A California judge has rejected Scott Peterson's bid to be granted a new trial for the 2002 murder of his pregnant wife.
Almost two decades ago on Christmas Eve, the then-30-year-old man murdered his wife, Laci, and the unborn child they planned to name Conner.
Initially, the convicted murderer helped authorities look for Laci's body, however, it was soon revealed that he had been having an affair - which led to him becoming the prime suspect.
Four months after the murder, Peterson was charged with the death of his pregnant wife after her body was discovered in San Francisco Bay - just a mile away from where her unborn baby's body was found.
Peterson was convicted in 2005 of two counts of first-degree murder in the death of his wife and their unborn child. He was also sentenced to death row, where he remained for about 15 years.
However, in 2020, the now-50-year-old's death penalty was overturned by a judge - meaning that he would face a new penalty phase trial, according to People.
In addition to this, a California Supreme Court also ruled that a lower court could examine his case again to determine whether his guilty verdict should be overturned. Therefore, he was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole instead, per NBC News.
Now, in a 55-page decision issued on Tuesday (December 20), a San Mateo County Superior Court Judge denied the suspect's request for a new trial.
His defense attorneys argued in their bid for a new trial that a juror in the case, Richelle Nice, lied during jury selection when she was asked if she had ever been a victim of a crime, per People.
The outlet stated that the juror denied the question, but has now confessed that she failed to inform the court that in 2001, she had a restraining order against her then-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. She claimed that the woman was stalking and threatening her.
Furthermore, Nice also refused to disclose that she had a possible physical dispute with her ex-boyfriend that led to her arrest.
The convicted murderer's legal team claimed that the juror deliberately lied on her jury questionnaire and that she may have been a pro-prosecution stealth juror.
They alleged that Nice wanted to benefit from the case, and proclaimed that after Peterson was convicted, she sent 17 letters to him in jail, co-authored a book with other jurors, and also appeared on the Dr. Oz show.
As reported by NBC Bay Area, Judge Anne-Christine Massullo conveyed in her decision ruling that the juror's failure to answer the questionnaire was an honest mistake.
"The court concludes that Juror No. 7's (Nice) responses were not motivated by pre-existing or improper bias against Petitioner (Peterson)," the judge wrote. "But instead were a combination of good faith misunderstanding of the questions and sloppiness in answering."
Although Peterson's team suggested that the 17 letters Nice wrote were proof of her inclination to the trial, Massullo saw things differently, writing: "The letters also evidence a juror who, despite all she had heard and saw, was trying to get the Petitioner (Peterson) to come to peace with what he did and the impact it had on his life and the life of Laci's family."