Scott Peterson’s defense team has submitted a new petition aiming to overturn his conviction, including a 140-page declaration that Peterson himself wrote.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project (LAIP) joined Peterson’s case last year. Peterson, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife Laci and their unborn son, received support from the organization as they presented an alternative narrative about the deaths to help exonerate him.
On April 24, the LAIP filed a petition with a state appeals court, seeking to invalidate Peterson’s murder conviction. They contended that new evidence and previously discounted eyewitness testimony justify a new trial.
“Individually and cumulatively, the new evidence presented in this petition eviscerates the prosecution’s original case and exonerates (Peterson),” a press release from LAIP read. “Had the jury heard this evidence, it is highly likely they would not have reached a guilty verdict.”
According to The Modesto Bee, most of the defense’s requests stem from a theory that Laci was kidnapped and killed by someone other than Peterson. LAIP highlighted a burned van, which was located within proximity of Peterson’s Modesto residence around the time of Laci’s disappearance.
The “orange van theory” claims that someone forced Laci into a van while she was walking her dog at La Loma Park. According to the defense’s DNA petition, they argue that the van she was allegedly abducted in corresponds to the same stolen vehicle later discovered burned by the Modesto Police Department.
LAIP also alleged that the police handling the case were “disorganized, failed to follow basic police procedures that were standard at the time, and was driven by confirmation bias.”
The organization also alleged that the Modesto Police Department failed to interviewed numerous eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen Laci walking her dor after Peterson had already left their residence for a fishing trip.
Laci vanished on Christmas Eve 2002 — a month before she was due to give birth. Prosecutors said Peterson strangled or suffocated her before wrapping her in a tarp, fastening her to anchors, and dropping her in the San Francisco Bay.
Peterson — who claimed he was fishing in Berkeley when his pregnant wife vanished — was ultimately arrested in San Diego County with $15,000 in cash in his possession.
Meanwhile, Peterson’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus may compel him to testify in a new trial if he wants to present the evidence mentioned in his declaration.
Legal analyst and former prosecutor Michael Cardoza, who ran a mock cross-examination of Peterson in his murder 2004 trial, said LAIP seemed willing to take that risk.
“You may not do well on the stand,” Cardoza said, according to The Mercury News, “but damn, you’re getting up there because that’s our last hope.”
Check back for updates.
