Could Scott Peterson Be Exonerated? DNA Bombshell May Lead to ‘Fair Shake and a New Trial’
Twenty years after his wife, Laci, and unborn son, Conner, were murdered, Scott Peterson, 51, believes he’s one step closer to being exonerated. On May 29 — after the Los Angeles Innocence Project took his case — a judge ruled to permit DNA testing on duct tape discovered on Laci’s remains, which washed up in the San Francisco Bay three months after the 27-year-old went missing from her Modesto, California, home while eight months pregnant.
Peterson was convicted of murder in 2004 without physical evidence; in 2021, his death sentence was changed to life without parole. “I welcome this,” his former defense attorney Mark Geragos said of the Innocence Project’s effort to help Peterson. “I think it’s about time that he get a fair shake and a new trial.”
The L.A. Innocence Project filed paperwork on January 17 claiming that they found “new evidence [that] now supports Mr. Peterson’s longstanding claim of innocence and raises many questions into who abducted and killed Laci and Conner Peterson.”
After Laci disappeared, Peterson became the prime suspect when it was revealed he was having an affair with Amber Frey. Laci’s body was found in San Francisco Bay four months after she went missing, and the unborn baby’s remains were discovered one mile away. Peterson was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder after a 2004 trial. He was later sentenced to death row in 2005 before the decision was reversed 16 years later.
The organization argued that Peterson deserved a retrial because updated witness statements allegedly point to multiple areas of interest, including the burglary that took place at a Modesto home across the street from the Petersons’ residence around the time Laci disappeared. Petrson’s attorneys argued that Laci was killed after she witnessed the men breaking into the neighbor’s house. The L.A. Innocence Project also explained their plans to conduct new DNA testing on a blood-stained mattress, which was discovered in a burned out orange van near the family’s home.
Gloria Allred – who represents Grey, 49 – is also open to a retrial, adding that her client is willing to testify against her ex for a second time.
“I feel that there was quite a bit of due process and fairness in the trial that was conducted on Scott Peterson. So, I was rather surprised when the L.A. Innocence Project is taking over the defense at this point,” Allred said during a panel at CrimeCon. “You know the blood on the mattress in the van, should that be tested, should have there more information about the burglary next door on the same day that apparently or allegedly Laci disappeared, I think these are fair questions.”
However, Allred added that Peterson shouldn’t be “entitled to a new trial” simply “because there is a question” surrounding the original trial’s findings.
