Scott Peterson’s court hearing shut down for two weeks. Lawyers to subpoena TV producer
Attorneys for Scott Peterson revealed Tuesday they learned new information Monday night from a television producer who interviewed juror Richelle Nice for an A&E documentary.
Now the defense wants to subpoena records from that witness, which led to a continuation in Peterson’s evidentiary hearing and an outburst by one of Peterson’s attorneys, who felt his ethics were being impugned.
Peterson is trying to get his conviction overturned on the grounds of juror misconduct. His attorneys allege he didn’t get a fair trial in 2004 because Nice was biased against him and wanted to get on his jury to make him pay for killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, as well as for notoriety and financial reasons.
They say she lied on a juror questionnaire when she said she’d never been the victim of a crime or involved in a lawsuit.
Nice obtained a restraining order protecting herself and her unborn child while pregnant in 2000 due to threats from her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend after the woman kicked in their front door, challenging Nice to fight and later following Nice in her vehicle. Nice was pregnant with a different child in 2001 when her boyfriend, Eddie Whiteside, was arrested for domestic violence against her.
Nice has testified that she was the aggressor, not Whiteside, and she never considered herself a victim in either incident. She said she asked that her unborn child be protected by the restraining order out of spite, not because she believed the woman wanted to harm her baby.
Nice testified that neither incident crossed her mind when filling out the questionnaire.
“Extremely late, highly suspect”
The hearing on Tuesday started about 30 minutes late as attorneys and Judge Anne-Christine Massullo spoke behind closed doors.
Later in the day, it was revealed that they were discussing new information that Peterson’s attorneys learned Monday night while interviewing Shareen Anderson, the executive producer of the A&E documentary “The Murder of Laci Peterson.”
The new information was disclosed to prosecutors Tuesday morning.
It was never discussed in open court but Peterson attorney Cliff Gardner said it is relevant to impeach part of Nice’s testimony.
Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris called the information “extremely late (and) highly suspect.”
Peterson’s defense team said they needed time to subpoena Anderson to obtain parts of the interview with Nice that were cut from the documentary, as well as transcripts of the interviews.
Judge Massullo agreed that the information was relevant and ultimately agreed to postpone the remainder of the hearing to the end of March in order to give Peterson’s attorneys time to issue the subpoena.
Massullo told parties on both sides that if they do any more investigative interviews in the meantime, they must “immediately turn around and provide a summary of the interview in writing to the other side.”
Her statements were followed by discussion of another person Peterson’s attorneys have tried repeatedly to contact, Nice’s ex-boyfriend, Whiteside.
Peterson’s attorney Pat Harris has previously said defense investigators briefly spoke to Whiteside, who was living with Nice when she served on the jury in 2004.
He said they haven’t been able to get hold of him since but continue to try.
“It will not stand.”
Prosecutor Dave Harris said the continuance was effectively giving Peterson’s camp extra time to find Whiteside.
“The people would be remiss to allow the defense to obtain basically a continuance by dropping information on us this morning that now is …,” Dave Harris began before being cut off by Pat Harris, who said he resented the accusation.
Massullo tried to stop Pat Harris from interrupting, but he spoke over her as well.
“I am not going to sit here and be told I’m being unethical in a courtroom while we are on the record,” Pat Harris said. “It will not stand.”
He suggested Dave Harris was implying Peterson’s team purposely caused a continuance in the hearing in order to get more time to find Whiteside.
Shaking his index finger in the direction of Massullo, he said, “I resent the implication and I will not be impugned on the record.”
Massullo responded, “Well, the court didn’t take it as impugning, but to the extent that you need to clarify the record for the public, you’ve clarified the record.”
She called for courtroom decorum and ultimately gave Peterson’s attorneys a deadline of March 3 to find Whiteside, which is the day the hearing was scheduled to conclude had it not been continued.
Before all that, one witness did testify: another juror from Peterson’s trial.
Gregory Beratlis, who served on the jury and co-authored a book with Nice and other jurors about their experience, gave limited testimony about his experiences with Nice.
Beratlis was an original juror and Nice was an alternate who was brought in during the middle of deliberations when another original juror was dismissed.
He testified that when the original jury started deliberating, members agreed to discuss the evidence before expressing which way they would vote. He said Nice wasn’t aware of this. On the first day she entered the deliberation room, Beratlis said Nice sat down and blurted out “that (Peterson) should basically pay for killing the ‘little man.’”
“Little Man” is a nickname Nice gave Conner, which Peterson’s attorneys say indicates her “obsession” with Conner and her bias toward Peterson.
Beratlis testified that Nice appeared exhausted during the trial, like the gravity of it was wearing on her.
He also said while most jurors like himself tried to avoid the media storm brought by the trial, she did the opposite, often walking through the area outside the court where all the media was staged.
Nice had dyed, bright-red hair at the time and was nicknamed “Strawberry Shortcake” by the media.
“With the hair color … she seemed to try to not be discreet,” Beratlis said.
Peterson’s hearing was continued to March 24 and is now scheduled to conclude March 25.
In addition to Anderson and her cameraman, additional jurors might testify.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 3:31 PM.
