Scott Peterson back in court to clear name

The L.A. Innocence Project asks judge to order prosecutors to turn over evidence.

One of California’s most notorious convicted murderers, Scott Peterson, appeared in court via video Tuesday in an effort to get DNA testing of evidence that he says could exonerate him in the killing of his pregnant wife and unborn son.

Peterson’s attempt to clear his name is backed by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group with a reputation for exonerating wrongfully convicted prisoners. Peterson appeared from Mule Creek State Prison in a blue prison shirt nearly two decades after he was convicted of killing his wife, Laci, and tossing her body into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002.

Laci Peterson, 27, vanished on Christmas Eve from their Modesto home. She and their unborn son, Conner, turned up in the bay in April 2003, and four days later Scott Peterson was arrested on suspicion of murder. It became one of the state’s highest-profile murder cases when it was revealed that he had a secret girlfriend who he had told his wife was dead.

Peterson, now 51, was convicted in 2004 and initially sentenced to death, but that sentence was overturned and he is serving life without parole.

In a San Mateo County courtroom Tuesday, Paula Mitchell, executive director of the Innocence Project, began what she described as one of several motions in an effort to show Peterson’s constitutional rights were violated, including a “claim of actual innocence that is supported by newly discovered evidence.”

Mitchell told the judge that for decades since Peterson’s 2004 trial, vital evidence connected to the conviction has been withheld and that prosecutors continue to thwart and delay the discovery of potentially exculpatory evidence.

“Mr. Peterson’s been waiting for 20 years for police reports and audio recordings and video recordings that should have been provided,” she said “We are eager to get our investigation underway.”

Key to the Innocence Project’s efforts is a van that was set on fire on Dec. 25, 2002, in Modesto, a day after a burglary at a home near the Petersons’ residence. Inside the van was a mattress with what one investigator has said appeared to be bloodstains. That van was found a mile from the Peterson home.

The Innocence Project alleges that it has evidence from the van owner that shows that the van did not have a mattress inside it before it was stolen and before Laci Peterson’s killing.

Mitchell on Tuesday also said she had given prosecutors an informal request for “very specific” items of discovery on Nov. 14 and continues to wait for access to those items, including audio recordings, interview notes and police reports.

“We spent a lot of time trying to suss out what, frankly, are very alarming deficiencies in the discovery that was provided to the defense at the time of trial,” Mitchell said.

Peterson appeared via a monitor and smiled at one point when asked whether he could hear.

Peterson has maintained his innocence and in court papers noted that there is no physical evidence tying him to the killings.

The judge set hearings for April 16 and May 29 to discuss the wider discovery and DNA issue, and told prosecutors they needed to address both issues as Mitchell repeatedly expressed concerns about delays by prosecutors.