Michael Peterson Case Study

On December 9, 2001 Kathleen Peterson, the wife of Michael Peterson was found dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase in their mansion home located in Durham, North Carolina. Kathleen was a business executive, engineer, and a philanthropist. Michael Peterson was an American novelist who was convicted in 2003 for murdering his wife, Kathleen Peterson. It was known that Michael had called for help shortly after finding his wife unconscious who seemed as if she had fallen down the stairs. After a long trial in Durham County Michael Peterson was found guilty of murder of his wife Kathleen Peterson on October 10, 2003. Michael was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On December 15, 2011 Michael Peterson was
Therefore, within Deaver's testimony, the court ruled that the police improperly obtained computer files showing Michael Peterson's fascination with gay pornography and his email exchanges with a male escort, which prosecutors used in 2003 to establish a motive for Kathleen Peterson's murder. During the trial Michael Peterson hardly said a word as he understood his rights and the aspects of the plea deal he was taking. He then sat passively as Kathleen Peterson's two sisters released years of pent-up anger in blistering victim statements such as Kathleen sister Lori said, "It's wrong that, after a jury sentenced him to life in prison for the murder of his wife, he gets to be a free man while Kathleen lies in her grave. Closure is for a door, not for my murdered sister." Another sister couldn't believe her sister had been killed and that her death had to have been an accident, but after reading the autopsy report and looking at the crime scene photos opened a bag full of doubt and anger. She stated, "All the evils of my sister's death leaped into my eyes. The horrors of my sister's beating were home, "Kathleen did not die slowly, but a three-hour death”. To Kathleen’s sisters, they did not care if he entered an Alford plea, for them he was guilty no matter what. Before the trial was completed Michael Peterson shared his last words to the family and said, "I would like to say, 'Candace, we all loved Kathleen. We all miss Kathleen. I am so sorry that you lost a sister. I'm so sorry that you lost a mother, Caitlin. I can't do anything about that. I didn't do it. But, if it will make you feel better to believe that, fine, go ahead. "If anyone can find any good in Kathleen's death, I'm fine with that. I can't". From that day in 2017, Michael Peterson walks a free man of the mystery