LOS ANGELES — Nearly 20 years after being convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Scott Peterson appeared virtually in court Tuesday. Lawyers with the Los Angeles Innocence Project asked the judge to order new DNA testing and give investigators access to relevant evidence. There was a robbery across the street from a couple’s home in California.
Peterson was found guilty of murder in the deaths of the unborn children, whom the jury intended to name Lacey and Connor, and was sentenced to death.
Prosecutors say the suspect killed Lacy on Christmas Eve 2002 and dumped her body in San Francisco Bay.
The death sentence was later reversed and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The LA Innocence Project is currently covering Peterson’s case.
The group suggests in court documents that Laci Peterson witnessed a break-in on Christmas Eve across the street from the couple’s Modesto home and may have been abducted and killed by robbers.
The filing in San Mateo County Superior Court represents a major effort to exonerate the 51-year-old Peterson, 20 years after his arrest that captivated the nation.
In January, the LA Innocence Project filed a motion on behalf of Mr. Peterson asking for “the discovery of additional evidence and authorization for new DNA testing to assist our investigation into Mr. Peterson’s actual claim of innocence.” said Paula Mitchell, the organization’s director, in a statement Tuesday. .
The project is seeking DNA testing on items related to the robbery, as well as a tarp and large plastic bag found at the water’s edge near where the bodies were washed up separately.
In addition, the group’s attorneys are seeking police reports and audio and video recordings from interviews with suspects and witnesses involved in the robbery.
Court filings allege Modesto police improperly withheld material and were too hasty in declaring the robbers unrelated to the killings.
Stanislaus County Attorney David Harris told Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill that it would take time to review old materials, much of which has already been litigated at trial and is pending Mr. Peterson’s appeal. He said he believes the lawsuit has been filed again.
“There’s going to be a lot of back and forth on the record, and there’s going to be a lot of information from both sides,” Harris said.
One of the robbery suspects, named in court filings as DM, denied having anything to do with the robberies, but said that perhaps the robbers had “done something stupid” by confronting Laci Peterson. He suggested to the police that this might be the case.
“DM further asserted that he knew that someone other than Mr. Peterson murdered Laci Peterson because he stated that he knew Mr. Peterson was innocent,” the filing states. Are listed.
Ms Mitchell told the court her group’s request was “not a fishing expedition”. Very accurate. They are very specific. ”
At the initial trial, prosecutors presented mostly circumstantial evidence, claiming that Peterson had an affair with a Fresno masseuse, killed Ms. Lacey, removed her body on a fishing boat and abandoned it in the bay. .
Peterson appeared in court via Zoom for Tuesday’s status conference. The judge set the next two hearings for April 16th and May 29th. Peterson also plans to attend the hearing remotely from Mule Creek State Prison, southeast of Sacramento.
“Today’s hearing is just the first step in a long process. We are not commenting on the allegations, but we will continue to bring the case to court, where it should be judged,” Mitchell said in a statement.
The national Innocence Project has distanced itself from the Los Angeles group, saying in a press release issued after the lawsuit was filed that the Southern California nonprofit is “completely independent from the Innocence Project.” .
