Scott Peterson death penalty, ordered a new penalty phase trial

 Scott Peterson death penalty, ordered a new penalty phase trial.

More than 15 years after the Christmas Eve murder of pregnant Modesto schoolteacher Laci Peterson grabbed national headlines, the California Supreme Court tossed out the death sentence of her husband, Scott Peterson, and ordered a new penalty phase trial.

The court decision leaves the murder conviction in place. However, the court said prosecutors may try again for a death sentence if they wish in the high-profile case at a new penalty phase trial.

“Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case. We reject Peterson’s claim that he received an unfair trial as to guilt and thus affirm his convictions for murder,” the court said.

But it said the trial judge “made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection that, under long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent, undermined Peterson’s right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase.”

It agreed with his argument that potential jurors were improperly dismissed from the jury pool after saying they personally disagreed with the death penalty but would be willing to follow the law and impose it.

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