The cost of a new trial for convicted murderer Scott Peterson – if granted – could be substantial for taxpayers, who already footed the hefty $2.64 million bill from his 2004 court proceedings, according to reports and experts.

Scott Peterson, at present 49, was in court with attorneys on Thursday equally the defense and prosecution argued for and against awarding him a new trial for the 2002 murders of his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn son. After more than 5 and a half hours, the day'south proceedings airtight with the judge asking both sides to submit memorandums, if they like, by mid-September. The jurist so has up to ninety days to release her decision.

Only her ultimate ruling could be a plush one.

Co-ordinate to reports from early 2005, Peterson's 2004 trial cost taxpayer $2.64 million, with $ane 1000000 lone stemming from the police force investigation into the slayings, the Los Angeles Times said, citing the Modesto Bee.

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Peterson's six-month murder trial and three months of jury selection racked up costs of more than than $700,000 – nigh $742,000 – for the San Mateo County Superior Court, The Associated Press and the Times reported.

Co-ordinate to the Times, costs besides included $672,507 from the Stanislaus County district attorney's part, outside of employees' salaries. The county also reportedly coughed upward $229,000 for i of Peterson'southward defense witnesses after Peterson said he couldn't afford it.

There is a lot that will have to get into a trial of that nature.

- Ted Williams, former homicide detective and renowned chaser

Peterson was convicted on Nov. 12, 2004 and was later sentenced to decease. Just after a series of major developments over the past several months, his fate has changed – and could be altered further in the coming weeks.

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scott peterson mugshot photo

Scott Peterson in a May 11, 2018, photograph from the California Section of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP,File / Associated Press)

The California Supreme Court overturned Peterson's expiry sentence in 2020 and tasked Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo with deciding if he received a fair trial.

Nice was an alternating juror who joined the jury deliberations after ii original jurors were removed. The panel ultimately plant Peterson guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife and the second-degree murder of their unborn son. He was sentenced to death in 2005.

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Peterson'due south attorneys contend, amongst other things, that Nice sought to be on the jury because she wanted notoriety and for financial reasons. They have also argued that she lied well-nigh her lack of bias to become on the jury, and lied again in a sworn announcement in 2020.

Juror Richelle Nice

Richelle Nice adjusts her pilus as members of the jury speak with the media in the Sometime San Mateo Canton Courthouse in Redwood City, California, on Dec. thirteen, 2004. (AP Photo/Lou Dematteis, File / Associated Press)

Nice allegedly failed to disembalm during jury selection that she sought a restraining club while significant in 2000, saying she "actually fears for her unborn child" considering of threats from her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend.

She said in her sworn declaration 20 years later on that she didn't "feel 'victimized' the way the law might define that term."

And a sometime swain juror testified in March that Dainty walked into the jury room during deliberations in 2004 and blurted out "that he should basically pay for killing 'little homo.'"

Richelle Nice celebrating

Juror Richelle Overnice, eye, hugs attorney Gloria Allred later on speaking at a news briefing after the formal sentencing of Scott Peterson in Redwood City, California, on March 16, 2005. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File / AP Newsroom)

Dainty testified before that she held no bias against Peterson until after she heard the evidence that he dumped his wife'south body into San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve 2002.

Ted Williams, a renowned attorney and former homicide detective, told Fox News Digital on Th he expected that the costs in this instance "could be overwhelming."

"Y'all're going to non only accept to bargain with all of the evidence, but y'all're going to have to deal with the witnesses," said Williams, a Flim-flam News contributor. "You're going to accept to deal with certain protections, specifically in that courtroom. Because there are people, who very much believe that Scott Peterson murdered his wife and child."

Laci Peterson missing persons poster

A immature child stops to expect at a makeshift memorial and a missing person'south banner offering a $500,000 reward for the safe render of Laci Peterson at East La Loma Park in Modesto, California, on Jan. 4, 2003. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)

He added: "There is a lot that will have to go into a trial of that nature. And it could be a very, very expensive trial."

In court on Thursday, Judge Massullo argued that Peterson's attorneys at the time could take asked follow-up questions to clarify some of Nice's responses. She noted that there were several inconsistencies in the prospective juror questionnaire in the original trial.

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During his arguments to the courtroom, Peterson attorney Cliff Gardner said Overnice contradicted herself in multiple statements, and later inverse her answers to sure questions regarding her personal experiences and feelings. He argued she was inconsistent and uncooperative.

Gardner also said Nice responded "no" to a question asking whether she could base her decision entirely on the evidence produced in court and not from outside or pre-existing opinions or attitudes. Peterson's attorney at the time, who is no longer involved with the instance, did non follow upward on this reply.

Nice so took steps to contact Peterson later convicting him, Gardner said.

"She gave Conner a nickname, called him 'Little Man,'" he told the court. "She took the extraordinary step after conviction and after having put Mr. Peterson on death row, [of] outset correspondence with a series of letters. And the court has seen the messages and the messages. Each of them has various focuses, only 1 of the focuses of every letter of the alphabet is his "Little man.'"

Meanwhile, David Harris with the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Function told the court that Nice, when asked why she considered herself a "fair person," responded: "I know what information technology's like to be judged."

The 23-page questionnaire had 163 questions, and "she did the best that she could," Harris said.

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Harris said there was no doubt that Prissy fabricated mistakes, but that did not make her a liar.

"She's inconsistent on her answers," he told the courtroom. "But being wrong does not necessarily go far faux or make her a liar. It just might exist that she'southward really bad at filling out forms."

Harris afterward added: "Prissy showed sometimes that she could exist a little bit confused nigh things."

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The prosecutor also argued that Nice was not lying when she responded "no" to the original trial'southward juror questionnaire about being involved in any lawsuits. A layperson, he said, might misuse or misunderstand legal terminology.

Scott Peterson and Laci Peterson

In this March 17, 2005, file photo, Scott Peterson is escorted by ii San Mateo County Sheriff deputies to a waiting van in Redwood City, Calif. ((AP Photograph/Justin Sullivan, File) / Associated Press)

Peterson'south attorneys, yet, disputed Harris' claims by presenting a transcript of Nice acknowledging that what she had filed was a lawsuit.

Harris further pointed to the prove police force had garnered against Peterson during the grade of his investigation into Laci'due south and Conner's deaths.

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"From the simple fact that Laci and Conner, whose bodies washed ashore 90 miles from their home, merely within sight of where Peterson admitted he went line-fishing on the twenty-four hour period that they disappeared; to the research Peterson did on bay currents in the weeks preceding her disappearance; andthe line-fishing gunkhole he bought, but mentioned [to] no 1; to Peterson'southward inability to explain what he was line-fishing for in the centre of the day; to his repeated subsequent, serendipitous trips to the marina in the weeks after her disappearance; to the many steps he took in the weeks after she went missing – selling her automobile, exploring auction of the firm, turning the nursery into a storage room – that indicated that he already knew Laci and Conner were never coming back," Harris said.

The Associated Printing contributed to this report.