Scott Peterson’s Appeal Denied: Judge Hill’s Ruling and Juror Claim

Scott Peterson’s latest appeal was denied on April 27, 2026, when San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill rejected his third habeas corpus petition in full, ruling that all 14 of its claims were “procedurally barred, meritless, or both.”¹ Peterson’s attorneys at the Los Angeles Innocence Project have said they will appeal that decision, and a separate challenge based on juror misconduct remains pending before the California Supreme Court.²

What Judge Hill Ruled in April 2026

The petition, filed in August 2025 by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, ran nearly 700 pages and marked Peterson’s third habeas filing since his 2004 conviction for the murders of his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner.³

Judge Hill found the petition contained nothing “new, admissible, nor material” and that Peterson had failed to allege facts sufficient to establish a “fundamental miscarriage of justice or actual innocence.”¹ On the defense’s fetal development argument — the claim that new research by Dr. Doubilet showed Conner survived past December 23, 2002, making the prosecution’s timeline impossible — Hill ruled that the science was not new because the defense had already raised it in a 2015 petition, so the claim was procedurally barred under California law.⁴

On the remaining theories, the court held that none of them, individually or cumulatively, undermined the prosecution’s case.³

The Claims the Petition Raised

The 14 claims included actual innocence, ineffective assistance of counsel, and accusations that prosecutors had withheld or destroyed evidence.³ The centerpiece was an alternative-suspect theory: that Laci had been abducted and killed by burglars who broke into the Medina family home across the street from the Petersons on the morning of December 24, 2002.

According to the petition, a person identified as “D.M.” told witnesses that Laci confronted the burglars and was killed because they “could not afford to get caught,” and the burglars later dumped her body in the San Francisco Bay after learning from news coverage that Peterson had gone fishing there.⁵ The defense also pointed to witness accounts of Laci walking her dog after Peterson left for the marina, a corrections officer’s tip about a recorded jail conversation in which one of the burglars allegedly admitted Laci had witnessed the break-in, and a burned van found nearby on December 25, 2002, containing a mattress with what the defense described as “apparent bloodstains.”⁶

Hill was unpersuaded that any of it, considered against the record, met the standard required to reopen the conviction.³

The Admonishment of Peterson’s Legal Team

Beyond denying the petition, Judge Hill issued two formal admonishments to Peterson’s defense team for violating their duty of candor to the court. She found that the attorneys had omitted relevant facts about the so-called “Aponte tip” and a pawned Croton watch while simultaneously accusing prosecutors of suppressing that same evidence. A newly unsealed 2004 court transcript showed the defense had known about the tip earlier than it claimed and had itself possessed the pawn ticket it accused police of withholding.³

Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero, whose office responded with a 903-page filing, called the ruling a vindication of the justice system and described Peterson’s petitions as “recycled, repackaged and rebranded arguments.”³

The Juror Misconduct Appeal Still Pending

The habeas denial is not Peterson’s only active legal challenge. A separate appeal concerns Richelle Nice, who served as Juror No. 7 at his 2004 trial. Peterson’s defense argued that Nice lied on her juror questionnaire by failing to disclose she had sought a restraining order in 2000 while pregnant, stating she “really fears for her unborn child,” and by omitting that she had been a victim of domestic abuse in 2001. The defense also alleged Nice sought a spot on the jury for notoriety and later co-authored a book about the case.⁷

After an evidentiary hearing, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo issued a 55-page ruling on December 20, 2022, denying Peterson a new trial. She found that Nice had given “repeated false answers under oath during jury selection” but concluded those falsehoods reflected “good faith misunderstanding of the questions and sloppiness in answering” rather than the kind of bias that deprived Peterson of a fair trial.⁸

Peterson’s appeal of that ruling remains pending before the California Supreme Court.³

What Peterson Can Still Do

Two tracks remain open. The Los Angeles Innocence Project has said it will appeal Judge Hill’s April 2026 denial to a higher state court.² The juror-misconduct appeal continues on its own path at the California Supreme Court.³

If both state challenges ultimately fail, Peterson can seek review in federal court through a federal habeas corpus petition.⁸ The death penalty is no longer in play: the California Supreme Court reversed his death sentence in August 2020 over jury selection errors, and Judge Massullo resentenced him to life without the possibility of parole on December 8, 2021, after the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office declined to retry the penalty phase.⁹ Any successful challenge going forward would need to unwind the underlying murder convictions themselves.

Where Peterson Is Now

Peterson remains incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison, serving life without the possibility of parole. In March 2025, he sustained what prison officials described as minor injuries in an attack by another inmate; the circumstances of the assault were unclear.¹⁰ For Laci Peterson’s family, the years of filings have taken a toll: two years before the 2026 ruling, her mother, Sharon Rocha, wrote to the court asking, “When will this end?”³

1
Modesto Bee. Scott Peterson Habeas Petition Denied
2
ABC7 News. Scott Peterson Murder Case – LA Innocence Project Plans Appeal
3
Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office. Press Release – Peterson Third Habeas Petition Denied
4
Court TV. Scott Peterson Claims Laci Was Murdered Days After Disappearance in Latest Appeal
5
Modesto Bee. Scott Peterson Habeas Corpus Petition – Alternative Suspect Theory
6
The Guardian. Scott Peterson Murder Case
7
NBC Bay Area. Scott Peterson Misconduct Trial
8
Modesto Bee. Scott Peterson New Trial Denied Over Juror Misconduct
9
Courthouse News Service. Scott Peterson Resentenced to Life Without Parole in Murder of Pregnant Wife
10
ABC7 News. Scott Peterson Recovering From Injuries Suffered in Prison Attack