Scott Peterson.Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty
Is there new evidence that could setScott Petersonfree? His sister-in-law thinks so — and tellstheTodayshowthat the commonly accepted timeline of theLaci Petersonmurder case is wrong.
Scott was convicted oftwo counts of first-degree murderin the 2002 death of Laciand their unborn son, Conner. He was sentenced to death in 2005. He remained on death row until 2020, when his deathwas overturned, meaning that he would face a new penalty phase trial.
In October, the California Supreme Court ruled that a lower court should take asecond look at his caseto determine whether his guilty verdict should be overturned and whether Scott, now 49, should face a new trial.
In her interview withToday, Janey Peterson says that Laci was not killed on Christmas Eve 2002, but was killed later.
“There’s evidence that was completely ignored that shows Laci was alive after [Scott] left for the day,” Janey, who is married to Scott’s brother, told the show. “But also, there was no evidence that he had anything to do with what happened to Laci.”
ZUMA Press.
Laci waseight months pregnantwhen she disappeared from her Modesto home on Christmas Eve in 2002. Her body was found in April 2003 in San Francisco Bay.
But as the case moved forward, jurors heard about Scott’s dark secrets, including a months-long affair with a woman namedAmber Frey, who was unaware that Scott was married when she started dating him.
Frey later worked with prosecutors, taping damning phone calls with Scott. During trial, shetestified for several daysabout her relationship with Scott, her realization that he was still married and that Laci had vanished. Frey first called police in Modesto in late December 2002 to disclose the affair.
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But in Wednesday’s interview, Janey says that being an adulterer does not mean that her brother is a killer. “I don’t think you can take that leap,” she tells the morning news show.
Today
Scott will attend court virtually from California’s San Quentin State Prison on Wednesday as part of his legal team’s fight for a new trial. The defense team argues that his previous trial was flawed, in part because one of the jurors lied about being a victim of domestic abuse in order to get selected on the case.
Janey is attending law school so that she can assist her brother-in-law’s defense team if he is granted a new trial. She toldTodaythat she believes the killer is still at large.
“We don’t have justice,” she said. “This crime is not solved.”
source: people.com
