Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when she went missing from the home she shared
with her husband Scott Peterson in Modesto, California on December 24, 2002. Her body
and the body of her unborn son, whom she'd planned to name Conner, washed up on the shores
of the San Francisco Bay four months later. Scott Peterson was convicted of killing his
pregnant wife in 2004, and subsequently sentenced to death row.
In 2020, though, that conviction was overturned by the state supreme court because several
jurors who expressed their objections to capital punishment were dismissed from the original
case. In late 2021, however, a California judge re-sentenced Peterson to life in prison
without the possibility of parole, while another judge sentenced him to 15 years to life for
killing his unborn son. Those sentences are to be served simultaneously, according to
NBC News.
Peterson maintains his innocence, and his defense claims Laci and Conner were killed
when they interrupted a robbery. Even though he will not be executed at this point, Scott
Peterson may spend the rest of his life behind bars. Here's what that life is like.
A media frenzy surrounded the search for Laci Peterson, particularly after it became public
knowledge that Scott Peterson had been cheating on his wife. That attention only intensified
after the bodies were found. Possibly because of this infamy, Scott Peterson received numerous
letters from female admirers while in prison, who sometimes even sent him checks for his
commissary account.
In a 2012 interview with Fox News, reporters asked San Quentin State Prison spokesperson
Samuel Robinson about those letters he received from admirers, and whether or not Peterson
continues to receive them, to which Robinson responded, quote, "Not as much as he initially
received." Robinson did say, however, that Peterson was still confined to his cell for
19 hours per day, was allowed "six cubic feet of personal property" within the cell, didn't
have access to email, had never had a job assignment while in prison, did not take any
classes, had never been disciplined for "egregious behavior," and got along well with other inmates
and prison staff.
Chillingly, the only decoration in Scott Peterson's small San Quentin cell is a picture of him
and Laci, smiling. He's otherwise allowed five hours per day in the prison yard where
he exercises and plays basketball, and he even plays cards with fellow inmates, according
to spokesperson Samuel Robinson. He also typed and mailed hard copies of entries to be posted
on the blog set up by his family, and he is frequently visited by friends and relatives.
Now that Peterson has been re-sentenced, it's unclear whether he'll return to San Quentin
or instead spend the rest of his life in a different correctional facility. Dana Simas,
press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told the
A & E True Crime Blog,
"All housing decisions for all incarcerated people are made on a case-by-case basis based
on their classification score and custody level, and taking into account that person’s
security, medical, psychiatric and program needs.”
Despite his lengthy new prison sentence, Scott Peterson may appeal his case again. Per NBC
News, Peterson's defense claims seven of the original jurors from the 2004 trial hid evidence
related to their own domestic violence experiences that would have otherwise presented a conflict
in the jury selection process, accusing one juror in particular, Rachel Nice, of "prejudicial
misconduct" when she failed to disclose that she had sought a restraining order for her
boyfriend over fears for her personal safety and the wellbeing of her unborn child. Nice
denies that this experience had any effect on her ruling in the case.
Nevertheless, Judge Anne-Christine Massullo has scheduled an evidentiary hearing for these
charges for February 2022 which could determine whether Peterson will get a new murder trial,
according to the Modesto Bee. As for Laci Peterson's mother, Sharon Rocha, she remains
confident Peterson is guilty of killing both her daughter and her unborn grandson.
"With that pending, Sharon Rocha directed her closing words to the man convicted her
daughter."
Rocha told Peterson,
"I've seen no sorrow or no remorse from you at all. I know you're going to say you have
no remorse because you're innocent, but you haven't shown any grief or sorrow for either
of them. I still feel the grief every day after 19 years. Laci and Conner will always
be dead, and you will always be their murderer."