Laci Peterson, a 27-year-old wife who was eight months pregnant, disappeared on December 24, 2002. When the body of the California woman and her unborn child were found four months later, her husband, Scott, was charged with two counts of murder. Detective Craig Grogan gave a sworn statement that he had probable cause to believe Mr. Peterson committed two counts of the crime of 187 Penal Code, homicide, on or about December 23, 2002 or December 24,2002, in the county of Stanislaus. April 17, 2003 at 0658 hours the Judge of the Superior Court in Stanislaus County, California issued a warrant for the arrest of Scott Lee Peterson. The court found that the District Attorney’s office did, in fact, have probable cause to bring Scott Peterson in. The Judge specifically addressed bail in the warrant. No bail was granted. April 18, 2003 at 1110 hours, Scott Peterson was arrested at the Torrey Pines Golf Course, in Sand Diego County, California. At the time of his arrest, Peterson had colored his hair blonde, grown a beard and mustache, and was carrying $15,000.00 in cash. During his arrest police also discovered that Peterson’s car was full of camping and survival equipment. Peterson was arrested less than 20 minutes from the Mexican border. Peterson waived booking in San Mateo County, California, and was transferred back to Stanislaus County, California, where he was formally booked by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department. Scott Peterson had his preliminary hearing on April 17, 2003. Superior Court Judge Al Girolami ordered Scott Peterson to stand trial on two counts of murder. Peterson’s arraignment quickly followed. Peterson was arraigned on April 21, 2003. The Prosecution charged him with the following: Count I: On or about and between December 23, 2002 and December 24, 2002, the defendant did commit a felony, Murder, violation of Section 187 of the California Penal Code; the defendant did willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously and with malice aforethought murder Laci Denise Peterson, a human being. Special Allegation charges were made in conjunction with the felony murder charge of Laci Denise Peterson. It is further alleged as to Count 1, MURDER that the defendant acted intentionally, deliberately and with premeditation. Enhancement: TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY. During the commission of the murder of Laci Denise Peterson, the defendant, with the knowledge that Laci Denise Peterson was pregnant, did inflict injury on Laci Denise Peterson resulting in the termination of her pregnancy, a violation of Section 12022.
The steps in the legal system as they pertain to the drew Peterson case is first recognizing there was a murder of the soon to be ex wife of Peterson’s, Kathleen Savio. What also had to be recognized, was who had a vested interest in the murder of Kathleen Savio and motive. After the disappearance of Peterson’s fourth wife, it became clear there was a common denominator, Peterson who was the husband of both victims. Having some suspicion on whether Kathleen’s death was a murder of accidental her body was exhumed and given two additional autopsies. Once the results came back from the two autopsies that Kathleen’s death was a homicide instead of accidental death,
California was heard by the Supreme Court, Riley stated that a smartphone and whatever it may contain does not provide a threat to police officers, therefore People v. Diaz does not apply. Jeffrey L. Fisher, a Stanford University law professor, served as Riley’s representation (Riley v. California, n.d.). He boiled his argument down to the searching of a cell phone is nothing more than an invasion of privacy, as most people now have their entire life on their personal devices (Liptak, 2014).
Defendant Freddie Lee Hall filed a motion to declare Florida Statute 921.137 (Florida Statute) as contrary to Atkins v. Virginia (2002) and, thus, unconstitutional. Hall, convicted in 1981 for the murder of Karol Hurst, was initially sentenced to death in September 1982. For three years, he fought his sentence, filing “a motion to vacate, a petition for writ of habeas corpus and an application for a stay of execution, all of which were denied” . In 1986, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard his appeal and reversed part of the lower court’s ruling, a decision granted when the court found Hall “entitled to a hearing on the issues of his absence from the courtroom and whether he deliberately bypassed his ineffective assistance of counsel claim” .
In 2009, Defendant-Appellant, Stephanie Lazarus, was convicted of first-degree murder in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for a crime that occurred in 1986. The case was unsolved until 2009, when a DNA profile obtained from a bite mark on the victim’s arm was matched to Lazarus. Because of the 23-year lapse in time between the crime and her arrest, Lazarus argued that she had suffered a due process violation. Her claim was denied by the Court of Appeal for the Second District of California.
In 1992, Houston police officers found two homicide victims in a house at an unspecified time. The investigation of this homicide led them to defendant, Genovevo Salinas, where the police asked and the defendant agreed to accompany the police officers to the station where the defendant was questioned for about one hour. Police collected shotgun shells from the murder scene, which is the home of the two brothers that have been shot and killed. The defendant, without being detained and read his Miranda rights, voluntarily answered most of the police officer’s questions about the murder stated earlier. This interview lasted about one hour and both the officer and the defendant agreed it was a consensual encounter. He became very quite once the officer’s asked if under ballistics testing the casing, found at the crime scene, would match the shotgun the defendant owned. After this question the officer asked other questions and the defendant did answer the rest of the questions asked. Police also found a witness who said Salinas admitted to killing the victims. In 1993, Salinas was charged with the murders, but could not be located. 15 years later, Salinas was finally captured. The first trial ended in a mistrial. During the second trial the prosecutors used the silence the defendant had at this time, even over the objection of the defendant, as evidence of guilt in Texas state court. He was convicted, in both State Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals.
On December 24, 2002, Laci Peterson was reported missing from her home. Her husband, Scott Peterson, was the first to be suspected for the murders of Laci and her unborn son, Connor. Scott planned the murders by making sure he was at a certain place at a certain time to prove that he didn’t do it. The night Scott came home from fishing, he reported Laci was not at home.
Twenty-one years ago, over ninety-five million people turned their television sets to local and cable news channels to watch a historic car chase through Los Angeles. The police were chasing a famous football player and actor by the name of Orenthal James (OJ) Simpson as he sat in the back seat of a 1993 white Ford Bronco holding a gun to his head. The owner of the Bronco and long-time friend Al (A.C.) Cowlings was driving, aiding and abetting the fugitive. Five days before the famous car chase OJ Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in front of her residence. The low-speed chase lasted two hours and ended in front of Simpson’s home without incident. With Simpson captured and behind bars, the stage was set for the trial of the century. The evidence in Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman’s
The Cheri Jo Bates murder would have been believed to have been committed by a spurned lover, were it not for a bizarre twist occurring almost a month after the murder. On November 29, 1966 an anonymous letter was sent to both the Riverside Police and the Riverside Enterprise, a local newspaper. The letter, entitles “The Confession”...
Riley vs. California is a recent court case that has redefined cell phone privacy in criminal cases. Decided by the Supreme Court in 2014, it states that cell phones may not be searched without a warrant. Because this decision protects the privacy of arrestees, the judicial process, the trustworthiness of police officers, and does not hinder pending investigations, I support the Supreme Court’s decision.
Scott Peterson has been waiting to die for over a decade. He was convicted of murdering his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner. The case unfolded at the end of 2002 with what everyone believed was a missing person case. Unfortunately, a fetus was discovered in April of 2003 washed up on the shore and just the next day, Laci's dismembered body was also found near where the fetus had been found. It appeared to be a slam dunk case, and much of America believed Scott Peterson murdered his wife and their unborn son.
In November 2004, Scott Peterson was found guilty and charged with two counts of murder for the death of his 8-month pregnant wife Laci Peterson, and prenatal son Conner Peterson. It was not until one month later, the jury had recommended Scott Peterson to be sentenced to death by lethal injection. Before his conviction, there was no substantial evidence submitted during the trial that linked Peterson directly to the death of his wife and their unborn child. In fact, the only physical evidence presented to the court was a single strand of Laci Peterson’s hair attached to a pair of Scott’s pliers. The evidence was deemed circumstantial on the basis that it did not deliberately constitute as the murder weapon. The pliers were not found alongside
California originally passed the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) on September 18, 1959 with amendments made overtime as issues came up and amendments were needed (Fair Employment and Housing Acts). The FEHA prohibits discrimination in employment based on the following: Race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, mental and physical disability, medical condition, age, pregnancy, denial of medical care and family care leave, or pregnancy disability leave. Additionally, the FEHA protects employees from retaliation for claiming illegal discrimination against one of these categories. Employees are given one year from the date of the discrimination incident
The next challenge to Affirmative Action programs in higher education sets the precedent for future cases moving forward to the 21st century. The Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1974) involved a white Anglo male, Allan Bakke, and the University of California, Davis Medical School (UCDMS). The plaintiff, already obtained a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, was denied admission to UCDMS. Bakke claimed that the university’s special admission minority program had reduced the number of places for which he could compete (Moreno, 2003, p. 17). During this time, many higher education institutions began using quota systems as a means to increase the number of students of color in their campus (Smallwood, 2015, p. 2). According
The case of the State of Florida vs. Chad Heins happened in 1994 in Mayport, Florida. It was on April 17, 1994 that Tina Heins, who was pregnant at the time, was found stabbed to death in her apartment. She shared an apartment with her husband Jeremy Heins and Jeremy’s brother Chad Heins. At the time of the incident Jeremy Heins was on a ship because he worked in the navy but Chad Heins was at the apartment. Before the incident happened Chad Heins, the defendant, who was nineteen at the time, used his brothers license to buy alcohol at a strip club near the apartment. After that Chad Heins had went to another bar where his brothers license got confiscated. He left the bar around 12:45 a.m. and went back to the apartment. He then washed his
...announcement that she was indeed dating Scott but had no knowledge that he was married and that she was not a suspect in the investigation. Laci’s Parents had turned on him once this came to the light. Police were going to treat Laci’s disappearance as a homicide but on April 13 of 2003 a couple spotted what looked like a male fetus. On the next day a pregnant woman washed up in the same area of the male fetus in the Berkeley Bay. Forensic scientists confirmed that the fetus and the woman was Laci’ and her and Scott’s son with matching DNA. On April 18, 2003 Scott was arrested at gun point. Police felt as though Scott was trying to flee to Mexico because he had dyed his hair and grown a goatee and had $15,000 in cash, survival gear and his brother’s ID. It took the jury seven days to reach a verdict of the death penalty. Scott Peterson is now sitting on death row.