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A California district attorney will not seek a new death sentence againstScott Peterson, PEOPLE has learned.
On Friday, in a San Mateo Superior Courtfiling, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager said she won’t retry the penalty phase of the trial after speaking with the family of the victims — Scott’s pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner.
Scott was convicted of murdering his wife and son following a highly publicized trial back in 2004. He was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife and the second-degree murder of Conner.
The California Supreme Court previously had his death penalty sentenceoverturnedand ordered a new sentencing trial for him. The court decision does not overturn the murder conviction.
A judge is now expected to rule on whether or not Scott will receive a new trial on the charges following the Supreme Court’s reversal of his death sentence, which came about due to issues with the jury selection.
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“The People have met and discussed with the victims' family what a new penalty trial would involve, pursuant to their rights under Marsy’s Law,” the court documents read. “While the family of Laci and Conner believe there is no doubt that defendant is guilty of these crimes and that his conduct warrants the death penalty and defendant is deserving of the punishment of death, the family has decided this process is simply too painful to endure once again.”
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Laci was eight months pregnant when she disappeared from her Modesto home on Christmas Eve day of 2002. Her body was found in April 2003 in San Francisco Bay.
Scott claimed that Laci was killed as she walked the couple’s dog after he left to go on a solo fishing trip on Christmas Eve morning.
But as the case moved forward, jurors heard about Scott’s dark secrets, including a months-long affair with a woman namedAmber Frey, who was unaware that Scott was married when she started dating him.
Frey later worked with prosecutors, taping damning phone calls with Scott. During trial, shetestified for several daysabout her relationship with Scott, her realization that he was still married and that Laci had vanished. Frey first called police in Modesto in late December 2002 to disclose the affair.
source: people.com
