Scott Peterson, who murdered his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn son in 2002, spent the last 15 years on San Quentin’s death row awaiting death by lethal injection.
But the California Supreme Court overturned his death penalty sentence last year, while the prosecutors decided they no longer want to seek his execution.
In December, the 48-year-old will be re-sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Peterson’s former lawyer, meanwhile, still claims the murderer is innocent.
Below is the latest update on the case.
Appellate Attorneys
A judge denied Petersen bail on Wednesday, so he will remain behind bars until the December hearing.
Prosecutors welcomed the decision, but they also made a special request.
As The New York Post reported, prosecutors on Wednesday argued that the killer’s appellate attorneys — who, by law, only handle death penalty cases — should not be able to represent him because he is no longer facing death.
But what were the prosecutors’ arguments and what did the other side say? Find out below.
David Harris
Stanislaus County Assistant District Attorney David Harris said that "now we have them saying even in cases where we don’t have jurisdiction, because we want to stay, the court should not inquire whether we should stay on these cases or not."
"And I think that’s more of a bad precedent than the court looking at this in the first place to determine what the court gets to do and what their jurisdiction is," Harris continued.
"They are capital habeas litigators, but they want to stay on a non-capital case," he added.
Peterson will be transferred to the San Mateo County courthouse on December 8 for re-sentencing.
Habeas Corpus Resource Center
Lower court judges do not have the right to determine if Peterson’s attorneys should withdraw from the case, said Michael J. Hersek, executive director of the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, which has represented Peterson.
"In our mind, withdrawing from the case after a partial victory, does two things," Hersek began.
"Number one, it would abandon Mr. Peterson in this case, which would not be fair to him. Number two, it would send a terrible message in all of our other cases because we spend years developing relationships with our clients," he stated.
Peterson Is Innocent, Former Lawyer Claims
Lara Yeretsian, who represented Peterson back in 2005, maintains that he is innocent.
Yeretsian told Fox News that new evidence proving her former client’s innocence has emerged, though she declined to provide details about it.
"There is new evidence that Scott’s not the one. It will show who the true suspects are," Yeretsian claimed.
"I really believe in Scott’s innocence based on the evidence I had seen during the first trial. I truly don’t believe he got a fair trial because of all the publicity and all of the emotions and visceral reactions of him having an affair," she said.
]]>The Inquisitr
