Scott Peterson leaves the courtroom after his resentencing listening to on the San Mateo County Superior Courtroom in Redwood Metropolis, Calif., on Dec. 8, 2021. (Andy Alfaro/The Modesto Bee through AP, Pool)
REDWOOD CITY, CALIF. --
A juror in Scott Peterson's two-decade-old homicide trial will probably be granted immunity earlier than testifying at a listening to that would decide whether or not a brand new trial is granted, authorities mentioned.
The provide to Richelle Good will come earlier than she testifies at a Feb. 25 evidentiary listening to, Stanislaus County District Legal professional Birgit Fladager introduced Monday.
Good was Juror 7 within the trial that resulted in 2004 with Peterson's conviction for killing his pregnant spouse, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son.
Prosecutors say Peterson took his spouse's physique from their Modesto residence on Christmas Eve 2002 and dumped her from his fishing boat into the San Francisco Bay, the place her physique and that of her unborn son washed ashore individually in April 2003.
Peterson's attorneys need to overturn his homicide conviction on grounds of bias and misconduct. They contend that Good lied on a jury questionnaire when she denied having been the sufferer of a criminal offense or concerned in a lawsuit.
Attorneys say Good didn't reveal throughout jury choice that she had been overwhelmed by a boyfriend whereas pregnant in 2001. She additionally did not disclose that in one other being pregnant she had obtained a restraining order - thought of a kind of lawsuit -- in opposition to a boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, whom she feared would damage her unborn baby.
"I do not assume you can also make a cogent argument that any person who's pregnant and has been the sufferer of violence can go right into a trial and on the very least not really feel some bias in the direction of a circumstance the place a sufferer is a pregnant lady who mainly had violence happen," Peterson's lawyer, Pat Harris, mentioned Monday after the listening to.
Peterson's attorneys have argued that she actively sought to affix the jury as a result of she needed Peterson to be punished for the deaths.
She has denied it.
"I didn't misinform get on this trial to fry Scott," she instructed the Modesto Bee in 2017.
Good had mentioned that with out immunity -- which may defend her from a perjury cost -- she would invoke the Fifth Modification in opposition to self-incrimination. Nevertheless, if she refuses to reply questions on the witness stand after being given immunity, Good might be held in contempt of courtroom.
Good later wrote dozens of jail letters to Peterson whereas he was on demise row. She additionally co-authored a e book on the case with different jurors.
The evidentiary listening to will run a few week, following which the choose will then resolve inside 90 days whether or not to grant Peterson a brand new trial.
Peterson, 49, was sentenced to demise in 2005 however he was resentenced to life with out parole in December. The California Supreme Courtroom tossed out his authentic sentence in 2020 on grounds that the jury was improperly screened for bias in opposition to the demise penalty.
Nevertheless, the justices additionally mentioned of their resolution that there was appreciable circumstantial proof incriminating Peterson within the first-degree homicide of Laci and the second-degree homicide of their unborn son.
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