It’s a cornerstone of the American authorized system and a digital literary trope that individuals are presumed harmless till being confirmed responsible, nevertheless it certain was simple to imagine the worst about fertilizer salesman Scott Peterson after his spouse, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, mysteriously disappeared in late 2002.
After all, right here was a person who informed his mistress that his then-pregnant spouse was already deceased; supplied conflicting details about what he was doing the day she was reported lacking; was recognizing laughing at Laci’s candlelight vigil; and offered off her automotive within the weeks earlier than her lifeless physique was found. It was hardly the habits of a loyal household man, and the general public’s suspicions had been confirmed when a jury discovered Peterson responsible of double murder in November 2004.
But the court docket of public opinion solely goes thus far amid the in depth layers of the authorized system, and Peterson’s appeals ultimately earned a more in-depth look as he waited out the years on dying row, organising the once-unthinkable chance he would get one other shot at freedom.
December 24, 2002: Laci is reported lacking
Scott tells police that he had final seen Laci, practically eight months pregnant with their child, at their Modesto, California, residence round 9:30 that morning earlier than leaving to go fishing, sparking a large manhunt comprised of each regional and federal authorities and volunteer search groups. Scott shortly attracts the scrutiny of investigators, who notice his seeming lack of concern over his spouse’s disappearance and his refusal to take a polygraph check.
January 24, 2003: Amber Frey reveals her relationship with Scott
Amber Frey, a therapeutic massage therapist, tells reporters that she started courting Scott two months earlier, unaware that he was married, and that she contacted police on December 30 after realizing the connection between her boyfriend and the lacking girl within the headlines.
March 5, 2003: Laci’s case is reclassified as a murder
Authorities supply no cause for the switch from a missing-person investigation, apart from a press release that notes that they had “increasingly come to believe that Laci is the victim of a violent crime.”
April 13-14, 2003: The stays of a lady and fetus are discovered
One day after the body of a fetus is discovered on the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay, the decomposing physique of a lady is discovered close by, roughly two to a few miles north of the Berkeley Marina the place Scott mentioned he went fishing the earlier Christmas Eve.
April 18, 2003: Scott is arrested and the our bodies are recognized as Laci and Conner
Peterson is apprehended in La Jolla, California, close to each the San Diego residence of his mom and the Mexican border. Along with sporting a dyed-blond hairdo and goatee, he’s driving a automotive containing roughly $15,000 in money, his brother’s ID card and a number of cell telephones. Later that day, it’s confirmed that the lately discovered our bodies are these of Laci and Conner.
The program for the memorial service for Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, held on May 4, 2003
Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
April 21, 2003: Scott pleads not responsible
In a quick arraignment at Stanislaus County Superior Court, Peterson pleads not guilty to 2 counts of capital homicide. He additionally says he can’t afford a lawyer and is appointed a public defender.
May 2, 2003: Celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos joins Scott’s crew
Geragos, who counted actors Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr. amongst his clientele and had lately been offering cable TV evaluation of the Peterson case, announces that he has been employed by the defendant’s household.
November 18, 2003: Scott is ordered to face trial
Following 11 days of testimony from investigators, members of the family and neighbors in a preliminary hearing, Judge Aldo Girolami determines that prosecutors had proven possible trigger and orders Scott to face trial for the double murder prices.
December 19, 2003: Laci’s mother information wrongful dying claims
Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, files suits as each a person and the administrator of her daughter’s property, looking for greater than $5 million in damages. “She wants to make sure justice is done whether it’s in a civil court or a criminal court,” her lawyer says.
January 20, 2004: The trial is moved to San Mateo County
Conceding that overwhelming publicity and hostility had squashed the potential of a good trial in Peterson’s hometown, Judge Girolami publicizes that proceedings will be transferred 90 miles away to San Mateo County.
In this handout picture launched by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s workplace, Scott Peterson is proven after his arrest
Photo: Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office/Getty Images
June 1, 2004: Scott’s trial begins
The trial commences with the prosecution’s opening statement, which asserts that Scott sought a responsibility-free life by killing his spouse and soon-to-be-born son and dumping her weighted physique within the bay. The following day, Geragos contends that his shopper’s “boorish” habits is hardly proof of homicide, and gives a preview of the medical proof that factors to the child being born after Laci’s reported disappearance.
June 23, 2004: A juror is eliminated
Two days after juror Justin Falconer is noticed talking to Laci’s brother exterior the courtroom, Judge Alfred Delucchi dismisses the juror. He additionally shoots down the protection’s request for a mistrial resulting from unfavorable information stories, noting, “We have to live with the media.”
August 10, 2004: Frey delivers her essential testimony
Taking the stand for the primary of her seven days of testimony, Frey, represented by superstar lawyer Gloria Allred, recalls the details of her fairytale first date with Scott. She goes on to narrate his claims of being a widower and quite a few different lies, her accounts bolstered by the 12 hours of recorded cellphone calls performed for the jury. Legal analysts later pinpoint this testimony as an enormous momentum-shifter for the prosecution, to that time sputtering by an absence of agency proof and its mishandling of procedural issues.
Amber Frey leaves the San Mateo County Courthouse after her second day of testimony within the Scott Peterson double homicide trial on August 11, 2004, in San Mateo, California
Photo: Lou Dematteis-Pool/Getty Images
October 21, 2004: The protection’s medical professional fumbles on the stand
Following by on his opening promise, Geragos calls on a medical professional who testifies that Conner died no sooner than December 29, 2002, indicating that Laci was nonetheless alive after being reported lacking. But the looks ends badly for the witness, who concedes that he relied on rumour to pinpoint the date of a being pregnant check, and at one level asks the cross-examining prosecutor to “cut me some slack.”
November 3, 2004: Jury deliberations start… and switch bumpy
After 5 months and greater than 180 witnesses known as to the stand, the jury is left to determine the fate of Scott.
On November 9, juror Fran Gorman is dismissed for misconduct – later revealed to be for conducting separate analysis – and is changed by alternate Richelle Nice, whose identify would resurface in appeals down the street. The following day, foreman Gregory Jackson can be eliminated, reportedly at his personal request after repeated clashes together with his fellow jurors.
November 12, 2004: Scott is discovered responsible
Despite the absence of a homicide weapon or any bodily proof tying Scott to the deceased, he’s found guilty of first-degree homicide for the dying of Laci and second-degree homicide for the dying of Conner. The announcement sparks audible gasps within the courtroom, together with a roar of celebration from the group gathered exterior.
An further version of the “Redwood City Daily News” with Scott Peterson’s verdict splashed on the entrance web page
Photo: David Paul Morris/Getty Images
December 13, 2004: The jury recommends a dying sentence
Following 11 hours of deliberations, the clerk publicizes to a quiet courtroom that the six-man, six-woman jury had unanimously voted to “fix the penalty at death.”
March 16: 2005: The decide sentences Scott to dying
Judge Delucchi sentences Scott to dying by deadly injection, however his announcement is overshadowed by the emotion that erupts when Laci’s household is given the chance to talk, with mother and father from either side yelling and Laci’s brother telling the convicted that he’d strongly thought of taking pictures him. Scott, who sits stoically by the charged affair, declines to ship a press release earlier than being shipped off to San Quentin State Prison.
April 2009: Laci’s household foregoes the civil go well with
Shortly earlier than a scheduled listening to on April 30, 2009, it’s introduced that Sharon and Dennis Rocha had dropped the wrongful death claim in opposition to their former son-in-law.
July 5, 2012: Scott information an attraction
In a 423-page doc submitted to the California Supreme Court, Scott’s lawyer revives the criticism that intensive publicity had eroded the potential of his shopper receiving a good trial. He additionally claims that Judge Delucchi had erred by excluding potential jurors who opposed the dying penalty however mentioned they might think about imposing such a sentence, and that sure proof, such because the findings of a police canine with a poor monitor report of success, ought to by no means have been admitted as proof.
November 24, 2015: Scott information a second attraction
The habeas corpus petition covers a lot of the identical floor as Scott’s earlier attraction, with one glaring difference: It consists of the revelation that Nice, one of many late-trial replacements, had lied about an earlier involvement in authorized proceedings by failing to reveal that she had as soon as been threatened by her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend whereas pregnant.
August 24, 2020: Scott’s dying sentence is overturned
Agreeing with Scott’s argument that potential jurors had been improperly dismissed for his or her opposition to the dying penalty however a willingness to stick to it, the California Supreme Court overturns Scott’s death sentence. However, the court docket rejects the stance that he was unable to obtain a good trial and upholds the homicide conviction.
October 14, 2020: Scott’s convictions are ordered reexamined
Focusing on the “prejudicial misconduct” of Nice’s failure to reveal her earlier authorized entanglements, the California Supreme Court publicizes that the case might be despatched again to San Mateo County Superior Court to find out whether or not a brand new trial is required.
October 23, 2020: Prosecutors announce plans to pursue the identical plan of action
A Stanislaus County spokesman says that Assistant District Attorney Dave Harris intends to seek the death penalty for Scott once more. Meanwhile, Peterson lawyer Pat Harris, who labored alongside Geragos within the unique trial, tells reporters that “an innocent man’s been sitting in jail for 15 years, it’s time to get him out.”
November 6, 2020: Scott declines a speedy trial
Appearing in a San Mateo Superior Court listening to by way of Zoom, Scott waives the right to speedy trial of the penalty part of his case, setting the stage for a brand new chapter in his long-running authorized saga.
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