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Topics: Crime, True Crime, News, Netflix
Britt Jones
Topics: Crime, True Crime, News, Netflix
Convicted murderer Scott Peterson has spoken out on-camera for the first time in 20 years about what really happened to his pregnant wife.
Peterson, whose crime is the subject of Netflix's American Murder: Laci Peterson, insists he is innocent in the 2002 slaying.
Having kept to himself while in prison, the former fertiliser salesman revealed that while he was ‘a total a**hole’, he wasn’t a murderer.
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He was interviewed as part of three-part series Face to Face with Jordan Peterson which will be premiering on Peacock on 20 August.
Peterson was accused of killing his wife, Laci and their unborn son, Conner on Christmas Eve, having dumped her body out to sea near where he told police he was fishing that day.
For Peterson, the only thing he believes he is guilty of is cheating.
He said in the doc: “It’s horrible. I was a total a-hole to be having sex outside our marriage.”
But he went on to say that he ‘didn’t kill’ his family.
The interview was taken during a video call from the California’s Mule Creek state prison, where the 51-year-old is incarcerated.
The docuseries partially focuses on the non-profit the Los Angeles Innocence Project’s efforts to overturn his conviction, and how Peterson believes the police work at the time was lacking.
He shared: “If I have a chance to show people what the truth is, and if they are willing to accept it, it would be the biggest thing I can accomplish right now.”
When Laci went missing from her home in Modesto, California, it immediately drew attention.
Pair that with Peterson claiming he had been fishing right by the spot she was found, and he had recently purchased a brand-new fishing boat, and investigators were quick to fill in the blanks.
Along with his cheating, they painted the story of a man who smothered his eight-months pregnant wife, took her body out in his new boat and dumped it so he could start a new life with his mistress.
Police didn’t find her remains or her sons until April 2003, which led to the suspicion of Peterson.
Couple that with him telling one woman he was a widower before Laci had even done missing and police probably thought they had it in the bag.
The woman whom he told this to, Amber Frey even testified against him during the trial.
Peterson’s defence team claimed Laci was alive when he went fishing and noted that there wasn’t much forensic evidence to prove Peterson's guilt.
However, the provided a significant amount of circumstantial evidence and it only took jurors 12 hours to sentence him to the death penalty.
But now Peterson is fighting to overturn his conviction, with the new Peacock doc speaking to experts who can't agree if there is reasonable doubt in the horrific murder case.