Peterson Says Accepting Plea Deal in His Wife’s Death Was “The Most Difficult Decision I Ever Made”
Two-Hour “Down the Back Staircase” Airs Friday, April 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, 8 p.m. CT
April 4, 2017 – In his first network television interview since pleading guilty to manslaughter in the death of his wife Kathleen, Michael Peterson tells “Dateline NBC” correspondent Dennis Murphy that accepting a plea deal was, “the most difficult decision I ever made in my life.” To watch the exchange, click here. Kathleen’s sister Candace Zamperini reacted to the plea, telling Dateline, “We weren’t quitting until we heard the word guilty. We thought we were going to hear it from another 12 jurors but we got to hear Michael say guilty.” To watch the preview, click here. The transcripts of the interviews, which are part of a new, two-hour Dateline airing Friday, April 7, are included below.
In 2003, Peterson was originally convicted of first degree murder after Kathleen was found dead at the bottom of their staircase. The trial made national headlines as prosecutors tried to link Peterson to the death of a family friend who was also found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Peterson spent eight years in prison until his conviction was overturned. He was granted a new trial after a judge ruled that he had not received a fair trial. In February, Peterson entered an Alford plea – pleading guilty to manslaughter but maintaining his innocence – before a new trial was set to begin. He was sentenced to time already served.
“Down the Back Staircase ” also features interviews with key players in the case, including: Peterson’s daughters Martha Ratliff and Margaret Ratliff, Peterson’s brother Bill Peterson, Detective Art Holland, former Assistant District Attorney Freda Black, Peterson’s defense attorney David Rudolf and Kathleen’s daughter Caitlin Atwater. Murphy has reported on this case for more than a decade.
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MICHAEL PETERSON: It really hurts. It was the most difficult decision I ever made in my life was to accept–
DENNIS MURPHY: To take a plea.
MICHAEL PETERSON: Yeah. Absolutely. And I’m talking, you know, joining the marines, anything I did in my life, this was the most difficult decision I made. And I did it because the second most difficult thing I ever did in my life was to live through that trial and listen to all of those lies and perjuries, the nonsense.
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CANDACE ZAMPERINI: It was very cathartic to say, ahh, this is what I fought for…we weren’t quitting until we heard the word guilty. We thought we were going to hear it from another 12 jurors but we go to hear Michael say guilty.
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Dominique Cuce
NBC News
212-664-6192
dominique.cuce@nbcuni.com
