California’s Supreme Court on Monday overturned the 2004 death sentence for Scott Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson.

The court upheld Peterson’s 2004 murder conviction, rejecting his argument that media coverage prevented him from receiving a fair trial. However, it found “clear and significant errors in jury selection” during the penalty phase on the part of the trial judge, according to The Associated Press.

“Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case," the court said. “We reject Peterson’s claim that he received an unfair trial as to guilt and thus affirm his convictions for murder.” However, the judge “made a series of clear and significant errors in jury selection that, under long-standing United States Supreme Court precedent, undermined Peterson’s right to an impartial jury at the penalty phase,” the court ruled

Attorneys for Peterson had argued the judge wrongly dismissed prospective jurors who said they were personally opposed to the death penalty but would follow the law and levy a death sentence.

Laci soon took a part-time job as a substitute teacher,[8] and Scott got a job with Tradecorp U.S.A., a newly founded subsidiary of a European fertilizer company, in which Scott earned a salary of $5,000 a month before taxes.[11] Laci's family, including her mother and younger sister, related that she worked enthusiastically at being the perfect housewife, enjoying cooking and entertaining, and that she and her family welcomed the news in 2002 that she was pregnant.[8] Laci's initial due date was February 10, 2003,[12][13] but was changed to February 16, 2003 during her second trimester.[12] The couple had planned to name their son Conner.[13][14] In November 2002, when Laci was seven months pregnant, Scott was introduced by a friend to a Fresno massage therapist named Amber Frey. In later public statements, Frey said Scott told her he was single, and the two began a romantic relationship. The last time Scott's parents saw Laci was during a three-day weekend they spent together in Carmel, California the week before Christmas 2002.[11]

Apart from her husband Scott, the last two people known to have spoken to Laci before she disappeared were her half-sister, Amy Rocha, and her mother, Sharon.[15]

On December 23, 2002 at 5:45pm, Laci and Scott went to Amy's workplace, Salon Salon, where Amy cut Scott's hair as she did each month.[16] As they spoke, Amy said Scott offered to pick up a fruit basket that she had ordered for her grandfather as the Christmas gift the next day because he would be playing golf at a course nearby. Prosecutors say Scott also told other people he would play golf on the day of Christmas Eve.[16][17] Her mother Sharon spoke with Laci on the telephone around 8:30pm that evening.[18]

Scott later told police that he last saw his wife about 9:30am on December 24, when he left to go fishing at the Berkeley Marina. He said Laci was watching a cooking television show, preparing to mop the floor, bake cookies, and walk the family dog to a nearby park.[19][20][21] At the time of her disappearance, Laci was eight-and-a-half months pregnant.[22] The next morning Karen Servas (a neighbor of the Petersons) stated that around 10:30am [23] she found the Petersons' dog, a golden retriever named McKenzie, and returned him to the Petersons' back yard. Another neighbor named Mike Chiavetta said he saw McKenzie at about 10:45am as he played catch with his own dog.[24] The Modesto Bee also reported an unnamed female neighbor who found the dog with muddy leash, wandering in the neighborhood. That neighbor put the dog in the Petersons' yard, not observing anything was out of place.[25] Scott said he returned home that afternoon to find it empty.[19] Scott told Laci's mother that he found McKenzie in their back yard, though she related in her book that he later denied this.[26] Laci's 1996 Land Rover Discovery SE was in the driveway.[27] He showered and washed his clothes because he said he got wet from fishing.[19]