The Freedom Bulletin

After about two years, there’s finally some new news about Scott Peterson. Remember how he wanted Laci’s insurance money to use for his appeals? And how a judge denied it to him? Well, he appealed the decision, and (big surprise) the appeals court refused to give him the money too. See the full story at Court TV.

Convicted murderer Justin Barber has given an interview from jail to Jean Casarez, a reporter for CNN and Court TV. He was the focus of tonight’s Nancy Grace episode – you can read a transcript of it here. I can’t believe Nancy decided to hold the judge in contempt for sentencing Justin to life in prison instead of death. The jury voted in favor of death by just an 8 to 4 majority, so although the judge did overrule their recommendation, I think Nancy’s “ruling” was a bit excessive.

Also, while you’re at the CNN web site, go to Nancy Grace’s home page and vote in the nifty new poll, which happens to be about Scott Peterson!

Scott Peterson’s appeals will most likely begin around 2011! Although it seems like a long time to wait, this is actually relatively soon for appeals to begin for a death-row inmate in California. It usually takes a judge about four years to appoint an appeals lawyer, but because Scott and his family have already hired two high-profile attorneys (who also represented the Menendez brothers), he has cut in the line a bit. Until 2011, court officers will examine and officially certify all the documents from Peterson’s trial. See the Modesto Bee for the full story.

Also, some of the jurors in the Peterson case were on Greta Van Susteren Monday to promote their new book, We The Jury. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about it ahead of time, and missed it. But you can read a transcript and see some interesting excerpts from it here and here.

Scott Peterson’s fishing boat, which was entered as evidence during his trial, has been moved from one courthouse to another without his lawyers’ consent, potentially strengthening his chance of getting his conviction overturned on appeal. San Mateo County, where Peterson’s trial was held, gave the boat back to Stanislaus County, where he allegedly murdered his wife (but where it was ruled he would be unable to receive a fair trial). Because Scott’s lawyers did not get to argue about the boat’s move beforehand, this gives them another nitpicky point to bring up when the appeals begin.

Also in Peterson news, Scott’s ex-girlfriend, Amber Frey, has given a radio interview to ABC 30, a California news outlet, in which she gives relationship advice and talks about her new marriage.

Finally, for anyone who missed it, Scott’s old house has been sold again, this time to a couple who wants to keep their identity a secret. Check out KTVU for more on this story, as well as numerous older Peterson articles, pictures, and more.

Just a heads up to anyone who is interested in the Scott Peterson trial: Scott will be the topic of Nancy Grace’s show tonight. The show will air on CNN Headline News at 8:00 and 10:00 Eastern Time; go to her website for more info. It should be interesting; Scott’s always been one of Nancy’s favorite people to pick on

By the way, the trial transcript has recently been approved, which means that Scott’s appeals can begin! And, interestingly, Scott’s former house is on the market again, after the guy who bought it was fired from three jobs and is no longer able to afford it. It seems the house was bad luck!

Coincidentally, Neil Entwistle’s old house went on the market at around the same time! It was the front page story in Wednesday’s Boston Herald; I found the cover amusing. The Herald is almost like a tabloid — it sensationalizes everything so much!

Scott Peterson has a pen pal of whom, until now, the world was not aware. Richelle Nice, one of the jurors who sentenced Peterson to death, has been corresponsing with him since August 2005 and has written about 25 letters to him. Nice wrote her first letter to Peterson upon the advice of her psychiatrist and at first did not intend to sent it. Peterson wrote back, which is surprising because I’ve heard that he hasn’t been replying to many letters since his move to San Quentin in March 2005. Nice says that Peterson is extremely polite in his letters and gives Nice many compliments. He also denies killing his wife. Although she corresponds with Peterson, Nice doesn’t seem to like him much (not surprisingly since she thinks he deserves the death penalty!). This is what she says about Peterson: “When life begins to get a little uncomfortable for you, what do you do? You commit murder?’ What a sorry cop-out.” For the full story, see Court TV.

Also related to Peterson is the fact that the 12 jurors in his trial have signed a book deal. This news came out about a week ago, but, to my knowledge, has not appeared on the major news networks. A couple of stories about the book deal can be found at http://petersontrial.info.

Hopefully everyone had a good Ides of March, unlike Julius Caesar did in 44 B.C.!

Today there is an interesting new development in the Neil Entwistle murder case: the night before he allegedly shot his wife and baby, Entwistle bought $88 worth of candles at a Yankee Candle store in Marlboro, Mass. Some news analysts, including the Boston Herald’s Joe Dwinell, think he wanted to use the candles to hide the smell of gunpowder. I believe this theory makes sense and is probably true. For the full story, see the Herald. At the moment, the Entwistle story is the biggest headline on the Herald’s home page!

Also in the news today is Operation Swarmer, the largest U.S. air assault in Iraq since we first invaded the county three years ago. Good luck to the U.S. troops in their mission to defeat the insurgents!

Continuing on the topic of Iraq, Saddam Hussein acted up at his trial yesterday, as many people are aware. He called on Iraqis to stop fighting each other and to concentrate instead on fighting the U.S., and also described the trial as a “comedy”! After 40 minutes of ranting, Saddam was halted by the judge, who decided to crack down on the former dictator’s antics.

In other news, yesterday’s “American Idol” verdict was just. Melissa deserved to go. My favorite performances of the night were Kellie’s and Taylor’s.

Finally, today is a fairly busy day in history. One year ago, murderer Scott Peterson was formally sentenced to death by Judge Alfred Delucci, who had presided over Peterson’s trial. Also, on this date in 1935, Adolf Hitler scrapped the Treaty of Versailles. Last, but not least, happy birthday to James Madison, our fourth president (shown above), who was born on this date in 1751!