48 Hours: Scott Peterson Revisited

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CBS 48 Hours revisited the Scott Peterson case this past weekend. Did you catch it? In 2004, Scott Peterson was convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in a largely circumstantial case. He was given the death penalty for the crime.

Peterson’s death penalty sentence was overturned in August 2020 by the California Supreme Court. The reason is Peterson’s trial judge dismissed jurors who opposed capital punishment without asking if they could put their views aside which shouldn’t have been done. Peterson, however, did not have his conviction overturned. His new sentencing is supposed to take place this summer.

Janey Peterson, Scott Peterson’s sister-in-law claims that Scott Peterson is innocent and explained how the family has created a war room to fight on his behalf to get his conviction overturned. Janey believes the burglars across the street from the Peterson home are involved in Laci’s death.

Unfortunately, nothing that Janey presented offered me something concrete to bite into. You could easily argue away her theories presented.

Janey really loses her credibility when she suggests that someone tried to frame Scott Peterson.

Janey Peterson: Her body wasn’t taken to the bay December 24th. The bay wasn’t sealed off as a crime scene. …There are multiple points of access directly to the water, 24 hours a day. I think they took Laci, had Laci, realized the national attention that this case was getting, realized they were in trouble. What better way to get outta trouble than go put the body where the husband was?

So if you believe Janey, you believe someone took, harmed and killed Laci, but oh decided to sit on the corpse not knowing what to do with it. You know, no worries. Then when the story broke and it was a big story, oh wow! They found their way to get out of the crime. They will “frame” Scott by placing the body in the bay.

I don’t think you can come up with something more outlandish than that. Add to the this that when authorities went to arrest Scott Peterson, he wasn’t at home or trying to solve her murder. No, he was down in San Diego golfing, with DYED blond hair with 15K in cash in his pocket. It seemed this grieving husband was about to possibly leave the country. Yeah, that’s what innocent victims do.

I don’t think so!

I can tell you nearly ever clip of Scott Peterson I see, he is leaking clues like a sieve. And he leaks them every time. If you attended my class, I showed you some of them! They are really hard to argue when you see them pointed out.

The reporter in the 48 Hours show picked up on one clue herself. Scott Peterson’s wife is missing during their interview. When his cell phone rings, he doesn’t even think to answer it? If your spouse was missing, would you ignore phone calls? A man who knew his wife was dead certainly would. And he’d also would not want anything to interrupt his “show time” on TV.

Men like Peterson lie so much they think they can fool anyone, until their arrogance and ignorance trips them up. He wanted TV time to convince people he was innocent. I think that backfired on him big time. People instinctively knew his behavior didn’t add up.

Even more so, when you watch that interview, listen to his demeanor. He play this low-key, monotone character. It’s his attempt to act concerned and sad, but he doesn’t show an ounce of sadness. True sadness activates muscles in the face that for Peterson are not moving!

And yes, Scott Peterson’s smiles during the trial did not bode well for him. He wasn’t a grieving victim in this case. Not at all. I believe all the circumstantial evidence built a strong rope as the prosecutor said that told the real story. I believe Scott Peterson is exactly where he should be.

Have you heard of the Dark Factor of Personality?

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Pixabay Images https://pixabay.com/photos/gothic-dark-fantasy-evil-god-3017747/ by darksouls1 

Three researchers from Germany and Denmark have come up with a theory of personality called the dark factor–that the elements of negative “dark” personality will correlate together and create a “dark core”, if you will. If you have strong dark personality traits, you will likely display many of them.

The researchers knew from past studies in human intelligence that people who are intelligent will score as intelligent across multiple intelligence tests, as there is a “core ability” to their intelligence that will be revealed across many tests. Hence, they suspected that there is a core to a dark personality. The darker the personality, the more traits they will ultimately have and research seems to be showing this to be true. You can read more about the study here from the researchers themselves.

In the study, they look at nine personality traits that they believe make up the dark factor:

  1. Egoism. The excessive concern with one’s own pleasure or advantage at the expense of community well-being.
  2. Machiavellianism. Manipulativeness, callous affect and strategic-calculating orientation.
  3. Moral Disengagement. A generalized cognitive orientation to the world that differentiates individuals’ thinking in a way that powerfully affects unethical behavior.
  4. Narcissism. An all-consuming motive for ego reinforcement.
  5. Psychological Entitlement. A stable and pervasive sense that one deserves more and is entitled to more than others.
  6. Psychopathy. Deficits in affect, callousness, self-control and impulsivity.
  7. Sadism. Intentionally inflicting physical, sexual or psychological pain or suffering on others in order to assert power and dominance or for pleasure and enjoyment.
  8. Self-Interest. The pursuit of gains in socially valued domains, including material goods, social status, recognition, academic or occupational achievement and happiness.
  9. Spitefulness. A preference that would harm another but that would also entail harm to oneself. This harm could be social, financial, physical or an inconvenience.

You can test your D-Factor on their website. They have three versions of the test–the longest one, they say, is the most accurate. By taking the test, you are participating in their research–so you know!

All people have the ability to be both good and bad. You know the old images of the devil and angel on a person’s shoulders? Don’t be shocked if you take the test and find that you have some dark “traits”. Most humans have some. Few of us are saints. It’s all about the degree and where you fall on the spectrum compared to others.

Once you take the test, you can save your score. You can copy the link given, if you don’t have time to review the results at that time or if you want to share it with people. You can also see where you rank compared to the other people who have taken the test to date.

Were you surprised by your results?

If you find this study interesting, there are a lot of articles out there on this topic.

What was Chauvin’s face saying when the verdicts were read?

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Many people are wondering what Chauvin is feeling or expressing in this video when the three guilty verdicts are read and confirmed by the judge. We don’t see much because of the mask on Chauvin’s face, and he isn’t making a universal expression, but we can glean some information from his eyebrows and his darting eyes.

His eyebrows are down and pulled together in what appears to be a bewilderment expression. I think if he were to tell us what he is feeling he would tell us in that moment, waiting for and hearing the verdict, he felt it was surreal–almost hard to process.

One of those moments of “Am I really here? Is this really happening?” type feelings.

I suspect that he may have witnessed something before the verdict was read that indicated things were not going to go his way.

His gut may have known instinctively what was coming. Perhaps the jurors didn’t make any eye contact. Something flagged him if you ask me and it wasn’t a good indicator

His eyes dart back and forth in disbelief indicating he can’t believe this is happening. He is trying to digest and process what seems unreal.

If you notice, his expression doesn’t change before, during and after the verdict is read.

He is literally frozen in disbelief.

To sit and witness your entire future be decided in front of you like this must be overwhelming. No one considers themselves a killer or a murderer–even the coldest killers don’t see themselves that way. They always feel some form of justification–even when their isn’t one, or they wouldn’t have killed.

Derek Chauvin Trail

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Are you following the George Floyd trial? If you have, you know that the jury is out and we are on verdict watch. I honestly haven’t been able to watch the trial, but I have heard bits and pieces.

In the video above, an with regards to the defense I hear above, I am not convinced by Dr. Fowler’s reasoning that other elements contributed to his death. Are you?

Dr. Fowler tries to argue that Floyd’s heart was in the 95% percentile, so it was enlarged. I would argue that at 6 feet 6 inches tall and 230 pounds, he was larger than most men. Actually, do the calculation here! According to this website, Floyd was actually larger than 99% of the population by height, so perhaps for his size, his heart was slightly smaller than average for this size. So Fowler’s point is mute, if you ask me.

He also tries to call George Floyd “ROBUST”, but at the same time tells us he had a 90% cardiac blockage, coronary heart disease, hypertension, etc. He paints him as an unhealthy man yet calls him robust?

A coronary blockage that large is serious because it limits oxygen and blood flow to the body. That doesn’t make Floyd, while large in size, ROBUST. It actually would make him less strong and weaker than normal. Dr. Fowler is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He can’t be both here, which discredits Dr. Fowler some, if you ask me.

Fowler is also trying to throw in that Floyd died by carbon monoxide poisoning, which I find jaw dropping, frankly. Who put him in the position to have to breath that in? Who was negligent in this area? It wasn’t Floyd.

While I haven’t watched the case in its entirety, if this is the crux of the defense, I would not find it convincing as a cause of death. Floyd was walking around, functioning just fine prior to have his neck stood on for an unreasonable amount of time.

If we set prescient with this case that underlying medical conditions can be an excuse for a cause of death in cases such as this, I find that very dangerous territory!

What do you think? If you were a juror, how would you vote? Vote below!

If you haven’t seen the autopsy report, you can see it here.

All comments must be respectful. Anyone who is rude or disrespectful will be deleted and banned.

What is this boy’s emotion? Can you identify it?

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If this little boy were standing beside you, looking up at you and not saying a word, would you know how to respond to him?

Can you tell by his expression what he feels?

You 100% can if you understand the universal expressions of emotion. If you don’t know the science behind it, you can read more about it here in this Science Brief from the American Psychological Association.

Believe it or not, but when you “fake” an emotion, you do not use the same muscles in your face that you would if you genuinely feel an emotion. Isn’t that fascinating?

Check back to the comment sections in the coming days for the answer to what this facial expression is! While we can tell what expression a person is feeling, do know, we can’t always determine why!