Michael Peterson

Biography

Michael Iver Peterson is a 78-year-old novelist and decorated military veteran who was convicted of murdering his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, in 2003. He was granted a new trial in 2011 after a critical witness's testimony was deemed misleading, and subsequently submitted an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter in 2017, securing his release from prison. His case drew attention from a French documentary team, which turned their coverage into the award-winning miniseries The Staircase.