CNN
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Nearly two decades after Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn child, and months after the Los Angeles Innocence Project took up his case, he’s reiterating his claims in a new documentary that he didn’t do it.
In a clip from Peacock’s unreleased documentary, “Confronting Scott Peterson,” which aired Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show, Peterson is asked why anyone would want to hear his side of the story. He responds: “Because I didn’t kill my family.”
In 2004, after a nearly six-month trial that captivated followers from the start of the case, Peterson was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Laci and second-degree murder in the death of the couple’s unborn child, Connor. He was sentenced to death, but the verdict was later overturned and he was resentenced to life in prison without parole.
In December 2002, Peterson reported his pregnant wife, Lacey, missing from their home in Modesto, California. Less than four months later, Lacey and Connor’s bodies were found washed up in San Francisco Bay.
Prosecutors argued at the time that Peterson’s motive for the murders was to escape his marriage and future fatherhood.
The case has been widely covered over the years in movies, TV shows, books, podcasts and documentaries. On Wednesday, Netflix released a three-part documentary series called “American Murder: Laci Peterson,” which chronicles the case, including in-depth interviews with Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha. The Peacock documentary will air on Aug. 20.
In 2023, Peterson’s lawyers filed a petition for habeas corpus, alleging “violation of his state and federal constitutional rights and state law rights, including his claim of actual innocence which is supported by newly discovered evidence.”
The Los Angeles Innocence Project, a nonprofit that works to exonerate the wrongfully convicted, said in a statement that it was investigating Peterson’s “claim of actual innocence” as he works to get a new trial.
CNN has reached out to the Innocence Project for comment.
In May, a California judge ruled that DNA found on duct tape found on Laci Peterson’s pants when her body was discovered can be retested.
