Laci Peterson was a 27-year-old pregnant woman who went missing on December 24, 2002, from her home in Modesto, California. Her disappearance quickly gained national attention, and her family and friends conducted a massive search for her.
Tragically, in April 2003, Laci and her unborn son Conner’s remains were found washed ashore in San Francisco Bay. Laci’s husband, Scott Peterson, was eventually charged with her murder and the murder of their unborn child.
Scott Peterson’s trial was one of the most widely publicized criminal trials in recent history, and he was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death. The case remains one of the most high-profile murder trials in recent memory.
Who Was Laci Peterson?
Scott Peterson’s wife, Lacitaughtr, in the Modesto, California, district. On Christmas Eve of 2002, Scott murdered Laci.
Her husband murdered Laci Peterson on Christmas Eve, 2002. Scott Peterson was found guilty of murdering his pregnant wife in December 2021 and was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The prosecution claimed to the jury that Scott strangled or smothered his wife before covering her body with a blue tarp.
According to a phone interview taped for the six-part A&E series The Murder Of Laci Peterson that aired in 2017, Scott insists on his innocence in the case.
The body surfaced months after investigators say Scott discarded it in San Francisco Bay from his fishing boat. Laci had been pregnant with their kid for eight months when she was murdered.
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Who is Her Husband Scott Peterson?
Amber Frey, a massage therapist in Fresno, told police that she and Scott began dating a month before Laci’s death and that he told her his wife was already dead, leading to Scott’s arrest for Laci’s murder.
As the East Bay Times reported, Scott was a “serial philanderer” who strayed on his wife at least thrice before she vanished.
During the first trial, defense attorney Mark Geragos testified that Laci knew of two of Scott’s extramarital affairs.
Scott had gone out with the masseuse, Amber Frey, at least four times before his wife was killed. Geragos claimed Scott was honest about his affair and provided emails as proof.
Scott confessed his infidelity to Laci’s mom in a January 2003 letter: “I never took the time to apologize for my infidelities.”
Scott confessed his infidelity to Laci’s mom in a January 2003 letter: “I never took the time to apologize for my infidelities. I’m truly sorry I was not forthcoming with you.”
Scott was found guilty of first-degree murder for killing his wife and second-degree murder for killing their unborn child.
Why Did the Judge Give Scott Peterson the Death Penalty?
On August 24, 2020, the California Supreme Court reversed Scott’s death sentence, which had been issued in 2005.
The court said: “Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity surrounding the case.”
The justices said the trial judge “made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection that, under long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent, undermined Peterson’s right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase.”
It agreed with his claim that prospective jurors were unfairly eliminated from consideration after expressing disagreement with the death penalty but a willingness to apply it by the law.
The justices said in a unanimous decision: “While a court may dismiss a prospective juror as unqualified to sit on a capital case if the juror’s views on capital punishment would substantially impair his or her ability to follow the law, a juror may not be dismissed merely because he or she has expressed opposition to the death penalty as a general matter.”
The prosecution has indicated they may retry the high-profile case for the same penalty.
Will There Be a New Trial for Scott Peterson?
Although Scott’s original trial was “flawed for multiple reasons,” the California Supreme Court reversed his death sentence in August 2020.
A California judge is granting Peterson a second trial in Laci’s death in August 2021. The hearing to decide whether or not there was jury misconduct in his initial trial was set for late September 2021.
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Peterson’s resentencing hearing occurred in California’s Superior Court for San Francisco County on December 8, 2021. Scott Peterson was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole by Judge Anne-Christine Massullo for the murder of his wife, Laci, and their unborn child.
Dateline investigated Laci Peterson’s murder on Sunday, April 9, 2023, at 7 p.m. (Central).
