All language subtitles for Face.to.Face.with.Scott.Peterson.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH[EZTVx.to]

[somber music]

* *

- Hey, Shareen.

- Hi, Scott. How are you?

- I should tell you this
in advance.

I'm looking at the clock here.
It's 1:18.

It's supposed to
be a 1:30 lockup,

so we may only get 12 minutes.

- OK.

- I'm not sure
what they'll do.

- I have a few questions
for you today.

After the world basically
heard your phone calls

with Amber Frey,

they came to the conclusion
that you killed Laci.

How does that make you feel?

- Why didn't you
tell the police right away

about Amber Frey?

[ominous music]

* *

- Police in Modesto,
California, continue searching

for 27-year-old Laci Peterson.

[dramatic music]

- As the investigation
into the disappearance

of Laci Peterson continues,

police are tracking
her husband's movements

outside the Modesto,
California, area.

- Even as the focus
of the search

appears to be shifting
towards Scott,

Modesto Police have still
not named him as a suspect.

* *

- I'm Mike Gudgell.

I've been involved
in the Peterson case

for almost two decades now.

In 2002,
I was working for ABC News

as an editorial producer.

When I first arrived, a couple
of days after Christmas Day,

it was quite a crowd of
media surrounding the house...

police checkpoints,
satellite trucks.

It was what I call a complete
media feeding frenzy.

By then, we really hadn't
established sources

with the police,

but we were hearing they were
focused on Scott.

We heard that the Petersons

had hired
a private investigator.

We understood he was talking
to witnesses

who saw Laci alive
after Scott left.

That might be different
than what

we're hearing from the police.

- A beautiful young lady,
very pregnant.

- Walking across the street.

- Walking, like,
towards the park.

- The fact is,
within a 30, 40-minute time,

there were five or six
witnesses who saw Laci.

So we knew that the police
narrative wasn't solid.

And then we heard that there
had been a burglary next door.

- We had a burglary that was
reported to have occurred

directly across the street from
the residence in question here.

- We're outside the home of
Scott and Laci Peterson's home

in Modesto, 523 Covena.

We want to show you
directly across the street.

That's 516,
known as the Medina home,

that had a burglary happen
right around the time frame

of Laci Peterson's
disappearance.

- The Medinas left December
24th at about 10:30 AM.

They returned home
December 26th

at about 4:30
in the afternoon.

During the time frame
while they were gone

is when Laci was
reported missing.

- When the news of
the burglary came out,

we assumed immediately
that it would be

a big break in the case.

- Really kind of went, oh, OK,
we're getting somewhere now.

This could be the best lead
that we've had.

- The police were now
not only trying to figure out

what happened to Laci,

but they were trying to solve
the Medina burglary,

thinking that this burglary

potentially had something to do
with what happened to Laci.

- The issue around the burglary
is when did it happen?

On the 24th,
the day Laci went missing,

a neighbor of Scott and Laci
was driving home.

- I was coming home
from the hand therapist

and drove by Laci's house.

And I thought,
"Oh, who are those people

on the Medinas' front lawn?"

And they were
right next to a van.

One door was a little open.

They turned around
and looked at me,

and I felt hostility.

But I didn't think
anything of it.

I thought, "Well,
I don't need to be

"looking at them
or waving or anything.

I'll just go on home."

- When she heard about
this burglary

and then the news
of Laci's disappearance,

she came forward and thought,
"Oh, maybe this is important."

- Diane Jackson described
the three men as dark skinned

but not African American.

- A thousand dollars
for someone

that leads us to the persons
responsible for the burglary.

- They had put out a reward.

On the reward flyer,
they used the information

that they'd gotten
from Diane Jackson.

You're looking for a van.

You're looking for three men.

- They put a senior detective
from the Major Crimes Unit

on it, got an informant
almost immediately.

- They've actually made
two arrests in that today.

- Modesto Police arrested
two suspects,

Steven Todd and Donald Pearce.

- Their cooperation level
was off the charts.

- They both polygraphed.

They wanted the polygraphs
released to the media

because they wanted
the people in the jail to know

that they were
not involved in this case.

- Steven Todd and Glen Pearce,

neither one of them is dark
skinned, not African American.

But also,
neither one of them

has ever been associated
with a van.

They said that they used a car

and a bike
to commit the burglaries.

- The informant told police
that up to five people

were involved,
and they didn't look into

any of the others.

- Well, I'd like to see who
these additional people are

and where they came up
with the idea

that additional people
were involved

in the burglary itself.

I don't see anything
that would suggest that.

Diane Jackson
claimed that she saw a van

across the street from the
Peterson house on the 24th.

She couldn't even
really confirm

what the color of the van was.

And when you have
that kind of discrepancy,

when it comes to even
the description of the vehicle,

it calls into question the
reliability of that witness.

- At this point,
there is no connection.

There's no leads to indicate
that they were involved

in the missing of Laci.

- We solved that burglary.

Found out that it, in fact,
occurred on the 26th.

- Steven Todd says that the
burglary was on the 26th,

but that's according
to the burglar.

He changed it.

He picked, "Oh, it happened
on December 27th.

Oh, no, it was the 26th."

So it wasn't very reliable,
that's for sure.

- I thought, "Well,
that's quite interesting,"

because on the 26th,

there was a lot of activity
on Scott and Laci's street,

and how could burglars
get in and out

without anybody seeing them?

I thought it was
highly improbable

that that was the truth.

- They solved that burglary
really quickly.

But there's a distinction
that needs to be made

between solving the burglary

and saying it didn't
have anything to do

with Laci's disappearance.

I find that pretty
unbelievable.

That would be
an incredible coincidence.

One of the lead investigators,
Jon Buehler, often told me,

there are no coincidences
in murder investigations.

[suspenseful music]

- Todd and Pearce,
the two that we know

burgled the house
across the street.

We don't know who else
was in that burglary.

We know there were others.

There was just no desire
to pursue

what the evidence
was telling them.

I mean, it was the evidence
that they just decided

to ignore and go with theory.

- Today marking
the one-month anniversary

of Laci Peterson's
disappearance.

Police right now
expected any moment now

to walk up to the podium
and give us the very latest

on their investigation.

- The press conference of...

of all press conferences

was when they marched out
Amber Frey.

- I am very sorry
for Laci's family

and the...the pain
that this has caused them.

- Amber changed everything.

She became the focus.

- Wow,
what a development that is.

- The missing woman's
apparently perfect marriage

may not have been so perfect.

that he'd been having
an affair.

And we felt that if he had
not been truthful about that,

that possibly
there's other things

he needs to talk to us about.

- Support for Scott Peterson
has wavered

since police
told Laci's family.

- I would like Scott to know
that I trusted him

and stood by him
in the initial phases

of my sister's disappearance.

However, Scott has not been
forthcoming with information

regarding my sister's
disappearance,

and I'm only left to question
what else he may be hiding.

- Scott had been declining

interview requests
consistently.

- Now, when Amber Frey
is out there,

nobody's looking for Laci.

Everybody thinks he's guilty.

So he decided, all right,
I'll do a few interviews.

- Did you murder your wife?

- No, no. I did not.

And I had absolutely nothing
to do with her disappearance.

- In that interview
with Diane Sawyer,

Scott makes
the outlandish claim that...

- I told my wife.

- He told Laci
about the affair,

and she was OK with it.

- There wasn't a lot of anger?

- No.

- Do you really expect people
to believe

that an 8 and 1/2 month
pregnant woman

learns her husband
has had an affair

and makes a peace with it?

- Well, I...yeah,
you don't know.

No one knows our
relationship but us.

- That was the nail
in his coffin.

This is ludicrous, the idea
that Laci knew about Amber.

- He came across as
being disingenuous.

And in a couple of cases,
just lied right out.

- Had you told anyone?

Did you tell police?

- I told
the police immediately.

- When?
- December 24th.

- Laci Peterson's
husband admits he lied

about his extramarital
affair with Amber Frey.

- When you're in a hole,
stop digging.

- He shot himself in the foot
so many times,

he ought to be on crutches.

- That's when the word
"psychopath"

started to creep in
in some of the reports.

- He did four interviews,
I believe, total.

One of the interviews he did
was with me.

- Well, the polygraph is
another one of those things.

I'm not saying I have.
I'm not saying I haven't.

- There's no winning.

You can never
present the reality.

If you go out
and you do an interview,

it's gonna be edited.

It's gonna be awful.

- Amber Frey claims that
you called her on the 24th,

told her that you were
going to Brussels.

- Yeah,
this is a short newscast,

and I don't know how much
of these words

you're going to use or not.

But I'm not gonna waste that
by defending myself,

talking about
irrelevant things.

- He looked like
a narcissistic,

lying killer.

- I've had people spit on me
at gas stations.

I've received death threats
on the phone.

- I had someone
in the front yard

claiming they were a witch,

burying things
in the front lawn.

I wish I could say
I was stronger,

but all that stuff
did take a toll on me.

I just remembered
how insane I was

going with no sleep

and worried about Conner
and Laci

and what seemed like
just a apathetic response

from the police department.

- Scott's behavior
fit into things

that we've seen before
with other murder cases...

limited cooperation level,
his cool, calm demeanor

when everybody else
was just frantic.

And there were too many other

circumstantial evidence items
to ignore.

It started to become
increasingly obvious to us

that they would be found
in the bay.

[tense music]

* *

- The search in the waters

just outside the Berkeley
Marina began early.

17 divers from Alameda County
loaded up on boats

and swept the floor
of the open water

just outside of the marina.

- Scott had given us a detailed
description of how he had

gone out of the marina,
and he'd gone to the north,

and he found this island,
which turned out

to be Brooks Island,
with a sign that said,

you're not supposed
to leave your boat

and walk around on the island.

So it seemed obvious
that he probably

let her go in the area
right by Brooks Island

in the Berkeley Marina.

* *

- My name is Danny Lopez.

I was the officer in charge
of the San Francisco

Police Department
Marine Patrol.

We're retracing
Scott Peterson's trip

on the 24th.

Dead ahead
is the Brooks Island.

The reason that it's difficult
to find somebody

in the San Francisco Bay
is the visibility

is probably about this much.

This is the location that we
were spending most of our time.

That's where the grid searches
were done,

the side-scan sonar,
the underwater searches,

cadaver dogs.

- We're continuing
our search today,

and we're concentrating on...

on several different things.

We were on that water
every day,

sometimes with multiple boats,

multiple water cadaver dogs,

helicopters.

The number of searches
in that bay

probably was in
the mid-500 range.

It's a lot of area to cover.

- It was looking for a needle
in the haystack blindfolded.

One of those things that
you just do it.

You have to give closure
to the family.

[tense music]

- I think the way it
started to affect me

and others was the fact that

it was a pregnant mother
that was missing.

We keep searching
till we find her.

I'll just keep
carrying this on,

and my family will understand
why I'm not home.

And I felt like I was
looking for my sister.

[somber music]

* *

You can't help
to get a personal attachment

over a period of time.

* *

- This is a good...
good point of reference.

Another part of the search was
to look for devices, anchors,

homemade anchors,
anything that would

have kept a body submerged.

- We found
two homemade anchors.

They were cylindrical.

They looked like they were
formed in a large coffee can

or maybe a paint can.

It was determined
that they were not connected

to the Scott Peterson
investigation,

so they were thrown
back into the bay.

But I thought it was odd

that we didn't put them
into evidence

and examine them.

After months and months
of searching

with multiple agencies,
they were never recovered.

- The district attorney
at the time,

he said, "Hey, if you
don't bring me a body,

you don't have a filing."

- We're getting to that point
where there really

wasn't anything coming in.

We were resurrecting some old
tips and clearing those out,

but nothing ground shaking
until we get to April.

[ominous music]

* *

- In 2003,
I was a police officer

with the East Bay
Regional Park District.

One day during briefing,

one of our sergeants
made a comment...

"I bet she'll show up
at Point Isabel."

His experience, it was that
the way the tides flow

in San Francisco Bay,
that more than once,

they had had bodies
that had been recovered

from the area of Point Isabel.

* *

- A female adult body was
discovered late this morning

by a woman walking the
shoreline at Point Isabel

in the city of Richmond.

- You could see
a deceased female

lying face down
on the shoreline.

Her body was in terrible,

obviously very decomposed
condition.

One of the things that
I noticed on her body

was a strip of duct tape that
was on the front of her torso.

My first reaction was,
"We better notify

the Modesto Police Department."

- I remember vividly
being in my car

and hearing it on the radio

that a body had been found

and that an infant body had
also been found the day before.

- No word yet on whether the
two bodies found in the bay

are those of Laci Peterson
and her baby.

The lab results could
come any time now.

* *

So frankly,
we thought because

there hadn't been
an announcement...

You know,
it wasn't unheard of.

There was...

there's been other bodies,
you know,

on the bay before.

There's some people
who've driven into the bay,

and their bodies were found.

So it wasn't like
it was the only possibility.

[tense music]

- The bodies hadn't been
confirmed as Laci and Conner,

although it looked
likely that they were.

- We put a team of guys
on Scott right away.

We were gonna just watch him

until the attorney general
released the DNA evidence.

We still had a wiretap
on his phone,

so we could hear what he was
saying, talking to his brother.

[tense music]

[suspenseful music]

- The next day,
all of a sudden,

Scott started moving
very early in the day.

And so the chase was on.

* *

- Yeah, see that tangle?

- I'll be right there.

- Ah, that's nice right there.

The fish, oh, yeah.

All right,
look at that monster.

- I wanted to talk more
about the arrest

and what that day was like
for you.

- Action photo.

- It may seem odd to
other people, but, like...

- Look at the camera.

And be together.

And then when
I got on the road...

- I don't want a picture of me
being taken and, you know,

splashed on a tabloid.

I just could imagine
what the headlines were.

- Scott was very good at
counter-surveillance driving.

As he would drive
along at high speeds,

he would brake heavily
and cut lanes.

- We were concerned that
he was gonna get into a wreck

or he was gonna create
a traffic collision behind him

because of his evasive moves.

- And so we made a decision
that if...

if he hurt somebody,
we're gonna be in trouble.

So let's arrest him.

[sirens wailing]

- We were stopped at the
entrance to Torrey Pines.

[camera clicks]

- When Scott got out
of the car, he was...

he was Scott.

There was no protest.

"You got the wrong guy.

"Why am I in cuffs?

"What are you doing?

Why aren't you guys
looking for the killer?"

[camera clicks]

- He dyed his hair
to a different color,

grown a goatee,

which further
disguised him slightly

so maybe
he wouldn't be noticed.

- Searched his car.

He had cell phones.

He had Viagra.

He had everything you need

from going to a gala

to a camping trip.

He could dig a gold mine.

Most people don't drive around
with $10,000 cash

and their brother's
driver's license.

- And some people had said

that maybe he was fleeing
to Mexico.

He could easily go anywhere
he wanted and fit in.

- I don't understand that
at all,

because I just want to be
clear.

I was never running
from the police.

I was always in contact
with them.

I'd answer
most of their calls.

There were times
that I was very frustrated,

that I would not
take their calls.

- I found out he was arrested
about 2:00.

It was...

it was just...
we were just in shock.

We were in...we were
in absolute shock.

So we had to make arrangements
and travel to Modesto

and attend his arraignment.

[tense music]

- Police in California
said today that murder suspect

Scott Peterson had $10,000
in cash when he was arrested

near the Mexican border.

- He had some cash in his car.

His brother, John, was gonna
buy Scott's truck from him,

so he gave Scott the cash

to buy Scott out of his truck.

And Scott was still
carrying that cash

at the point
that he was arrested.

- He had changed
his appearance.

Police feared he might be
preparing to flee to Mexico.

- That's a narrative
we still battle to this day.

Scott was spending a lot of
time with family in San Diego.

I live in San Diego.

His parents lived in San Diego.

And San Diego borders Mexico.

So when Scott was arrested,
the national headline was

"Scott was arrested 30 miles
from the Mexican border."

The bodies had been found
five days before,

but we still had not heard
a positive identification.

Then I want to say within
a couple of hours of that

was the press conference.

- There is no question
in our minds

that the unidentified female

is Laci Peterson.

The unidentified fetus

is the biological child

of Laci and Scott Peterson.

- [sniffles]

- We were not notified.

We heard it
like everyone else.

And we were crushed.

All of the fear that we had
in Laci being missing

and the pins and needles that...
you know, and the ups and downs

that we went through
for the past four months

had really...

now, it's hit rock bottom.

[somber music]

* *

- After Scott was arrested,

we started driving back
from San Diego to Modesto.

[somber music]

* *

When Scott received this news,

I just recall Scott making
kind of like a sniffling noise,

and that was it.

There wasn't any hysterics,
no screams.

"No, it can't be!"

No theatrics,
nothing like that.

- He bowed his head
and pushed out a tear.

He was quiet.
He didn't say nothing.

* *

15 miles later,
when we stopped,

he ate a double double,
you know, from In-N-Out,

and a shake and a fries

and gobbled it all down
just like nothing,

just like we're just
coming home from fishing.

- The police report says
that Scott had a tear

coming down his face.

He'd been in custody
for hours at this point,

and he's...he's
going to county jail.

The perception
and the way it's presented is

it's as though Scott was told
his wife and son were dead

and he ordered a cheeseburger
five minutes later.

[ominous music]

- Well,
now we can move forward.

And now justice can be done.

- Soon after Laci went missing,
I made a promise to her

that if she has been harmed,
we will seek justice

for her and Conner and
make sure that that person

responsible for their...

for their deaths
will be punished.

[tense music]

- What became
a fight to find Laci

then became a fight
to save Scott's life.

* *

- Shortly after midnight,

when investigators escorted
Scott Peterson

to the Stanislaus County Jail,

a crowd of 250
taunted and heckled him,

calling him a murderer.

- I just hope he gets the same
death that he gave his family.

- Call the case of The People
versus Scott Lee Peterson.

- Under tight security,
Scott Peterson,

wearing chains
on his wrists and ankles,

was walked into a packed
Modesto courtroom today.

- Once Scott was arraigned,

we were looking
for an attorney,

and my parents had watched
"The Larry King Show"

for the last several months.

That's really where
we first met Mark Geragos.

- This case is intriguing,
if for nothing else,

is that the more there's a
lynch mob mentality out there

for him,
the more that it's intriguing.

- They hired him.

He was media savvy.

He seemed like
he had a good team.

- I just wanted to say that
we're happy that Mark is

in place as Scott's attorney,

and we do look forward
to proving his innocence.

- I'm Lara Yeretsian,

and I'm a criminal defense
attorney of over two decades.

We got the case in 2003.

I was a young attorney.

This case was on
a whole new level.

- 27-year-old mom-to-be,
eight months pregnant.

- As the investigation into the
disappearance of Laci Peterson

continues, police are...
- Though neither the victim

nor the accused
was famous before,

the Peterson case has now
taken on celebrity status.

- I'd handled
a number of cases,

but nothing that came close
to the magnitude of this case.

The interest was so intense
in this case.

I just remember walking
with Mark Geragos

towards the courthouse.

People would come up to us
with questions.

And it wasn't just the media.

- Mark, can we get
a quick word with ya?

- Right now? How about after?
- OK.

- People would even ask
for Mark's autograph.

I mean,
he had become a celebrity.

- Thank you very much.

I'll see you guys on Thursday.

- Come on. Come on,
be human beings right now.

- There was a lot of anger,
palpable anger,

towards Scott Peterson.

[suspenseful music]

And everybody had an opinion
about this case.

Every single person I knew
had an opinion.

And I can tell you,

every single person believed
that he was guilty.

* *

- Michael Cardoza.

Top defense attorney
in the area,

who was in the courtroom today.

- I'm Michael Cardoza.

I've been a criminal defense
attorney for over 45 years.

And at that time, I was
doing some legal commentary

on "The Larry King Show."

Here's what this case
boils down to, Larry.

There are three things.

The defense team
came to me and asked me

if I would do
a mock cross-examination

of Scott Peterson.

I went into jail.
I walked in.

I sat down.
They brought Scott in.

And I began
my cross-examination.

I cannot tell you how
and what happened,

but you can imagine, you know,
what questions were asked.

And they made a decision
he wasn't going to testify.

- I hope he goes to prison
for the rest of his life.

- I'm just glad that
the animal got caught.

- What you have to remember is
you're putting a man up there

who was hated by America.

And then you witnessed
the previous interviews

and how poorly he did there.

- You know what?

It's a positive to allow us
to go on to search for Laci.

- Why would you expect
he's gonna do a 180

and come across convincing

the jury that he didn't do it?

I think if you put
Scott Peterson on the stand,

he would have been
eaten alive.

* *

- Opening statements begin
today in the double-murder

trial of Scott Peterson.

- Scott Peterson's case
is a character evidence case

and nothing else.

But the smoke and mirrors
to it

is the suggestion
that there's a great deal

of circumstantial evidence.
There isn't.

There's an affair, and there's
the location of the bodies.

That's the entire case.

- People don't wrap themselves
in duct tape

and then go jump in
the San Francisco Bay

in the middle of winter.

- The state knew
the problems with their case.

They didn't know how
he did it, when he did it,

but they knew that he
was a liar, a cheater.

And they relied on that.

- All of these things
were impossible.

If those things
were impossible,

then this man murdered
Laci Peterson.

- They just didn't have
anything of substance.

So we felt very good
and very confident.

- If the court wants to talk
about prejudicial publicity,

having poster-sized pictures
of him labeled as a monster

in chains, I don't think is...

is somehow conducive
to getting a fair trial.

- My first impression
was that the Geragos team

was very professional

and were prepared for this.

- Mark Geragos comes out

in his opening statement
and says,

"Yes, he's a cheater.

Yes, he's a 14-carat A-hole,

but he's not a killer."

- Now, on the prosecuting
attorney side,

I didn't feel that way.

I thought that
they were bumbling it.

- Scott Peterson's
tone and demeanor

following Laci's disappearance
are being called into question.

This after prosecutors played
a taped police interview

with him describing
what he did

the day Laci disappeared.

- Day one,
there was a mistake made.

Scott says that the morning
of Laci's disappearance...

- The prosecution claims
that Martha Stewart

wasn't talking about meringue
that morning,

that they say this is evidence
he was lying.

- Geragos brings it in.

He says, "Let's roll the tape,"
and you see it.

- Ooh, you want to
make little meringues?

- Oh, that would be nice.

- The prosecution
got it wrong.

And this happens
at the jump of the trial.

- Did you check these windows?
- Yeah.

- You don't commit
a violent crime

without getting
your hands dirty.

The police executed

more than 10 search warrants
on the home

and his place of business.

- Officers began a search
of the couple's home

late last night.

- After they found pretty
much zero physical evidence

in the house or in the truck
or in the boat,

the theory had to become
that this was a soft kill.

- A soft kill is a murder
that doesn't involve a weapon,

that doesn't leave
behind essentially

obvious forensic evidence.

- The coroner has yet to
determine the cause of death.

- Unless there is a pretty good
cause of death in the torso,

they're stuck.

- How was this person killed?

We don't know.

And throughout the trial,
we never found out.

- Even a soft kill leaves
behind some sort of trail.

If he kills her

and is dragging her around
to his workshop

and then
to the San Francisco Bay,

how did he pull that off?

- It's what you say when you
have absolutely no evidence

that there was a crime
that occurred in this home.

But if they were
being fair about it,

they'd also have to
acknowledge, "By the way,

"given the state and condition
of the bodies

"when we finally found them,
there's no evidence

that it was a soft kill."

[upbeat music]

- Tonight, day nine of
Scott Peterson's murder trial,

and his attorney,
Mark Geragos,

grills police on the stand.

- Detective Al Brocchini
was the first investigator

on the scene the day Laci
Peterson was reported missing.

- He was pretty hard on me.

You know, Geragos was.

I was the bad guy.

Every mistake I made,
he turned it into a whole day

of talking about it.

- Detective Brocchini was
a little forgetful

from time to time.

In cross-examination,
the defense already

questioning his motives.

- I testified that nobody
knew Scott had a boat.

- He says Laci knew he had
a boat, but we can't ask her.

- Brocchini felt like it
will strengthen his case

if he makes it look like Laci

didn't even know
about the boat.

She didn't even know.

That hugely backfired on him.

Geragos scored the most points
when Brocchini took the stand

because Brocchini had redacted
a piece of his report.

- We interviewed everybody
in all those shops

near the warehouse,

and I interviewed a man

that said Laci used
the bathroom of a lady

that owned a shop on the 23rd,

the day before Laci
was actually missing.

So when I got my report back,
I deleted that line.

Geragos, he's like,
"What happened?

Who took that line out
of your police report?"

And I said, "I did."

Ah.

That's a big moment.

I...I eliminated
some exculpatory evidence

from my police report.

I can't reply.

I can't say, "Well,
it's in Holmes's report.

He's got it all in there."

- All it takes,
one juror to say,

"I don't believe
that detective.

He had an agenda."

- Legal analysts say
they've heard nothing yet

that they think would convince
a jury to convict Peterson.

- We believed that there
was no way they were gonna

be able to show this case,
prove it,

because the jury is gonna see
that this was nonsensical.

It made no sense.

- It felt to me like
the Modesto Police Department

had basically put their
sights on Scott Peterson

and that they put
all their eggs in one basket.

- Geragos was able
to just seed

each one of these state
witnesses

with reasonable doubt.

- The analytical research
studying micro-expressions

of people's faces.

- It was unbelievable

how Mark Geragos took over
that courtroom.

The defense was winning.

- We've set the bar
extremely high.

And that's to prove that Scott
is not only factually innocent,

but to figure out
exactly who it is

did this horrible thing
to Scott's wife

and to Scott's son.

- By its nature,
a defense attorney's job

is not to prove anything.

It's simply to demonstrate
that this package

with the bow on top

that the state is trying to
create for you,

it...it...it doesn't exist.

It's not real.

But Mark Geragos's
statements said,

"We're not just going to plant
reasonable doubt.

"We're going to prove
that Scott Peterson

is stone-cold innocent."

Those were the words.

- The actual perpetrator
is still out there.

We plan on finding that person.

- Experts say, normally,

a defense attorney wouldn't
make promises to a jury,

but defense attorney
Mark Geragos made several.

- That's what sticks
with the jury.

But the problem is,
he overpromised

and under-delivered.

- Mark Geragos is great
on cross-examination,

and he's tripping the police up
in a lot of little details.

The reality is that those
little details

may not add up
to a not guilty verdict.

- If you had a graph in terms
of the strength of the defense

and the persuasiveness
of the cross-examination,

it wanes over time.

- Tonight,
Scott Peterson's former lover,

Amber Frey,
finally takes the stand

at his double-murder trial.

- There was a major shift
in this case

when Amber Frey appeared.

- Jurors heard Amber Frey
accuse Scott Peterson

of planning the murder
of his pregnant wife.

- It wasn't what
she testified to.

It was that through her
testimony and in her testimony,

we heard all of those tapes.

- The prosecution did something
I'd never seen before or since.

They had printed out
the transcripts

of every single phone call.

It was so compelling

not to just hear it,

but to be able
to make notes on it.

And you could see the jurors
making notes.

You know, here's where
he said, "I lost my wife."

Here's the date.
Here's this call.

Here's this call.

- The Amber tapes were clearly

one of the worst pieces
of evidence in the case.

It showed a side of him
that was comfortably lying.

- If you could have heard
this testimony today,

the credibility of Scott
Peterson is now on the line.

- The defense made a decision
not to bring up

any of these
dog-walking eyewitnesses

that thought they saw Laci.

- The prosecution
and law enforcement

had done a beautiful job

of trying to discredit
these people.

They made these people think
that what they were saying

was not accurate.

Some of them thought,
"Are we going crazy?

Is it possible
that it wasn't her?"

And guess what happens
to that witness?

That becomes a weak witness
for the defense.

- Had anybody put witnesses on
the stand that would support

the claim that Laci was
walking the dog,

that would have made
a lot of difference.

- If somebody actually
really saw Laci,

then, yes,
that would be important.

- Didn't happen.

And...and I think
that people second guessed

Mark Geragos specifically
for that decision.

- The judge believed that
the burglary and Laci's

disappearance were unrelated
and wouldn't allow

any evidence in the trial.

- Everyone discounted
the burglary

because they believed
that it happened

after Laci's disappearance.

- It meant the jury didn't hear
evidence about the burglary.

- Without the Medina burglary
being admitted into evidence,

there's no other alternate
theory that can explain

Laci Peterson's disappearance.

- Part of the problem was they
wanted to get the trial over

as soon as possible
so he would be exonerated

and continue with his life.

And I think that was a mistake
because I really don't think

the defense had enough time
to really understand the case

to defend it properly.

And, gosh,
I look back on that now,

and I wonder if that
was the right decision.

We had the evidence
of my innocence.

It was a nightmare
being stuck in county jail.

And I kind of wonder,
gosh, if I...

If I had been more prudent
or patient or whatever,

maybe things
would've been different.

- The Scott Peterson murder
trial may go to the jury today.

- This man murdered
Laci Peterson.

- The prosecutor,
in his closing argument,

says, look at this
as a jigsaw puzzle.

You need to put the pieces
of the puzzle together.

Is it a coincidence
that Scott Peterson

was looking at tide charts?

Is it a coincidence
that Scott Peterson

told Amber Frey
he lost his wife

the same month that she died?

Is it a coincidence
that there was cement found,

anchor circles
in his warehouse?

All these things
add up to murder.

- The prosecution came with
this very deliberate argument

that it's open and shut.

This is a man who was
staring down the barrel

of domesticity with his wife
and this child on the way,

that he wanted nothing
to do with any of that.

The facts are borne out in
the extramarital relationship

he's having and the things that
he is saying to his mistress.

- In his closing argument,
defense attorney Mark Geragos

told jurors that prosecutors
wanted them to hate Peterson,

but that was not reason
enough to convict him.

- It's hard to be critical,
but I was uncomfortable

when the defense rested.

- You must not be biased
against the defendant

because he has been arrested
for this offense,

charged with a crime,
or brought to trial.

- After being instructed by
the judge for nearly an hour,

the six men and six women
of the jury

will now decide
Scott Peterson's fate.

- We went through things that
were key points to each person.

- We did take polls
to find out

what people
were concerned about

and what we needed answers to.

Are we ready
to make a decision,

or are there other things
that need to be answered?

What questions do we have?

- That's why our deliberation
took the time it did

because everybody
had questions

and different opinions
of things.

- I was counting on a jury
that would come back

with an acquittal

because I thought,
there's no evidence here.

There's no forensic evidence.

There's nothing to tie him
to the murder.

- Everything in this case
you can look at

from a different lens.

Take one piece of evidence
and look at it

from the state's side.

And then you take
that exact same fact

and look at it
from Scott Peterson's side.

And you can make an argument

of those components
of this case.

- 116 people waited to get
the chance at witnessing

the verdict being read.

- The decision coming
after more than 40 hours

of deliberations.

- Across the country,
millions of Americans

familiar with the faces
of this unfolding drama

could only listen
to its final moments.

* *

- We walked back
into the courtroom.

* *

I just remember
I was really, really...

I was perspiring.

I mean, I was...

I could feel my heart pounding.

- One of the toughest moments
for any lawyer

is the moment right before

the jury foreman

reads the verdict.

It almost feels like
your heart is gonna stop.

- A crowd outside
the Redwood City Courthouse

waited in tense silence
for the verdict.

- We find the defendant,
Scott Lee Peterson,

guilty of the crime of murder.

[cheering]

- There were cheers, too,
in Modesto,

Laci Peterson's hometown.

[cheering]

Inside the courtroom,
even the judge

seemed to choke with emotion.

Laci Peterson's family sobbed.

But Scott Peterson showed
no obvious reaction.

- I looked at my dad, and he
had a shocked look on his face.

I had a shocked look.

I couldn't even cry.

I was just, like, stunned.

- A lot of people
are not fooled by...

by what went on here.

This is just a travesty.

- When the clerk
read the verdict,

I just remember thinking that...

that I'd just missed
the word "not."

She must have just
said "not guilty."

I missed it.

And you could hear a crowd

outside the courthouse erupt.

- Oh, we got him.
That's it.

I'm happy.
Thank God!

Thank God!

- I don't know how else
to describe it

other than absolute shock.

- Our family's
going to make it.

We're stronger because of this.

And Scott got what he deserved.

- I don't think that
Amber Frey was...was the issue.

I think that this...

this had been planned
before Amber Frey

even got in the picture.

I've had people after the trial
come up to me and say,

"Was he really guilty?"

And I go, are you serious?

I would find somebody
that was innocent guilty?

I would never do that.

- We just said a man
was guilty of killing

his wife and unborn child.

That's a terrible thing.

What's there to cheer about?

Nobody on that jury wanted to
find Scott Peterson guilty

just for the sake
of finding him guilty

or because of public opinion.

My decision

was nothing more
than what I found

based on evidence
and testimony.

- Seeing what we saw,
I'm a mother of four.

Goddamn, that was his son.

He'll never come clean.

He'll never admit it.

He'll go to his grave with it,
and then he'll go to hell,

straight to hell and rot.

- Peterson has been
found guilty

of first and second-degree
murder.

Now, Scott Peterson is eligible
for the death penalty.

[tense music]

- The jury finds him guilty.

And then the question is,
what's the penalty?

Do you get life in prison?

Do you get the death penalty?

- We're gonna have to
ask this jury,

who thinks that he murdered his
wife and unborn son,

to not take his life.

- Hi, everyone.
First up on the docket,

while you were eating your
Thanksgiving turkey at home,

Scott Peterson
was eating his behind bars,

waiting for the penalty
phase of his trial to begin.

- Witnesses reminded the jury
the emotional toll

a death verdict would have
on Scott's parents.

The defense is hoping
for an ounce of sympathy

peppered with lingering doubt.

- This afternoon,
customers gathered at the bar

to watch the jury's penalty
decision on TV.

[applause]

- After calling him cruel,
uncaring, and heartless,

the judge in Scott Peterson's
murder trial

sentenced him to death
for killing his wife,

Laci, and their unborn child.

- This is a box of letters
and cards

that was sent to our family,
mostly from 2003 to 2004.

"You must be in
so much pain seeing

"your child going through this.

"Your grief has to be
beyond words.

"You have lost a
daughter-in-law and a grandson.

"And your son is
facing challenges

"like he has never known.

"I cannot even comprehend
the pain you have to bear.

"Hold on to each other
with all that you have.

Your strength will
pull you through."

"Dear Lee and Jackie,

"I realize
that this case did not involve

"just one family but two.

"I'm the mother
of a seven-year-old boy,

"and if I were in
your situation,

I would have stood by my son,
as you did yours."

Getting letters
like this really,

really did make the difference

and make us feel like
we weren't alone.

We...we thought the whole world
thought Scott was guilty,

but even to fill up

just a few boxes of letters
at that time

really made a big difference.

"Tonight, my heart is
filled with deep sadness.

"After watching so long to see
Scott go home with his family,

"your son did not
get a fair trial,

and there is no city in the USA
where he could."

- Not long after
his conviction,

as the dust settled,

everyone started to realize,

this doesn't feel
like this is right.

This doesn't feel like it was
a powerful, compelling case.

[tense music]

- There have always been
a lot of questions

about how, when,
where, and why.

They were never answered
in the trial itself.

- We depend upon the police
to turn over every stone

and to examine every clue.

If they don't do that,

if they disregard
every piece of evidence

that doesn't fit their theory,

then their conclusions are
gonna be tainted

and likely wrong.

- The Modesto Police
Department were absolutely

laser-focused on Scott

because they thought
he did it.

- There are a slew
of eyewitnesses

who saw Laci Peterson
walking her dog

in and around the neighborhood.

- There's probably 12 to
13 people that never had

a face-to-face interview
with a detective

while Laci was missing.

- I have forever been
bothered by the fact

that the jury didn't hear
about those witnesses.

- I've always believed
that the burglary

had something to do with it.

- I think the police
decided very early on

that Scott was guilty.

And I think because of it, they
didn't effectively investigate

the Medina burglary.

- The prosecution position
was at the time

that the burglary didn't
even happen on the day

of Laci's disappearance.

If that burglary happened

when Laci was around
and still alive,

it could not have been
a coincidence.

- I don't think
the police looked

at the burglary enough
to understand the tie-ins

to Laci's disappearance.

- There's so much
reasonable doubt,

we're still talking
about it now.

- There are so many instances
where there is evidence

that didn't fit
the detective's theory.

They just assumed
she was dead.

Well, what if they
talked to these people,

and they found out
where she was

and they learned
information from them

which could have
brought her home?

- Here we are 20 years later
trying to piece this together.

I don't know that we ever felt
like we could look up and...

and see that light
at the end of the tunnel.

But to have the
Los Angeles Innocence Project

come on board and file motions

that are being
actively litigated,

I think it gives us
great hope.

- You know, the Los Angeles
Innocence Project believes

that there is a case here.

This isn't about
one side winning or losing.

This is about justice.

This is about the fairness
of a trial.

An innocent man has been
in jail for 20 years now.

And where is the justice
in that?

Somebody has to fight for him.

People have fought for him
for years.

And now we've got a new group
fighting for him.

[ominous music]

* *