Scott Peterson, a California man convicted of murdering his eight-month pregnant wife more than 20 years ago, appeared virtually in court Tuesday after the Los Angeles Innocence Project requested evidence it says could prove his innocence.

That evidence revolves around incidents that happened around the time of Laci Peterson’s disappearance: a burglary at the home of the Petersons’ then-neighbors and the nearby burning of an orange van containing a bloodstained mattress. The LA Innocence Project, which works to exonerate people who it says were wrongly convicted, also requested DNA testing of multiple pieces of evidence.

The 51-year-old Peterson attended the hearing via Zoom from Mule Creek State Prison, donning a blue jumpsuit and his hair in a ponytail. He said little during the roughly 30-minute appearance beyond confirming he was unmuted and that proceedings could continue with him virtually.

Paula Mitchell, director of the LA Innocence Project, pressed for the materials to be turned over as soon as possible, saying they should have been made available during trial.

“Mr. Peterson has been waiting 20 years to find some of these police reports and audio recordings and video recordings that should have been provided,” she said at the hearing. “We are eager to get our investigation underway.”

Laci Peterson’s disappearance on Christmas Eve 2002, and her husband’s murder conviction in 2004, captivated the United States, as national news outlets and local newscasts led with daily updates on the search in what became a “24-hour media extravaganza.” Scott Peterson pleaded not guilty at trial and has maintained his innocence since he was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his wife and second-degree murder for his near-term son.

Prosecutors at the time said Peterson dumped his wife’s body in the San Francisco Bay after killing her amid an affair with a massage therapist. Peterson said Laci knew about the affair and they were working through it. About three months after Laci’s disappearance, her remains and the remains of their unborn child washed ashore. Peterson was arrested days later north of the Mexican border with $15,000 in cash. He had dyed his hair blond and was carrying his brother’s license and camping gear.

During the five-month trial, prosecutors depicted Peterson as deceitful, noting that he gave conflicting stories of what he was doing the day his wife disappeared. The coroner couldn’t determine a cause of death because the bodies were so decomposed.

Peterson was sentenced to death in 2005 before being resentenced to life without parole in 2020.

“I did not harm or kill my family,” he wrote in a declaration filed in January by the LA Innocence Project, adding that “newly discovered evidence that was not presented to the jury at my trial supports my claim of innocence.”

Peterson alleged police ignored evidence including what he said were eyewitness reports that his wife was alive and walking their dog the day she disappeared. He did not, however, explain how that proved his innocence.

The LA Innocence Project was contacted by Peterson’s last attorney in March 2023 asking for the organization to take up the case. Peterson contacted the group himself months later.

After a team with the LA Innocence Project assembled 40,000 pages of case records, Mitchell found “numerous items” in police reports that were not included in the initial discovery. The filing also alleged that law enforcement did not fully investigate other possible suspects, including the people charged with burglarizing the neighbors’ home while they were out of town. As a result, she wrote in a court filing, she felt a new motion would be needed to request that evidence and further DNA testing.

The filing asked the court to compel prosecutors to release some of that evidence quickly, including police reports on the burglary, as well as police and fire reports about the burning of the van. Prosecutors had said they would respond to Mitchell’s request in “due course.”

The van, according to the filing, was set on fire in an alley behind the home of an aunt of one of the burglars. The fire investigator who reviewed the incident found the fire was intentionally set, according to the filing, and that a bloodstained mattress was in the back of the car. The fire investigator had told an ABC News journalist he was “bothered” by the failure of others to examine a potential link between the van and Laci Peterson’s disappearance, according to the filing.

Among the items the LA Innocence Project requested for further DNA testing were part of the mattress, part of the van’s fuel tank, a Target bag found near the remains of Laci Peterson and its contents, and tape recovered from her pants.

The Tuesday court appearance was largely procedural. The judge on the case set dates for further hearings. When Peterson repeatedly had difficulty unmuting, he laughed. While the media frenzy has tempered since its height two decades ago, a throng of reporters lined up outside the court before it opened and local media filmed the proceedings.

Mitchell described Tuesday’s hearing as “just the first step in a long process.”

Peterson’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 16.