidence in the relief, which is certainly the case here.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Innocence Project said the group had not commented on the pending lawsuit.
