Scott Lee Peterson (born October 24, 1972) is an American convicted murderer. In 2004, he was convicted of the 2002 first-degree murder of his wife, Laci, who was pregnant at the time, and the second-degree murder of their unborn son, Conner, in Modesto, California. Following his conviction, Peterson was sentenced to death by lethal injection. His case was put on automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of California. On August 24, 2020, the death penalty for Peterson was overturned, though his conviction was upheld. He was re-sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on December 8, 2021. Early life and marriage Scott Lee Peterson was born October 24, 1972, at Sharp Coronado Hospital in San Diego, California, to Lee Arthur Peterson, a businessman who owned a crate-packaging company, and Jacqueline "Jackie" Helen Latham, who owned a boutique in La Jolla called The Put On. Though Lee and Jackie had six children from previous relationships, Scott was their only child together. As a child, Peterson shared a bedroom with his half-brother John in the family's two-bedroom apartment in La Jolla. He began playing golf at an early age, a result of time he spent with his father. By age 14, he could beat his father at the game. For a time, Peterson had dreams of becoming a professional golfer like Phil Mickelson, his teammate at the University of San Diego High School. By the end of high school, he was one of the top junior golfers in San Diego. In 1990, Peterson enrolled at Arizona State University (where Mickelson had also enrolled) on a partial golf scholarship. Mickelson would go on to become a highly successful PGA golfer, and Peterson's father, Lee, later testified that the considerable competition that Mickelson presented while they were at Arizona State discouraged Peterson. Randall Mell of the Broward County, Florida, Sun-Sentinel reported that Chip Couch, the father of another young golfer, Chris Couch, who was visiting Arizona State on a recruiting trip, told Mell that he got Peterson kicked off the golf team. Couch stated that Peterson had taken Chris out drinking and to meet girls, resulting in a hangover for Chris. Because Chris was the No. 1 junior in the country, Chip did not want Peterson to threaten his son's future, and he complained to the golf coach, who kicked Peterson off the team. Peterson transferred to Cuesta College, in San