Scott Peterson denies killing his pregnant wife nearly two decades ago in new documentary

CNN
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Nearly 20 years after Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife and their unborn son – and months after the Los Angeles Innocence Project took on his case – he speaks out again in a new documentary and asserts that he was not the perpetrator.

In an excerpt from Peacock's unreleased documentary “Face to Face with Scott Peterson,” which aired Thursday on NBC's Today Show, Peterson is asked why anyone would want to hear his side of the story. He replies, “Because I didn't kill my family.”

After a nearly six-month trial in 2004 that captivated followers of the case from the start, Peterson was found guilty of first-degree murder of Laci and second-degree murder of Conner. He was sentenced to death, but the verdict was later overturned and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In December 2002, Peterson reported his pregnant wife, Laci, missing from the couple's home in Modesto, California. Less than four months later, the bodies of Laci and their unborn son, Conner, were found on the shores of San Francisco Bay.

Prosecutors claimed at the time that Peterson's motive for the murders was to escape married life and impending fatherhood.

The case has been extensively documented in films, television shows, books, podcasts and documentaries over the years – on Wednesday, Netflix released a three-part docuseries called “American Murder: Laci Peterson,” which also chronicles the case and includes an extensive interview with Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha. Peacock's documentary will air on August 20.

In 2023, Peterson's lawyers filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging “violations of state and federal constitutional and states' statutory rights, including … a claim of actual innocence supported by newly discovered evidence.”

The Los Angeles Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rehabilitating the wrongfully convicted, announced a year later that it was investigating Peterson's “claim of actual innocence” as he worked on his attempt to obtain a retrial.

CNN has contacted the Innocence Project for comment.

In May, a California judge ruled that DNA found on the tape found on Laci Peterson's pants when her body was found could be retested.