Scott Peterson Retrial Update: Ex-Juror Richelle Nice Disputes Any Financial Motive in Murder Case
Richelle Nice, one of the 12 jurors who convicted Scott Peterson in 2004, broke down in tears on the witness stand Monday while being grilled over whether she profited from the infamous murder case and purposely lied on a questionnaire to become a juror.
In their demand for a new trial, the New York Post reported that defense lawyers claimed that Nice has been biased against Peterson and lied to get on the jury.
Nice wrote several prison letters to Peterson while in San Quentin State Prison in California as a death row inmate. She also has co-written a book about the case with other jurors.
On her second day on the stand at San Mateo Superior Court in California, Nice became emotional when Peterson's lawyer, Pat Harris, asked her about one of the 17 letters she wrote to the convicted killer.
In that letter, Harris noted that Nice said she was upset that "others got rich" after the trial. However, it was not clear who the "others" were.
When asked about her alleged profiteering, Nice said: "I didn't get rich!" Two journalists, who covered the trial, reportedly wrote the book, and Nice noted that her participation was limited to answering the journalists' questions, and she has never read the book.
Nice's attorney, Geoff Carr, admitted that his client was sorry she sent those letters to Peterson, adding that Nice regretted doing that, ABC 7 News reported.
Nice then confirmed that she did write Peterson a letter, asking him "why men cheat," and told him about a boyfriend she had who had cheated on her.
Harris then probed Nice about her ex-boyfriends who cheated on her with other women. Nice said she punched the father of her children after she found out he was cheating.
Harris then told the judge that "Miss Nice seemed to be obsessed with Connor... Now, from her testimony about her ex cheating on her, this appears to be yet another thing that Miss Nice was obsessed (with)," Kron4 reported.
When Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris asked her why she started writing letters to Peterson, Nice said her therapist suggested it.
Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager noted that Nice was traumatized from seeing grisly evidence shown during Peterson's trial.
According to Mercury News, the exchange of letters with Nice, which were copied into court files, appeared to begin about six months after the trial ended, and Peterson wrote back eight times.
After some letters were printed in a magazine article, Peterson reportedly stopped responding to Nice's letters. Nice has denied selling those letters to "People" magazine.
Scott Peterson Retrial Hearing
Last Friday, Richelle Nice maintained that she was not biased and did not lie about her past to become a juror on the case.
Nice testified that she had never been a victim of domestic violence as she was the one who had been the aggressor in a fight with her ex-boyfriend a couple of years ago before she even filled out a jury questionnaire and was picked to become a juror.
Nice is accused of "prejudicial misconduct" for not disclosing that she was the victim of domestic violence and had sought a restraining order in 2000 for fears that her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend would be a threat to her unborn baby.
Peterson's lawyers claimed that Nice had kept the details of her personal life that could have been a conflict during his initial trial.
Nice testified under a grant of immunity from prosecutors so she could testify on the stand without fear of self-incrimination after she had threatened to plead the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions.
In seeking a restraining order against her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend while she was pregnant in 2000, Nice wrote that she "really fears for her unborn child" due to threats from the woman.
Nice on Friday tried to clarify that her fears were about the potential for a fight that could result in losing her child and not a "genuine fear" that someone would actually hurt her child with any specific intent aimed toward the kid.
"She didn't threaten my baby," Nice noted, referring to her former boyfriend's ex-girlfriend.
On the other hand, Peterson's lawyers said the 2000 case is relevant to whether Nice was accurate when she filled out the juror questionnaire.
Peterson's lawyers questioned Nice about stating "no" in the questionnaire whether she had "ever been involved in a lawsuit."
They reminded her that the 2000 matter, in technicality, was a lawsuit. The former juror said she did not know her request for a protection order qualified as a lawsuit, and she "made amends" with the woman she accused and dropped her appeal.
In sworn testimony on Friday and Monday, Nice insisted that she was truthful on the jury questionnaire despite answering improperly.
Scott Peterson Murder Case
Scott Peterson was first convicted in 2004 of first-degree murder concerning his wife and of second-degree murder of their unborn son, Conner. He was sentenced to death in 2005.
The 49-year-old suspect remained on death row until 2020, when the California Supreme Court had overturned his death sentence after finding that Peterson's jury was improperly screened for bias against the death penalty.
In its ruling, the California Supreme Court said a judge would decide the matter in San Mateo County Superior Court.
Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo now has the authority to overturn the suspect's conviction and grant him a retrial. She will reportedly base her decision on testimony from several witnesses at the hearing.
After the conclusion of the hearing, the judge will have 90 days to decide if she will grant Peterson's request for a new trial.
Peterson was arrested in La Jolla, California on April 18, 2003 - the same day the two decomposed bodies washed ashore in the San Francisco Bay were identified as Laci Peterson and Conner.
Investigators discovered that Peterson was having an affair with massage therapist Amber Frey at the time of his wife's disappearance.
Frey told investigators that Scott Peterson told her that he was not married, and she 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.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Scott Peterson's Retrial Hearing Continues Monday - From CBS Sacramento