Prosecutors, defense clash over evidence in Scott Peterson murder case

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (CN) — Attorneys for Scott Peterson, a California man convicted for the 2002 murder of his wife and unborn son, must disclose whether they've already tested evidence that they now want to test again, a California judge ruled this week.

As Peterson on Thursday remotely joined a court hearing from Mule Creek State Prison, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill ordered his legal team to share whether they've already retested DNA evidence from the case — and if so, what the results of the DNA tests were.

The hearing comes as Peterson has attempted to appeal his double-murder conviction, which a jury first handed down in 2004.

Although Peterson was initially sentenced to death, the California Supreme Court in 2020 overturned his death sentence, citing "significant errors in jury selection.” Still, the state's high court kept the underlying murder convictions in place.

In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, issued a moratorium on executions in the state. Peterson is currently serving a life sentence without parole. He's now being represented by the LA Innocence Project, a California-based criminal justice nonprofit focused on wrongful convictions.

Judge Hill in May mostly denied Peterson's request to conduct new DNA tests on evidence from the case. While Peterson had asked for 14 pieces of evidence to be retested, Hill only granted his request for one: a “15.5-inch length of duct tape,” recovered from his former wife Laci Peterson’s pants at the time of her autopsy.

On Thursday, prosecutors told Hill that Peterson’s team already tested some of this evidence in 2023. Hill rebuffed arguments from Peterson's attorneys that under the Sixth Amendment, he could privately discuss these findings without sharing them with the prosecutions. She said California law required them to share their findings.

Representing Peterson, Los Angeles Innocence Project attorney and director Paula Mitchell argued that testing conducted by the defense prior to 2024 was a confidential work product. But when Hill asked for precedent to support this assertion, Mitchell couldn't provide any.

“I believe this is a novel scenario," she said.

Even still, Mitchell fired back about the conditions under which she said the state kept the evidence in Modesto County. The evidence record had been shoddily handled since the start of the investigation, she said. And while evidence logs should include detailed information about testing and storage, that information was missing in some cases, she added.

“I have never seen such poorly documented information,” Mitchell said. “This is far, far short of what we need, as far as a chain of documented custody.”

Hill partially disagreed with this assertion, saying prosecutors had already provided information on where the key piece of evidence — that is, the piece of duct tape — was stored in Modesto County. For their part, prosecutors have argued that the duct tape was already tested in 2003 in that despite having human DNA, it was not in a condition to use as credible evidence.

While Hill granted the defense's request to test that piece of duct tape, she declined to pick a lab for testing until Monday. She cited concerns that a previous lab used by the defense had inadequately programmed its equipment in 2022 — an error which she said affected evidence connected to hundreds of cases.

“I want to make sure the lab we choose is capable of performing this testing appropriately, and I’m concerned that this lab has a track record in this testing method, of problematic testing in a number of cases,” Hill said. 

While prosecutors proposed using their own lab — and while Mitchell suggested an independent lab — Hill again demurred.

“I think neutrality is important," the judge said. The parties return to court for a full day hearing Monday.

Prosecutors maintain that after killing his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son in 2004, Peterson transported Laci's body to a public boat dock, then dumped her body in the ocean using concrete anchors. Peterson had reportedly admitted to an affair, and prosecutors argued the evidence indicated the killing was premeditated.

In April 2003, the fetal remains of their son, who the couple had planned to name Conner, washed ashore a few miles north of the Berkeley Marina. Laci's badly decomposed body was found nearby the following day.

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