Michael Peterson (author)
Encyclopedia
Michael Iver Peterson is a fiction writer
and politician
. In 2003, he was convicted of the murder
of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.
with a bachelor's degree
in political science
. He attended classes at the law school of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
. At Duke he was the president of Sigma Nu
fraternity and the editor of The Chronicle
. After leaving Duke, Peterson took a civilian job with the U.S. Department of Defense
where he was assigned to research arguments supporting increased military involvement in Vietnam
.
In 1965, Peterson married Patricia Sue Peterson who taught elementary school on the Rhein-Main Air Base
in Grafenhausen
, Germany
. They had two children, Clayton and Todd. In 1968, he voluntarily enlisted in the Marines
and served in Vietnam
. He was discharged four years later after a car accident left him with a permanent disability. He received an honorable discharge with a permanent medical disability and retired with the rank of captain in 1971. Peterson has said he won a Silver Star, a Bronze Star With Valor and two Purple Hearts. He has all the medals, but said he does not have the documentation for them. The fiction writer had claimed that on one occasion he was hit by shrapnel when another soldier stepped on a land mine, and on another he was shot. Peterson later admitted his war injury was not the result of a shrapnel wound in Vietnam, but was the result of a vehicle accident in Japan
, where he was stationed after the war as a military policeman. The News & Observer said records did not contain any mention of two Purple Heart medals Peterson has said he received.
Michael and Patricia lived in Germany
for some time, where they befriended Elizabeth and George Ratliff and their two children, Margaret and Martha. After George's death in the Invasion of Grenada
, the Peterson and Ratliff families became very close. When Elizabeth Ratliff
died in 1985, her two children became Michael's wards. Michael and Patricia divorced in 1987, Clayton and Todd went to live with their mother, and Margaret and Martha stayed with Michael who then moved to Durham, North Carolina
. Peterson wrote three successful books, The Immortal Dragon, A Time of War, A Bitter Peace and Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company. He also worked as a newspaper columnist for the Durham Herald-Sun
where his columns became known for their criticism of police and the Durham County District Attorney James Hardin Jr., who was later to prosecute Peterson for Kathleen's murder.
In 1989, Michael moved in with Kathleen Atwater
, a successful Nortel
business executive and socialite. They married in 1997 and Kathleen's daughter Caitlin also joined the extended Peterson family.
was 0.07 percent. The autopsy report concluded that the 48 year old victim sustained a matrix of severe injuries, including a fracture of the thyroid neck cartilage and seven lacerations to the top and back of her head consistent with blows from a blunt object and had died from blood loss one and a half to two hours after sustaining the injuries. Kathleen's sister, Candace Zamperini, and daughter Caitlin had both initially maintained Michael's innocence and publicly supported him alongside his children but Zamperini reconsidered upon finding out about Peterson's bisexuality as did Caitlin after reading her mother's autopsy report, both subsequently broke off from the rest of the family. Police investigators concluded that the injuries sustained were inconsistent with an accidental fall down the stairs (although a forensic expert later testified that the blood spatter evidence was consistent with an accident). As Michael Peterson was the only person at the residence at the time of Kathleen's death, he was the prime suspect, and was soon charged with her murder. He pleaded not guilty.
The Durham coroner concluded that Kathleen had died due to lacerations of the scalp caused by a homicidal assault. There were in total seven lacerations to the top and back of her head caused, according to the coroner, by repeated blows with a weapon similar to a fireplace poker.
The trial drew media attention, as the details of Michael's life emerged. The Durham County DA, James Hardin Jr and prosecutors (among them future District Attorney Mike Nifong) attacked Peterson's credibility, focusing on his alleged misreporting of his military service and what they described as a gay life he led and kept secret. The prosecution contended that the Petersons' marriage was far from happy, suggesting that Kathleen had discovered Michael's alleged secret gay life and wanted to end their marriage. Despite this scenario being discredited by police investigators, it was the only motive for Kathleen's alleged murder offered by the prosecution at trial.
missing from the house was the weapon used, and showed jurors a replica claiming they could not find Peterson's. The missing poker actually had been found in the garage but forensic tests revealed that it could not have been the murder weapon. A juror contacted after the trial said the jury had dismissed a poker or anything like it thus making the poker irrelevant. The defense disputed this finding as Kathleen's skull had not been fractured by the blows nor was the brain damaged. When asked by the defense why, in the 250 recorded beating deaths in North Carolina in the past decade, was there not one single incident involving multiple blows to the head which did not include these injuries, the coroner stated she did not research criminal cases so could not comment.
, who died in Germany
in 1985, was also found at the foot of her staircase with injuries to the head. The death was investigated by both the German police and U.S. military police. An autopsy
at the time of her death concluded she had died from an intra-cerebral haemorrhage secondary to the blood coagulation disorder Von Willebrand's disease, based on blood in her cerebrospinal fluid and reports that she had been suffering severe, persistent headaches in the weeks leading up to her death. The coroner determined that the haemorrhage resulted in immediate death followed by Ratliff falling down the stairs after collapsing. Ratliff and her daughters had gone to the Petersons' home the previous night to have dinner with them and Peterson had driven them home and helped Ratliff put the children to bed. The children's nanny
discovered the body when she arrived the next morning. Peterson was the last person to see her alive.
Before Peterson's trial, the Durham court ordered the exhumation of Elizabeth's embalmed body for a second autopsy in April 2003. The defense requested an independent autopsy by a forensic pathologist in Texas, pointing out that the state has no shortage of qualified professionals in this field. Over the defense’s objection, the autopsy was conducted by the same Durham medical examiner who had performed Kathleen Peterson's first autopsy who later reported that Ratliff had also been murdered. This necessitated that the body be transported under guard from Texas at great expense.
The prosecution declined to accuse Peterson of Elizabeth's death but introduced the death into the trial as an incident giving Peterson the idea of how to "fake" Kathleen's accident. Despite police reports that there was very little blood at the scene of Ratliff's death, the nanny, who was the first to discover Ratliff's body in 1985, took the stand at Peterson's trial and testified that there was a large amount of blood at the scene. Another witness testified spending much of the day cleaning blood stains off of the wall. Despite the implication that Peterson had also murdered Elizabeth Ratliff, her daughters stood by him: "The DA is trying to say that our dad killed our birth mother and our mother. But where are we sitting? We're sitting behind our dad."
The admissibility of the Ratliff evidence in court was one of the grounds for the subsequent appeal against his conviction, lodged by Peterson's lawyers in 2005.
jury found Michael Peterson guilty of the murder of Kathleen Peterson and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Denial of parole requires premeditation, despite the jury accepting the murder was a "spur of the moment" crime they also found it was premeditated. As one juror explained it, premeditated meant not only planning hours or days ahead but could also mean planning in the seconds before committing a spur of the moment crime.
Peterson is housed at the Nash Correctional Institution near Rocky Mount
.
on April 18, 2006. On September 19, 2006 the Court of Appeals rejected Peterson's arguments that he did not get a fair trial because of repeated judicial mistakes. The appeals ruling said the evidence was fairly admitted. The judges did find defects in a search warrant but said they had no ill effect on the defense. Because the Court of Appeals' ruling was not unanimous, under North Carolina law Peterson had right to appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court
, which accepted the case. Oral argument was heard on September 10, 2007. On November 9, 2007 the Court announced that it affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. Absent a reconsideration of the ruling or the raising of a federal
issue, Peterson has exhausted his appeal of the verdict. As of Tuesday, March 10, 2009, the request for a new trial has been denied.
On November 12, 2008, J. Burkhardt Beale and Jason Anthony, Richmond, Va. attorneys, who now represent Michael Peterson, filed a motion for a new trial in Durham County court on three grounds: that the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence
about a tire iron
; that the prosecution used an expert witness
whose qualifications are disputed, and that one juror based his judgment on racial factors. On March 10, 2009 Peterson's motion was denied by the Durham County Superior Court.
outside and had fallen after rushing inside and had been knocked unconscious after hitting her head on the first tread of the stairs. The owl theory was raised after Durham attorney T. Lawrence Pollard, who was not involved in the case at the time, approached the police suggesting the possibility that an owl was responsible after reading the SBI
evidence list and finding a "feather" listed. Although Pollard never spoke of the theory to anyone else, the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper published an article ridiculing Pollard and discrediting his theory. The media picked up the story, repeating the Herald-Sun article, which was later criticized as inaccurate. Peterson's attorneys later determined that the SBI crime lab report listed a microscopic owl feather and a wooden sliver from a tree limb entangled in a clump of hair that had been pulled out by the roots found clutched in Kathleen's left hand. A re-examination of the hair in September 2008 found two more microscopic owl feathers. Advocates allege the existence of other evidence supports the theory, namely that the scalp wounds were tri-lobed and paired consistent with marks left by talons, the feathers are similar to those found on the feet of owls, cedar needles were found on her hands and body indicating she had fallen over outside shortly before entering the house, that Kathleen's blood had splattered up the staircase rather than down, that Kathleen's footprints in her own blood indicated that she was already bleeding before she reached the foot of the stairs and that two drops of Kathleen's blood were found outside the house on the front walkway along with a finger smear on the front door consistent with her pushing the door shut. The advocates for the owl attack hypothesis also note that owl attacks on people are common in the area, with one victim stating that the impact was similar to being hit in the head with a baseball bat.http://owltheory.blog.lemonde.fr/ According to attorney T. Lawrence Pollard, had a jury been presented with this evidence it would have "materially affected their deliberation and therefore would have materially affected their ultimate verdict." Prosecutors have ridiculed the claim and Dr. Deborah Radisch, who conducted Kathleen Peterson's autopsy, says it is unlikely that an owl or any other bird could have made wounds as deep as those on Kathleen's scalp. However Dr. Radisch's opinion was challenged by other experts in three affadavits filed in 2010.[20] Dr. Alan van Norman wrote "The multiple wounds present suggest to me that an owl and Ms. Peterson somehow became entangled. Perhaps the owl got tangled in her hair or perhaps she grabbed the owl's foot."[20]
Dr. Patrick T. Redig, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota wrote
"In my professional opinion, the hypothesized attack to the face and back of the head resulting in the various punctures and lacerations visible in the autopsy photographs is entirely within the behavioral repertoire of large owls".[20]
Kate P. Davis, executive director of Raptors of the Rockies, located in western Montana, wrote
"The lacerations on Mrs. Peterson's scalp look very much like those made by a raptor's talons, especially if she had forcibly torn the bird from the back of her head," she wrote. "That would explain the feathers found in her hand and the many hairs pulled out by the root ball, broken or cut. The size and configuration of the lacerations could certainly indicate the feet of a Barred Owl." She noted that owls can kill species much larger than themselves and that it is not uncommon for them to attack people.[20]
No motion for a new trial was filed on this point in 2009.
In August 2010, following a series of newspaper articles critical of the investigative tactics of State Bureau of Investigation agents, Attorney General Roy Cooper led an investigation which resulted in SBI analyst Duane Deaver, one of the principal witnesses against Peterson, being suspended after the report found his work among the worst done on scores of flawed criminal cases. Lawrence Pollard subsequently filed affidavits to support a motion that Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson order the state Medical Examiner's Office to turn over all documentation related to Kathleen Peterson's autopsy to Peterson's attorneys. However, judge Hudson barred Pollard from filing further motions on behalf of Peterson because Pollard does not represent him. A new motion was filed by David Rudolf, one of Peterson’s original attorneys who will act pro bono
in proceedings challenging the SBI testimony.
(Suspicions), Death on the Staircase and The Staircase, which detailed Peterson's legal and personal troubles. The six hour documentary was assembled from over 600 hours of footage and comprises eight segments. It was released by Maha Productions in October 2004 and was directed by French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
. The documentary offers an intimate depiction of defense preparations for the trial. It also examines the role and behavior of the popular press as it covered aspects of the case. The filmmakers started their project within weeks of the December 2001 death and Peterson's murder indictment; jury selection took place in May 2003 with the case itself going to trial in July 2003.
Following the guilty verdict, de Lestrade interviewed the jurors to find why they decided on this verdict. By and large the jurors were swayed by the amount of blood Kathleen lost and the number of lacerations which indicated to them it could not have been an accident. However, Dr. Henry Chang-Yu Lee had testified at the trial that the amount of blood was irrelevant as the blood spatter indicated most of it was coughed up rather than from the wounds themselves. He also suggested some of the blood could have been diluted with urine. Lee had also duplicated blood spatter from coughing for the jury by drinking ketchup
and spitting it out.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. In 2003, he was convicted of the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of his wife, Kathleen Peterson.
Personal life
Michael "Mike" Peterson graduated from Duke UniversityDuke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. He attended classes at the law school of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. At Duke he was the president of Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
fraternity and the editor of The Chronicle
The Chronicle (Duke University)
The Chronicle is a daily student newspaper at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The Chronicle was first published as The Trinity Chronicle on December 19, 1905. The paper's name was changed to The Chronicle when Trinity College was renamed Duke University following a donation by James...
. After leaving Duke, Peterson took a civilian job with the U.S. Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
where he was assigned to research arguments supporting increased military involvement in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
In 1965, Peterson married Patricia Sue Peterson who taught elementary school on the Rhein-Main Air Base
Rhein-Main Air Base
Rhein-Main Air Base was a U.S. Air Force / NATO military airbase near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It occupied the south side of Frankfurt International Airport. Its airport codes are discontinued....
in Grafenhausen
Grafenhausen
Grafenhausen is a town in the district of Waldshut in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. They had two children, Clayton and Todd. In 1968, he voluntarily enlisted in the Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
and served in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. He was discharged four years later after a car accident left him with a permanent disability. He received an honorable discharge with a permanent medical disability and retired with the rank of captain in 1971. Peterson has said he won a Silver Star, a Bronze Star With Valor and two Purple Hearts. He has all the medals, but said he does not have the documentation for them. The fiction writer had claimed that on one occasion he was hit by shrapnel when another soldier stepped on a land mine, and on another he was shot. Peterson later admitted his war injury was not the result of a shrapnel wound in Vietnam, but was the result of a vehicle accident in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where he was stationed after the war as a military policeman. The News & Observer said records did not contain any mention of two Purple Heart medals Peterson has said he received.
Michael and Patricia lived in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
for some time, where they befriended Elizabeth and George Ratliff and their two children, Margaret and Martha. After George's death in the Invasion of Grenada
Invasion of Grenada
The Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, was a 1983 United States-led invasion of Grenada, a Caribbean island nation with a population of about 100,000 located north of Venezuela. Triggered by a military coup which had ousted a four-year revolutionary government, the invasion...
, the Peterson and Ratliff families became very close. When Elizabeth Ratliff
Elizabeth Ratliff
Elizabeth McKee was born in 1942 and reared with two sisters on a farm on Rhode Island. A serious, artistic child, she played an acoustic guitar, sang and spoke French and German....
died in 1985, her two children became Michael's wards. Michael and Patricia divorced in 1987, Clayton and Todd went to live with their mother, and Margaret and Martha stayed with Michael who then moved to Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
. Peterson wrote three successful books, The Immortal Dragon, A Time of War, A Bitter Peace and Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company. He also worked as a newspaper columnist for the Durham Herald-Sun
The Herald-Sun (Durham, North Carolina)
The Herald-Sun is a daily newspaper in Durham, North Carolina, published by the Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky.-History:The Herald-Sun began publication on 1 January 1991 as the result of a merger of The Durham Morning Herald and The Durham Sun.The Herald-Sun and The Durham Morning Herald...
where his columns became known for their criticism of police and the Durham County District Attorney James Hardin Jr., who was later to prosecute Peterson for Kathleen's murder.
In 1989, Michael moved in with Kathleen Atwater
Kathleen Peterson
Kathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson , daughter of Veronica Hunt, was an accomplished student, engineer, volunteer and civic leader...
, a successful Nortel
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
business executive and socialite. They married in 1997 and Kathleen's daughter Caitlin also joined the extended Peterson family.
Kathleen's death
On December 9, 2001, Michael called the emergency line to report that he had just found Kathleen unconscious and suspected that she had fallen down "15 or 20 stairs." Peterson later maintained that Kathleen must have fallen down the stairs after consuming alcohol and valium. Toxicology results showed that his wife's blood alcohol contentBlood alcohol content
Blood alcohol content , also called blood alcohol concentration, blood ethanol concentration, or blood alcohol level is most commonly used as a metric of alcohol intoxication for legal or medical purposes....
was 0.07 percent. The autopsy report concluded that the 48 year old victim sustained a matrix of severe injuries, including a fracture of the thyroid neck cartilage and seven lacerations to the top and back of her head consistent with blows from a blunt object and had died from blood loss one and a half to two hours after sustaining the injuries. Kathleen's sister, Candace Zamperini, and daughter Caitlin had both initially maintained Michael's innocence and publicly supported him alongside his children but Zamperini reconsidered upon finding out about Peterson's bisexuality as did Caitlin after reading her mother's autopsy report, both subsequently broke off from the rest of the family. Police investigators concluded that the injuries sustained were inconsistent with an accidental fall down the stairs (although a forensic expert later testified that the blood spatter evidence was consistent with an accident). As Michael Peterson was the only person at the residence at the time of Kathleen's death, he was the prime suspect, and was soon charged with her murder. He pleaded not guilty.
The Durham coroner concluded that Kathleen had died due to lacerations of the scalp caused by a homicidal assault. There were in total seven lacerations to the top and back of her head caused, according to the coroner, by repeated blows with a weapon similar to a fireplace poker.
The trial drew media attention, as the details of Michael's life emerged. The Durham County DA, James Hardin Jr and prosecutors (among them future District Attorney Mike Nifong) attacked Peterson's credibility, focusing on his alleged misreporting of his military service and what they described as a gay life he led and kept secret. The prosecution contended that the Petersons' marriage was far from happy, suggesting that Kathleen had discovered Michael's alleged secret gay life and wanted to end their marriage. Despite this scenario being discredited by police investigators, it was the only motive for Kathleen's alleged murder offered by the prosecution at trial.
"She would have been infuriated by learning that her husband, who she truly loved was bi-sexual and having an extramarital relationship - not with another woman - but a man, which would have been humiliating and embarrassing to her. We believe that once she learned this information that an argument ensued and a homicide occurred" —Assistant District Attorney, Freda BlackThe defense argued that Kathleen knew about and accepted Michael's bisexuality and that the marriage was very happy, a position supported by Michael and Kathleen's children and numerous friends and associates. The prosecution maintained a poker
Fire iron
A fire iron is any metal instrument for tending to a fire.-Types of fire irons:There are three types of tools commonly used to tend a small fire, such as an indoor fireplace fire, or yule log: the spade, the tongs and the poker itself...
missing from the house was the weapon used, and showed jurors a replica claiming they could not find Peterson's. The missing poker actually had been found in the garage but forensic tests revealed that it could not have been the murder weapon. A juror contacted after the trial said the jury had dismissed a poker or anything like it thus making the poker irrelevant. The defense disputed this finding as Kathleen's skull had not been fractured by the blows nor was the brain damaged. When asked by the defense why, in the 250 recorded beating deaths in North Carolina in the past decade, was there not one single incident involving multiple blows to the head which did not include these injuries, the coroner stated she did not research criminal cases so could not comment.
Suspicion surrounding Elizabeth Ratliff's death
Elizabeth RatliffElizabeth Ratliff
Elizabeth McKee was born in 1942 and reared with two sisters on a farm on Rhode Island. A serious, artistic child, she played an acoustic guitar, sang and spoke French and German....
, who died in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1985, was also found at the foot of her staircase with injuries to the head. The death was investigated by both the German police and U.S. military police. An autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
at the time of her death concluded she had died from an intra-cerebral haemorrhage secondary to the blood coagulation disorder Von Willebrand's disease, based on blood in her cerebrospinal fluid and reports that she had been suffering severe, persistent headaches in the weeks leading up to her death. The coroner determined that the haemorrhage resulted in immediate death followed by Ratliff falling down the stairs after collapsing. Ratliff and her daughters had gone to the Petersons' home the previous night to have dinner with them and Peterson had driven them home and helped Ratliff put the children to bed. The children's nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
discovered the body when she arrived the next morning. Peterson was the last person to see her alive.
Before Peterson's trial, the Durham court ordered the exhumation of Elizabeth's embalmed body for a second autopsy in April 2003. The defense requested an independent autopsy by a forensic pathologist in Texas, pointing out that the state has no shortage of qualified professionals in this field. Over the defense’s objection, the autopsy was conducted by the same Durham medical examiner who had performed Kathleen Peterson's first autopsy who later reported that Ratliff had also been murdered. This necessitated that the body be transported under guard from Texas at great expense.
The prosecution declined to accuse Peterson of Elizabeth's death but introduced the death into the trial as an incident giving Peterson the idea of how to "fake" Kathleen's accident. Despite police reports that there was very little blood at the scene of Ratliff's death, the nanny, who was the first to discover Ratliff's body in 1985, took the stand at Peterson's trial and testified that there was a large amount of blood at the scene. Another witness testified spending much of the day cleaning blood stains off of the wall. Despite the implication that Peterson had also murdered Elizabeth Ratliff, her daughters stood by him: "The DA is trying to say that our dad killed our birth mother and our mother. But where are we sitting? We're sitting behind our dad."
The admissibility of the Ratliff evidence in court was one of the grounds for the subsequent appeal against his conviction, lodged by Peterson's lawyers in 2005.
Verdict
On October 10, 2003, after one of the longest trials in North Carolina history, a Durham CountyDurham County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 223,314 people, 89,015 households, and 54,032 families residing in the county. The population density was 769 people per square mile . There were 95,452 housing units at an average density of 329 per square mile...
jury found Michael Peterson guilty of the murder of Kathleen Peterson and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Denial of parole requires premeditation, despite the jury accepting the murder was a "spur of the moment" crime they also found it was premeditated. As one juror explained it, premeditated meant not only planning hours or days ahead but could also mean planning in the seconds before committing a spur of the moment crime.
Peterson is housed at the Nash Correctional Institution near Rocky Mount
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Rocky Mount is an All-America City Award-winning city in Edgecombe and Nash counties in the coastal plains of the state of North Carolina. Although it was not formally incorporated until February 28, 1867, the North Carolina community that became the city of Rocky Mount dates from the beginning of...
.
Appeal
Peterson's appeal was filed by his defense counsel Thomas Maher, now serving as his court-appointed attorney, and was argued before the North Carolina Court of AppealsNorth Carolina Court of Appeals
The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating groups of three...
on April 18, 2006. On September 19, 2006 the Court of Appeals rejected Peterson's arguments that he did not get a fair trial because of repeated judicial mistakes. The appeals ruling said the evidence was fairly admitted. The judges did find defects in a search warrant but said they had no ill effect on the defense. Because the Court of Appeals' ruling was not unanimous, under North Carolina law Peterson had right to appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court
North Carolina Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices...
, which accepted the case. Oral argument was heard on September 10, 2007. On November 9, 2007 the Court announced that it affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. Absent a reconsideration of the ruling or the raising of a federal
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
issue, Peterson has exhausted his appeal of the verdict. As of Tuesday, March 10, 2009, the request for a new trial has been denied.
On November 12, 2008, J. Burkhardt Beale and Jason Anthony, Richmond, Va. attorneys, who now represent Michael Peterson, filed a motion for a new trial in Durham County court on three grounds: that the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence
Exculpatory evidence
Exculpatory evidence is the evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial, which clears or tends to clear the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to prove guilt....
about a tire iron
Tire iron
A tire iron is a specialized metal tool used in working with tires that have inner tubes.Tire irons have not been in common use for automobile tires since the shift to the use of tubeless tires in the late 1950s...
; that the prosecution used an expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
whose qualifications are disputed, and that one juror based his judgment on racial factors. On March 10, 2009 Peterson's motion was denied by the Durham County Superior Court.
Owl theory
In late 2009, Peterson's attorneys raised a new theory of Kathleen Peterson's death, that she had been attacked by an owlOwl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
outside and had fallen after rushing inside and had been knocked unconscious after hitting her head on the first tread of the stairs. The owl theory was raised after Durham attorney T. Lawrence Pollard, who was not involved in the case at the time, approached the police suggesting the possibility that an owl was responsible after reading the SBI
North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is a state-level law enforcement agency in North Carolina. Within the state, the agency acts as a criminal investigation bureau, similar to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the federal level. The SBI is a bureau of the North Carolina...
evidence list and finding a "feather" listed. Although Pollard never spoke of the theory to anyone else, the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper published an article ridiculing Pollard and discrediting his theory. The media picked up the story, repeating the Herald-Sun article, which was later criticized as inaccurate. Peterson's attorneys later determined that the SBI crime lab report listed a microscopic owl feather and a wooden sliver from a tree limb entangled in a clump of hair that had been pulled out by the roots found clutched in Kathleen's left hand. A re-examination of the hair in September 2008 found two more microscopic owl feathers. Advocates allege the existence of other evidence supports the theory, namely that the scalp wounds were tri-lobed and paired consistent with marks left by talons, the feathers are similar to those found on the feet of owls, cedar needles were found on her hands and body indicating she had fallen over outside shortly before entering the house, that Kathleen's blood had splattered up the staircase rather than down, that Kathleen's footprints in her own blood indicated that she was already bleeding before she reached the foot of the stairs and that two drops of Kathleen's blood were found outside the house on the front walkway along with a finger smear on the front door consistent with her pushing the door shut. The advocates for the owl attack hypothesis also note that owl attacks on people are common in the area, with one victim stating that the impact was similar to being hit in the head with a baseball bat.http://owltheory.blog.lemonde.fr/ According to attorney T. Lawrence Pollard, had a jury been presented with this evidence it would have "materially affected their deliberation and therefore would have materially affected their ultimate verdict." Prosecutors have ridiculed the claim and Dr. Deborah Radisch, who conducted Kathleen Peterson's autopsy, says it is unlikely that an owl or any other bird could have made wounds as deep as those on Kathleen's scalp. However Dr. Radisch's opinion was challenged by other experts in three affadavits filed in 2010.[20] Dr. Alan van Norman wrote "The multiple wounds present suggest to me that an owl and Ms. Peterson somehow became entangled. Perhaps the owl got tangled in her hair or perhaps she grabbed the owl's foot."[20]
Dr. Patrick T. Redig, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota wrote
"In my professional opinion, the hypothesized attack to the face and back of the head resulting in the various punctures and lacerations visible in the autopsy photographs is entirely within the behavioral repertoire of large owls".[20]
Kate P. Davis, executive director of Raptors of the Rockies, located in western Montana, wrote
"The lacerations on Mrs. Peterson's scalp look very much like those made by a raptor's talons, especially if she had forcibly torn the bird from the back of her head," she wrote. "That would explain the feathers found in her hand and the many hairs pulled out by the root ball, broken or cut. The size and configuration of the lacerations could certainly indicate the feet of a Barred Owl." She noted that owls can kill species much larger than themselves and that it is not uncommon for them to attack people.[20]
No motion for a new trial was filed on this point in 2009.
In August 2010, following a series of newspaper articles critical of the investigative tactics of State Bureau of Investigation agents, Attorney General Roy Cooper led an investigation which resulted in SBI analyst Duane Deaver, one of the principal witnesses against Peterson, being suspended after the report found his work among the worst done on scores of flawed criminal cases. Lawrence Pollard subsequently filed affidavits to support a motion that Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson order the state Medical Examiner's Office to turn over all documentation related to Kathleen Peterson's autopsy to Peterson's attorneys. However, judge Hudson barred Pollard from filing further motions on behalf of Peterson because Pollard does not represent him. A new motion was filed by David Rudolf, one of Peterson’s original attorneys who will act pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
in proceedings challenging the SBI testimony.
Suspicions: a documentary of the trial
The court case generated widespread interest in part because of a televised documentary variously named SoupçonsSoupçons
Soupçons is a 2004 television miniseries by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade documenting the trial of Michael Peterson, accused of murdering his wife....
(Suspicions), Death on the Staircase and The Staircase, which detailed Peterson's legal and personal troubles. The six hour documentary was assembled from over 600 hours of footage and comprises eight segments. It was released by Maha Productions in October 2004 and was directed by French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade is a French writer, director and producer of films and television series.Lestrade was born in Mirande, Gers, in southwestern France...
. The documentary offers an intimate depiction of defense preparations for the trial. It also examines the role and behavior of the popular press as it covered aspects of the case. The filmmakers started their project within weeks of the December 2001 death and Peterson's murder indictment; jury selection took place in May 2003 with the case itself going to trial in July 2003.
Following the guilty verdict, de Lestrade interviewed the jurors to find why they decided on this verdict. By and large the jurors were swayed by the amount of blood Kathleen lost and the number of lacerations which indicated to them it could not have been an accident. However, Dr. Henry Chang-Yu Lee had testified at the trial that the amount of blood was irrelevant as the blood spatter indicated most of it was coughed up rather than from the wounds themselves. He also suggested some of the blood could have been diluted with urine. Lee had also duplicated blood spatter from coughing for the jury by drinking ketchup
Ketchup
Ketchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...
and spitting it out.
Current status of the parties
- In October 2002, acting as administratorAdministrator (law)In law an administrator can be:* a person appointed by the court to handle the estate of someone who died without a will ....
of Kathleen's estateEstate (law)An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
, Caitlin filed a wrongful death claimWrongful death claimWrongful death is a claim in common law jurisdictions against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute...
against Michael. In June 2006, he voluntarily filed for bankruptcyBankruptcyBankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. Two weeks later Caitlin filed an objection to the bankruptcy. On February 1, 2007, Caitlin and Michael settled the wrongful death claim for $25 million, pending acceptance by the courts involved; finalization of the settlement by the court was announced on February 1, 2008. In the settlement, Michael did not admit that he murdered Kathleen. Caitlin is unlikely to ever collect a significant amount of the judgment. - Caitlin Atwater recently graduated from Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. - Peterson's younger son, Todd Peterson, lives in Dubai.
- Peterson's older son, Clayton Peterson, was married in 2004.
- Martha Ratliff lives in San Francisco.
- Margaret Ratliff is studying documentary filmmaking at Columbia College in Chicago.
- Following the trial, one of Peterson's lawyers, Thomas Maher, resigned from the firm that bore his name (Rudolf, Maher, Widenhouse & Fialko). He is now Peterson's court-appointed attorney.
- Lead defense counsel David RudolfDavid RudolfDavid Rudolf is a defense lawyer.He attended Rutgers University and the London School of Economics, and received his law degree from New York University School of Law....
mentions the Peterson case on his website http://rwf-law.com/. - This case was featured in the episode "A Novel Idea" of Forensic FilesForensic FilesForensic Files is an American documentary-style series which reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and even outbreaks of illness. The show is broadcast on truTV, narrated by Peter Thomas, and produced by Medstar Television, in association with truTV...
. - This case was featured in the episode "Murder, He Wrote" of Dominick DunneDominick DunneDominick John Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist, whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways in which high society interacts with the judicial system...
's Power, Privilege, and Justice on TruTv
See also
- The Staircase, a documentary mini-series of the trial.
External links
- The Staircase at imdb.com
- Stranger Than Fiction - Website with news, commentary, analysis, links and photos pertaining to the Peterson case.
- "State Supreme Court to Hear Peterson Appeal" at WRAL.com
- Behind the Staircase - a counterpoint site to the Lestrade film
- Aphrodite Jones website. Author of "A Perfect Husband" (2004) Pinnacle.
- Larry Pollard "owl" interview an attorney explains why he thinks an owl killed Kathleen Peterson.
- "Attorney wants Mike Peterson murder case reopened" at WRAL.com
- "Peterson attorney seeks new trial" at WRAL.com
- "Judge denies Mike Peterson's request for new trial" at WRAL.com