Inmate conversations could prove Scott Peterson is innocent, LAIP says

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) — Scott Peterson’s attorneys with the Los Angeles Innocence Project told a judge on Tuesday that jail phone calls and conversations between inmates could potentially prove that Peterson is innocent.

Tuesday marked Day 2 of a hearing for LAIP’s post-conviction discovery motions in the San Mateo County Hall of Justice.

Peterson was convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, because the jury saw a “mountain of evidence” proving his guilt at trial, prosecutor Ahnna Reicks said. She argued that LAIP has no solid new evidence nor witnesses to build a new case on, and LAIP merely wants to go on a “fishing exhibition.”

LA Innocence Project attorney Paula Mitchell implored Judge Elizabeth Hill to order the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office to hand over 645 pieces of evidence. LAIP claims the evidence could prove that a group of burglars kidnapped and murdered Laci, not her husband.

According to Mitchell, Peterson’s jury never received a “complete picture” of what happened to Laci because the Modesto Police Department and DA kept his trial defense team in the dark.

Tuesday’s arguments in court centered on a group of burglars who broke into a house in Modesto in December of 2002 around the same time that Laci vanished. The burglarized home was across the street from the Petersons’ home.

Peterson told police that he went fishing on Christmas Eve 2002 in the San Francisco Bay, and when he returned home to Modesto, Laci had vanished. The disappearance of a 27-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant triggered massive search efforts. Her body, along with her unborn son, washed up in the bay months later.

The Modesto Police Department zeroed-in on Peterson as its prime murder suspect and dismissed the burglary incident as completely unconnected to the murder case.

Mitchell told Judge Hill that inmates talked about the burglars killing Laci, and there’s recorded jail calls and dispositions from inmates that could prove it. Mitchell said she believes “critically important information” still exists within the DA’s and MPD’s old case files.

According to court documents filed by LAIP, “Lt. Xavier Aponte stated in a sworn declaration that he listened to a recorded (jail inmate) phone conversation between Shawn and Adam Tenbrink that took place in January 2003. Adam stated that ‘Laci Peterson had seen Todd and other committing a burglary in the neighborhood.'” Lt. Aponte alerted MPD, and a Modesto police detective later interviewed inmate Shawn Tenbrink.

The Tenbrink brothers were associates of Steven Todd, one of the burglars who stole from the Medina family’s home, across the street from the Petersons’ home, attorneys said.

A confidential witness, identified in court documents as “D.M.,” said “Steven Todd called him from inside the Medinas' home and that Todd asked him to help him get a heavy safe out of the house.” According to D.M., after Todd was arrested on burglary charges in January 2003, the police told Todd that he didn’t need to be worried about the Laci Peterson case because police already knew that her husband murdered her.

Reicks dismissed the evidence as “jailhouse rumors” spread by inmates with little credibility for telling the truth.

A second confidential witness, a prison inmate identified in court documents as “J.E.,” made a sworn declaration last month. “J.E. states that between December 2022 and April 2023, he was located at three different prisons in California, and that he learned from three different inmates with ties to the Modesto Hardcore Skinheads, independent of one another, that Laci Peterson was killed by their ‘homeboys’ who were ‘doing burglaries’ using an ‘old white trash van,'” court documents state.

The declaration “further supports Mr. Peterson's contention that the Medina burglary occurred on December 24, and is related to the disappearance and deaths of his wife and son,” LAIP wrote.

Reicks said it would be impossible to provide all 645 items of evidence. One reason is because LAIP’s post-conviction discovery motion is far too broad. Another reason why is because many of the requested evidence items from two decades ago no longer exist.

On Tuesday, Mitchell and Reicks sparred back and forth over each evidence item.

Peterson, who is serving a life prison sentence without possibility of parole, watched the hearing from Mule Creek State Prison via a live Zoom video feed. Judge Hill said she will not make a ruling when the hearing concludes late Tuesday afternoon. The judge will have 90 days to make her ruling.

In court on Monday, former Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager read a victim impact statement written by Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha. Her letter wrote, “It has been almost 22 years since I have seen or talked to my daughter. She was murdered by her husband. She was murdered by the man she loved with all her heart. Since his conviction in 2004, he has been in court numerous times trying to get his conviction overturned. Each attempt he makes for freedom feels like ripping the scab from the wound (family's trauma) . He continues to file claim after claim. Time after time. I believe this is not about proving his innocence, but instead about his relentless pursuit (to be freed) from prison. When will this end?”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.