- For the staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, see Scott Peterson (writer).
Scott Lee Peterson (born 24 October 1972 in San Diego, California) is a former agriculture chemical salesman convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson (and, under California law, which treats the killing of a fetus as a murder if the other requisite elements of murder are met, his unborn child).
Early life
Scott Peterson was born in San Diego, California. Peterson's father worked for a trucking company, and later owned a packaging business. His mother was owner of a tiny boutique in Modesto, California, called "The Put On." While a student at University of San Diego High School, he worked as a caddy at a local golf course, and participated for his high school's golf team.
He was working in a San Luis Obispo cafe as a waiter while attending Cal-Poly, when he met his future wife, then Laci Rocha. The couple married in 1997.
Disappearance of Laci
On December 23 or 24, 2002, Peterson is believed to have murdered his wife, Laci, while she was eight months pregnant with their unborn child, who was to be named Conner. He initially reported her missing on Christmas Eve and the story quickly attracted nationwide media interest.
Scott held press conferences and had wide support from the Peterson family and his home community of Modesto, California. He claimed that he had been fishing at the Berkeley Marina at the time of the disappearance, which turned out to be near the area where the bodies of his wife and unborn son washed up.
Almost immediately on December 24, 2002, Peterson became the prime suspect, although Laci's family and friends maintained their faith in his innocence until much later. Later, when it became known that he'd had numerous affairs, the latest with a massage therapist named Amber Frey, a woman he had lied to numerous times (including about his marriage with Laci), the media and law enforcement attention grew to a fevered pitch. Frey was a key witness in the case because she agreed to tape their phone conversations secretly in hopes of getting him to confess. However, Peterson did not confess to Frey (or to any other person). He not only claimed innocence in numerous tapes, but even questioned Frey about her possible involvement. It has been reported that Scott knew of the taping, but this has never been proven.
Recovery of bodies
On April 14, the body of an infant boy with umbilical washed ashore at the San Francisco Bay, followed on the next day by a partial female torso missing its hands, feet, and head which was later identified as Laci's. Autopsies were performed, but due to decomposition the specific method of death was never determined. Some prosecutors and people from the media speculated that Laci may have been suffocated or strangled; Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Modesto Police Department forensic searches of the couple's home, Scott's truck, the tool box in the back of his truck, his warehouse and his boat only turned up only one piece of forensic evidence, a single hair.
Arrest and trial
Peterson was arrested in La Jolla, California in the parking lot of a golf course where he claimed to be meeting his father and brother for a game of golf on April 18, 2003. At the time of his arrest, Peterson was carrying $15,000 in cash, had four cell phones, camping equipment, a gun, a map to Frey's workplace that had been printed the day before, Viagra and his brother's driver's license. Many involved in the case speculated that Peterson may have planned to flee to Mexico, or Peterson, who knew he was being followed by police and had in fact confronted them earlier that day, was on his way to murder Amber Frey; with Peterson arrested these theories were never proved.
During the investigation into Scott Peterson, police also briefly investigated his connection to the 1996 disappearance of 19-year-old Kristin Smart who attended California Polytechnic State University at the same time as Scott and Laci. His name had come up on a short list of people investigators at the time had felt warranted closer investigation. Scott publicly denied this, and investigators soon satisfied themselves that he almost certainly had no involvement in the Smart disappearance.
On January 20, 2004, due to intense media attention and increasing hostility to Peterson in the Modesto area, a judge moved Peterson's trial from Modesto to Redwood City, California.
The trial, the People of the State of California vs. Scott Peterson, followed closely by the media, started in June 2004. The lead prosecutor was Rick Distaso, and the attorney leading Peterson's defense was Mark Geragos. Although a witness, Amber Frey had engaged an attorney to represent her. Gloria Allred, who was not bound by the gag order imposed on everyone else involved in the trial, used her position to harangue the defense on the courthouse steps at every opportunity and it is speculated that she was key in keeping many facts about her client's past from the public eye. Some claim that she was instrumental in turning public opinion against Peterson. Amber Frey's father, Ron, also engaged a criminal defense attorney; however, the reason for this is currently unknown. Peterson's defense was based around arguing the lack of direct evidence and downplaying the significance of circumstantial evidence.
During jury deliberations, one juror was removed due to juror misconduct and was replaced by an alternate. Later, the jury foreman also requested to be removed, allegedly due to threats he had received, and he was also replaced by an alternate. On November 12 the reconstituted jury convicted Peterson of first-degree murder with special circumstances for killing Laci and second-degree murder for killing his unborn son. The penalty phase of the trial began on November 30 and concluded December 13, when at 1:50 P.M. PST, the twelve-person jury recommended a death sentence for Peterson. In later press appearances, the jury stated that they found Peterson guilty because of his demeanor.
Conviction and aftermath
On March 16, 2005, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi formally sentenced Scott Peterson to death, calling the murder of his wife "cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous". The prescribed method of execution was lethal injection. He also denied the defense's request for a new trial (which was based on evidence of juror misconduct and media influence) and ordered Peterson to pay $10,000 towards his wife's funeral.
In the early morning hours of March 17, 2005, Scott Peterson arrived at the infamous San Quentin State Prison. San Quentin, which overlooks the bay where Laci's body was discarded and houses the men's death row, is about 20 miles (30 km) north of San Francisco. He joined 643 other inmates there awaiting death by lethal injection in California. His case is currently on automatic appeal.
Like some other high-profile criminals judged physically attractive by society's standards, Peterson receives large amounts of fan mail and wedding proposals in prison. (See hybristophilia).
Evidence
The evidence against Peterson was largely circumstantial. Hounded by the press, Peterson changed his appearance and purchased a vehicle using his mother's name. He sold Laci's Land Rover, but the automobile dealer, after finding out who it belonged to, gave it back to her family for one dollar.
More evidence supporting the case for Peterson's guilt was the testimony provided by Ralph Cheng, a hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey, and an expert witness on tides, particularly in the San Francisco Bay. However Cheng admitted, during his cross-examination, that his findings were "probable, not precise"— tidal systems are sufficiently chaotic that he was unable to develop an exact model of the bodies' disposal and travel.
The affair with Amber Frey also provided much support for the case against Peterson. Allegedly, he had told Frey that he had lost his wife before the December 24 disappearance. In these tapes, he was shown to have lied to Frey about his location—claiming, for example, to be in Paris when he was not.
In January 2005, still during the trial, Amber Frey released a book about her experiences with Scott Peterson, launching widespread criticism that she was using her involvement in the case for her own personal gain, and fueling speculation that Frey was working on the book during the trial which would have in effect violated the gag order placed on all witnesses in this trial by the judge. Her publisher allegedly told Frey that a not guilty verdict would result in no book deal for her. Laci's family also criticized her for placing her photograph between Scott's and Laci's on the cover of her book.
Motive
Peterson's affair with Amber Frey was never presented to the jury as a probable motive for the crime. However, the prosecution did present the affair as indicative of Peterson's bad character. Another scenerio that was considered true but ultimately ruled out, was Scott's fear of having an unattractive, unhealthy child. It is believed that this stemmed from comments made jokingly by fellow golf buddies and that Scott's insecurity lead to him committing the murder. Alternatively, some have claimed Peterson murdered Laci out of a desire to return to the "bachelor" lifestyle, where he would be free from the obligations of his impending family life; however, it was pointed out that Amber Frey herself had a child. It is not clear if any motive for the crime was presented to the jury as such.
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