48 Hours: Scott Peterson Revisited
CBS 48 Hours revisited the Scott Peterson case this past weekend. Did you catch it? In 2004, Scott Peterson was convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in a largely circumstantial case. He was given the death penalty for the crime.
Peterson’s death penalty sentence was overturned in August 2020 by the California Supreme Court. The reason is Peterson’s trial judge dismissed jurors who opposed capital punishment without asking if they could put their views aside which shouldn’t have been done. Peterson, however, did not have his conviction overturned. His new sentencing is supposed to take place this summer.
Janey Peterson, Scott Peterson’s sister-in-law claims that Scott Peterson is innocent and explained how the family has created a war room to fight on his behalf to get his conviction overturned. Janey believes the burglars across the street from the Peterson home are involved in Laci’s death.
Unfortunately, nothing that Janey presented offered me something concrete to bite into. You could easily argue away her theories presented.
Janey really loses her credibility when she suggests that someone tried to frame Scott Peterson.
Janey Peterson: Her body wasn’t taken to the bay December 24th. The bay wasn’t sealed off as a crime scene. …There are multiple points of access directly to the water, 24 hours a day. I think they took Laci, had Laci, realized the national attention that this case was getting, realized they were in trouble. What better way to get outta trouble than go put the body where the husband was?
So if you believe Janey, you believe someone took, harmed and killed Laci, but oh decided to sit on the corpse not knowing what to do with it. You know, no worries. Then when the story broke and it was a big story, oh wow! They found their way to get out of the crime. They will “frame” Scott by placing the body in the bay.
I don’t think you can come up with something more outlandish than that. Add to the this that when authorities went to arrest Scott Peterson, he wasn’t at home or trying to solve her murder. No, he was down in San Diego golfing, with DYED blond hair with 15K in cash in his pocket. It seemed this grieving husband was about to possibly leave the country. Yeah, that’s what innocent victims do.
I don’t think so!
I can tell you nearly ever clip of Scott Peterson I see, he is leaking clues like a sieve. And he leaks them every time. If you attended my class, I showed you some of them! They are really hard to argue when you see them pointed out.
The reporter in the 48 Hours show picked up on one clue herself. Scott Peterson’s wife is missing during their interview. When his cell phone rings, he doesn’t even think to answer it? If your spouse was missing, would you ignore phone calls? A man who knew his wife was dead certainly would. And he’d also would not want anything to interrupt his “show time” on TV.
Men like Peterson lie so much they think they can fool anyone, until their arrogance and ignorance trips them up. He wanted TV time to convince people he was innocent. I think that backfired on him big time. People instinctively knew his behavior didn’t add up.
Even more so, when you watch that interview, listen to his demeanor. He play this low-key, monotone character. It’s his attempt to act concerned and sad, but he doesn’t show an ounce of sadness. True sadness activates muscles in the face that for Peterson are not moving!
And yes, Scott Peterson’s smiles during the trial did not bode well for him. He wasn’t a grieving victim in this case. Not at all. I believe all the circumstantial evidence built a strong rope as the prosecutor said that told the real story. I believe Scott Peterson is exactly where he should be.
Eyes, it’s always so refreshing to hear your analysis. It makes my day, literally! We do know instinctively when things don’t add up but it’s sometimes difficult to point out the exact reason, which then makes us doubt ourselves, especially if someone can cause that doubt. I haven’t looked at this 48 hours show but I remember the case and his creaky voice. There’s something about creaky voices that alerts me but I can’t put my finger on it. I know it’s called “vocal fry” and women use it a lot to sound authoritative, supposedly, (which it doesn’t do at all), but there’s more to it. Do you have any thoughts on it?
Thanks again for this.
Great job EFL! Yeah, that sister finds it easier to rationalize for the rest of her life than FACE a truth. Like the Staircase murder family.
Fun Facts (my beliefs): Without Amber’s RECORDINGS (NOT Amber withOUT the recordings), Scott probably would have walked.
AND had it not been for that one male juror who opened his yap early on in the trial–(after the Martha Stewart debacle) and blabbed about how incompetent the police were and that Scott was definitely innocent–and was subsequently DISMISSED, it would have been a hung jury first go round!
EFL, do YOU have any insight into the judges fateful Death Penalty Ruling. I mean, think of YOUR job, and making an error on something SO basic, SO “101”, SO first year law school … how could a judge make such a mistake???????
Not only was it crazy to think that the “real” killers would have held on to Scott’s body until it became newsworthy … but let’s go so far as to say that they did do such an outrageous thing … if they REALLY wanted the body found ASAP, aka IMMEDIATELY … do you think they would have anchored it in the bay and HOPED & PRAYED that it would wash ashore, and not out into the Pacific Ocean–at which point their entire risky plan would have been for naught? How LUDICROUS!
It’s like the Jodie Arias defenders rationalizing every piece of solid evidence: “No one brings a .22 gun if they want to kill someone” (even though it’s the Mafia’s gun of choice. “The desert is a vast and lonely place, no wonder a sexual assault victim would feel vulnerable enough to bring an extra gas can” (even though the route is a major highway traveled by millions dotted with towns with populations of 6,000 people or more every 100 miles or less–as though they wouldn’t have a gas station in such a town).
JodieAriasIsInnocent site, like Scott’s sister’s war room, is an unbelievably laughable Echo Chamber – the likes of which I hope to never see again.
Eyes, please take a look at Bambi Bennett, accused of killing her parents (charges were dropped). I’d be very interested to hear your opinion! There was recently a Dateline Secrets Uncovered episode on the case…