LA Innocence Project takes on the famous murder case

By Brandon DrenonBBC News

The Los Angeles Innocence Project has taken up the case of Scott Peterson, who was convicted in 2004 of murdering his 27-year-old pregnant wife.

The non-profit helps the wrongfully convicted and is seeking new evidence from the original trial.

It said in court filings it is "investigating his claim of actual innocence".

Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant with the couple's son when she went missing on Christmas Eve 22 years ago.

"We are very excited to have the incredibly talented attorneys from the LA Innocence Project lend their considerable expertise to helping prove Scott's innocence," Pat Harris, Peterson's attorney, said in a statement on Thursday according to CBS, the BBC's US partner.

Lawyers for Peterson filed a petition last April alleging juror misconduct at the murder trial and said that "new evidence" would support their client's innocence, court filings on Wednesday show.

Peterson's attorneys had argued at trial his wife was killed by a burglar.

But prosecutors said Peterson killed Laci and dumped her body in the Pacific Ocean on Christmas Eve 2002, then tried to hide the murder by making it seem as if she was missing.

Her body was found when it washed ashore four months later.

A jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death the following year.

In 2020, his death sentence was overturned by the California Supreme Court after it found the judge in the original trial had wrongly dismissed a number of jurors.

He was resentenced the following year to life in prison without parole.

Legal documents obtained on Thursday from San Mateo County Court in California called for a fresh review of evidence and tips and a new trial, according to a local ABC News affiliate.

The "new evidence" appears to be centred around a burglary at the house immediately across the street from the Peterson home around the time she went missing.

The Innocence Project has requested to see video interviews conducted by police where one of the men involved in the burglary reportedly said Laci saw him breaking into the house.

Peterson's lawyers also want to conduct DNA tests on blood stains found on a mattress inside a torched van located near the burglary.

The filing also mentions a witness who said he saw a pregnant woman "fitting Laci's description who appeared to be under duress getting into a van" and says police failed to fully follow up on reports that she was spotted walking her dog at the time Peterson said he was out fishing.

He has said he was out on his boat when Laci went missing.

Janey Peterson, who is an advocate for her brother-in-law's innocence, told ABC News that she "absolutely" sees this latest effort as a chance at getting a new trial or "solving the crime and Scott being released".

In 2022, Peterson's request for a new trial, arguing improper screening of the jurors, was denied.

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