Scott Peterson in handcuffs, 2005. Justin Sullivan, Pool/AP
Scott Peterson, who was convicted in 2004 of the murder of his wife while pregnant, will be resentenced.
Peterson was sentenced in 2005 to death, but the California Supreme Court overturned that decision in 2020.
Peterson will be sentenced for life after the guilty verdict is upheld
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On Wednesday, a California judge ruled that Scott Peterson must be resentenced for murdering his wife while pregnant in 2004.
According to KRON-TV, Peterson will be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in November.
In 2004, Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in the murder of his wife Laci and second-degree murder of their unborn child. According to the Associated Press, Peterson was accused of using his fishing boat as a means of disposing their bodies in San Francisco Bay.
The California Supreme Court overturned Peterson’s death sentence in 2020. However, he was still on death row.
Peterson claimed that he didn't get a fair trial because of the media attention. However, the court acknowledged that the trial judge had made "a series clear and significant errors in jury selection." According to the AP, some potential jurors were disqualified because they objected personally to the death penalty but would still have imposed it.
The California Supreme Court justices stated that a court can dismiss a potential juror as ineligible to sit on a capital case, if his or her views on capital punishment would substantially impair their ability to follow law. However, a juror cannot be dismissed simply because he or she expressed opposition to the death penalty.
Cliff Gardner, Peterson's appellate lawyer, didn't immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
KRON-TV reported that a court date was set for October 6 in order to establish a date for Peterson’s re-sentencencing.
Insider has the original article.
