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The Picture Worth a Thousand Words (or Two)                  by Janey Peterson

12/26/2022

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Last week marked 20 years since Laci was kidnapped and then murdered. At the beginning of the week, we posted this rendering of Scott sitting next to Laci with his hand on her stomach. Here is the story of how that rendering came to be.

It was Tuesday, January 14, 2003. It was three weeks to the day since my pregnant sister-in-law, Laci Peterson, had gone missing. This was my second trip from San Diego to Modesto in those three weeks. Laci and I were married to half-brothers; her husband, Scott, and my husband, Joe, shared the same father. Members of our family had been traveling back and forth from San Diego to help in the search, but at the moment, I was the only out-of-town family member in Modesto. That night, Scott and I had dinner with Laci’s mom and stepdad, Sharon and Ron, at their home.

After dinner, Scott and I went to his home. The kitchen was tidy, and the counter was clear except for a photograph. I picked it up and saw the most precious image of Scott and Laci. They were sitting on their couch, and his hand was on her stomach, feeling for a kick from their unborn son. She held his hand in just the right spot as the two of them laughed.

The click of a camera captured the moment. One that words cannot describe. Their son, Conner, was due to arrive in about two months, and they were ready. The nursery was painted blue, the crib was assembled, and the nautical theme was well underway. In the days following the taking of this photo, the finishing touches would be added. A small stuffed otter and a boat bag (to serve as a diaper bag) would be bought on their annual mid-December trip to Carmel. A trip to Home Depot would yield the perfect shelves to display the nautical-themed treasures, including a wooden boat that was handmade by Pappy—what the grandkids call Scott’s dad.

Laci’s disappearance immediately became a national news story, and there were not enough pictures to feed the interest. Countless photos had been handed over to news agencies—anything to keep her picture out there. It was never enough for the media; they always wanted something new, something no one had ever seen.
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This photo had just been “developed.” Back in 2002, after you took a photo, you would take the film to the store and have the pictures developed. It was very common to get “double prints,” which means you would get two printed copies of each photo. It was commonplace to give the second copy away. That’s what happened here. Someone had just developed some pictures they had taken about a month before, right before Laci went missing, and they gave the duplicate print to my brother-in-law. The photo was priceless; it was like a secret. A glimpse into a beautiful private moment. I was glad Scott had a picture of himself and Laci that the media did not have.

In the three weeks since Laci had been missing, there were reports that she was seen walking their dog McKenzi in the neighborhood after Scott had left for the day. However, the police repeatedly told our family and the public that they could not confirm she was walking her dog. The biggest lead came in when it was found out that the house directly across the street was burglarized around the time she went missing, However, the police said their investigation determined the burglary occurred two days after Laci went missing, and it was unrelated to her disappearance.

The story remained in the headlines, and a couple of months later, my brother-in-law was arrested for the murder of Laci and his unborn son, Conner. Whether I passed people on a park bench reading the newspaper or was in the check-out line at the grocery store, I was likely to see a photo of Scott or Laci in the headlines. As Scott’s trial began, my brother-in-law’s guilt was presumed to be a foregone conclusion, and we were in a constant battle to correct misinformation perpetuated both in court and in the media.

During Scott’s trial in 2004, there was testimony insinuating that Scott didn’t want a child, a possible motive for murdering his wife. I’m not sure when, but at some point, during the trial I thought back to that treasured photo. Where was it? All we need to do is enter it into evidence to dispel this myth. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Ironically, this false narrative would grow over the years to include the very specific notion that Scott would not touch Laci’s stomach.

I had only seen the photo that one day, so during a visit with Scott in the jail adjoining the courthouse, I asked if he knew where it was. He did not. At this point, he’d been in jail for over a year. I mentioned it to his attorneys and asked them a few times over the coming months to be on the lookout for the photo. I thought maybe the police had captured a photograph of it sitting on the kitchen counter during the February 18, 2003 search of the house, or maybe the police had collected it during that search. Nothing was ever found.

My brother-in-law and I were the only two people in our family who had seen the photo. I had no memory of him telling me who took this candid photo, and at this point, he couldn’t remember who had taken it. We presumed that whoever the photographer was, they likely now believed Scott to be guilty, along with the rest of the world. Over 99% of those polled in an online survey said they believed Scott to be guilty. Our public support for Scott’s innocence made us very unpopular, so I had no standing or evidence to talk about the photo publicly, so I didn’t. In the coming years, the drumbeat of injustice beat loudly in the background of life, and we fought for Scott’s freedom in any way we could think of. An occasional search for this missing photo was part of it.

The trial ended in 2004 with Scott being convicted and sentenced to death. Right after Scott was convicted, he was transferred to death row at San Quentin State Prison. All the items that were in his county jail cell could not go with him and were sent to his parents. This included the laptop Scott had been allowed to have in his cell to access case files. This laptop contained over 43,000 pages of police files as well as most of the evidence photos. This is the kind of information that families can rarely get their hands on, and it became the basis for our family to research Scott’s wrongful conviction and follow up on leads that the police ignored.

It was and still is an overwhelming amount of information to comb through. Before posting anything about the case, we search these 43,000 pages of police files along with thousands of pages of trial transcripts to make sure we are being accurate. It certainly wasn’t a priority, but we eventually looked to see if the police files could yield the proof we needed to verify the existence of the missing photo. At first glance, there was no evidence of the missing photo. It wasn’t photographed during the search warrant nor captured on the kitchen counter during the search warrant video. Additionally, during that second search warrant, the police collected all the photos in the home. Our family was eventually given a CD copy of these photos, but the missing photo was not among them.

In our search of police files, we did find a police report that Scott touched Laci’s stomach, but we still had no proof the photo existed. The report we found was written within one week of Laci’s disappearance. The report says that Laci’s mom, Sharon, told police that “Scott appeared to be excited about the baby. Sharon described an incident where Laci had yelled at him to come feel the baby moving her stomach and he went over to her appearing excited to feel the child.” It was proof that Scott touched Laci’s stomach, but still no proof of the photo.   
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​Many years later, like in 2017, I was combing through police reports researching an unrelated topic, and I noticed a police report that said photographs had been stolen from Scott’s home the weekend of January 17—just days after I had seen the missing photo. I knew that Scott’s home had been broken into that weekend, but by the time I started the search for this missing photo, it never occurred to me that it was stolen during this break-in. I renewed my search. 
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​There were close to 50 pages of reports about this burglary. One of them said the police took 65 photos and a video of the interior of Scott and Laci’s house. I didn’t have these photos or the video, and whether or not they captured a picture of the missing photo, they would be relevant photos to have in the case file. So, on a subsequent trip to Modesto, I checked in with the records clerk at the Modesto police station to see how we could get a copy of the police photos. I was told it was something Scott or someone with power of attorney would need to request. At this point, I figured the photo was likely stolen, so it wouldn’t be captured in the photos or video the police took. The request for the police photos and video would be left for another day. 
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The next thing I decided to do was a bit bold. I decided to call the woman who had burglarized the house. Her name was Kim, and she was a neighbor of Scott and Laci’s. She had never met either of them prior to Laci going missing, but she had helped in the search for Laci from the beginning. I had met Kim at the volunteer center prior to the break-in. She had offered to walk McKenzi while Scott went to southern California for a one-day volunteer center that was being held to search for Laci. Scott accepted Kim’s offer and told her that both the leash and McKenzi would be outside whenever she was able to walk him. (Scott and Laci had lived on a ranch property in San Luis Obispo, so while McKenzi regularly slept in the house, he was no stranger to sleeping outside. They had also left McKenzi outside during their recent three-day trip to Carmel in mid-December.) Kim ended up breaking a glass pane on a back door to gain access to the locked house and then stole multiple items. While some of the items she stole were recovered, many were not. Could it be possible that she still had some of the photos she took? I called her number.

When Kim answered, I told her who I was and that we had met while Laci was missing. She remembered me. The first thing she did was profusely apologize for her behavior all those years ago. She then told me that she no longer had any of the photos, and to the best of her recollection, she had returned everything she could find. She remembered that she had discarded some items, which were never recovered. I believed her. I thanked her for her time, and that ended the search for the time being.

Then, in early 2020, while again combing through police reports on another unrelated topic, I stumbled on a police report that described one of the photos that Kim had stolen from the home—a photo where “Scott had his hand on Laci’s stomach.” I couldn’t believe it. There was proof the photo existed. Clearly, I had reviewed the 50 pages of reports on this burglary too quickly in previous years. 
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​Now that I had proof the photo existed, I wanted to find an artist to do a rendering. I had a definite recollection of what the photo looked like, but I had only briefly seen it once. I wrote to Scott that I wanted to have a rendering made and asked him to send me a sketch of how he remembered it. His sketch was similar to my memory, but I would have put Scott on the right side and maybe had his head lowered a bit, almost as if he was listening to her stomach. I went with his version. I found an artist and sent her some photographs of Scott and Laci, and after a few edits, this digital rendering was completed in January 2021. 
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​Two months later, I offered the rendering to 48 Hours in conjunction with an interview I was doing because there was and still is no shortage of requests for photos or video that no one has ever seen before. I thought they would jump at the opportunity, but they had no interest. I ended up just leaning the photo against the wall in our office during the interview and wondering if anyone would notice it. To our knowledge, no one did.
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Having never published the rendering, we decided it was fitting to do so this past week on our social media pages. As our post stated, it has been 20 years since Laci was kidnapped and then murdered. It was national news within a day due to a news wire that was paid for by the family. Until our post last week, most people had never heard of the news wire, and most people had not seen this rendering. (Unless you were hyper-vigilant during my 48 Hours interview with Jonathan Vigliotti.) We also stated in the post that the photo doesn't fit the false narrative that Scott wouldn't touch Laci's stomach.

We intended to post the rendering as a sweet remembrance of Laci. She was my sister-in-law, pregnant with my nephew, Conner. We loved her, and we miss her. While we certainly planned on telling the story of this photo and authenticating it with a police report, we did not plan on going into this much depth. However, based on the number of comments we had to delete, there is a tight grip on this falsity that Scott would not touch Laci's stomach.
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I repeatedly state that Scott is innocent, so I’m used to being called a liar (or worse). I also understand that, as Scott’s family, we will always have to offer proof for what we say. So, I now offer these 2,600 words to explain a photograph that was supposed to speak for itself about Scott touching Laci's stomach. That’s okay. We’ve spent countless hours refuting false information in this case and will never stop doing so, and this lost picture is worth it. This lost picture is priceless. 

Some people who think the rendering is a lie probably will not read this, or if they do, they will still think there is some sort of deception at play. Unfortunately, those same people who accuse us of lying about everything from a photograph to Scott’s innocence seek no explanation for how Scott could have carried out this crime. They are content with what the prosecutor said in his closing argument, “I can’t tell you when he did it. I can’t tell you if he did it at night. I can’t tell you if he did it in the morning. I’m not going to try to convince you of something that I can’t prove. I don’t have to prove that to you.”
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Those five sentences get no pushback from these critics—ever. I waited 20 years to talk of this photo until I could prove it existed with a police report, and still people are skeptical. Is this double standard acceptable? Those who put Scott on death row admit to being unable to provide one shred of evidence as to how, when, or where Scott commited this crime. Should that be okay? Or do Laci, Conner, and Scott deserve better?  
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Unanimous Reversal of Scott's Death Penalty

8/24/2020

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​Our family is sincerely grateful that the California Supreme Court recognized the injustice of Scott’s death penalty. For a long and difficult 18 years, we have believed unwaveringly in Scott’s innocence, so today’s decision by the court is a big step toward justice for Laci, Conner and Scott.
 
Now our family will do two things: First, we wait for Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager to decide whether to pursue a new penalty phase trial. If the DA elects to do so, a new jury would be seated, and they would hear all the evidence. They would then decide only Scott’s sentence: life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. While we hope for the opportunity to present the new evidence to a jury, it is not likely that this penalty phase trial will happen. The case against Scott has weakened to the point where no jury would ever sentence him to death again and the District Attorney is aware of these facts. 
 
Second, we wait for the court to address the new forensic and eyewitness evidence we have submitted that shows Laci was alive the morning of December 24th and demonstrates Scott’s innocence. When the court reviews this in the coming months, we are confident they will grant Scott a new guilt phase trial. 
 
Our family has been deeply moved by the outpouring of support not only from family and friends but also from the hundreds of people from all walks of life who have shared their faith in Scott’s innocence. For more information on the case, please visit our website at ScottPetersonAppeal.org.
 
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The Edit, The Search, The Truth            by Janey Peterson

7/31/2018

9 Comments

 
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                                          THE EDIT:
 
While watching the episode of Grace vs Abrams that I participated in a couple months back, they aired the following exchange:
                                                  
Nancy Grace:      “Okay wait a minute, I want to hear him on the phone with Amber.  Everybody, listen to part of the secret tapes where Amber Frey allegedly catches Scott in multiple lies, speaking of lies.”
 
Audio Clip of Amber Frey speaking to Scott on the phone: 
Amber: “Yeah and I deserve to understand an explanation of why you told me you lost your wife and this was the first holidays you’d spend without her?  That was December 9th you told me this and now all of a sudden your wife is missing?  Are you kidding me?
 
Nancy Grace:      “That’s bad”
 
Janey Peterson: “That’s not bad when you look at the tips that are coming in and then you hear about a burglary happening across the street and – those are the things that were going through our family’s mind.”

 
When I heard my own response to that phone call being played about Scott's infidelity lies, I cringed and thought, “Did I say that?”  I would never say Scott's lies to Amber were 'not bad'.  But clearly those words came out of my mouth.  I wondered if it had been edited in some way.  Had they swapped my response from another topic?  It had been a little over 4 weeks since the taping of the show, so I couldn’t immediately remember what the topic might have been.
 
Later in the show they aired this exchange between Dan Abrams and me:
 
Dan Abrams:      “You think it was just – it’s just horrible luck – that Scott had said to Amber, “I lost my wife on December 9th,” that she goes missing two weeks later, and that the body was then found in the bay where Scott Peterson was fishing four months later?  Do you think that’s just bad luck?”
 
Janey Peterson: “First off, yes, I think it’s horrible what Scott said to Amber.  Secondly, I don’t think the bodies being found in the bay have anything to do with luck.  When I was sitting at home December 26th and watching TV with Laci missing and I saw on national news that the Modesto Police announced Scott’s alibi, I – I was stunned.  My thought was, ‘We do not know who has Laci.  We do not know what their intent is.  And if their intent is to harm her, they’re going to put her in the bay.’”

 
This is two completely opposite responses to the same phone call.  They have me saying, “That’s not bad…” and then later I say, “I think it’s horrible…”; the latter being more in line with my thoughts on the subject.  Clearly they had done some editing on what was supposed to be a ‘live to tape’ interview.  I began to rack my brain for what my earlier comments had, in fact, been in response to.
 
Was it worth trying to remember?  Was it worth correcting publicly?  We learned a long time ago that we can’t chase down all the misinformation and we are always evaluating where to put our efforts.  I kept wondering, though, had anyone else cringed at my alleged response?  Ultimately, I decided it was worth a mention.  After all, one of the reasons we agreed to do the show was because it was “live to tape”.  This generally means, that what they tape is what gets aired.  While we were told there may be some minor editing, completely swapping responses is in no way appropriate.  Editing is a very powerful tool, and this is a perfect example of how words can be twisted in an editing room. 
 
                                      THE SEARCH:
 
Since I decided to do some sort of public correction, I first needed to remember exactly what WAS said.  This part of the search entailed watching the show a couple more times and reviewing the notes I had taken right after the taping to see if that would trigger what my statement had really been in response to.  Nothing was coming to mind.  Over the next weeks I would occasionally ponder what it could have possibly been.  I knew it was in response to something Scott said to Amber, but I couldn’t remember what.  Then one day, while driving, it hit me.  My statement was in response to Dan or Nancy (I believe Dan) saying something like:
 
Dan or Nancy:    “Scott was on the phone with Amber and he says to her, ‘I didn’t do it but I know who did and I’ll tell you later when I see you.’”

Nancy Grace then said: “That’s bad”

To which I responded:    “
That’s not bad when you look at the tips that are coming in and then you hear about a burglary happening across the street and – those are the things that were going through our family’s mind.”

Finally, I remembered!  It turns out they DID edit my response and put it in an entirely different and incorrect context. 

The next part of the search was finding the actual transcript of the phone call that was mentioned during the taping, since Grace vs. Abrams had not aired it.  The call where Scott said to Amber, “I didn’t do it but I know who did and I’ll tell you later when I see you.”  I had heard that phone call quoted for 15 years, but needed to make sure I got the wording right in the comments I was preparing.  I searched the entirety of the trial transcripts for this phone conversation.  Nothing.  I kept trying various versions of the  sentence.  Nothing.  Could it be this call was never played at trial and therefore not made public?  I went on to search the over 43,000 pages of non-public prosecution case files we have and I was still unable to find any reference whatsoever to this conversation between Scott and Amber. 
 
                                      THE TRUTH:
 
The truth is, I discovered that this call never occurred. 

The truth is, Scott never told Amber "I know who did it'.
 
The breaking news of this alleged call was in a Ted Rowlands story that aired on May 26, 2003, about 5 weeks after Scott was arrested:

Authorities Have Peterson-Frey Phone Conversations
POSTED: 9:02 a.m. PDT May 26, 2003


MODESTO, Calif. -- Modesto investigators have recorded phone conversations between Scott Peterson and his former mistress Amber Frey including one in which he told her he knew the identity of his wife's abductor, sources have told Fox News.

Video:   Ted Rowlands Monday Report - From Modesto

Reporter: According to a transcript of the call allegedly recorded by the Modesto Police and released by Fox, Frey confronted Peterson about his wife's disappearance and was told by Peterson that he had nothing to do with it.  

Reporter reading Transcript:

Amber: "Do I need to be afraid of you?"
Scott: "Absolutely not, I'm not a monster."
Amber: "Did you have anything to do with your wife's disappearance?"
Scott: "No, but I know who did it and I'll tell you later when I see you."

 
The next day, the alleged conversation was printed in the New York Post and that same night on the May 27, 2003 episode of  Larry King Live, this alleged conversation is talked about:
 
Larry King: Nancy, "The New York Post" reports today in a headline, "I know Laci's killer, Scott in shock call to his mistress." According to the story, Scott called Amber five or six times a night after she went public with their affair, and they reported the taped conversation -- "Do I need to be afraid of you?" "Absolutely not," et cetera. How do they know that?

Nancy Grace: Well, apparently, they've gotten to listen to some of the transcripts or some of the tapes. And very quickly, it was said here on the panel there's going to be a lot of boring listening. If there are tapes, conversations between Scott Peterson and Amber Frey, I can guarantee you it's not going to be boring.

Larry King: No, I said the boring would be with his lawyers.

Nancy Grace: With the lawyer. Now, you may be very right about that. But regarding this, I...

Larry King: But how do you know that that's fact?

Nancy Grace: ... it was quoted...

Larry King: How do you know -- I mean, "The New York Post"...

(CROSSTALK)

Nancy Grace: And it was also reported by several other news outlets. Apparently, there's a leak on one side or the other that is releasing this, either the transcript or the tape, which is very interesting...
…
Larry King: They're the one with this headline, "Bring in the monster." Right? OK. So they've been occasionally wrong. Do we know that that's a factual call? And is it going to be introduced in evidence? Do we know that?

Kimberly Guifoyle Newsom: Right. Well, we don't know that it's actually a fact. We're not going to know any facts. All of this is speculation until the case is presented, first and foremost, in a preliminary hearing or to a grand jury, but it looks like a preliminary hearing now...


While we are grateful for Larry’s skepticism, it wasn’t shared throughout the rest of the media.  After these broadcasts, the alleged conversation was repeated by Nancy Grace, Geraldo Rivera, Rita Cosby, and various others.  And it was repeated to me on Grace vs. Abrams 15 years later.  In all the mentions of this alleged call, we never heard any audio played.  There is only an alleged ‘transcript’ mentioned.
 
The truth is, I had heard this conversation referred to before and had no idea it had never happened.  I had never looked into it because, despite media claims, there was nothing incriminating about it, as I explained in my answer to Nancy Grace.
 
The truth is, the truth requires searching.  The truth requires work.  I went looking for the truth about an incorrect edit on a television show this year and after hours of research, we found out that yet another ‘breaking news’ day in this case back in 2003 was never even news to begin with.  
 
The truth is, after 15 years, there are still things I don’t know about this case.  And what is also true is that every new thing I learn is always in Scott’s favor and brings us one step closer to justice for Laci, Conner and Scott.
 
The truth is, we will never stop fighting.  We will never stop searching.  We will never stop speaking the truth.

9 Comments

Trial Transcripts

5/27/2016

210 Comments

 
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It is a privilege that we have access to Scott’s trial transcripts. Did you know that the format of trial transcripts is copyright protected?  If you want a copy of trial transcripts, it must be purchased from the court and cannot be shared unless it is reformatted.  You are charged per page, so the cost per day can vary, but in Scott’s case, the transcripts cost up to $250 per day.  His trial was over 6 months long.  A full copy of the transcripts in this case would cost in excess of $10,000.  You can actually go to the court house and view a copy of the transcripts at no charge, but if you want a copy from the court, you have to pay.

The First Amendment of our Constitution includes the right to listen.  The public has a right to access open court proceedings.  In Scott’s case, there was a daily lottery for the members of the public to obtain a seat in the courtroom.  There were very few seats available to the public, as the press also has a First Amendment right and the majority of seats were allocated to media. 

Scott’s appellate brief states, “The Peterson trial generated an extraordinary amount of publicity.  The trial judge noted that he had never seen anything like this case, and the prosecution itself conceded that this case generated more publicity then even the O.J. Simpson case.”  The whole world was watching. 

Given that the court proceedings were not televised, the public was left to watch media coverage.  During the trial, many members of the media took their First Amendment privilege lightly and did not accurately communicate the testimony.  The headlines often did not match what was occurring in the courtroom, so our family approached the court reporters for Scott’s trial to see if there was a way we could share the transcripts with the public.  Certainly our family walking out of the courthouse everyday saying Scott was innocent wasn’t getting us very far, but we felt sharing the transcripts could add credibility to what we were saying.  The court reporters agreed to give our family a paper copy of the daily transcripts for a flat fee of $50 a day ($5,000 over the course of the trial), but we would not be able to post the transcripts on the internet.  Given that we couldn’t share them, we did not accept the offer.

Fortunately, there was a group of interested people from all across the country that followed Scott’s case and they wanted access to the transcripts.  They had varying opinions on Scott’s guilt, but one thing they had in common is they all wanted to read it for themselves.  They found each other on-line and pooled together and purchased a copy of the trial transcripts.  Countless hours were spent reformatting them so they could be shared, as the content is not copyright protected, only the format.  Once reformatted they were able to post the transcripts on-line.

At the end of the trial, Scott was convicted.  Our family was devastated.  We’d lost Laci and Conner and now Scott was being sent to death row.  We did not know what to do.  There were so many public misconceptions about the case.  So many untruths.  Much of which was perpetuated by the media.  People thought Scott had fled.  People thought Scott and Laci were in financial trouble.  People thought Scott was lying about the events of December 24th.  People thought Laci didn’t know about Scott’s boat.  All incorrect.  These and other untruths led to the biggest misconception – that Scott was guilty.

We decided to address one misconception at a time on ScottPetersonAppeal.org.  These reformatted transcripts not only helped us to do the necessary research for our articles, but they are available in case you want to read something for yourself.  We are fortunate and grateful to have this privilege. 

To read transcripts or appellate filings, visit http://www.scottpetersonappeal.org/court-docs.html

210 Comments

New Evidence

11/24/2015

244 Comments

 


A Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus has been filed on Scott's behalf with the Supreme Court of the State of California.  

Information in this document highlights new evidence showing that the Court should overturn Scott's conviction.  There are 19 claims in the petition which include the following:
 
Evidence that the numerous neighbors saw Laci alive walking their dog, McKenzie, after Scott had left for the day.

Evidence that Laci interrupted the man robbing the house across the street from Scott and Laci.  (A robbery occured directly across the street from Scott and Laci's home the day she went missing.)

Forensic evidence that puts Laci and Conner's date of death in January.  


Each of the above examples, as well as others in the petition, argue Scott's innocence. 

There is also a claim made that a juror withheld critical information that would have barred her from getting on the jury.  This violated Scott's right to a fair trial.

This document is separate from Scott's Appellant Brief, but either document could result in the Court overturning Scott's conviction. Realistically, it will probably be another 2-3 years before the Supreme Court of the State of California considers the case.

To view the documents, you can follow the link below or look under the Appeal Information tab on our web-site.

Habeas Petition

Justice feels a little closer today, thank you for standing with us.
​The Peterson Family

244 Comments

Scott's Timeline

11/23/2015

61 Comments

 
 The first 'Featured Fact' we wrote for our web-site back in 2005 was a timeline of what Scott  said he did the day, his wife, Laci went missing.  The written version of this article is under the Case Facts tab of our web-site.  We've made a video version and posted it on our YouTube page. 
Laci was reported missing at 5:47pm on Tuesday, December 24, 2002.  This video outlines the facts for 24 hours leading up to that moment, specifically the activities of Scott.  He allegedly killed Laci during this time frame, and yet everything he said about this day was found to be true.  All photos used in this video are from evidence files and courtroom exhibits presented during Scott Peterson’s trial.  While it’s a bit long to watch, the details in this video are pivotal in showing Scott’s innocence.  We hope you have time to watch it, here's the link:

Scott's Timeline (Video)
61 Comments

Reply Brief

8/22/2015

60 Comments

 
Scott’s Reply Brief has been filed with the State and is available for reading at the following link: 

Reply Brief

This is the third of three documents that needed to be filed with the Supreme Court of the State of California for Scott’s appeal.  The next step is oral arguments.  Scott’s appellate attorney, Cliff Gardner, and an opposing attorney from the State Attorney General’s office will be called before the Supreme Court of the State of California for an hour or two of oral arguments.  This day will most likely occur in two to three years.  Once the Court hears oral arguments, they will hand down a decision on Scott’s appeal within 90 days.

The filing of this third document also starts a six month countdown for Scott’s habeas petition.  This is a separate court filing where Scott’s attorneys bring forth new evidence and information that was not heard in court.  The deadline for the habeas petition to be filed is January 23, 2016. 

The courts could overturn Scott’s conviction based on the information in either one of these filings. 

60 Comments

GERALDO'S FABLES

3/24/2015

42 Comments

 
A senior producer for Geraldo Rivera Reports contacted our family in January; she indicated they were, “taking a fresh look at the story” and that our website was “very thought provoking.” They gave us the opportunity to go on camera; we said, “Probably not.” 

Well unfortunately, after watching the program this past weekend, this fresh look, for the most part, was surprisingly old.  So old that we don’t have to write anything new to refute it; our responses were compiled years ago out of court transcripts.  Many of the people Geraldo interviewed added new distortions to these old myths – very frustrating. 

Geraldo used words like, ‘cushy’, ‘luxury’, ‘privileged’ and ‘surprisingly good’ to describe Scott’s life on death row.  We do not even know how to respond to such insanity and we won’t.  Those descriptions are as accurate as the rest of his report.

Mark Geragos shared the potential legal argument that Conner was not a viable fetus.  Geraldo then asserted that this was being argued in court on Scott’s behalf; that Scott is so cruel and heartless that he doesn’t even acknowledge the life of his own child.  This point is not being argued on Scott’s behalf by his appellate attorneys.  

We’ve listed most remaining falsehoods below with the appropriate link if you’d like to read more on the topic…

Scott never had alibi confusion nor did he hide the fact that he went fishing.  When Laci’s step-dad called 911 to report her missing, he said Scott had been golfing that day.  This was an assumption.  Scott had not told him he had been golfing.  Scott repeatedly told family and police that he was fishing, what he was fishing for and that he did not use bait.  He showed them a marina receipt, his fishing license and his boat.  In fact, the police did not believe Scott had gone fishing and only later, when his fishing alibi turned out to be true did they accuse him of saying he had been golfing.  For more information see our article ALLEGED LIES.

Detective Brocchini insinuated in the show that Scott washed his clothes, ate pizza, drank milk and took a shower when he first found out his wife was missing.  All these things happened prior to Scott realizing Laci was missing.  Per Scott’s cell phone records, his frantic messages to Greg and Kristen Reed occurred after Scott discovered Laci was missing.  For more information see our article SCOTT’S TIMELINE.

Read TRIPS AND VEHICLES for more information on why Scott went back to the Berkeley Marina while Laci was missing.

Scott’s boat was not a secret and there were not ‘5 perfectly round concrete rings’ on Scott’s trailer.  To see exhibit photos and to read more about the alleged making of 5 anchors, read 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SCOTT’S BOAT.

Scott immediately and voluntarily consented to police searches of his home, his vehicles and his warehouse the night Laci went missing.  Scott did not refuse them entry to his home.  For more information on how cooperative and truthful Scott was with the police, see TRIAL QUOTES.

Scott’s alibi was publicized quickly and frequently.  For more information on Laci and Conner’s bodies being found on the shore of the San Francisco Bay, read OPPORTUNITY.

Scott and Laci bought life insurance on each other 18 months before she went missing, not while Laci was pregnant.  For more information on the stability of their finances read THE TRUTH ABOUT FINANCES.

Scott told no lies to the police except about Amber.  Scott lied to Amber and about Amber a lot!  In fact, the pile of evidence in this case all pertains to adultery, not murder.  Despite what was said in the Geraldo special, Scott and Amber were not talking every day prior to Laci’s disappearance and Juror John Guinasso is mistaken in his statement that Scott “was having an affair on the side while (Laci’s) body was in the bay”.  Scott did not pursue Amber or see her after Laci went missing.  For more on this topic read SEX, LIES AND AUDIOTAPES.

Scott did not flee, attempt to flee or evade police.  The DOJ agent in Geraldo’s special directly contradicted courtroom testimony regarding Scott’s arrest.  There was no ‘OJ moment’.  This was not a high-speed pursuit.  Scott was being followed, and police testimony and evidence showed that Scott believed he was being followed by private investigators hired by the media.  The moment the officers identified themselves as law enforcement he immediately pulled over.  For more details on this, as well as Scott’s appearance and items in his possession at the time of his arrest, read SCOTT DID NOT FLEE.

Testimony showed Scott was excited to become a father and was actively preparing for Conner’s arrival.  Juror Julie Zanartu suggested Laci’s pregnancy was a motive for murder.    Read CONNER’S NURSERY for more information.

If you clicked on all the above links, you pretty much will have read a book.  A book of facts.  Facts that Geraldo’s producer acknowledged reading.  There is no excuse for perpetuating this much misinformation.  There is no excuse for detectives to go on camera and grab at vague recollections of the facts and further distort the truth.  It is shameful. 

We’ve presented a lot of information and we appreciate that you’ve taken the time to read any or all of it.  We’re not going anywhere, so feel free to come back and read some more if you have the time…

The Peterson Family

42 Comments

2015 News

3/21/2015

191 Comments

 
2015 News

This is our first blog since we updated our web-site at the beginning of last year. The blog content of our old web-site was not able to be transferred over, so while our support for Scott has not changed course, we are starting a new Journey to Justice blog!  In this blog entry, we want to update you on Scott's appeal and let you know about an important project being released this year.

2015 began with the State Attorney General’s office filing a Response Brief on January 26th. This brief was the second of three documents that need to be filed with the California Supreme Court before Scott’s appeal can be ruled on. The first brief was filed by Scott’s appellate attorneys in 2012. Both of these briefs are available for you to read under the APPEAL INFORMATION tab of our web-site.

There are at least two more significant events happening this year related to the case.

The first is that Scott’s attorneys are preparing the written Reply to the Response Brief. This is the third of the three briefs and should be filed before the end of the year. Once this third brief is filed, all three briefs are sent to the State Supreme Court. It will most likely be at least a three year wait before the court reviews the briefs and rules on Scott’s appeal.

The second thing we’re able to share with you is that our family was interviewed about the case for a documentary that is being produced. It is due to be released this year. We turned down various opportunities over the last ten years, but felt very strongly that this was the right time to an interview.

As we get more information about the release of this film or other updates, we will be sure to share them with you. Thank you for taking the time to read what we have to say!

The Peterson Family

191 Comments

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