SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The Los Angeles Innocence Project says it has gathered substantial evidence that could lead to a new trial or overturned conviction for Scott Peterson, who has been imprisoned for more than two decades for the murder of his pregnant wife.
Peterson, who is from San Diego, was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci, in 2004. The LA Innocence Project now claims to have amassed what they describe as "a mountain of evidence" proving Peterson deserves a new trial or to have his conviction overturned.
“The case against [Peterson] was entirely circumstantial,” the petition states. Despite 11 search warrants, wiretaps, GPS tracking devices, pole cameras outside the home, steady surveillance and forensic examination of several hundred items collected during the execution of search warrants, “no direct, physical or forensic evidence was found supporting any part of the prosecution’s theory, or otherwise implicating Petitioner.”
ABC 10News spoke to the chair of the Innocence Project, who pointed to technological advances that they say cast serious doubt on Peterson's guilt.
"One of the things that convicted him, obviously, was that they assessed that his unborn son had died on the night of December 23 [2002]. But the advances in the science and the technology demonstrate that he would not have died on that night, but a week later. And at that point, Peterson could not have committed the crime. So it's that kind of evidence that we are presenting in this filing," said the chair of the Innocence Project.
The Court of Appeals is expected to take up the case in the coming days.
