Scott Peterson, a man convicted of killing his eight-month pregnant wife in 2002, is speaking out for the first time in nearly two decades. On Monday, Peacock released a teaser for Face to Face With Scott Peterson, a documentary series slated for Aug. 20 that reexamines Peterson’s case.
Face to Face will reveal new details about the criminal case, including the Los Angeles Innocence Project’s involvement since the organization, focused on overturning convictions of wrongfully convicted individuals, is investigating his claim that he’s not guilty of killing his wife Laci Peterson on Christmas Eve 2002.
“I believe my brother Scott has been wrongfully convicted of that crime,” says Scott’s sister-in-law Janey Peterson in the trailer, later adding, “Scott has not spoken on camera about the case in those 21 years.”
Laci Peterson, 27, vanished on Christmas Eve 2002. Scott claimed that she was killed sometime after he left their Modesto home that morning to go fishing in the San Francisco Bay. He soon became a prime suspect following growing police and public suspicion.
“While many still believe the jury got it right, Scott’s family and experts close to the case have spent over 20 years committed to uncovering inconsistencies in the evidence as well as finding new information around alternative theories surrounding Laci’s murder,” producers of the Peacock docuseries said in a statement.
The teaser sees director Shareen Anderson joining a video call with Peterson from behind bars. “Why should anyone care about what you have to say 20 years later?” she asks him.
Face to Face features interviews with his sister-in-law Janey Peterson, detectives from the Modesto Police Department, and his former defense attorney Lara Yeretsian. Peterson was convicted of murder in 2004 and received a death sentence the following year, though it was later reduced to life in prison without parole.
The LAIP took on the case in January, telling NBC LA that it was “investigating his claim of actual innocence.” In a bid for a new trial, his legal team argued that a juror in his 2004 murder trial, Richelle Nice, committed misconduct. However, in December 2022, he was denied a new trial and remained in jail to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.