Judge: Convicted killer Scott Peterson will not get a retrial
This Oct. 21, 2022, photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabiliatation shows Scott Peterson. Peterson has been moved off death row more than two years after the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence for ki
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Convicted killer, Scott Peterson, won’t get new trial in the killings of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son.
Peterson alleged that his trial was tainted by a rogue juror who lied about her own history of abuse to get on the panel that initially sent him to death row.
But San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ruled on Tuesday that there is no evidence that juror Richelle Nice had prejudged case, was biased against him or had "hidden agenda."
Nice failed to disclose during jury selection that she sought a restraining order while pregnant in 2000, saying she "really fears for her unborn child" because of threats from her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend. She also failed to disclose that her boyfriend beat her in 2001 while she was pregnant with another child.
Laci Peterson, 27, was killed when she was eight months pregnant with a son, whom the Petersons planned to name Conner. Investigators said that on Christmas Eve 2002, Scott Peterson dumped his wife’s body from his fishing boat into San Francisco Bay.
Scott Peterson was eventually arrested after Amber Frey, a massage therapist living in Fresno, told police they had begun dating a month before Laci Peterson’s death. She said he had told her his wife was dead. Peterson has maintained his innocence throughout.
He can appeal the judge's decision.