Murder of Laci Peterson

Murder of Laci Peterson
Laci Peterson in December 2002
Location	Modesto, California, U.S.
Date	c. December 24, 2002 (2002-12-24)
Attack type	Double-murder, uxoricide, feticide, filicide
Deaths	2 (including an unborn child)
Perpetrator	Scott Peterson
Verdict	Guilty on both counts
Convictions	First-degree murder, second-degree murder
Sentence	Death (2005) Commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (2021)

Laci Denise Peterson (born Rocha; May 4, 1975 — c. December 24, 2002) was an American woman who was the subject of a highly publicized murder case after she disappeared while eight months pregnant with her first child. She was reportedly last seen alive on December 24, 2002. Her husband, Scott Lee Peterson (born October 24, 1972), was later convicted of first-degree murder for her death and second-degree murder for the death of their unborn son, Conner. Since his conviction, Scott has been housed at San Quentin State Prison. Originally sentenced to death, that sentence was was overturned on August 24, 2020, and Scott was re-sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on December 8, 2021. Scott has maintained his innocence.

Early life and marriage

Laci Denise Peterson

Laci was born May 4, 1975, to Sharon and Dennis Robert Rocha, a dairy operator, who had met in high school and owned a dairy farm west of Escalon, California. Sharon named Laci after a pretty girl she met in high school. Laci's older brother, Brent Rocha, was born in 1971. Laci worked on the farm from a young age, and also enjoyed gardening with her mother, an activity from which she developed an appreciation for plant life that influenced her later life. Sharon and Dennis divorced when Laci and her brother were young. Sharon and the children moved to Modesto, though the children visited the dairy farm on weekends. Sharon eventually married Ron Grantski, who helped raise Laci and Brent from the time Laci was two years old. Laci was a cheerleader in junior high and high school. After graduating from Thomas Downey High School, she attended California Polytechnic State University, where she majored in ornamental horticulture.

Scott Lee Peterson

Scott was born October 24, 1972, at Sharp Coronado Hospital in San Diego, California, to Lee Arthur Peterson, a businessman who owned a crate-packaging company, and Jacqueline "Jackie" Helen Latham, who owned a boutique in La Jolla called The Put On. Though Lee and Jackie had six children from previous relationships, Scott was their only child together. As a child, Scott shared a bedroom with his half-brother John in the family's two-bedroom apartment in La Jolla. He began playing golf at an early age. By age 14, he could beat his father at the game. For a time, Peterson had dreams of becoming a professional golfer, and he was teammates with future-pro Phil Mickelson at the University of San Diego High School. By the end of high school, he was one of the top junior golfers in San Diego.

In 1990, Peterson enrolled at Arizona State University (where Mickelson had also enrolled) on a partial golf scholarship. Scott's father, Lee, later testified that the considerable competition that Mickelson, who would go on to become a successful PGA golfer, presented discouraged Peterson. According to Chip Couch, the father of another young golfer, Chris Couch, Scott was taken off the golf team after Chip discovered that Scott had taken his son out drinking; Chip complained to the Arizona State golf coach, who subsequently kicked Peterson off the team. Peterson transferred to Cuesta College, in San Luis Obispo and then to California Polytechnic State University. He initially planned to major in international business, but changed his major to agricultural business. Professors who taught Peterson described him as a model student. His agribusiness professor Jim Ahern commented, "I wouldn't mind having a class full of Scott Petersons."

Relationship

While at California Polytechnic, Scott worked at a restaurant in Morro Bay called the Pacific Café, which Laci would occasionally visit, as she was friends with a coworker of Scott's. In mid-1994, Laci sent Scott her phone number. Immediately after meeting Scott, Laci told her mother that she had met the man that she would marry. Scott later called Laci and they began dating, their first date being a deep-sea fishing trip on which Laci got seasick. As the relationship grew more serious, Scott put aside his dreams of professional golf in order to focus on a business career.

The couple dated for two years and eventually moved in together. In 1997, after Laci graduated, they married at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, in San Luis Obispo County's Avila Valley. While Scott finished his senior year, Laci took a job in nearby Prunedale. Prosecutors later stated that around this time, Peterson engaged in the first of at least two extramarital affairs, though they did not reveal names or details of these relationships. Scott graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business in June 1998. After their graduations, the Petersons opened a sports bar in San Luis Obispo called The Shack. Business was initially slow but eventually improved, especially on weekends. The Petersons decided to put The Shack up for sale when they moved to Laci's hometown of Modesto, California to start a family.

In October 2000, the Petersons purchased a three-bedroom, two-bath bungalow house for $177,000 on Covena Avenue in an upscale neighborhood near East La Loma Park. They sold the Shack in April 2001. Laci took a part-time job as a substitute teacher, and Scott got a job with Tradecorp U.S.A., a newly founded subsidiary of a European fertilizer company, for which he earned a salary of $5,000 a month before taxes.

Laci's family, including her mother and younger sister, related that she worked enthusiastically at being the perfect housewife, enjoying cooking and entertaining, and that she and her family welcomed the news in 2002 that she was pregnant. Laci's due date was February 10, 2003. The couple had planned to name their son Conner. In November 2002, when Laci was seven months pregnant, Scott was introduced by a friend to a Fresno massage therapist named Amber Frey. In later public statements, Frey said Scott told her he was single, and the two began a romantic relationship. The last time Scott's parents saw Laci was during a three-day weekend they spent together in Carmel, California, the week before Christmas 2002.

Laci's Disappearance

On December 23, 2002, at 5:45 p.m., Laci and Scott went to Salon Salon, the workplace of Laci's sister Amy Rocha, where Amy cut Scott's hair as she did each month. As they spoke, Scott offered to pick up a fruit basket that Amy had ordered for her grandfather as a Christmas gift the next day because he would be playing golf at a course nearby. Prosecutors say Scott also told other people he would play golf on the day of Christmas Eve. Her mother, Sharon, spoke with Laci on the telephone around 8:30 that evening. Apart from her husband, Scott, the last two people known to have spoken to Laci before she disappeared were her half-sister, Amy, and her mother. Scott later told police that he last saw his wife about 9:30 a.m. on December 24, when he left to go fishing at the Berkeley Marina. He said Laci was watching a cooking television show, preparing to mop the floor, bake cookies, and walk the family dog to a nearby park. Karen Servas, a neighbor of the Petersons, stated that around 10:30am she found the Petersons' dog, a golden retriever named McKenzie, alone outside the home and returned him to the Petersons' back yard. Another neighbor named Mike Chiavetta said he saw McKenzie at about 10:45 a.m. as he played catch with his own dog. The Modesto Bee also reported an unnamed female neighbor who found the dog with muddy leash, wandering in the neighborhood. That neighbor put the dog in the Petersons' yard, not observing that anything was out of place. Scott said he returned home that afternoon to find the house empty. Scott said Laci's 1996 Land Rover Discovery SE was in the driveway. Scott also stated that he found McKenzie in their back yard, and that he related this to Laci's mother, Sharon, though she later denied this in her book. He showered and washed his clothes because he got wet during his fishing trip "from the bay and being rained on", as Brocchini later testified. He then ate some pizza with milk. Scott called his mother-in-law, Sharon Rocha, to ask if Laci was with her, which was the first time Sharon learned that Laci was missing. Later that evening Ron Grantski called the police to report Laci missing.

At the time of her disappearance, Laci was seven-and-a-half months pregnant, with a due date of February 10, 2003. The couple had planned to name the baby boy Conner. Laci was reported missing on Christmas Eve, and the story attracted nationwide media interest.

Investigation

Modesto police detectives Allen Brocchini and Jon Buehler, the lead investigators on the case, responded to the call. When they arrived at the Peterson home, Laci's keys, wallet and sunglasses were found in her purse in a closet.

When the detectives questioned Scott that evening, Buehler told ABC News in 2017, "I suspected Scott when I first met him. Didn't mean he did it, but I was a little bit thrown off by his calm, cool demeanor and his lack of questioning...he wasn't, 'Will you call me back? Can I have one of your cards? What are you guys doing now?'" Buehler further described Scott's behavior as "a strange combination of polite and arrogant, disaffectedly distant and impatiently irritable. He just didn't seem like a man who was crushed or even greatly disturbed by his wife's disappearance and possible death."

Although Scott initially said he had spent the day golfing, he later told the police that he had gone to fish for sturgeon at the Berkeley Marina. At 2:15 p.m., he left a message for Laci, stating, "Hey, Beautiful. It's 2:15. I'm leaving Berkeley." Scott stated that he went fishing about 90 miles from the couple's Modesto home. Detectives immediately launched a search. Sharon Rocha immediately hurried to the park to search for her daughter. She stated that when she saw Scott about 20–30 feet away she repeatedly called him by name, but he did not acknowledge her and was distant when she approached him back at his house, angling away from her when she attempted to hug him.

Although inconsistencies in Scott's statements led police to suspect foul play almost immediately, they did not treat the case as suspicious within the first few hours after the missing persons report was filed. During this initial period, Scott's in-laws defended him and portrayed him and Laci as the ideal couple, and public perception of Scott reflected this. As police continued to investigate, they grew more suspicious of Scott.

On January 17, 2003, it became known that Scott had engaged in two other extramarital affairs prior to an affair with a woman named Amber Frey. Frey informed police of their relationship on December 30, 2002, shortly after discovering he was a person of interest in Laci's disappearance, She told detectives that she met Scott on November 20, and that he had initially told her he was single. She also informed police that Scott had told her on December 9, two weeks before Lacis's disappearance, he was a widower, and it would be the first Christmas without his wife. Police considered whether this was an indication that Peterson had already decided to kill Laci, which Sharon Rocha agreed was a possibility.

Frey agreed to phone him while police recorded her subsequent phone conversations with Scott in the hopes of getting him to confess. During the trial, the audio recordings of the couple's telephone conversations were played, and the transcripts were publicized. The recordings revealed that in the days after Laci went missing, Scott told Frey that he had traveled to Paris to celebrate the holidays, in part with his new companions Pasqual and François. In reality, he had made one of these phone calls minutes before attending the New Year's Eve candlelight vigil for Laci in Modesto.

At a January 24, 2003, press conference, the Rocha family publicly withdrew their support of Scott, explaining that they did this upon learning of his affair with Frey, in particular upon seeing photos of Scott and Frey together. A month after Laci's disappearance, her brother, Brent Rocha, stated at a press conference that Scott had admitted to him during a January 16, 2003, phone conversation that he had been having an affair with a woman from Fresno at the time, though Brent added that Scott was now no longer communicating with the Rocha family.

Search

Modesto police and firefighters carried out an extensive search along Dry Creek the day after Laci's disappearance. The search came to include helicopters equipped with searchlights, police mounted on horseback and bicycles, canine units, and water-rescue units on rafts. A total of 30 officers were involved in the search, as well as Laci's loved ones and volunteers, who posted fliers to raise awareness of her disappearance. At a press conference, detective Al Brocchini said that police did not believe that Laci decided to leave without contacting her family, commenting, "That is completely out of character for her." The initial search and later vigil were organized by the immediate family and friends. In the first two days, up to 900 people were involved in looking for Laci, before community officials or police directly participated in the search, and prior to significant media coverage. Eventually, the story attracted nationwide media interest.

A $25,000 reward was offered, later increased to $250,000, and finally to $500,000 for any information leading to Laci's safe return. Posters, blue and yellow ribbons, and fliers were circulated, and the original, basic version of the LaciPeterson.com website was launched by the husband of one of her friends. Friends, family, and volunteers set up a command center at a nearby Red Lion Hotel to record developments and circulate information. Over 1,500 volunteers signed up to distribute information and to help search for her.

Discovery of bodies

On April 13, 2003, a couple walking their dog found the decomposing, but well-preserved body of a late-term male fetus in a marshy area of the San Francisco Bay shore in Richmond's Point Isabel Regional Shoreline park, north of Berkeley. Its umbilical cord was still attached, appearing to have been torn, not cut or clamped, as is the normal practice after birth. Although a judge sealed the autopsy results, an anonymous Associated Press source revealed that 1.5 loops of nylon tape were found around the fetus' neck and a significant cut was on the fetus' body.

One day later, a passerby found the body of a recently pregnant woman, wearing beige pants and a maternity bra, washed up on the eastern rocky shoreline of the bay, one mile away from where the baby's body was found. The corpse was decomposed to the point of being almost unrecognizable as a human body. The woman had been decapitated and her limbs were missing, including most of her legs. On April 18, 2003, the results of DNA tests verified that they were the bodies of Laci and her unborn son, who was to be named Conner.

Autopsies

The autopsies on both bodies were performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Brian Peterson (no relation). Conner's skin was not decomposed at all, though the right side of his body was mutilated. An April 24 ABC News report stated his umbilical cord was still attached, and the San Francisco Chronicle reported that it appeared torn, rather than cut or clamped, as is the normal practice following birth. However, ABC News later reported on May 30 that according to the autopsy, the placenta and umbilical cord were not found with the body.

The exact date and cause of Laci's death were never determined. Her cervix was intact. She had suffered two cracked ribs, but Dr. Peterson could not determine if this occurred before or after her death. Laci's upper torso had been emptied of internal organs except for the uterus, which protected the fetus, explaining the lower level of decomposition it experienced. Dr. Peterson concluded that the fetus had died in utero, and determined he had been expelled from Laci's decaying body, though when cross-examined in court, he conceded that he could not determine whether he had been born alive when this occurred. Dr. Peterson also found meconium in the fetus's bowels, which is the first stool passed after birth.

Post-discovery investigative efforts

The discovery of the bodies created a greater sense of urgency for Brocchini and Buehler, who had put a tracker on Scott's car. Knowing that he was in San Diego at the time, they feared he would escape across the border to Mexico. Brocchini commented in 2017, "I just thought, 'We've got to find Scott right now. He told me he was there and that's where the bodies come up? I mean, I believe it was premeditated, he planned it ... San Diego was pretty darn close to the Mexican border. Scott knew the area pretty well. That's where his parents lived. That's where he lived. So it wasn't like he was going to have to get on MapQuest to try and figure out a way to get to Tijuana."

The FBI and Modesto Police Department performed forensic searches of the Peterson home. The FBI also conducted mitochondrial DNA testing on a hair from pliers found in Scott's fishing boat that linked them with hairs recovered from Laci's hairbrush. The authorities also searched Scott's pickup truck, toolbox, warehouse, and boat. They found a homemade anchor in the boat Scott purchased two weeks earlier. Scott told a detective that he made the anchor in his boat, using a 90-pound bag of concrete, and used the rest to repair his driveway. However, petrographer Robert O’Neill said that microscopic analysis of solid fragments and powder found in Scott's warehouse, pickup bed, boat, boat cover, and a plastic pitcher matched the material in the single anchor, as well as a pea-sized pebble police found in his living room, but none matched a sample from the driveway. Detective Henry Dodge Hendee testified that he found a cement-like substance on the wooden bed of a boat trailer when he searched Scott's warehouse on December 27. Hendee pointed to what he said were five circular areas on the trailer that had less powder than other areas on the trailer. He also found a dustpan surrounded by the white powder and a sledgehammer. Prosecutors believed that Scott made five anchors and used four of them to sink Laci's body in San Francisco Bay. After Scott was arrested, police conducted further searches in the bay in an attempt to locate the anchors, but nothing was found.

Criminal action

Arrest and arraignment

Scott was arrested on April 18, 2003, near a La Jolla golf course. He claimed to be meeting his father and brother for a game of golf. His naturally dark brown hair had been dyed blond, and his Mercedes was "overstuffed" with miscellaneous items, including nearly $15,000 in cash, 12 Viagra tablets, survival gear, camping equipment, several changes of clothes, four cell phones, and two driver's licenses, his and his brother's. Scott's father, Lee Peterson, explained that Scott had used his brother's license the day before to get a San Diego resident discount at the golf course, and that Scott had been living out of his car because of the media attention. Police and prosecutors, however, saw these items as an indication that Scott had planned to flee to Mexico.

On April 21, 2003, Scott was arraigned in Stanislaus County Superior Court before Judge Nancy Ashley. He was charged with two felony counts of murder with premeditation and special circumstances. He pleaded not guilty. Judge Al Girolami of Stanislaus County Superior Court moved his trial to San Mateo County because so many people in Stanislaus had made up their minds about Scott's guilt.

Trial

Before his arraignment, Scott had been represented by Kirk McAllister, a veteran criminal defense attorney from Modesto. Chief Deputy Public Defender Kent Faulkner was also assigned to the case. Scott later indicated that he could afford a private attorney, namely Mark Geragos, who had done other high-profile criminal defense work. On January 20, 2004, a judge changed the venue of the trial from Modesto to Redwood City, because Scott was the victim of increasing hostility in the Modesto area.

Scott's trial began on June 1, 2004, and was followed closely by the news media. The lead prosecutor was Rick Distaso while Geragos led Peterson's defense. In opening statements, the prosecution presented Peterson's affair with Frey, financial problems, and impending fatherhood as motives for the murder, surmising that he killed Laci due to increasing debt and a desire to be single again. Geragos claimed Scott was "a cad" for cheating on Laci but was not a murderer.

Prosecution witness Frey hired her own attorney, Gloria Allred, to represent her. Allred was not bound by the gag order imposed on those involved in the trial. Although she maintained that her client had no opinion about whether Scott was guilty, Allred was openly sympathetic to the prosecution. She appeared frequently on television news programs during the trial.

Prosecutors claimed Scott made cement anchors to weigh his wife's body down in San Francisco Bay. Scott's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, pointed out that no such anchors were found after a search of the floor of San Francisco Bay with sonar equipment accurate enough to locate objects as small as a tin can. However, Geoffrey Baehr, who helped lead over 15 diving expeditions off the Berkeley Marina to search for Laci, testified that thick mud, strong currents, dark waters, and a strong surge can make it "virtually impossible" for such equipment to locate an object, even when the target is known, and that this is why they did not find Laci's body or any anchors. To emphasize this point, Baehr related that when his crew accidentally dropped the underwater sonar device into the water, it took four diving trips to locate it, even though the crew knew precisely where it had landed.

Scott's defense lawyers based their case on the lack of direct evidence and played down the significance of circumstantial evidence. They also questioned whether the investigation was thorough, since Modesto police Detective Mike Hermos admitted he did not check the alibi of a prostitute who was accused of stealing checks from Scott's mailbox, but Hermos did not indicate that the woman was ever a suspect and prosecutor Dave Harris noted that the checks were stolen after Laci vanished, precluding the woman from involvement in her disappearance. A police community service officer testified that an interview with Scott had no sound because no batteries had been placed in the tape recorder that was used to record it. Other detectives were called to testify about the extensive search for evidence.

The defense suggested the fetal remains were of a full-term infant and theorized that someone kidnapped Laci, held her until she gave birth and then dumped both bodies in the bay. The prosecution's medical experts contended that the baby was not full-term and died at the same time as his mother.

Juror Fran Gorman was removed and replaced during deliberations due to misconduct, after she conducted independent research on the case. Jury foreman and attorney Gregory Jackson then requested his own removal, most likely because his fellow jurors wanted to replace him as foreman. Geragos told reporters that Jackson had mentioned threats he received when he requested to be removed from the jury. Jackson was replaced by an alternate.

Evidence

Prosecutors, lacking direct evidence to link Scott to the murders, chiefly relied on circumstantial evidence. Prosecutors noted that Peterson changed his appearance and purchased a vehicle using his mother's name in order to avoid recognition by the press. He added two pornographic television channels to his cable service only days after his wife's disappearance. The prosecution stated this meant he knew she would not be returning home. Peterson expressed interest in selling the house he had shared with Laci, and traded in her Land Rover for a Dodge pick-up truck.

Prosecutors pointed to a single hair, matched through mitochondrial testing to hair from Laci's hairbrush, that was stuck to pliers found on Scott's boat, and they further suggested that the hair must have come from Laci's dead body because she had not seen the boat while alive. Defense lawyers argued that mitochondrial testing was not a reliable means of DNA comparison—only half of states allow the practice—and further contended that Laci had, in fact, been on the boat. A witness reported that she had seen Laci at the warehouse with the boat the day before she was reported missing. On the stand, Detective Allen Brocchini explained that he had "excised" that witness's statement from his police report.

Rick Cheng, a hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey and an expert witness on tides of the San Francisco Bay, testified as a witness for the prosecution. During cross-examination, Cheng admitted that his findings were "probable, not precise." Tidal systems are sufficiently chaotic, and he was unable to develop an exact model of the bodies' disposal and travel. As the trial progressed, the prosecution opened discussion of Scott's affair with Frey and the contents of their secretly recorded telephone calls.

Charles March, a fertility specialist, was expected to be a crucial witness for the defense, one who, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, could single-handedly exonerate Scott by showing that Laci's fetus died a week after prosecutors claimed. Under cross-examination, March admitted basing his findings on an anecdote from one of Laci's friends that she had taken a home pregnancy test on June 9, 2002. When prosecutors pointed out that no medical records relied on the June 9 date, March became flustered and confused on the stand and asked a prosecutor to cut him "some slack", undermining his credibility. Summing up this key defense witness, Stan Goldman, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles said, "There were moments today that reminded me of Chernobyl." According to one newspaper account about March's testimony, "By the end of his testimony Thursday, legal analysts and jurors closed their notebooks, rolled their eyes and snickered when they thought no one was looking".

Verdict and sentencing

Murder of Laci Peterson
2022 mugshot of Peterson by California Department of Corrections
Born	Scott Lee Peterson (1972-10-24) October 24, 1972 San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupation	Fertilizer salesman
Criminal status	Incarcerated in Mule Creek State Prison
Spouse	Laci Rocha ​ ​ (m. 1997; died 2002)​
Children	Conner (fetal death)
Conviction(s)	First-degree murder with special circumstances, second-degree murder
Criminal penalty	Death; commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole
Details
Victims	Laci and Conner Peterson
Date apprehended	April 18, 2003
Imprisoned at	Mule Creek State Prison

On November 12, 2004, the jury convicted Scott of two counts of murder: first-degree murder with special circumstances for killing Laci, and second-degree murder for killing the fetus she carried. The penalty phase of the trial began on November 30, and concluded December 13, when the jury rendered a sentence of death. On March 16, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi followed the jury verdict, sentencing Scott to death by lethal injection and ordering him to pay $10,000 toward the cost of Laci's funeral, calling the murder of Laci "cruel, uncaring, heartless, and callous".

In later press appearances, members of the jury stated that they believed Scott's demeanor—specifically his lack of emotion and the phone calls to Frey in the days following Laci's disappearance—indicated his guilt. Juror No. 1, Greg Beratlis, and two other jurors, said they based their verdict on "hundreds of small 'puzzle pieces' of circumstantial evidence that came out during the trial, from the location of Laci's body to the myriad lies her husband told after her disappearance.

On October 21, 2005, a judge ruled that proceeds from a $250,000 life insurance policy Scott took out on Laci would go to Laci's mother, which was reaffirmed by the Fifth District Court of Appeal on October 21, 2005. Scott's automatic appeal was filed in the Supreme Court of California on July 5, 2012.

Scott arrived at San Quentin State Prison in the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 17, 2005. He was reported not to have slept the night before, being too "jazzed" to sleep. He joined the more than 700 other inmates in California's sole death row facility during the appeals process.

Appeal, post-conviction-relief petition, and death sentence overturn

San Quentin State Prison, where Scott was incarcerated while on death row

On July 6, 2012, Scott's attorney, Cliff Gardner, filed a 423-page appeal of the sentence, arguing that the publicity surrounding the trial, incorrect evidentiary rulings, and other mistakes deprived Peterson of a fair trial. The State Attorney General's office filed their response brief on January 26, 2015. The defense filed a response to the State's brief in July 2015, claiming that a certified dog that detected Laci's scent at Berkeley Marina had failed two-thirds of tests with similar conditions.

In November 2015, the defense filed a habeas corpus petition, claiming that a juror lied on her jury application, and that there was evidence that neighbors saw Laci alive after Scott left home. On August 10, 2017, the State Attorney General responded to the appeal by filing a 150-page document contesting the notion disputing the claims put forward in the appeal, stating that the appeal ignored "overwhelming evidence" that Scott murdered Laci. Supervising Deputy Attorney General Donna Provenzano stated that the timeline of the crime was established by the neighbor who found the Petersons' Golden Retriever, McKenzie, wandering in the street with its leash still attached, before the sightings of Laci and her dog. Provenzano also indicated, "Purported sightings of Laci were legion," noting 74 reported sightings in 26 states and overseas, most of which she stated, were neither viable nor corroborated.

In August 2018, the defense filed a reply, the sixth brief filed. The brief included six claims of "deficient performance" by trial attorney Mark Geragos, such as failing to call experts in fetal growth, dog scent, how bodies move in water, stating that he would call witnesses but failing to follow through on this, and failing to properly address burglary evidence.

In March 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium for all 737 prisoners on death row in California, including Scott. The order postponed all executions for the duration of Newsom's tenure as governor. California had not executed a prisoner since 2006 due to legal challenges to the state's execution protocol. Newsom's order spares the approximately 25 prisoners on death row who had exhausted their legal appeals and could have had their executions move forward once the legal challenge was resolved. Scott's sister-in-law Janey Peterson welcomed Newsom's decision but noted that his case was likely to be unaffected by it, and did not believe Scott would exhaust all of his legal challenges by January 2027, when Newsom would be leaving office, assuming his re-election in 2022.

On June 2, 2020, the California Supreme Court heard argument on Scott's appeal. The defense argued that prospective jurors were improperly excused; that the trial judge improperly allowed two jurors onto Scott's boat; that the judge erred in insisting the prosecution be present during defense testing of the boat; and that the motion to move the trial to another county should have been granted due to juror questionnaire results showing almost half of the prospective jurors had already concluded Scott was guilty prior to the trial. The prosecution countered that the California Supreme Court should overturn the verdict only if it were to find that a prospective juror was improperly dismissed, and that "there was 'no credible claim' that any of the 12 jurors who decided [Scott's] fate were unfair or partial."

On August 24, 2020, in a 7–0 decision, the Supreme Court of California upheld Scott's conviction but overturned his death sentence; the court found that Scott's trial judge, Alfred Delucchi, who had died on February 26, 2008, had improperly dismissed jurors who opposed capital punishment without asking them whether they could put their views aside. Justice Leondra Kruger explained that per Supreme Court rulings since 1968, "Jurors may not be excused merely for opposition to the death penalty, but only for views rendering them unable to fairly consider imposing that penalty in accordance with their oath. This is the meaning of the guarantee of an impartial jury." Prosecutors initially stated that they would retry the penalty phase, but subsequently reversed that decision in June 2021.

On September 22, 2021, California Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ruled that Scott would be re-sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The following month, Massullo scheduled a hearing on that matter for December 8. On December 8, Massullo re-sentenced Peterson to life in prison without the possibility of parole, for the first-degree murder of Laci, and a concurrent sentence of 15 years to life for the second-degree murder of Conner.

In October 2022, Scott was moved off San Quentin's death row, and transferred to Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.

On December 20, 2022, Massullo rejected Scott's request for a new trial, which Scott requested on the basis that Juror No. 7, Richelle Nice, committed misconduct when she lied about her own history of domestic abuse during jury selection, which Scott stated had tainted the jury. Massullo concluded that there was no evidence to support this accusation, explaining that Nice did not intentionally conceal this information with the motive to stay on the jury, nor appeared vengeful toward Scott in letters she later wrote him in the prison. Massullo wrote, "The Court concludes that Juror No. 7’s responses were not motivated by pre-existing or improper bias against [Scott], but instead were the result of a combination of good faith misunderstanding of the questions and sloppiness in answering." Scott still had the legal option of appealing her ruling.

Burials and tributes

Laci and Conner were buried at Burwood Cemetery on August 30, 2003. The death of Laci and Conner Peterson led to the passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which is also known as Laci and Conner's Law. On April 1, 2004, Sharon Rocha and her husband Ron Grantski were in attendance at the White House when President George W. Bush signed the bill into law. The Act provides that, under federal law, any person who causes death or injury to an unborn child while in the commission of a crime upon a pregnant woman will be charged with a separate offense.

On October 21, 2005, Stanislaus County, California, Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne ruled that Scott was not entitled to collect on Laci's $250,000 life insurance policy, having been convicted of her murder. Under California state law, criminals may not profit from insurance policies. On December 19, 2005, the money was given to her mother, Sharon Rocha, as the executor of her estate. The California Fifth District Court of Appeals in Fresno later affirmed the trial court's decision on October 31, 2007.

In September 2006, former congressman William E. Dannemeyer sent a letter to the California Attorney General and other officials arguing that Laci Peterson had been killed by members of a Satanic cult, not by Peterson.

In 2006, Sharon wrote For Laci: A Mother's Story of Love, Loss, and Justice, a biography and memoir about Laci's life and death. All proceeds are used to fund the Laci and Conner Search and Rescue Fund, which she had founded. On January 29, 2006, it was listed at No. 1 on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list.

Laci's stepfather, Ron Grantski, died in his sleep at his Modesto home on April 8, 2018, at age 71, after a lengthy period of failing health. He was buried next to Laci and Conner. Laci's father, Dennis Rocha, died December 9, 2018, at the age of 72.

Depiction in media

External videos
Dateline Sneak Preview: The Laci Peterson Story: A Dateline Investigation

• In 2004, USA Network aired the television film The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story.
• In 2004, E! aired an episode of The E! True Hollywood Story on Laci Peterson.
• In 2005, the case was covered in the TV movie, Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution.
• In 2010, the Peterson case was the topic of the eponymous premiere episode of Investigation Discovery's True Crime with Aphrodite Jones.
• Although the case had been compared to the plot of Gillian Flynn's 2012 novel Gone Girl, Flynn refuted the notion her book was inspired by the Petersons, saying that although she saw parallels between the two, she made a point not to rely on any specific true account for her fiction. Rather, her portrayal of her characters as out-of-work writers was derived from her own experience being laid off from her job as a writer for Entertainment Weekly.
• In 2015, the series Murder Made Me Famous covered the story in its second episode, which premiered August 22. It re-aired in 2017 on the American cable channel Reelz as Scott Peterson: What Happened?
• In April 2017, Crime Junkie Podcast produced two episodes detailing Peterson's murder.
• On April 21, 2017, the NBC news magazine Dateline aired the two-hour special, The Laci Peterson Story: A Dateline Investigation.
• In May 2017, the Peterson case was the main focus of "Notorious: Scott Peterson", the Season 20 premiere of the Oxygen TV series Snapped.
• In June 2017, ABC aired a two-hour documentary on the case titled Truth and Lies: The Murder of Laci Peterson.
• In July 2017, HLN aired a two-hour program on the case titled How It Really Happened.
• In August 2017, the case was covered in A&E's six part series, The Murder of Laci Peterson.
• In November 2017, Investigation Discovery aired a two-hour documentary titled Scott Peterson: An American Murder Mystery.
• In December 2018, the case was discussed on the talk show Dr. Phil.
• In May 2021, the case was covered in the 48 Hours episode "Scott Peterson: Case in Question".
• In May 2021, the case was covered in the 20/20 episode "One Last Chance".

See also

• List of solved missing person cases

Further reading

• Lee, Henry C.; Labriola, Jerry (2006). Dr. Henry Lee's Forensic Files: Five Famous Cases Scott Peterson, Elizabeth Smart, and more... Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-59102-409-9.
• Thomas, Donna (December 2007). I'm Sorry I Lied To You: The Confession of Scott Peterson (3rd ed.). Duj Pepperman Enterprises. ISBN 978-0978572884.

External links

• "Links to past coverage of the murder of Laci Peterson". The Modesto Bee. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023.
• "NC v. PETERSON (2003)". Court TV. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023.
• "Phone transcript: Peterson tells mistress of missing wife". Court TV. January 6, 2003. Archived from the original on April 6, 2007.
• Kim, Eun Kyung (August 15, 2017). "Scott Peterson breaks silence on wife's murder in death row phone call". Today.
• "Inside Scott Peterson's Shockingly Comfortable Life on Death Row (EXCLUSIVE)". In Touch Weekly. June 1, 2016.
• Beratlis, Greg; Marino, Tom; Belmessieri, Mike; Lear, Dennis; Nice, Richelle; Guinasso, John; Zanartu, Julie; Swertlow, Frank; Stambler, Lyndon (2007). We, the Jury: Deciding the Scott Peterson Case. Beverly Hills, CA: Phoenix Books. ISBN 978-1-59777-536-6.
• Bird, Anne (2005). Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother Scott Peterson Is Guilty. New York: Regan Books. ISBN 9780060838577.
• Crier, Catherine; Thompson, Cole (2005). A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation. New York: ReganBooks. ISBN 0-06-076612-3.
• Dalton, Matt; Hill, Bonnie Hearn (2005). Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson's Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row. New York: Atria. ISBN 978-0743286954.