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The Scott Peterson Case

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The Scott Peterson Case
The Scott Peterson Case
Individuals break crimes all the time but some cases take America by storm with the mass amount of media coverage. The Scott Peterson trail is a prime example of a criminal case that took the nation by storm. What makes the Scott Peterson trail special is the fact that for the first time in California an individual was sentenced to death based solely on circumstantial evidence. In this paper I will be discussing the Scott Peterson case in three key areas background/summary, evidence, and finally crime elements.
Background/summary
On Christmas Eve in 2003 Scott Petersons pregnant wife Laci Peterson disappeared from Modesto, California. This case drew great amounts of news coverage all across America for almost two …show more content…
Furthermore, On March 16th 2005 Judge Alfred Delucchi formally sentenced Scott Peterson to death by lethal injection. Judge Delucchi also denied the defenses request for a new trial based on the evidence of juror misconduct and the medias influence. Judge Delucchi also ordered Scott Peterson to pay $10,000 dollars towards Lacis funeral (Blanco, n.d.).
Evidence
There was a good amount of evidence used in the Scott Peterson trial by the prosecution but all of it was circumstantial with not one piece of hard evidence. Five key items of evidence that the prosecution used to sway the jury in convicting Scott Peterson were the defenses major blunder from Dr. Charles March, the missing cement, the affair with Amber Frey, the two tarps used on the fishing trip, and finally the ultimate break down of Petersons fishing alibi. The first key item of evidence and the straw that broke the camels back was the complete break down of the defenses key witness Dr. Charles March. Dr. March was brought to the trail as the defenses …show more content…
This case shock up the entire county based on the primary fact of the case being the death/murder of a wife and unborn child. The mass media coverage and ultimate outcome of the case was unprecedented in the fact that is all based off of circumstantial evidence. This case shows that even with not one piece of hard evidence a jury can be convinced that Scott Peterson was guilty of killing his wife and unborn
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