Scott Peterson Is ‘Halfway There’ In Exoneration Of Laci Peterson Murder, Lawyer Says

Scott Peterson’s trial attorney, Mark Geragos, believes the California Supreme Court's decision to overturn his client’s 2005 death sentence for the murder of his pregnant wife Laci Peterson has put his client on the path to being exonerated.

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that the court still intends to uphold Peterson’s murder conviction but due to the attention the case received, it will overturn his death sentence. This decision comes after it was found the trial judge in the now 47-year-old's case made “a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection.”

“Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case,” the court stated. “We reject Peterson’s claim that he received an unfair trial as to guilt and thus affirm his convictions for murder.”

Geragos said that the decision has created a new path that he believes will eventually lead to Peterson’s exoneration. “We’re halfway there,” he said.

In 2005, Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his wife Laci and second-degree murder of their unborn son, Connor. At the time of her death in 2002, officers believed Scott killed Laci and used his fishing boat to dump her body in the San Francisco Bay.

Following the Supreme Court’s announcement, Cliff Gardner, Peterson’s appellate attorney, praised the decision. “We are grateful for the California Supreme Court’s unanimous recognition that if the state wishes to put someone to death, it must proceed to trial only with a fairly selected jury,” he said in a statement via email.

Gardner also revealed that Peterson’s legal team plans to prove that he was unfairly convicted of murder, stating, “While we are disappointed that such a biased jury selection process results in a reversal of only the death sentence, we look forward to the Court’s review of the new forensic and eyewitness evidence of innocence.”