The Los Angeles Innocence Project (LAIP) filed a lengthy petition late last week, claiming it had revealed evidence that Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife, Lasi Peterson and his unborn son, Connor, was not guilty.
Peterson’s attorneys argue that the case against him is “completely circumstantial” and that the petition filed in the California Court of Appeals marks the issue of a police investigation, with the prosecutor withheld important information in a very well-known trial.
In cases where many of the country had rivets, Peterson was convicted in 2004 of murder about two years after his wife and unborn baby death. He has always argued that he is not guilty.
He was first given the death penalty, and before it came back to life without parole, he was given the death penalty.
“All injustice needs to be done right and the evidence in this case will remain our guide to us as we move forward,” said John Sonego, chairman of the LAIP board of trustees.
The petition calls for the court to abstain Peterson from his sentence and alleges that investigators and prosecutors mismanaged much of the investigation and destroyed more important evidence.
(CDCR) Scott Peterson responds to a petition by defense attorney Mark Jelagos, who dismissed a double murder charge against Peterson, January 14, 2004, in Modesto, California. (Bart Ah You-Pool/Getty Images) On March 17, 2005, File Photo Scott Peterson was escorted by two San Mateo County Sheriff’s Deputies as he walks from prison to a waiting van in Redwood City, California. The court said that if prosecutors wish to do so in a well-known case, they could retry the same sentence. It supported his 2004 conviction of murdering Rashi Peterson, who was eight months pregnant with the fetus. (AP Photos/Justin Sullivan, Pool, File)
“We believe this case is worthy of a second appearance after his initial conviction due to issues related to confirmation bias, and there was a potential Brady violation committed by Modesto Police and the County DA office,” Sonego added.
The nonprofit organization says “no direct or physical or forensic evidence was found to support some of the prosecutor’s theory” that Peterson killed Rashi and disposed of her body on the coast of San Francisco Bay.
On December 24th, 2002, a robbery at the neighbor’s house next to Peterson also appears on the central stage.
The filing site has filed eyewitnesses “hearing conversations between robbers about Rashi looking at them and confronting them.” Laip’s lawyer said the details exonerate Peterson. Because it shows that Laci was alive when her husband left home early in the day for a fishing trip.
Peterson’s lawyer tied the band of thieves to a burning van near the couple’s home, adding that he had never heard of the burnt-out mattress found in the vehicle, including Bradstein. They alleged that prosecutors refused more to do a more accurate DNA test to determine if there was a link to the killing.
Police and prosecutors who attempted the case 20 years ago continued to support the conviction, but Peterson’s former defense attorney, Mark Jelagos, has always challenged the verdict.
“I don’t think they proved it, and I don’t think they proved it since,” he told KTLA’s Rachel Menitov.
Jelagos added that he hopes these latest legal attempts will prove his previous client.
“I think he was convicted for what I called ‘He didn’t provide the right evidence.’ And for me, that’s not proof at all because there’s no playbook on how your pregnant wife should act when she goes missing,” he said.
As for the next step, the District Attorney’s Office, which originally attempted the case, said it would not comment on the petition until it was filed by the court, and they had the opportunity to read it.
Meanwhile, LAIP said it will wait to see how the judge will respond before deciding what needs to happen next.
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