[ad_1]
A former juror at Scott Peterson’s 2004 trial broke down in court Monday while being grilled over whether she profited off the infamous slay case and purposely lied on a questionnaire to get on the panel.
Richelle Nice — dubbed “Strawberry Shortcake” for her flaming red hair at trial — is under fire from the convicted killer’s lawyers, who are demanding a retrial on the grounds of alleged juror misconduct.
They claim Nice, who later co-authored a book about the case — and now has brunette locks with blond highlights — was biased against Peterson and lied to get on the jury.
On her second day on the stand in a San Mateo, Calif., courtroom, Nice was overcome with emotion when Peterson’s lawyer, Pat Harris, asked her about a letter she wrote the convict while he was on Death Row.
Harris said in that letter, Nice said she was upset that “others got rich” after the trial. It’s not clear who the “others” were.
When Nice was then asked about her alleged profiteering, she defiantly shot back, “I didn’t get rich!” before Judge Anne-Christine Massullo stopped the line of questioning.
Nice then started to cry on the stand while Harris, Massullo and prosecutors met privately in the judge’s chambers.
Nice was among the 12 jurors who found Peterson guilty of killing his pregnant wife, Laci.
Nice, Guinasso and five other jurors went on to co-author the book, “We, the Jury: Deciding the Scott Peterson Case,” which was released in 2007.
She has admitted she did not disclose on the Peterson jury questionnaire that she obtained a restraining order in 2001 against her then-boyfriend and a woman he’d been involved with.
On Friday, Harris had asked Nice how she responded to the question that asked, “Have you ever been a victim of a crime?”
Nice had responded “No” to that question — and testified Friday that she did not consider herself a victim.
On Monday, Nice maintained she didn’t lie on the jury questionnaire when she didn’t include her own domestic-violence incidents.
“When I filled out that questionnaire, honestly and truly, nothing of this ever crossed my mind,” Nice said. “I’ll say it again– I didn’t write it on the questionnaire because it never crossed my mind. I didn’t do it intentionally.”
Harris also asked her about a TV interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz in which she said, “The balls on that guy,” in reaction to Peterson walking into the courtroom.
Nice responded to Harris, “I don’t remember.”
During cross-examination by prosecutor David Harris, Nice said she did not participate in writing the book but was only interviewed by two writers.
“I’ve never read it,” she claimed.
When asked if she had any bias against Peterson when she was selected as a juror in his case, Nice replied, “Nope.”
The prosecutor asked, “Did you decide the case based on just the evidence that was in the courtroom and not some preconceived notion that you brought with you?”
Nice replied, “Absolutely.”
[ad_2]