Convicted killer Scott Peterson keeps swinging in court — but expert says he’s not going anywhere but his cell

Decades after Laci Peterson’s murder, legal expert says Scott Peterson’s conviction still holds Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani explains why Scott Peterson is unlikely to ever walk free decades after his conviction. More than two decades after Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, California, home, the murder case that captivated the nation continues to draw legal challenges, public debate and renewed attention. As the year comes to a close, Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son Conner, remains behind bars, serving life without the possibility of parole. His wife disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002, and a few months later, the remains of Laci and Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay. While Peterson's conviction has stood for years, the case continues to generate headlines, as his lawyers filed a petition last April seeking to overturn his conviction. "Scott Peterson is spending the rest of his life in California state prison ," former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, a California-based attorney, told Fox News Digital. "He was originally sentenced to death, but on appeal, the California Supreme Court said that excluding certain jurors based on their views of the death penalty was a legal error." CONVICTED KILLER JODI ARIAS SIGNALS FRESH LEGAL PUSH MORE THAN DECADE AFTER GUILTY VERDICT Laci Peterson and Sharon Rocha in an undated family photo appearing in the forthcoming docuseries, "American Murder: Laci Peterson." (Courtesy of Netflix) That ruling overturned Peterson’s death sentence, though not his conviction. Prosecutors later declined to retry the penalty phase after Laci Peterson’s family chose not to pursue it, citing California’s death penalty moratorium. As a result, Peterson’s sentence was reduced to life without parole. It was after that resentencing that the Los Angeles Innocence Project took up Peterson’s case, arguing he did not kill his wife or their unborn son. "When the Innocence Project takes up your case, people start to notice," Rahmani said. "There are a lot of high-profile celebrities and lawyers who are still litigating this case more than 20 years later." The defense and the Innocence Project have pushed an alternative theory, suggesting Laci Peterson was abducted by burglars and later killed, and that her body was dumped in the San Francisco Bay to frame Scott Peterson once it became public that he had been fishing in the area. MENENDEZ BROTHERS SCORE CRUCIAL LEGAL VICTORY IN DECADES-LONG FIGHT AS THEY AWAIT POTENTIAL FREEDOM "That’s really the alternate theory right now that the defense and the Innocence Project is pushing," Rahmani said. Despite the continued litigation, Rahmani said the original case against Peterson remains strong. "It’s a circumstantial case, but there was plenty of evidence implicating Scott Peterson in his wife’s murder and their unborn son," he said. MENENDEZ BROTHERS BANK ON NEW TRIAL AS BACKUP IF PAROLE BID FAILS Scott Peterson and Amber Frey pictured at a Christmas party on Dec. 14, 2002, before the murder of Laci Peterson and before Frey knew Scott Peterson was a married man. (Superior...

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