Convicted murderer Scott Peterson has been granted post-conviction discovery in the latest series of events in his bid for a new trial.
In a filing dated Oct. 7 and obtained by Court TV, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill addressed more than 600 pieces of evidence that Peterson's defense had requested access to.
Peterson was sentenced to death for the 2002 murders of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son. In 2021, he was resentenced to life in prison without parole. The following year, he was denied a new trial on allegations of juror misconduct.
Peterson’s defense, in their attempt to convince a judge he deserves a new trial, had asked for a number of items related to a burglary at the home of Rudy and Susan Medina, who lived diagonally across from the Petersons. Two men tied to the burglary, Steven Todd and Donald Pearce, were cleared as suspects in Laci’s disappearance.
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Judge Hill denied Peterson’s request for all Modesto police reports, the steps officers took to verify Pearce and Todd’s alibis and more information about their polygraph exams. But Judge Hill granted Peterson’s team access to audio and video recordings, as well as transcripts of the suspects’ interviews with police and handwritten notes from the officers who conducted the interviews. Peterson’s team will also be able to review the 2003 search warrants relating to the Medina burglary as well as photos of the evidence found, which includes items identified as not belonging to the Medinas.
Peterson’s team has also focused on Laci’s diamond-encrusted Croton watch. Carl Jensen, a defense investigator, told the court that he was contacted by a man who said “he was in jail watching TV and saw a Court TV report about the pawn of a watch that might have been Laci’s. Upon seeing the story, he recalled that in mid-February 2003, a friend named Deanna Harbin Renfro and her friend Anthony Scarlata asked him if he wanted to buy a watch. He described the watch that they showed him as medium-sized with a lot of diamonds.”
But investigators tracked down those leads years ago and determined that the watch was not the same, prompting the judge to deny any further access to records in the case.
Peterson and his team had previously asked to be allowed to perform DNA testing on a blood-stained mattress found in a burned-out orange van less than a mile from the Petersons’ home the day after Laci was reported missing. Hill previously denied their request and noted in her latest ruling, “The Court does not view the orange van evidence as casting doubt on Peterson’s guilt, because no witness or forensic evidence obtained ever established that Laci Peterson was in the orange van. However, it is apparent based on the involvement of Detective Shipley and the cross-referencing of the investigation of the two cases that the orange van was ‘part of the investigation of the offenses charged.'”
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That reasoning led Judge Hill to grant Peterson’s team access to a complete copy of the DOJ Central Valley Crime Laboratory file and documents relating to the collection of fingerprints from the van.
In July, Judge Hill issued an order that outlined how DNA testing on a piece of duct tape recovered from Laci Peterson’s pants at the time of her autopsy would proceed. Judge Hill ordered that testing would be conducted within 45 days and the results would be submitted under seal.
Court filings suggest that testing was completed in late August. There has been no further public notice of the testing and results.
In January, the Los Angeles Innocence Project took over his case and began another bid for a new trial based on critical pieces of evidence allegedly overlooked by investigators. Among those items was a 15.5-inch piece of duct tape found on Laci Peterson’s pants.
In August, Peterson spoke out for the first time in two decades in Peacock’s three-part docuseries, "Face to Face with Scott Peterson." In the series, he maintained his innocence.
This story was originally published by Ivy Brown and Lauren Silver at Court TV.
