California Supreme Court Overturns Scott Peterson’s Death Penalty Sentence

On December 23, 2002, Scott Peterson murdered his pregnant wife Lacey. Lacey had been pregnant with their unborn child for eight months before her life was taken by her own husband. Peterson was arrested on April 18, 2003. After a long trial and conviction, Peterson receive a sentence of death by lethal injection.

Peterson’s lawyers have made several appeals over the years in an attempt to prevent his sentence from being carried out. On Monday. the California Supreme Court overturned Peterson’s death penalty sentence.

The Supreme Court of California said that while it does not agree with Peterson’s statement that the trial was unfair, they found that the trial had not followed judicial guidelines. “The state made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection that, under long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent, undermined Peterson’s right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase,” the court said in its opinion.

Before being arrested, Peterson’s car was said to be filled with multiple different items including $15,000 in cash, camping equipment, four cell phones, several changes of clothes, multiple driver’s licenses and survival gear.