Scott Peterson, convicted of killing his pregnant wife, injured in prison attack
Injury reportedly took place during pickleball game at Mule Creek State Prison
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Scott Peterson, who in a high-profile case was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and their unborn son in 2002, was injured in a California prison on Sunday, according to officials.
“Scott Peterson was involved in an incident with another person at Mule Creek State Prison and suffered minor injuries,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement on Tuesday to the Sacramento Bee.
Peterson was beaten up after hitting a pickleball directly at another inmate, TMZ reports, citing unnamed prison sources.
The injuries were such that Peterson didn’t need to go to the prison hospital, according to the outlet.
Peterson was convicted for the killing of his wife Laci and their unborn son Connor in Modesto in a trial that got national media attention.
Prosecutors say Peterson dumped Laci’s body in the Berkeley Marina on Christmas Eve 2002, then reported her missing.
Peterson initially helped police search for Laci but became a suspect when it was discovered he had been having an affair.
The Modesto man was arrested near the Mexican border with dyed hair, $15,000 in cash, and multiple cell phones, according to police.
Laci and Connor’s bodies were found in the San Francisco Bay four weeks after the woman had been reported missing.
Peterson maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty.
The trial, in which Peterson ultimately was sentenced to death, became a national media spectacle, attracting hundreds of people outside the courthouse during proceedings.
In 2020, the California Supreme Court overturned Peterson’s death penalty, finding that the trial court made errors in juror selection by excluding jurors who disagreed with capital punishment.
The following year, he was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In January of 2024, the Los Angeles Innocence Project took up Peterson’s case, arguing he had been denied access to potentially exculpatory evidence and that a burglary near the Petersons’ home could be tied to Laci and Connor’s deaths.
By October of that year, a court ruled the group could access decades-old evidence in the case, including DNA and forensics.