Quote :

"Peterson to get new trial in wife's death DURHAM, N.C. — A judge ruled Wednesday that Durham novelist and one-time mayoral candidate Mike Peterson should get a new trial in his wife's death a decade ago. Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in the Dec. 9, 2001, beating death of his wife. Kathleen Peterson was found dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase in the couple's upscale Durham home. Defense attorney David Rudolf immediately asked Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson to set bond for Peterson pending the new trial. Hudson said he would take up the issue Wednesday afternoon. Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline said she would appeal Hudson's ruling, but she declined to comment further. Peterson argued that former State Bureau of Investigation analyst Duane Deaver provided misleading testimony about blood evidence in his 2003 trial. Rudolf attacked Deaver's credibility during the week-long hearing. An SBI official said Deaver was known to be biased in favor of prosecutors, and blood evidence experts said the tests he conducted in the Peterson case were flawed. "Frankly, there is no way to sugar coat it. Agent Deaver lied to this court and our jury – not once or twice but repeatedly and purposefully," Rudolf argued to Hudson on Tuesday. "You have a right not to be tried with fabricated evidence, and that’s what happened in this case." Rudolf said he doubted that Hudson, who presided over the three-month trial in 2003, would have qualified Deaver as an expert in blood evidence, allowing him to offer opinions, if he knew that Deaver had exaggerated his experience and conducted experiments that didn't meet standards in the field. An independent review of the SBI crime lab last year found that blood evidence was misstated or falsely reported in about 200 criminal cases between 1987 and 2003. Some of the most egregious cases cited in the review were linked to Deaver, whom the SBI fired in January. Some of the findings in the review were key to Peterson's case for a new trial, Rudolf said. "It never dawned on me (Deaver) would be making stuff up," he said. Cline argued that no new evidence of Peterson's innocence was presented, so he doesn't deserve a new trial. A medical examiner testified in 2003 that Kathleen Peterson was killed and didn't die in an accidental fall down a staircase, she said. Questions about Deaver's background and methods wouldn't have changed the jury's mind, she said. "It does not take a rocket science to look at Kathleen Peterson – the back of her head – and say that that wasn't an accident," Cline said. Hudson, who has been embroiled in a feud with Cline over his rulings in other cases in recent months, said he might ask the state Administrative Office of the Courts to assign another judge to handle Peterson's retrial."

Will we see a resurgence in the Owl Theory? Will Cline step down before this case is heard (or be disbarred?) Will this one be as interesting to watch as the other recent murder trials? The Staircase documentary certainly was interesting, and made me question the bulk of the "evidence" in this case. However, I would not have wanted to live in a house with a bloody scene like was left in that Peterson house for so long. And the kids still lived there too!

I for one am appalled at Duane Deaver, and almost would advocate for just throwing out this case all together.

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 1:48 PM. Reason : ]

12/14/2011 1:47:26 PM

Armchair Justice

I'm lovin' it

12/14/2011 1:48:16 PM

Sure, it could have been the Owl. But it was more likely the backwards talking midget.

/Or Bob
/Hot like a twenty year old reference

12/14/2011 1:49:03 PM

For those of you unfamiliar with the Owl Theory: http://www.metronc.com/article/?id=19

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/20/636894/owl-theory-supported-by-3-experts.html

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 1:50 PM. Reason : Damn murderous raging owls.]

12/14/2011 1:50:14 PM

Quote :

"Cline argued that no new evidence of Peterson's innocence was presented, so he doesn't deserve a new trial. "

So the fact that the key witness in the original trial is a bald-faced liar doesn't count as new evidence????

That N&O article is really interesting. Killed Hitchcock style

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 1:55 PM. Reason : a]

12/14/2011 1:51:35 PM

I know, I missed that N&O story originally, and just found it a few minutes ago. The Owl Theorists are pretty adamant.

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 1:56 PM. Reason : story, not trial.]

12/14/2011 1:56:22 PM

stranger things have happened

12/14/2011 2:04:29 PM

Hadn't heard much of this case before, but that owl theory is pretty interesting. Of course, my favorite line from that first link has to be this:

Quote :

"Kathleen Peterson's wounds show a symmetrical parallel pattern of marks that look suspiciously like the marks left by a raptor when it strikes people with speed and flexible talons that can split the scalp and then extend into the flesh."

Granted, raptor does mean bird of prey, but I just think of velociraptors striking people "with speed and flexible talons that can split the scalp and then extend into the flesh"

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 2:10 PM. Reason : ]

12/14/2011 2:09:42 PM

Here's the motion, it's actually really interesting: http://www.wral.com/asset/news/local/2011/02/15/9119148/1297893247-Peterson_MAR_without_exhibits2.pdf

Quote :

"Peterson has exhausted his appeals on the state level, and his case is pending in federal court. Attorneys also have sought countless times to get a new trial, introducing new evidence, including a tire iron found in a neighbor's yard and owl feathers found in Kathleen Peterson's hair from a possible owl attack."

12/14/2011 2:09:43 PM

12/14/2011 2:14:02 PM

It's happening again.



If you've seen the series to it's end, then clearly the only person who could have done it was Coop.

12/14/2011 2:17:21 PM

The same owl that knocked that other woman down a set of stairs?

12/14/2011 2:19:09 PM

<CBS>

When I lived in Carroll a few of us were chatting outside the dorm around dinner time. There was a big owl in a nearby tree. Two guys were walking up from between Tucker and Owen and the owl suddenly took flight, swooped down, and slammed one of them in the chest before flying off.

Didn't hurt the guy, just kinda surprised him. I guess if the owl had really been pissed he could have done some damage.

</CBS>

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 2:33 PM. Reason : I am not plural]

12/14/2011 2:32:36 PM

Did an owl kill his first wife and girlfriend?

12/14/2011 2:40:11 PM

Now that would be a crazy coincidence.

Quote :

"The prosecution declined to accuse Peterson of Elizabeth's death but introduced the death into the trial as an incident giving Peterson the idea of how to "fake" Kathleen's accident.[7] Despite police reports that there was very little blood at the scene of Ratliff's death, the nanny, who was the first to discover Ratliff's body in 1985, took the stand at Peterson's trial and testified that there was a large amount of blood at the scene. Another witness testified spending much of the day cleaning blood stains off of the wall. Despite the implication that Peterson had also murdered Elizabeth Ratliff, her daughters stood by him: "The DA is trying to say that our dad killed our birth mother and our mother. But where are we sitting? We're sitting behind our dad.""

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 2:48 PM. Reason : Ratliff was not a girlfriend or wife, but a close acquaintance of the family.]

12/14/2011 2:44:33 PM

Quote :

"Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson set a $300,000 secured bond for Peterson and ordered him to remain at a friend's house under electronic monitoring until his new trial. He is expected to be released Thursday or Friday."

12/14/2011 5:15:04 PM

^^ ahhh. Come on. You don't push a bitch down the stairs unless you've been banging her.

12/14/2011 5:19:59 PM

I said close acquaintance.

He did end up with her kids after it was all said and done.

12/14/2011 5:22:27 PM

Where is the fucking VOIP router??

12/14/2011 5:44:43 PM

Wait. I thought there were 3 dead wimminz in his path? Current, an ex-wife and a "girl-friend".

12/14/2011 5:45:45 PM

Must have been a very ambitious owl.

12/14/2011 5:55:03 PM

who? who?

12/14/2011 5:55:57 PM

Quote :

"who? who?"

12/14/2011 5:58:51 PM

Quote :

"Wait. I thought there were 3 dead wimminz in his path? Current, an ex-wife and a "girl-friend"."

He divorced the ex-wife. I think there's only the "acquaintance" and this wife (I don't think she's quite "current" anymore).

12/14/2011 6:20:31 PM

Yea. Current as in. The one he's currently accused of killing.

12/14/2011 7:54:33 PM

FTW

12/14/2011 9:16:10 PM

This thread is bringing the lols so far.

These things can be viscous.

http://youtu.be/i4n1l3zAp7w

12/14/2011 11:12:46 PM

http://youtu.be/WJJX2-hehcc

12/14/2011 11:24:01 PM

12/15/2011 12:12:20 PM

Quote :

""People have been losing faith in the system here in North Carolina, and unless there is something done drastically to change that, I don't know what it is going to mean for the continued operation of our criminal justice process,""

Why yes. Yes we are.

12/15/2011 8:41:01 PM

^^that is my favorite gif ever

12/15/2011 8:52:45 PM

AND he's out on bond. Wow, that's great, and crazy at the same time.

12/15/2011 11:27:32 PM

12/16/2011 7:05:22 AM

12/16/2011 7:33:40 AM

Bring him in for questioning

12/16/2011 8:15:08 AM

How many licks does it take to get her to "fall down the stairs?"

Sorry, poor taste.

12/16/2011 8:44:11 AM

WTB: blow poke

12/16/2011 12:56:54 PM

Who is watching The Stairs on Netflix?

Who thinks he is still guilty?

6/12/2018 9:56:34 PM

<--

6/12/2018 10:18:36 PM

Do you have a big dick?

6/12/2018 10:30:21 PM

Massive

6/12/2018 10:47:59 PM

it's surprising that anyone could have watched that and think he is guilty, it was pro-peterson (i think he was sleeping with the director or something)

i don't think he did it though, or at least if he did do it the DA didn't have a case beyond a reasonable doubt


and the owl theory is apparently not that crazy to a few experts or the neighbors who were attacked by an owl around the same time

[Edited on June 13, 2018 at 10:01 AM. Reason : .]

6/13/2018 9:57:04 AM

it was the owl in the library with the candle

6/13/2018 1:49:05 PM

It was the one winged owl.

6/13/2018 8:44:35 PM

I bet the OJ glove fits on the owl, too

6/13/2018 8:45:03 PM

Quote :

"it was pro-peterson"

In that it followed the defense team, maybe. But clearly, not as a whole. That production was not a flattering picture of Mike Peterson. We must have watched two different series.

Quote :

"(i think he was sleeping with the director or something)"

You think?

Quote :

"i don't think he did it though"

Why not? What's your theory?

IIRC you thought Jason Young and Brad Cooper were innocent too. Weird world you live in there the dudes never murder their spouses.

6/14/2018 12:11:54 AM

Quote :

"Thorp says UNC will put academic standards in place that will be 'national news'"

6/14/2018 12:19:04 AM

^^ its the DAs job to offer a theory. I dont know, it could have been a fall, an owl attack, an attack by another person, who knows.

6/14/2018 1:57:33 PM

I'll need to go back to an episode where they explain how a fall could have those 7 laceration patterns

6/14/2018 8:12:59 PM

It's in there

6/14/2018 9:29:21 PM