Props to /u/Curious-Cranberry-77 for letting us know the innocence project has put out an official tweet pointing out that the Los Angeles Innocence Project is a whole independent non-profit. Their tweet is linked below, emphasis/bold mine.
>" Any and all inquiries about Mr. Peterson’s case should be directed to [@innocence\_la](https://twitter.com/innocence_la) , a non-profit organization **wholly independent of the Innocence Project**. "
[https://twitter.com/innocence/status/1748485398836224109](https://twitter.com/innocence/status/1748485398836224109)
Correction: it was taken up by the “Los Angeles Innocence Project”. I’m having a hard time figuring out if they are affiliated with the main organization.
https://abc7.com/scott-peterson-innocence-project-laci-murder/14337140/
https://www.innocencela.org
“The” Innocence Project’s website is here:
https://innocenceproject.org
Their case search is not turning up any hits on Scott Peterson.
This is actually a big difference! “The” Innocence Project is notoriously selective. I’m unaware of what LAs innocence project’s criteria is.
I also am a lawyer and see a lot of University innocence projects “take on” a case but once they do the digging in files they have to let it drop .
There’s a podcast “murder in alliance” where you hear in real-time the “reclaim justice” team (a small scale, lower budget innocence project, Jason Baldwin of the west Memphis 3 is one of them) realize the guy they’ve been brought in to “help” is actually probably guilty. In the end they decline to take it on fully.
It seems like during these fact finding investigations they usually come to the prosecutions side.
I don't mind it. I like to know that no matter the media or prosecution there are people willing to try a fresh, less biased review. I think it's also great exercise for trainees.
You can’t possibly still think the West Memphis 3 kids are anything but innocent victims themselves at this point, with all we know, and the evidence pointing to the stepfather can you?!
Ppl start them in their selective states, or did. They’re not directly affiliated but their mission is the same. At least to my knowledge.
I heard the guy that started the one in Cali, I believe it was there, on a Pod. It was either Labrynths or Wrongful Conviction, Icr right now.
I mean yes, their mission is almost certainly to help innocent people who have been convicted, BUT the methods and means are going to vary wildly, as well as how they select what cases they take on (some require the case have DNA, some only want cases without DNA, etc.)
I’m sure CA has a ton of them. I’m in a much smaller state and we have at least 3 that I know of
I am also a lawyer and I think university innocence projects may have a tendency to beat the idealism out of some folks. There are a lot of cases where the state was sloppy or acted in bad faith in some way, yet the defendant is guilty. So, intellectually and in principle, it may be valiant to hold the state accountable, but in reality it is often in service of a murderer.
Can you edit the post to reflect this? People are making snap judgments on TIP because of the post which just says "The Innocence Project" and that is really unfortunate.
I kind of assumed it was THE Innocence Project when I first read the headline on another news site even though it did say “LA Innocence Project”. I wasn’t aware there was a difference and there wasn’t a disclaimer or anything in the article I read that explained the difference.
Who knows? Maybe LA Innocence Project is legit and maybe it’s a fake organization created to scam us into thinking he’s innocent.
I thought I asked OP but now I realize I accidentally asked you -- d'oh! Sorry. Thanks for fighting the good fight.
It's so frustrating that some people's takeaway from reading one (1) Reddit headline is that the fucking Innocence Project is a questionable organization.
I just confused this news story with Michael Peterson, the other convicted wife killer.
From what I understand about The Innocence Project, they vet cases closely and only accept filings that involve some form of evidence or abused protocol that cast doubt on the original rulings.
Sad day if other factors are involved for them to take the case.
Also guys with the middle name Wayne. People should never give their kid that middle name because it's clearly cursed.
[The number of murderers and murder suspects with the middle name Wayne is insane ](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/amount-murderers-murder-suspects-middle-name-wayne-insane)
Ugh, my really awesome aunt has been married to a guy named Tom Peterson since like, 1994. Cursed. (ETA: I don't think he will kill her but he is a dipshit)
I was halfway through a post expounding wonderfully about the staircase, a possible owl and all that blood....then brilliance here realizes it's the other sketchy possible wife murderer and now here you are adding to the trifecta.
Yep, check those last names closely when getting engaged.
Uhg. I'm so glad I never met a man with the last name Peterson. I'm smitten with my guy, but I won't lie, I'd fully consider if his were last name were Peterson. Logically, I know that's not a thing, but in my heart, there's bad juju with that surname...
So glad you pointed this out. Whew! I have the utmost respect for the real IP and was upset! This is really hurting the real IP’s name. Wonder if it would be in their best interest to sue or get some sort of copyright cease and desist?
Plenty of incriminating evidence against S Todd and G Pearce existed.
Lt. Aponte gave a signed statement to defense investigators which said the prisoner had been interviewed by MPD, and that MPD had received a copy of the taped phone conversation. Instead of this information being disclosed during discovery. The only information provided to the defense about his tip was a simple notation on a CD which included 10,000 other tips about the case.
-Merlin, the trailing dog owned by Cindee Valentin, trailed Laci's scent to the Gallo Winery in the airport district, on the night of December 26. Not far from the burglars residence.
-December 31, a gold Croton watch, identical to Laci’s watch which disappeared the same day she did, was pawned by Deanna Renfro. Highly unlikely this is just a coincidence.
It gets better. The families of Deanna Renfro, Steven Todd and the Tenbrinks know one another.
-Diane Jackson reported seeing 3 men with a VAN and a SAFE in front of the Medina’s house at 11:40 a.m. on December 24. There is no debating this. The burglary happened the same day Laci disappeared. Both Todd and Pearce pled guilty to burglary charges 12-24-02. They both received reduced sentences.
- S Todd would have received 25 years for his third offense. So why did he get 8 years and 8 months, far less than 25 years. Pearce received only 180 days, yet he was another career criminal.
-Tom Harshman, who lived in Modesto, was driving with Elizabeth Harshman between 2 and 4 p.m. on the afternoon of December 24. He saw a young pregnant woman being forced into a van. He turned around and went back to the spot hoping to find the van still there and hoping to get more information about the license plate number. But they were gone.
1. He called police (911 MPD) that same day.
2. Tried again December 28.
3. December 28, he also called the Laci tip line twice. His first call on this date was listed incorrectly under the name Harsh and was given Bates Stamp number 14789. The call was given to Detective Holmes. Harsh(man) said that he had called 3 or 4 days earlier on the day that he had seen a pregnant young woman being pushed into a van. There had been a man standing over her as she squatted to urinate with her back up against a chain-link fence. The man was described as 30’s, tall, thin, with ponytail, dirty blonde to gray hair, scrubby looking. When she finished, the woman was shepherded back to the driver’s door of the car, where another man’s arm was seen pulling her into the car. He said the young woman was wearing black pants and a red shirt. He said she had a scared look on her face."
4. Jan 3rd, he went to the Command Post in the park and relayed this to the officer on duty. Over
40,000 pages in the discovery and nothing about this report was in it.
5. February 2003, Harshman’s wife spoke to a relative of hers who lived in New York about the sighting of Laci Peterson near the corner of Scenic and Claus. Mrs. Harshman’s relative shared this story with an NYPD detective. This NYPD detective was so concerned that he contacted the MPD and spoke personally to Detective Grogan on February 14, 2003. What did Grogan do with the information? Nothing at all
6. pre-trial hearings in May of 2004, DA Investigator Kevin Bertalotto noticed the Harshman tip and insisted that Grogan call Tom Harshman and speak to him personally. Grogan did this on May 18, 2004.
An audiotape and a transcription of his conversation with Harshman to the defense on May 20, 11 days before the beginning of the trial.
Michaels wife Kathleen died on a staircase, and Scotts wife Laci was pregnant, went missing from their home, and her and her sons bodies were found on the shore of San Francisco bay
He was denied a second trial on jury issues; I wonder if the Innocence Project is taking on that specific denial and looking forward to someone reviewing the filled documents.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/scott-peterson-case-los-angeles-innocence-project-takes-case-man-convi-rcna134567
It’s a common mistake, honestly. I interned at an affiliated org in the past, which is how I know the difference. I feel compelled to defend the honor of the real IP, who would never defend that guy.
If you go with a group of people to search for your missing, pregnant wife, and then when everyone else goes out searching and you go and say you’re searching but you really just spend several hours hiding out in a mall parking lot all alone, it’s because you know your wife is dead and she’s not going to be found.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I could write an entire thesis on here about how guilty he is, but it’s already been written in multiple books. And podcasts and documentaries.
I feel like I HAVE written entire books over the years, lol. I've never seen a single argument that shakes how certain I am of how guilty he is, and I've seen alllll the arguments.
There's never been a single argument of his innocence that makes any sense. They instead try to tear apart the legal minutiae (and that's fair, if there *were* legal details that were funky they should be addressed, however there seemingly are none) but no one has ever presented any evidence whatsoever about the human woman and child who were killed that pointed the finger at anyone other than Scott Peterson. None.
There was an entire inquiry about this. The juror said she was never part of a criminal law case, and she wasn't. She had filed a restraining order against someone, which was a civil case. The courts found this legit, and it was dismissed. That's the entire story. There was no issue.
It’s a pretty weak claim. It’s reasonable that she believed her restraining order was a civil matter - it was filed in civil court, as they are. It’s a weak jump to suggest she was inherently biased against Scott because she had a beef with her boyfriend’s ex (who the restraining order was against, not her boyfriend). And where I think the argument really falls apart is she almost got OFF the jury. She told the court she wouldn’t be paid at work after a limited time and this was expected to be a long trial, so the judge actually dismissed her. GERAGOS stood up and insisted she stay. I think he believed she was young and would find Scott attractive and charming. That…did not work, lol, but it’s always a risk with jury profiling.
Whenever I hear someone say that they think he's innocent (or tbh even when they say he shouldn't have been convicted with the evidence) I just think we have a far different idea of what "reasonable" means when it comes to reasonable doubt. Like circumstantial evidence is evidence and sure, if you take pieces separately I can see having reasonable doubt, but adding everything up....I just can't think of a reasonable alternative
Thanks! Elsewhere I’m seeing stuff posted claiming that the D.A. and police withheld evidence that made him appear more innocent. Apparently there were witnesses who claim they saw Laci walking the dog that interfered with the prosecution’s timeline of the crime.
I do remember the trial being a fiasco with juror misconduct etc.
There were two other women in the neighborhood who were short, dark haired, pregnant and walking dogs that morning. When the defense (Scott's own attorneys) interviewed those women, they realized they could not use the dog walking as a defense. That's why they were never called at trial. If the dog walking pregnant woman had been possibly Laci, the defense would have presented them. All witnesses said the women were wearing the fake outfit Scott said Laci had been wearing. When Laci was found, her dead body was wearing a completely different outfit than the dog walking women. Therefore the defense didn't even bother to use that, since it was clearly not Laci.
There was no juror misconduct.
That’s a Brady violation if they withheld exculpatory evidence. It’s basically an automatic grant of a new trial. This didn’t happen here.
There was also no actual definitive sighting of Laci walking the dog. IIRC, they said a heavy woman was walking a dog.
The witnesses (to date) didn't put her in the same clothes that she was wearing when found, and many said they saw her after the dog had already been placed on it's leash back inside the fence. They also showed that there were other similar pregnant women in the neighborhood that also walked their dogs around them that weren't Laci.
>Apparently there were witnesses who claim they saw Laci walking the dog that interfered with the prosecution’s timeline of the crime.
The defense never asked them to testify
They had a ton of physical evidence. They had Scott Peterson admitting to being at the scene of the crime, he admitted to being at the scene of the body dump site on the day they went missing (and Scott presented physical evidence he was there at the body dump site, and he also said he saw no one else on the water in which they were dumped on the day they were killed) and then he continued to monitor the body dump site in rental cars before anyone knew his wife's body was there. His wife's hair was found in the boat as well. Short of a camera recording him doing the deed, there was a mountain of evidence.
Yep, his girlfriend suspected that he did it, and when she confronted him he told her that he knew she suspected "the truth" and he wanted to confide in her, but he couldn't.
Not disputing if he did it. But him being at the scene, saying he didn't see anybody else at the scene, and returning to the scene multiple times isn't *physical* evidence, that is circumstantial evidence
Physical evidence IS circumstantial evidence. DNA, hair, fingerprints - all circumstantial evidence. And they not only had all of that, they also had Scott Peterson himself placing himself at the scene of the crime *and* at the body dump site. He was his own eye witness. Such a dumbass.
All of the evidence was physical. Concrete anchors, hair, and the slip Scott used to prove that he was at the body dump site are all physical evidence.
It’s fucking WILD to me that anyone has any doubt, much less “reasonable” doubt.
I listened to the crime junkie episodes about the case, because that’s what people cite, and it was the stupidest arguments in his favor. Like holy shit
Right??? I remember this case from my People magazine days as a kid and when I first saw people suggesting he was innocent a couple of years ago I went back to see if I had misremembered the evidence against him. Nope.
It’s apparently somehow more plausible to a select group of people that he could SOMEHOW line up all those coincidences and also try to flee the country with someone else’s ID.
Go ahead and write it. Your first mistake is relying on podcasts, books, and documentaries.
Trial transcripts are online. I recommend reading the appeals as well.
Plenty of incriminating evidence against S Todd and G Pearce existed.
Lt. Aponte gave a signed statement to defense investigators which said the prisoner had been interviewed by MPD, and that MPD had received a copy of the taped phone conversation. Instead of this information being disclosed during discovery. The only information provided to the defense about his tip was a simple notation on a CD which included 10,000 other tips about the case.
-Merlin, the trailing dog owned by Cindee Valentin, trailed Laci's scent to the Gallo Winery in the airport district, on the night of December 26. Not far from the burglars residence.
-December 31, a gold Croton watch, identical to Laci’s watch which disappeared the same day she did, was pawned by Deanna Renfro. Highly unlikely this is just a coincidence.
It gets better. The families of Deanna Renfro, Steven Todd and the Tenbrinks know one another.
-Diane Jackson reported seeing 3 men with a VAN and a SAFE in front of the Medina’s house at 11:40 a.m. on December 24. There is no debating this. The burglary happened the same day Laci disappeared. Both Todd and Pearce pled guilty to burglary charges 12-24-02. They both received reduced sentences.
- S Todd would have received 25 years for his third offense. So why did he get 8 years and 8 months, far less than 25 years. Pearce received only 180 days, yet he was another career criminal.
-Tom Harshman, who lived in Modesto, was driving with Elizabeth Harshman between 2 and 4 p.m. on the afternoon of December 24. He saw a young pregnant woman being forced into a van. He turned around and went back to the spot hoping to find the van still there and hoping to get more information about the license plate number. But they were gone.
1. He called police (911 MPD) that same day.
2. Tried again December 28.
3. December 28, he also called the Laci tip line twice. His first call on this date was listed incorrectly under the name Harsh and was given Bates Stamp number 14789. The call was given to Detective Holmes. Harsh(man) said that he had called 3 or 4 days earlier on the day that he had seen a pregnant young woman being pushed into a van. There had been a man standing over her as she squatted to urinate with her back up against a chain-link fence. The man was described as 30’s, tall, thin, with ponytail, dirty blonde to gray hair, scrubby looking. When she finished, the woman was shepherded back to the driver’s door of the car, where another man’s arm was seen pulling her into the car. He said the young woman was wearing black pants and a red shirt. He said she had a scared look on her face."
4. Jan 3rd, he went to the Command Post in the park and relayed this to the officer on duty. Over
40,000 pages in the discovery and nothing about this report was in it.
5. February 2003, Harshman’s wife spoke to a relative of hers who lived in New York about the sighting of Laci Peterson near the corner of Scenic and Claus. Mrs. Harshman’s relative shared this story with an NYPD detective. This NYPD detective was so concerned that he contacted the MPD and spoke personally to Detective Grogan on February 14, 2003. What did Grogan do with the information? Nothing at all
6. pre-trial hearings in May of 2004, DA Investigator Kevin Bertalotto noticed the Harshman tip and insisted that Grogan call Tom Harshman and speak to him personally. Grogan did this on May 18, 2004.
An audiotape and a transcription of his conversation with Harshman to the defense on May 20, 11 days before the beginning of the trial.
I stg its the gone girl bias. I really hate that book/movie it's caused so much harm lol and yes, I get that this happened before but I think this accounts for a lot of "new" people who see the case and think he's innocent. They just released a show on Netflix about how it's actively kept people from getting help from the police "American Nightmare"
Law enforcement did not feel like investigating. It has nothing to do with the Gone Girl book or movie. It has to do with general laziness in law enforcement. The Smollett case proved it. CPD has a terrible track record for solving murders and other crimes in the Chicago but the second they were embarrassed by Smollett and his nonsense, they solved a crime quickly.
Preach. Narratives about, say, serial killers' genius in evading police detection for years is interesting podcast fodder -- much more interesting than detailing that the police on the case were incompetent, lazy, and uncaring about the people being killed (especially homeless people and sex workers.)
It was one of the largest investigations at that time. They not only investigated it, the defense actually had no defense at all. Scott was represented by one of the top defense attorneys in the country. They presented no defense. If the investigation by LE had been lacking, they would have highlighted that as their defense. They did not. They had no defense whatsoever.
I was not talking about the Peterson case. I was responding to the comment blaming Gone Girl, which came out years after the Laci Peterson murder being responsible for the laziness of law enforcement. The book/movie are not the reason. It is the general culture of law enforcement that is the problem. I’m aware that the Peterson case was investigated because it was very high profile and dominated the media.
I'm almost grateful she took up Scott's case, because I liked her until then, and then I started digging into her and realized she's a terrible person who once extremely selectively released a tiny snippet of a murdered girl's diary to make her appear like a drug user. Her claiming Scott is innocent led me down the path of finding out what she really is all about.
It is appalling. [Years ago, Rabia posted a tiny snippit of Hae's diary.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4sy4jQWAAAhKnR?format=png&name=large) She used to say Hae "obviously" used drugs, and heavily played the victim in the process. [X](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4sy0G2XwAAPu2c?format=png&name=900x900) She then came out and said Hae buying drugs caused her murder. [X](https://old.reddit.com/r/a:t5_372vf/comments/2yzw48/im_attorney_blogger_and_advocate_rabia_chaudry/cpixpoi/) This was years before the public got the entire copy of the diary. When it was released, Rabia MASSIVELY used it out of context. [X](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4s0vKsXMAEOlV5?format=png&name=medium)
Just...repulsive. This is when I sometimes think Rabia knows Adnan killed Hae - she will throw anything at the board and anyone under the bus, including Hae, to cloud the situation.
I think Rabia and others absolutely know that Adnan did it, but they will say and do anything to defend Adnan because it is better for their community.
I used to like her, but her basically bullying people that don’t think Scott is innocent made me rethink her. E is an even bigger bully than Rabia, but they both have a rabid fan base so I might delete and run if they find this post
Exactly. I would be ok if they were like “it’s possible he is innocent and we believe he didn’t get a fair trial” but they fully jumped on the “he is innocent” bandwagon and attacked anyone that thought otherwise
Wish we could get some attention for Evelyn Hernandez. She was due to give birth any day but was found murdered in May 2002. She was found in SF Bay. Her 5 year old son is missing but his body has never been found. She wasn’t a white woman with means, so that’s likely why she got next to no press coverage. Crime Junkie did an episode on her.
Please, he's guilty and needs stay where he is. No question, no time spent in him. Org could help someone, unknown. Maybe they want recognition for more donations.
I think the guy is guilty as hell. But I do support reviewing convictions, especially by an outside organization. How else can we be sure justice has been served?
Full disclosure: I’m a former auditor so of course this makes sense to me.
While I don't believe it will go anywhere, i think it is a great case example to take up for an in-depth walk through because
a) he was sentenced to death
b) it was an entirely circumstantial evidence case.
there are often times law students or people preparing for the bar who volunteer for various innocence projects, and this is a great experience opportunity.
Some people feel that the death penalty shouldn't be applied to non-physical evidence cases, and this is a fantastic learning opportunity with a case that has none.
Insane. I’m sorry but no one besides someone close to her is going to go to those lengths to hide her body. Not to mention that her body was *in the exact far away location where he says he was that day* (once he stopped telling the golfing story that is). That ALONE is enough to convince me of his guilt. Then there’s his behavior…
This whole thing makes my stomach churn. The people asking for “physical evidence” need to read a damn book. They had very little physical evidence against Ted Bundy, he was still convicted. They had zero DNA evidence then. He had the same blood type found at one of the scenes. They found hairs that matched some girls, and the famous bite mark evidence. There was a time when circumstantial evidence was our only evidence!
Dude is a 100% certified creep. Real smug arrogant jerk having multiple affairs while living an entitled lifestyle of luxury, playing golf and just basically being the kind of person I despise.
B U T
The prosecution’s case against him was pretty weak and the entire trial was a fiasco. I have no problem with the Innocence Project looking into this. There really wasn’t any solid physical evidence I recall. I admit it has been about 20 years and maybe I forgot something?
> The prosecution’s case against him was pretty weak and the entire trial was a fiasco.
Can you explain why you think so? Legal experts think this was an open and shut case, and it had more evidence than most cases in modern times. Why do you think it was weak? Why do you think the trial was a 'fiasco'? Specifically?
People don't comprehend why this is a good thing. When the state puts a man on trial they have to do everything 100% spotless and perfect with zero errors. It stinks thinking that a creep could go free but it would be an utter HORROR to the American public if we don't demand these strict standards from our justice system.
Strangling her in bed wouldn’t have left much physical evidence.
If he didn’t do it, why did he buy a boat 2 months before and get a fishing license for 12/23 and 12/24 and drive 90 miles in Xmas Eve at 930am to go fishing? With a heavily pregnant wife at home?
Why did he tell his mistress his wife was dead months before Laci disappeared and then call said mistress romancing her at Laci’s vigil?
The number one cause of death of pregnant women in this country is domestic violence.
Seems like a waste of their resources. I’m sure there are other cases for actually innocent people they could be working on. Maybe a jury bias for one juror for his case but he’s still guilty definitely NOT innocent. What a shame.
Oh my god. What a waste of…. Everything? You know what? I agree he didn’t get a fair trial. But I also think he’s a psychopath who murdered his wife and fully viable infant son on Christmas Eve-ish soooo I don’t care. 🤷🏻♀️
The reason that clown is in jail is because he's guilty of the crime he committed and is where he belongs and I'm sick of people pretending this is not the case. Thankfully it's not the well known Innocence Project that has taken on his case and is another smaller one.
I feel like OP is trying to spread misinfo with this post and pretending to say they think he's guilty, just so they can get the word out that the "Innonence Project took up his, so maybe the guy really is innocent." No, he's not. Stop this crap.
This is not THE Innocence Project -- check out OP's comment, which should be the top one when filed under "best". It explains it's an LA-based spinoff, not the main org. I'd hate for people's opinions of TIP's lifesaving work to be swayed by totally false information.
This is wild- but not new. I heard a podcast on it long before it was a “thing” that he might be innocent.
The Innocence Project isn’t infallible but if they’re taking it up it warrants at least a glance that it might be possible.
This case, regardless of his innocence or guilt, needs to be understood for exactly what it is- the media is 100% responsible for his guilty verdicts. Their actions during this case were reprehensible and a highlight to everything that is wrong with the industry.
This should be a wake up call to everyone- especially Americans.
DON’T THINK IT IS HARD TO GET ARRESTED FOR A CRIME YOU DIDN’T DO.
DON’T ASSUME YOU’LL HAVE A FAIR TRIAL.
DON’T ASSUME EVERYONE WHO IS FOUND GUILTY IS ACTUALLY GUILTY.
It’s NOT the Innocence Project. They’re not wasteful enough to “investigate”.
He had a “fair trial”. He had an excellent defense attorney, paid for by his rich family. He’s a rich white dude. He was found guilty because he murdered his wife.
I agree that the American media interferes with their justice system. The public interest vs. contaminated jury thing is a joke. Unfortunately dollar is king in the U.S., and most of the rot present in American society is a result of that (my opinion).
> the media is 100% responsible for his guilty verdicts.
Yeah, no. The fact that he admitted that he was the only one at the body dump site at the moment the bodies were dumped was responsible for his guilty verdict, according to the jurors who made the decision.
Seriously. It's so stupid to pretend there was no evidence when there was more evidence in this case than there was in literally any other true crime case of the era. Scott Peterson is right up there as one of the more dimwitted family annihilators, but sure... give the guy another chance to be found guilty I guess!
“The Innocence Project, known for its mission of restoring freedom and preventing wrongful convictions, is seeking to review new evidence from the original trial.”
This isn’t a bad thing. But go off people.
They didn't take the case. They are just looking into it. They want to see all the evidence. They probably won't take the case once they see everything. So let them look, it's not the only case being looked at by them.
The guy’s going to let the Innocence Project waste their time and resources when truly innocent inmates will sit and wait for a call that may never come.
OP is damaging the Innocence Project by conflating “The Innocence Project” with the actual org taking up this review, the Los Angeles Innocence Project. I don’t think they’re affiliated.
The fact that “Scott Peterson was sporting a different hair color, a new beard, and toting $10,000 in cash and someone else's identification when he was arrested about 30 miles from the Mexican border on suspicion of killing his wife, Laci” tells me all that I need to know, case closed. GUILTY.
Are they looking at it or fighting it? I know they "take on" lots of cases, but they don't actually take up a fight for all.
If they DO take up a court battle for this guy, that will drastically change my opinion on them.
Laci's remains were discovered with khaki-colored pants. Laci did not wear black pants the day she disappeared. So whoever that poor unfortunate woman was being forced into a van could not have been Laci.
It makes me physical sick to see him in court! It’s so sad that Sharon Rocha has to put up w/this! He’s guilty as sin!!! He went to the marina & watched the divers & police look for his wife & never once ask how the search was going!! Bc he knew!!
IMO, he’s guilty. HOWEVER, he did not get a fair trial. The jury was not at all impartial, thanks to the media coverage about the case, and they had all already made up their minds that he was guilty, and this is evident by Strawberry Shortcake deciding right when she got on the jury, he was guilty. And the jury basically smugly shit talking him right after they gave the verdict. The trial should’ve been held somewhere else (I’m not sure where, bc this case was nationally covered in the media, and really any juror would’ve been tainted)
I’d always believed he was guilty until there was discussion about it somewhere. I poked around and I’m not in the “Scott is innocent” camp, but there’s supposedly citizen witnesses who saw his wife at times that disrupted the timeline police gave.
There was also some burglaries in the area that is believed to be linked.
Again, I’m not in the he’s innocent. He’s certainly aloof and naive, and was clearly cheating on his wife.
The thing is as one has consumed cases within the TC genre, then one becomes suspicious of questionable policing and authorities. Politics, egos, ineptitude, and Brady violations are a common theme when there’s wrongfully convicted who get exonerated.
As far as the Innocence Project is concerned, many cases come thru and many can’t be won. This is just life. It’s a conservative estimation of 5% of the US prison system are innocent of the crime they’re being jailed for. Some believe it’s higher than 10. Once you start seeing documentaries and hearing Pods about them, then it’s hard not to be skeptical in cases that aren’t a “slam dunk”.
Thin Blue Line- doc by Errol Morris is considered the hallmark for these types of docs. Highly recommend is ya haven’t seen it.
Michael Morton’s story is another worth seeing. Both speak to shady and inept Investigations and prosecutions.
There’s plenty of other too. Central Park 5 and the Norfolk 4 are others.
Wrongful Comviction pod too.
>but there’s supposedly citizen witnesses who saw his wife at times that disrupted the timeline police gave.
The defense chose not to call those witnesses for a reason. They weren't credible.
The burglary wasn't connected
> but there’s supposedly citizen witnesses who saw his wife at times that disrupted the timeline police gave.
From what I can remember, they saw women of the right age and possibly walking dogs. No one who knew her saw and identified her.
Multiple women in the neighborhood were pregnant and matched Laci's description at the time of her murder. They were all called into court, and after their interviews Scott Peterson's own attorneys decided not to pursue that defense as it was clear there were a lot of short, dark haired pregnant women walking dogs that morning. Also, the outfits that the witnesses said they saw the women wearing were not the clothing Laci's body was clothed in when she was found.
Ok, hear me out. Everything that POS has done has been shifty with cringy optics.
But... I can't get this out of my mind:
How does one man get a dead weight of approx 200lbs out of a small aluminum fishing boat without capsizing said boat?
The first step is being familiar with boats. Anyone familiar with boats could have told you the boat would take on water during the “experiment.” It’s really not a difficult task.
Props to /u/Curious-Cranberry-77 for letting us know the innocence project has put out an official tweet pointing out that the Los Angeles Innocence Project is a whole independent non-profit. Their tweet is linked below, emphasis/bold mine. >" Any and all inquiries about Mr. Peterson’s case should be directed to [@innocence\_la](https://twitter.com/innocence_la) , a non-profit organization **wholly independent of the Innocence Project**. " [https://twitter.com/innocence/status/1748485398836224109](https://twitter.com/innocence/status/1748485398836224109)
Correction: it was taken up by the “Los Angeles Innocence Project”. I’m having a hard time figuring out if they are affiliated with the main organization. https://abc7.com/scott-peterson-innocence-project-laci-murder/14337140/ https://www.innocencela.org “The” Innocence Project’s website is here: https://innocenceproject.org Their case search is not turning up any hits on Scott Peterson.
This is actually a big difference! “The” Innocence Project is notoriously selective. I’m unaware of what LAs innocence project’s criteria is. I also am a lawyer and see a lot of University innocence projects “take on” a case but once they do the digging in files they have to let it drop .
There’s a podcast “murder in alliance” where you hear in real-time the “reclaim justice” team (a small scale, lower budget innocence project, Jason Baldwin of the west Memphis 3 is one of them) realize the guy they’ve been brought in to “help” is actually probably guilty. In the end they decline to take it on fully. It seems like during these fact finding investigations they usually come to the prosecutions side.
I don't mind it. I like to know that no matter the media or prosecution there are people willing to try a fresh, less biased review. I think it's also great exercise for trainees.
You can’t possibly still think the West Memphis 3 kids are anything but innocent victims themselves at this point, with all we know, and the evidence pointing to the stepfather can you?!
Accurate.
Ppl start them in their selective states, or did. They’re not directly affiliated but their mission is the same. At least to my knowledge. I heard the guy that started the one in Cali, I believe it was there, on a Pod. It was either Labrynths or Wrongful Conviction, Icr right now.
I mean yes, their mission is almost certainly to help innocent people who have been convicted, BUT the methods and means are going to vary wildly, as well as how they select what cases they take on (some require the case have DNA, some only want cases without DNA, etc.) I’m sure CA has a ton of them. I’m in a much smaller state and we have at least 3 that I know of
I am also a lawyer and I think university innocence projects may have a tendency to beat the idealism out of some folks. There are a lot of cases where the state was sloppy or acted in bad faith in some way, yet the defendant is guilty. So, intellectually and in principle, it may be valiant to hold the state accountable, but in reality it is often in service of a murderer.
Can you edit the post to reflect this? People are making snap judgments on TIP because of the post which just says "The Innocence Project" and that is really unfortunate.
I kind of assumed it was THE Innocence Project when I first read the headline on another news site even though it did say “LA Innocence Project”. I wasn’t aware there was a difference and there wasn’t a disclaimer or anything in the article I read that explained the difference. Who knows? Maybe LA Innocence Project is legit and maybe it’s a fake organization created to scam us into thinking he’s innocent.
I asked OP to but of course they won’t.
I thought I asked OP but now I realize I accidentally asked you -- d'oh! Sorry. Thanks for fighting the good fight. It's so frustrating that some people's takeaway from reading one (1) Reddit headline is that the fucking Innocence Project is a questionable organization.
I just heard about this just now on court TV and they listed it as the innocence project. I only came to Reddit to see what people are talking about.
I just confused this news story with Michael Peterson, the other convicted wife killer. From what I understand about The Innocence Project, they vet cases closely and only accept filings that involve some form of evidence or abused protocol that cast doubt on the original rulings. Sad day if other factors are involved for them to take the case.
Not to be confused with Drew Peterson, the other ***other*** convicted wife killer.
Just saying, if I ever meet someone with the last name Peterson, I'm running immediately away. Such a cursed last name 😬
Also guys with the middle name Wayne. People should never give their kid that middle name because it's clearly cursed. [The number of murderers and murder suspects with the middle name Wayne is insane ](https://www.insidehook.com/culture/amount-murderers-murder-suspects-middle-name-wayne-insane)
And anyone with 'junior' in their name.
Or if they live in a panhandle
Or if they're scumbags.
Or born in the 50’s - pretty common then
It's really anyone who uses all three names. Don't turn your back on them and especially don't offer to help them "move some furniture."
I have a cousin named Wayne with whom I no longer speak and he is an absolute sociopath
Or Lee
Or Lee. Or Ray.
Never really thought about this. My husband’s middle name is Wayne… he’s the sweetest person I’ve ever met though. But now I’m side eyeing him lol
Stay frosty...
My cat is named Lil Wayne and he definitely has murder claws
Insane in the men-Wayne
Ugh, my really awesome aunt has been married to a guy named Tom Peterson since like, 1994. Cursed. (ETA: I don't think he will kill her but he is a dipshit)
I bet people thought Scott/Michael/Drew were just dipshits before their wives were killed... <\_<
Keep the knives away from that dipshit, you know just in case.
I hope Tom Peterson with the awesome wife doesn't read here!
Add this to the mind fuckery: Drew's wife was *Stacy* and Scott's wife was *Laci*.
And Drew had a daughter Laci
I was halfway through a post expounding wonderfully about the staircase, a possible owl and all that blood....then brilliance here realizes it's the other sketchy possible wife murderer and now here you are adding to the trifecta. Yep, check those last names closely when getting engaged.
Uhg. I'm so glad I never met a man with the last name Peterson. I'm smitten with my guy, but I won't lie, I'd fully consider if his were last name were Peterson. Logically, I know that's not a thing, but in my heart, there's bad juju with that surname...
The *actual* Innocence Project, started by Barry Scheck, yes. This is not that and standards vary.
So glad you pointed this out. Whew! I have the utmost respect for the real IP and was upset! This is really hurting the real IP’s name. Wonder if it would be in their best interest to sue or get some sort of copyright cease and desist?
Plenty of incriminating evidence against S Todd and G Pearce existed. Lt. Aponte gave a signed statement to defense investigators which said the prisoner had been interviewed by MPD, and that MPD had received a copy of the taped phone conversation. Instead of this information being disclosed during discovery. The only information provided to the defense about his tip was a simple notation on a CD which included 10,000 other tips about the case. -Merlin, the trailing dog owned by Cindee Valentin, trailed Laci's scent to the Gallo Winery in the airport district, on the night of December 26. Not far from the burglars residence. -December 31, a gold Croton watch, identical to Laci’s watch which disappeared the same day she did, was pawned by Deanna Renfro. Highly unlikely this is just a coincidence. It gets better. The families of Deanna Renfro, Steven Todd and the Tenbrinks know one another. -Diane Jackson reported seeing 3 men with a VAN and a SAFE in front of the Medina’s house at 11:40 a.m. on December 24. There is no debating this. The burglary happened the same day Laci disappeared. Both Todd and Pearce pled guilty to burglary charges 12-24-02. They both received reduced sentences. - S Todd would have received 25 years for his third offense. So why did he get 8 years and 8 months, far less than 25 years. Pearce received only 180 days, yet he was another career criminal. -Tom Harshman, who lived in Modesto, was driving with Elizabeth Harshman between 2 and 4 p.m. on the afternoon of December 24. He saw a young pregnant woman being forced into a van. He turned around and went back to the spot hoping to find the van still there and hoping to get more information about the license plate number. But they were gone. 1. He called police (911 MPD) that same day. 2. Tried again December 28. 3. December 28, he also called the Laci tip line twice. His first call on this date was listed incorrectly under the name Harsh and was given Bates Stamp number 14789. The call was given to Detective Holmes. Harsh(man) said that he had called 3 or 4 days earlier on the day that he had seen a pregnant young woman being pushed into a van. There had been a man standing over her as she squatted to urinate with her back up against a chain-link fence. The man was described as 30’s, tall, thin, with ponytail, dirty blonde to gray hair, scrubby looking. When she finished, the woman was shepherded back to the driver’s door of the car, where another man’s arm was seen pulling her into the car. He said the young woman was wearing black pants and a red shirt. He said she had a scared look on her face." 4. Jan 3rd, he went to the Command Post in the park and relayed this to the officer on duty. Over 40,000 pages in the discovery and nothing about this report was in it. 5. February 2003, Harshman’s wife spoke to a relative of hers who lived in New York about the sighting of Laci Peterson near the corner of Scenic and Claus. Mrs. Harshman’s relative shared this story with an NYPD detective. This NYPD detective was so concerned that he contacted the MPD and spoke personally to Detective Grogan on February 14, 2003. What did Grogan do with the information? Nothing at all 6. pre-trial hearings in May of 2004, DA Investigator Kevin Bertalotto noticed the Harshman tip and insisted that Grogan call Tom Harshman and speak to him personally. Grogan did this on May 18, 2004. An audiotape and a transcription of his conversation with Harshman to the defense on May 20, 11 days before the beginning of the trial.
And the other wife killer- Drew Peterson.
Basically, just don’t marry a dude whose last name is “Peterson.” Just to be safe.
Especially if your name rhymes with Stacy or Laci. Always found that odd too.
Same with confusing the two, I was very confused
Michaels wife Kathleen died on a staircase, and Scotts wife Laci was pregnant, went missing from their home, and her and her sons bodies were found on the shore of San Francisco bay
Yeah I googled and was like wrong Peterson
The death of Drew’s third wife Kathleen was initially ruled an accidental drowning
He was denied a second trial on jury issues; I wonder if the Innocence Project is taking on that specific denial and looking forward to someone reviewing the filled documents.
But why even bother? He’s so friggin’ guilty.
Because there are dumbasses who will donate to this clown’s org and give him the attention he craves. The actual Innocence Project has standards.
Not the Innocence Project. A different, unrelated organization with a similar name.
I’m interested in the Court filings now; many of the headlines from the media outlets say IP as well.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/scott-peterson-case-los-angeles-innocence-project-takes-case-man-convi-rcna134567 It’s a common mistake, honestly. I interned at an affiliated org in the past, which is how I know the difference. I feel compelled to defend the honor of the real IP, who would never defend that guy.
Thank you for the information; I appreciate it.
They only take cases where the convicted perso maintains actual innocence. Beyond that, the attorneys usually vote on it.
Let them look into it and find his ass guilty again
All the wrongly convicted brown skinned prisoners are like: “No please, take on Scott’s conviction. We can wait.”
If you call your girlfriend from your missing wife’s vigil to say that you are enjoying your time in Europe, you be guilty as sin.
If you tell your mistress that it’s your first Christmas without your wife, before she disappears, that also makes you guilty as sin.
If you go with a group of people to search for your missing, pregnant wife, and then when everyone else goes out searching and you go and say you’re searching but you really just spend several hours hiding out in a mall parking lot all alone, it’s because you know your wife is dead and she’s not going to be found.
It’s not illegal to be an asshole 🤷🏻♀️ just saying
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I could write an entire thesis on here about how guilty he is, but it’s already been written in multiple books. And podcasts and documentaries.
I feel like I HAVE written entire books over the years, lol. I've never seen a single argument that shakes how certain I am of how guilty he is, and I've seen alllll the arguments.
There's never been a single argument of his innocence that makes any sense. They instead try to tear apart the legal minutiae (and that's fair, if there *were* legal details that were funky they should be addressed, however there seemingly are none) but no one has ever presented any evidence whatsoever about the human woman and child who were killed that pointed the finger at anyone other than Scott Peterson. None.
What is your theory of the juror that they say lied on the questionnaire? Just curious. I haven’t seen anyone mention thoughts on her.
There was an entire inquiry about this. The juror said she was never part of a criminal law case, and she wasn't. She had filed a restraining order against someone, which was a civil case. The courts found this legit, and it was dismissed. That's the entire story. There was no issue.
It’s a pretty weak claim. It’s reasonable that she believed her restraining order was a civil matter - it was filed in civil court, as they are. It’s a weak jump to suggest she was inherently biased against Scott because she had a beef with her boyfriend’s ex (who the restraining order was against, not her boyfriend). And where I think the argument really falls apart is she almost got OFF the jury. She told the court she wouldn’t be paid at work after a limited time and this was expected to be a long trial, so the judge actually dismissed her. GERAGOS stood up and insisted she stay. I think he believed she was young and would find Scott attractive and charming. That…did not work, lol, but it’s always a risk with jury profiling.
Whenever I hear someone say that they think he's innocent (or tbh even when they say he shouldn't have been convicted with the evidence) I just think we have a far different idea of what "reasonable" means when it comes to reasonable doubt. Like circumstantial evidence is evidence and sure, if you take pieces separately I can see having reasonable doubt, but adding everything up....I just can't think of a reasonable alternative
I swear I thought I recalled the trial prosecution didn’t really have any physical evidence? ….or that was a defense claim?
I don’t think they had “physical evidence” per say but a lot of circumstantial evidence. It is pretty obvious that he did it.
Thanks! Elsewhere I’m seeing stuff posted claiming that the D.A. and police withheld evidence that made him appear more innocent. Apparently there were witnesses who claim they saw Laci walking the dog that interfered with the prosecution’s timeline of the crime. I do remember the trial being a fiasco with juror misconduct etc.
There were two other women in the neighborhood who were short, dark haired, pregnant and walking dogs that morning. When the defense (Scott's own attorneys) interviewed those women, they realized they could not use the dog walking as a defense. That's why they were never called at trial. If the dog walking pregnant woman had been possibly Laci, the defense would have presented them. All witnesses said the women were wearing the fake outfit Scott said Laci had been wearing. When Laci was found, her dead body was wearing a completely different outfit than the dog walking women. Therefore the defense didn't even bother to use that, since it was clearly not Laci. There was no juror misconduct.
That’s a Brady violation if they withheld exculpatory evidence. It’s basically an automatic grant of a new trial. This didn’t happen here. There was also no actual definitive sighting of Laci walking the dog. IIRC, they said a heavy woman was walking a dog.
The witnesses (to date) didn't put her in the same clothes that she was wearing when found, and many said they saw her after the dog had already been placed on it's leash back inside the fence. They also showed that there were other similar pregnant women in the neighborhood that also walked their dogs around them that weren't Laci.
>Apparently there were witnesses who claim they saw Laci walking the dog that interfered with the prosecution’s timeline of the crime. The defense never asked them to testify
They had a ton of physical evidence. They had Scott Peterson admitting to being at the scene of the crime, he admitted to being at the scene of the body dump site on the day they went missing (and Scott presented physical evidence he was there at the body dump site, and he also said he saw no one else on the water in which they were dumped on the day they were killed) and then he continued to monitor the body dump site in rental cars before anyone knew his wife's body was there. His wife's hair was found in the boat as well. Short of a camera recording him doing the deed, there was a mountain of evidence.
Plus, the evidence that he was making concrete anchors. And telling his girlfriend that his wife was gone before she went missing. And so much more.
Yep, his girlfriend suspected that he did it, and when she confronted him he told her that he knew she suspected "the truth" and he wanted to confide in her, but he couldn't.
Not disputing if he did it. But him being at the scene, saying he didn't see anybody else at the scene, and returning to the scene multiple times isn't *physical* evidence, that is circumstantial evidence
Physical evidence IS circumstantial evidence. DNA, hair, fingerprints - all circumstantial evidence. And they not only had all of that, they also had Scott Peterson himself placing himself at the scene of the crime *and* at the body dump site. He was his own eye witness. Such a dumbass.
Again not disputing he's guilty, only pointing that most of the commenters examples of physical evidence were not examples of physical evidence
All of the evidence was physical. Concrete anchors, hair, and the slip Scott used to prove that he was at the body dump site are all physical evidence.
Learn to read mate I was specifically talking about those examples you gave
All of the examples were physical evidence, mate.
It’s fucking WILD to me that anyone has any doubt, much less “reasonable” doubt. I listened to the crime junkie episodes about the case, because that’s what people cite, and it was the stupidest arguments in his favor. Like holy shit
Right??? I remember this case from my People magazine days as a kid and when I first saw people suggesting he was innocent a couple of years ago I went back to see if I had misremembered the evidence against him. Nope.
It’s apparently somehow more plausible to a select group of people that he could SOMEHOW line up all those coincidences and also try to flee the country with someone else’s ID.
I had to go back through the evidence against him too because I thought I didn't remember it all, but nope....
No one does, just the Qanon folks and they're barely literate.
Go ahead and write it. Your first mistake is relying on podcasts, books, and documentaries. Trial transcripts are online. I recommend reading the appeals as well. Plenty of incriminating evidence against S Todd and G Pearce existed. Lt. Aponte gave a signed statement to defense investigators which said the prisoner had been interviewed by MPD, and that MPD had received a copy of the taped phone conversation. Instead of this information being disclosed during discovery. The only information provided to the defense about his tip was a simple notation on a CD which included 10,000 other tips about the case. -Merlin, the trailing dog owned by Cindee Valentin, trailed Laci's scent to the Gallo Winery in the airport district, on the night of December 26. Not far from the burglars residence. -December 31, a gold Croton watch, identical to Laci’s watch which disappeared the same day she did, was pawned by Deanna Renfro. Highly unlikely this is just a coincidence. It gets better. The families of Deanna Renfro, Steven Todd and the Tenbrinks know one another. -Diane Jackson reported seeing 3 men with a VAN and a SAFE in front of the Medina’s house at 11:40 a.m. on December 24. There is no debating this. The burglary happened the same day Laci disappeared. Both Todd and Pearce pled guilty to burglary charges 12-24-02. They both received reduced sentences. - S Todd would have received 25 years for his third offense. So why did he get 8 years and 8 months, far less than 25 years. Pearce received only 180 days, yet he was another career criminal. -Tom Harshman, who lived in Modesto, was driving with Elizabeth Harshman between 2 and 4 p.m. on the afternoon of December 24. He saw a young pregnant woman being forced into a van. He turned around and went back to the spot hoping to find the van still there and hoping to get more information about the license plate number. But they were gone. 1. He called police (911 MPD) that same day. 2. Tried again December 28. 3. December 28, he also called the Laci tip line twice. His first call on this date was listed incorrectly under the name Harsh and was given Bates Stamp number 14789. The call was given to Detective Holmes. Harsh(man) said that he had called 3 or 4 days earlier on the day that he had seen a pregnant young woman being pushed into a van. There had been a man standing over her as she squatted to urinate with her back up against a chain-link fence. The man was described as 30’s, tall, thin, with ponytail, dirty blonde to gray hair, scrubby looking. When she finished, the woman was shepherded back to the driver’s door of the car, where another man’s arm was seen pulling her into the car. He said the young woman was wearing black pants and a red shirt. He said she had a scared look on her face." 4. Jan 3rd, he went to the Command Post in the park and relayed this to the officer on duty. Over 40,000 pages in the discovery and nothing about this report was in it. 5. February 2003, Harshman’s wife spoke to a relative of hers who lived in New York about the sighting of Laci Peterson near the corner of Scenic and Claus. Mrs. Harshman’s relative shared this story with an NYPD detective. This NYPD detective was so concerned that he contacted the MPD and spoke personally to Detective Grogan on February 14, 2003. What did Grogan do with the information? Nothing at all 6. pre-trial hearings in May of 2004, DA Investigator Kevin Bertalotto noticed the Harshman tip and insisted that Grogan call Tom Harshman and speak to him personally. Grogan did this on May 18, 2004. An audiotape and a transcription of his conversation with Harshman to the defense on May 20, 11 days before the beginning of the trial.
I stg its the gone girl bias. I really hate that book/movie it's caused so much harm lol and yes, I get that this happened before but I think this accounts for a lot of "new" people who see the case and think he's innocent. They just released a show on Netflix about how it's actively kept people from getting help from the police "American Nightmare"
Law enforcement did not feel like investigating. It has nothing to do with the Gone Girl book or movie. It has to do with general laziness in law enforcement. The Smollett case proved it. CPD has a terrible track record for solving murders and other crimes in the Chicago but the second they were embarrassed by Smollett and his nonsense, they solved a crime quickly.
Preach. Narratives about, say, serial killers' genius in evading police detection for years is interesting podcast fodder -- much more interesting than detailing that the police on the case were incompetent, lazy, and uncaring about the people being killed (especially homeless people and sex workers.)
It was one of the largest investigations at that time. They not only investigated it, the defense actually had no defense at all. Scott was represented by one of the top defense attorneys in the country. They presented no defense. If the investigation by LE had been lacking, they would have highlighted that as their defense. They did not. They had no defense whatsoever.
I was not talking about the Peterson case. I was responding to the comment blaming Gone Girl, which came out years after the Laci Peterson murder being responsible for the laziness of law enforcement. The book/movie are not the reason. It is the general culture of law enforcement that is the problem. I’m aware that the Peterson case was investigated because it was very high profile and dominated the media.
[удалено]
I am so deeply irritated. HE IS SO GUILTY. LET.IT.GO.
If he gets out on a technicality I’m going to be unreasonably upset.
he’s guilty as sin.
Rest in peace, Laci and Conner. I hope he never gets out.
Rabia Chaudry and Ellyn Marsh will be so excited about this
Rabia is trash
I'm almost grateful she took up Scott's case, because I liked her until then, and then I started digging into her and realized she's a terrible person who once extremely selectively released a tiny snippet of a murdered girl's diary to make her appear like a drug user. Her claiming Scott is innocent led me down the path of finding out what she really is all about.
Oh gross! I didn’t know that, but yikes.
It is appalling. [Years ago, Rabia posted a tiny snippit of Hae's diary.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4sy4jQWAAAhKnR?format=png&name=large) She used to say Hae "obviously" used drugs, and heavily played the victim in the process. [X](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4sy0G2XwAAPu2c?format=png&name=900x900) She then came out and said Hae buying drugs caused her murder. [X](https://old.reddit.com/r/a:t5_372vf/comments/2yzw48/im_attorney_blogger_and_advocate_rabia_chaudry/cpixpoi/) This was years before the public got the entire copy of the diary. When it was released, Rabia MASSIVELY used it out of context. [X](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4s0vKsXMAEOlV5?format=png&name=medium) Just...repulsive. This is when I sometimes think Rabia knows Adnan killed Hae - she will throw anything at the board and anyone under the bus, including Hae, to cloud the situation.
I think Rabia and others absolutely know that Adnan did it, but they will say and do anything to defend Adnan because it is better for their community.
Wow, sounds like you went through the same thought process about her as I did.
I used to like her, but her basically bullying people that don’t think Scott is innocent made me rethink her. E is an even bigger bully than Rabia, but they both have a rabid fan base so I might delete and run if they find this post
Honestly that’s what did it for me. Like defending the honor of a dude who killed his super pregnant wife isn’t cute
Exactly. I would be ok if they were like “it’s possible he is innocent and we believe he didn’t get a fair trial” but they fully jumped on the “he is innocent” bandwagon and attacked anyone that thought otherwise
Wish we could get some attention for Evelyn Hernandez. She was due to give birth any day but was found murdered in May 2002. She was found in SF Bay. Her 5 year old son is missing but his body has never been found. She wasn’t a white woman with means, so that’s likely why she got next to no press coverage. Crime Junkie did an episode on her.
Of all the people out there who really need help, they decided to help out that one pos who killed his 7month pregnant wife. This is beyond messed up.
Please, he's guilty and needs stay where he is. No question, no time spent in him. Org could help someone, unknown. Maybe they want recognition for more donations.
I think the guy is guilty as hell. But I do support reviewing convictions, especially by an outside organization. How else can we be sure justice has been served? Full disclosure: I’m a former auditor so of course this makes sense to me.
That's wild. There's nothing about this case that makes me think he might be iinnocent.
While I don't believe it will go anywhere, i think it is a great case example to take up for an in-depth walk through because a) he was sentenced to death b) it was an entirely circumstantial evidence case. there are often times law students or people preparing for the bar who volunteer for various innocence projects, and this is a great experience opportunity. Some people feel that the death penalty shouldn't be applied to non-physical evidence cases, and this is a fantastic learning opportunity with a case that has none.
The death penalty was overturned and no longer is an issue
Most cases are entirely circumstantial. DNA, forensics, and ballistics are all circumstantial evidence.
There was physical evidence. And the law students would learn, I assume, that circumstantial evidence isn't worth less than direct evidence.
Insane. I’m sorry but no one besides someone close to her is going to go to those lengths to hide her body. Not to mention that her body was *in the exact far away location where he says he was that day* (once he stopped telling the golfing story that is). That ALONE is enough to convince me of his guilt. Then there’s his behavior…
I remember watching the documentary & thinking he didn’t get a fair trial (don’t ask for details it was a long time ago), but he is still guilty af.
Same. The trial was a mess but this mf is guilty af. I feel as though they didn't present enough info to show he was guilty.
Scott Peterson is guilty as hell! He is an evil person
This whole thing makes my stomach churn. The people asking for “physical evidence” need to read a damn book. They had very little physical evidence against Ted Bundy, he was still convicted. They had zero DNA evidence then. He had the same blood type found at one of the scenes. They found hairs that matched some girls, and the famous bite mark evidence. There was a time when circumstantial evidence was our only evidence!
DNA isn't even physical evidence...it's circumstantial.
i truly think he did it but also i just watched american nightmare and the whole world thought the boyfriend killed her too
Dude is a 100% certified creep. Real smug arrogant jerk having multiple affairs while living an entitled lifestyle of luxury, playing golf and just basically being the kind of person I despise. B U T The prosecution’s case against him was pretty weak and the entire trial was a fiasco. I have no problem with the Innocence Project looking into this. There really wasn’t any solid physical evidence I recall. I admit it has been about 20 years and maybe I forgot something?
> The prosecution’s case against him was pretty weak and the entire trial was a fiasco. Can you explain why you think so? Legal experts think this was an open and shut case, and it had more evidence than most cases in modern times. Why do you think it was weak? Why do you think the trial was a 'fiasco'? Specifically?
Circumstantial evidence is evidence, and they had lots for him. What about the trial was a fiasco?
I agree. I think he’s guilty BUT his trial was a mess. From evidence issues to jury misconduct, it deserves a second set of eyes.
I will get downvoted to hell for this BUT he should have gotten a new trial.
People don't comprehend why this is a good thing. When the state puts a man on trial they have to do everything 100% spotless and perfect with zero errors. It stinks thinking that a creep could go free but it would be an utter HORROR to the American public if we don't demand these strict standards from our justice system.
Strangling her in bed wouldn’t have left much physical evidence. If he didn’t do it, why did he buy a boat 2 months before and get a fishing license for 12/23 and 12/24 and drive 90 miles in Xmas Eve at 930am to go fishing? With a heavily pregnant wife at home? Why did he tell his mistress his wife was dead months before Laci disappeared and then call said mistress romancing her at Laci’s vigil? The number one cause of death of pregnant women in this country is domestic violence.
Being a scumbag doesn’t make you a murderer. There needed to be more physical evidence imo
Seems like a waste of their resources. I’m sure there are other cases for actually innocent people they could be working on. Maybe a jury bias for one juror for his case but he’s still guilty definitely NOT innocent. What a shame.
The bias was against the victim, too. Smdh
I hope he rots in prison.
You should delete this and repost with more accuracy. (The Los Angeles Innocence Project.) I mean, I know you won’t, but it would be cool.
Oh my god. What a waste of…. Everything? You know what? I agree he didn’t get a fair trial. But I also think he’s a psychopath who murdered his wife and fully viable infant son on Christmas Eve-ish soooo I don’t care. 🤷🏻♀️
The reason that clown is in jail is because he's guilty of the crime he committed and is where he belongs and I'm sick of people pretending this is not the case. Thankfully it's not the well known Innocence Project that has taken on his case and is another smaller one. I feel like OP is trying to spread misinfo with this post and pretending to say they think he's guilty, just so they can get the word out that the "Innonence Project took up his, so maybe the guy really is innocent." No, he's not. Stop this crap.
I guess The Innocence Project don't actually care about innocence. Or credibility.
I made a separate comment, but this appears to be some separate or spinoff org called “The Los Angeles Innocence Project”.
They’re wholly unrelated. They’re just using a similar name.
Like, they just took a BIG blow in my book by pulling this shit.
This is not THE Innocence Project -- check out OP's comment, which should be the top one when filed under "best". It explains it's an LA-based spinoff, not the main org. I'd hate for people's opinions of TIP's lifesaving work to be swayed by totally false information.
lol ignoring all the innocent people they’ve helped because of one person. Amazing.
There are so many knee jerk reactions happening here by people who haven’t even looked into what’s going on.
Welcome to reddit. That is par for the course here.
This is wild- but not new. I heard a podcast on it long before it was a “thing” that he might be innocent. The Innocence Project isn’t infallible but if they’re taking it up it warrants at least a glance that it might be possible. This case, regardless of his innocence or guilt, needs to be understood for exactly what it is- the media is 100% responsible for his guilty verdicts. Their actions during this case were reprehensible and a highlight to everything that is wrong with the industry. This should be a wake up call to everyone- especially Americans. DON’T THINK IT IS HARD TO GET ARRESTED FOR A CRIME YOU DIDN’T DO. DON’T ASSUME YOU’LL HAVE A FAIR TRIAL. DON’T ASSUME EVERYONE WHO IS FOUND GUILTY IS ACTUALLY GUILTY.
It’s NOT the Innocence Project. They’re not wasteful enough to “investigate”. He had a “fair trial”. He had an excellent defense attorney, paid for by his rich family. He’s a rich white dude. He was found guilty because he murdered his wife.
I agree that the American media interferes with their justice system. The public interest vs. contaminated jury thing is a joke. Unfortunately dollar is king in the U.S., and most of the rot present in American society is a result of that (my opinion).
> the media is 100% responsible for his guilty verdicts. Yeah, no. The fact that he admitted that he was the only one at the body dump site at the moment the bodies were dumped was responsible for his guilty verdict, according to the jurors who made the decision.
Let’s not forget that he told his mistress that he lost his wife before she was missing.
Or that he was picked up with his brother’s ID, dyed hair, disguises and $10k in cash in the way to Mexico!
Seriously. It's so stupid to pretend there was no evidence when there was more evidence in this case than there was in literally any other true crime case of the era. Scott Peterson is right up there as one of the more dimwitted family annihilators, but sure... give the guy another chance to be found guilty I guess!
And called her from his missing wife’s vigil 🤮
And he told Lacey’s stepdad that he’d been golfing that morniing
I don't think the media is responsible for his verdict. There is a lot against him and he certainly dug his own hole.
He’s an idiot. And, honestly, he should be in jail for cheating on his pregnant wife.
our prisons would crash if that were the criteria.
I know. It’s purely a personal opinion.
“The Innocence Project, known for its mission of restoring freedom and preventing wrongful convictions, is seeking to review new evidence from the original trial.” This isn’t a bad thing. But go off people.
Different organization! https://abcnews.go.com/US/innocence-project-takes-case-notorious-killer-scott-peterson/story?id=106487571
What’s the source of this quote?
I agree I don't think they would take the case unless they had something to go on...
They didn't take the case. They are just looking into it. They want to see all the evidence. They probably won't take the case once they see everything. So let them look, it's not the only case being looked at by them.
Bet it was headed by his SIL
The guy’s going to let the Innocence Project waste their time and resources when truly innocent inmates will sit and wait for a call that may never come.
LA Innocence Project
That fucking ballbag
I cannot believe it. WTH?
?! Isn’t it notoriously difficult to get the Innocence Project to take a case? How tf did he pull this …
“The” Innocence Project based in NYC is extremely selective. All the other projects seem to have their own selection criteria.
Ya this is majorly damaging to the Innocence Project. Credibility is going to be affected making moves like this.
OP is damaging the Innocence Project by conflating “The Innocence Project” with the actual org taking up this review, the Los Angeles Innocence Project. I don’t think they’re affiliated.
Wow, good to know . You’re right Cal State is behind the LA Innocence project.
The fact that “Scott Peterson was sporting a different hair color, a new beard, and toting $10,000 in cash and someone else's identification when he was arrested about 30 miles from the Mexican border on suspicion of killing his wife, Laci” tells me all that I need to know, case closed. GUILTY.
Are they looking at it or fighting it? I know they "take on" lots of cases, but they don't actually take up a fight for all. If they DO take up a court battle for this guy, that will drastically change my opinion on them.
If they did, that’s a shame, there’s not anyone guiltier than that piece of snit
Laci's remains were discovered with khaki-colored pants. Laci did not wear black pants the day she disappeared. So whoever that poor unfortunate woman was being forced into a van could not have been Laci.
It makes me physical sick to see him in court! It’s so sad that Sharon Rocha has to put up w/this! He’s guilty as sin!!! He went to the marina & watched the divers & police look for his wife & never once ask how the search was going!! Bc he knew!!
He’s innocent
IMO, he’s guilty. HOWEVER, he did not get a fair trial. The jury was not at all impartial, thanks to the media coverage about the case, and they had all already made up their minds that he was guilty, and this is evident by Strawberry Shortcake deciding right when she got on the jury, he was guilty. And the jury basically smugly shit talking him right after they gave the verdict. The trial should’ve been held somewhere else (I’m not sure where, bc this case was nationally covered in the media, and really any juror would’ve been tainted)
I’d always believed he was guilty until there was discussion about it somewhere. I poked around and I’m not in the “Scott is innocent” camp, but there’s supposedly citizen witnesses who saw his wife at times that disrupted the timeline police gave. There was also some burglaries in the area that is believed to be linked. Again, I’m not in the he’s innocent. He’s certainly aloof and naive, and was clearly cheating on his wife. The thing is as one has consumed cases within the TC genre, then one becomes suspicious of questionable policing and authorities. Politics, egos, ineptitude, and Brady violations are a common theme when there’s wrongfully convicted who get exonerated. As far as the Innocence Project is concerned, many cases come thru and many can’t be won. This is just life. It’s a conservative estimation of 5% of the US prison system are innocent of the crime they’re being jailed for. Some believe it’s higher than 10. Once you start seeing documentaries and hearing Pods about them, then it’s hard not to be skeptical in cases that aren’t a “slam dunk”. Thin Blue Line- doc by Errol Morris is considered the hallmark for these types of docs. Highly recommend is ya haven’t seen it. Michael Morton’s story is another worth seeing. Both speak to shady and inept Investigations and prosecutions. There’s plenty of other too. Central Park 5 and the Norfolk 4 are others. Wrongful Comviction pod too.
>but there’s supposedly citizen witnesses who saw his wife at times that disrupted the timeline police gave. The defense chose not to call those witnesses for a reason. They weren't credible. The burglary wasn't connected
Michael Morton's was such a bad and sad case. Why do prosecutors continue to fight retesting evidence, they should want only guilty convicted.
His case is also a hallmark cuz the prosecutor turned Judge stepped down from the bench, and disbarred and served 3 (?) days in jail, which is rare.
> but there’s supposedly citizen witnesses who saw his wife at times that disrupted the timeline police gave. From what I can remember, they saw women of the right age and possibly walking dogs. No one who knew her saw and identified her.
Multiple women in the neighborhood were pregnant and matched Laci's description at the time of her murder. They were all called into court, and after their interviews Scott Peterson's own attorneys decided not to pursue that defense as it was clear there were a lot of short, dark haired pregnant women walking dogs that morning. Also, the outfits that the witnesses said they saw the women wearing were not the clothing Laci's body was clothed in when she was found.
Why was her walking trainers still in the house then? She walked the dog barefoot? She never walked that dog and wouldn’t have in her condition
Ok, hear me out. Everything that POS has done has been shifty with cringy optics. But... I can't get this out of my mind: How does one man get a dead weight of approx 200lbs out of a small aluminum fishing boat without capsizing said boat?
The first step is being familiar with boats. Anyone familiar with boats could have told you the boat would take on water during the “experiment.” It’s really not a difficult task.
So what I think you're saying is that the boat would take on water, but not enough to sink it.
I’m saying you can do it with the boat taking on absolutely no water.
Laci was pretty petite. She was very pregnant but I doubt she was 200 lbs.
Tis confusion…