“It’s always really important to me to put the victim forward, and Laci Peterson, I think, has been overshadowed many times by Scott Peterson and what’s going on with him,” Borgman tells TODAY.com in an interview. “And I just really wanted to make sure that that we did our job and put Laci forward, and put Conner forward as well.”
Scott Peterson was later convicted of the murder of Laci Peterson and their unborn son, whom they planned to name Conner, after their bodies were located.
Scott Peterson has maintained his innocence in the crime, and is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. Keep reading for more information on where he is now.
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Scott Peterson was arrested near a golf course in San Diego on April 18, 2003, according to The Los Angeles Times, just days after Laci and Conner Peterson's bodies were found.
He was later charged with two counts of murder, and he pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment, according to NBC Bay Area.
In the months between Laci Peterson's disappearance and the discovery of her body, Scott Peterson cooperated with investigators and did media interviews, in which he said he went fishing in the Berkeley Marina on Christmas Eve, before arriving home and finding their dog on a leash in the backyard — and no sign of his wife.
In January 2003, a woman named Amber Frey, a massage therapist from Fresno, California, spoke to a room of journalists, according to NBC Bay Area, explaining that she had been in love with her boyfriend Scott Peterson — until she found out he was married and expecting a baby.
“Scott told me he was not married,” Frey said, according to NBC Bay Area. “We did have a romantic relationship.”
Scott Peterson's trial began in June 2004 at the Redwood City courthouse in San Mateo County, after a judge ruled for it to be moved out of Stanislaus County because of the attention the case had received in the community, according to NBC Bay Area.
Prosecutors alleged during the five-month trial that Scott Peterson had faked his wife's disappearance after he had dumped his wife's body in the Berkeley Marina on Christmas Eve, while Peterson's attorneys suggested she was killed after she stumbled upon a burglary, according to NBC News.
On Nov. 12, 2004, jurors read their verdict in court: Scott Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in Laci Peterson's death, and second-degree murder in the death of their unborn son, following the five-month trial, according to the .
The same jury that convicted Scott Peterson recommended for him to be sentenced to death in 2004. In 2005, Judge Alfred Delucchi upheld the jury’s suggestion and sentenced Scott Peterson to the death penalty, according to NBC News.
In 2020, the California Supreme Court overturned his death sentence and also later ordered a second look at his convictions, according to the . The death sentence was overturned due to a "series of clear and significant errors in jury selection," per an opinion by the California Supreme Court. However, the court upheld his murder conviction.
Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager announced in 2021 she would not retry the penalty phase of the trial, meaning Peterson would be resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to NBC News.