The Los Angeles Innocence Project is taking up the infamous case of Scott Peterson, alleging that “newly discovered” and previously undisclosed evidence could support his claim that he was wrongfully convicted in 2004 of murdering his wife and unborn son.
In new court filings Wednesday, lawyers for the L.A. Innocence Project (LAIP) claim that evidence points to other possible suspects in the killing of Laci Peterson, 27, who was eight months pregnant with their son Conner when she disappeared in Modesto, California, just before Christmas 2002.
Laci Peterson’s remains and those of her unborn fetus were found a day apart on a San Francisco Bay shore in April 2003. Prosecutors argued that Peterson had dumped his wife’s weighted-down body overboard from his fishing boat. At the time, he was having an affair, telling his girlfriend weeks before Laci Peterson went missing that his wife had died.
When Peterson was arrested near San Diego in 2003, he had dyed his hair blond and was carrying $15,000 in cash. Authorities tracking him said they feared he might flee to Mexico.
The LAIP, a nonprofit devoted to exonerating wrongfully incarcerated people in California prisons, is based at California State University, Los Angeles, and is not affiliated with the national Innocence Project. In a statement shared with HuffPost, the LAIP confirmed it is representing Scott Peterson “and is investigating his claim of actual innocence.”
Peterson’s attorney Pat Harris said his team welcomed the assistance of the LAIP.
“We are very excited to have the incredible attorneys from the LA Innocence Project lend their considerable expertise to helping prove Scott Peterson’s innocence,” he said in a statement shared with HuffPost.
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