The Staircase Murders Part 2: When the Star Witness Turns Out to Be a Fraud

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Michael Peterson was convicted of murder in 2003 based on blood spatter testimony from a state expert.

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Eight years later, investigators discovered that expert had been lying in cases for years.

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Fabricating evidence, hiding exculpatory findings, committing perjury. This is part two where everything falls apart and a man has to choose between freedom and

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vindication.

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[Music]

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After Michael Peterson was convicted in October 2003 and sentenced to life in prison, he filed appeals.

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Those appeals were initially rejected as they moved through the North Carolina court system.

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For years, it looked like the case was over. Peterson was in prison. Kathleen's family had their conviction.

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The legal system had spoken.

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But then something happens that nobody expected.

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An independent review of the state bureau of investigation revealed a massive problem.

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And that problem had her name, Dwayne Deever.

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Remember, Deever was the blood spatter analyst whose testimony was the only direct evidence linking Michael Peterson to Kathleen's death.

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He was the one who said the blood patterns proved Peterson was present when the blows were struck.

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He was the one who declared it a homicide within 90 minutes of arriving at the scene.

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The district attorney himself had called Deever indispensable to the case.

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The independent review found that Deever had a long standing pattern of fabricating evidence to support the prosecution.

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He concealed excolpatory evidence that could have helped defendants and he committed perjury.

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This wasn't a one-time mistake for Deever.

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This was systematic misconduct, spanning multiple cases over years.

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In 2011, Deever was fired from the SBI.

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The legal implications were severe.

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Deever's testimony was the core of the prosecution's case.

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Without it, there was no evidence placing Michael Peterson at the scene as the person who killed Kathleen.

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Everything else was circumstantial.

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The 911 call, the bisexuality, the Elizabeth Ratliff case.

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None of that proved Michael Peterson beat his wife to death.

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When you build a murder conviction on the testimony of one forensic expert and that expert turns out to be a fraud, you have a due process violation.

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The defendant didn't get a fair trial.

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The jury made their decision based on lies.

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Peterson's defense team filed a motion for a new trial based on this discovery.

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And in 2011, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson, the same judge who had presided over the original trial, granted the motion.

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Judge Hudson stated that Deever had misled him and the jury and confirmed that Peterson was entitled to a new trial.

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On December 16, 2011, after serving eight years in prison, Michael Peterson was released.

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You would think this would be calls for celebration.

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The conviction was overturned.

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The key witness was exposed as a liar.

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Peterson was free, but freedom doesn't mean vindication.

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And it doesn't mean the nightmare is over.

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The state still planned to retry Peterson.

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A new trial was scheduled for 2017 and this created an impossible situation for the defense.

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On one hand, they had won.

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They had proven that the original conviction was based on fraudulent testimony.

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Deever, the star witness, was discredited.

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Without him, the prosecution's case was significantly weaker.

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But on the other hand, Peterson would still have to face a jury.

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And that jury would still hear about Elizabeth Ratliffe.

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They would still hear about his bisexuality and the emails with the male escort.

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They would see the crime scene photos.

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They would still hear that 911 call analyzed by experts who thought it sounded rehearsed.

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All of that highly prejudicial, emotionally charged evidence would still be admissible.

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Peterson himself said it plainly.

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Quote, am I going to put my life and my freedom in the hands of the Durham police and the district attorney?

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Look at what they did the first time.

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He didn't trust the system.

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And honestly, why would he?

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The system had already put him in prison based on lies.

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The defense team had to weigh the risks.

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If Peterson went to trial and lost, he would go back to prison for life.

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He had already spent eight years there.

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He was older now.

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Another life sentence would mean he would die in prison.

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If he went to trial and won, he would be fully exonerated.

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His name would be cleared.

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He could definitively say that he did not kill Kathleen, but winning wasn't guaranteed.

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Juries are unpredictable and the cumulative weight of all that circumstantial evidence,

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even without Deaver, might still be enough to convict him again.

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There was a third option, a legal compromise that would allow Peterson to maintain his innocence

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while avoiding the risk of another trial.

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It's called an offered plea.

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An offered plea is a guilty plea with a twist.

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The defendant pleads guilty to the charge, but they maintain their innocence.

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What they're acknowledging is that the prosecution has enough evidence that

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if presented to a jury would likely result in a conviction, but they're not admitting they actually did it.

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It's a pragmatic legal tool.

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It used when the risk of going to trial is too high, but the defendant refuses to lie and say that he committed the crime.

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The court accepts the plea as a guilty plea for sin-ancing purposes, but the defendant gets to say on the record that he didn't do it.

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On February 24, 2017, Michael Peterson entered an offered plea to the reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter.

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Peterson addressed the court after entering his plea.

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He said that accepting the plea had been the most difficult thing I've ever done.

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He used the opportunity to reinforce that he was not responsible for her death in any way.

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But legally, he's now a convicted felon.

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The charge was voluntary manslaughter instead of first-degree murder, but it's still a conviction.

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And because he had already served nearly 100 months in prison, following his 2003 conviction,

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and the maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter was 86 months, the time served covered his sentence.

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He walked out of the courtroom a free man.

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Not everyone accepted the resolution.

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One of Kathleen's sister's spoken court and rejected the offered plea as meaningless.

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She said, "An innocent man does not plead guilty."

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Mr. Peterson pled guilty today.

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From her perspective, the legal distinction doesn't matter.

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He entered a guilty plea, therefore he was guilty.

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And I understand that reaction.

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If someone in my family was killed and the person accused of killing them took an offered plea, I would feel cheated.

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Because there's no closure.

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There's no trial.

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There's no jury verdict.

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There's no definitive answer.

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But from Peterson's perspective, what choice did he have? Risk everything on a jury that might convict him again,

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based on the same prejudicial evidence?

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Spend the rest of his life in prison for something he says he didn't do?

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Or take the plea, walk free, and maintain his innocence on the record.

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He chose freedom.

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So here's where we are.

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Legally, Michael Peterson is a convicted felon who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

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But he maintains he's innocent.

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The conviction that sent him to prison was based on fraudulent forensic testimony.

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The prosecution's theory relied heavily on bifobia and the prejudicial introduction of another woman's death

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that German authorities had ruled accidental.

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The physical evidence was always ambiguous.

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Seven deep cuts to the scalp, but no skull fracture and no brain injury.

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Blood everywhere, but no murder weapon.

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A 911 call that sounded prepared, but also a man who might have been in shock.

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An alleged motive based on his sexuality, but also testimony that Kathleen knew about and accepted his bisexuality.

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We will never know for certain what happened at the bottom of that staircase on December 9th, 2001.

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Did Kathleen fall?

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Was she beaten?

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Was she attacked by an owl and then fell?

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Did Michael Peterson kill his wife?

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Or did he find her dying and panic?

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The courts didn't answer that question.

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They couldn't because the evidence was never strong enough to prove murder beyond a reasonable doubt without Duane Devers lies.

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Michael Peterson is a free man.

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He lives with the voluntary manslaughter conviction on his record.

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He has maintained his innocence and interviews and documentaries.

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The case has been covered extensively, including the documentary series, The Staircase, which followed the trial and appeals over many years.

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Kathleen Peterson's family still believes Michael killed her.

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They believe the offered plea was an admission of guilt, regardless of the legal technicalities.

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The case remains unresolved in every way that matters most.

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We don't have a definitive answer.

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We have a legal compromise that satisfied no one.

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And maybe that's the most honest conclusion.

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Sometimes the evidence doesn't lead to a certainty.

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Sometimes the justice system can't deliver the truth.

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Sometimes all we're left with is doubt.

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Michael Peterson says he didn't kill his wife.

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The state of North Carolina says he pleaded guilty to killing her.

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And Kathleen Peterson is still dead at the bottom of a staircase with seven cuts on her head and no clear explanation for how they got there.

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That's where this story ends.

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Not with answers, but with the uncomfortable reality that some questions don't have them.

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[Music]

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder,

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Bingeable True Crime Stories.

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I'm Joe, I'm the host, and listen, this documentary had me in a strangle hold back back when it came out years ago.

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And then I started getting requests more recently to cover this story.

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So I thought, yeah, go back and rewatch that thing.

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Man, I forgot how long it was.

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If you're going to watch this staircase, get comfortable.

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Call in some meals to be delivered to something because you're not going anywhere for like 13 hours.

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And if you haven't seen it, spoiler alert, you are not going to like Michael Peterson.

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He comes across very arrogant.

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He comes across like textbook narcissist.

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He talks about himself all the time, tries to sound smart all the time.

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And he is a smart guy.

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Don't get me wrong, but he's trying.

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It feels like he's trying to get you to think he's very smart.

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And I don't like that.

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But did he kill his wife?

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I don't know.

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I lean more toward, yeah, probably he did, but I don't know that.

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It's based mostly on what I saw from the documentary, plus the research that I did for the story.

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I feel like he did it, but also that's just a hunch by me.

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All right. If you are a new listener, this is the first episode you're tuning into, it better not be because there was a part one to this.

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This is part two of this story.

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But if you're new to the series here, you can hit subscribe wherever you're listening right now.

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10 minute murders can be right there for you.

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If you hit subscribe right now, you can go to the website 10minutemerder.com, catch up on everything that there is to know about the podcast.

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And also send me an email if you want to do that.

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And that's going to do it.

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That is your episode for today.

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Thank you again for listening to 10 minute murder.

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We'll see you next time.