On the night before Christmas in 2002, Laci Peterson, who was expecting, disappeared from her residence in Modesto, California. Several months later, her remains, along with her son’s fetus, were discovered on the banks of San Francisco Bay, resulting in the arrest of her husband, Scott Peterson.
Following a trial that captured widespread media attention, Scott was convicted of Laci’s first-degree murder and their unborn child’s second-degree murder, ultimately receiving a death sentence.
In the years following the trial, Scott persistently asserted his innocence, pursuing appeals and habeas corpus petitions in hopes of introducing new evidence. The network, Oxygen is elucidating recent developments in this case, including a new documentary that explores the defense team’s assertions.
How Has Scott Peterson Fought His Conviction?
As part of his legal process, Scott’s death penalty case was automatically appealed and heard by the California Supreme Court in 2020. The court upheld his guilty convictions for both murders but overturned the death sentence.
Over the years, Scott has submitted numerous habeas corpus petitions, with the latest receiving assistance from the Los Angeles Innocence Project.
In August 2025, Scott submitted his third habeas petition, which presented what his defense team argued was new and exculpatory evidence uncovered in the case.
However, in May 2026, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge denied the petition, rejecting all 14 of his claims.
“Judge [Elizabeth] Hill recognized the most recent attempt to undo the jury’s verdict for what it was – nothing more than recycled, repackaged and rebranded arguments,” Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero said in part in a statement reacting to the news, adding that “no credible ‘new evidence’ was presented.”
“Peterson’s 2004 conviction has been upheld through two decades of post-conviction litigation and again with this ruling in 2026,” he added. “Laci, Conner and their family deserve the finality that justice promised them.”
In response to the court’s decision, the LAIP announced their intention to file the petition in a higher court.
“We disagree with and are disappointed by the court’s ruling on every level,” LAIP Deputy Director Hannah Brown said in a statement at the time. “The ruling demonstrates a profound misunderstanding and misapplication of the law applied to habeas corpus petitions.”
Is There New Evidence in the Scott Peterson Case?
The claims of new evidence that have been put forward by Scott’s defense team are set to be examined in the forthcoming A&E documentary Scott Peterson: The New Evidence.
“This documentary is built around the idea of stress-testing the Los Angeles Innocence Project’s findings,” the documentary’s host Chris Pixley told People.
“This is new science and new evidence, and every time you drill down, you find more,” he told the outlet. “It deserves an examination.”
According to People, the documentary will feature interviews with witnesses and experts and highlight “unexplored tips” in the case—evidence Pixley told the outlet has convinced him that Scott deserves a new trial.
The documentary is also expected to shed light on the alternate theory that a group of burglars killed Laci after a break-in to a neighbor’s home—a theory that was part of Scott’s habeas petition.
Investigators who worked on the Peterson case have previously refuted the burglary theory.
“I believe this is bulls–t,” former Modesto Police detective Al Brocchini, who worked on the case, said in Peacock’s 2024 documentary Face to Face with Scott Peterson, arguing that the two men linked to the robbery had alibis for the time of the murder.
“There is absolutely no reasonable doubt that Scott murdered Laci and his child, Conner, none,” he said. “He did it. [The] jury got it right.”
Where Is Scott Peterson Now?
As Scott’s defense team continues their efforts to overturn his conviction, he remains behind bars at Mule Creek State Prison in California’s San Mateo County, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records show.
He was initially held on death row at San Quentin State Prison, but his death sentence was overturned in 2020. He was resentenced to life in prison without parole the following year and transferred to Mule Creek in 2022.