Michael Peterson Walks Free
If you’ve followed my blog over the years, you know I wrote about Michael Peterson. In 2001, Michael’s wife, Kathleen, was found at the bottom of the stairs in pool of blood, dead. He maintained she fell, but investigators saw it differently.
In 2003, Michael Peterson was convicted of beating his wife and killing her. He was sentenced to life without parole.
In 2011, Peterson was granted a new trial on the basis a lab analyst lied on the stand.
To make a long story short, Michael Peterson recently got a plea deal where he gave an Alford plea. He doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges the prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him.
The judge sentenced him for time served and he walked out of prison after only eight years. He is now a free man.
I have not believed Michael Peterson and have said so from the first time I heard about this case.
Did you know another woman who Peterson was also close to years before he knew Kathleen died by falling down the stairs, too? Her name was Elizabeth Radcliff. Lightening didn’t strike twice in Michael’s life by coincidence, if you ask me.
I agree, Renee…..a psychopath will be on the street again.
I’ve noticed that those who spent significant time in prison who were later vindicated as innocent tend not to show too much anger. Just going off a quick inventory of memory if freed in under 1-2 years they show a lot of anger and frustration, but 4-5+ or even decades like the West Memphis 3 they usually say things like “I just want to put this behind me”.
This guy seems to be intent manufacturing internal rage. An Arizona woman Debra Jean Milke did the same thing after being freed 22 years after conviction. Most journalist felt she got off on a technicality (the arresting officer was proven to lie in another case), which I agree with. She also had the second most fake cry I’ve ever seen (after that couple who burned their house with all their children in it).
Sad, very sad. There will be more victims. He will be more savvy about it. Makes me sick how broken our system is.
A “lab analyst lied” ?
No, let’s not downplay the role Duane Deaver, an agent for the SBI had in the conviction of Michael Peterson in his first trial. This man fabricated and manipulated evidence, not only in the Peterson trial but numerous others. This is not just a technicality. Perhaps you have not heard of Greg Taylor, who was in jail for almost two decades thanks to Deaver’s planting of blood evidence.
Deaver has been investigated and fired.
This is not a comment on Peterson’s guilt or innocence. However, please don’t minimize the travesty – it is worth noting that in an interview from the trial, the daughter of Peterson stated that it was Deaver’s “analysis” that sealed her opinion on the case.