A Los Angeles nonprofit that uses forensics to exonerate people has taken on the case of Scott Peterson, who was convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project involves a group of post-conviction attorneys and the California Forensic Science Institute at Cal State.
Laci Peterson was 27 years old and eight months pregnant when she disappeared on Dec. 24, 2002. Her body was found in San Francisco Bay in 2003. Scott Peterson was convicted of her murder in 2004 and sentenced to death the next year.
New evidence being sought in the case includes Laci Peterson’s missing watch and evidence from a December 2002 burglary of a house across the street from the Peterson residence in Modesto, California, according to ABC News.
Scott Peterson is trying to do what Maurice Hastings did in 2022, with L.A. Innocence Project presenting new DNA evidence and securing Mr. Hastins’ freedom after he had served 38 years in prison.
Peterson’s lawyer Pat Harris told ABC News that he is “thrilled to have the incredibly skilled attorneys at the L.A. Innocence Project and their expertise becoming involved in the efforts to prove Scott’s innocence.”
The California Supreme Court reversed Peterson’s death sentence in 2020, finding that Judge Alfred Delucchi erroneously dismissed possible jurors who said they couldn’t sentence anyone to death. Peterson was then resentenced in 2021 to life without parole.
Peterson’s attorneys claim that Laci Peterson was killed after witnessing a burglary, according to NBC News.
Peterson was denied a new trial in 2022.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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