A fresh television documentary is drawing renewed attention to one of the most infamous murder convictions in the US, more than 20 years after Scott Peterson was found guilty of killing his pregnant wife.
Now 53, Peterson has spent more than two decades in prison after his 2004 conviction for the murders of Laci Peterson and their unborn son, Conner, following Laci’s disappearance on Christmas Eve in 2002. His death sentence was later overturned by the California Supreme Court in 2020 because of jury-selection errors, and he was resentenced in 2021 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Peterson has long insisted he is innocent, but his efforts to challenge the verdict have repeatedly failed. In April 2026, a California judge dismissed a petition filed by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, which put forward 14 additional evidentiary claims. The court ruled that those claims were ‘neither new, admissible nor material’. The legal team has said it plans to appeal, and a separate juror-misconduct claim remains pending in the California Supreme Court.
Even so, A&E’s two-part special, Scott Peterson: The New Evidence, scheduled to air on July 16 and 17, revisits those arguments for viewers. The programme includes newly uncovered video, alleged handwritten notes said to be from Laci, and expert analysis that its producers argue raises serious questions about the prosecution’s original case.
The killing stunned the country, particularly after it came out that Peterson had been involved in an affair and had told the woman he was a widower. Prosecutors persuaded the jury that he used his fishing boat to dispose of Laci’s body.
Chris Pixley, an Atlanta-based defence attorney and ABC News legal analyst, told PEOPLE that the documentary was intended to examine and challenge the Innocence Project’s work rather than simply repeat it.
One part of the programme reportedly shows previously unseen defence footage involving a weighted dummy meant to represent Laci’s body. According to the documentary, the test showed a small boat tipping when the dummy was thrown overboard, and the jury in Peterson’s trial never viewed that material.
The special also points to expert disagreement with the tidal and wind modelling presented at trial. In addition, it highlights newer research into fetal development that suggests Laci and Conner may have died sometime after December 24, which the film argues could weaken the prosecution’s timeline.
Another issue revisited is a reported burglary near the Petersons’ home in Modesto around the same period Laci vanished. The documentary references witnesses who reported seeing a suspicious van nearby that day.
It also features accounts from people who said they saw Laci walking her dog after investigators believe she had already died.
“This is new science and new evidence, and every time you drill down, you find more,” Pixley said.
“It deserves an examination.”
Mark Geragos, who defended Peterson during the original trial, also told PEOPLE that he remains convinced the conviction was wrongful.
“I have always hoped, believed and expected that at some point justice will be done,” he said, adding that he doesn’t believe ‘what happened to Scott is justice’.
Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, has continued to reject suggestions that the case has materially changed.
“We constantly hear that they have new evidence, but there is no new evidence. Twelve people found him guilty of murder, but he doesn’t admit to that.”
Retired LAPD detective Ninette Toosbuy, who appears in the documentary, said Peterson’s own conduct, including the affair, has made many people view him with suspicion.
“In many ways Scott is his own worst enemy based on some of the things he did,” she said, though she maintains that doesn’t prove he’s a killer.
Representatives for Scott Peterson, the Los Angeles Innocence Project and Modesto Police Department have been approached for comment.