Accused of hiding her past, Scott Peterson juror testifies: ‘I was not a victim of domestic violence’

REDWOOD Metropolis – A previous juror in Scott Peterson’s 2004 murder trial defiantly maintained on the witness stand Friday that she experienced never been a target of domestic violence and did not lie about her earlier to become a stealth juror to get seated on the higher-profile scenario.

Instead, she testified it was she who had been the aggressor with her previous boyfriend in a combat a couple yrs earlier, prior to she stuffed out a courthouse questionnaire and was preferred for the jury.

“We went to our bedroom. I closed the doorway and I took off on him,” Richelle Pleasant testified Friday – the initial day of an predicted weeklong hearing on Peterson’s quest for a new demo. “I punched him. I strike him and he identified as the law enforcement on me.”

She had a bloody slash on her lip when law enforcement arrived, she explained, but that was from yelling at him by her braces, which usually caught her lip.

“I was not a victim of domestic violence,” she reported.

No matter if Peterson’s murder convictions for the killings of his pregnant spouse, Laci, and their unborn son, will be overturned hinges mainly on Nice’s testimony, which is expected to proceed into following 7 days.

Peterson, now 49 and serving a everyday living sentence without the need of the probability of parole, appeared in courtroom in a pink jail go well with and shackles at his waistline. His brother and sister-in-legislation and four other kinfolk or close friends who have maintained his innocence sat in a cluster guiding him, divided by quite a few vacant seats from Laci Peterson’s mother and brother and 6 other folks close to them. A treatment pet with a handler who had been asked to help the Peterson loved ones stood nearby.

Peterson’s lawyer, Pat Harris, attempted to confirm Friday that his consumer didn’t obtain a reasonable trial with Good as a juror, that she hardly ever would have been selected experienced he and co-counsel Mark Geragos regarded about her mystery previous, and that Peterson ought to be granted a new trial. It will be up to Choose Anne-Christine Massulla to come to a decision when the evidentiary hearing concludes.

Awesome was granted immunity by the Stanislaus District Lawyer Birgit Fladager, who experienced been a prosecutor on the unique demo, immediately after Nice had threatened to plead the Fifth Amendment and refuse to reply thoughts. Without having it, she could have been charged with perjury if her testimony contradicted what she experienced published on the jury questionnaire or other authorized documents. She admitted as significantly underneath questioning from Harris.

Nice testified that she was becoming “spiteful” when she wrote in an software for a restraining purchase two many years in the past that she feared her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend would harm her personal unborn baby. Good was just a pair of months pregnant with her third boy or girl at the time.

“I was in worry if we fought – she was not likely to intentionally damage my kid,” Great said, “but if we fought and rolled all over like some dummies on the floor, yes, I would be fearful I would eliminate my child doing a little something stupid like that.”

Just after 9 months of jury range and demo, Peterson was convicted of killing Laci and their unborn son on Christmas Eve 2002, putting her human body in the back again of a freshly-obtained fishing boat, weighing her down with home made cement anchors and throwing her into the San Francisco Bay. She and the toddler washed up independently alongside the Richmond shoreline 4 months later just after Laci’s womb gave way. Peterson was acquiring an affair at the time and experienced instructed his mistress months prior to Laci disappeared that he experienced “lost” his wife.

Outside the courthouse Friday, legal analyst Steve Clark who experienced followed the authentic trial, reported defense lawyers were being earning a solid scenario versus Good and that her “mincing words” about no matter whether she was a target did not seriously matter. The problem is whether or not she was biased in opposition to Peterson, primarily based on what she unsuccessful to disclose.

“You get a correct to 12 impartial jurors, not 11,” Clark said.

Testimony proceeds into the afternoon Friday, and Awesome is predicted to be on the stand again when the listening to resumes Monday.

Verify again for a lot more on this developing story.