More than two decades after the disappearance and death of his pregnant wife, Scott Peterson is again claiming he had nothing to do with it — and now, the Los Angeles Innocence Project is backing his push for a new trial.
In a 126-page declaration submitted last week, Peterson, 52, says, “I had absolutely nothing to do with the disappearance and deaths of my wife and son.”
He is currently serving life in prison without parole after being convicted in 2004 of killing Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant with their son, Conner, when she went missing on December 24, 2002.
Peterson insists he’s been wrongly targeted from the beginning. “I am not a violent person,” he wrote. “I have maintained my innocence since day one.”
Laci’s body, and that of their unborn son, were found in San Francisco Bay months after her disappearance. Prosecutors argued Peterson dumped her body at the Berkeley Marina and made it appear as though she had vanished.
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The high-profile case gripped the nation, especially after Peterson’s affair with Amber Frey became public. In his declaration, Peterson admits to the affair but says it unfairly shaped the investigation.
“Despite the disgraceful and immature behavior I exhibited… I loved my wife very much,” he wrote. “I will never stop trying to find out who took my family from me.”
The Innocence Project says new evidence supports Peterson’s claims, including reports of a burglary across the street from the Petersons’ home the same day Laci vanished.
They say a witness overheard burglars discussing an encounter with Laci, and a van with a bloody mattress was reportedly torched shortly after she went missing.
Peterson’s death sentence was overturned in 2020, but the conviction remains. Now, with a renewed legal push and potential new evidence, Peterson hopes for another chance to prove his innocence.
The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office has not yet commented on the petition.
