Why is the Los Angeles Innocence Project working with Scott Peterson?

Scott Peterson, the man convicted in 2002 of the double murder of his wife and their unborn child, is one of the newer clients of the Los Angeles Innocence Project (LAIP), a group that the latter organization says is “completely independent” of the Innocence Project.

Since January 2024, LAIP has been a strong advocate for the California man, who is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and his efforts to obtain a new trial. The group alleges that Peterson's 27-year-old wife, Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her murder, may have been kidnapped and killed after witnessing a break-in near the Petersons' home in Modesto, California, on Christmas Eve.

Scott Peterson, whose extramarital affair and financial concerns played a major role in the first trial, was found guilty of murder after Laci and her unborn son, Conner, washed ashore on the shores of San Francisco Bay in April 2003. He continues to maintain his innocence.

“Mr. Peterson has been waiting for 20 years for police reports and audio and video recordings that should have been made available to him,” said LAIP Director Paula Mitchell, according to the Los Angeles Times. “We can’t wait to begin our investigation.”

Scott Peterson's case will be the focus of the three-part Peacock special. Face to face with Scott Peterson, Premiere on Tuesday, August 20, 2024.

Here's everything you need to know about the LA-based organization ahead of the series premiere.

The dialogue between scientists and stakeholders could also lead to a significant improvement in the injustices at the court, the court's mission statement states.

“LAIP believes in a world where the primary response to lawbreaking is not incarceration,” the document states. “We believe in a criminal justice system that recognizes the inherent dignity of all people. We believe in the possibility of a criminal justice system that is not racially biased and does not criminalize poverty, mental illness or drug addiction, and that seeks to reduce harm, reconcile people, treat trauma, and rebuild those people, communities, and institutions that have been damaged by crime and our society's response to it.”

She claims science can “make that vision a reality,” and that was her stance when she filed post-conviction motions for new DNA testing in the case against Scott Peterson in January 2024. In May 2024, San Mateo County Judge Elizabeth M. Hill denied most of her motions—particularly those related to previously tested materials found in a burned van related to the alleged burglary—but allowed additional forensic testing on a piece of duct tape found on Laci Peterson's body.

The LAIP collaborates with the California Forensic Science Institute, the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center and the California State University – Los Angeles.

The LAIP was launched when acquitted Andy Wilson, who served 31 years in prison for the 1984 robbery and fatal stabbing of a 21-year-old man, donated $1 million to found the group after receiving compensation for his wrongful conviction, according to a 2022 Cal State news article.

The group was notably behind the release of Maurice Hastings in 2022. He was wrongly convicted in 1983 of the rape and murder of a woman who was found shot to death in the trunk of her own car.

The Innocence Project, which predates LAIP by 30 years and is headquartered in New York City, was founded by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld. According to the website, the men met as public defenders at the Bronx Legal Aid Society and started the Innocence Project as a legal clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1992.

The Innocence Project's first success came that same year when it freed Glen Woodall, a West Virginian who had been wrongfully convicted of rape. His popularity skyrocketed in the mid-1990s when Scheck and Neufeld joined the “Dream Team” of OJ Simpson’s murder defense to argue the DNA evidence presented by the prosecution that ultimately contributed to the accused female murderer’s acquittal.

The LAIP is not the only Innocence Project based in California. The San Diego-based California Western Innocence and Justice Clinic (formerly the California Innocence Project) and the Northern California Innocence Project are two other legal advocacy groups in the state that are independent of the New York-based organization.

What role does the LAIP play in the Scott Peterson case?

LAIP Director Mitchell, according to the Los Angeles Times, stated that Scott Peterson “has a claim of actual innocence supported by newly discovered evidence.” The group requested a mattress found in a burning van near the Petersons' home shortly after Laci Peterson's disappearance necessitated a new forensic investigation.

Prosecutors, however, claimed that tests in previous years had not revealed anything that could accuse anyone else of the crime and described the LAIP's requests as little more than a “fishing expedition,” according to the San Francisco Bay KRON TV.

According to the outlet, the petition included a statement from Scott Peterson dated November 2023:

“I believe this additional information will help determine what happened to my family and prove that I am innocent and had nothing to do with these horrific crimes committed against my wife and son,” Scott Peterson wrote. “In 2004, I was wrongfully convicted of the murder of my wife, Laci… and our unborn son, Conner.”

More on Scott Peterson’s protestations of innocence follows in Face to face with Scott Peterson, Premiering Tuesday, August 20, 2024, exclusively on Peacock.