Scott Peterson, proper, talks with lawyer Cliff Gardner throughout a listening to on the San Mateo County Superior Courtroom in Redwood Metropolis, Calif., Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Picture/Jeff Chiu, Pool)
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. --
The juror on the coronary heart of convicted assassin Scott Peterson's retrial bid swore Friday that she had no animosity towards him till after she heard proof that he had killed his pregnant spouse in a case that grabbed worldwide consideration in 2004.
"Earlier than the trial, I did not have any anger or any resentment towards Scott in any respect. After the trial, it was a bit true, as a result of I sat by means of the trial and listened to the proof," former juror Richelle Good testified.
Peterson's legal professionals need to show that she held a secret bias towards him that prevented him from getting a good trial, and that she lied on her jury questionnaire to get there.
However she usually caught to her earlier written statements beneath questioning. She stated she did not take into account herself a sufferer of home violence, did not immediately worry for her personal unborn little one and relied on the proof throughout trial.
Good helped convict Peterson in 2004 of the murders of his spouse, Laci Peterson, 27, who was eight months pregnant, and of the unborn son they deliberate to call Conner. Prosecutors say he dumped his spouse's physique into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002. The stays surfaced months later.
Good testified solely after she was granted immunity from perjury prosecution for misstatements she might have made within the earlier sworn assertion.
In it, and in Friday's testimony, she defined why she did not disclose on a pre-trial jury questionnaire that she had sought a restraining order whereas pregnant in 2000, saying then that she "actually fears for her unborn little one."
She additionally disputed on the stand courtroom paperwork indicating that her live-in boyfriend had assaulted her whereas she was once more pregnant, testifying that it was she who hit him.
Good is being addressed in courtroom by title, although she beforehand was known as Juror 7. She additionally used her title throughout post-trial media interviews and when she co-authored a e book in regards to the case with six different jurors.
She was nicknamed "Strawberry Shortcake" throughout the trial for her dyed vivid pink hair, which is now brown on high and blondish on the backside.
Peterson appeared in courtroom sporting a San Mateo County Jail uniform after Superior Courtroom Decide Anne-Christine Massullo denied his request to put on road garments for what is predicted to be a week-long listening to.
Massullo is charged by the California Supreme Courtroom with deciding if Good dedicated misconduct by not disclosing her personal historical past earlier than she grew to become a juror, and if she held a bias that denied Peterson a good trial.
Good usually stated her earlier sworn written denials have been true, however with some nuances.
She did not take into account herself a sufferer of home violence as a result of within the case in 2000, her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend did not immediately threaten her unborn little one -- regardless of the wording in her utility for a restraining order on the time.
"She did not threaten my child," Good testified, saying that she included her unborn little one in her utility as a result of "I used to be being spiteful."
"She wasn't going to intentionally damage my little one, but when we fought and rolled round like some dummies on the bottom ... I used to be in worry I might lose my little one doing one thing silly like that," Good testified.
And though her live-in boyfriend in 2001 was arrested and pleaded responsible, Good stated the reality was that she hit him and never the opposite approach round.
"Eddie by no means hit me, so I used to be not a sufferer of home violence," she testified. "I did punch him, sure."
It was her boyfriend who then known as the police on her, however she did not cooperate and it backfired when he was arrested as a substitute, Good testified.
She stated police might have been misled into arresting the incorrect individual as a result of she had inadvertently reduce her lip on the braces she was sporting on the time.
One in every of Peterson's attorneys, Pat Harris, recommended in his questioning that Good might have been biased towards Peterson as a result of her then-boyfriend was admittedly untrue, although she denied it influenced her.
Peterson was arrested solely after his personal paramour got here ahead, saying Peterson had informed her his spouse was gone a month earlier than her precise disappearance.
Good usually caught by her reply on the jury questionnaire when she answered "no" to having ever been a criminal offense sufferer. She expanded on her sworn declaration in 2020 that she did not "really feel `victimized' the best way the legislation may outline that time period."
"I have been in lots of fights, and I do not take into account myself a sufferer. It could be completely different for you or anyone else," she informed Harris.
Good stated it's "completely true" when she stated within the 2020 written declaration that she did "not kind any conclusions concerning the proof within the case till I used to be known as into the jury deliberation room."
She denied being in monetary problem on the time or borrowing US$1,000 from one other juror, contradicting others' anticipated testimony and former statements.
Peterson's attorneys plan to placed on witnesses they contend present that Good went into the trial biased as a result of she may relate as a mom to the loss of life of Peterson's unborn child.
Good contradicted different witnesses' anticipated testimony by saying she by no means nicknamed any of her 4 sons "little man," nor does she recall referring to Peterson's unborn son by that nickname throughout the trial or deliberations.
She stated she first remembers utilizing the nickname after the trial was over, in her first media interview.
The decide may have as much as 90 days after the listening to to announce her ruling, which might be appealed by both aspect.
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