Scott Peterson -- the guy accused of murdering his wife and unborn child in California in 2002 -- will probably look in court for a hearing Thursday as he prepares for his new trial.
In November 2020, Peterson waived the right to a speedy trial, just weeks after prosecutors disclosed they intend to retry the death penalty phase of Peterson's case.
On Oct. 14 final year, the California Supreme Court ordered his certainty be reexamined to ascertain whether Peterson should receive a new trial. Back in August 2020, the Supreme Court had overturned Peterson's death sentence, citing"significant errors" in the jury selection procedure.
The case was called to be re-examined after the court said a juror dedicated"prejudicial misconduct" by failing to disclose that she had been involved together with other legal proceedings.
According to officials, the juror, Richelle Nice, had filed a lawsuit in 2000 to obtain a restraining order after her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend plagued her while she was pregnant.
Peterson was convicted in 2004 of murdering Laci Peterson, 27 at the time, and their unborn son, Connor.
Back in 2003, Stanislaus County prosecutors charged Peterson with double homicide, however, the situation was later moved to San Mateo County, nearly 90 miles away from the couple's Central Valley home in Modesto.
Investigators say Peterson took the bodies from their Modesto home and dumped them from his fishing boat into San Francisco Bay, where they surfaced months later. Peterson was detained after Amber Frey, a massage therapist residing in Fresno, advised authorities that they began dating a month before his wife's death, but that he had told her his wife was dead.
He has maintained his innocence.
Despite reports that Peterson's new trial would begin on Jan. 21, the date was later designated as a status conference.
The 2021 trial will even feature a multitude of brand new star witnesses, based on KRON4.
The local news channel cited resources in listing the new witnesses since being Dr. Phillipe Jeanty; the Petersons' mailman, Russell Graybill; and acquaintances who reported seeing someone who looked like Laci walking exactly what appeared like the Petersons' dog round the time that prosecutors say she was abducted or killed.
"The thing to know is, there is an entire new case out there to defend Scott Peterson," Dean Johnson, a former San Mateo County prosecutor, informed KRON4. "There is significantly more powerful testimony on the market."
Based on Johnson, Jeanty"invented a protocol for estimating -- should you've got a stillborn child -- for estimating how old the fetus was" and just how long it was in the uterus, the report says.
"A prosecution witness said, based on allegedly the Jeanty protocol, that Scott's unborn son... was a particular age," Johnson allegedly continued.
However, according to Johnson, the expert that testified during Peterson's initial trial implemented Jeanty's formula erroneously.
As per a writ of habeas corpus out of 2015,"based on the duration of Conner's long bones, Conner didn't die on December 24, 2002, the date Laci vanished, but dwelt until as late as January 3, 2003."
Graybill, the Petersons' mail-carrier, was comfortable with the family's dog, McKenzi, also told police the puppy would bark at him"regardless of where on the house the dog was" -- but did not bark upon the day Laci disappeared when he showed up between 10:35 a.m. and 10:50 a.m.
"This was some 15 to 30 minutes later [a neighbor, Karen Servas] had set the puppy back into the yard and shut the gate, suggesting Laci had gone on her walk afterwards Servas put the dog off," the court documents state.
Despite being interviewed on Dec. 27, Graybill never testified before the prosecution.
"Graybill's statements strongly suggested that Laci had shot McKenzi for a walk after Servas had put the dog back in the backyard. If this were true, the deadline was much, much longer than ten minutes since the prosecutor claimed," Peterson's writ states.
"Instead, Laci could have been abducted everywhere between 10:18 a.m. (when Servas put the dog inside and drove away) and 5:15 p.m., when petitioner returned home and discovered McKenzi with his leash on."
Peterson is scheduled to appear at San Mateo County Superior Court in California at 10 a.m. local time.
