Scott Peterson: The New Evidence: How New Science Makes Case 'Ripe for a Retrial' (Exclusive) — Transcript

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1. 0:00I
2. 0:01was really floored. The public is going
3. 0:03to see a a completely different story
4. 0:05here. And I think that the evidence here
5. 0:07is is so compelling that this case will
6. 0:10receive review. I think it's it's ripe
7. 0:12for retrial. This is far from over.
8. 0:15>> We're talking about new science that did
9. 0:17not exist 24 years ago.
10. 0:20>> This investigation is leaving us with
11. 0:22more questions than answers.
12. 0:24>> Eight months pregnant Laci Peterson's
13. 0:25been missing since Christmas Eve.
14. 0:27>> At the time of the Peterson case, I was
15. 0:29a defense attorney and a legal analyst
16. 0:31for ABC News and [music] I stood
17. 0:34toe-to-toe with Nancy Grace on a nightly
18. 0:36basis on Larry King Live as this missing
19. 0:40person investigation sort of fixated on
20. 0:42one person, Scott Peterson, to the
21. 0:44exclusion of really every other lead. At
22. 0:47the time, I was one of the few voices
23. 0:50that was trying to slow things down.
24. 0:53>> A matter of uh Scott Lee Peterson.
25. 0:55>> I don't care what you think of me.
26. 0:57>> I was uncomfortable with the way that
27. 0:59the media shaped the story. So, the
28. 1:01opportunity to re-examine this story has
29. 1:05been really eye-opening even for me,
30. 1:07even with my history.
31. 1:09>> [music]
32. 1:09>> The Los Angeles Innocence Project spent
33. 1:11a few years doing a deep dive into the
34. 1:14specifics of the evidence that brought
35. 1:17about this conviction. We got
36. 1:18independent experts, some of the top
37. 1:20people in [music] in their field to look
38. 1:23at the findings we were given the last 6
39. 1:27months um uh to
40. 1:30examine
41. 1:31uh
42. 1:32all of the evidence, to meet with
43. 1:35experts around the country, and to go to
44. 1:37the places where these events occurred.
45. 1:39And they have argued that Peterson was
46. 1:42wrongly convicted because the jury
47. 1:45relied on false evidence, including
48. 1:47false scientific evidence, to the point
49. 1:49that Scott Peterson's constitutional
50. 1:51rights were violated. The way the
51. 1:52Constitution works is we're looking for
52. 1:55reliable verdicts. [music] If the
53. 1:58information that the jury receives is
54. 1:59not reliable, then the verdict is not
55. 2:01reliable. Two things that stood out in
56. 2:04terms of the new evidence. One is the
57. 2:06fact that it is undeniable that though
58. 2:10the jury [music] heard from a qualified
59. 2:12professional
60. 2:14testifying on behalf of the prosecution
61. 2:16as to where Laci Peterson's body would
62. 2:18have been placed in [music] the bay.
63. 2:20>> This is where Laci Peterson's husband
64. 2:22says he was fishing on the night his
65. 2:24pregnant wife disappeared.
66. 2:25>> That expert based that testimony not on
67. 2:28his expertise, [music] but really on a
68. 2:30guess. And remember, expert testimony
69. 2:33helps back up what the prosecution's
70. 2:35theory is. So, when an expert gets on
71. 2:37the stand and says, "I'm a title expert.
72. 2:39I know all about the San Francisco Bay,
73. 2:41and I'm here to testify that Laci
74. 2:43Peterson's body was placed in the bay
75. 2:45south of Brooks Island exactly where
76. 2:46Scott Peterson was." Of course, that
77. 2:48carries a great deal of weight. The
78. 2:50other piece of new scientific evidence,
79. 2:52[music] and we're talking about
80. 2:53technology that just wasn't available in
81. 2:562004 when Scott Peterson went to trial,
82. 2:58is evidence that relates to the fetal or
83. 3:02gestational age of Conner [music]
84. 3:04Peterson. The Los Angeles Innocence
85. 3:06Project has has brought a tenured
86. 3:09Harvard radiologist to the examination
87. 3:12of this question. Uh and his conclusions
88. 3:15are that that Conner Peterson
89. 3:17>> [music]
90. 3:17>> in all likelihood died sometime between
91. 3:19December 28th and early January 2003.
92. 3:23Laci Peterson went missing on Christmas
93. 3:25Eve day, December [music] 24th. Uh if
94. 3:29Conner Peterson did not die until four
95. 3:31days later, then Laci didn't die until
96. 3:33four days later, and that would fully
97. 3:35exonerate Scott Scott Peterson. Time and
98. 3:37time again, people were calling into the
99. 3:39to the helpline. People were calling in
100. 3:42to the Modesto police. They were
101. 3:43reporting within days of Laci's
102. 3:45disappearance sightings of her walking
103. 3:48her dog. More than a dozen witnesses who
104. 3:50made those reports saying, [music]
105. 3:52"It's a pregnant woman with short dark
106. 3:54hair who is having trouble controlling
107. 3:58this golden retriever. There were
108. 3:59commonalities across these eyewitness
109. 4:02statements. Those commonalities make
110. 4:04those statements
111. 4:06>> [music]
112. 4:06>> one to the next more reliable and the
113. 4:09police never followed up with him. It is
114. 4:11an enormous oversight to simply decide
115. 4:16eyewitness statements are not worthy of
116. 4:18our time because Scott Peterson is our
117. 4:19guy and that seems to be what happened.
118. 4:22There was no forensic evidence in the
119. 4:25home, there was no evidence in Scott
120. 4:28Peterson's truck and there was no
121. 4:29evidence in the boat. Now, those are the
122. 4:32three locations. Those are the locations
123. 4:35where the prosecution claims Scott
124. 4:37Peterson killed his wife and and then
125. 4:40those are the means by which they say he
126. 4:42transferred and transported her body to
127. 4:45the San Francisco Bay. You should have
128. 4:48some physical evidence here and the
129. 4:50absence of it should
130. 4:52be of great concern to the public and
131. 4:56ultimately to the jury.
132. 4:57>> How do you explain not only Scott's
133. 5:00demeanor following his wife's
134. 5:01disappearance, but his mistress, Amber
135. 5:03Frey?
136. 5:04>> And he was having an affair with another
137. 5:06woman.
138. 5:07>> Three words you would use now to
139. 5:09describe the real Scott Peterson.
140. 5:11>> Sociopath.
141. 5:12>> Pathological liar.
142. 5:14>> Manipulative.
143. 5:15>> The day Scott was arrested at this golf
144. 5:17course in San Diego, he had his
145. 5:19brother's ID, a truck full of clothes,
146. 5:22close to $15,000,
147. 5:25and new camping gear. And let's not
148. 5:27forget his new look. This type of
149. 5:30evidence only shows a possible
150. 5:31consciousness of guilt.
151. 5:33>> At the time and now, I never really had
152. 5:37a problem understanding the change in
153. 5:39the appearance. I think if
154. 5:42a reasonable 20-something person puts
155. 5:45[music] themselves in his shoes and
156. 5:48looks at what the media was doing at
157. 5:50that point in time. It was reasonable to
158. 5:52conclude that there you you have
159. 5:54absolutely no chance of of a fair trial.
160. 5:57I've represented fugitives. I know the
161. 5:59decision-making that goes
162. 6:02into that. And the only advice you can
163. 6:03give as an attorney is you have to turn
164. 6:05yourself in, you have to come back.
165. 6:07There we have a legal process here. And
166. 6:09I don't mean to excuse what he's doing,
167. 6:10and I don't really have an explanation
168. 6:11for it. But he absolutely brought about
169. 6:14his his conviction. Every day that that
170. 6:16man spends spends in prison, he he has
171. 6:19to acknowledge to himself that he's
172. 6:21there because he was cheating on his
173. 6:22wife. [music] Had he not been cheating
174. 6:24on his wife,
175. 6:26I you know, I I think that the state's
176. 6:30case would have been looked at with a
177. 6:32much more critical eye, first by the
178. 6:34media and the public,
179. 6:37and and ultimately by the jury. And I
180. 6:40don't think it would have been the same
181. 6:41result. So,
182. 6:43you know, he has to live with that.
183. 6:45>> Is there a part of you that says,
184. 6:46"I wish I'd never met Scott at all"?
185. 6:49>> My life certainly would be different
186. 6:50today.
187. 6:51>> The burglary is something that we're
188. 6:52going to be getting into, the burglary
189. 6:54of the home directly across the street
190. 6:56from the Peterson's home.
191. 6:57>> I think what happened was the Modesto
192. 6:59police changed the date of the burglary
193. 7:02because it certainly would have undercut
194. 7:04their theory on Scott.
195. 7:06>> It is fairly obvious that the police
196. 7:08chose not to
197. 7:10>> [music]
198. 7:10>> connect the Medina burglary in any way
199. 7:13to the investigation of Laci Peterson's
200. 7:16disappearance. And that is
201. 7:18it's not simply an oversight because the
202. 7:20investigators
203. 7:22uh [music] who were responsible for Laci
204. 7:24Peterson's missing person case got
205. 7:26together with the the other Modesto
206. 7:29investigators who were handling the
207. 7:30Medina burglary, and they made a
208. 7:32decision a few months after Laci
209. 7:34Peterson's disappearance uh to destroy
210. 7:37all of the evidence
211. 7:39uh [music] with respect to the Medina
212. 7:40burglary. So, there're really major
213. 7:42questions about what role the Medina
214. 7:45burglary may have played in Lacy's
215. 7:47disappearance. [music]
216. 7:48I've talked to the Peterson family and
217. 7:49I've talked to his counsel throughout
218. 7:52the course of our 6-month investigation.
219. 7:55>> Do you know how he's [music] feeling?
220. 7:56>> My understanding is that he's been
221. 7:58hopeful. You know, he's not everybody's
222. 8:02favorite person,
223. 8:03but um
224. 8:06you know, it's telling that the Los
225. 8:08Angeles Innocence Project would put
226. 8:09their reputation behind this. Whether
227. 8:11you believe Scott Peterson is guilty or
228. 8:14or innocent, all of us should care
229. 8:16enough about our criminal justice system
230. 8:17and about justice in America and in
231. 8:19general
232. 8:20that when we see a case that has [music]
233. 8:24so much false testimony and so much
234. 8:26error and an investigation
235. 8:29that turned a blind eye to so much
236. 8:31important evidence,
237. 8:32>> [music]
238. 8:32>> we should want that to be re-examined.
239. 8:35Again, I think that the evidence here is
240. 8:37is so compelling that this case will
241. 8:39receive review. I think it's it's ripe
242. 8:42for retrial. What the Los Angeles
243. 8:44Innocence Project will now do, they have
244. 8:45120 days to take this up to the
245. 8:47California Supreme Court. This is far
246. 8:50from over.