West
Scott Peterson’s most outrageous defense claims, debunked
For years, Scott Peterson said he didn’t kill his pregnant wife Laci or their unborn son, Conner. But prosecutors say he did and that the evidence is “overwhelming.”
Peterson, convicted in 2004, returned to the headlines this year after the Los Angeles Innocence Project announced it would take up his latest appeal.
He also broke his silence after two decades in a “Face to Face with Scott Peterson” interview streaming on Peacock.
Netflix also unveiled the “American Murder: Laci Peterson” true crime docuseries Aug. 14, featuring interviews with Laci’s mother, Sharon Rocha, and Peterson’s former mistress, Amber Frey.
LACI PETERSON’S MOM REVEALS FIRST IMPRESSION OF KILLER SON-IN-LAW
Scott Peterson and Laci Peterson in a still photo appearing in the forthcoming docuseries “American Murder: Laci Peterson.” (Courtesy of Netflix)
When Frey learned of Laci’s disappearance, she became a witness for the prosecution and revealed Peterson claimed to her that he was a widower — before Laci’s death.
She started recording her phone calls with him, including one in which he said he didn’t want to be a father and was considering a vasectomy.
However, he admitted in the new interview that his behavior was “horrible,” according to People, which revealed an early look at Peterson’s first interview in 20 years, which begins streaming Aug. 20.
A photo provided as part of the court’s exhibits for the Scott Peterson trial shows Peterson and Amber Frey together. (People’s Exhibits)
“I was a total a-hole to be having sex outside our marriage,” he continued.
TIMELINE: THE LACI PETERSON CASE
Peterson, who has always maintained his innocence despite a conviction at trial and two decades of failed appeals, is still hoping he can convince a court he didn’t kill Laci, who was 8 months pregnant with their son Conner.
“If I have a chance to show people what the truth is, and if they are willing to accept it, it would be the biggest thing that I can accomplish right now,” Peterson claims in the interview. “Because I didn’t kill my family.”
Amber Frey, the former mistress of murder suspect Scott Peterson, leaves the San Mateo Superior County Courthouse after a delay in Peterson’s trial Aug. 18, 2004, in Redwood City, Calif. (Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Prosecutors at trial revealed a mountain of evidence against him. He had been arrested near the Mexico border with bleached hair carrying thousands of dollars in cash and his brother’s passport.
Peterson has also floated the possibility that the men responsible for a burglary across the street from the Modesto home he shared with Laci were responsible for her death. However, prosecutors say the burglary happened two days after she was reported missing.
Investigators also blew up his alibi. He claimed to have gone fishing in Berkeley, where a police K9 unit picked up Laci’s scent at a boat ramp. They also found her hair in the teeth of a pair of needle-nose pliers they found on his boat.
When an officer asked him what he was fishing for and with what bait, he allegedly mumbled an answer, walked outside, slammed a flashlight on the ground and said “F—.”
SCOTT PETERSON PROSECUTORS LAY OUT ‘OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE’ AGAINST KILLER’S NEW APPEAL IN 337-PAGE FILING
Scott Peterson in a still image taken from police video during his interview with investigators Christmas Day in 2002, hours after his pregnant wife Laci Peterson was reported missing. (Superior Court of California, San Mateo County)
Both her remains and Conner’s washed up separately in the body of water in April 2003.
Laci was missing her head and three limbs. A forensic pathologist determined she had not been dismembered, but her body likely came apart due to the marine conditions after being anchored down.
Prosecutors argued that the homemade concrete anchor Peterson used for his boat would have been easily duplicated. They suggested he made more and used them to try and hold his wife’s body on the seafloor.
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Scott Peterson arrives at the county jail in April 2003 after being charged with murdering his wife and unborn child. (AP)
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“Peterson’s lawyers are probably unhappy he did the Peacock interview,” said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor practicing privately in Los Angeles. “It’s unlikely he’ll get a new trial because there was so much circumstantial evidence of his guilt. He was fishing almost a hundred miles away where his wife’s body was found, and her hair was on his boat.”
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This undated photo shows Laci Peterson. She was eight months pregnant when she disappeared in December 2002. (Getty Images)
Peterson’s latest appeal suffered a setback this summer when a judge decided most of the evidence he wanted retested shouldn’t be. But the court allowed his request for new testing on some evidence, including a 15½-inch strip of duct tape recovered from Laci’s remains in the San Francisco Bay.
“[His] only real chance is if the DNA on the duct tape on her body shows someone else,” Rahmani said.
However, even if he does get a new trial, prosecutors could use the Peacock interview against him as evidence of a motive, Rahmani said.
“And at a minimum, the jury will hate him because he cheated on his pregnant wife and showed little remorse when she disappeared,” he added.
Peterson previously declined to discuss his case with Fox News Digital, citing the pending appeal.
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The Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) released a comprehensive study assessing the Wyoming coal value chain, including supply and demand, offshore exports, and the regulatory barriers and reforms needed to maintain a viable, long-term thermal coal market for Wyoming.
Commissioned by the Wyoming Energy Authority and prepared by Energy Ventures Analysis, Inc., and its subcontractors, the Energy Policy Network and WWC Engineering. The study evaluates current production levels, reserve availability, domestic and international demand outlooks, and the regulatory landscape affecting Wyoming coal. The report also examines offshore export potential and federal leasing and permitting processes that influence future Wyoming production.
Coal remains a cornerstone of Wyoming’s economy and a critical component of national energy security. Wyoming produces roughly forty percent of the nation’s thermal coal demand and continues to supply affordable, reliable fuel to power plants and industrial users across the country. The study provides updated data on production trends in the Powder River Basin and the Green River Basin, as well as long-range demand modeling under multiple policy and market scenarios.
The study highlights the evolving national conversation and the current administration’s support for grid reliability due to increased public power demand, industrial growth through reshoring of manufacturing and data centers, and the role dispatchable energy sources, such as coal and natural gas, play in maintaining power stability and affordability. It also evaluates federal coal leasing trends, mine reserve replacement, and the regulatory framework shaping future production.
In addition to domestic demand, the study reviews global coal markets and export opportunities. It assesses transportation logistics, port capacity, and cost competitiveness in Asian markets, where coal demand continues to influence global supply chains.
The Wyoming Coal Study reflects Wyoming’s continued commitment to responsible resource development, regulatory engagement, and long-term economic resilience.
The full 2026 Wyoming Coal Study is available at wyoenergy.org/reports.
West
Labor Department deploys ‘strike team’ to California over $21B unemployment debt, fraud concerns
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The Labor Department deployed a “strike team” to California to address federal findings of improper payments and alleged fraud within the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) program.
California has been found to have a depleted UI trust fund, along with $21 billion in borrowed federal funds to keep the system running, which federal officials say has led state employers to pay higher UI taxes to repay the debt.
In a statement, the department cited an 83-page California State Auditor report that determined the state’s UI system is high-risk in part due to “inadequate fraud prevention and claimant service [in its employment development department (EDD)], as well as a high rate of overturned eligibility decisions in its Unemployment Insurance Program.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)
“Financial issues and potential fraud in California’s unemployment insurance program will be fully examined. The previous administration turned a blind eye toward failing Labor programs. This ends now,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said.
“Immediately, we are engaging a specialized strike team to uncover any potential fraud or abuse and quickly moving to protect the American worker and taxpayers. I look forward to restoring the California UI program’s integrity and financial health.”
Chavez-DeRemer added that the “strike team” will include Labor Department specialists from both its national and regional offices.
The secretary also wrote a letter to the EDD, citing increasing improper payment rates, insufficient timeliness, data accuracy and quality concerns and questions about participants’ eligibility and the use of taxpayer funds.
California received about $290 billion in COVID relief, part of which helped what the California Post described as “rapidly implementing expanded unemployment benefits.”
FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CALLS NEWSOM ‘KING OF FRAUD’ AS TRUMP LAUNCHES CALIFORNIA CORRUPTION PROBE
Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is cracking down on reported H-1B abuse. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
At least one California UI steward was convicted of using her position to file nearly $860,000 in fraudulent UI claims, while some civilians were convicted of creating nonexistent businesses to claim UI.
Before the strike team’s deployment, DOL Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said he found nearly $1 billion in taxpayer funds “at risk” nationwide due to COVID-related UI fraud.
D’Esposito, a former NYPD officer and ex-congressman from Long Island, said in a statement that an analysis of 6.5 million prepaid debit cards used for COVID UI benefits still had $720 million loaded on them.
WALZ’S MINNESOTA MESS COULD SPARK THE TOUGHEST FRAUD REFORMS IN DECADES
“My office has warned that, absent swift action, U.S. taxpayers risk losing nearly a billion dollars in fraudulently obtained benefits,” D’Esposito said in a statement.
“This is taxpayer money, and it demands immediate attention.”
D’Esposito said fraud is not a victimless crime and that every misspent dollar is one that an actual needy family could use.
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Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was found to be at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state. (Madelin Fuerste/Fox News)
“When we root out fraud, we protect taxpayers and lower the real cost of living,” he said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom and the state Senate’s top Republican for comment.
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San Francisco, CA
Former San Francisco nonprofit CEO charged with misappropriating $1.2 million in public funds
The former head of a San Francisco-based nonprofit providing services to the homeless has been charged with nine felonies for allegedly stealing and misappropriating more than $1 million in public funds, prosecutors said.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ office announced Monday that charges were filed against 71-year-old Gwendolyn Westbrook, the former CEO of the United Council for Human Services (UCHS). Westbrook was charged following an investigation by the District Attorney’s Public Integrity Task Force.
“Ms. Westbrook is accused of unlawfully misappropriating public money and grant funds on behalf of UCHS, while exercising near-exclusive financial control over the organization,” the DA’s office said in a statement.
Prosecutors charged Westbrook for one count of misappropriation, three counts of grand theft, one count of presenting a false invoice for payment and four counts of filing false California tax returns.
Court documents allege Westbrook misappropriated more than $1.2 million in public funds from the nonprofit’s accounts to herself. Westbrook allegedly used a combination of undocumented cash withdrawals, self-issued payments and fraudulent reimbursement practices between 2019 and 2023.
Prosecutors said additional large sums withdrawn from the group’s accounts remain unaccounted for.
Westbrook is also accused of filing false tax returns for tax years 2020 through 2023.
According to Jenkins’ office, Westbrook is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday at the Hall of Justice.
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