However, one of the jurors, Mike Belmessieri, who convicted Peterson in 2004, is speaking out against the so-called "new evidence" that Peterson's lawyers are desperately trying to use to exonerate their client. Belmessieri asserts that police had already investigated these break-ins during the original probe, and no connection between the burglaries and the murder was found.
From Radar Online:
During the initial trial, Scott’s attorney, Mark Geragos, claimed a burglary near the couple’s Modesto, California, residence around the time of Laci’s disappearance may have been connected to her death. However, the juror has now revealed that the cops who worked on the 2002 break-in case found no connection between the two crimes.
"The Modesto [Police Department] had investigated that issue and cleared those individuals who were involved in that burglary," the juror said in an interview with NewsNation.
Scott’s attorneys are now requesting items from the burglary investigation to help exonerate the convicted killer. They are specifically asking for evidence recovered from the burglarized home, a missing watch that Laci wore, items from a van that was set ablaze in Modesto the day after she disappeared, and documents connected to witness interviews.
The Los Angeles Innocence Project, a pro bono legal organization that helps convicts, announced earlier this week that they will be taking up Scott’s case. They have also filed a motion requesting DNA testing of evidence from the original trial.
