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Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife Laci and their unborn child in November 2004
NEED TO KNOW
- Scott Peterson was sentenced to death in 2005 for the murder of his wife Laci and their unborn child
- His death sentence was overturned in 2020 due to “a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection”
- Scott was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2021
Scott Peterson made headlines in the early 2000s when he was convicted of murdering his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn child.
Laci was eight months pregnant with the couple’s son, Conner, when she disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002. Scott was arrested a few days after her body was found, on April 18, 2003. He was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Scott has maintained his innocence and has long sought a retrial. In August 2020, his death sentence was overturned; he was resentenced to life in prison in December 2021.
In January 2024, Scott’s case was taken on by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, which told PEOPLE that they were “investigating his claim of actual innocence.” Later that same year, his case was the subject of a Peacock docuseries, Face to Face with Scott Peterson. The project marked Scott’s first time speaking out on camera since his arrest.
Most recently, a new A&E documentary, Scott Peterson: The New Evidence, claims that authorities may have botched the investigation into Laci’s murder. The project aims to examine alternative theories and evidence in Scott’s case.
Here’s a look back at Scott’s original trial and why his death sentence was overturned nearly two decades after his wife Laci’s murder.
What was Scott Peterson’s original sentence?
Following his arrest, Scott’s trial began on June 1, 2004, and lasted five months. Prosecutors claimed that he murdered Laci in order to collect on her $250,000 life insurance policy.
Scott’s mistress Amber Frey, who had informed Modesto Police of their affair six days after Laci’s disappearance, also provided recordings of her phone calls with Scott that helped the jury reach a verdict.
On Nov, 12, 2004, Scott was convicted of first-degree murder for Laci’s death and of second-degree murder for Conner’s. When the judge handed down his guilty verdict, Scott was “staggered by it,” he said in the 2017 docuseries The Murder of Laci Peterson. “I had no idea it was coming.”
The jury subsequently recommended that Scott receive the death sentence. Judge Alfred Delucchi followed their recommendation, and on March 16, 2005, he sentenced Scott to death by lethal injection.
“The judge went with our recommendation,” jury foreman Steve Cardosi said at the time, per CNN, “so justice has been done.”
Why was Scott Peterson’s death sentence overturned?
Scott has maintained his innocence in the years since his arrest and conviction. In August 2020, he won a legal victory when the California Supreme Court overturned his death penalty sentence due to “a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection” made during his 2004 trial that “undermined” his right to an impartial jury.
According to ABC News, the court said that because prospective jurors who opposed the death penalty were “erroneously dismissed,” it was required to reverse Scott’s sentence.
“We are grateful for the California Supreme Court’s unanimous recognition that if the state wishes to put someone to death, it must proceed to trial only with a fairly selected jury,” Scott’s appellate attorney, Cliff Gardner, said in a statement at the time, per the outlet.
Gardner went on, “[While] we are disappointed that such a biased jury selection process results in a reversal of only the death sentence, we look forward to the Court’s review of the new forensic and eyewitness evidence of innocence.”
What is Scott Peterson’s current sentence?
On Dec. 8, 2021, Scott was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his wife, Laci, and the couple’s unborn child.
The hour-long court hearing also included statements from members of Laci’s family.
“Nineteen years, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my sister,” said Amy Rocha. Added her brother, Brent Rocha: “There are no words able to express the pain associated with not being able to experience life together.”
Defense attorney Pat Harris, meanwhile, said that while the hearing was “not the place to retry the case ... I would note that there is a very strong basis for Mr. Peterson to state his innocence. He’s been sitting in a prison cell for 17 years waiting for the opportunity to be heard again.”
The following year, a judge denied Scott a new trial, per the San Francisco Chronicle. His case was then taken up by the Los Angeles Innocence Project in 2024. The nonprofit’s petition to have Scott’s conviction overturned was denied in April 2026.
“Judge Hill recognized the most recent attempt to undo the jury’s verdict for what it was — nothing more than recycled, repackaged and rebranded arguments,” Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero said on May 12. “Laci, Conner and their family deserve the finality that justice promised them.”
Read the original article on People
