MODESTO, Calif. (Court TV) — A California district attorney is firing back at arguments made by a new docuseries focused on Scott Peterson and the murder of his wife and unborn son.
Scott Peterson appears in court in 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, Pool)
Scott Peterson, 53, has maintained his innocence for more than 20 years after he was convicted in the deaths of Laci Peterson and the couple’s child, who was to be named Conner. Scott Peterson was initially sentenced to death; that sentence was overturned in 2020 by the California Supreme Court. He is now serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Over the years, Scott Peterson has repeatedly challenged his conviction. The Los Angeles Innocence Project (LAIP) has taken on his case and highlighted what it calls new evidence in multiple petitions to judges in an attempt to bring the case back into court.
The battle over that evidence is highlighted in a two-part docuseries produced by A&E called “Scott Peterson: The New Evidence.” The project included witness statements and detective interviews and was made with the support of Peterson’s former attorney, Mark Geragos, who continues to support the defendant.
“A documentary can be edited, produced, and marketed to tell whatever story draws the most viewers,” Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero said in a statement responding to the docuseries. “It cannot change what the evidence actually shows, and it cannot undo what a jury concluded or a judge who read every page of this record has already decided. Conviction integrity is the single most important obligation of this office. We do not take it lightly, and we will not let entertainment programming stand in for the truth.”
A ‘Fact Sheet’ distributed by the DA’s office counters claims of New Evidence in Scott Peterson’s case. (Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office)
While the documentary’s producers billed the program as containing new evidence, Laugero dismissed the project. “The State of California has given this case the most careful, rigorous review our justice system allows, for 20 years, at real cost and real effort,” Laugero said. “Turning that record into entertainment and calling recycled arguments ‘bombshell new evidence,’ makes a mockery of that work.”
Laugero’s office created a “fact sheet” to compare the claims made in the docuseries to the evidence presented in court. Among the arguments it addresses are questions surrounding Conner’s gestational age, evidence related to a break-in at a nearby home and alleged sightings of Laci Peterson.
Peterson still has multiple appeals pending in court, including one before the California Supreme Court alleging juror misconduct. The appeal headed by LAIP argues that Peterson’s due process was violated by unreliable scientific evidence; while that motion was dismissed, LAIP is appealing that ruling to a higher court.
