Face to Face with Scott Peterson (2024) s01e02 Episode Script
The People v. Scott Peterson
[somber music]
♪
Hey, Shareen.
Hi, Scott. How are you?
I should tell you
this in advance.
I'm looking at the
clock here. It's 1:18.
It's supposed to
be a 1:30 lockup,
so we may only get 12 minutes.
OK.
I'm not sure what they'll do.
I have a few questions
for you today.
After the world basically
heard your phone calls
with Amber Frey,
they came to the conclusion
that you killed Laci.
How does that make you feel?
Why didn't you tell
the police right away
about Amber Frey?
[ominous music]
♪
Police in Modesto,
California, continue searching
for 27-year-old Laci Peterson.
[dramatic music]
As the investigation
into the disappearance
of Laci Peterson continues,
police are tracking
her husband's movements
outside the Modesto,
California, area.
Even as the focus of the search
appears to be shifting
towards Scott,
Modesto Police have still
not named him as a suspect.
♪
I'm Mike Gudgell.
I've been involved
in the Peterson case
for almost two decades now.
In 2002, I was
working for ABC News
as an editorial producer.
When I first arrived, a couple
of days after Christmas Day,
it was quite a crowd of media
surrounding the house
police checkpoints,
satellite trucks.
It was what I call a complete
media feeding frenzy.
By then, we really hadn't
established sources
with the police,
but we were hearing they
were focused on Scott.
We heard that the Petersons
had hired a private
investigator.
We understood he was
talking to witnesses
who saw Laci alive
after Scott left.
That might be
different than what
we're hearing from the police.
A beautiful young
lady, very pregnant.
Walking across the street.
Walking, like, towards the park.
The fact is, within
a 30, 40-minute time,
there were five or six
witnesses who saw Laci.
So we knew that the police
narrative wasn't solid.
And then we heard that there
had been a burglary next door.
We had a burglary that was
reported to have occurred
directly across the street from
the residence in question here.
We're outside the home of
Scott and Laci Peterson's home
in Modesto, 523 Covena.
We want to show you
directly across the street.
That's 516, known
as the Medina home,
that had a burglary happen
right around the time frame
of Laci Peterson's
disappearance.
The Medinas left December
24th at about 10:30 AM.
They returned home December 26th
at about 4:30 in
the afternoon.
During the time frame
while they were gone
is when Laci was
reported missing.
When the news of the
burglary came out,
we assumed immediately
that it would be
a big break in the case.
Really kind of went, oh, OK,
we're getting somewhere now.
This could be the best
lead that we've had.
The police were now not
only trying to figure out
what happened to Laci,
but they were trying to
solve the Medina burglary,
thinking that this burglary
potentially had something to
do with what happened to Laci.
The issue around the burglary
is when did it happen?
On the 24th, the day
Laci went missing,
a neighbor of Scott and
Laci was driving home.
I was coming home from
the hand therapist
and drove by Laci's house.
And I thought, "Oh,
who are those people
on the Medinas' front lawn?"
And they were right
next to a van.
One door was a little open.
They turned around
and looked at me,
and I felt hostility.
But I didn't think
anything of it.
I thought, "Well,
I don't need to be
"looking at them or
waving or anything.
I'll just go on home."
When she heard
about this burglary
and then the news of
Laci's disappearance,
she came forward and thought,
"Oh, maybe this is important."
Diane Jackson described the
three men as dark skinned
but not African American.
A thousand dollars for someone
that leads us to the persons
responsible for the burglary.
They had put out a reward.
On the reward flyer,
they used the information
that they'd gotten
from Diane Jackson.
You're looking for a van.
You're looking for three men.
They put a senior detective
from the Major Crimes Unit
on it, got an informant
almost immediately.
They've actually made two
arrests in that today.
Modesto Police
arrested two suspects,
Steven Todd and Donald Pearce.
Their cooperation level
was off the charts.
They both polygraphed.
They wanted the polygraphs
released to the media
because they wanted the
people in the jail to know
that they were not
involved in this case.
Steven Todd and Glen Pearce,
neither one of them is dark
skinned, not African American.
But also, neither one of them
has ever been
associated with a van.
They said that they used a car
and a bike to commit
the burglaries.
The informant told police
that up to five people
were involved, and
they didn't look into
any of the others.
Well, I'd like to see who
these additional people are
and where they came
up with the idea
that additional
people were involved
in the burglary itself.
I don't see anything
that would suggest that.
Diane Jackson claimed
that she saw a van
across the street from the
Peterson house on the 24th.
She couldn't even really confirm
what the color of the van was.
And when you have that
kind of discrepancy,
when it comes to even the
description of the vehicle,
it calls into question the
reliability of that witness.
At this point, there
is no connection.
There's no leads to indicate
that they were involved
in the missing of Laci.
We solved that burglary.
Found out that it, in
fact, occurred on the 26th.
Steven Todd says that the
burglary was on the 26th,
but that's according
to the burglar.
He changed it.
He picked, "Oh, it
happened on December 27th.
Oh, no, it was the 26th."
So it wasn't very
reliable, that's for sure.
I thought, "Well, that's
quite interesting,"
because on the 26th,
there was a lot of activity
on Scott and Laci's street,
and how could burglars
get in and out
without anybody seeing them?
I thought it was
highly improbable
that that was the truth.
They solved that
burglary really quickly.
But there's a distinction
that needs to be made
between solving the burglary
and saying it didn't
have anything to do
with Laci's disappearance.
I find that pretty unbelievable.
That would be an
incredible coincidence.
One of the lead investigators,
Jon Buehler, often told me,
there are no coincidences
in murder investigations.
[suspenseful music]
Todd and Pearce,
the two that we know
burgled the house
across the street.
We don't know who else
was in that burglary.
We know there were others.
There was just no
desire to pursue
what the evidence
was telling them.
I mean, it was the evidence
that they just decided
to ignore and go with theory.
Today marking the
one-month anniversary
of Laci Peterson's
disappearance.
Police right now
expected any moment now
to walk up to the podium
and give us the very latest
on their investigation.
The press conference of
of all press conferences
was when they marched
out Amber Frey.
I am very sorry
for Laci's family
and the the pain that
this has caused them.
Amber changed everything.
She became the focus.
Wow, what a development that is.
The missing woman's
apparently perfect marriage
may not have been so perfect.
That he'd been having an affair.
And we felt that if he had
not been truthful about that,
that possibly
there's other things
he needs to talk to us about.
Support for Scott
Peterson has wavered
since police told Laci's family.
I would like Scott to
know that I trusted him
and stood by him in
the initial phases
of my sister's disappearance.
However, Scott has not been
forthcoming with information
regarding my sister's
disappearance,
and I'm only left to question
what else he may be hiding.
Scott had been declining
interview requests consistently.
Now, when Amber
Frey is out there,
nobody's looking for Laci.
Everybody thinks he's guilty.
So he decided, all right,
I'll do a few interviews.
Did you murder your wife?
No, no. I did not.
And I had absolutely nothing
to do with her disappearance.
In that interview
with Diane Sawyer,
Scott makes the
outlandish claim that
I told my wife.
He told Laci about the affair,
and she was OK with it.
There wasn't a lot of anger?
No.
Do you really expect
people to believe
that an 8 and 1/2
month pregnant woman
learns her husband
has had an affair
and makes a peace with it?
Well, I yeah,
you don't know.
No one knows our
relationship but us.
That was the nail in his coffin.
This is ludicrous, the idea
that Laci knew about Amber.
He came across as
being disingenuous.
And in a couple of cases,
just lied right out.
Had you told anyone?
Did you tell police?
I told the police immediately.
- When?
- December 24th.
Laci Peterson's
husband admits he lied
about his extramarital
affair with Amber Frey.
When you're in a
hole, stop digging.
He shot himself in the
foot so many times,
he ought to be on crutches.
That's when the
word "psychopath"
started to creep in in
some of the reports.
He did four interviews,
I believe, total.
One of the interviews
he did was with me.
Well, the polygraph is
another one of those things.
I'm not saying I have.
I'm not saying I haven't.
There's no winning.
You can never
present the reality.
If you go out and
you do an interview,
it's gonna be edited.
It's gonna be awful.
Amber Frey claims that you
called her on the 24th,
told her that you were
going to Brussels.
Yeah, this is a short newscast,
and I don't know how
much of these words
you're going to use or not.
But I'm not gonna waste
that by defending myself,
talking about irrelevant things.
He looked like a narcissistic,
lying killer.
I've had people spit
on me at gas stations.
I've received death
threats on the phone.
I had someone in the front yard
claiming they were a witch,
burying things in
the front lawn.
I wish I could say
I was stronger,
but all that stuff
did take a toll on me.
I just remembered
how insane I was
going with no sleep
and worried about
Conner and Laci
and what seemed like
just a apathetic response
from the police department.
Scott's behavior fit into things
that we've seen before
with other murder cases
limited cooperation level,
his cool, calm demeanor
when everybody else
was just frantic.
And there were too many other
circumstantial evidence
items to ignore.
It started to become
increasingly obvious to us
that they would be
found in the bay.
[tense music]
♪
The search in the waters
just outside the Berkeley
Marina began early.
17 divers from Alameda
County loaded up on boats
and swept the floor
of the open water
just outside of the marina.
Scott had given us a detailed
description of how he had
gone out of the marina,
and he'd gone to the north,
and he found this
island, which turned out
to be Brooks Island,
with a sign that said,
you're not supposed
to leave your boat
and walk around on the island.
So it seemed obvious
that he probably
let her go in the area
right by Brooks Island
in the Berkeley Marina.
♪
My name is Danny Lopez.
I was the officer in
charge of the San Francisco
Police Department Marine Patrol.
We're retracing
Scott Peterson's trip
on the 24th.
Dead ahead is the Brooks Island.
The reason that it's
difficult to find somebody
in the San Francisco
Bay is the visibility
is probably about this much.
This is the location that we
were spending most of our time.
That's where the grid
searches were done,
the side-scan sonar,
the underwater searches,
cadaver dogs.
We're continuing
our search today,
and we're concentrating on
on several different things.
We were on that water every day,
sometimes with multiple boats,
multiple water cadaver dogs,
helicopters.
The number of
searches in that bay
probably was in
the mid-500 range.
It's a lot of area to cover.
It was looking for a needle
in the haystack blindfolded.
One of those things
that you just do it.
You have to give
closure to the family.
[tense music]
I think the way it
started to affect me
and others was the fact that
it was a pregnant
mother that was missing.
We keep searching
till we find her.
I'll just keep carrying this on,
and my family will
understand why I'm not home.
And I felt like I was
looking for my sister.
[somber music]
♪
You can't help to get
a personal attachment
over a period of time.
♪
This is a good good
point of reference.
Another part of the search was
to look for devices, anchors,
homemade anchors,
anything that would
have kept a body submerged.
We found two homemade anchors.
They were cylindrical.
They looked like they were
formed in a large coffee can
or maybe a paint can.
It was determined that
they were not connected
to the Scott Peterson
investigation,
so they were thrown
back into the bay.
But I thought it was odd
that we didn't put
them into evidence
and examine them.
After months and
months of searching
with multiple agencies,
they were never recovered.
The district
attorney at the time,
he said, "Hey, if you
don't bring me a body,
you don't have a filing."
We're getting to that
point where there really
wasn't anything coming in.
We were resurrecting some old
tips and clearing those out,
but nothing ground shaking
until we get to April.
[ominous music]
♪
In 2003, I was a police officer
with the East Bay
Regional Park District.
One day during briefing,
one of our sergeants
made a comment
"I bet she'll show
up at Point Isabel."
His experience, it was
that the way the tides flow
in San Francisco Bay,
that more than once,
they had had bodies
that had been recovered
from the area of Point Isabel.
♪
A female adult body was
discovered late this morning
by a woman walking the
shoreline at Point Isabel
in the city of Richmond.
You could see a deceased female
lying face down
on the shoreline.
Her body was in terrible,
obviously very
decomposed condition.
One of the things that
I noticed on her body
was a strip of duct tape that
was on the front of her torso.
My first reaction
was, "We better notify
the Modesto Police Department."
I remember vividly
being in my car
and hearing it on the radio
that a body had been found
and that an infant body had
also been found the day before.
No word yet on whether the
two bodies found in the bay
are those of Laci
Peterson and her baby.
The lab results could
come any time now.
♪
So frankly, we thought because
there hadn't been
an announcement
You know, it wasn't unheard of.
There was
there's been other
bodies, you know,
on the bay before.
There's some people who've
driven into the bay,
and their bodies were found.
So it wasn't like it was
the only possibility.
[tense music]
The bodies hadn't been
confirmed as Laci and Conner,
although it looked
likely that they were.
We put a team of guys
on Scott right away.
We were gonna just watch him
until the attorney general
released the DNA evidence.
We still had a
wiretap on his phone,
so we could hear what he was
saying, talking to his brother.
[tense music]
[suspenseful music]
The next day, all of a sudden,
Scott started moving
very early in the day.
And so the chase was on.
♪
Yeah, see that tangle?
I'll be right there.
Ah, that's nice right there.
The fish, oh, yeah.
All right, look at that monster.
I wanted to talk
more about the arrest
and what that day
was like for you.
Action photo.
It may seem odd to other
people, but, like
Look at the camera.
And be together.
And then when I
got on the road
I don't want a picture of me
being taken and, you know,
splashed on a tabloid.
I just could imagine
what the headlines were.
Scott was very good at
counter-surveillance driving.
As he would drive
along at high speeds,
he would brake
heavily and cut lanes.
We were concerned that he
was gonna get into a wreck
or he was gonna create a
traffic collision behind him
because of his evasive moves.
And so we made a
decision that if
if he hurt somebody,
we're gonna be in trouble.
So let's arrest him.
[sirens wailing]
We were stopped at the
entrance to Torrey Pines.
[camera clicks]
When Scott got out
of the car, he was
he was Scott.
There was no protest.
"You got the wrong guy.
"Why am I in cuffs?
"What are you doing?
Why aren't you guys
looking for the killer?"
[camera clicks]
He dyed his hair to
a different color,
grown a goatee,
which further
disguised him slightly
so maybe he wouldn't be noticed.
Searched his car.
He had cell phones.
He had Viagra.
He had everything you need
from going to a gala
to a camping trip.
He could dig a gold mine.
Most people don't drive
around with $10,000 cash
and their brother's
driver's license.
And some people had said
that maybe he was
fleeing to Mexico.
He could easily go anywhere
he wanted and fit in.
I don't understand that at all,
because I just want to be clear.
I was never running
from the police.
I was always in
contact with them.
I'd answer most of their calls.
There were times that
I was very frustrated,
that I would not
take their calls.
I found out he was
arrested about 2:00.
It was
it was just we
were just in shock.
We were in we were
in absolute shock.
So we had to make arrangements
and travel to Modesto
and attend his arraignment.
[tense music]
Police in California said
today that murder suspect
Scott Peterson had $10,000
in cash when he was arrested
near the Mexican border.
He had some cash in his car.
His brother, John, was gonna
buy Scott's truck from him,
so he gave Scott the cash
to buy Scott out of his truck.
And Scott was still
carrying that cash
at the point that
he was arrested.
He had changed his appearance.
Police feared he might be
preparing to flee to Mexico.
That's a narrative we
still battle to this day.
Scott was spending a lot of
time with family in San Diego.
I live in San Diego.
His parents lived in San Diego.
And San Diego borders Mexico.
So when Scott was arrested,
the national headline was
"Scott was arrested 30 miles
from the Mexican border."
The bodies had been
found five days before,
but we still had not heard
a positive identification.
Then I want to say within
a couple of hours of that
was the press conference.
There is no question
in our minds
that the unidentified female
is Laci Peterson.
The unidentified fetus
is the biological child
of Laci and Scott Peterson.
[sniffles]
We were not notified.
We heard it like everyone else.
And we were crushed.
All of the fear that we
had in Laci being missing
and the pins and needles that
you know, and the ups and downs
that we went through
for the past four months
had really
now, it's hit rock bottom.
[somber music]
♪
After Scott was arrested,
we started driving back
from San Diego to Modesto.
[somber music]
♪
When Scott received this news,
I just recall Scott making
kind of like a sniffling noise,
and that was it.
There wasn't any
hysterics, no screams.
"No, it can't be!"
No theatrics, nothing like that.
He bowed his head and
pushed out a tear.
He was quiet. He
didn't say nothing.
♪
15 miles later, when we stopped,
he ate a double double,
you know, from In-N-Out,
and a shake and a fries
and gobbled it all
down just like nothing,
just like we're just
coming home from fishing.
The police report says
that Scott had a tear
coming down his face.
He'd been in custody
for hours at this point,
and he's he's
going to county jail.
The perception and the
way it's presented is
it's as though Scott was told
his wife and son were dead
and he ordered a cheeseburger
five minutes later.
[ominous music]
Well, now we can move forward.
And now justice can be done.
Soon after Laci went missing,
I made a promise to her
that if she has been
harmed, we will seek justice
for her and Conner and
make sure that that person
responsible for their
for their deaths
will be punished.
[tense music]
What became a fight to find Laci
then became a fight
to save Scott's life.
♪
Shortly after midnight,
when investigators
escorted Scott Peterson
to the Stanislaus County Jail,
a crowd of 250 taunted
and heckled him,
calling him a murderer.
I just hope he gets the same
death that he gave his family.
Call the case of The People
versus Scott Lee Peterson.
Under tight security,
Scott Peterson,
wearing chains on his
wrists and ankles,
was walked into a packed
Modesto courtroom today.
Once Scott was arraigned,
we were looking for an attorney,
and my parents had watched
"The Larry King Show"
for the last several months.
That's really where we
first met Mark Geragos.
This case is intriguing,
if for nothing else,
is that the more there's a
lynch mob mentality out there
for him, the more
that it's intriguing.
They hired him.
He was media savvy.
He seemed like he
had a good team.
I just wanted to say that
we're happy that Mark is
in place as Scott's attorney,
and we do look forward
to proving his innocence.
I'm Lara Yeretsian,
and I'm a criminal defense
attorney of over two decades.
We got the case in 2003.
I was a young attorney.
This case was on
a whole new level.
27-year-old mom-to-be,
eight months pregnant.
As the investigation into the
disappearance of Laci Peterson
continues, police are
- Though neither the victim
nor the accused
was famous before,
the Peterson case has now
taken on celebrity status.
I'd handled a number of cases,
but nothing that came close
to the magnitude of this case.
The interest was so
intense in this case.
I just remember walking
with Mark Geragos
towards the courthouse.
People would come up
to us with questions.
And it wasn't just the media.
Mark, can we get a
quick word with ya?
- Right now? How about after?
- OK.
People would even ask
for Mark's autograph.
I mean, he had
become a celebrity.
Thank you very much.
I'll see you guys on Thursday.
Come on. Come on, be
human beings right now.
There was a lot of
anger, palpable anger,
towards Scott Peterson.
[suspenseful music]
And everybody had an
opinion about this case.
Every single person I
knew had an opinion.
And I can tell you,
every single person
believed that he was guilty.
♪
Michael Cardoza.
Top defense attorney
in the area,
who was in the courtroom today.
I'm Michael Cardoza.
I've been a criminal defense
attorney for over 45 years.
And at that time, I was
doing some legal commentary
on "The Larry King Show."
Here's what this case
boils down to, Larry.
There are three things.
The defense team came
to me and asked me
if I would do a mock
cross-examination
of Scott Peterson.
I went into jail. I walked in.
I sat down. They
brought Scott in.
And I began my
cross-examination.
I cannot tell you how
and what happened,
but you can imagine, you know,
what questions were asked.
And they made a decision
he wasn't going to testify.
I hope he goes to prison
for the rest of his life.
I'm just glad that
the animal got caught.
What you have to remember is
you're putting a man up there
who was hated by America.
And then you witnessed
the previous interviews
and how poorly he did there.
You know what?
It's a positive to allow us
to go on to search for Laci.
Why would you expect
he's gonna do a 180
and come across convincing
the jury that he didn't do it?
I think if you put Scott
Peterson on the stand,
he would have been eaten alive.
♪
Opening statements begin
today in the double-murder
trial of Scott Peterson.
Scott Peterson's case is
a character evidence case
and nothing else.
But the smoke and mirrors to it
is the suggestion that
there's a great deal
of circumstantial
evidence. There isn't.
There's an affair, and there's
the location of the bodies.
That's the entire case.
People don't wrap
themselves in duct tape
and then go jump in
the San Francisco Bay
in the middle of winter.
The state knew the
problems with their case.
They didn't know how he
did it, when he did it,
but they knew that he
was a liar, a cheater.
And they relied on that.
All of these things
were impossible.
If those things were impossible,
then this man murdered
Laci Peterson.
They just didn't have
anything of substance.
So we felt very good
and very confident.
If the court wants to talk
about prejudicial publicity,
having poster-sized pictures
of him labeled as a monster
in chains, I don't think is
is somehow conducive to
getting a fair trial.
My first impression was
that the Geragos team
was very professional
and were prepared for this.
Mark Geragos comes out
in his opening
statement and says,
"Yes, he's a cheater.
Yes, he's a 14-carat A-hole,
but he's not a killer."
Now, on the prosecuting
attorney side,
I didn't feel that way.
I thought that they
were bumbling it.
Scott Peterson's
tone and demeanor
following Laci's disappearance
are being called into question.
This after prosecutors played
a taped police interview
with him describing what he did
the day Laci disappeared.
Day one, there was
a mistake made.
Scott says that the morning
of Laci's disappearance
The prosecution claims
that Martha Stewart
wasn't talking about
meringue that morning,
that they say this is
evidence he was lying.
Geragos brings it in.
He says, "Let's roll the
tape," and you see it.
Ooh, you want to make
little meringues?
Oh, that would be nice.
The prosecution got it wrong.
And this happens at
the jump of the trial.
- Did you check these windows?
- Yeah.
You don't commit a violent crime
without getting
your hands dirty.
The police executed
more than 10 search
warrants on the home
and his place of business.
Officers began a search
of the couple's home
late last night.
After they found pretty
much zero physical evidence
in the house or in the
truck or in the boat,
the theory had to become
that this was a soft kill.
A soft kill is a murder that
doesn't involve a weapon,
that doesn't leave
behind essentially
obvious forensic evidence.
The coroner has yet to
determine the cause of death.
Unless there is a pretty good
cause of death in the torso,
they're stuck.
How was this person killed?
We don't know.
And throughout the trial,
we never found out.
Even a soft kill leaves
behind some sort of trail.
If he kills her
and is dragging her
around to his workshop
and then to the
San Francisco Bay,
how did he pull that off?
It's what you say when you
have absolutely no evidence
that there was a crime
that occurred in this home.
But if they were
being fair about it,
they'd also have to
acknowledge, "By the way,
"given the state and
condition of the bodies
"when we finally found
them, there's no evidence
that it was a soft kill."
[upbeat music]
Tonight, day nine of Scott
Peterson's murder trial,
and his attorney, Mark Geragos,
grills police on the stand.
Detective Al Brocchini
was the first investigator
on the scene the day Laci
Peterson was reported missing.
He was pretty hard on me.
You know, Geragos was.
I was the bad guy.
Every mistake I made, he
turned it into a whole day
of talking about it.
Detective Brocchini
was a little forgetful
from time to time.
In cross-examination,
the defense already
questioning his motives.
I testified that nobody
knew Scott had a boat.
He says Laci knew he had a
boat, but we can't ask her.
Brocchini felt like it
will strengthen his case
if he makes it look like Laci
didn't even know about the boat.
She didn't even know.
That hugely backfired on him.
Geragos scored the most points
when Brocchini took the stand
because Brocchini had redacted
a piece of his report.
We interviewed everybody
in all those shops
near the warehouse,
and I interviewed a man
that said Laci used
the bathroom of a lady
that owned a shop on the 23rd,
the day before Laci
was actually missing.
So when I got my report
back, I deleted that line.
Geragos, he's like,
"What happened?
Who took that line out
of your police report?"
And I said, "I did."
Ah.
That's a big moment.
I I eliminated some
exculpatory evidence
from my police report.
I can't reply.
I can't say, "Well,
it's in Holmes's report.
He's got it all in there."
All it takes, one juror to say,
"I don't believe that detective.
He had an agenda."
Legal analysts say
they've heard nothing yet
that they think would convince
a jury to convict Peterson.
We believed that there
was no way they were gonna
be able to show
this case, prove it,
because the jury is gonna see
that this was nonsensical.
It made no sense.
It felt to me like the
Modesto Police Department
had basically put their
sights on Scott Peterson
and that they put all
their eggs in one basket.
Geragos was able to just seed
each one of these
state witnesses
with reasonable doubt.
The analytical research
studying micro-expressions
of people's faces.
It was unbelievable
how Mark Geragos took
over that courtroom.
The defense was winning.
We've set the bar
extremely high.
And that's to prove that Scott
is not only factually innocent,
but to figure out
exactly who it is
did this horrible
thing to Scott's wife
and to Scott's son.
By its nature, a
defense attorney's job
is not to prove anything.
It's simply to demonstrate
that this package
with the bow on top
that the state is trying
to create for you,
it it it doesn't exist.
It's not real.
But Mark Geragos's
statements said,
"We're not just going to
plant reasonable doubt.
"We're going to prove
that Scott Peterson
is stone-cold innocent."
Those were the words.
The actual perpetrator
is still out there.
We plan on finding that person.
Experts say, normally,
a defense attorney wouldn't
make promises to a jury,
but defense attorney Mark
Geragos made several.
That's what sticks
with the jury.
But the problem
is, he overpromised
and under-delivered.
Mark Geragos is great
on cross-examination,
and he's tripping the police
up in a lot of little details.
The reality is that
those little details
may not add up to a
not guilty verdict.
If you had a graph in terms
of the strength of the defense
and the persuasiveness
of the cross-examination,
it wanes over time.
Tonight, Scott
Peterson's former lover,
Amber Frey, finally
takes the stand
at his double-murder trial.
There was a major
shift in this case
when Amber Frey appeared.
Jurors heard Amber Frey
accuse Scott Peterson
of planning the murder
of his pregnant wife.
It wasn't what she testified to.
It was that through her
testimony and in her testimony,
we heard all of those tapes.
The prosecution did something
I'd never seen before or since.
They had printed
out the transcripts
of every single phone call.
It was so compelling
not to just hear it,
but to be able to
make notes on it.
And you could see the
jurors making notes.
You know, here's where he
said, "I lost my wife."
Here's the date.
Here's this call.
Here's this call.
The Amber tapes were clearly
one of the worst pieces
of evidence in the case.
It showed a side of him
that was comfortably lying.
If you could have heard
this testimony today,
the credibility of Scott
Peterson is now on the line.
The defense made a
decision not to bring up
any of these
dog-walking eyewitnesses
that thought they saw Laci.
The prosecution
and law enforcement
had done a beautiful job
of trying to discredit
these people.
They made these people think
that what they were saying
was not accurate.
Some of them thought,
"Are we going crazy?
Is it possible that
it wasn't her?"
And guess what happens
to that witness?
That becomes a weak
witness for the defense.
Had anybody put witnesses on
the stand that would support
the claim that Laci
was walking the dog,
that would have made
a lot of difference.
If somebody actually
really saw Laci,
then, yes, that
would be important.
Didn't happen.
And and I think that
people second guessed
Mark Geragos specifically
for that decision.
The judge believed that
the burglary and Laci's
disappearance were
unrelated and wouldn't allow
any evidence in the trial.
Everyone discounted the burglary
because they believed
that it happened
after Laci's disappearance.
It meant the jury didn't hear
evidence about the burglary.
Without the Medina burglary
being admitted into evidence,
there's no other alternate
theory that can explain
Laci Peterson's disappearance.
Part of the problem was they
wanted to get the trial over
as soon as possible so
he would be exonerated
and continue with his life.
And I think that was a mistake
because I really don't think
the defense had enough time
to really understand the case
to defend it properly.
And, gosh, I look
back on that now,
and I wonder if that
was the right decision.
We had the evidence
of my innocence.
It was a nightmare being
stuck in county jail.
And I kind of
wonder, gosh, if I
If I had been more prudent
or patient or whatever,
maybe things would've
been different.
The Scott Peterson murder
trial may go to the jury today.
This man murdered Laci Peterson.
The prosecutor, in
his closing argument,
says, look at this
as a jigsaw puzzle.
You need to put the pieces
of the puzzle together.
Is it a coincidence
that Scott Peterson
was looking at tide charts?
Is it a coincidence
that Scott Peterson
told Amber Frey he lost his wife
the same month that she died?
Is it a coincidence that
there was cement found,
anchor circles in his warehouse?
All these things
add up to murder.
The prosecution came with
this very deliberate argument
that it's open and shut.
This is a man who was
staring down the barrel
of domesticity with his wife
and this child on the way,
that he wanted nothing
to do with any of that.
The facts are borne out in
the extramarital relationship
he's having and the things that
he is saying to his mistress.
In his closing argument,
defense attorney Mark Geragos
told jurors that prosecutors
wanted them to hate Peterson,
but that was not reason
enough to convict him.
It's hard to be critical,
but I was uncomfortable
when the defense rested.
You must not be biased
against the defendant
because he has been
arrested for this offense,
charged with a crime,
or brought to trial.
After being instructed by
the judge for nearly an hour,
the six men and six
women of the jury
will now decide Scott
Peterson's fate.
We went through things that
were key points to each person.
We did take polls to find out
what people were concerned about
and what we needed answers to.
Are we ready to make a decision,
or are there other things
that need to be answered?
What questions do we have?
That's why our deliberation
took the time it did
because everybody had questions
and different
opinions of things.
I was counting on a jury
that would come back
with an acquittal
because I thought,
there's no evidence here.
There's no forensic evidence.
There's nothing to
tie him to the murder.
Everything in this
case you can look at
from a different lens.
Take one piece of
evidence and look at it
from the state's side.
And then you take
that exact same fact
and look at it from
Scott Peterson's side.
And you can make an argument
of those components
of this case.
116 people waited to get
the chance at witnessing
the verdict being read.
The decision coming
after more than 40 hours
of deliberations.
Across the country,
millions of Americans
familiar with the faces
of this unfolding drama
could only listen to
its final moments.
♪
We walked back
into the courtroom.
♪
I just remember I
was really, really
I was perspiring.
I mean, I was
I could feel my heart pounding.
One of the toughest
moments for any lawyer
is the moment right before
the jury foreman
reads the verdict.
It almost feels like
your heart is gonna stop.
A crowd outside the
Redwood City Courthouse
waited in tense silence
for the verdict.
We find the defendant,
Scott Lee Peterson,
guilty of the crime of murder.
[cheering]
There were cheers,
too, in Modesto,
Laci Peterson's hometown.
[cheering]
Inside the courtroom,
even the judge
seemed to choke with emotion.
Laci Peterson's family sobbed.
But Scott Peterson showed
no obvious reaction.
I looked at my dad, and he had
a shocked look on his face.
I had a shocked look.
I couldn't even cry.
I was just, like, stunned.
A lot of people are
not fooled by
by what went on here.
This is just a travesty.
When the clerk read the verdict,
I just remember thinking that
that I'd just missed
the word "not."
She must have just
said "not guilty."
I missed it.
And you could hear a crowd
outside the courthouse erupt.
Oh, we got him. That's it.
I'm happy. Thank God!
Thank God!
I don't know how
else to describe it
other than absolute shock.
Our family's going to make it.
We're stronger because of this.
And Scott got what he deserved.
I don't think that Amber
Frey was was the issue.
I think that this
this had been planned
before Amber Frey
even got in the picture.
I've had people after the
trial come up to me and say,
"Was he really guilty?"
And I go, are you serious?
I would find somebody
that was innocent guilty?
I would never do that.
We just said a man
was guilty of killing
his wife and unborn child.
That's a terrible thing.
What's there to cheer about?
Nobody on that jury wanted
to find Scott Peterson guilty
just for the sake of
finding him guilty
or because of public opinion.
My decision
was nothing more
than what I found
based on evidence and testimony.
Seeing what we saw,
I'm a mother of four.
Goddamn, that was his son.
He'll never come clean.
He'll never admit it.
He'll go to his grave with
it, and then he'll go to hell,
straight to hell and rot.
Peterson has been found guilty
of first and
second-degree murder.
Now, Scott Peterson is
eligible for the death penalty.
[tense music]
The jury finds him guilty.
And then the question
is, what's the penalty?
Do you get life in prison?
Do you get the death penalty?
We're gonna have
to ask this jury,
who thinks that he murdered
his wife and unborn son,
to not take his life.
Hi, everyone. First
up on the docket,
while you were eating your
Thanksgiving turkey at home,
Scott Peterson was
eating his behind bars,
waiting for the penalty
phase of his trial to begin.
Witnesses reminded the
jury the emotional toll
a death verdict would
have on Scott's parents.
The defense is hoping
for an ounce of sympathy
peppered with lingering doubt.
This afternoon, customers
gathered at the bar
to watch the jury's
penalty decision on TV.
[applause]
After calling him cruel,
uncaring, and heartless,
the judge in Scott
Peterson's murder trial
sentenced him to death
for killing his wife,
Laci, and their unborn child.
This is a box of
letters and cards
that was sent to our family,
mostly from 2003 to 2004.
"You must be in so
much pain seeing
"your child going through this.
"Your grief has to
be beyond words.
"You have lost a
daughter-in-law and a grandson.
"And your son is
facing challenges
"like he has never known.
"I cannot even comprehend
the pain you have to bear.
"Hold on to each other
with all that you have.
Your strength will
pull you through."
"Dear Lee and Jackie,
"I realize that this
case did not involve
"just one family but two.
"I'm the mother of a
seven-year-old boy,
"and if I were in
your situation,
I would have stood by my
son, as you did yours."
Getting letters
like this really,
really did make the difference
and make us feel like
we weren't alone.
We we thought the whole
world thought Scott was guilty,
but even to fill up
just a few boxes of
letters at that time
really made a big difference.
"Tonight, my heart is
filled with deep sadness.
"After watching so long to see
Scott go home with his family,
"your son did not
get a fair trial,
and there is no city in
the USA where he could."
Not long after his conviction,
as the dust settled,
everyone started to realize,
this doesn't feel
like this is right.
This doesn't feel like it was
a powerful, compelling case.
[tense music]
There have always been
a lot of questions
about how, when, where, and why.
They were never answered
in the trial itself.
We depend upon the police
to turn over every stone
and to examine every clue.
If they don't do that,
if they disregard
every piece of evidence
that doesn't fit their theory,
then their conclusions
are gonna be tainted
and likely wrong.
The Modesto Police
Department were absolutely
laser-focused on Scott
because they thought he did it.
There are a slew of eyewitnesses
who saw Laci Peterson
walking her dog
in and around the neighborhood.
There's probably 12 to
13 people that never had
a face-to-face interview
with a detective
while Laci was missing.
I have forever been
bothered by the fact
that the jury didn't hear
about those witnesses.
I've always believed
that the burglary
had something to do with it.
I think the police
decided very early on
that Scott was guilty.
And I think because of it, they
didn't effectively investigate
the Medina burglary.
The prosecution
position was at the time
that the burglary didn't
even happen on the day
of Laci's disappearance.
If that burglary happened
when Laci was around
and still alive,
it could not have
been a coincidence.
I don't think the police looked
at the burglary enough
to understand the tie-ins
to Laci's disappearance.
There's so much
reasonable doubt,
we're still talking
about it now.
There are so many instances
where there is evidence
that didn't fit the
detective's theory.
They just assumed she was dead.
Well, what if they
talked to these people,
and they found out where she was
and they learned
information from them
which could have
brought her home?
Here we are 20 years later
trying to piece this together.
I don't know that we ever felt
like we could look up and
and see that light at
the end of the tunnel.
But to have the Los
Angeles Innocence Project
come on board and file motions
that are being
actively litigated,
I think it gives us great hope.
You know, the Los Angeles
Innocence Project believes
that there is a case here.
This isn't about one
side winning or losing.
This is about justice.
This is about the
fairness of a trial.
An innocent man has been
in jail for 20 years now.
And where is the
justice in that?
Somebody has to fight for him.
People have fought
for him for years.
And now we've got a new
group fighting for him.
[ominous music]
♪
♪
Hey, Shareen.
Hi, Scott. How are you?
I should tell you
this in advance.
I'm looking at the
clock here. It's 1:18.
It's supposed to
be a 1:30 lockup,
so we may only get 12 minutes.
OK.
I'm not sure what they'll do.
I have a few questions
for you today.
After the world basically
heard your phone calls
with Amber Frey,
they came to the conclusion
that you killed Laci.
How does that make you feel?
Why didn't you tell
the police right away
about Amber Frey?
[ominous music]
♪
Police in Modesto,
California, continue searching
for 27-year-old Laci Peterson.
[dramatic music]
As the investigation
into the disappearance
of Laci Peterson continues,
police are tracking
her husband's movements
outside the Modesto,
California, area.
Even as the focus of the search
appears to be shifting
towards Scott,
Modesto Police have still
not named him as a suspect.
♪
I'm Mike Gudgell.
I've been involved
in the Peterson case
for almost two decades now.
In 2002, I was
working for ABC News
as an editorial producer.
When I first arrived, a couple
of days after Christmas Day,
it was quite a crowd of media
surrounding the house
police checkpoints,
satellite trucks.
It was what I call a complete
media feeding frenzy.
By then, we really hadn't
established sources
with the police,
but we were hearing they
were focused on Scott.
We heard that the Petersons
had hired a private
investigator.
We understood he was
talking to witnesses
who saw Laci alive
after Scott left.
That might be
different than what
we're hearing from the police.
A beautiful young
lady, very pregnant.
Walking across the street.
Walking, like, towards the park.
The fact is, within
a 30, 40-minute time,
there were five or six
witnesses who saw Laci.
So we knew that the police
narrative wasn't solid.
And then we heard that there
had been a burglary next door.
We had a burglary that was
reported to have occurred
directly across the street from
the residence in question here.
We're outside the home of
Scott and Laci Peterson's home
in Modesto, 523 Covena.
We want to show you
directly across the street.
That's 516, known
as the Medina home,
that had a burglary happen
right around the time frame
of Laci Peterson's
disappearance.
The Medinas left December
24th at about 10:30 AM.
They returned home December 26th
at about 4:30 in
the afternoon.
During the time frame
while they were gone
is when Laci was
reported missing.
When the news of the
burglary came out,
we assumed immediately
that it would be
a big break in the case.
Really kind of went, oh, OK,
we're getting somewhere now.
This could be the best
lead that we've had.
The police were now not
only trying to figure out
what happened to Laci,
but they were trying to
solve the Medina burglary,
thinking that this burglary
potentially had something to
do with what happened to Laci.
The issue around the burglary
is when did it happen?
On the 24th, the day
Laci went missing,
a neighbor of Scott and
Laci was driving home.
I was coming home from
the hand therapist
and drove by Laci's house.
And I thought, "Oh,
who are those people
on the Medinas' front lawn?"
And they were right
next to a van.
One door was a little open.
They turned around
and looked at me,
and I felt hostility.
But I didn't think
anything of it.
I thought, "Well,
I don't need to be
"looking at them or
waving or anything.
I'll just go on home."
When she heard
about this burglary
and then the news of
Laci's disappearance,
she came forward and thought,
"Oh, maybe this is important."
Diane Jackson described the
three men as dark skinned
but not African American.
A thousand dollars for someone
that leads us to the persons
responsible for the burglary.
They had put out a reward.
On the reward flyer,
they used the information
that they'd gotten
from Diane Jackson.
You're looking for a van.
You're looking for three men.
They put a senior detective
from the Major Crimes Unit
on it, got an informant
almost immediately.
They've actually made two
arrests in that today.
Modesto Police
arrested two suspects,
Steven Todd and Donald Pearce.
Their cooperation level
was off the charts.
They both polygraphed.
They wanted the polygraphs
released to the media
because they wanted the
people in the jail to know
that they were not
involved in this case.
Steven Todd and Glen Pearce,
neither one of them is dark
skinned, not African American.
But also, neither one of them
has ever been
associated with a van.
They said that they used a car
and a bike to commit
the burglaries.
The informant told police
that up to five people
were involved, and
they didn't look into
any of the others.
Well, I'd like to see who
these additional people are
and where they came
up with the idea
that additional
people were involved
in the burglary itself.
I don't see anything
that would suggest that.
Diane Jackson claimed
that she saw a van
across the street from the
Peterson house on the 24th.
She couldn't even really confirm
what the color of the van was.
And when you have that
kind of discrepancy,
when it comes to even the
description of the vehicle,
it calls into question the
reliability of that witness.
At this point, there
is no connection.
There's no leads to indicate
that they were involved
in the missing of Laci.
We solved that burglary.
Found out that it, in
fact, occurred on the 26th.
Steven Todd says that the
burglary was on the 26th,
but that's according
to the burglar.
He changed it.
He picked, "Oh, it
happened on December 27th.
Oh, no, it was the 26th."
So it wasn't very
reliable, that's for sure.
I thought, "Well, that's
quite interesting,"
because on the 26th,
there was a lot of activity
on Scott and Laci's street,
and how could burglars
get in and out
without anybody seeing them?
I thought it was
highly improbable
that that was the truth.
They solved that
burglary really quickly.
But there's a distinction
that needs to be made
between solving the burglary
and saying it didn't
have anything to do
with Laci's disappearance.
I find that pretty unbelievable.
That would be an
incredible coincidence.
One of the lead investigators,
Jon Buehler, often told me,
there are no coincidences
in murder investigations.
[suspenseful music]
Todd and Pearce,
the two that we know
burgled the house
across the street.
We don't know who else
was in that burglary.
We know there were others.
There was just no
desire to pursue
what the evidence
was telling them.
I mean, it was the evidence
that they just decided
to ignore and go with theory.
Today marking the
one-month anniversary
of Laci Peterson's
disappearance.
Police right now
expected any moment now
to walk up to the podium
and give us the very latest
on their investigation.
The press conference of
of all press conferences
was when they marched
out Amber Frey.
I am very sorry
for Laci's family
and the the pain that
this has caused them.
Amber changed everything.
She became the focus.
Wow, what a development that is.
The missing woman's
apparently perfect marriage
may not have been so perfect.
That he'd been having an affair.
And we felt that if he had
not been truthful about that,
that possibly
there's other things
he needs to talk to us about.
Support for Scott
Peterson has wavered
since police told Laci's family.
I would like Scott to
know that I trusted him
and stood by him in
the initial phases
of my sister's disappearance.
However, Scott has not been
forthcoming with information
regarding my sister's
disappearance,
and I'm only left to question
what else he may be hiding.
Scott had been declining
interview requests consistently.
Now, when Amber
Frey is out there,
nobody's looking for Laci.
Everybody thinks he's guilty.
So he decided, all right,
I'll do a few interviews.
Did you murder your wife?
No, no. I did not.
And I had absolutely nothing
to do with her disappearance.
In that interview
with Diane Sawyer,
Scott makes the
outlandish claim that
I told my wife.
He told Laci about the affair,
and she was OK with it.
There wasn't a lot of anger?
No.
Do you really expect
people to believe
that an 8 and 1/2
month pregnant woman
learns her husband
has had an affair
and makes a peace with it?
Well, I yeah,
you don't know.
No one knows our
relationship but us.
That was the nail in his coffin.
This is ludicrous, the idea
that Laci knew about Amber.
He came across as
being disingenuous.
And in a couple of cases,
just lied right out.
Had you told anyone?
Did you tell police?
I told the police immediately.
- When?
- December 24th.
Laci Peterson's
husband admits he lied
about his extramarital
affair with Amber Frey.
When you're in a
hole, stop digging.
He shot himself in the
foot so many times,
he ought to be on crutches.
That's when the
word "psychopath"
started to creep in in
some of the reports.
He did four interviews,
I believe, total.
One of the interviews
he did was with me.
Well, the polygraph is
another one of those things.
I'm not saying I have.
I'm not saying I haven't.
There's no winning.
You can never
present the reality.
If you go out and
you do an interview,
it's gonna be edited.
It's gonna be awful.
Amber Frey claims that you
called her on the 24th,
told her that you were
going to Brussels.
Yeah, this is a short newscast,
and I don't know how
much of these words
you're going to use or not.
But I'm not gonna waste
that by defending myself,
talking about irrelevant things.
He looked like a narcissistic,
lying killer.
I've had people spit
on me at gas stations.
I've received death
threats on the phone.
I had someone in the front yard
claiming they were a witch,
burying things in
the front lawn.
I wish I could say
I was stronger,
but all that stuff
did take a toll on me.
I just remembered
how insane I was
going with no sleep
and worried about
Conner and Laci
and what seemed like
just a apathetic response
from the police department.
Scott's behavior fit into things
that we've seen before
with other murder cases
limited cooperation level,
his cool, calm demeanor
when everybody else
was just frantic.
And there were too many other
circumstantial evidence
items to ignore.
It started to become
increasingly obvious to us
that they would be
found in the bay.
[tense music]
♪
The search in the waters
just outside the Berkeley
Marina began early.
17 divers from Alameda
County loaded up on boats
and swept the floor
of the open water
just outside of the marina.
Scott had given us a detailed
description of how he had
gone out of the marina,
and he'd gone to the north,
and he found this
island, which turned out
to be Brooks Island,
with a sign that said,
you're not supposed
to leave your boat
and walk around on the island.
So it seemed obvious
that he probably
let her go in the area
right by Brooks Island
in the Berkeley Marina.
♪
My name is Danny Lopez.
I was the officer in
charge of the San Francisco
Police Department Marine Patrol.
We're retracing
Scott Peterson's trip
on the 24th.
Dead ahead is the Brooks Island.
The reason that it's
difficult to find somebody
in the San Francisco
Bay is the visibility
is probably about this much.
This is the location that we
were spending most of our time.
That's where the grid
searches were done,
the side-scan sonar,
the underwater searches,
cadaver dogs.
We're continuing
our search today,
and we're concentrating on
on several different things.
We were on that water every day,
sometimes with multiple boats,
multiple water cadaver dogs,
helicopters.
The number of
searches in that bay
probably was in
the mid-500 range.
It's a lot of area to cover.
It was looking for a needle
in the haystack blindfolded.
One of those things
that you just do it.
You have to give
closure to the family.
[tense music]
I think the way it
started to affect me
and others was the fact that
it was a pregnant
mother that was missing.
We keep searching
till we find her.
I'll just keep carrying this on,
and my family will
understand why I'm not home.
And I felt like I was
looking for my sister.
[somber music]
♪
You can't help to get
a personal attachment
over a period of time.
♪
This is a good good
point of reference.
Another part of the search was
to look for devices, anchors,
homemade anchors,
anything that would
have kept a body submerged.
We found two homemade anchors.
They were cylindrical.
They looked like they were
formed in a large coffee can
or maybe a paint can.
It was determined that
they were not connected
to the Scott Peterson
investigation,
so they were thrown
back into the bay.
But I thought it was odd
that we didn't put
them into evidence
and examine them.
After months and
months of searching
with multiple agencies,
they were never recovered.
The district
attorney at the time,
he said, "Hey, if you
don't bring me a body,
you don't have a filing."
We're getting to that
point where there really
wasn't anything coming in.
We were resurrecting some old
tips and clearing those out,
but nothing ground shaking
until we get to April.
[ominous music]
♪
In 2003, I was a police officer
with the East Bay
Regional Park District.
One day during briefing,
one of our sergeants
made a comment
"I bet she'll show
up at Point Isabel."
His experience, it was
that the way the tides flow
in San Francisco Bay,
that more than once,
they had had bodies
that had been recovered
from the area of Point Isabel.
♪
A female adult body was
discovered late this morning
by a woman walking the
shoreline at Point Isabel
in the city of Richmond.
You could see a deceased female
lying face down
on the shoreline.
Her body was in terrible,
obviously very
decomposed condition.
One of the things that
I noticed on her body
was a strip of duct tape that
was on the front of her torso.
My first reaction
was, "We better notify
the Modesto Police Department."
I remember vividly
being in my car
and hearing it on the radio
that a body had been found
and that an infant body had
also been found the day before.
No word yet on whether the
two bodies found in the bay
are those of Laci
Peterson and her baby.
The lab results could
come any time now.
♪
So frankly, we thought because
there hadn't been
an announcement
You know, it wasn't unheard of.
There was
there's been other
bodies, you know,
on the bay before.
There's some people who've
driven into the bay,
and their bodies were found.
So it wasn't like it was
the only possibility.
[tense music]
The bodies hadn't been
confirmed as Laci and Conner,
although it looked
likely that they were.
We put a team of guys
on Scott right away.
We were gonna just watch him
until the attorney general
released the DNA evidence.
We still had a
wiretap on his phone,
so we could hear what he was
saying, talking to his brother.
[tense music]
[suspenseful music]
The next day, all of a sudden,
Scott started moving
very early in the day.
And so the chase was on.
♪
Yeah, see that tangle?
I'll be right there.
Ah, that's nice right there.
The fish, oh, yeah.
All right, look at that monster.
I wanted to talk
more about the arrest
and what that day
was like for you.
Action photo.
It may seem odd to other
people, but, like
Look at the camera.
And be together.
And then when I
got on the road
I don't want a picture of me
being taken and, you know,
splashed on a tabloid.
I just could imagine
what the headlines were.
Scott was very good at
counter-surveillance driving.
As he would drive
along at high speeds,
he would brake
heavily and cut lanes.
We were concerned that he
was gonna get into a wreck
or he was gonna create a
traffic collision behind him
because of his evasive moves.
And so we made a
decision that if
if he hurt somebody,
we're gonna be in trouble.
So let's arrest him.
[sirens wailing]
We were stopped at the
entrance to Torrey Pines.
[camera clicks]
When Scott got out
of the car, he was
he was Scott.
There was no protest.
"You got the wrong guy.
"Why am I in cuffs?
"What are you doing?
Why aren't you guys
looking for the killer?"
[camera clicks]
He dyed his hair to
a different color,
grown a goatee,
which further
disguised him slightly
so maybe he wouldn't be noticed.
Searched his car.
He had cell phones.
He had Viagra.
He had everything you need
from going to a gala
to a camping trip.
He could dig a gold mine.
Most people don't drive
around with $10,000 cash
and their brother's
driver's license.
And some people had said
that maybe he was
fleeing to Mexico.
He could easily go anywhere
he wanted and fit in.
I don't understand that at all,
because I just want to be clear.
I was never running
from the police.
I was always in
contact with them.
I'd answer most of their calls.
There were times that
I was very frustrated,
that I would not
take their calls.
I found out he was
arrested about 2:00.
It was
it was just we
were just in shock.
We were in we were
in absolute shock.
So we had to make arrangements
and travel to Modesto
and attend his arraignment.
[tense music]
Police in California said
today that murder suspect
Scott Peterson had $10,000
in cash when he was arrested
near the Mexican border.
He had some cash in his car.
His brother, John, was gonna
buy Scott's truck from him,
so he gave Scott the cash
to buy Scott out of his truck.
And Scott was still
carrying that cash
at the point that
he was arrested.
He had changed his appearance.
Police feared he might be
preparing to flee to Mexico.
That's a narrative we
still battle to this day.
Scott was spending a lot of
time with family in San Diego.
I live in San Diego.
His parents lived in San Diego.
And San Diego borders Mexico.
So when Scott was arrested,
the national headline was
"Scott was arrested 30 miles
from the Mexican border."
The bodies had been
found five days before,
but we still had not heard
a positive identification.
Then I want to say within
a couple of hours of that
was the press conference.
There is no question
in our minds
that the unidentified female
is Laci Peterson.
The unidentified fetus
is the biological child
of Laci and Scott Peterson.
[sniffles]
We were not notified.
We heard it like everyone else.
And we were crushed.
All of the fear that we
had in Laci being missing
and the pins and needles that
you know, and the ups and downs
that we went through
for the past four months
had really
now, it's hit rock bottom.
[somber music]
♪
After Scott was arrested,
we started driving back
from San Diego to Modesto.
[somber music]
♪
When Scott received this news,
I just recall Scott making
kind of like a sniffling noise,
and that was it.
There wasn't any
hysterics, no screams.
"No, it can't be!"
No theatrics, nothing like that.
He bowed his head and
pushed out a tear.
He was quiet. He
didn't say nothing.
♪
15 miles later, when we stopped,
he ate a double double,
you know, from In-N-Out,
and a shake and a fries
and gobbled it all
down just like nothing,
just like we're just
coming home from fishing.
The police report says
that Scott had a tear
coming down his face.
He'd been in custody
for hours at this point,
and he's he's
going to county jail.
The perception and the
way it's presented is
it's as though Scott was told
his wife and son were dead
and he ordered a cheeseburger
five minutes later.
[ominous music]
Well, now we can move forward.
And now justice can be done.
Soon after Laci went missing,
I made a promise to her
that if she has been
harmed, we will seek justice
for her and Conner and
make sure that that person
responsible for their
for their deaths
will be punished.
[tense music]
What became a fight to find Laci
then became a fight
to save Scott's life.
♪
Shortly after midnight,
when investigators
escorted Scott Peterson
to the Stanislaus County Jail,
a crowd of 250 taunted
and heckled him,
calling him a murderer.
I just hope he gets the same
death that he gave his family.
Call the case of The People
versus Scott Lee Peterson.
Under tight security,
Scott Peterson,
wearing chains on his
wrists and ankles,
was walked into a packed
Modesto courtroom today.
Once Scott was arraigned,
we were looking for an attorney,
and my parents had watched
"The Larry King Show"
for the last several months.
That's really where we
first met Mark Geragos.
This case is intriguing,
if for nothing else,
is that the more there's a
lynch mob mentality out there
for him, the more
that it's intriguing.
They hired him.
He was media savvy.
He seemed like he
had a good team.
I just wanted to say that
we're happy that Mark is
in place as Scott's attorney,
and we do look forward
to proving his innocence.
I'm Lara Yeretsian,
and I'm a criminal defense
attorney of over two decades.
We got the case in 2003.
I was a young attorney.
This case was on
a whole new level.
27-year-old mom-to-be,
eight months pregnant.
As the investigation into the
disappearance of Laci Peterson
continues, police are
- Though neither the victim
nor the accused
was famous before,
the Peterson case has now
taken on celebrity status.
I'd handled a number of cases,
but nothing that came close
to the magnitude of this case.
The interest was so
intense in this case.
I just remember walking
with Mark Geragos
towards the courthouse.
People would come up
to us with questions.
And it wasn't just the media.
Mark, can we get a
quick word with ya?
- Right now? How about after?
- OK.
People would even ask
for Mark's autograph.
I mean, he had
become a celebrity.
Thank you very much.
I'll see you guys on Thursday.
Come on. Come on, be
human beings right now.
There was a lot of
anger, palpable anger,
towards Scott Peterson.
[suspenseful music]
And everybody had an
opinion about this case.
Every single person I
knew had an opinion.
And I can tell you,
every single person
believed that he was guilty.
♪
Michael Cardoza.
Top defense attorney
in the area,
who was in the courtroom today.
I'm Michael Cardoza.
I've been a criminal defense
attorney for over 45 years.
And at that time, I was
doing some legal commentary
on "The Larry King Show."
Here's what this case
boils down to, Larry.
There are three things.
The defense team came
to me and asked me
if I would do a mock
cross-examination
of Scott Peterson.
I went into jail. I walked in.
I sat down. They
brought Scott in.
And I began my
cross-examination.
I cannot tell you how
and what happened,
but you can imagine, you know,
what questions were asked.
And they made a decision
he wasn't going to testify.
I hope he goes to prison
for the rest of his life.
I'm just glad that
the animal got caught.
What you have to remember is
you're putting a man up there
who was hated by America.
And then you witnessed
the previous interviews
and how poorly he did there.
You know what?
It's a positive to allow us
to go on to search for Laci.
Why would you expect
he's gonna do a 180
and come across convincing
the jury that he didn't do it?
I think if you put Scott
Peterson on the stand,
he would have been eaten alive.
♪
Opening statements begin
today in the double-murder
trial of Scott Peterson.
Scott Peterson's case is
a character evidence case
and nothing else.
But the smoke and mirrors to it
is the suggestion that
there's a great deal
of circumstantial
evidence. There isn't.
There's an affair, and there's
the location of the bodies.
That's the entire case.
People don't wrap
themselves in duct tape
and then go jump in
the San Francisco Bay
in the middle of winter.
The state knew the
problems with their case.
They didn't know how he
did it, when he did it,
but they knew that he
was a liar, a cheater.
And they relied on that.
All of these things
were impossible.
If those things were impossible,
then this man murdered
Laci Peterson.
They just didn't have
anything of substance.
So we felt very good
and very confident.
If the court wants to talk
about prejudicial publicity,
having poster-sized pictures
of him labeled as a monster
in chains, I don't think is
is somehow conducive to
getting a fair trial.
My first impression was
that the Geragos team
was very professional
and were prepared for this.
Mark Geragos comes out
in his opening
statement and says,
"Yes, he's a cheater.
Yes, he's a 14-carat A-hole,
but he's not a killer."
Now, on the prosecuting
attorney side,
I didn't feel that way.
I thought that they
were bumbling it.
Scott Peterson's
tone and demeanor
following Laci's disappearance
are being called into question.
This after prosecutors played
a taped police interview
with him describing what he did
the day Laci disappeared.
Day one, there was
a mistake made.
Scott says that the morning
of Laci's disappearance
The prosecution claims
that Martha Stewart
wasn't talking about
meringue that morning,
that they say this is
evidence he was lying.
Geragos brings it in.
He says, "Let's roll the
tape," and you see it.
Ooh, you want to make
little meringues?
Oh, that would be nice.
The prosecution got it wrong.
And this happens at
the jump of the trial.
- Did you check these windows?
- Yeah.
You don't commit a violent crime
without getting
your hands dirty.
The police executed
more than 10 search
warrants on the home
and his place of business.
Officers began a search
of the couple's home
late last night.
After they found pretty
much zero physical evidence
in the house or in the
truck or in the boat,
the theory had to become
that this was a soft kill.
A soft kill is a murder that
doesn't involve a weapon,
that doesn't leave
behind essentially
obvious forensic evidence.
The coroner has yet to
determine the cause of death.
Unless there is a pretty good
cause of death in the torso,
they're stuck.
How was this person killed?
We don't know.
And throughout the trial,
we never found out.
Even a soft kill leaves
behind some sort of trail.
If he kills her
and is dragging her
around to his workshop
and then to the
San Francisco Bay,
how did he pull that off?
It's what you say when you
have absolutely no evidence
that there was a crime
that occurred in this home.
But if they were
being fair about it,
they'd also have to
acknowledge, "By the way,
"given the state and
condition of the bodies
"when we finally found
them, there's no evidence
that it was a soft kill."
[upbeat music]
Tonight, day nine of Scott
Peterson's murder trial,
and his attorney, Mark Geragos,
grills police on the stand.
Detective Al Brocchini
was the first investigator
on the scene the day Laci
Peterson was reported missing.
He was pretty hard on me.
You know, Geragos was.
I was the bad guy.
Every mistake I made, he
turned it into a whole day
of talking about it.
Detective Brocchini
was a little forgetful
from time to time.
In cross-examination,
the defense already
questioning his motives.
I testified that nobody
knew Scott had a boat.
He says Laci knew he had a
boat, but we can't ask her.
Brocchini felt like it
will strengthen his case
if he makes it look like Laci
didn't even know about the boat.
She didn't even know.
That hugely backfired on him.
Geragos scored the most points
when Brocchini took the stand
because Brocchini had redacted
a piece of his report.
We interviewed everybody
in all those shops
near the warehouse,
and I interviewed a man
that said Laci used
the bathroom of a lady
that owned a shop on the 23rd,
the day before Laci
was actually missing.
So when I got my report
back, I deleted that line.
Geragos, he's like,
"What happened?
Who took that line out
of your police report?"
And I said, "I did."
Ah.
That's a big moment.
I I eliminated some
exculpatory evidence
from my police report.
I can't reply.
I can't say, "Well,
it's in Holmes's report.
He's got it all in there."
All it takes, one juror to say,
"I don't believe that detective.
He had an agenda."
Legal analysts say
they've heard nothing yet
that they think would convince
a jury to convict Peterson.
We believed that there
was no way they were gonna
be able to show
this case, prove it,
because the jury is gonna see
that this was nonsensical.
It made no sense.
It felt to me like the
Modesto Police Department
had basically put their
sights on Scott Peterson
and that they put all
their eggs in one basket.
Geragos was able to just seed
each one of these
state witnesses
with reasonable doubt.
The analytical research
studying micro-expressions
of people's faces.
It was unbelievable
how Mark Geragos took
over that courtroom.
The defense was winning.
We've set the bar
extremely high.
And that's to prove that Scott
is not only factually innocent,
but to figure out
exactly who it is
did this horrible
thing to Scott's wife
and to Scott's son.
By its nature, a
defense attorney's job
is not to prove anything.
It's simply to demonstrate
that this package
with the bow on top
that the state is trying
to create for you,
it it it doesn't exist.
It's not real.
But Mark Geragos's
statements said,
"We're not just going to
plant reasonable doubt.
"We're going to prove
that Scott Peterson
is stone-cold innocent."
Those were the words.
The actual perpetrator
is still out there.
We plan on finding that person.
Experts say, normally,
a defense attorney wouldn't
make promises to a jury,
but defense attorney Mark
Geragos made several.
That's what sticks
with the jury.
But the problem
is, he overpromised
and under-delivered.
Mark Geragos is great
on cross-examination,
and he's tripping the police
up in a lot of little details.
The reality is that
those little details
may not add up to a
not guilty verdict.
If you had a graph in terms
of the strength of the defense
and the persuasiveness
of the cross-examination,
it wanes over time.
Tonight, Scott
Peterson's former lover,
Amber Frey, finally
takes the stand
at his double-murder trial.
There was a major
shift in this case
when Amber Frey appeared.
Jurors heard Amber Frey
accuse Scott Peterson
of planning the murder
of his pregnant wife.
It wasn't what she testified to.
It was that through her
testimony and in her testimony,
we heard all of those tapes.
The prosecution did something
I'd never seen before or since.
They had printed
out the transcripts
of every single phone call.
It was so compelling
not to just hear it,
but to be able to
make notes on it.
And you could see the
jurors making notes.
You know, here's where he
said, "I lost my wife."
Here's the date.
Here's this call.
Here's this call.
The Amber tapes were clearly
one of the worst pieces
of evidence in the case.
It showed a side of him
that was comfortably lying.
If you could have heard
this testimony today,
the credibility of Scott
Peterson is now on the line.
The defense made a
decision not to bring up
any of these
dog-walking eyewitnesses
that thought they saw Laci.
The prosecution
and law enforcement
had done a beautiful job
of trying to discredit
these people.
They made these people think
that what they were saying
was not accurate.
Some of them thought,
"Are we going crazy?
Is it possible that
it wasn't her?"
And guess what happens
to that witness?
That becomes a weak
witness for the defense.
Had anybody put witnesses on
the stand that would support
the claim that Laci
was walking the dog,
that would have made
a lot of difference.
If somebody actually
really saw Laci,
then, yes, that
would be important.
Didn't happen.
And and I think that
people second guessed
Mark Geragos specifically
for that decision.
The judge believed that
the burglary and Laci's
disappearance were
unrelated and wouldn't allow
any evidence in the trial.
Everyone discounted the burglary
because they believed
that it happened
after Laci's disappearance.
It meant the jury didn't hear
evidence about the burglary.
Without the Medina burglary
being admitted into evidence,
there's no other alternate
theory that can explain
Laci Peterson's disappearance.
Part of the problem was they
wanted to get the trial over
as soon as possible so
he would be exonerated
and continue with his life.
And I think that was a mistake
because I really don't think
the defense had enough time
to really understand the case
to defend it properly.
And, gosh, I look
back on that now,
and I wonder if that
was the right decision.
We had the evidence
of my innocence.
It was a nightmare being
stuck in county jail.
And I kind of
wonder, gosh, if I
If I had been more prudent
or patient or whatever,
maybe things would've
been different.
The Scott Peterson murder
trial may go to the jury today.
This man murdered Laci Peterson.
The prosecutor, in
his closing argument,
says, look at this
as a jigsaw puzzle.
You need to put the pieces
of the puzzle together.
Is it a coincidence
that Scott Peterson
was looking at tide charts?
Is it a coincidence
that Scott Peterson
told Amber Frey he lost his wife
the same month that she died?
Is it a coincidence that
there was cement found,
anchor circles in his warehouse?
All these things
add up to murder.
The prosecution came with
this very deliberate argument
that it's open and shut.
This is a man who was
staring down the barrel
of domesticity with his wife
and this child on the way,
that he wanted nothing
to do with any of that.
The facts are borne out in
the extramarital relationship
he's having and the things that
he is saying to his mistress.
In his closing argument,
defense attorney Mark Geragos
told jurors that prosecutors
wanted them to hate Peterson,
but that was not reason
enough to convict him.
It's hard to be critical,
but I was uncomfortable
when the defense rested.
You must not be biased
against the defendant
because he has been
arrested for this offense,
charged with a crime,
or brought to trial.
After being instructed by
the judge for nearly an hour,
the six men and six
women of the jury
will now decide Scott
Peterson's fate.
We went through things that
were key points to each person.
We did take polls to find out
what people were concerned about
and what we needed answers to.
Are we ready to make a decision,
or are there other things
that need to be answered?
What questions do we have?
That's why our deliberation
took the time it did
because everybody had questions
and different
opinions of things.
I was counting on a jury
that would come back
with an acquittal
because I thought,
there's no evidence here.
There's no forensic evidence.
There's nothing to
tie him to the murder.
Everything in this
case you can look at
from a different lens.
Take one piece of
evidence and look at it
from the state's side.
And then you take
that exact same fact
and look at it from
Scott Peterson's side.
And you can make an argument
of those components
of this case.
116 people waited to get
the chance at witnessing
the verdict being read.
The decision coming
after more than 40 hours
of deliberations.
Across the country,
millions of Americans
familiar with the faces
of this unfolding drama
could only listen to
its final moments.
♪
We walked back
into the courtroom.
♪
I just remember I
was really, really
I was perspiring.
I mean, I was
I could feel my heart pounding.
One of the toughest
moments for any lawyer
is the moment right before
the jury foreman
reads the verdict.
It almost feels like
your heart is gonna stop.
A crowd outside the
Redwood City Courthouse
waited in tense silence
for the verdict.
We find the defendant,
Scott Lee Peterson,
guilty of the crime of murder.
[cheering]
There were cheers,
too, in Modesto,
Laci Peterson's hometown.
[cheering]
Inside the courtroom,
even the judge
seemed to choke with emotion.
Laci Peterson's family sobbed.
But Scott Peterson showed
no obvious reaction.
I looked at my dad, and he had
a shocked look on his face.
I had a shocked look.
I couldn't even cry.
I was just, like, stunned.
A lot of people are
not fooled by
by what went on here.
This is just a travesty.
When the clerk read the verdict,
I just remember thinking that
that I'd just missed
the word "not."
She must have just
said "not guilty."
I missed it.
And you could hear a crowd
outside the courthouse erupt.
Oh, we got him. That's it.
I'm happy. Thank God!
Thank God!
I don't know how
else to describe it
other than absolute shock.
Our family's going to make it.
We're stronger because of this.
And Scott got what he deserved.
I don't think that Amber
Frey was was the issue.
I think that this
this had been planned
before Amber Frey
even got in the picture.
I've had people after the
trial come up to me and say,
"Was he really guilty?"
And I go, are you serious?
I would find somebody
that was innocent guilty?
I would never do that.
We just said a man
was guilty of killing
his wife and unborn child.
That's a terrible thing.
What's there to cheer about?
Nobody on that jury wanted
to find Scott Peterson guilty
just for the sake of
finding him guilty
or because of public opinion.
My decision
was nothing more
than what I found
based on evidence and testimony.
Seeing what we saw,
I'm a mother of four.
Goddamn, that was his son.
He'll never come clean.
He'll never admit it.
He'll go to his grave with
it, and then he'll go to hell,
straight to hell and rot.
Peterson has been found guilty
of first and
second-degree murder.
Now, Scott Peterson is
eligible for the death penalty.
[tense music]
The jury finds him guilty.
And then the question
is, what's the penalty?
Do you get life in prison?
Do you get the death penalty?
We're gonna have
to ask this jury,
who thinks that he murdered
his wife and unborn son,
to not take his life.
Hi, everyone. First
up on the docket,
while you were eating your
Thanksgiving turkey at home,
Scott Peterson was
eating his behind bars,
waiting for the penalty
phase of his trial to begin.
Witnesses reminded the
jury the emotional toll
a death verdict would
have on Scott's parents.
The defense is hoping
for an ounce of sympathy
peppered with lingering doubt.
This afternoon, customers
gathered at the bar
to watch the jury's
penalty decision on TV.
[applause]
After calling him cruel,
uncaring, and heartless,
the judge in Scott
Peterson's murder trial
sentenced him to death
for killing his wife,
Laci, and their unborn child.
This is a box of
letters and cards
that was sent to our family,
mostly from 2003 to 2004.
"You must be in so
much pain seeing
"your child going through this.
"Your grief has to
be beyond words.
"You have lost a
daughter-in-law and a grandson.
"And your son is
facing challenges
"like he has never known.
"I cannot even comprehend
the pain you have to bear.
"Hold on to each other
with all that you have.
Your strength will
pull you through."
"Dear Lee and Jackie,
"I realize that this
case did not involve
"just one family but two.
"I'm the mother of a
seven-year-old boy,
"and if I were in
your situation,
I would have stood by my
son, as you did yours."
Getting letters
like this really,
really did make the difference
and make us feel like
we weren't alone.
We we thought the whole
world thought Scott was guilty,
but even to fill up
just a few boxes of
letters at that time
really made a big difference.
"Tonight, my heart is
filled with deep sadness.
"After watching so long to see
Scott go home with his family,
"your son did not
get a fair trial,
and there is no city in
the USA where he could."
Not long after his conviction,
as the dust settled,
everyone started to realize,
this doesn't feel
like this is right.
This doesn't feel like it was
a powerful, compelling case.
[tense music]
There have always been
a lot of questions
about how, when, where, and why.
They were never answered
in the trial itself.
We depend upon the police
to turn over every stone
and to examine every clue.
If they don't do that,
if they disregard
every piece of evidence
that doesn't fit their theory,
then their conclusions
are gonna be tainted
and likely wrong.
The Modesto Police
Department were absolutely
laser-focused on Scott
because they thought he did it.
There are a slew of eyewitnesses
who saw Laci Peterson
walking her dog
in and around the neighborhood.
There's probably 12 to
13 people that never had
a face-to-face interview
with a detective
while Laci was missing.
I have forever been
bothered by the fact
that the jury didn't hear
about those witnesses.
I've always believed
that the burglary
had something to do with it.
I think the police
decided very early on
that Scott was guilty.
And I think because of it, they
didn't effectively investigate
the Medina burglary.
The prosecution
position was at the time
that the burglary didn't
even happen on the day
of Laci's disappearance.
If that burglary happened
when Laci was around
and still alive,
it could not have
been a coincidence.
I don't think the police looked
at the burglary enough
to understand the tie-ins
to Laci's disappearance.
There's so much
reasonable doubt,
we're still talking
about it now.
There are so many instances
where there is evidence
that didn't fit the
detective's theory.
They just assumed she was dead.
Well, what if they
talked to these people,
and they found out where she was
and they learned
information from them
which could have
brought her home?
Here we are 20 years later
trying to piece this together.
I don't know that we ever felt
like we could look up and
and see that light at
the end of the tunnel.
But to have the Los
Angeles Innocence Project
come on board and file motions
that are being
actively litigated,
I think it gives us great hope.
You know, the Los Angeles
Innocence Project believes
that there is a case here.
This isn't about one
side winning or losing.
This is about justice.
This is about the
fairness of a trial.
An innocent man has been
in jail for 20 years now.
And where is the
justice in that?
Somebody has to fight for him.
People have fought
for him for years.
And now we've got a new
group fighting for him.
[ominous music]
♪