Newsletter Archive, October 2006, Volume 2, Issue 1

Dear Friends,
 
When Laci went missing in December of 2002, our family was thrown into the spotlight of the national media. With each news report, more and more inaccurate information was disseminated. We knew that there was not enough time in the day to try to correct the infinite number of lies and misinformation. Laci was missing and we needed to focus on that and find her. Our hope was that she would be found and the lies wouldn't matter.
 
We now find ourselves almost four years later chasing down all the lies and misinformation. This is our 7th newsletter and there is still an endless amount of misinformation to correct. And even though the trial has ended, the lies keep piling up.
 
We face multiple battles as we correct misinformation. First, as just mentioned, the sheer volume of misinformation that needs to be corrected. We want to present the truth in a clear and logical manner. We know that many people will not just take our word for it, so everything we say we back up with testimony or evidence. Secondly, some people assume that if we don't correct something, it's true information. If we were to refute six out of seven articles in the National Enquirer, the one we didn't refute would be assumed by some to be true. If we only addressed one misstatement made in a magazine article, some would assume that everything else stated is true. This leads to the third battle. Sometimes we have additional information that will prove something is inaccurate, but it's not included in the public record, so we are unable to share it. This information usually can't be shared because of the appeal. Lastly, we have to be careful about anything we share regarding Scott. To speak for him or about him can affect him and his appeal.
 
The recent concern for Scott's well being has forced us to do what we've always avoided - address an article from the National Enquirer. It was reported that Scott was beaten up. This is not true and he did not receive stitches for an injury. And while we're at it, he did not get married and has not received multiple marriage proposals. Unfortunately, we have no testimony or exhibits to prove what we're saying is true. You'll just have to take our word for it. We see him every week and he is continually grateful for your on going prayers and support. He, along with the rest of our family, remains hopeful that justice will prevail!
 
The Petersons

An update on our Challenge

There are two things required to use circumstantial evidence to convict someone. First, there must be a reasonable explanation of the circumstances that points toward guilt. That is what we're asking for in our article "Featured Facts: We Challenge You to Give Us the Facts". Secondly, you can only adopt that explanation if there is no reasonable explanation that points toward innocence.
 
If there is a reasonable explanation that points toward innocence, by law, it must be accepted. We have presented a reasonable explanation for Scott's activities on December 24, 2002 that point toward innocence. There is no time for Scott to have completed the criminal activity he's been accused of. That is the simple truth.

We reported in our last newsletter that we had yet to have anyone accept the challenge we put forth. That statement must have stirred the pot a bit. We had one person attempt the complete challenge and a few people attempt to tackle one topic in the challenge.
 
The most complete response to the challenge we received didn't address all the topics, was not in the form of a timeline, and was filled with inaccurate information. We have "corrected" the inaccuracies in this challenge (twice) and await another attempt from the respondent. As far as the few who have attempted one topic at a time - they're missing the point of the challenge, although we did respond to them as well because there were so few!
 
Our web-site has had close to three million hits since we started about a year ago. We've heard from many people who are passionate about their belief in Scott's guilt. You can probably imagine some of the e-mails our family has received. We usually respond to those e-mails by inviting these passionate people to accept our challenge. We have e-mailed it directly into the hands of some of our toughest critics and we are still waiting......

ScottPetersonAppeal.Org