Scott Peterson to Be Re-Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murdering His Pregnant Wife
Scott Peterson will be sentenced to life imprisonment this fall for the 2002 murders of his pregnant wife Laci Peterson and their unborn son, a judge said Wednesday.
According to Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo, she wants to sentence Peterson in November before she decides on his request for a new trial over alleged juror misconduct, KCRA reported.
Massullo scheduled an October 6 hearing to set a date for resentencing him to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. The resentencing is seen to happen sometime in November.
The 48-year-old suspect was sentenced to death in 2005. He remained on death row until last year when his death sentence was overturned.
Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager earlier said she will never re-seek the death penalty, KRO 4 News reported.
On Wednesday, Massullo said Peterson cannot be an inmate without a sentence anymore. The judge noted that the case has become more complicated, adding that Peterson's sentencing should not be further delayed.
Scott Peterson's Request for New Trial
Laci Peterson's family is preparing for a possible new trial 17 years after Peterson's conviction for the murders of his wife and their unborn son.
Laci's family is reportedly feeling stressed about the possibility of a new trial, OK Magazine reported.
Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, was reported having a difficult time with the news and continued to be devastated after all these years.
The source close to the family said Laci's mother has been so strong for so long, but she cannot go through reliving the incident again and again. The insider added that the family strongly believes that the right person is in prison and the case was solved.
Scott Peterson appeared in court last month to petition for a new trial, citing juror misconduct. Peterson's lawyers claimed that one of the jurors committed misconduct by not disclosing she had been a crime victim.
They said the juror did not disclose that she had sought a restraining order against her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend in 2000 to get on the jury to convict Peterson. Thus, the lawyers claimed that Scott Peterson did not get a fair trial.
Scott's sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, earlier claimed that Laci Peterson was not killed on Christmas Eve 2002 but was killed later.
Janey, who is married to Peterson's older brother, said that the commonly accepted timeline of the Laci murder case is wrong.
She said there was evidence completely ignored, and it showed that Laci was alive after Scott Peterson "left for the day."
Laney believed that Laci had a confrontation with men who were robbing the house across the street on the day she went missing.
She claimed that these burglars killed Laci and disposed of her body in an area where Scott Peterson happened to be fishing at the time.
However, she also said that "there was no evidence that he had anything to do with what happened to Laci," People reported.
Laci Peterson's Murder
Scott Peterson was first convicted in 2004 of first-degree murder concerning his wife and of second-degree murder of their unborn son. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005, ABC News reported.
Investigators noted that Scott Peterson has bought a brand new boat 15 days before Laci disappeared. They also said he could not identify what type of fish he was trying to catch when a police officer asked him on December 24, 2002, when Laci was reported missing.
Investigators also discovered that Peterson was having an affair with massage therapist Amber Frey, at the time, of his wife's disappearance.
Frey told investigators that Peterson told her that he was not married and admitted that they had a romantic relationship. Prosecutors argued that the affair was Peterson's motive to kill his wife, allowing him to be with Frey.
Four months after Laci Peterson went missing, locals found two decomposed bodies washed ashore in the San Francisco Bay.
On April 18, 2003, Scott Peterson was arrested. It was also the same day that the bodies found by authorities were identified as Laci Peterson and their unborn child, Conner.
READ MORE: Scott Peterson Wants a New Trial in His Murder Case
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Written by: Mary Webber
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