DA will proceed with 2nd penalty phase trial for Scott Peterson

DA will proceed with 2nd penalty phase trial for Scott Peterson

The Stanislaus County District Attorney will retry the penalty phase of convicted double-murderer Scott Peterson's case despite the question of whether his convictions are valid not having yet been answered by a San Mateo court, prosecutors said Friday.

"We're ready to pick dates to start [calling jurors] now," said Chief Deputy District Attorney David P. Harris at Peterson's first court hearing in Stanislaus County Superior Court in 16 years. Harris was one of the prosecutors in Peterson's 2004 trial, which ended with the death penalty.

A masked Peterson wearing a blue prison uniform appeared remotely from San Quentin State Prison Friday, along with his attorney, Eugene P. Harris, who represented him as co-counsel at trial. Eugene Harris said he would represent Peterson again as private counsel in the forthcoming proceedings.

The California Supreme Court in August vacated Peterson's death sentence for killing his pregnant wife, Laci, and unborn son, Conner, nearly two decades ago, and set a timeline for prosecutors to decide whether to accept a sentence of life in prison without parole. His convictions are also in question now in San Mateo after the high court ordered a judge two weeks ago to determine if they should be vacated on a separate appeal.

A hearing has not yet been scheduled for that matter.

Eugene Harris told Stanislaus County Judge Nancy A. Leo that he went into Friday's hearing blind, assuming the prosecution would waive time until a decision was made in San Mateo. Details about the hearing were scant earlier in the week, with prosecutors saying the purpose was to determine who would represent Peterson. Their decision to retry the penalty phase came as unexpected news to the defense.

"This is the first we've heard that they're retrying it," Eugene Harris said.

At the onset of the hearing, prosecutor David Harris said waiving time seemed like the reasonable thing to do because the San Mateo decision could result in a new trial. But he said the burden to make such a motion was on the defense, not the prosecution.

"If the defendant's not willing to waive time at this point in time, our alternative is that we need to set dates for the jury commissioner to start bringing in jurors," he said.

Peterson's attorney told the court it was too soon to make that decision and asked for a limited time waiver to come back in two weeks.

"I assume we'll be waiving," Eugene Harris said. "It makes sense. But I need to be able to at least talk to my client about it."

The case was put over on the calendar to Nov. 6. People of the State of California v. Scott Peterson, 1056770 (Stanislaus Ct. filed April 21, 2003).

Based on the pace at which Peterson's 2004 trial played out, prosecutors hinted that they want to move fast.

"Picking a jury last time took us approximately three months," David Harris said. "To pick a jury with the COVID issues, it's going to take the court and counsel at least six months, would be my estimate, to pick a jury under the circumstances.

"I think putting it over to the last minute for the defense to decide something puts everybody at risk," he continued, adding he's ready to start putting dates on the court's calendar.

In 2003, Peterson was charged with first- and second-degree murder for killing his wife and unborn son and dumping their bodies in San Francisco Bay during what he said would be a day of fishing on Christmas Eve in 2002. A jury convicted and sentenced him in 2004.

His death sentence was vacated in August on automatic appeal by the California Supreme Court, which held that prospective jurors were improperly dismissed during jury selection. On a separate appeal, the high court ordered a trial court to determine whether his convictions should be vacated on the grounds that a juror committed prejudicial misconduct by failing to disclose that she obtained a restraining order against a man who allegedly threatened violence against her and her unborn child before Peterson's trial.