Presumed Guilty : What the Jury Never Knew about Laci Peterson's Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row

by Matt Dalton; Bonnie Hearn Hill

• ISBN13: 9780743286954
• ISBN10: 0743286952
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-13
• Publisher: Atria

Summary

No one knows the story behind the sensational headlines of the Scott Peterson murder trial better than defense attorney Matt Dalton. For six straight months after Peterson's arrest, Dalton was the defense's only full-time investigative attorney on the case. During that time, he lived in Modesto and investigated every element of the case, interviewing scores of witnesses, reviewing more than 35,000 pages of police documents, and meeting almost daily with Scott Peterson in jail. What he has uncovered will astound even the most informed observers of the Laci Peterson murder case and challenge the most deeply held beliefs about what really happened to Laci Peterson on Christmas Eve, 2002. This is the first book to go inside the Peterson defense team, and the only book to detail all the evidence that the jury did not hear -- evidence that might have led to Scott Peterson's acquittal, and that will surely play a crucial part in his pending appeals. Among the revelations in Presumed Guilty: Reports from numerous witnesses who saw Laci Peterson alive and well the morning of December 24, after the police claim Scott Peterson had already killed her; none of them testified at trial The story of another woman, eight months pregnant, who was harassed by two men the morning of December 24 only five blocks from the Peterson home The burglary that reportedly occurred directly across the street from the Peterson home on the morning of December 24, and the confessed burglars' questionable claims that the burglary happened days later Previously unreported details of the autopsy reports on Laci Peterson and her son, which cast strong doubts on key elements of the prosecution's case The disappearances of six pregnant women, in addition to Laci, reported missing and presumed dead within eighty miles of Modesto between 1999 and 2002 Compelling, provocative, disturbing, Presumed Guilty is the fascinating story of one lawyer's relentless efforts to find the truth behind one of the most complex and notorious murder cases in American history.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Book That Had to Be Written—Now	1	(138)
1 The Case Against Scott Peterson	9	(16)
2 Attorney for the Accused	25	(28)
3 Crimes in the Neighborhood	53	(18)
4 Credible Witnesses	71	(10)
5 The Autopsy Report	81	(14)
6 Cults and Coincidences	95	(18)
7 Satanic Art, Satanic Killings	113	(8)
8 Amber Frey: A Motive for Murder?	121	(10)
9 The Victims	131	(8)
10 A New Defense Team?	139	(8)
11 The Trial	147	(24)
12 Beyond the Verdict	171	(16)
Appendix: Timeline	187	(6)
Acknowledgments	193