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LafayetteLady -> RE: Scott Peterson's family seeks help funding appeal (7/18/2009 2:20:49 PM)
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Apparently the funds are being requested for some type of "investigation." Death row inmates get mandatory appeals, which are paid for by the state. The public defenders that are used for appeals are not the "run of the mill" just out of law school guys used for the trials. They are specialists. While it is not something I would ever want to be doing, they typically are pretty good at their jobs. These cases are usually absent lack of evidence and those public defenders are usually fighting to simply convert the sentence to life imprisonment, or overturn the verdict on a technicality.
Keep in mind that if the verdict is "overturned" it doesn't mean that the defendant is then free. The appellate courts simply send the case back down to the lower courts for a new trial where the "technical" issue is "fixed" during the new trial. Doing such does not attach double jeopardy which would prevent the guy from being tried twice for the same crime.
Honestly, I barely followed the case. I know he was found guilty and given the death penalty. The little I did follow about the case, I think it was a correct finding. A sentence of the death penalty is very difficult to get, so it isn't likely it will be overturned. I feel sorry for his family, wanting to look under every rock in an attempt find something, anything that will exonerate their son. I can't imagine what they are hoping such an investigation will turn up. Sadly, it will not likely amount to anything more than trying to besmirch poor Lacy's name and reputation.
Of course, I find it even more difficult to believe they will be able to raise the money anyway. The odds of new evidence turning up that would prove him innocent is highly unlikely, and his appeal process is not endless. Which is good news.
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