Scott Peterson

For the staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, see Scott Peterson (writer).

Scott Peterson
Born	(1972-10-24) 24 October 1972
Spouse	Laci Peterson (d. December 24, 2002)
Parent(s)	Jacqueline Helen Latham and Lee Arthur Peterson

Scott Lee Peterson (born October 24, 1972) is an American man in California who was convicted of the murder of his wife, Laci Peterson, who had been eight months pregnant at the time, and their unborn son, Conner. Peterson's case dominated the American media for many months.

In 2005, Peterson was sentenced to death by lethal injection. As of 2008, he remains on death row in San Quentin State Prison while his case is on appeal to the Supreme Court of California.

Early life

Peterson was born in San Diego, California to Lee Arthur Peterson (born 9 May 1939) and his wife, the former Jacqueline Helen Latham (born 16 September 1943). Peterson's father worked for a trucking company, and later owned a packaging business. His mother owned a boutique in La Jolla, California, called The Put On.

While a student at University of San Diego High School, he worked as a caddy at a local golf course, and participated on his high school's golf team. Scott later attended Arizona State University, where he played on the golf team with future pro Phil Mickelson. Scott's father, Lee Peterson, said that Phil and his son were friends and that Scott gave up his hopes of becoming a professional golfer because he knew he did not have Mickelson's ability. Scott attended Arizona State University for a few months before transferring to California Polytechnic State University.

He was working in a San Luis Obispo cafe as a waiter while attending Cal Poly, when he met Laci Rocha. The couple married in August of 1997.

Disappearance of Laci

Laci Peterson

On December 24, 2002, Laci Peterson was reported missing. She was eight months pregnant with a due date of February 10, 2003, and the couple had planned to name the baby Conner. The exact date and cause of death of Laci and Conner were never determined. Peterson initially reported his wife missing on Christmas Eve, and the story quickly attracted nationwide media interest.

Scott held press conferences, with the support of his family, Laci's family and his home community of Modesto, California. A witness reported that Scott initially had reported that he was golfing the day Laci disappeared, but then changed his story and said that he had been fishing at the Berkeley Marina that day. The bodies of Laci and unborn Conner eventually were found separately on different days (Laci on April 13, 2003, and Conner on April 14), about 3 miles (5 km) from the spot where Scott had said he was fishing.

Peterson was not a prime suspect immediately, largely because Laci's family and friends maintained their faith in his innocence during the month after Laci's disappearance. It was then that police grew more suspicious of him, however, due to inconsistencies in his story. On January 17, it became known that Peterson had numerous extramarital affairs, most recently with a massage therapist named Amber Frey, who had requested police assistance when she became suspicious that the single man she thought she'd been dating was not being honest with her and who had learned that he was actually married to a missing woman. At this point, Laci's family announced that they were withdrawing their support of Scott. They later said that they were angered not by the affair, but that Peterson had told her that he'd "lost" his wife and that he would be spending his first Christmas without her--15 days before Laci disappeared. To the Rochas, this meant that Peterson had already planned to kill Laci long before her disappearance.

Frey was a key witness in the case against Scott Peterson, because she agreed to let the police tape their phone conversations in hopes of getting him to confess. Peterson did not confess to Frey (or to any other person). He not only proclaimed his innocence to Frey but also questioned her about her possible involvement. Later, there was some media speculation that Scott Peterson suspected the calls were being taped, but this has never been proven.

Frey told the police that two weeks before Laci's disappearance, Scott had implied to her that he was a widower by saying that he had "lost his wife." During the trial, the audio recordings of Peterson and Frey's telephone conversations were played, and the transcripts were publicized. The contents were damning to Peterson's character. They revealed that in the days after Laci went missing, Peterson claimed to be celebrating the holidays in Paris. One of the phone calls had been made while he was at a New Year's Eve candlelight vigil for Laci.

Recovery of bodies

On April 14, a male fetus washed ashore from San Francisco Bay in Richmond's Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, north of the Berkeley Marina, where Scott had been boating the day of Laci's disappearance. The next day, a partial female torso missing its hands, feet, and head washed ashore in the same area. The bodies were later identified as Laci and Conner Peterson. Autopsies were performed, but due to decomposition the specific cause of death could not be determined. The medical examiner did note that Laci had suffered some broken ribs (the 5th, 6th, and 9th ribs) prior to her death; these injuries were not caused by the body dragging along the rocks in the bay. Prosecutors theorized that Laci may have been suffocated or strangled in the couple's home. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Modesto Police Department performed forensic searches of the couple's home, Scott's truck, the tool box in the back of his truck, his warehouse, and his boat. The only piece of forensic evidence identified was a single hair, thought to belong to Laci, found in a pair of pliers from Scott's boat.

Arrest

Peterson was arrested on April 18, 2003 in La Jolla, California, in the parking lot of a golf course, where he claimed to be meeting his father and brother for a game of golf. At the time of his arrest, Peterson was carrying $15,000 in cash, had four cell phones, multiple credit cards belonging to various family members, a vast array of camping equipment, including knives, implements for warming food, tents, tarps, a dozen pairs of shoes, several changes of clothes, a gun, a map to Frey's workplace that had been printed that same day, a shovel, rope, 24 blister packs of sleeping pills, Viagra, and his brother's driver's license. His hair and goatee had been dyed blond, although he claimed the lighter hair color was the result of chlorine from swimming in a friend's pool. The police took all of this as an indication that Peterson had planned to flee, possibly to Mexico.

Police also briefly investigated any possible connection between Peterson and the 1996 disappearance of 19-year-old Kristin Smart, who attended Cal Poly at the same time as Scott and Laci. His name had come up on a short list of people investigators at the time had felt warranted closer investigation. Scott publicly denied this, and investigators found nothing to tie Peterson to the disappearance.

Trial

Initially, Peterson requested court-appointed counsel and the Stanislaus County Public Defender's Office was appointed to represent him. Chief Deputy Public Defender Kent Faulkner and Deputy Public Defender Maureen Keller were the attorneys assigned to the case. Subsequently, Peterson indicated that he had sufficient funds to hire private counsel and attorney Mark Geragos took over his representation.

On January 20, 2004, due to intense media attention and increasing hostility to Peterson in the Modesto area, a judge moved Peterson's trial from Modesto to Redwood City, California.

The trial, officially styled the People of the State of California vs. Scott Peterson, began in June 2004 and was followed closely by the media. The lead prosecutor was Rick Distaso, and Mark Geragos led Peterson's defense.

Prosecution witness Amber Frey engaged her own attorney, Gloria Allred, to protect her from the news media. Allred was not bound by the gag order imposed on everyone else involved in the trial. Although she maintained that her client had no opinion as to whether Peterson was guilty, Allred was openly sympathetic to the prosecution. She appeared frequently on television news programs during the trial, and seemed to criticize the defense at every opportunity. Allred was key in keeping many facts about her client's past from the public eye.

Peterson's defense lawyers based his case on the lack of direct evidence, and downplaying the significance of circumstantial evidence. They suggested that the remains of Conner Peterson were that of a full-term infant, and theorized that someone had kidnapped Laci, held her until she gave birth, and then dumped both bodies in the bay. However, the prosecution's medical experts were able to prove that the baby had never grown to full term, and died at the same time as his mother. Geragos suggested that a satanic cult kidnapped the pregnant woman. He also claimed that Peterson was "a cad" for cheating on his pregnant wife, but not a murderer.

Early in the trial one juror was removed due to juror misconduct and was replaced by an alternate, this on a complaint by CourtTV, supported by a videotape of the juror and Brent Rocha, Laci Peterson's older brother, exchanging some words while passing. Later, during jury deliberations, the jury foreman, medical student Gregory Jackson, also requested to be removed, most likely because his fellow jurors wanted to replace him as foreman. Geragos told reporters that Jackson had mentioned threats he had received when he requested to be removed from the jury. Jackson was also replaced by an alternate. On November 12 the reconstituted jury convicted Scott Peterson of first-degree murder with special circumstances for killing Laci and second-degree murder for killing his unborn son. The penalty phase of the trial began on November 30 and concluded December 13, when at 1:50 P.M. PST, the twelve-person jury recommended a death sentence for Peterson.

In later press appearances, members of the jury stated that they felt that Scott Peterson's demeanor—specifically, his lack of emotion, and the phone calls to Amber Frey in the days after Laci's disappearance—indicated that he was guilty. They based their verdict on "hundreds of small 'puzzle pieces' of circumstantial evidence that came out during the trial, from the location of Laci Peterson's body to the myriad of lies her husband told after her disappearance." They also decided on the death penalty because they felt Peterson betrayed his responsibility to protect his wife and son.

Evidence

The evidence presented against Peterson was circumstantial. In order to avoid the press, Peterson changed his appearance and purchased a vehicle using his mother's name. He added two hardcore pornography channels to his cable service days after his wife's disappearance; the prosecution suggested that this meant Peterson knew his wife would not be returning home. He expressed interest in selling the house he had shared with his wife, and sold Laci's Land Rover. The automobile dealer, after finding out to whom it belonged, sold it to Sharon Rocha, Laci's mother, for the token sum of $1.00; the fee was strictly for tax purposes. Later it was known that Sharon took the $1.00 and set it on Scotts porch.

More evidence supporting the case for Peterson's guilt was the testimony provided by Ralph Cheng, a hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey, and an expert witness on tides, particularly of the San Francisco Bay. However, Cheng admitted during his cross-examination that his findings were "probable, not precise"; tidal systems are sufficiently chaotic, and he was unable to develop an exact model of the bodies' disposal and travel. The affair with Amber Frey also provided much support for the case against Peterson.

Dr. Charles March was expected to be a crucial witness for the defense. Geragos seemed sure that March could single-handedly exonerate Peterson, by showing that the defendant's unborn baby died a week after prosecutors claimed the child died. "Prosecutors pointed out that no medical records relied on the June 9 date and March became flustered and confusing on the stand -- and even asked a prosecutor to cut him 'some slack' -- undermining his credibility." Journalists at the trial describe prosecutor Birgit Fladager "convulsing with laughter" while watching Dr. March testify. Summing up this key defense witness, Stan Goldman, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles said, "There were moments today that reminded me of Chernobyl."

March admitted that a date in his report was incorrect, but said it was a typographical error. However, the prosecutor pointed out that the date appeared in two different places in the document. When the prosecutor pressed him on the discrepancies, March became flustered. "When an expert says, 'Cut me some slack,' it's all over," said former San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer, who observed the case.

Motives

The prosecution presented his affair with Amber Frey as an indication of Peterson's character. Prosecutors surmised that Peterson killed his wife and unborn child due to increasing debt and a desire for freedom (i.e., a desire to return to the "bachelor" lifestyle), where he would be free from the obligations of his impending family life.

Sentencing

On March 16, 2005, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi formally sentenced Scott Peterson to death, calling the murder of his wife "cruel, uncaring, heartless, and callous." The prescribed method of execution was lethal injection. He also denied the defense's request for a new trial (which was based on evidence of juror misconduct and media influence) and ordered Peterson to pay $10,000 towards his wife's funeral.

Earlier, during victims' impact statements, the Rochas were able to directly speak to Peterson for the first time since his arrest. Brent Rocha, Laci's older brother, said that he'd thought about killing Peterson himself once he found out what he'd told Frey, but decided not to "so you would have to sweat it out and not take the easy way out." He added that if Peterson was ever executed, he should know that "Laci and Conner are coming to get you and take you away." Rose Rocha, Brent's wife, said she was "disgusted" that she'd let Peterson touch her pregnant stomach before Laci and Conner died, and added that she'd have to tell her children that they would not have an aunt and cousin because "a mean, evil person" killed them. Amy Rocha, Laci's youngest sister, called him "a monster" who had "broken my heart and our whole family's heart." Dennis Rocha, Laci's birth father, called him "a piece of shit" whose "life is done for." Ron Grantski, Sharon Rocha's live-in long term boyfriend (California law does not recognize common law marriage), called him "a cold-blooded, no good son of a bitch" for calling Frey on his cell phone pretending he was in Paris while he was actually at Laci's vigil. Sharon Rocha said that the Peterson she knew "ceased to exist" on Christmas Eve--replaced by a selfish person who "deserve(d) to be put to death as soon as possible" and "burn in hell for all eternity."

In the early morning hours of March 17, 2005, Scott Peterson arrived at San Quentin State Prison. Peterson was reported to have not slept the night before, being too 'jazzed' to sleep, calling some to question his state of mind.[1][2]It is about 20 miles (30 km) north of San Francisco and, coincidentally, sits directly across the bay. from where Laci's body was found. Scott joined 643 other inmates there in California's sole death row facility while his case is on automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of California in Sacramento.

Aftermath

A made-for-TV film about the case was later made and broadcast in 2004.

In January 2005, days after the initial guilty verdict was handed down, Amber Frey released a book about her experiences with Scott Peterson. She was criticized for using her involvement in the case for her own personal gain. Laci's family also criticized her for placing her photograph between Scott's and Laci's on the cover of her book.

Among Peterson's prison correspondents is Richelle Nice, a member of the jury in his case dubbed "Strawberry Shortcake" by trial observers for her red hair, who initially wrote to Peterson at the advice of her therapist.

New reports say that a letter-writing relationship between Richard Ramirez "The Night Stalker" and Scott Peterson has developed. Ramirez wrote to Peterson and offered him his condolences, as well as his thoughts and ideas about his future in prison and his basic lifestyle. As first revealed in The Sacramento Bee, the two have a weekly letter relationship, although not much is disclosed, and Scott himself deems their writings "confidential." The correspondence began when Ramirez wrote a series of letters to a very unresponsive Peterson before he finally decided to reply. Although sharing time in the same prison almost in the same block, California state law prohibits high profile inmates from physical interaction with each other. However, intra-prison correspondence is allowed.

On January 10, 2007, Donna Thomas, a woman who at times represents herself as a legal researcher or Peterson's former lover, appeared on Court TV radio Sirus network, with host Vinnie Politan. Thomas claimed that Peterson made a full confession to her. Regarding this story, Thomas published a book through the small publisher Digi-Tall Media. Due to numerous inconsistencies, however, the book's credibility has been called into question. A full review of this work was published by the Modesto Bee. Peterson is now facing a civil trail due to the Roaches wrongful death suit.

Books about the case

• Dr. Henry Lee's Forensic Files: Five Famous Cases Scott Peterson, Elizabeth Smart, and more... by Henry C. Lee, Jerry Labriola (2006) ISBN 1591024099
• We, the Jury: Deciding the Scott Peterson Case, compilation (2007) ISBN 1597775363
• A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation by Catherine Crier, Cole Thompson (2005) ISBN 0060766123