A juror who helped sentence Scott Peterson to death admitted in court that she sent him 17 letters – including one sent by the psychiatric ward – while the court worked to decide whether her behavior should lead to a retrial of the murderous husband.
Richelle Nice’s involvement in convicting Peterson is at the heart of a review offer sought by his legal team, which also claims it missed important details about its past as a survivor of domestic violence during the jury selection process.
Nice revealed in court Monday that she wrote more than a dozen letters to Peterson after helping convict him while he was sentenced to death for the December 24, 2002, murder of his wife, Lachi, and their unborn son, Connor.
“What happened that night, Scott?” she wrote in a letter from August 2005. “What pushed you to the limit when you felt you had to kill someone who not only loved you so much, but carried a part of you in her?”
Nice, who testified with impunity, began writing to Peterson after he was sentenced to death. In a letter written on December 17, 2005 from a psychiatric hospital, she revealed that she had suffered a psychiatric crisis and was locked in a “crazy block”.
“I never knew how much this ordeal affected me, and I never had a great life,” she wrote. “All the pressure just hit me. I think it was the time of year. Our verdict, Lachi and Connor.
Richelle Nice was photographed in a California court on February 25. Her behavior during the trial of Scott Peterson for the murder of his wife could lead to a re-examination of Peterson
Nice, who received eight responses from Peterson, refuted speculation during questioning that her involvement in the case may be a signal of bias.
Attorney David Harris asked, “Miss Nice, were you biased toward Mr. Peterson?”
“No,” she replied.
Harris said in a follow-up question: “Did you decide the case on the basis of facts alone, not prejudice?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
Scott Peterson, pictured at the San Mateo County Supreme Court in Redwood City, California, on March 1, 2022, requests a retrial
He was initially sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, Latsi, and their unborn son, Connor, on December 24, 2002.
Peterson’s lawyers claim that Nis, nicknamed “Strawberry Shortcake” because of her dyed red hair, lied before the trial in 2014 when she was asked by a jury about whether she or her associates had ever witnessed or not. were victims of crime.
Peterson was sentenced to death in 2005 for the murders, but was re-sentenced last December to life without parole.
Although she was once given a restraining order against a boyfriend convicted of assaulting her – and claimed to have been terrorized while pregnant by her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend – she was unable to reveal her story in a jury questionnaire.
While she was baked on the stand on Friday by Peterson’s lawyer Pat Harris, Nice claims that although her boyfriend was convicted of assault, he never actually did.
She said her then-boyfriend Eddie Whiteside called the cops in November 2001 after she attacked him in their bedroom during a fight. When police arrived, she said they noticed a cut on her lip caused by her braces and arrested him for assault.
“Eddie never hit me,” she told the court on Friday. “Now or at any time.” Eddie never hit me, so I was not a victim of domestic violence.
However, Nice admitted during her testimony that she did not reveal that she was the victim of her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, who cut his tires, broke into their home and threatened her.
In a letter Nice wrote to Peterson in December 2015 from a psychiatric hospital, she revealed that she had suffered from a mental disorder and was locked up in a “crazy ward.” She was photographed on March 16, 2005 in Redwood City, California
Nice, nicknamed “Strawberry Shortcake” because of her bright red hair, told the court last Friday that she had never been a victim of domestic violence, despite receiving a restraining order against a boyfriend convicted of assault. She is pictured out of court at 13 December 2004
Peterson was sentenced to death in 2005 for the 2002 murder of his wife Lachi and unborn son Connor. In December last year, he was sentenced again to life in prison without parole.
Lachi disappeared from their home in Modesto, California, while pregnant on Christmas Eve 2002. Investigators say he was secretly dating Amber Frey, who believed he was a widower during their courtship.
The body of the 27-year-old was found floating in San Francisco Bay in April 2003, and Connor’s fruit was mutilated.
Investigators said Peterson took the bodies from their home and dumped them from his fishing boat.
If he were alive today, Connor would be a 20-year-old man.
Although Nice’s testimony is now over, fellow juror Justin Falconer can testify that Nice talked a lot about Connor, calling him a “little man.”
Peterson’s lawyers said he would also testify that Nice said she had financial problems and that they were joking about a book after the lawsuit and film deals.
Peterson Lachi’s pregnant wife (pictured) disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002 and was found months later sailing in San Francisco Bay.
If Peterson gets a new trial, his lawyers told him they could present new evidence that the thieves were nearby on the day of Laci Peterson’s disappearance.
They said they could also prove that witnesses saw her alive that day and that her fetus was “alive for at least another five to six days” based on a study of fetal remains.
Peterson told his mistress Amber Frey (pictured together) that he was a widower during their courtship. She testified against him during the trial
To have his sentence overturned, Peterson’s lawyers must prove to the judge that Nice committed misconduct and did so “out of bias against Scott’s conviction.”
Last year, she said in a sworn statement that she did not “feel” victim “in the way the law can define the term” and did not consider the restraining order a lawsuit.
If Peterson gets a new trial, Harris said he could present new evidence that the thieves were nearby on the day of Laci Peterson’s disappearance, that witnesses saw her alive that day, and that her fetus was “alive for at least another five to six days ”based on the examination of fetal remains.
However, prosecutors said Peterson’s lawyers did not provide any evidence to support his claims that he deserved a new trial, as Nice had a “darker motive” to be on the jury “and was essentially a covert juror”. .
Two directors who worked on the post-trial television documentary “The Assassination of Lacy Peterson” must testify that they noticed a picture of a child wearing pajamas with the caption “The Little Man” on the wall of Nice.