David Rudolf & Sonya Pfeiffer with Michael Peterson
Wrongful Conviction Podcast, October 10, 2022: David Rudolf & Sonya Pfeiffer with Michael Peterson
“On December 9, 2001, Michael Peterson, an acclaimed novelist and one-time mayoral candidate, found his wife Kathleen dead at the bottom of their staircase in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Primarily due to the junk science of blood splatter analysis, Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“David and Sonya are a criminal defense duo who fight for victims of injustice, misconduct and faults of the system. Their podcast, Abuse of Power, dissects how law enforcement and the justice system have failed those they are meant to protect.
“David was Michael's first lawyer on the case involving the death of his wife, and he still is to this day. David notably appeared in the documentary, The Staircase, as Michael's lawyer. Sonya covered the case as a television reporter in Raleigh-Durham, and has been following the story since the beginning. David and Sonya have supported and advocated for Michael throughout his entire wrongful conviction experience. This episode is one of Michael’s very few recent press appearances, and Wrongful Conviction is the first ever podcast to have Michael Peterson as a guest.”
Vanity Fair, May 19, 2022: The Staircase Editor Sophie Brunet on Her “Painful” Michael Peterson Years and HBO Max’s Series
“The Staircase documentary editor Sophie Brunet never wanted to be a character in HBO Max’s adaptation.
“The show’s creator, Antonio Campos, called her in 2020 with questions about the Peabody-winning docuseries, which chronicled the defense strategy of Michael Peterson after he was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen, in 2001.
“But Campos didn’t just ask about the making of The Staircase, which has been heralded as true-crime cinema—providing astonishing access into a fascinating trial that unfolded in a series of stranger-than-fiction story twists involving secret lovers and the late discovery of a missing suspected murder weapon. Campos wanted to know about a plot twist that proliferated offscreen—when Brunet and Peterson, the subject of The Staircase, engaged in a yearslong romance that largely overlapped with his time in prison. Brunet confirmed the relationship in a 2008 interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, and Peterson had written about it in his 2019 book, Behind the Staircase.
“In an email to Vanity Fair, Brunet recalls her conversation with Campos: ‘I told him specifically that I could tell him, as a friend, some aspects of [the relationship], but that I did not want to be a character in his [project].’”
Additional Reading:
Vox, May 6, 2022: The owl did it, and other reasons true crime fans love The Staircase
Collider, April 27, 2022: 'The Staircase' Makes a Compelling Companion Piece to the Documentary
Bustle, June 7, 2018: Why Was Michael Peterson Released from Prison?
The Wrap, June 8, 2018: ‘The Staircase': What Happened to Blood Spatter Analyst Duane Deaver After the Case?
Innocence Project, February 22, 2018: The Harms of Alford Pleas When There Is Strong Evidence of Innocence
ProPublica, September 7, 2017: The Freedom Plea: How Prosecutors Deny Exonerations by Dangling the Prison Keys
