Scott Peterson’s case is examined in A&E’s new docuseries Scott Peterson: The New Evidence, in which legal expert Chris Pixley speaks to many eyewitnesses and experts about why Scott may not be guilty of killing his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Conner, in 2002. During an exclusive interview with Us, Pixley explained why he didn’t speak to Scott or any of the Peterson family members for the docuseries.
Pixley told Us that they never intended to interview Scott, 53, because he “recently spoke up” in Peacock’s 2024 docuseries Face to Face with Scott Peterson.
“I don’t think that it was ever our intent to speak to Scott about it. I continue to have contact with the family. I’ve had contact with the family over the past quarter century,” Pixley explained. “I met them when I was first covering this case.”
Pixley shared that he spoke to Scott’s sister-in-law, Janey Peterson, about appearing in the docuseries. Janey has been open about her belief that Scott is innocent and she also appeared in Face to Face with Scott Peterson.
“She was willing to give an interview. And we talked about, you know, what would it cover? And we just sort of came to a conclusion that it fit hand in glove with what we were doing,” Pixley shared. “So I think that was a decision that Janey and I both made, ultimately, on like a second or third phone call.”
While Pixley said that it’s “unusual” for him to be getting people to participate in the docuseries’ he works on, he added that he also considered asking members of the Los Angeles Innocence Project to be involved. The group took on Scott’s case in 2024 and has been working to get his case appealed by finding new evidence overlooked in the initial investigation, which was discussed in Scott Peterson: The New Evidence.
However, the producers and the showrunner ultimately made the decision to work with “independent experts” instead of those working on the LAIP investigation.
“We want to get fresh eyes on this. If this is really as groundbreaking as the LAIP says it is, we want to have our own independent people that have no dog in the hunt to tell us that,” Pixley said. “And I really think that was the right way to go.”
Pixley went on to say that he “played a part” in “not going to all of the insiders in the family” for the docuseries.
“Now we did want to go to the state’s witnesses, whether it’s the investigators or the experts, and we got some of the experts whose testimony is one of the biggest problems here,” he said of those who did participate.
Following Laci’s disappearance in December 2002, her and Conner’s bodies were found in April 2003 and Scott was arrested soon after. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in Laci’s death and second-degree murder in Conner’s death in November 2004.
Scott was originally sentenced to death, but was later resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2021 due to juror misconduct claims.
Part 1 of Scott Peterson: The New Evidence premieres on A&E on Thursday, July 16, at 9 p.m., and part 2 will premiere on Friday, July 17, at 8 p.m.
