# How many people did Scott Peterson kill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 31, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676 "2010-07-31T13:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/141 "2010-12-23T02:57:45Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > …nor explain how you came to be so personally invested. [Mod Note]This thread is not about **A Voice of Sanity’s** origins-if you have something to say on that matter, do it elsewhere[/Mod Note] ---
**Author:** ![A\_Voice\_of\_Sanity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@A\_Voice\_of\_Sanity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Voice_of_Sanity)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/142 "2010-12-23T03:15:09Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > … the fact that people are more intrigued by one case than the other doesn’t exculpate Scott Peterson … No, the evidence does that. It does it overwhelmingly. Some liken a case for conviction to a chain of links. If one link can be broken, the chain fails. In this case, **EVERY** link fails. Everything the prosecution raises is, at best, neutral. Most of the items actually prove Peterson innocent. In some cases, one piece of evidence on its own does this. Peterson was proven innocent in court. Too bad he wasn’t judged by that evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/143 "2010-12-23T03:29:28Z")
[Moderator Note]Because the premise(and poll) of this thread is based on a court case that has already been tried, debate about his guilt or innocence is off-topic. If someone wishes to re-open debate on his trial, I suggest they do so in the proper forum.[/Moderator Note] ---
**Author:** ![lisalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@lisalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisalan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/144 "2010-12-23T13:38:14Z")
A baby in the 8th month would be 32 weeks + and viable so there is NO question here that he killed TWO people. Sorry it’s not even debatable. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/145 "2010-12-23T15:37:32Z")
> [@A\_Voice\_of\_Sanity](#): > > The actual case in court proved Scott was innocent. He could not have committed the crime. The state admitted, after 5 months, it had no evidence against him except for the weakest possible coincidence, and yet their own case required the assumption of so many miraculous coincidences that [the odds against them happening](http://sites.google.com/site/another9912/theodds) are one chance in one trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion (1 in 1E+132). This exceeds any DNA calculation ever made - by a very large number indeed. > > Two tiny items alone put the odds at over one in 10,000: > > 1. That Scott would ask Amy Rocha over for pizza. About 16,000 homicides occur per annum in the USA. If as many as 160 of those responsible for these acts invite another person over on the night of their planned offense, the odds are 1 in 100. This seems to be a very unusual occurrence, but we have erred on the conservative side. One in 100 > > 2. That Scott would agree to pick up the gift basket. Once again we assume that no more than 160 of these persons would interfere with their own plan or alibi – a very conservative estimate. One in 100 > > Multiply them together: 1 in 10,000 > > So much for ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. So the fact that he invited somebody over for pizza and picked up a gift basket equates to a 1 in 10,000 chance of him being the killer? Interesting. How did you calculate the 1 in 100 chance of him watching Martha Stewart, and how does that exonerate him? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/146 "2010-12-23T15:41:04Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > So the fact that he invited somebody over for pizza and picked up a gift basket equates to a 1 in 10,000 chance of him being the killer? Interesting. How did you calculate the 1 in 100 chance of him watching Martha Stewart, and how does that exonerate him? Please see post #143. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/147 "2010-12-23T15:55:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Please see post #143. D’oh! Missed that, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/148 "2010-12-23T16:02:16Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > D’oh! Missed that, sorry. Well, you had a 1/145 chance of missing that post, so it’s not surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/149 "2010-12-23T16:11:06Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > So the fact that he invited somebody over for pizza and picked up a gift basket equates to a 1 in 10,000 chance of him being the killer? Interesting. How did you calculate the 1 in 100 chance of him watching Martha Stewart, and how does that exonerate him? > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Please see post #143. I was wondering the same thing myself. About half of the items on that list are totally irrelevant to the issue of the murder. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/150 "2010-12-23T16:24:04Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I was wondering the same thing myself. About half of the items on that list are totally irrelevant to the issue of the murder. The **murder** is no longer relevant to this thread. Your poll is really now \*“Is a unborn fetus a “person” in the case of the murder of a pregnant woman.” \* Nothing else about the case or the people involved, or the evidence is germane at this point in time. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/151 "2010-12-23T16:46:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The **murder** is no longer relevant to this thread. Your poll is really now \*“Is a unborn fetus a “person” in the case of the murder of a pregnant woman.” \* > > Nothing else about the case or the people involved, or the evidence is germane at this point in time. Exactly. The OP is not about whether or not he committed the murder(s). [Clue X 4]If you wish to _Debate_ that issue elsewhere, that would be _great_[/Clue X 4] ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/152 "2010-12-23T17:22:25Z")
Your wish is my [command](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13282982#post13282982), **Czarcasm**. That was a hijack too good to let drop. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/153 "2024-01-20T09:55:53Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > For those of you who need a refresher course on [Scott Peterson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Peterson) And now there is an [update to the story](https://www.npr.org/2024/01/19/1225616374/los-angeles-innocence-project-takes-scott-petersons-case-decades-after-convictio): > Twenty years after he was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson, Scott Peterson has a new ally in his fight to prove he didn’t commit the crime. The Los Angeles Innocence Project is now working with Peterson, according to news outlets in California. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676/154 "2024-01-21T02:15:36Z")
20 years? My God, seems like yesterday… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-did-scott-peterson-kill/548676.md?page=7)