The Scott Peterson case was one of the most difficult murder cases that have ever been handled by the U.S. courts in the recent memory. Scott Peterson is best known for murdering his eight- month pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, in 2002 in Modesto, California. The FBI was able to collect evidence against Peterson for the case against him. Peterson was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2004 for the first-degree murder of his wife and the second-degree murder of their fetus son. The Scott Peterson trial was an important trial because it showed the darkness of America through his lies, less humane remarks, and the crime itself.
The Scott Peterson trial was important to American society because it showed how evil someone could really be.
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“According to the prosecutors, Peterson was having an affair with a masseuse named Amber Frey, which was his motivation for killing his pregnant wife.”(Bio Editors). Obviously, he lied to his wife Laci when he was telling her where he was going and spending all of his time with his mistress. Frey also confirmed that Peterson never had told her that he was recently married. If someone has to lie to his or her spouse just to sneak around with other people, then they do not deserve to be together. Laci Peterson was expecting a child and Scott Peterson is supposed to be helping his wife prepare for the child, but instead is planning on killing both of …show more content…
Peterson was a master manipulator who lived a double life. He was always trying to get everyone to feel bad for him losing his wife and baby, but when actually he was the one who killed them both. “Peterson felt his pregnant wife, Laci, to be an albatross around his neck, that he longed for “freedom” and the ability to pursue many women, that he was financially insecure and anxious to get his hands on the $250,000 insurance policy he had taken out on his wife,”(World Socialist Web Site). All Peterson wanted was to kill his wife and to get money to run away with his mistress, Amber Frey. Someone has to be cold-hearted to escape married life and upcoming fatherhood. If anything, it should have been a joy for Peterson knowing he was going to be a new father. This sparked an instant uproar around America because Peterson killed his innocent family. It was soon known all around the world because of the instant communication like social media, which was
The Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court in March 1857 was one of the major steps
The steps in the legal system as they pertain to the drew Peterson case is first recognizing there was a murder of the soon to be ex wife of Peterson’s, Kathleen Savio. What also had to be recognized, was who had a vested interest in the murder of Kathleen Savio and motive. After the disappearance of Peterson’s fourth wife, it became clear there was a common denominator, Peterson who was the husband of both victims. Having some suspicion on whether Kathleen’s death was a murder of accidental her body was exhumed and given two additional autopsies. Once the results came back from the two autopsies that Kathleen’s death was a homicide instead of accidental death,
The smell of death and decay, emanated inside the trunk of a Pontiac Sunfire. A missing child; only to be reported 31 days after she went missing, found dead in a forest close to her home. And a mother who was accused of murder, who got off with no charges, even with evidence stacking against her. This all started with one 9-1-1 phone call from a concerned grandmother who has not seen her grandchild in a month. Casey Anthony was the main headline in all the newspapers, cable television, and social media. Over more than 140 million people sat and watched as the trial played on, and a verdict was reached. This case was the largest and most polarizing case that America has ever seen.
Scott Peterson had his preliminary hearing on April 17, 2003. Superior Court Judge Al Girolami ordered Scott Peterson to stand trial on two counts of murder. Peterson’s arraignment quickly followed. Peterson was arraigned on April 21, 2003. The Prosecution charged him with the following: Count I: On or about and between December 23, 2002 and December 24, 2002, the defendant did commit a felony, Murder, violation of Section 187 of the California Penal Code; the defendant did willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously and with malice aforethought murder Laci Denise Peterson, a human being. Special Allegation charges were made in conjunction with the felony murder charge of Laci Denise Peterson. It is further alleged as to Count 1, MURDER that the defendant acted intentionally, deliberately and with premeditation. Enhancement: TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY. During the commission of the murder of Laci Denise Peterson, the defendant, with the knowledge that Laci Denise Peterson was pregnant, did inflict injury on Laci Denise Peterson resulting in the termination of her pregnancy, a violation of Section 12022.
At the time of the murder of which David Milgaard was accused of committing he was just 16 years old. He was a hippie, constantly in trouble. Even before he was a teenager he was getting into trouble. His parents and teachers considered him impulsive; he resisted authority (Regina Leader Post, 1992, as cited in Anderson & Anderson 1998). He was removed from kindergarten because he was considered to be a negative influence on the other children. When he was thirteen he spent time in a psychiatric centre (Anderson & Anderson, 1998)
The Dread Scott decision exacerbated the debate over slavery by declaring that blacks cannot be citizens and that Congress does not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories, which further divided the North and the South. The decision also deeply affected politics, and was one of the causes of the Civil War.
The Jodi Arias trial captured American attention very rapidly and soon become nearly the only thing on television news networks. The trial nearly monopolized Fox News for several months. There are several murders that happen every day in the United States, so how did this murder case gain so much attention? Because it contains many themes that are enticing to the American population. According to Elliott McLaughlin at CNN.com, “It's rife with sex, lies and digital images, many of them naughty, and the dueling attorneys are lively -- nay, bombastic -- in their arguments...
During the Emmett Till trial, it shocked many white people in many parts and it became an international news story. White people come together again in order to continue fighting after a defeat to the defense of the men who had kidnapped and brutally murdered Emmett Till. Many people stood up who had never stood up before due to the irritation cases of Emmett Till.
In 1954, Sam Sheppard was accused of allegedly killing his wife, Marilyn. During this time, the media went absolutely wild. The way they obtained their stories was completely unlike any way they had gone about getting stories before. They completely invaded Sheppard's privacy to obtain "good" stories for their papers and television newscasts. Also, more stories were written about the case than any other event that had been covered in the past. Even the way stories were written was different than the usual style of writing used for that time period. Ethics were completely disregarded during the case. Because of this, Sheppard was released from prison, with the reason that the media had influenced the case so that the jury found him guilty based on the news stories. This had never happened before. Due to the unethical practices displayed by the media, the field of journalism instituted practices, which limited the power of the press.
Patty Hearst was a normal 19 year old girl, living in an apartment with her fiance and attending university in Berkeley, California, until one day her life, and the lives of everyone around her changed forever. On the evening of February 4, 1974, some members of the left-wing radical group called the Symbionese Liberation Army barged into Hearst’s home armed with guns, and beat up her fiance before kidnapping Hearst and bringing her to their house where she was kept blindfolded in a closet for 59 days. While locked in the closet, Patty Hearst was verbally and sexually abused and she was denied the use of even a toilet or toothbrush if she didn’t tell them that she agreed with the group’s ideas and beliefs. It is believed that while being locked in the closet like this, Patty was being brainwashed by the SLA and that she may have even developed Stockholm Syndrome, a condition in which a person who was kidnapped starts to empathise with their captor, and even starts defending them. This is how the Symbionese Liberation Army convinced Patty Hearst to join their group. They released an audio tape to the public in which Patty Hearst said she was changing her name to Tania and that she had decided to join the SLA. She then helped the SLA rob a bank and steal an ammunition belt from a sports store. After this, she started travelling around the country with two members of the SLA named John and Emily Harris, to try avoid being captured by the police. During this time, the police found a house where some members of the SLA were hiding out. Attempts to make the SLA members surrender ended up in a massive gunfight, ultimately ending up in the deaths of 6 SLA members. The FBI eventually found and arrested Patty Hearst on September 18, 1975. T...
A crime being committed is the first event to initiate our criminal justice system. On June 12th 1994 a double murder was reported at the residence of Nicole Brown Simpson the ex-wife of the then beloved Orenthal James (OJ) Simpson. It was discovered that Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman had been brutally murdered and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) began their investigation, this being the second step in our criminal justice system.
The case of the State of Florida vs. Chad Heins happened in 1994 in Mayport, Florida. It was on April 17, 1994 that Tina Heins, who was pregnant at the time, was found stabbed to death in her apartment. She shared an apartment with her husband Jeremy Heins and Jeremy’s brother Chad Heins. At the time of the incident Jeremy Heins was on a ship because he worked in the navy but Chad Heins was at the apartment. Before the incident happened Chad Heins, the defendant, who was nineteen at the time, used his brothers license to buy alcohol at a strip club near the apartment. After that Chad Heins had went to another bar where his brothers license got confiscated. He left the bar around 12:45 a.m. and went back to the apartment. He then washed his
...announcement that she was indeed dating Scott but had no knowledge that he was married and that she was not a suspect in the investigation. Laci’s Parents had turned on him once this came to the light. Police were going to treat Laci’s disappearance as a homicide but on April 13 of 2003 a couple spotted what looked like a male fetus. On the next day a pregnant woman washed up in the same area of the male fetus in the Berkeley Bay. Forensic scientists confirmed that the fetus and the woman was Laci’ and her and Scott’s son with matching DNA. On April 18, 2003 Scott was arrested at gun point. Police felt as though Scott was trying to flee to Mexico because he had dyed his hair and grown a goatee and had $15,000 in cash, survival gear and his brother’s ID. It took the jury seven days to reach a verdict of the death penalty. Scott Peterson is now sitting on death row.
The biggest trial of the century has been said to have been the O.J. Simpson trial. People flocked to their favorite public places to be with friends so they could watch the trial together. Some even gave up sleep so to get as much information about the case as possible. The Simpson trial seemed to
Erik Peterson faced a number of challenging situations with Jeff Hardy, a high level employee with CelluComm, the parent company of GMCT. At first we see an awkward relationship with Jeff Hardy whom Peterson had been assigned to work under by Ric Jenkins, partly due to the lack of concrete relationship guidelines between the two (Sami, 2013). Hardy had very little operational experience, and Peterson felt that he was unable to receive constructive guidance from Hardy. As a subordinate to Hardy, Peterson should have instead attempted to resolve this problem early on as it was a critical relationship within the GMCT Company. Consulting Hardy by letting him know of his concerns would have been a more efficient and respectful manner in handling the situation. This relationship building would also have been integral in facing the Peterson-Hardy communication issues with respect to the local municipalities and fire department. Operant Learning Theory (Johns & Saks, 2014, p.54) suggests that as a result of this negative consequence Peterson should be able to improve his interpersonal skills specifically with superiors within the organization moving forward. As a subordinate to Hardy, Peterson should have instead attempted to resolve this problem early on as it was a critical relationship within the GMCT Company.