From the bay areas local news station. Youre watching kron. 4 news at 6. Tonight at 6. 20, years after being convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and unborn son. Scott peterson is back before a judge this time. Peterson has a new l a based legal team is looking to gather new evidence that could potentially prove his innocence. Good evening. Thanks for joining us for kron for news at 6. Im ken wayne and im noelle bellow. We are still finding out new details about this decadesold case in the murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn child. Turns out Scott Peterson filed his own petition to get a retrial. But that has been put on hold since cla Innocence Project got involved. Reporter Jennifer Mcgraw has the story. Good morning, mister. Justin, can you both see and hear the proceedings are . Thank all right. Scott peterson is currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury convicted him 2 decades ago. The now 51 yearold had been having an affair with his mistress with his wife, Laci Peterson, who was 8 months pregnant with their unborn son, disappeared back in 2002, the family lived in modesto at the time. Attorneys with Innocence Project, an organization that aims to exonerate the wrongly convicted agree to reexamine the case. They asked the San Mateo County superior court judge to approve new dna testing. We spent a lot of time trying to. Sets out what frankly are very alarming deficiencies in the discovery that was provided to the defense of the time trial. They also asked us tennis last District Attorneys Office to provide them with evidence that they say should have been turned over during petersons trial years ago. That then investigators argue that peterson dumped laceys body during a fishing trip in the San Francisco bay, a burn ban with a bloodied mattress in the back could contain dna evidence. Petersons family has maintained his innocence for years and believes the bad may have been used in a burglary. Theres a theory that she may have been killed in the van because she witnessed that burglary. Theyre asking the judge to allow them to reopen the investigation. Show them the documents from burntout van. That was located less than a mile from the peterson home that contained mattress that they say had blood stains in it. They want that mattress retested. The defense was entitled to those at the time of trial. Mister peterson has been waiting 20 years to find some of Police Reports and audio recordings and video recordings that should have been provided. Again, that was Jennifer Mcgraw reporting. Peterson could get a new trial if his attorneys can show that laci was still alive when her husband went fishing off of the Berkeley Pier on that christmas eve. But dont expect anything to happen overnight says legal analyst paula canny. That mattress has Laci Petersons dna on it. It doesnt mean that boom, its over. It means lawyers write all these motions and argue about this and argue about it. And then the judge is going to decide that this process is going take. It isnt like a day or 2. This is a long, long, long process. Well have much more on this story coming up tonight at 6. 30, including more legal analysis from our legal expert michael cardoza. Another big story were following tonight. There has been another midflight incident involving a United Airlines boeing plane this time as a flight bound for sfo from sydney, australia. And experts say. The issue appears to be a hydraulic failure. Kron fours. Dan kerman live for us at sincidents involving united planes just in the last couple of weeks. Less than a week after a tire fell off a united jet bound for osaka. And came crashing down onto cars in an sfo employee parking lot. Theres been another united incident and a united flight 8. 30, from sydney sfo, head to return to sydney after what united described as a maintenance issue. Those whove seen video of the incidents, a fluid pouring off the plane on takeoff, suggesting a hydraulic problem. Youll notice when the airplane came back in and landed. The landing gear doors were down and thats indicative of the fact that the hydraulic system that failed was the one that controls the landing gear and they had to use an alternate procedure to drop the but they werent able to bring the gear doors up because the hydraulic system was out. United flight from sfo to mexico city on friday. Also had hydraulic issues and had to make an Emergency Landing at lax. Theres always concern when you start to frequency of issues, whether there is a nexus, whether there is focus on the singular problem in this case, we dont have a singular problem. We do have a nexus in that. These issues, were all tied to aircraft fly in or out of San Francisco. Douglas rice is a retired commercial Airline Pilot and regional Vice President of the california pilots association. He says the tire falling off is more concerning than the hydraulic issues. If they look at that, well they will know when it was over hold. They will know when it was installed. It will know when that will last had appropriate tested. Those dont know all of these issues. They go on with maintenance and all of that will be documented and they will is this a systemic problem in all united to said more than a halfdozen inflight issues over the last 2 weeks, many of which the faa is investigating. Absolutely. You worry that it will do a good bit of traveling and its its concern. And i actually am starting to with the. Well, mona, it bus where a boeing know here at sfo travelers are aware of whats going on and are worried about it, i think will still fly. But lookthe ntsb live at sfo. Dan kerman kron. 4 news. Dan, thank you. Tonight, were also learning a boeing whistleblower who raised concerns about the companys production standards has been found dead in the days before his death. Had been testifying against that john barnett worked as a quality manager for boeing for more than 30 years before his retirement, barnett said he repeatedly raised concerns to supervisors but was ignored. He also said boeing retaliated against him and made working conditions so intolerable. He was forced to retire early. Boeing has denied those claims. Barnett was found with an apparent selfinflicted gunshot wound in a Hotel Parking lot in south carolina. Where he had given a formal deposition last week he was due to undergo further questioning this past weekend. In the east, a contra costa. Fire crews say a hazmat situation that it shut down. Part of martinez today have been cleared. Fire officials tell us 3 tankers were found abandoned on the side of the road friday at the chalco boulevard near how road and the martinez reservoir. Were told, but one was left there. Well, today that last tanker started leaking causing a brief hazmat scare. Its still not clear what exactly was inside those tankers or why they were abandoned. But authorities did test samples from inside the leaking tanker. They tell us the fluid was not hazardous. A large oak tree did crash into some power lines, damaged cars and blocked a roadway. Late in lafayette kron fours Philippe Djegal reports pg and e crews were trimming some of its limbs just hours before it fell. More than 100 yearold oak tree chopped up along springhill road in lafayette is really scary. Yeah, it fell from a meetings as neighbors yard late monday night landing on 2 cars and busting through a fence. Power lines came down to knocking electricity out in the neighborhood until around 6 oclock Tuesday Morning was not a stormy night pg e was out trimming it. So really interesting that that you need it. Hold itself. Happening the homeowner tells kron 4 pg and e was performing maintenance on the tree earlier in the day. Removing limbs in jeopardy of falling onto power lines. Its unclear what led to it snapping off at its base. It fell and sounded at first like theres an earthquake once or twice a season. Theres a a big tree. That falls is wonderful trees, they get too big and they get wet and they get heavy. And when they come down, its a. Its huge. And and dangerous. Xfinity spent hours in the morning restoring services to its customers. The homeowner says they are insured but hopes to work with pga need to determine why the tree fell and have all of the damage caused repaired in a statement to kron 4 pg and e says, quote, the safety of our customers and the communities we serve is our most important responsibility. Pg and es Vegetation Management contractor was in the area early on monday march 11th to conduct minor pruning. We are currently investigating the cause of the tree failure. In lafayette, Philippe Djegal all kron. Time now for our 4 zone forecast. A live look at conditions on 6. 80, in walnut creek. Theres a wind advisory that starting tomorrow for parts of the east and the north bay proper chief meteorologist Lawrence Karnow here with a little bit more detail. Hey, lauren. Yeah, you know, you get done with the rain and now weve got High Pressure building in a really its competition between High Pressure in the area of low pressure, the east and the winds will start to kick around just a bit. So outside right now, weve got some clearing skies. Still some lingering clouds around the bay area after he had a decent rain overnight last night with some places, almost 3 quarters of inch. If you can believe that mount tam over 2 inches of rain. Well, the right now this front, though, moving out of town and falling apart to kind of get the sense that big ridge of High Pressure beginning to build in off the coastline. That ridge is going to be a very strong blocking ridge. And that means were going bring into the rain, at least for a week here and enjoy some nice spring, sunshine some warmer weather right now. Things start to taper off to some snow showers continuing over the high country. Couple scattered showers out there as well. They see the clouds floating across california. The bay area, though, drying out. So tonight, if youre headed out the door looks like a nice evening outside. You can see some clear skies as we head toward 8, 9 oclock tonight. It will be getting a little bit chilly in spots overnight tonight and early tomorrow morning as well see those skies clearing out put on overnight lows in the 30s and the 40s High Pressure will be building in. That will bring some dry weather back to the bay area. Some mild temperatures to fact there are say its going to be a little warm in the coming days. Well have more on that in a few minutes. Thank you, lawrence. Fedup was crime. Some oakland Business Owners say theyre willing to break the law themselves. If nothing is done about it, were going explain how they want to do that. N plus, there is a new way to your taxes today. And the best part its totally free. Plus, an update on drug overdoses in San Francisco and the treatment methods that city leaders say is working. 64 people died of drug overdoses in San Francisco just last month. But that is fewer than the number of people who died in january. Kron fours rob nesbitt. Joining us now from the newsroom with an update from the Citys Department of health and some treatment methods that seemed to be working from noel. And can we talk a lot the last year . About the Opioid Epidemic and fentanyls role in it. Fentanyl is still the leading cause of Overdose Deaths in San Francisco and Health Experts talked at length today about how contingency management makes a difference. After updating overdose numbers for the month of february. Doctor christie soaring with the San Francisco department of health. Talk about contingency management as a form of treatment. Contingency management has been shown to. Help people engage in treatment longer reduce and stop. Stimulate and has solid evidence to support that we really have no other intervention for seemingly cpis eyes, contingency management, contingency management on paper uses motivational incentives to help people kick their addictions. Its being used in 24 california counties, according to mary scylla with the National Harm reduction coalition, were getting votes. Money if theyre able to, were told their drug and hope to get them onto course of treatment. Not on the list of drugs. Tuesday was fentanyl, but director of Behavioral Health services in San Francisco, doctor hilary cut ins says while the majority of Overdose Deaths are driven by fentanyl, they often involve other drugs that contingency management is used for. So by reaching people who use stimulants. And helping them to stabilize their lives. We expect that we will see some positive Health Outcomes for all of their Substance Use the overdose numbers. Monthtomonth are down in San Francisco. There were 12 more Overdose Deaths in february compared to the same time last year. Its why the department of health says its using high impact interventions to save lives, even though addiction is a chronic illness. Recovery is possible. There is a way out of addiction and into a healthier life. The department of health says its focusing most of its resources towards communities with high rates of overdose, such as unhoused people and those who have had a prior overdose. Reporting in the newsroom. Im rob nesbitt kron 4 news. Rob, thank you. Business owners in oakland say theyre ready to stop paying taxes if the city doesnt do more to combat rising property crime rates in oakland kron fours Tiffany Justice has the story. Never been this bad. I mean, we dont need to be talking about that. That as if know, Everybody Knows that that it is. Fed up with crime. Some local Business Owners are telling kron 4 theyre not paying unless there is change. Ali obvious area. Local Business Owner in oakland for the past. 35 years who owns multiple shops in the city says dozens of businesses are supporting an effort to go on strike from paying business taxes to say, i mean, city, just the air. Its out of control as far as it gets, Business Owners are feeling they feel the pressure that they are not being protected. But the city of oakland and they paid so much taxes. I mean, theres taxes. I mean, uk will get even there count on the taxes that we pay per year. And plus, we losing all the insurance coverage. All this area who runs oakland, small Merchant Chamber of commerce tells kron 4 so far they have about 220 businesses who are behind this effort demanding change from officials and what they want to see a safer streets. Were paying. For services and were not even getting the bare minimum from the city. Eduard escobar with the coalition for Community Engagement says the city is not in tune with the real struggles of local businesses in oakland and how theyre being impacted by crime. Shop owners. Is there trying to decide whether they want to stay in business because every day is a a and basically like a roulette. They dont know from a business standpoint, of course, the business has dropped as far as the clientele coming into the shops. Theres also, you know, extreme extreme concern about their safety and is is making a profit worth putting your life in jeopardy. In a statement from oakland city, mayor sheng thao in response, she says, quote, promoting a safer and more prosperous city is my top priority in oakland is making progress since the summer of 2023. Oaklands Business Districts have experienced a reduction in most property crimes. Weve had more Police Officers in my first year as mayor than weve had the last 2. 5 years. Weve restored foot traffic and motorcycle traffic units conducted focused operations with specialized units and expand its safety. Ambassador programs. Again, that was Tiffany Justice reporting. We reached out to the city of oakland ask what would happen if businesses decided not to pay taxes. The city responded saying, quote, a practical matter. Taxes pay for essential Public Services like Police Officers. 911, dispatchers. Weve made some really great progress in hiring Police Officers and 911, dispatchers as a result, property crimes in Business Districts are decreasing and 911, answer times are improving. Important we can continue to fund those critical Public Safety resources. Today the launched a new free tax filing tool. Its only available in 12 states, but that includes here in california. Its called irs direct file. It allows eligible taxpayers to get their tax returns ready and file them online at no charge. And with no hidden fees, the irs says the tool is good for people with standard wage and Social Security income who