A man convicted of murdering his wife in 2005 has had his death penalty sentence overturned Monday.
Prosecutors will be allowed to try Scott Peterson’s case again for the death penalty, according to KCRA 3. Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder of his wife Laci Peterson and second-degree murder of the couple’s unborn son.
The California Supreme Court has overturned the 2005 death sentence for Scott Peterson in the slaying of his pregnant wife. Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant with their unborn son, Connor. https://t.co/rLYZcddB61
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 24, 2020
The California Supreme Court overturned his death penalty sentence, claiming that the trial judge “undermined” Peterson’s right to an impartial jury. (RELATED: Support For The Death Penalty Shrinks To All-Time Low, According to New Poll)
“Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case,” the court said according to the outlet. “We reject Peterson’s claim that he received an unfair trial as to guilt and thus affirm his convictions for murder.”
However, the state supreme court justices claimed the trial judge “made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection that, under long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent, undermined Peterson’s right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase.”
Peterson claimed that the publicity of his case prohibited him from having a fair trial during his appeal.
Meanwhile, the trial proceedings were moved 90 miles away from his home in Central Valley.