Scott Peterson gives first interview in 20 years as he fights to be released for pregnant wife’s killing

The 51-year-old was sentenced to life without parole in 2004 in a case that gripped the nation, but still maintains he never killed Laci Peterson

Scott Peterson, a man convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in California has given his first media interview in more than two decades.

Peterson, 51, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2004 for the infamous murder of his pregnant wife Laci Peterson, just before Christmas in 2002.

But earlier this year, his case was taken on by the Los Angeles Innocence Project, whose lawyers claim that new evidence undermines his conviction.

Now Peterson will appear in a new true crime documentary airing on Peacock next month, Face to Face with Scott Peterson, billed as "an exclusive series of intimate conversations".

"While many still believe the jury got it right, Scott’s family and experts close to the case have spent over 20 years committed to uncovering inconsistencies in the evidence, as well as finding new information around alternative theories surrounding Laci’s murder," said the producers of the series on Monday.

Scott Peterson, left, during a pretrial hearing in Modesto, California, July 2003 (Al Golub-Pool/Getty Images)

Laci Peterson was 27 years old when she was reported missing on December 24, 2002. She was also eight months pregnant with her and Scott Peterson’s son, who was going to be called Conner.

Scott Peterson told police that he had gone fishing in Berkely, California, about 90 miles away from the couple's Modesto home, only to find her absent when he returned that afternoon.

The case became a media sensation, but a massive search in the Modesto area turned up nothing. Then, in April 2003, Laci Peterson's body and that of her baby were found washed up separately on the shore of the San Francisco Bay.

Californians absorb the news of Scott Peterson’s conviction in Redwood City, November 2004 (David Paul Morris/Getty Images)

By that time, police detectives had long since grown suspicious of Peterson's story, and a few days later he was arrested in San Diego with his hair dyed and his car loaded up with survival and camping supplies, as well as four cell phones and two driver's licenses.

Peterson, however, maintains that he was wrongly convicted. The Innocence Project says it has evidence that his wife may instead have been killed by burglars whose crimes she had witnessed, and is pushing for a retest of certain DNA evidence.

Face to Face with Scott Peterson will air on Peacock on August 20.