A woman who helped convict Scott Peterson – and whose jury is at the heart of the review request – says she never lied on the jury’s questionnaire that she was a victim of domestic violence.
Richelle Nice, nicknamed “Strawberry Shortcake” because of her dyed red hair, once received a restraining order against a boyfriend convicted of assault. She failed to disclose this information during the 2004 jury selection process for the high-ranking trial against Peterson, and this is now one of the reasons why his defense team is seeking a retrial.
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-friend 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 ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend, who cut his tires, broke into their home and threatened her.
Nice’s testimony, which continued on Friday, marked the beginning of a week-long hearing focusing on whether she lied about her domestic violence story in order to join the jury so she could vote to convict Peterson.
Peterson, 49, was convicted in 2004 of killing his pregnant wife, Lachi, and their unborn son, whom the couple planned to name Connor. He has long claimed innocence.
Nice, who testified with impunity, said she never lied deliberately when asked a jury question about whether she or her associates had ever witnessed or been a victim of crime.
Richelle Nice, a juror who helped convict Scott Peterson of killing his wife and unborn son in 2002, is at the center of a request for a retrial. She is pictured in front of the San Mateo County Old Courthouse in Redwood City, California on December 13, 2004.
Nice was accused of lying during the jury selection process, without revealing that she had experienced domestic violence. She is pictured in front of the courthouse after Peterson was sentenced to death on March 16, 2005.
Peterson is pictured in the San Mateo County Courthouse in Redwood City, California on Feb. 25 for the start of a hearing that will determine whether he will receive a new trial.
She replied that she was not a victim, although she issued a restraining order while she was pregnant in 2000 against a woman who then accused her of terrorizing her.
But on Friday, she said in a statement that she was “vicious”, asking for a court injunction for herself and her unborn son.
Asked if she had ever feared the woman would harm her unborn child, she said no.
Her latest statement that she is not worried about her baby’s safety contradicts statements she made while seeking a court order. She then said she was worried the woman could hurt and harm the fetus.
Now she said she was only worried about what might happen if they punched each other.
“She wouldn’t have intentionally hurt my child, but if we were arguing and rolling like mannequins on the ground, then yes, I would be afraid of losing my child by doing such nonsense,” she said.
Nice said on Friday that her boyfriend had been falsely convicted of abusing her and that she was the one who attacked him. In the photo, she arrives for a Peterson hearing in Redwood City, California on February 25, 2005.
“This hearing is critical,” Peterson’s lawyer, Harris, said earlier. “This is his chance to show that she misbehaved and throw away all the work.”
Justin Falconer, another juror before his release, may testify that Nice talked a lot about Connor, calling him a “little man.”
If he were alive today, Connor would be a 20-year-old 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.
To have his sentence overturned, Peterson’s lawyers must show Masulo that Nice misbehaved and did so “out of bias against Scott’s conviction,” Harris said.
Nice said no to a jury questionnaire when asked if she had ever been a victim of a crime or participated in a lawsuit.
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.
Peterson Lachi’s pregnant wife (pictured) disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002 and was found months later sailing in the Gulf of San Francisco. The mutilated corpse of their unborn son was also found
The jury heard Peterson have an affair with masseuse Amber Frey (pictured), who initially did not know he was married. She stood to testify against him during a trial that attracted international interest
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 had not provided 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 hidden juror”. .
According to Nice’s testimony on Friday, Peterson’s lawyers plan to call witnesses, including fellow jurors and co-authors of their book, We, the Jury.
They also want People magazine reporter Johnny Dodd to testify about the “unusual” 17 letters Nice wrote to Peterson after his conviction and the eight letters Peterson wrote to Nice.
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.
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.
Lassie Peterson, 27, was killed when she was eight months pregnant with a son whom the Peterson family planned to name Connor. Investigators said that on the eve of Christmas 2002, Scott Peterson dumped his wife’s body from his fishing boat in San Francisco Bay.
Peterson was eventually arrested after Amber Frey, a masseuse living in Fresno, told police they began dating a month before Lassie Peterson’s death.
She said he told her his wife was dead. Peterson maintained his innocence at all times.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Peterson’s death sentence in December and ordered Supreme Court Justice Anne-Christine Masulo to decide whether Nice had tarnished his trial, he also said “there is significant other circumstantial evidence incriminating Peterson.”
Peterson was sentenced to death in 2005 for the 2002 murder of his wife Lachi and their unborn son Connor. Last December, he was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Her new lawyer had told both prosecutors and defense attorneys that she would cite her right to the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination until she was granted immunity from any prosecution for perjury.
Nice is pictured embracing attorney Gloria Allred after speaking at a news conference following the official sentencing of Scott Peterson in Redwood City, California, on March 16, 2005.
Lawyer Jeffrey Carr said he insisted on immunity to protect his client from things said for sure in last year’s sworn statement, but where she could defend herself on the witness stand.
“Most of its content is true, but not all of it is a matter of how you interpret things,” he told the Associated Press. Sometimes “tongues are more insistent” in the oath than in reality.
“I don’t expect bombs” or “surprises for what she’s going to say,” Carr said. He said he told Niss that “her only duty at the moment is to tell the bloody stone truth.”
Stanislav County prosecutors are arguing with Peterson’s lawyers about the importance of Nice’s refusal to testify without immunity.
“The jury’s refusal to cooperate in investigating her own misconduct may prove her bias,” Peterson’s lawyers said in a lawsuit, adding that “the witness lied under oath is certainly important for credibility.”
But prosecutors said that “if juror 7 exercises his privilege against self-incrimination … no conclusion is drawn as to the credibility of the witness.”