Scott Peterson listens to Stanislaus County Deputy District legal professional Dave Harris communicate throughout a listening to on the San Mateo County Superior Courtroom in Redwood Metropolis, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Practically 17 years after being sentenced to die, Peterson was resentenced to life with out parole Wednesday throughout an emotional listening to wherein members of the family of his slain pregnant spouse, Laci, known as him out for the killing in 2002 and his obvious lack of regret. (Andy Alfaro/The Modesto Bee by way of AP, Pool)
REDWOOD CITY – A lady accused of preserving secrets and techniques about her previous whereas being chosen as a juror within the Scott Peterson homicide trial twenty years in the past will probably be supplied immunity to testify – a twist that would result in a brand new homicide trial in a single California’s most infamous circumstances.
If “Juror No. 7” accepts immunity — presumably from perjury expenses — she is predicted to take the witness stand in a Redwood Metropolis courtroom Feb. 25 to elucidate why she didn’t reveal that she had been the sufferer of home violence – whereas she was pregnant.
Peterson, now 49, was convicted in 2004 and later sentenced to demise within the killing of his pregnant spouse, Laci Peterson, and the unborn son they deliberate to call Conner. His demise penalty was overturned late final yr when a decide dominated that potential jurors who disagreed with the demise penalty however had been prepared to impose it had been improperly dismissed from the jury pool. Now, Peterson’s attorneys are searching for to overturn his homicide conviction as properly, claiming the juror’s lack of transparency denied him a good trial.
“I don’t suppose you may make a cogent argument that anyone who's pregnant and has been the sufferer of violence can go right into a trial and on the very least not really feel some bias in direction of a circumstance the place a sufferer is a pregnant lady who mainly had violence happen,” Peterson’s lawyer Pat Harris advised reporters after the Monday morning listening to.
In a 2017 interview with the Modesto Bee, Richelle Good denied the allegations. “I didn't deceive get on this trial to fry Scott,” she advised the Bee. “I didn't.”
Good and different jurors would go on to jot down a ebook in regards to the trial.
Peterson, who was moved from San Quentin to the Redwood Metropolis jail, appeared in court docket Monday in a pink jail go well with and shackles and a boot on his foot that his lawyer stated got here after a “slip and fall.” He and Harris – one of many two attorneys who represented him within the preliminary trial – spoke quietly throughout breaks within the listening to.
Peterson’s spouse disappeared from their Modesto house on Christmas Eve 2003. She was eight-months pregnant. When Peterson knocked on neighbors’ doorways searching for her that evening, he advised them he had spent the day golfing. He advised police later, nevertheless, that he had been fishing off the Berkeley Marina. After a storm, Laci’s physique and that of her unborn son washed up individually alongside the Richmond shoreline in April 2003. The trial started in June 2004.
Good failed to say her previous both on a jury questionnaire or throughout questioning by prosecution and protection attorneys.
She didn’t disclose that in 2001, her boyfriend beat her whereas she was pregnant, Harris stated, and was finally charged. She additionally didn’t reveal Harris stated, that whereas pregnant with one other little one, she filed a restraining order towards her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. Good had stated in court docket paperwork that with out immunity, she would plead the Fifth Modification and stay silent. David Harris, a Stanislaus County assistant district legal professional who additionally was concerned within the Peterson case twenty years in the past, stated in court docket Monday that his workplace had determined to grant Good immunity.
“She has two decisions,” Peterson’s lawyer, Pat Harris, advised reporters. With immunity, “she is going to both reply the questions, or if she chooses to not, she might be held in contempt and you may really go to jail.”
The Peterson case acquired world consideration, drawing scores of media and authorized pundits who recounted each twist and switch of the trial on cable information every evening. Due to pretrial publicity in Modesto, the trial had been moved from Stanislaus County within the Central Valley to Redwood Metropolis.
When Peterson was convicted in November 2004, throngs of spectators gathered outdoors the courthouse and cheered.
Per week-long evidentiary listening to is predicted to start proper after Good’s deliberate Feb. 25 testimony. Superior Courtroom Choose Anne-Christine Massullo will then decide whether or not Peterson must be granted a brand new trial.
If that's the case, Harris stated he believes that 18 years later, “it is going to be a really completely different ambiance.
“I do know that there's nonetheless a large swath of the general public that believes he’s responsible, however I don’t suppose you may have the hysteria you had final time,” Harris stated. “I believe the possibilities of getting a good trial are a lot better.”