Scott Peterson Today: Innocence Project, 2026 Ruling, and Appeals

Scott Peterson today is 53 years old and serving life in prison without the possibility of parole at Mule Creek State Prison in California, more than two decades after he was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son Conner. He came off death row in 2020, was formally resentenced in 2021, and has spent the years since pursuing new-trial claims through his defense team and, more recently, the Los Angeles Innocence Project. His most recent bid was denied on April 27, 2026. His attorneys have said they will appeal.

How He Came Off Death Row

Peterson spent more than 15 years on California’s death row after Judge Alfred Delucchi sentenced him to death on March 16, 2005. On August 24, 2020, the California Supreme Court unanimously overturned the death sentence. Writing for the court, Justice Leondra Kruger found that the trial judge had committed “clear and significant errors in jury selection” by dismissing more than a dozen prospective jurors based solely on written questionnaire answers expressing general opposition to the death penalty. Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, a juror can only be disqualified for capital-punishment views if those views would “substantially impair” the ability to follow the law, and the trial court had refused defense requests to question the jurors further.¹

The court upheld the underlying murder convictions. Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager then declined to retry the penalty phase, citing California’s moratorium on executions and the wish to spare Laci’s family another trial. On December 8, 2021, Peterson was formally resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.²

The Los Angeles Innocence Project’s Case

In January 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced it was representing Peterson, asserting he has “a claim of actual innocence that is supported by newly discovered evidence.” The nonprofit, founded in 2022 and focused on wrongful convictions involving misused scientific evidence, assigned Director Paula Mitchell and Deputy Director Hannah Brown to the case. Investigators conducted more than 50 witness interviews.³

The Project’s theory rests on three lines of argument. The first concerns a burglary at the home of Rudy and Susan Medina, directly across the street from the Petersons on Covena Avenue. Two men, Steven Todd and Donald Pearce, were arrested for that burglary in early January 2003. Modesto police stated at the time that the burglary occurred on December 26 and had no connection to Laci’s disappearance, but Todd’s plea agreement listed the date as “on or about and between” December 24 and December 26. The Project alleges Laci walked into the burglary on Christmas Eve while walking her dog and was killed to silence her.⁴

The second is scientific. The Project contends new studies place the deaths of Laci and Conner four to twelve days after December 23, and that three-dimensional modeling contradicts trial testimony about where the bodies entered San Francisco Bay.³

The third alleges misconduct by Modesto police, including the intentional destruction of videotaped interviews of the burglary suspects and a failure to investigate a van set on fire nearby hours after Laci disappeared.⁵ Modesto police cleared the burglary suspects of any involvement in Laci’s disappearance in early 2003, with Detective George Stough stating there was “no evidence” linking the two events.⁶

The April 2026 Ruling

In August 2025, the Innocence Project filed a habeas corpus petition running nearly 700 pages in San Mateo County Superior Court, raising 14 claims of innocence and due process violations. The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office, led by DA Jeff Laugero, filed a 903-page opposition.⁷

On April 27, 2026, Judge Elizabeth M. Hill denied the petition in its entirety. In a 116-page order, she ruled all 14 claims were “procedurally barred, meritless, or both” and found nothing “new, admissible, nor material” in the filing. Hill wrote that Peterson “has not alleged facts sufficient to bring any of the procedurally barred claims within an exception for fundamental miscarriage of justice or actual innocence.”⁸

Two weeks earlier, on April 2, 2026, Judge Hill had denied Peterson’s fourth request for DNA testing as procedurally barred and without merit. A discovery motion Peterson filed in January 2026 seeking roughly 230 items was withdrawn by the defense after the habeas petition was denied.⁷

The Unsealed 2004 Transcript

On March 25, 2026, Judge Hill ordered the unsealing of a transcript from a 2004 in-chambers meeting attended by Peterson, his original defense attorneys Mark Geragos and Pat Harris, their investigator, and the trial judge. Prosecutors had been excluded from the meeting and only learned of its contents when it was unsealed more than two decades later.

The transcript cut against two longstanding defense claims. On the “Aponte tip,” the defense had maintained for years that it was unaware until late October 2004 of a correctional officer’s report about an inmate with knowledge of the disappearance and a related burglary. The transcript showed Peterson’s own investigator had already spoken with Lt. Aponte and was tracking the lead at the time the defense claimed ignorance. On the “Croton watch” claim, the petition had alleged police secretly investigated and suppressed evidence about a pawned woman’s watch. The transcript showed the defense itself held the February 14, 2003 pawn ticket for that watch and had tried to redeem it.⁷

The Judge’s Admonishments

Judge Hill issued two formal admonishments to Peterson’s current defense team. She wrote that the petition’s failure to disclose all relevant facts about the pawn ticket and the Aponte tip “treads unsettlingly close to the bounds of permissible advocacy under Rule 3.3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct,” the rule governing attorney candor before a court. The District Attorney’s office described the admonishments as “among the most serious rebukes a judge can deliver short of an outright sanctions order.”⁷

What Is Still Pending

The Innocence Project has said it will appeal Judge Hill’s April 2026 ruling. Deputy Director Hannah Brown called the decision “a profound misunderstanding and misapplication of the law applied to habeas corpus petitions,” arguing that “strong exculpatory evidence was disregarded as ‘inadmissible’ which is not the correct legal standard.”⁹

A separate challenge is also unresolved. Peterson’s appeal to the California Supreme Court from a December 2022 ruling by Judge Anne-Christine Massullo, which denied him a new trial based on alleged misconduct by Juror No. 7, Richelle Nice, remains pending. Massullo found that Nice’s incomplete answers about her own history as a pregnant crime victim were the “result of a combination of good faith misunderstanding of the questions and sloppiness in answering,” not intentional concealment.¹⁰¹¹

If California courts reject all of his claims, Peterson can pursue a federal habeas petition in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, with potential further review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.¹²

Since his 2004 conviction, Peterson has filed one motion for a new trial, a direct appeal, three habeas corpus petitions, four requests for DNA testing, and three motions for post-conviction discovery. All have failed.

The Family’s Position

Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha, has spoken publicly about the toll of the continuing litigation. In a victim impact statement read in court, she said: “Each attempt he makes for freedom feels like ripping the scab from the wound.” She added, “I believe this is not about proving his innocence, but instead about his relentless pursuit from prison. When will this end?”¹³

1
Death Penalty Information Center. California Supreme Court Overturns Scott Peterson’s Death Sentence
2
Courthouse News Service. Scott Peterson Resentenced to Life Without Parole
3
Los Angeles Innocence Project. Los Angeles Innocence Project to Appeal Judge’s Ruling
4
Modesto Bee. Scott Peterson Case and the Medina Burglary
5
KCRA. LA Innocence Project Habeas Corpus Petition in Scott Peterson Case
6
San Francisco Gate. Two Suspects Cleared in Modesto Case
7
Stanislaus County District Attorney. Press Release Regarding Scott Peterson
8
Modesto Bee. Scott Peterson Habeas Petition Denied
9
NewsNation. Scott Peterson Innocence Claim Review
10
NBC Bay Area. Scott Peterson Denied New Trial
11
ABC7 News. Scott Peterson Murder Case, Innocence Project Plans Appeal
12
Modesto Bee. Scott Peterson Legal Remedies
13
Court TV. Laci Peterson’s Mother Speaks Out About Scott’s Bid for a New Trial