Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson's Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row [Hardcover]

Matt Dalton (Author), Bonnie Hearn Hill (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2005

No one knows the story behind the sensational headlines of the Scott Peterson murder trial better than defense attorney Matt Dalton. For six straight months after Peterson's arrest, Dalton was the defense's only full-time investigative attorney on the case. During that time, he lived in Modesto and investigated every element of the case, interviewing scores of witnesses, reviewing more than 35,000 pages of police documents, and meeting almost daily with Scott Peterson in jail.

What he has uncovered will astound even the most informed observers of the Laci Peterson murder case and challenge the most deeply held beliefs about what really happened to Laci Peterson on Christmas Eve, 2002.

This is the first book to go inside the Peterson defense team, and the only book to detail all the evidence that the jury did not hear -- evidence that might have led to Scott Peterson's acquittal, and that will surely play a crucial part in his pending appeals.

Among the revelations in Presumed Guilty:

Reports from numerous witnesses who saw Laci Peterson alive and well the morning of December 24, after the police claim Scott Peterson had already killed her; none of them testified at trial

The story of another woman, eight months pregnant, who was harassed by two men the morning of December 24 only five blocks from the Peterson home

The burglary that reportedly occurred directly across the street from the Peterson home on the morning of December 24, and the confessed burglars' questionable claims that the burglary happened days later

Previously unreported details of the autopsy reports on Laci Peterson and her son, which cast strong doubts on key elements of the prosecution's case

The disappearances of six pregnant women, in addition to Laci, reported missing and presumed dead within eighty miles of Modesto between 1999 and 2002

Compelling, provocative, disturbing, Presumed Guilty is the fascinating story of one lawyer's relentless efforts to find the truth behind one of the most complex and notorious murder cases in American history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matt Dalton spent thirteen years as a prosecutor involved in all aspects of criminal litigation with the Long Beach, California City Prosecutor and the Los Angeles County District Attorney. In 2003, he left the DA's office and joined the firm of Geragos & Geragos. Weeks later he met with his first client: accused murderer Scott Peterson. Matt Dalton earned degrees from UCLA and Loyola Law School and, while working as a prosecutor, received commendations for outstanding contributions to domestic violence prosecutions. He is currently in private practice in Los Angeles.

Bonnie Hearn Hill is a California-based writer and a former newspaper editor. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Atria; First Edition edition (December 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743286952
• ISBN-13: 978-0743286954
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 128 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars ONE STAR TOO MANY FOR THIS TRIPE, January 10, 2006

By 

Schuyler V. Johnson (Lake Worth, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson's Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row (Hardcover)

Dalton may be an attorney, (albeit a defense attorney) but he misses the most fundamental, basic formula in homicide: M.O.M.; Means, Opportunity and Motive.
Means; his bare hands, boat and tide charts; Opportunity; He was alone with her earlier that day and had plenty of time to kill her and transport the body to the bay where he ultimately dumped her; Motive; he did not want children and he had a new girlfriend.
An innocent man does not behave the way Scott did; running for the border with four cell phones, 15 thousand dollars in cash and camping equipment plus a newly blond beard and hair. He did not look for her when she first went missing, he showed zero emotions before during and after the trial and he told Amber Frey he "lost his wife" on December 6, some weeks before he actually killed her.
I also thought the hypocrisy of his mother was disgusting; she always carefully appeared in public wearing her oxygen equipment, yet was seen moving heavy furniture out of Laci's house wtih alacrity.
His weak statements about witnesses claiming to have seen Laci simply don't hold up; these witnesses illustrate the fable of the 3 Blind men and the Elephant as far as credibility goes; a burglary across the street and another story about a pregnant woman being harassed are two more rather contrived and pathetic attempts to shore up this non-case; the disappearance of six pregnant women within an 80 miles radius in the years leading up to this crime and questions about the autopsy report all add up to: One defense attorney's trying to make money off of a legitimate tragedy by cobbling together the weakest of possibilities and by doing so, only compounds the already tawdry reputation shared by the less honorable of his profession.
One only has to listen to the conversations betwen Amber and Scott, most notably the embarrassingly bad lie about being in Paris when he was standing in the middle of crowd of people searching for Laci...his voice irritatingly hoarse and raspy; This, ladies and gentlemen, is the sound of a true sociopath; the only true aspect of Scott's persona.
I cannot even begin to imagine the horror and agony of Sharon Rocha; this sort of loss is bad enough on its own, but the know your child was murdered...and your grandson...is beyond the pale.
I was watching the news when the verdict was announced and how the crowd outside the courtroom cheered and how some were offended by this; I say to them, it is far more "offensive" to have your child and grandchild murdered. So save your self-righteous indignation and cheer that Scott finally received his just reward.

120 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Try another book, just skip this one., December 14, 2005

By 

Estelita Rodriguez (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson's Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row (Hardcover)

If you've followed the Scott Peterson case and are looking for new information, don't look here. Apparently it was all a big gimmick..."what the jury never knew about Laci Peterson's murder and why Scott should not be on death row." There is nothing in this book I haven't heard somewhere else. The Laci sightings were reported and investigated and nothing concrete came of that information. The Satanic cults, the van, the robbery, all investigated and this when no where. Tidbits here and there of stories we have heard over and over and over. Same old, same old, nothing new. This book...ugh...why did I buy it at full price the day it came out. All that talk about Scott suing the writer so the book wouldn't come out. What a marketing strategy and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Does Matt Dalton really believe the public (the reading public) is that ignorant about our judicial system? I didn't think there was any viable information. I know there is no smoking gun, no direct forensic evidence against Scott, no crime scene, this case is based on his behavior. His bad behavior did convince me he is guilty. I mean who would rent a car and drive all the way to the Berkeley Marina from Modesto (about 90 miles) to stare at the water and then leave. That to me indicates guilt. I do however have concerns that a man can be put on death row with no direct evidence. This book is lacking in information. Save yourself all the trouble. The book is a lightweight too, not much material, not much at all -- 192 pages and that includes even the appendix. Never mind this book and look elsewhere. Save your money and save your time. After this book, I read Deadly Game by Catherine Crier. It was an excellent read. update* After reading Sharon Rocha's book I wonder how the publishing houses allow a bozo like M. Dalton to write this book? He was fired from the case so early on. He has no information.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars To all obsessed with the Peterson case:, January 1, 2006

By 

Tamara Tierney (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Presumed Guilty: What the Jury Never Knew About Laci Peterson's Murder and Why Scott Peterson Should Not Be on Death Row (Hardcover)

I have read every book about this topic........... and no matter what the reviews say, I buy the book if it's about Laci Peterson. To those of you who are like me, you WILL want to read this book as well, however, this is the truth:

This book is very short and continuously repeats itself. It
talks about the different witnesess who saw Laci that morning. The only real "new" information in this book is about him stating that the robbery which occurred across the street actually occured during the EXACT hours Laci went missing, whereas the other books, police reports, trial transcripts, etc, claim it was either unrelated or happened another day.

However, this books lost ALL credibility with me when he claims that:
"Scott invited Laci's sister, Amy, over to his house for pizza on the night of the 23rd" Matt claims, "Amy DID go to Laci and Scott's house and ate pizza with them and watched 2 movies with them."

We ALL know this is NOT TRUE, Amy was invited, but did not go. After I read that, I was skeptical of anything he said. Which to be honest, was not very much. This book could be condensed to a two page article it repeats itself sooooooo much. But to those of you who are obsessed, like me, you will want to read it for yourself and make your own opinions. Others who are not obsessed, I would say the best book written about this topic is Catherine Crier's book, "A Deadly Game" and one of the more interesting is by Keith Ablow, "Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson." I can't wait to read "For Laci" by Sharon Rocha. I hope this helped!