Scott Peterson headed back to state prison as he awaits next court hearing in June
After an evidentiary hearing concluded Friday, Scott Peterson is headed back to state prison while attorneys on both sides prepare briefs and ready for oral arguments over the next two months.
The hearing was held as part of the process to determine whether Peterson got a fair trial in 2004 when he was convicted of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. His attorneys say he didn’t, alleging misconduct by one of the jurors on his trial, Richelle Nice.
Peterson’s attorneys claim Nice lied on a jury questionnaire so she could get on his jury to punish him for acts she personally experienced.
During two days of testimony in the evidentiary hearing, Nice was questioned about an incident in which she was threatened by her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend while she was pregnant and another time when that boyfriend was arrested for domestic violence after a fight that she testified was “probably” about him cheating on her.
Peterson had been having an affair with a woman in Fresno at the time of the murders.
During the jury selection process before Peterson’s murder trial, Nice answered on a questionnaire that she was never the victim or witness of a crime or involved in a lawsuit and had no opinion about people who had extramarital affairs.
Nice testified that, “When I filled out that questionnaire — honestly and truly — nothing of this crossed my mind.”
She said she didn’t know the restraining order she got against her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend was a type of lawsuit and didn’t consider a lawsuit she later filed against the ex-girlfriend for lost wages because she ultimately dropped it.
In the incident with her boyfriend, Nice testified she was the aggressor and she hit him, not the other way around. She said it was her boyfriend who called the police and she refused to talk to them when they arrived. Nice assumed the police arrested her boyfriend because she had blood on her lip that she said was from a cut caused by her braces, not from him assaulting her.
On Thursday, the custodian of records for the East Palo Alto Police Department testified about police reports generated from the incident when Nice’s boyfriend was arrested and another when the ex-girlfriend violated the restraining order Nice had obtained against her. Nice was listed as a victim in both incidents.
Before the conclusion of the hearing on Friday, Peterson’s attorney Pat Harris asked that he be transferred back to San Quentin State Prison until the parties return to court in late June.
He said contacting Peterson by phone at the San Mateo County Jail had been challenging. He said the phone conversations can be held only during the 30-minute window each day that Peterson is allowed out of his cell, so they would leave no time for him to do other things like shower.
Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ordered that Peterson be sent back to prison and return to jail a week before the next hearing.
Corrections officials earlier said if Peterson were to be returned to San Quentin, he won’t be on death row because his death penalty was overturned and he was resentenced in December to life without parole.
Opening briefs, in which each side will present what they believe are the most important legal arguments and what evidence Massullo should give the most weight, are due May 25. Reply briefs are due June 9.
They will then present oral arguments, similar to closing arguments in a criminal trial, based on those briefs at a hearing June 29.
After oral arguments, the matter will be deemed under submission and Massullo will have 90 days to decide if Peterson’s conviction should be overturned.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 1:41 PM.
