The lawyer and sister-in-law of Scott Peterson, who on Monday had his death penalty sentence overturned by the California Supreme Court, have not been able to tell him the news directly because of a coronavirus outbreak in the San Quentin State Prison where he is being held, Fox News has reported.
Peterson has been on death row there since 2005, when he was sentenced to death for the murder of his wife and their unborn son.
His attorney Mark Geragos told Fox News that, due to the COVID-19 outbreak at the prison, he is not sure when he will get a face-to-face meeting with Peterson.
Peterson's sister-in-law and longtime advocate Janey Peterson also told Fox News that she was not able to get in touch with him directly, although she said she believes that he has heard the news.
San Quentin has suffered the largest outbreak of coronavirus among prisoners in California, at one time having more than a third of its inmates testing positive.
Although the murder conviction against Peterson remains, the court did order a new penalty phase trial.
Janey Peterson said that "For a long and difficult 18 years, we have believed unwaveringly in Scott's innocence, so today's decision by the court is a big step toward justice.”
She added that she is waiting for the court "to address the new forensic and eyewitness evidence" that she believes will show his wife was alive the morning of Dec. 24 and "demonstrates Scott's innocence." She said that "When the court reviews this in the coming months, we are confident they will grant Scott a new guilt phase trial."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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