Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / SHOCKER: Scott Peterson double murder sentence reversed after wife Laci and Baby murdered.

Transcript

SHOCKER: Scott Peterson double murder sentence reversed after wife Laci and Baby murdered. · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In a stunning appellate decision,
0:14
Speaker 1: the Scott Peterson murder conviction death penalty sentence has been reversed.
0:21
Speaker 1: This is a punch to the stomach for victims rights
0:24
Speaker 1: advocates and for the family of the murdered mom to
0:28
Speaker 1: be Lacy Peterson, her unborn son Connor, a victim as well.
0:42
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
0:45
Speaker 1: being with us here at Fox Nation and Serious XM
0:48
Speaker 1: one eleven. First of all, take a listen to our
0:52
Speaker 1: friend at Fox News. He was convicted and sentenced to
0:56
Speaker 1: die in two thousand and five, and now we're finding
0:59
Speaker 1: out some fifteen years later today the California Supreme Court
1:03
Speaker 1: has overturned the death sentence. Peterson's lawyers had contended all
1:07
Speaker 1: along he was not able to get a fair trial
1:10
Speaker 1: because of all the pre trial publicity with the case,
1:13
Speaker 1: but the court rejected that argument. Yet it did say
1:16
Speaker 1: that the trial judge made a series of clear and
1:19
Speaker 1: significant errors in jury selection that undermined Peterson's right to
1:24
Speaker 1: an impartial jury during the penalty phase, and that potential
1:28
Speaker 1: jurors were improperly dismissed from the jury pool. After saying
1:32
Speaker 1: they personally disagreed with the death penalty, but that they
1:35
Speaker 1: would be willing to follow it and impose it. Peterson
1:39
Speaker 1: is now forty seven years old. He was convicted of
1:41
Speaker 1: first degree murder. From everything we understand, it seems that
1:45
Speaker 1: murder conviction will stand, but not the death penalty. Prosecutors
1:49
Speaker 1: will have the right to try again for a death
1:52
Speaker 1: penalty conviction. Although keep in mind there are more than
1:55
Speaker 1: seven hundred prisoners on California's death row and the last
1:59
Speaker 1: time anyone was put to death was January of two
2:02
Speaker 1: thousand and six. Here hearing are afraid to need a
2:05
Speaker 1: vogal at Fox News, and what she said is exactly correct.
2:08
Speaker 1: Over seven hundred people language on California's death row. The
2:12
Speaker 1: current governor, Gavin Newsom, has decided, against the majority of
2:19
Speaker 1: the public, to put a moratorium on the death penalty.
2:24
Speaker 1: While he is governor, anyway, there will be no death penalties.
2:27
Speaker 1: So the reality is that right now there will be
2:30
Speaker 1: no death penalty for Scott Peterson anyway until Newsom is
2:34
Speaker 1: out of office, even though California voters voted to keep
2:39
Speaker 1: the death penalty. But what does it all mean? I
2:42
Speaker 1: can tell you this It all started with this. Take
2:45
Speaker 1: a listen to a nine one one call by Lacy's stepfather,
2:51
Speaker 1: Ron Grantsky. Yes, my fellow, low callaballood morning, my thirty.
3:02
Speaker 1: My daughter has been lifting since this morning and she
3:04
Speaker 1: eight months pregnant. You took her dog for a walk
3:06
Speaker 1: from apart. The dog came always getting police shot and
3:10
Speaker 1: the dog came back without your daughter. Right, I get
3:12
Speaker 1: a daughter, got Peters, your step daughter, Thank Peter, thank you?
3:19
Speaker 1: Right ez a wife lat the sanic agent. She's portugues away.
3:26
Speaker 1: How old I came? She's twenty six? What can you
3:29
Speaker 1: hear me? The halfman and come back that we don't know.
3:32
Speaker 1: We just got a call from our front in law
3:34
Speaker 1: that he left the morning and night. There's the play
3:36
Speaker 1: off about a half hour ago nowhere around he went
3:41
Speaker 1: to up the dog boys walked it if me in
3:44
Speaker 1: that heart and he gatement of pregnant. He said, parent, Yeah,
3:51
Speaker 1: I am eight months pregnants. Straight out to high profile
3:57
Speaker 1: La California defense attorney law you're at seeing Laura. Wait,
4:01
Speaker 1: did I get that wrong? Wait? Scott Peterson told his
4:05
Speaker 1: father in law he was playing golf, but then after
4:09
Speaker 1: he was spotted at San Francisco Bay where Lacy's body
4:12
Speaker 1: turned up. He then said he was fishing. Did I
4:16
Speaker 1: hear that? Right? On the nine one one call? He
4:18
Speaker 1: first told his father in law that he was playing
4:20
Speaker 1: golf when Lacy went missing. The colonel doesn't tell us
4:25
Speaker 1: what Scott Peterson told his father. The father in law
4:29
Speaker 1: is telling the dispatcher, and the father telling the dispatcher
4:34
Speaker 1: what whatever it is that he's telling him. It doesn't
4:37
Speaker 1: necessarily mean that that's what scottled him. Scott early on,
4:40
Speaker 1: from the beginning, when talking to the law enforcement, told
4:43
Speaker 1: him exactly where he had been. That had never been
4:45
Speaker 1: a secret. He was very truthful about it as far
4:49
Speaker 1: as where he had been. You know that. That's really
4:52
Speaker 1: interesting because at the beginning he told people that he
4:56
Speaker 1: had been playing golf, just like he told his I
5:00
Speaker 1: was gonna the day before he was signing. The evidence
5:04
Speaker 1: was showing that the day before he talked about actually
5:09
Speaker 1: playing golf, but he changed his plan based on the weather.
5:14
Speaker 1: My recollection of evidence is that the next day he
5:18
Speaker 1: changed his mind and decided to go to the Brookley Marina.
5:22
Speaker 1: You know what you're saying, And with me as high
5:25
Speaker 1: profile defense lawyer, Laura Yaretzien. So the weather was so
5:29
Speaker 1: bad he couldn't play golf, so he went out on
5:33
Speaker 1: the San Francisco Bay to go fishing with me, an
5:37
Speaker 1: all star panel to break it down and put it
5:39
Speaker 1: back together again. Lauraretzien, who you've already heard from, la lawyer,
5:44
Speaker 1: Doctor Debbie Joffey Ellis psychologists as professor Columbia University A
5:50
Speaker 1: doctor Debbie Joffe Ellis dot com. Stephen A. Lampley, detective,
5:55
Speaker 1: author of twelve and Murdered on Amazon at Stephen Lampley
5:59
Speaker 1: dot com. Jennifer Schen forensic pathologist, former San Diego Police
6:04
Speaker 1: Department Crime Lab director, but now to crime online dot com.
6:09
Speaker 1: Investigative reporter Alexis terres Chuck, joining me from California. Alexis
6:15
Speaker 1: terres Chuck. You and I went through the entire trial together.
6:20
Speaker 1: We never missed a day of court, Alexis terres Chuck.
6:25
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the evidence did prove at
6:28
Speaker 1: trial that what the father in law Lacy's father in
6:32
Speaker 1: law father was saying is what Scott Peterson told him.
6:36
Speaker 1: That morning, Peterson did not call to report his wife missing.
6:40
Speaker 1: He called Lacy's parents instead and said he'd been playing golf, Alexis,
6:46
Speaker 1: You're exactly right. This is Scott's first story was presented
6:50
Speaker 1: in court, and it was that he was playing golf.
6:52
Speaker 1: He called the family Lacy, Foum and Dad and said,
6:55
Speaker 1: I haven't seen Lacy. I've been out all day. I
6:58
Speaker 1: was golf, saying I can't get much with her. Y'all
7:00
Speaker 1: seen her, and they immediately panicked. They called the police.
7:04
Speaker 1: The husband, the father of a baby who was about
7:07
Speaker 1: be born any second, did not call the police. Guys,
7:12
Speaker 1: for those of you just joining us, a bombshell in
7:16
Speaker 1: the Scott Peterson double murder conviction in the last hours,
7:21
Speaker 1: we learn a California appellet court has reversed the death
7:25
Speaker 1: penalty portion only apparently in taking the death penalty off
7:31
Speaker 1: the table for Scott Peterson on a technicality, the California's
7:35
Speaker 1: Supreme Court never says that he did not kill his wife.
7:40
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, they make it very clear
7:44
Speaker 1: they do think he killed his wife. They go on
7:47
Speaker 1: to say in the ruling quote they point to considerable
7:53
Speaker 1: circumstantial evidence incriminating Peterson and the Christmas Eve disappearance and
7:59
Speaker 1: death of his pregnant, twenty seven year old wife Lacy.
8:04
Speaker 1: For those of you just joining us, take a listen
8:06
Speaker 1: to our friends a KABC seven LA. We start with
8:10
Speaker 1: breaking news out of northern California where convicted killer Scott
8:14
Speaker 1: Peterson has won his death row appeal. The California Supreme
8:18
Speaker 1: Court this morning has overturned his death sentence, but not
8:22
Speaker 1: the conviction on first degree murder. Sixteen years ago, Peterson
8:25
Speaker 1: was found guilty of murdering his pregnant wife, Lacy in modesto.
8:29
Speaker 1: He challenged both the murder conviction and the death sentence,
8:33
Speaker 1: claiming widespread media attention and errors in jury selection deprived
8:37
Speaker 1: him of a fair triumph. The Stanislaus County Prosecutor can
8:41
Speaker 1: decide to retry the penalty phase of the case, but
8:44
Speaker 1: a decision will likely not be made until next year.
8:57
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace For those of you just
9:03
Speaker 1: joining us, the Bomb's Shell decision by the California Supreme
9:07
Speaker 1: Court that the sentencing portion of Scott Peterson trial alone
9:11
Speaker 1: will be reversed. He can either accept life behind bars,
9:17
Speaker 1: or the state can move forward with a death penalty
9:21
Speaker 1: phase trial with an all new jury. How does it
9:25
Speaker 1: all start? Take a listen to our friends at ABC's
9:29
Speaker 1: twenty twenty the last time I saw Lacy, she and
9:32
Speaker 1: I were sitting inside by side and Scott was sitting
9:33
Speaker 1: on the floor and we were watching TV. And she
9:37
Speaker 1: said the baby was kicking, so I put my hand
9:39
Speaker 1: on her stomach because I'd never felt him kick. She
9:42
Speaker 1: leaned over to me and she said, Mom, She said,
9:43
Speaker 1: Scott doesn't like to do this. She said, I'm asked
9:45
Speaker 1: him to feel my stomach when when the baby kicks,
9:49
Speaker 1: and he never wants to touch my stomach. That really
9:54
Speaker 1: really bothered me, And that was the last time I
9:55
Speaker 1: saw her. It seems as if Lacy had planned all
10:00
Speaker 1: along to have children and that was understood going into it.
10:06
Speaker 1: But if you analyze their marriage, seems that when she
10:11
Speaker 1: got pregnant with Connor, things started going sideways. Going sideways
10:18
Speaker 1: is one way of putting it back to you, Alexa's
10:22
Speaker 1: Torrest Chuck Crime online dot Com investigative reporter. The court
10:26
Speaker 1: made it very clear that there's a mountain of evidence
10:28
Speaker 1: to convict Peterson for the murders of Lacy and Connor,
10:33
Speaker 1: the baby, their bodies washed ashore twenty four hours apart,
10:38
Speaker 1: and it's quite the coincidence, isn't it. Alexis Terrest Chuck
10:41
Speaker 1: that Scott Peterson is fishing in the exact same spot
10:47
Speaker 1: in the body of water where his wife's body and
10:50
Speaker 1: his baby's body are found at the time of their disappearance.
10:55
Speaker 1: And this was a place where he lied about going.
10:58
Speaker 1: First he said he was golfing. Then when there was
11:00
Speaker 1: evidence that he was there, then he fessed up that
11:02
Speaker 1: he was there. This is shocking, but this is what
11:05
Speaker 1: the court did say. They are saying none, none of
11:08
Speaker 1: your nonsense, Scott, none of his pre trial the trials.
11:11
Speaker 1: You blaming Nancy Grays, blaming all the recorders that were
11:14
Speaker 1: there that had nothing to do with the fact that
11:16
Speaker 1: you are guilty, killed your wife and killed your baby,
11:19
Speaker 1: and you lied about it. And when you were caught,
11:22
Speaker 1: you were at the bottom of the state. You had
11:24
Speaker 1: bleached blonde hair, yet sixteen thousand dollars in cash, you
11:27
Speaker 1: had your brother's ID on you. You were not doing anything.
11:31
Speaker 1: You weren't out trying to help find your wife or
11:34
Speaker 1: you're missing baby, like the parents and the thousands that
11:37
Speaker 1: we know that are innocent. You know, I always just
11:40
Speaker 1: think of those people, especially I always think of poly
11:43
Speaker 1: Klaus's dad, who was just to do anything. I will
11:47
Speaker 1: do anything to let you know that I had nothing
11:49
Speaker 1: to do with this, not Scott Peterson. He was doing
11:52
Speaker 1: nothing to make people think he was innocent, and the
11:54
Speaker 1: Court of help that he is not innocent of murder.
11:57
Speaker 1: He is guilty of murder. To Stephen a play detective,
12:00
Speaker 1: author of twelve and Murdered on Amazon, I want you
12:05
Speaker 1: to take a listen to really compelling evidence in my mind.
12:09
Speaker 1: This is from Fox News special to Scott Peterson case.
12:13
Speaker 1: Take a listen. He takes his new boat that he
12:15
Speaker 1: had purchased, and he comes here to launch the boat.
12:19
Speaker 1: Her husband reported her missing after he returned from a
12:21
Speaker 1: fishing trip, a trip he took by himself or husband
12:24
Speaker 1: says he went fishing at marina the day she disappeared,
12:28
Speaker 1: so investigators are searching that marina, but the mystery here
12:31
Speaker 1: in Modesto, fueled in large part by Scott Peterson's alibi,
12:35
Speaker 1: which remains flimsy at best. He comes home later in
12:39
Speaker 1: the day, realizes that she's not there, figures she's somewhere
12:43
Speaker 1: else running errands, doing something for Christmas Eve, and takes
12:46
Speaker 1: the time to put his clothes in the wash, take
12:48
Speaker 1: a shower, have a snack, and then realizes maybe I
12:52
Speaker 1: should call somebody. So here's what's unusual. Scott decides to
12:56
Speaker 1: call Lacy's mother. Doesn't say have you spoken to Lacy today?
13:00
Speaker 1: Do you know where she is? He says, Lacy is missing.
13:05
Speaker 1: I want to go to Stephen Lampley and doctor Debbie Joffey,
13:08
Speaker 1: l a psychologist and professor Columbia University. You know, when
13:13
Speaker 1: I have not been able to find let's just say
13:19
Speaker 1: John David, I call my husband, say do you have
13:23
Speaker 1: John David. I don't say John David is missing. That's
13:28
Speaker 1: a very critical, subtle but critical point, doctor Debbie. Maybe
13:33
Speaker 1: it isn't. Maybe it isn't Nancy's I really could only
13:38
Speaker 1: give a more substantial opinion if I heard him use
13:42
Speaker 1: or not use that phrase often. You know, sometimes we
13:46
Speaker 1: bandy around words and phrases and they may indicate something
13:50
Speaker 1: as you're implying or not interesting. Stephen Lampley, what do
13:55
Speaker 1: you make of Peterson placing himself where the body is
14:01
Speaker 1: found and placing himself there at the time she goes missing. Well,
14:07
Speaker 1: I see, I'm guessing perhaps that he's thinking, and again
14:10
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know what Scott was thinking.
14:13
Speaker 1: Perhaps he knows that he was not golfing. Maybe he's
14:17
Speaker 1: making an excuse for where he really really was at
14:21
Speaker 1: the time, an alibi of sorts to cover the fact
14:26
Speaker 1: that he was fishing instead of dumping a body. Perhaps
14:30
Speaker 1: that would be my idea that he thinks he was
14:34
Speaker 1: going to be caught by not golfing, so he faces
14:36
Speaker 1: up to the fact that he was at the ocean
14:39
Speaker 1: for whatever reason. In reality, he was really there. Take
14:43
Speaker 1: a little star friends at Fox Knees. I realized that
14:46
Speaker 1: they were zeroing in on Scott. We just knew his
14:49
Speaker 1: actions were suspicious and something was going on, and clearly
14:53
Speaker 1: his fishing story was not adding up. One of the
14:56
Speaker 1: things you do as a reporter as you go up
14:58
Speaker 1: and down, you talk to everybody that you possibly can.
15:01
Speaker 1: I went over to the neighbor's house that lives directly
15:03
Speaker 1: across the street. The neighbor remembered Scott coming over to
15:06
Speaker 1: her house looking for Lacey, and she said, well, where
15:09
Speaker 1: were you? It's Christmas Eve and he said, I was
15:11
Speaker 1: playing golf. So the fact that that story differed from
15:15
Speaker 1: what we then heard was his alibi and where he
15:17
Speaker 1: says he was was very upsetting. Back out to high
15:21
Speaker 1: profile criminal defense attorney No stranger to a courtroom law
15:25
Speaker 1: Urett Cyn. That makes two people. He told he was
15:30
Speaker 1: playing golf that morning. What do you make of it?
15:33
Speaker 1: What I make of it is what did you tail
15:34
Speaker 1: law enforcement? When he was being questioned. Those are the
15:37
Speaker 1: people he used to tell the truth to the people
15:39
Speaker 1: who were investigating, and he was extremely honest with him.
15:42
Speaker 1: He told him exactly where he'd been, no hesitation, and
15:46
Speaker 1: he also was very helpful that he was searching for
15:51
Speaker 1: his wife. He was making calls. This idea that he
15:56
Speaker 1: took Lacey's body and dumped it at the bay in
16:02
Speaker 1: San Francisco Bay is ridiculous. There's zero, zero forensic evidence
16:07
Speaker 1: showing that he did it. There was nothing, zero forensic
16:10
Speaker 1: evidence in its truck, zero forensic evidence really leading and
16:13
Speaker 1: showing that there was a body or her body in
16:18
Speaker 1: that boat, or that he was even able to dump
16:21
Speaker 1: that body from that small boat, an exposed boat, not covered.
16:26
Speaker 1: Anyone could have seen it. So this idea that he
16:29
Speaker 1: did that, you mean anyone out in the middle of
16:32
Speaker 1: San Francisco Bay during wind and storm and rain, I
16:37
Speaker 1: a nobody would have seen it. Nobody was out where
16:41
Speaker 1: he was. We're assuming it was storm and rain there
16:44
Speaker 1: was no evidence. It was storm and rain. It wasn't
16:46
Speaker 1: the greatest of the weather. I thought, that's why I
16:48
Speaker 1: didn't a golfing because of the bad weather. Well we're
16:51
Speaker 1: talking about bad weather where he was living in Modesto.
16:54
Speaker 1: This is not Medesto. You know. That's why you are
16:58
Speaker 1: such a great law lawyer, Laura eurets him because my
17:02
Speaker 1: question to you was why did he tell some people
17:05
Speaker 1: he was playing golf then change his story till he
17:10
Speaker 1: was fishing? And you said what mattered was what he
17:13
Speaker 1: told cops. But what I'm saying is, and my question
17:18
Speaker 1: is why did he change his story? Not that he
17:23
Speaker 1: told cops first he was golfing. He didn't. By the
17:27
Speaker 1: end you realized people had spotted him at the bay,
17:31
Speaker 1: he had to tell them. But he told other people
17:34
Speaker 1: that day, not the day before I was planning to
17:38
Speaker 1: go golfing, but that day that he had been golfing.
17:43
Speaker 1: You also mentioned that he was so forthcoming and so helpful.
17:47
Speaker 1: In fact, he told the cops what a great marriage
17:51
Speaker 1: he had. But seems like he left something out. Take
17:54
Speaker 1: a listen to our friends at court TV. Ambertells the
17:58
Speaker 1: detectives she's been seeing Scott Peterson only a few weeks,
18:01
Speaker 1: but they're already talking marriage. On December ninth, she recalls
18:06
Speaker 1: he broke down sobbing that he had quote lost his
18:09
Speaker 1: wife once. The same day, Scott secretly bought his boat.
18:13
Speaker 1: Detective Brocchini knows he's onto something. I mean, he told
18:16
Speaker 1: Amber that he had lost his wife once. She wasn't lost,
18:21
Speaker 1: and so that I mean to me, that was a key.
18:25
Speaker 1: The detectives ask Ambert to secretly report all future conversations
18:29
Speaker 1: with Scott. She agrees. They're also determined that no one
18:33
Speaker 1: will find out about her. That afternoon, the detectives take
18:37
Speaker 1: Amber to buy their reporting equipment, and then her phone rings.
18:41
Speaker 1: It's Scott. He's caught everyone off guard. Crime stories with
18:56
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace for those of you just joining us. In
19:01
Speaker 1: a major bombshell to the Scott Peterson conviction, a California
19:06
Speaker 1: court has ruled the death penalty sentence is out. What
19:11
Speaker 1: are the choices? Will he now go into general population
19:15
Speaker 1: and no longer have the protections he had on death row?
19:19
Speaker 1: Will there be a new penalty phase? Now we saw
19:22
Speaker 1: that happen in the Jodi Arias trial. If you will
19:25
Speaker 1: recall what lays ahead. But I know this. I know
19:30
Speaker 1: that Lacy's mother, Sharon Roacha, is devastated. Now, we were
19:36
Speaker 1: just speaking to high profile lawyer, lawyer Laura Uretsian, who
19:40
Speaker 1: stated that Peterson was completely honest, forthcoming, and helpful about
19:45
Speaker 1: finding his wife. The reality is he didn't call nine
19:48
Speaker 1: one one. He waited for hours before he even called
19:53
Speaker 1: Lacy's parents to tell them he couldn't find her, that
19:55
Speaker 1: she was missing. He immediately asked if his family would
19:59
Speaker 1: have grief counseling. But there's this little thing he left
20:05
Speaker 1: out when he was being so forthcoming with the cops. Listen,
20:11
Speaker 1: glove yes. Scott continues to call Amber, and detectives are
20:16
Speaker 1: intent on getting him to repeat something he told her
20:19
Speaker 1: just before Lacy disappeared. Those four short but incriminating words,
20:25
Speaker 1: I lost my wife, and you came and told me
20:28
Speaker 1: this elaborate life about her missing and this tragedy and
20:31
Speaker 1: that and that that this will be the first holidays
20:34
Speaker 1: without her. Never said Amber, I ain god, I don't
20:39
Speaker 1: want to play with you. You know that. I never said, oh, yes,
20:44
Speaker 1: you said you've lost your wife, obviously without me saying much.
20:49
Speaker 1: But we were my wife, Yes you did. I did
20:54
Speaker 1: bingo this is what investigators needed for us. That was
20:59
Speaker 1: a huge statement on his part, because you how do
21:04
Speaker 1: you predict that? I mean, how do you know you're
21:06
Speaker 1: going to come up with a lie about that to
21:08
Speaker 1: try and woo some girl into a romance that you're
21:11
Speaker 1: not supposed to be part of, and then all of
21:13
Speaker 1: a sudden it comes true. So Laura Euretsian with me,
21:16
Speaker 1: high profile criminal defense attorney out of la Laura, do
21:19
Speaker 1: you believe in clairvoyance? So Scott Peterson said just before
21:24
Speaker 1: Lacy goes missing and ends up murdered, that he had
21:29
Speaker 1: just lost his wife and this would be the first
21:32
Speaker 1: Christmas without her and it all turned out to be true.
21:35
Speaker 1: Do you think he's psychic? My question is, if Scott
21:40
Speaker 1: Peterson was really planning on murdering his wife, is that
21:43
Speaker 1: what he would be telling someone who's only he's only
21:47
Speaker 1: been dating for a couple of weeks and literally that's
21:49
Speaker 1: all it was a few weeks and sleeping with and
21:52
Speaker 1: talking about getting married. Yeah, how many men have said
21:56
Speaker 1: that to women just to get into bed with them.
21:58
Speaker 1: I mean it's not yes, was he being was aligned
22:02
Speaker 1: or was he cheating on his wife? But the idea
22:05
Speaker 1: that he would tell someone who just he'd been with
22:08
Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks that um, you know, and
22:12
Speaker 1: whatever he said is really and a glimpse into what
22:15
Speaker 1: he was thinking, and that he was planning to kill
22:17
Speaker 1: his wife is ridiculous. Yes, of course the prosecution made
22:21
Speaker 1: a huge deal out of that, because it is huge deal.
22:24
Speaker 1: He says his wife is dead and that this is
22:27
Speaker 1: the first Christmas he'll have without her, and then a
22:30
Speaker 1: couple of days later she is dead and it's the
22:34
Speaker 1: first Christmas without her. She goes missing that Christmas. Abe,
22:39
Speaker 1: I don't care why with him that, you know what,
22:43
Speaker 1: It almost doesn't matter that just just because he said
22:46
Speaker 1: that to her, it doesn't mean that he was planning
22:48
Speaker 1: to kill his wife. It really shows you that he'll
22:52
Speaker 1: do anything to be with you said, you said, your
23:00
Speaker 1: rhet said, you said it. He'll do anything, including killing things.
23:04
Speaker 1: Why you said no? Apparently the jury disagree. Week this
23:10
Speaker 1: wasn't his first affair, so they no. It just doesn't
23:16
Speaker 1: mean just because someone's had an affair, it doesn't Yes,
23:19
Speaker 1: it looks awful, it doesn't look great. It does Let's
23:24
Speaker 1: talk about the other evidence, Laura. Your rhet seen is
23:27
Speaker 1: right in the sense that one nail does not a
23:32
Speaker 1: coffin seal. What else is the evidence? Well, the evidence
23:37
Speaker 1: that they had was that they had a dog. And
23:42
Speaker 1: I know that this is controversial, but there was a
23:44
Speaker 1: dog and they found the scent as Lacy at her
23:47
Speaker 1: home obviously, but the scent stopped, she didn't it. The
23:53
Speaker 1: dog determined that she'd got into a vehicle, not that
23:55
Speaker 1: she walked away. So it wasn't that she was kidnapped
23:58
Speaker 1: in the park or if something happened somewhere else. You
24:01
Speaker 1: know what. Let's talk about that. Hold your thought, Alexis,
24:04
Speaker 1: because I want to go through what you're saying. And
24:06
Speaker 1: then we'll have Laura Yaretzi in way in because I'm
24:08
Speaker 1: sure she's going to discredit the dog. Guys, don't be
24:12
Speaker 1: angry with her. She's a defense lawyer. This is what
24:15
Speaker 1: she does for a living, and she is a master
24:18
Speaker 1: at it. To Jennifer Shen forensic pathologists, the former San
24:22
Speaker 1: Diego Police Department Crime Lab director Jennifer Shen, the dog
24:28
Speaker 1: followed Lacy's scent to where the car was parked, and
24:33
Speaker 1: then it seemingly cut off. The dog followed a scent
24:39
Speaker 1: all the way to the San Francisco Bay from the
24:44
Speaker 1: home all the way to the bay. What do you
24:48
Speaker 1: make of it, Jennifer Shen, Well, you'm at the dog
24:52
Speaker 1: if they're incredibly they are incredibly sensitive and they can
24:57
Speaker 1: really give investigators a lot of information. I think it's
25:01
Speaker 1: reasonable that if she was taken away in a car,
25:03
Speaker 1: that the dog would be able to smell her from
25:06
Speaker 1: the house to the car, and then whence they were
25:08
Speaker 1: at the bay, that he could then pick that sent
25:10
Speaker 1: up again. And I obviously they found the bodies where
25:14
Speaker 1: the dogs said they were, so there certainly was a
25:18
Speaker 1: lot of delidity to that. Doctors for this sort of
25:20
Speaker 1: thing all the time. It is very very successful. But
25:23
Speaker 1: they are dogs, and you know, there's certainly it isn't
25:27
Speaker 1: a hundred percent obviously, and there's some there's some there's
25:31
Speaker 1: some talk about the fact that they aren't as scientifically
25:33
Speaker 1: valid as you might want them to be. But in
25:35
Speaker 1: this case, I think the dog did a very good job.
25:37
Speaker 1: To Stephen Lampley, former detective, author of twelve and Murdered
25:41
Speaker 1: at Stephen Lampley dot com, a search dog handler testified
25:47
Speaker 1: that her canine picked up Lacy Peterson sent at a
25:51
Speaker 1: pylon at the Berkeley Marina where Scott Peterson launched what
25:57
Speaker 1: he says was a solo fishing trip the day his
26:01
Speaker 1: wife vanished. The dog handler was Eloise Anderson. She was
26:06
Speaker 1: with the Contra Costa County Search and Rescue Team. Her
26:09
Speaker 1: dog was a lab name Tremble, and Tremble hit on
26:15
Speaker 1: the scent four days after Peterson reported his pregnant wife
26:20
Speaker 1: missing to her parents, not the police. What do you
26:25
Speaker 1: make of dog evidence, Stephen Lampley? I've used it many
26:29
Speaker 1: many times in court, and it's sanctioned by the court,
26:34
Speaker 1: just like polygraphs in civil cases, just like fingerprints, just
26:39
Speaker 1: like DNA. This is a form of evidence that is
26:42
Speaker 1: court sanctioned. What do you make of it? In fact,
26:46
Speaker 1: I've told people the best witness I've ever put on
26:49
Speaker 1: the stand was a dog. Go ahead, Steve, That's right.
26:52
Speaker 1: Many dogs have no reason to lie. So the dogs
26:55
Speaker 1: are really accurate. Now, some dogs are more accurate than others.
26:58
Speaker 1: We know that the dog dog tracking and dogs evidence
27:04
Speaker 1: is very reliable for the most part. It's very accurate
27:08
Speaker 1: for the most part. Again, like I said, we have
27:10
Speaker 1: some animals that are better than others. But if this
27:13
Speaker 1: dog in this case picks up her scent at home,
27:17
Speaker 1: then we skip to the to the merino or on
27:20
Speaker 1: the on the ocean, and he picks her scent up
27:23
Speaker 1: there or doesn't. It's it's a very reliable evidence. N'swer
27:29
Speaker 1: very it's very reliable. Okay, everybody buck or your seatbelt.
27:32
Speaker 1: Here she comes. Laura, you're at sim what's wrong with
27:35
Speaker 1: the dog? Well, this is the same dog that failed
27:39
Speaker 1: twice out of three times and vehicle trails right, So
27:44
Speaker 1: this is not a very accurate dog, and this is
27:47
Speaker 1: not one that's very reliable and any you can't argue
27:50
Speaker 1: it really is far as I should argue that this
27:52
Speaker 1: is reliable evidence. Okay, So let me understand something. Laura.
27:56
Speaker 1: You agree that the death penalty, that the court was
27:59
Speaker 1: right by reversing the death penalty. Of course I disagree,
28:03
Speaker 1: But you disagree with the same court that agreed with
28:07
Speaker 1: the prosecution's version, including as they said, dog sent an
28:12
Speaker 1: ocean current evidence. So you agree with the court, but
28:18
Speaker 1: not when it suits you. I agree with the court
28:20
Speaker 1: as far as overturning the death penalty, but clearly you
28:25
Speaker 1: are right. I disagree with the court on their assessment.
28:28
Speaker 1: But this is the appellate court. The standard is very
28:30
Speaker 1: different than what it is for a jury and a
28:35
Speaker 1: jury trial, and it would take more than If there's
28:40
Speaker 1: enough circumstantial evidence, of course, it's going to leave. It's
28:42
Speaker 1: not going to touch the conviction. What hopefully it may
28:49
Speaker 1: happen in the future is if there's some evidence that
28:54
Speaker 1: was not known at the time, new evidence that's come forth,
28:58
Speaker 1: and that's brought and the court can look at this
29:01
Speaker 1: again and decide based on that evidence. If we added
29:05
Speaker 1: all of that into the mix, what the jury's decision.
29:11
Speaker 1: You know what, you lost me a long time ago.
29:14
Speaker 1: And I've got a j d and a master's from NYU.
29:17
Speaker 1: Uh So I'm going to try to figure out what
29:20
Speaker 1: that very long sentence I'm talking about a rich. What
29:23
Speaker 1: I'm talking is about a future rich. Okay, there you go.
29:41
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace for those of you just
29:45
Speaker 1: joining us. In a bombshell decision, a California pelt Court
29:51
Speaker 1: has reversed the penalty phase and the Scott Peterson double
29:55
Speaker 1: murder conviction. Katie Johnson at CBS thirteen News Sacramento today,
30:02
Speaker 1: the California Supreme Court overturned Scott Peterson's death sentence for
30:06
Speaker 1: the murder of his pregnant wife, saying the trial judge
30:09
Speaker 1: made a series of clear and significant errors during jury selection.
30:13
Speaker 1: The court upheld Peterson's murder conviction and said prosecutors may
30:17
Speaker 1: try again for the same sentence. Twenty seventy year old
30:20
Speaker 1: Lacy Peterson was eight months pregnant when she was killed.
30:22
Speaker 1: Investigators say Christmas Eve two thousand and two, Peterson dumped
30:26
Speaker 1: their bodies from his fishing boat into the San Francisco Bay,
30:29
Speaker 1: where they resurfaced months later. Peterson is now forty seven
30:33
Speaker 1: years old. When Connor's body was found, as I recall,
30:40
Speaker 1: his body was found first, but that my point is
30:45
Speaker 1: their bodies were drastically different. Connor's body, according to eyewitnesses,
30:53
Speaker 1: look like a little naked baby doll Pristaine there on
31:04
Speaker 1: the beach. Lacy's body, however, was horribly decomposed, but even
31:15
Speaker 1: in death, she protected her baby. Some of the strongest
31:23
Speaker 1: muscle and tissue in the human body is the uterus
31:30
Speaker 1: that surrounds the baby, and for all the months that
31:35
Speaker 1: Lacy drifted in the tides, her body slowly decomposing, that
31:41
Speaker 1: strong muscle tissue protected Connor until in the end he
31:49
Speaker 1: floated out of her uterus as it decomposed. Therefore, his
31:58
Speaker 1: little body was pristine. Her body was greatly decomposed, and
32:06
Speaker 1: the States says she was still wearing the same clothes
32:11
Speaker 1: she was wearing the night before she disappeared. Part of
32:17
Speaker 1: the defense at trial was that someone else murdered Lacy
32:22
Speaker 1: for what and then framed went to the trouble to
32:26
Speaker 1: frame Scott Peterson. That was after many many other ploys
32:33
Speaker 1: were tested out on the public via the media and
32:37
Speaker 1: they didn't work. For instance, drug dealers, a Hawaiian gang,
32:41
Speaker 1: a burglar across the street, thugs. In the part I
32:45
Speaker 1: mean it went on a mother, a woman who wanted
32:48
Speaker 1: to be a mother somewhere, cut the baby out and
32:52
Speaker 1: then kept Lacy alive for a while and killed her.
32:55
Speaker 1: There were so and then got rid of the baby too.
32:58
Speaker 1: There were so many any theories, but finally it was
33:03
Speaker 1: decided that defense would go with someone else killed her
33:06
Speaker 1: and then decided to frame Peterson. Joining me an all
33:11
Speaker 1: star panel, Laura Euretzian, high profile criminal defense attorney, LA doctor,
33:16
Speaker 1: Debbie Joffe, Ellis, psychologist, Stephen Lampley, detected Jennifer Shenn, forensic pathologists,
33:21
Speaker 1: and Alexis Terrestchuck Crime online dot Com investigative reporter, Jennifer Schenn,
33:25
Speaker 1: could you explain the forensic evidence we know of in
33:29
Speaker 1: the case and how the bodies had decayed so differently
33:34
Speaker 1: at the time of their discovery and there really wasn't
33:37
Speaker 1: less forensic evidence in this case. I think one that
33:41
Speaker 1: was somewhat important was it one of Lacy's Apparently one
33:44
Speaker 1: of Lacy's hair is found on some choirs in the boats,
33:47
Speaker 1: and there was a boat she didn't know about it
33:49
Speaker 1: and hadn't visited, so that was certainly of interest. They
33:53
Speaker 1: did mitochondrial DNA on that, which is not as as
33:58
Speaker 1: as good as a nuclear DNA, but still there's still
34:02
Speaker 1: have a good piece of evidence the bodies the dead.
34:05
Speaker 1: Are you saying that it was Lacy's hair and appliers
34:09
Speaker 1: based on mitochondrial DNA, that it's what the mitochondrial DNA show.
34:13
Speaker 1: And isn't it true that mitochondrial DNA is used every
34:16
Speaker 1: single day? It is based on the lineage of the mother. Correct?
34:21
Speaker 1: That is correct? Go ahead, place quite as accurate. It's
34:24
Speaker 1: I'm quite as accurate as identifying the nuclear DNA. Right
34:29
Speaker 1: where you have the father and the mother, the decomposition
34:32
Speaker 1: of the bodies isn't it true, Jennifer that you yourself
34:37
Speaker 1: have advanced cases that had mitochondrial DNA. Yes, who definitely
34:40
Speaker 1: works with medochondrial DNA, both on humans and on animals,
34:44
Speaker 1: So you accept it as established science? Is that correct? Oh? Absolutely?
34:49
Speaker 1: Oh okay, because by the way you were talking, I
34:51
Speaker 1: thought there was something wrong with mitochondrial DNA, but actually
34:55
Speaker 1: there's not. Let me go to you, Alexis Estric. I
34:58
Speaker 1: want to clear something up. The reason for this reversal
35:02
Speaker 1: is that not because of media, not because of blaming me.
35:07
Speaker 1: I forgot about that one. Thank you for reminding me,
35:10
Speaker 1: but it's always your fault. Don't forget at times. But
35:13
Speaker 1: because the court said that while the jury was okay
35:19
Speaker 1: as far as guilt innocence, the jury was fine for that,
35:23
Speaker 1: but the jury was not okay for the penalty phase.
35:27
Speaker 1: Because about thirteen out of how many thirteen fourteen hundred
35:35
Speaker 1: jurars that were first gleaned, we're not questioned separately when
35:43
Speaker 1: they said I don't believe in the death penalty, but
35:46
Speaker 1: I would follow the law. Is that what happened? They
35:49
Speaker 1: were not voidirreed? Jury questioned. Jurar questioned separately? Is that right? Explained?
35:57
Speaker 1: To me why they're doing this. So the d those
36:00
Speaker 1: were actually let go by the judge when they when
36:04
Speaker 1: they gave that statement that they they personally didn't believe
36:06
Speaker 1: in the def penalty, but they could consider it for
36:08
Speaker 1: this case. He automatically let them go. And he didn't.
36:11
Speaker 1: This wasn't counted against the prosecution or the defense's number
36:16
Speaker 1: of strikes that they can have. You can't can't have
36:18
Speaker 1: unlimited number. So then you say, oh, it's we're out
36:21
Speaker 1: of juris, can't have a case. Um, you'll only get
36:23
Speaker 1: a certain amount. So the judge let the thirteen go.
36:27
Speaker 1: And what the Appeals Court has said is that that
36:29
Speaker 1: goes against everything that should be the process during jury
36:34
Speaker 1: selection and that this is a Supreme Court. This is
36:37
Speaker 1: obviously that something the Supreme Court has been very clear
36:39
Speaker 1: about for a very long time. That the judge made
36:41
Speaker 1: an error in allowing these jurors to be dismissed, not
36:46
Speaker 1: allowing he dismissed them, got it, and that they should
36:49
Speaker 1: not have been missed. So the appellate courts cancel Peterson's
36:53
Speaker 1: death sentence because Judge de Lucy, according to them, and
36:57
Speaker 1: properly excused the prospective gurars in a pool of fifteen hundred,
37:05
Speaker 1: one thousand, five hundred people who had filled out written
37:09
Speaker 1: JURRR questionnaires. The thirteen professed that they were opposed to
37:14
Speaker 1: the DP, but the court said the judge should have
37:20
Speaker 1: verbally questioned them instead of dismissing them. So what will
37:27
Speaker 1: life be like for Scott Peterson in general population? We'll
37:33
Speaker 1: see Nancy Grace crime story signing off goodbye friend,