SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Scott Peterson has been moved off death row greater than two years after the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence for killing his pregnant wife 20 years ago, corrections officials said Monday.
Peterson was moved last week from San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco to Mule Creek State Prison east of Sacramento. A latest mug shot taken Friday shows Peterson, 50, with a salt-and-pepper stubble in comparison with his previous clean-shaven look.
Jurors imposed the death penalty after convicting Peterson of the first-degree murder of Laci Peterson, 27, and second-degree murder of the unborn son they were going to call Conner, dumping them into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002.
The state’s high court overturned that sentence in August 2020 after finding that potential jurors were improperly dismissed for saying they personally disagreed with the death penalty but could be willing to follow the law and impose it.
A state judge is now considering if Peterson deserves a latest trial after the justices individually said his jury could have been tainted by a biased juror.
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Peterson was mainly kept at San Quentin during that months-long hearing process partly so he would have higher access to his attorneys.
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