Scott Peterson: Victim's family ‘beyond horrified' he could be freed as LA Innocence Project takes up case
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The possibility that Scott Peterson, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of his pregnant wife Laci Peterson, could have his conviction reversed has made her family "beyond horrified".
This is because an influential legal group has announced that it will be taking up Scott's case.
What did Laci's family say?
"They're beside themselves," a family friend of Laci's mom Sharon Rocha told The Messenger. "How much more must they suffer?"
The news that Scott now has the support of the Los Angeles Innocence Project which is "investigating his claim of actual innocence," is unwelcome to Rocha and the rest of Laci's loved ones.
"They think he's guilty and have always thought he was guilty," said the family friend.
Laci was eight months pregnant when she went missing from her Modesto, California home on Christmas Eve in 2002.
Although her spouse Scott originally participated in the search efforts, officials quickly discovered that he was having an extramarital affair. He rose to prominence as the main suspect in her abduction.
Just one mile from the location where the body of her unborn child was discovered, Laci's body was discovered floating in San Francisco Bay four months later. Scott was convicted by a jury in 2004 on two counts of first-degree murder. He received a death sentence.
But in the past few years, Scott, now 51, has scored some significant legal victories.
Will Scott be out of prison?
The death penalty was reversed by the California Supreme Court in 2020, citing insufficient screening of the jury for anti-death penalty bias. Later that year, the California Supreme Court decided that his case should be reexamined by a lower court to see if his guilty conviction should be overturned and he should be released.
He received a new sentence in 2021 that carried a life term without the chance of release. Scott is now hopeful that the most recent events will enable him to be released from prison.
After the LA Innocence Project, which provides pro bono legal services to incarcerated people who may have been wrongfully convicted, said it is representing Scott, his lawyer praised the group.
His legal team is "thrilled to have the incredibly skilled attorneys at the LA Innocence project and their expertise becoming involved in the efforts to prove Scott's innocence," lawyer Pat Harris told ABC News.
