San Mateo court hearing marks the beginning of new proceedings for Scott Peterson
Scott Peterson on Friday waived his right for the penalty phase of his trial to be held within 60 days from the day the California Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court in September after overturning his death sentence.
He and his attorney Pat Harris agreed to waive Peterson’s right to a speedy trial because they are awaiting the outcome of another aspect of his case that could overturn his conviction.
Peterson appeared remotely via Zoom from San Quentin Prison for the hearing held in San Mateo Superior Court, where his trial took place 16 years ago.
Peterson was convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child, Conner, and later sentenced to death. The trial was moved from Modesto to Redwood City, in San Mateo County, because of the massive pretrial publicity.
The California Supreme Court overturned Peterson’s death sentence in August from the penalty phase of his trial, saying the trial judge erred by excluding potential jurors opposed to the death penalty.
The court in October returned the guilt phase of the trial to San Mateo Superior Court for a judge to decide whether prejudicial jury misconduct occurred regarding a juror who did not disclose she had been the victim of a crime when she was pregnant and got a restraining order against the perpetrator.
That is the matter that still needs to heard and could lead to Peterson’s conviction being overturned, which could lead the the entire case being retried.
A hearing for Peterson originally had been scheduled in Stanislaus Superior Court Friday but Harris last week filed a motion saying jurisdiction lies with San Mateo court.
During a hearing in Stanislaus County two weeks ago, Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris – unrelated to Pat Harris – announced plans to retry the penalty phase.
Judge Anne-Christine Massullo, who is listed as a complex civil litigation judge in San Francisco Superior Court, has been assigned to oversee the case in San Mateo.
She set a status conference hearing regarding the retrying of the penalty phase for Jan. 21.
Massullo said a telephonic hearing regarding the juror misconduct claim is scheduled for Monday. Pat Harris told reporters at Peterson’s last hearing that he anticipates it would take a minimum of two to four months to resolve that matter.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 12:32 PM.
