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LAS VEGAS — Scott Peterson’s longtime lawyer claims his team has new evidence that could force courts to take another look at his murder conviction, just ahead of the release of a documentary about the case.
The documentary, which will be released this summer, comes after a San Mateo County Superior Court judge on April 27 denied his most recent bid to overturn the murder conviction. The Los Angeles Innocence Project, which is representing Peterson, said it will appeal the ruling to a higher court.
Peterson was convicted of killing wife Laci and their unborn son on or around Dec. 24, 2002, in Modesto, California.
His longtime defense attorney, Mark Geragos, told Fox News Digital at CrimeCon in Las Vegas that he has never seen “anything that ties Scott Peterson to a criminal conviction in this case.”
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Scott Peterson and Laci Peterson appear in a still photo from the forthcoming docuseries “American Murder: Laci Peterson.” (Courtesy of Netflix)
Geragos said a burned-out van found near the Petersons’ house after a burglary could be connected to the case, and alleged that prosecutors initially hid that piece of evidence.
“There was a van, it was ditched and set on fire very close to the house, within miles,” Gergaos said. “That van contained a treasure trove of evidence that should have been tested in real time, some of which was, some of which still exists, and that they’re actively not trying to or prevent the defense from doing it.”
Convicted killer Scott Peterson appears in court on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, seeking a new trial. (Courtesy of KTVU)
In a previous court filing, his defense team said Laci Peterson confronted a pair of burglars who were attempting to break into a house across the street Dec. 24, 2002. According to Peterson’s lawyers, that would exonerate him because it would have happened after he left for a fishing trip, meaning he would not have been in the area when his wife disappeared.
Geragos says the Los Angeles Innocence Project gave the court a “laundry list” of items that could be retested for DNA, which was rejected.
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Scott Peterson appears via video call for a status hearing at San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City, Calif., on March 12, 2024. (Andy Alfaro/Modesto Bee/Tribune News Service)
“Why wouldn’t you want to? Why wouldn’t you want vindicate yourself if you’re the prosecution? The only explanation is because you’re not sure that you’ve got the right guy,” Geragos said.
He said that there’s “clearly new stuff that’s gonna come out,” adding “there are still bombshells yet to come.”
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Scott Peterson sits in the courtroom at the San Mateo Superior Courthouse with his attorney Mark Geragos in 2004. Peterson was denied bail ahead of a December court hearing where a judge is expected to re-sentence him to life in prison without parole. (Fred Larson-Pool/Getty Images)
Ninette Toosbuy, a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective and private investigator who works with Peterson’s defense team, told Fox News Digital that multiple witnesses contacted the Modesto Police Department and reported they hadn’t seen Laci Peterson on the morning of December 24, but weren’t vetted
“So I think there are two real critical areas where exculpatory information was not provided to the defense team,” Toosbuy said. “One was the multiple witnesses who had contacted Modesto PD to say that they had seen Laci Peterson on the morning of the 24th. Those witnesses were not all vetted out.”
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Scott Peterson is shown in a still image from a police interview on Christmas Day 2002, hours after his pregnant wife Laci Peterson was reported missing in San Mateo County, California. (San Mateo County Court)
“If just one or two witnesses had been vetted and could have confirmed that, in fact, they did see Laci Peterson in the park or in the neighborhood, and that their statement was reliable, that would have immediately, within the first 48 hours, eliminated Scott Peterson as a suspect. And yet that was an area that Modesto PD decided not to pursue. And from my standpoint as an investigator, it’s a real failure of the investigation,” she added.
A&E will release a two-part documentary, “Scott Peterson: The New Evidence,” on July 16 and 17, which will include witness testimony as well as interviews with Geragos and other individuals who were close to the case.