Calif. Supreme Court Overturns Scott Peterson’s Death Penalty

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The California Supreme Court on Monday overturned the death sentence for Scott Peterson but upheld his murder conviction for the killing of his pregnant wife.

A San Mateo County jury convicted Peterson in 2004 of murder for the killing of his 27-year-old wife, Laci, who was eight-months pregnant with their unborn son, Connor. He was sentenced to death in 2005.

According to investigators, Peterson dumped the bodies of his wife and unborn son from his fishing boat on Christmas Eve 2002, The Associated Press reports. Their bodies surfaced months later in Richmond.

The justices in a separate ruling upheld the conviction.

Peterson, who is now 47, has denied being involved in their deaths.

The justices issued a statement Monday citing judicial error in the penalty phase of the trial as the basis for their decision.

The statement said Judge Alfred Delucchi, an Alameda County Superior Court judge who’d been assigned to the case, “made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection that, under long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent, undermined Peterson’s right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase.”

Of particular concern to the justices was Delucchi’s decision to remove 13 prospective jurors who expressed opposition to the death penalty without asking them whether they’d commit to putting aside their personal views if the evidence presented in the case supported a death sentence.

Peterson’s lawyers argued that their removal from the jury pool was improper. The justices issued a unanimous statement in support of that argument.

“While a court may dismiss a prospective juror as unqualified to sit on a capital case if the juror’s views on capital punishment would substantially impair his or her ability to follow the law, a juror may not be dismissed merely because he or she has expressed opposition to the death penalty as a general matter,” the justices said.

Prosecutors said they may seek the penalty again according to The Associated Press report, but Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager declined to say immediately whether she intended to do so.

The justices rejected Peterson's claim that he was denied a fair trial due to publicity surrounding the case.

Peterson's trial was moved from Stanislaus County to Redwood City after a survey in his home county indicated most people believed he was guilty, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case,” the justices said. “We reject Peterson’s claim that he received an unfair trial as to guilt and thus affirm his convictions for murder.”

Peterson was arrested in San Diego County four months after his wife’s disappearance, The Modesto Bee reports.

Peterson was driving a Mercedes-Benz near Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla when state Department of Justice agents pulled him over according to the report.

Within hours of Peterson’s arrest former state Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced that DNA tests of the bodies found in the San Francisco Bay were identified as those of Laci and Conner Peterson, the report said.