On Wednesday, a judge in California turned down almost all of Scott Peterson’s requests for new DNA tests. His lawyers are trying to get a new trial.
“At the time of the autopsy,” a spokesperson for the San Matteo County Superior Court said, the judge agreed to let a piece of duct tape found on Laci Peterson’s pants go through a new round of DNA tests.
“Judge Hill denied the defense’s motion for DNA testing for all but one of the 14 items presented in the defense’s original motion filed with the Court on January 17, 2024,” the spokesperson said.
Twenty years ago, Scott Peterson was found guilty of killing his pregnant wife and throwing her body into San Francisco Bay.
He was found guilty of killing Laci and Connor, their newborn child. Their bodies were found in the bay in April 2003. He is now serving a life term.
Laci went missing from her husband and their Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002. She was eight months pregnant at the time.
Peterson’s defense team tried to get 14 things retested but were turned down. These included a mattress found inside a burned van, a hammer and glove that may have been used in a nearby theft, and things that washed up in the bay where Laci was found.
Peterson and his allies have been focusing on suspects for a long time who they say broke into a house across the street from his and killed his wife.
Over the years, Peterson has made several unsuccessful appeals. However, he was able to get his death sentence overturned and is now serving life in jail without the chance of parole.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project has taken up this new appeal, which says there is DNA proof that hasn’t been tested yet that could show someone else may have killed Laci and Connor.
In a 337-page court document earlier this month, prosecutors opposed his request for new DNA testing. They talked about the “overwhelming” evidence that led to his conviction in the first place, such as the many lies he told police, his mistress Amber Frey, and the media.
They showed pictures of him happy at a vigil for Laci Peterson just a few days after she went missing. An important part of his story is that he was on a boat trip in San Francisco Bay the day his wife disappeared.
A police K-9 picked up her smell at a Berkeley boat ramp, they said. They also said that her hair was found on a pair of needle-nose tools that were found on his boat. The autopsy also showed that her body parts had been weighed down and anchored to the sea floor before they broke apart and came ashore. Prosecutors also showed proof that Peterson had made several homemade anchors out of concrete and rebar.