Juror’s letters to Scott Peterson after his conviction brought up in court hearing
When asked on the witness stand Monday why she began writing letters to Scott Peterson, Richelle Nice became emotional.
“Did someone suggest that you write those letters?” asked Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris.
“Yeah … my therapist,” she said.
“Did you hope to accomplish something?” Harris asked.
With her head bowed, Nice wiped tears from her eyes.
After about 20 seconds of silence, Judge Anne-Christine Massullo called for a break in the hearing at San Mateo Superior Court in Redwood City.
When court resumed, Dave Harris withdrew his question and the matter wasn’t discussed further.
The letters are among the evidence Peterson’s attorneys are presenting in an effort to show Nice was biased against Peterson when she and 11 others voted to convict him in 2004 of murdering of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, in 2002.
The trial was moved from Modesto to Redwood City because of the pretrial publicity. The goal of Peterson’s attorneys in the current hearing is to get him a new trial.
Nice addressed the reasons she wrote Peterson while he was on death row in a book she co-authored, titled “We the Jury.” (Peterson is no longer on death row after he was resentenced to life in prison in December.)
“Nice’s therapist suggested that her emotionally frail client, who had suffered two breakdowns since the end of the trial, tell Peterson about her life on the edge of sanity,” according to the book.
She co-authored the book with other jurors, but two journalists who covered the trial actually wrote it. Nice testified Monday that her participation was limited to answering the journalists’ questions and that she has never read the book.
Nice said that she did not have any bias against Scott Peterson when she was selected to serve on his jury, that she listened to all the evidence in the case and that her decision to convict was based on the evidence in the courtroom, not some preconceived notion.
Nice became emotional and at times teary throughout testimony. At other times, she appeared sure of herself and gave emphatic answers.
Testimony in the evidentiary hearing started last Friday and is scheduled to conclude this Friday.
Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha, was in the courtroom both days. She had about a half dozen family and friends sitting with her in court. Peterson, who appeared in a red jail jumpsuit after being denied a request to wear street clothes, also had supporters in the courtroom.
While discussing what should be admitted into evidence, one of Peterson’s attorneys, Pat Harris, said some of the letters indicate “Ms. Nice seemed to be obsessed with Conner.”
In one of 17 letters Nice wrote to Peterson she said, “Again Scott for the sake of Laci & Conner (Lil man) & Sharon to have some piece [sic] of mind & for you Scott, come clean.”
Pat Harris asked Nice if she called any of her four sons “Little Man.” Nice said that she nicknames most children and that her sons had different nicknames of their own.
More questions about domestic violence
Pat Harris asked Nice additional questions about an incident in 2001 in which her then-boyfriend, Eddie Whiteside, was arrested on charges including domestic violence, as well as a restraining order she obtained the year before against Whiteside’s ex-girlfriend.
They are the basis of the juror misconduct claim brought by Peterson’s attorneys because on the juror questionnaire she filled out before being selected, she said she’d never been the victim of a crime, involved in a lawsuit or participated in a trial as party or as witness.
The evidentiary hearing is being held so Judge Massullo can determine whether to overturn Peterson’s conviction.
During the first day of testimony Friday, Nice said she hit Whiteside and he called the police during the 2001 altercation. She said she didn’t know why Whiteside was arrested but police tried to ask her about a cut she had on her lip that she believes was a result of having braces.
In a declaration she signed in 2020, Nice said, “I did not consider Mr. Whiteside’s behavior a crime, nor did I think my own conduct was a crime.”
Pat Harris pointed to what Nice wrote in the declaration and asked her about interviews she gave in which she discussed in the incident, including on “The Dr. Oz Show.”
“In any particular interview have you ever told the story before; that you were the one who hit Eddie Whiteside?” Pat Harris asked Nice.
“I have no idea. I don’t think so,” she said.
Pat Harris also asked her more about the incident involving Whiteside’s ex-girlfriend, who came to their home in Mountain View, slashed Whiteside’s tires and kicked in their front door.
Nice said in her declaration that she didn’t know that the restraining order she obtained was a type of lawsuit.
She also said she doesn’t remember testifying in front of a judge but admits she must have because she had paperwork showing that the restraining order was granted.
“Your memory is that you don’t recall that day but you recall getting paperwork?” Pat Harris asked Nice.
“When I filled out that questionnaire — honestly and truly — nothing of this crossed my mind,” Nice testified.
Under cross examination by Dave Harris, Nice said a statement she made in the declaration that “At no time during the selection process did any court case in which I was involved cross my mind” was “absolutely true.”
Financial burden discussed
Pat Harris asked Nice about the financial burden of serving on a jury for multiple months. She said she wasn’t concerned about money at the time because she lived with her mother and Whiteside, the father of two of her children.
After Nice had left the courtroom for the day on Friday, Harris told the judge that defense investigators interviewed Whiteside recently.
“Mr. Whiteside was very concerned and expressed concern about why she would want to go onto a lengthy jury trial,” Harris said.
He also said one of Nice’s sons was very sick at the time and required frequent medical appointments. To not declare a hardship, Pat Harris said, “indicates her desire to get on this jury; that she was willing to go to great lengths.”
Massullo warned Pat Harris several times not to make “closing arguments” while arguing his case against an objection by the prosecution.
And under questioning from Dave Harris, Nice testified that during jury selection in Peterson’s trial, she got up to leave the courtroom when the judge dismissed her for financial reasons. She said she stayed in court only because Mark Geragos, Peterson’s lead defense attorney at the time, asked that she stay.
The judge had dismissed Nice after learning that her employer would pay for two weeks of jury duty and the trial was expected to last several months.
Nice’s testimony concluded Monday, though she could be recalled to the stand. The hearing is set to resume Tuesday.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 4:57 PM.
