Snapped: Women Who Murder - Notorious: Scott Peterson - Part 2

Episode Date: December 24, 2020

When 8 months pregnant Laci Peterson went missing on Christmas Eve 2002, her disappearance became a shocking national story. Scott, convicted of her murder 15 years ago, now has grounds for an appeal. Did Scott receive a fair trial? Season 20, Episode 1 (Special Episode)Originally aired: May 6, 2017See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. What's started with a report of a missing pregnant woman is now a notorious double murder case in Modesto, California. When eight-month pregnant Lacey Peterson went missing on Christmas Eve, the community searched furiously, hoping for her safe return. The reward for information leading to Lacey's whereabouts stands at half a million dollars. Police appeared to immediately focus their attention

on Lacey's husband, Scott, possibly ignoring other potential suspects. Shocking revelations about Scott's personal life turned the media in the public against him. Scott told me he was not married. A week after two bodies washed ashore, police arrested Scott Peterson, although there was no forensic evidence connecting him to the crime.

DNA analysis completed yesterday established the identities as Lacey Peterson and their baby. Once the bodies were found, I had to call some of the family. I know I called, I know I called Burant. Place is brother. It was hard because these are people. They're not just the subjects of your story. They're people. The bread's such a good guy.

He said, I knew he did this tour. I knew he did this tour. He said, I knew he did this tour. I knew he did this tour. At that point, you're not really a reporter. You're just a human being relating to another human being in complete English. Returning from San Diego with Scott Peterson in custody, the Modesto police must notify Scott about his wife and child.

We told him that the DNA results had identified Lacey and Connor. There might have been a little sniffle. I couldn't tell really if he was tearing up too much, but of course I'm driving, so I can't study him too much except through the rear room mirror. We continued the drive until this day, we're gonna get something to eat if you'd like, we'll get you something to eat.

And that was when he said, well, John, where are you thinking of stopping? And I told him, I said, well, there's an in and out burger up the road. And he looked at me and he just said, in and out, I'll have a double, double with cheese, a small fry and a vanilla shake. Maybe 10, 20 minutes earlier, we told him that his wife and his child were dead

and he's ordering a cheese burger like it's no big deal, like you're coming back from fishing. Now to me, that kind of summed it up. And if I had any doubts about his involvement in her murder, they were pretty much erased with his border of that cheeseburger. We heard that he was taking in custody around noon down in San Diego and that they were on their way back.

Over the next few hours, this huge crowd assembled outside the jail. And when they pulled in, it was an incredible scene. People were yelling, murderer, and it was something that I've never seen before or since. He was in the backseat of a sedan and they brought him in. It was just a wild, wild scene. I'll never forget it.

Under tight security, Scott Peterson was walked into a packed Mendesto courtroom today, facing two counts of murder. California law allows for a second count of murder for the death of an unborn child. The prosecution charged him with double murder and immediately said that they were intending to seek the death penalty. Even though there was no direct evidence in this case,

no eyewitnesses, no blood, no fingerprints, no saliva, no anything, no crime scene. The DA announced they'd be seeking the death penalty for Scott Peterson. A week later, Scott Peterson hires Mark Ergose. Mark Ergose, he had already established himself as a high-powered attorney in Los Angeles who had celebrity clients like Renault Nareiter,

Michael Jackson, he's the big dog. The story of how he got Mark Garagos was very interesting. He appeared, I believe, on Larry King. Garagos said, well, of course he's guilty. They seem to be fairly confident that they have something, and they clearly are focused on him. Jackie, his mom, got hold of Garagos and told him the story.

And Garagos said, OK, maybe I'll check this out. In three months, Garagos goes from skeptic to convert. It became convinced that he's innocent. When was that? After talking with the parents and reviewing the discovery. Choosing a lawyer's difficult in any case, but when you get to a level of this type of media coverage, you need a lawyer that can handle the spotlight.

For someone like Mark Garagos to step into this case is basically a lie at the end of the tunnel. Just someone like Speck Peterson. Mark Garagos suggested Detective Phil Owens did not follow up on critical leads. Garagos suggested Detective Phil Owens did not follow up on critical leads. Garagos immediately gets to work in investigating suspects. The police did not pursue. Mark Garagos said that there was this subculture in Modesto of real dark,

demented people that were going around kidnapping, pregnant women. And one of them happened to be Lacey Peterson. They were driving up Saul Lacey, kidnapped her, threw her in the van. Before Lacey had disappeared, the children of Satan cult had been prosecuted by the Modesto DA on multiple murder counts. My name is Matt Dalton.

I am a criminal defense lawyer, worked on a Scott Peterson case. Seven pregnant women disappeared from that area between 1999 and 2002. The Modesto DA's office had a cult unit which specialized in the prosecution of cult members. It's not a coincidence that seven pregnant women disappeared from that area.

I'm telling you, on Lacey Peterson, there's satanic cult influence here. She was targeted because she was pregnant. It appears police chose not to investigate this theory. You can't just look at one person no matter how smart you think you are as an investigator, that you've got the right guy and ignore all other leads. Scott Peterson was always the only suspect, truly, in the murder.

A survey conducted by a local TV station finds that 83% of Bay Area residents think Scott Peterson is guilty or probably guilty. To counteract this, defense attorney Mark Garagos uses a free trial motion to push for a change of venue. The judge ruled that there needed to be a change of venue. There was no way they could hold this trial in Stanislaus County because Scott was enemy number one there. The judge agrees to move the trial from Modesto to Redwood City. Redwood City and Modesto are basically the same communities. 80 miles away and they have the same basic news coverage.

My Michael Cardosa, I was part of the Scott Peterson Criminal Defense Team. You want to move this case and give this kid a fair drive? You move it to LA or San Diego, where people don't pay a lot of attention to it. That is the biggest mistake in this trial. Wall to wall media coverage of the case makes it incredibly difficult to find impartial jurors. You couldn't go anywhere where people didn't know about the Scott Petersen case.

It took months and months and months to pick a jury. Most of them said no, I think he's guilty. A attorney's interview over 1,500 potential jurors over a period of nine weeks before agreeing upon a jury. My name is Mike Belmissieri. I was juror number four in the Scott Lee Peterson murder trial. I'm Justin Faulkner. I was juror number five in the Scott Peterson trial.

When I first received the summons for jury duty, my wife handed it to me. And I opened it up, and I go, oh, damn. I've for jury duty. My wife handed it to me and I opened it up and I got, oh, damn, I've got jury duty. She goes, oh, it's probably for the Peterson trial. I said, no way. I didn't follow anything about Scott Peterson or Lacey Peterson. When I got the jury notice, I just thought it was for a random

jury trial. So automatically it was, how do I get out of this? With the change of venue, a new judge is assigned to the trial. On his first day, Judge Delukey bans cameras from the courtroom to reduce media influence on the jury. Judge Delukey did not want the jurors suede

by seeing the media cameras in his courtroom. I'm Peter Chaplin. I was the media coordinator for the Scott Peterson double murder trial. The trial of Scott Lee Peterson begins on June 1, 2004. 17 months after Lacey Peterson was reported missing. With Scott Peterson's life on the line, lead prosecutor Rick Dostasso faces off

against defense attorney Mark Garagos. Dostasso has prosecuted several death penalty cases. This is Garagos's first. When I walked into that courtroom, when I finally saw Scott Peterson, I saw a young man, it was about the same age as my older son. You walk in the room and that place was packed. And it was like, wow, I mean, wow.

The interest in the trial was off the charts. There were people from literally around the world covering this job. I had a friend that was in Iraq and saw my face on the TV displaying in the background. You know, OJTRA, you could watch on TV. That was easy. This was a little different.

Cameras were not allowed. Yet information was disseminating out of that courtroom. Reporters inside the courtroom managed to work around Judge Deluky's restrictions. You could either text or email from inside the courtroom, managed to work around Judge Delukey's restrictions. You could either text or email from inside the courtroom, and that was the way you could alert your producers around the country on what was going on minute to minute. So, while there were no cameras allowed during the trial,

there was plenty of information. There was more media at this case than it was at OJ Simpson. The media demonized him, saying there was just one murder and it's got Peterson. Anything that's the Peterson. After almost a year of preliminary hearings, jury selection, a change of venue, and an increasing public appetite for all things Scott Peterson, the trial for the murder of

Lacey and Connor Peterson is underway. I think Scott Peterson was a cold calculating person. I think he intended to kill Lacey. The prosecutors presented to the jury a very strong circumstantial evidence case. And they did it methodically, and they did it in a way that was very compelling to this jury. The prosecution's case was Scott killed Lacey in the home. He then transported her body into the back of his truck. To the warehouse where he kept his boat, he then transferred her body into the boat,

and then took the boat out to the bay. He left her body there anchored down by these little eight-pound anchors that he supposedly created in warehouse. That's what they wanted us to believe. But not everyone believes this version of events. He's not a guy that would kill a woman. The police, early on in the case, had leaked false stories about Scott-Making anchors, the lead detective says that he sees an outline of five circular marks

on Scott's flatbed trailer. Show us what you were looking at. We see the picture, and there aren't five circular marks on Scott's flatbed trailer. Show us what you were looking at. We see the picture, and there aren't five circular marks on that flatbed trailer. He made it up. Zero evidence of anchors being made. The prosecution was unable to create any momentum at all because there was no real physical evidence

against Scott Peterson. There was no murder weapon. There was no blood, no DNA. I remember during the trial, I railed against the prosecutors, saying they weren't prepared right from the get-go I could tell. They're not going to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. With no forensic evidence, it appeared to some that prosecutor Rick Dostoso was presenting a lackluster case.

Gerigos was doing a very good job. I actually wondered to myself if Dostaso actually believed what he was putting forth, because it just didn't seem like he did. The prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed her. The feeling was, for the first few months of this trial, was that Scott Peterson was going to be found not guilty. The public need for any stories related to the case

continues to drive the media frenzy. The satiable appetite for this story was like nothing that I had ever seen before. This was covered on an hourly basis, not just a wrap-up of what happened in court today. It was what happened ten minutes ago and people were glued to every part of this case. They all wanted to be part of the big show because it became a show. It became a spectacle, really. It was a big business for the notebooks.

What was happening was riveting, even if you couldn't see it. That drama helped networks sell a lot of commercial time, because the audience was eating it up. They had set up tents. And all of these legal analysts came out of nowhere. They came out of the woodworks. And they would all break apart every witness.

Were they credible? Were they not credible? So we were getting analysis in a split second. The moment they were off the stand, it was insane. With every network delivering its own spin on the case, even the people deciding Scott's fate can escape the media. That jury should have been taken away and sequestered, taken out back doors, not anywhere,

let anywhere near the public, not be allowed to go home during that whole trial. You know, you're walking past these media tents and they're in there, you know, talking about Scott Peterson this, Scott Peterson that, and it's the next tent, and it's the next tent. I hear it with their saying, you know, I know, and it's not like I had a choice.

There was no going around it. The media was always filming inside the lobby of the courthouse. And I was coming to the courthouse one morning. Oh, my God. We're at Rocha, happy to be standing next to me that day. And there was a cameraman right behind us. I said, trying to avoid the base today. Brent Rocha happened to be standing next to me that day. And there was a cameraman right behind us. I said, trying to avoid the news today.

And he said, yeah, wait till they're calling through your garbage. That was all we said. And the media was all over me. What'd you say to Brent? Then the bailiff said, Justin, we need to talk to you. And the judge's chamber said, OK. And I walked in there.

Judge to Luki said, you know, we're going to go ahead and let you go. Justin Falconer is dismissed for having contact with the victim's brother, Brent Rocha, despite the fact that their exchange had nothing to do with the case. I kind of was surprised by it. Garagos was furious.

I remember Mark Garagos saying, are we letting the media pick our juries now? Garagos demanded a mistrial, but was refused. Justin Falconer dismissed and now free to talk to the press gave both the prosecution and the defense their first real insight as to what the jury might be thinking. An excused juror told reporters he thinks Scott Peterson is not guilty.

I haven't seen anything that would make me believe that, you know, he committed a crime. Justin Feltner was very clear about that. The Scott Peterson was innocent, and it was a real wake-up call for both sides. This is Kate Winkler Dawson inviting you to the brand new season of my True Crime Talk Show. That's right. It's season three of Tenfold More Wicked Presents, Wicked Words.

I'm a True Crime historian and author, and you might have heard my other podcasts on exactly right. Tenfold More Wicked and Buried Bones. On each new episode of Wicked Words, I interview other journalists, podcasters, and authors about the fascinating behind-the-scenes stories from their investigations in the world of true crime, many of which have never been shared before. So join me in a new special guest each week for new episodes of Wicked Words, as we dive deep into the stories behind the stories. Wicked Words Season 3 is available now on exactly right, with new episodes every Monday. Follow 10 Fold More Wicked Presents Wicked words, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on the Amazon Music or OneDriap.

Amber Fry knows she's a reluctant celebrity in an intensely publicized murder twelfth. When Amber Fry walked into that courtroom, everything changed. It was packed and it was completely silent. You could hear people's body shift to see me walk in. After they swore you in, I was to point out Scott Peterson. That was the only time that I had to look at him. Only thing I had to do was give truthful testimony.

What she was able to do on that stand turned every member of that jury against Scott Peterson, not only by her testimony, but more importantly, by those tapes. Cooperating with the police, Amber Fry had started taping her conversations with Scott just six days after Lacey went missing.

These tapes became the prosecution's most damning evidence. One of the most pointed phone calls between Amber Fry and Scott Peterson was a call made on New Year's Eve. And during that time, there's a vigil going on for Lacey. and through the awesome fireworks, there is the naval power. Well, that's good. I'm glad you guys decided to go out. Oh, definitely. Scott told me he's in Europe, and he was walking on cobblestones and there was all kinds of festivities going on.

You never remember your friend's name. I got caught. I caught him. Good. I have to move in. Resolution. What should my year-to-year good listen be? Oh, I don't know. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. for his missing wife is something that you cannot relate to as a human being. I'm miss you. And I'll tell you the exact date of the 9th of the morning. I'm actually back from the year. I'm here in the year practicing it. Typically, as a juror, you envision yourself as the defendant. This was a scenario where as a juror,

you look at him and you listen to those tapes and you cannot envision yourself in his seat. I got missy-bitty. I get reminded that we're so often. I'm reminded that we so often. I wish, Chip, if you could have come from the internet. No. So, you know, everything in this place. I don't know how you are.

Good night. Good night. The jury is now saying two faces of Scott Peterson, one where he's the grieving husband that he plays for the cameras. On the other end, a narcissist, psychopath who is on the phone with the woman he's romancing while his wife is still missing and he's portraying himself as the grieving husband. And the jury is not liking Scott Peterson. That jury hated him.

Amber Fry's conversation with Scott, they did tend to make you wonder about the credibility of the individual sitting in the defense table. What the prosecution was doing was putting up a picture of Lacey Peterson, all alone, at a Christmas party pregnant. This is what Lacey was doing while he's

cheating with Amber Fry. Is that any evidence of anything? No, is that a rational argument? No. Was it a persuasive argument? Hell yes. Amber Fry, they went after her pretty hard. Mark Garagos wanted to ruin her reputation. He said, you know what? She's some fluszy,

just some loose tramp that, you know, slept with Scott on the first night, but I think she came off very sympathetic, like really another victim of Scott's. The prosecution was struggling, but after Amber took the stand and the tapes were played, it was over. Scot was going down.

The prosecution presents some of its most persuasive evidence near the end of their case. Terrific autopsy photos of Connor and Lacey Peterson. Little Connor. He was almost fully developed. You could see his face, and all you had is a torso of Lacey. That's all you had.

Oh, God, they were terrible. When I saw that, after having seen the beautiful young woman who was that before, it hit me. Lacey's mom and stepdad, you can see the wear and tear on their faces, the emotions. It's been nearly two years since Lacey Peterson was reported missing. For over four months, the prosecution has presented a circumstantial case against Scott Peterson. Most compelling are the audio recordings of Peterson and Amber Fry and the gruesome Autosie photos. On October 5th, the prosecution arrested.

They proved that Scott Peterson had done exactly what he said he did that morning. He went fishing. But they presented a scenario where somehow Scott Peterson killed a lacy. They have no forensic evidence. Drugs are out, puts her body in the back of his pickup truck. They examined that truck over and over. There was no forensic evidence in the back of his pickup truck, they examined that truck over and over. There was no forensic evidence in the truck, and it had not been cleaned.

Drives her to his office to pick up the boat. Transfer his body in an open parking lot into the boat. He says to himself, oh wait, I have some email I need to check. This is what the evidence at the trial show. I don't know if anybody who would have the calm, the nerve, if you will, to sit inside of an office and send off Christmas emails. Wow, the body of my dead wife is now

sitting in the back of my truck. And he goes, and he drives 90 miles to the Berkeley Marina. It was a marina full of thousands of houseboats. There were people there that watched him try to back the boat up into the water. He hit a pole. They saw this. This boat was tiny. They can see inside the boat. Goes out and dumps that body in the shallowest part of San Francisco Bay.

The whole story just didn't make any sense to me. Starting October 18, 2004, more than four and a half months into the trial, with the possibility of the death penalty on the table, Mark Garagos presents Scott's defense. What I expected from the defense was for them to tell me why Scott was innocent or to give me why Scott was innocent, or to give me some evidence that would suggest that he wasn't guilty. Eager to create reasonable doubt,

the defense presents a different scenario for what might have happened to Lacey Peterson. Lacey was kidnapped by a homeless people. They took her and then they killed her and they drove her over to San Francisco Bridge and threw her in a bay. You have a homeless person kidnapping this woman. They happen to have a vehicle that they can afford

to drive the San Francisco Bay. And then I guess they had to have a boat took her out there and dumped her in a bay. That's basically the summarization of the defense's case. There was nothing to indicate or that would support that claim. There was nothing to indicate or that would support that claim. A jury trial, especially a murder trial, and a special circumstance case, in other words, a dead mental decays, is based a whole lot on emotion

and a whole lot on whether the jury likes the defendants or not. We know in this case Scott was not well liked. In my mind, I thought you got it what Scott owned. that they're not. We know in this case Scott was not well liked. In my mind, I thought you got to put Scott on. You got to have him explain this. I did cross examine him in a mock cross examination. It was not enough time to prepare him to properly testify in front of that jury too little too late.

You know, Scott never testified. So you had a you had a draw conclusions based on things other than his testimony. Garagos's decision to keep Scott Peterson off the stand may have been the safe choice. Why take a chance and put a witness on the stand who might screw you up. Certainly that's why you don't put Scott Peterson on the stand. I believe Mark felt he was so far ahead. In the case against Scott was so weak that he was able to rest without presenting critical information.

The defense never presented any evidence nor testimony that would lead anybody to believe within reason that Scott Peterson was not guilty of murder. The defense was working on the assumption that they were working in old-fashioned trial where you present the facts. If there's reasonable doubt, you get acquitted. What the defense didn't know is the jurors didn't want to hear the facts. After nearly five months of grueling testimony,

the case goes to the jury. By the end of the trial, I didn't like Scott Peterson, and yeah, others didn't like him either. But it had no bearing on our decision of guilt or innocence. I can tell you straight up, this jury, they didn't base it on the facts of the case, because they had no facts. They did it on pure emotion.

When the deliberations first started, we brought in the whiteboard, we have papers hanging all over, we have flip charts, and you know, it's okay. Let's begin to dissect the case. The jurors deliberated for six days, and we heard nothing. As every day passed, the intensity just ratcheted up.

The pressure, um, people were coming to the courthouse. Even though court wasn't in session, they were just standing around waiting for a word that the jury had come to a verdict. It was a mob outside that courtroom. I'm telling you, it was a hanging mob. The case was saturated with media, and so the jurors really had no choice

but to comply with kind of a mob mentality. It was arguably created by the media. Is it possible the jury is feeling the intense pressure from the public gathered outside? Those jurors think, oh my God, if I vote not guilty in this, what's gonna happen to me? Will they come to my house, will my life be threatened?

One week into the deliberations, jury forming Gregory Jackson asks Judge Deluky to remove him from the case. He went to the judge and said that they're not in there deliberating a guilt or innocence, they're deliberating the best book deal. I want to be off this jury. And inexplicably, he was dismissed.

Removing a juror in the middle of deliberations is unusual and extreme. Gregory Jackson is the second juror replaced during deliberations. Pundits and public alike are shocked by Judge Deluky's action. I've heard people say that our jury foreman wanted off because he felt threatened by other jurors. And I don't know how he would have felt that way.

Somehow those 11 people intimidated the Holy Bigeze's out of him to the point where he went to the judge and said, I really feel threatened. He got to get me out of here. That's shocking to me. The verdict happened on November 12th. By the time the verdict was going to be announced at 130, the plaza was filled, and these people were emotionally charged. They wanted justice.

They wanted justice as they saw. The Danavirtec, Jackie Peterson, Scottsmont. She walked in. She had the oxygen with the tank, looking frail, and Sharon Rocha, Lacey's mother, along with Brent Lacey's brother. The courtroom was packed and dead, silent. I remember the jurors filing in. My heart was like, all eyes are on the four-person.

Trying to read the jury was there any kind of signal at all that we could discern and there wasn't A verdict is reached But is it based on evidence or emotion? The jury system didn't work and will Scott Peterson have grounds to make a successful appeal There was critical evidence who was never presented to Scott's jury. Hey, juror There was critical evidence that was never presented to Scott's jury. Hey, Jury, lied during jury selection. That's a free, big red flag to me.

After an exhausting and emotional double murder trial, that dominated national news for five months, Scott Peterson returned to the courtroom to receive his verdict. for five months, Scott Peterson returned to the courtroom to receive his verdict. The people of the state of California versus Scott Lee Peterson, we the jury. Final dependent, Scott Lee Peterson, guilty of the crime of the crime of the crime.

Oh, no! Oh, no! I'm in violation of court. I'm in violation of court. I'm in violation of court. And the crowd absolutely went crazy. You could even hear it on the second floor in the courtroom. Cheers.

Congratulations. It's like your team just won the Super Bowl. Yes, you did. It was a circus. People were excited and like given each other high-fives, it was disturbing. All of these lives have been destroyed. There's nothing to be celebrating. CHEERING

The jury reached its verdict after just seven days of deliberations. When we rendered our verdict, what I saw and what my 11 other fellow jurors saw, it was very clear. Scott kills Lacey. Scott dumps Lacey in the bay. Scott's behavior is not indicative of what one would expect of a grieving husband. If the body had turned up in Sassoon Bay, Richardson Bay, Donna Milpitas, hundreds of miles out of where he says he was, it's got to be walking free today. That's not where it turned up. She was found near the Berkeley Marina, exactly where Scott had been fishing. That was really the ultimate factor that supported our decision.

Ladies and gentlemen, Scott Peterson is guilty because he went fishing at the same place the body was found and he didn't act as a normal husband would act in this particular case. To me, that's shocking. Detective Brocini has a press conference in December of 02, they announced that Scott Peterson was fishing in the San Francisco Bay. That information was leaked early in the case. It has no value.

The fact that he was there on the 24th doesn't prove anything. It certainly raised the possibility that somebody else could have dumped her body there after Scott became the center of attention. On October 30th, 2004, the trial penalty phase begins. This time, jurors will also hear impact statements from family members before deciding whether or not Scott Peterson should be put to death.

I think the moment everybody remembers was when Sharon Roachah took the stand. Oh, my God. Sharon Roachah's impact statement was riveting. She spoke for Lacey Carter. She goes, you left her with no arms to clutch her child to protect Connor. I mean, she was looking right at him as she was testifying to this.

I mean, you could hear a pin drop. That's how quiet the courtroom was. Even for a tough old fart like me, it hits you. But how could it not? The jurors were crying. It didn't hit Scott. Didn't hit him. I thought I held his wrong with you, fool. When the jury came back, none of them looked at Scott.

The jurors returned once again to deliver a verdict. But this time, they will choose life or death for Scott Pierre Center. We at the jury in the bubble panel caused fixed the bubble panel cause. Fix the penalty at death. Sharon, she hunched over like this. It was a collective exhale in the room.

Like, it was over. I love you. I love you. I love you. I'm not being happy. I'm not being happy. I'm not being happy. I'm not being happy. Please, put your hands up here. Don't go with the towel. All the jury was given an impenetrable phase.

It was evidence based on emotion. So how can you expect the jury to make a decision based on anything other than emotion? Guess what, Scotty? Zach, when's your new home? And it's illegal to kill your wife and child in California. The jury got so emotionally entangled with this and had such hate and dislike for Scott. They walked that death penalty verdict right in.

Scott Peterson was judged. Not on the basis of evidence that came into trial. He was judged with a scarlet A across his chest for adultery. Did people come across like they didn't like him? Of course. Cause he didn't. And who would?

It was a witch hunt. It was a mob. It was a lynching. In this instance, the jury system didn't work. I do not believe Scott Petersen should be on death row. I think this was a bizarre combination of media insanity and police duplicity. And what the prosecution did,

par excellence, has made people angry at Scott Peterson. It fed into a narrative that people wanted. Media fed on it. The police used it, and he became the devil to many people. In 2015, Scott Peterson submitted a habeas petition to the California Supreme Court looking

to overturn his conviction due to evidence that has come to light. Peterson's sister, Janie Peterson, summarized the new information in a statement. There was critical evidence that was never presented to Scott's jury. Several witnesses have come forward, who saw Lacey Peterson after Scott Peterson had left his home for the day. Six witnesses reported seeing Lacey Peterson alive, walking her dog around the block

morning of December 24th. All documented in the Dastopolis reports. Why weren't those six witnesses presented to the jury? The police interviewed all these people, and they just dismissed them. It was important to the police that nobody had seen Lacey walking that dog, because if they did, then their whole theory falls apart.

Then there's no way that Scott Peterson could have killed her, because he was gone by this time. Also in the petition, evidence that a house near the Peterson's was burglarized around the time Lacey went missing. My theory is that the burglary occurred on the day that Lacey went missing. Lacey went out for the walk that morning, went down to the park. She came back up. She happened to see the Medina residents being burglarized. She seized the van, maybe she sees people moving stuff

into the van, and goes over and says, hey, who are you and what are you doing? Because that's who she was. They panicked, they snatched her up, and then forced her into the van. One of the guys who was involved in the burglary, a friend of his was now in prison. The guy's brother was talking to him,

and the brother in prison says to him, what about the lacy thing? And the brother outside just don't say anything. This conversation's being recorded. The defense since then has gone back and say, well, we want to see the tape. Oops! Tape gone.

That's a free big red flag to me. And it doesn't stop there. The habeas petition even includes new evidence about a juror who lied to get on the jury. A juror lied during jury selection. On something really important, which was, she'd been a victim of a very similar crime. And when she was asked that question,

have you been a victim of crime? She said no. That's called a self-jour. If you can't find out if a juror was biased, it impacts your right to a fair and impartial jury and if it's a six-member. impacts your right to a fair and impartial jury and of the Sixth Amendment. He didn't get a fair trial. It's clearly not over for Scott Peterson.

He murdered my child. So as far as I'm concerned, he's where he needs to be. Now, I don't think the wound ever closes. The word closure means nothing to me. It's just a word because Lacey's gone. So that is never going to end, come to an end, and close. And I miss her as much today as I did from very beginning. Tune in to oxygen.com for more. Tune in to oxygen.com for more.