Scott Peterson appealing death row sentence

Everyone in the Bay Area remembers the Scott Peterson trial, right?

You know: The guy found guilty of killing his wife Laci and unborn child on Christmas in 2002 and dumping them in the Berkeley Marina. The media was all over that case right up to when he was found guilty in 2005 and sentenced to death row.

Heck, there was even a Lifetime  movie starring Dean Cain that portrayed the turn of events when Peterson’s mistress came forward and his late-wife’s family began to suspect him of her murder.

Well, Peterson may be coming back into the news media spotlight. SF Appeal reported Friday that Peterson — serving his death row sentence at San Quentin since 2005 — is asking the California Supreme Court in San Francisco to overturn his murder conviction.

Lawyers of the 39-year-old former-Modesto resident filed the 423-page appeal on Thursday. The reason they think the conviction should overturned? His lawyers claim that Peterson didn’t receive a fair trial due to the vast media coverage that the case and trial had. And, that even though the trial was moved from his home county of Stanislaus to San Mateo County, Peterson was still unable to be tried fairly.

“This publicity, some of which was plainly inflammatory, continued unabated from the time of the crime itself until the time of trial,” his lawyers argued in the appeal. “It made a fair trial impossible by creating a belief in Mr. Peterson’s guilt.”

Julia Cheever of the Bay City News also reports that the appeal brief “alleges numerous errors in evidentiary rulings.”

This brief is also only the first step in very long appeals process. And if Peterson loses in state court, he can continue on the federal court level. A date for the first hearing on the appeal, however, has not been set yet.