Scott Peterson confronted a brand new hurdle this week in his bid to be retried for the 2002 homicide of his pregnant spouse, Laci Peterson, after claiming that new proof proved he was harmless, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Peterson has been in jail serving a life sentence with out parole since his conviction in 2004 for the killings of Laci, 27, and their unborn son, Conner. Laci was eight months pregnant when she was killed, and the native health worker was unable to find out a reason for demise because of the situation of her physique when it was present in San Francisco Bay, a mile away from her son’s fetus.
Peterson was arrested days after her physique was discovered, and was initially sentenced to demise, however a courtroom resentenced him to life with out parole in 2021.
As RadarOnline.com reported, the Los Angeles Innocence Mission took on the infamous case this previous January, claiming new proof supported the defendant’s longstanding denial of guilt. The nonprofit additionally argued his constitutional rights have been violated in the course of the preliminary trial.
After his authorized staff requested that greater than a dozen items of proof be retested for DNA, San Mateo County Choose Elizabeth M. Hill dominated in an important improvement this week that just one single merchandise can be reanalyzed: a chunk of duct tape discovered with Laci’s physique, The Los Angeles Instances reported Thursday.
The 15-inch piece of tape was caught to the proper leg of Laci’s pants, and a DNA take a look at in 2013 yielded no definitive outcomes. Peterson’s legal professionals famous that “a bit of the duct tape that was folded over onto itself underwent DNA testing and the presence of human DNA was discovered, however no DNA profile might be obtained.”
However Choose Hill stated in her ruling that advances in know-how might reveal new info, calling it a “no-brainer.”
Through the preliminary trial, Scott’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, steered Laci’s demise might have been linked to a housebreaking close to the couple’s Modesto house. Peterson’s legal professionals claimed {that a} blood-stained mattress was present in a burned-out stolen van that was used within the housebreaking.
The LA Innocence Mission was pushing for the courtroom to permit DNA testing of the mattress, claiming the proprietor of the van stated that it hadn’t been within the automobile earlier than it was swiped. The decide denied this request, arguing that testing of the merchandise in 2012 turned up no outcomes.
The courtroom will focus on the way it will order the brand new proof to be reanalyzed at a listening to scheduled in July.