Jury Investigations, Inc.

In April of 2010, Martin Peterson found himself in what felt like an impossible situation. Due to the economy, his local truck driving business was struggling. which forced him to go back to driving his semi-truck over-the-road. His then-wife began to be unfaithful to him, admittedly “seeing an old boyfriend when Martin was out of town.” Her daughter, who he had adopted in 2008, had become more and more disobedient and defiant, refusing to perform any of her assigned household chores. The tension and arguments escalated, resulting in Martin telling his wife he wanted a divorce. Their daughter overheard him and confided in her best friend, who had recently falsely accused his uncle of sexual abuse by writing a note and giving it to his friend in school. When law enforcement got involved, he recanted, saying, “It was just a stupid joke.” He told Martin’s daughter if she was going to accuse her Dad, she better not recant, because bad things will happen to her, like they did him. Within a few weeks, Martin’s daughter followed the plan. She wrote a note and gave it to her Mom, who called law enforcement. In the next 24 hours, every time the daughter-accuser was asked about the supposed abuse, she gave different details. At one point, her Mother said to her, “You’d better get the story straight, or they will think YOU ARE lying!”

This resulted in Martin being forced out of his home. Three months later, he filed for divorce, because his then-wife refused to. She also refused to take their daughter for a medical examination. When Child Protective Services ordered her to take the daughter-accuser, the accusations against Martin were proved to be medically impossible. It wasn’t long after that, Martin’s then-wife said that for $25,000 she would move out of his home and the false allegations would be recanted. He said, “No.” She lowered her offer to $10,000. He again said, “No.” They went to court, to finalize their divorce, and Martin was arrested on charges of sexual abuse. He was offered a plea deal of probation, but insisted on going to trial, believing the truth would be heard, and he would be vindicated. After all, he had medical evidence on his side, and every time his daughter was asked to provide details of the supposed abuse, she told a version of the story that conflicted with her previous versions.

Prior to trial, the prosecutor tampered with the evidence, to make her witnesses look credible, and Martin look guilty. At trial in 2012, lies were told by that same prosecutor, along with Martin’s now ex-wife and daughter.  Tragically, within hours Martin was declared guilty by the jury. He was later sentenced by the judge to “Life” in prison, without the possibility of parole. We were devastated! How was it possible that someone could be convicted on nothing but lies? No eye witnesses testimony, no corroboration, no DNA, no credible testimony from any of the State’s witnesses, and medical evidence that proved his daughter was not sexually abused! I was so stunned by the entire ordeal, I could not remember how to get back to Martin’s home. Thankfully, a friend offered to show me the way. Within months, Martin was sentenced and our prison sentence began. I say “our,” because I felt I had been sentenced to “life” alongside him.

In mid-2015, we began investigating the jury who wrongfully convicted Martin.  Over the next year, we discovered that the jury Foreperson had assumed an alias just prior to Martin’s trial.  Her birth name is Collete Ann, but she had received her jury summons under the name Rose Elizabeth.  At the voir dire (aka jury selection) she lied and said she didn’t know anyone in law enforcement.  The truth is, her biological mother and step-father were career law enforcement officers, and had strong ties to the Department of Children and Families, who was involved in Martin’s case.  We even discovered that her biological father is a convicted sex offender in Connecticut!

In the process of presenting our findings to the Court, we discovered that the prosecutor had also altered the trial transcript, seemingly in an attempt to cover up the fact that during the jury selection, Martin had been denied the opportunity to have twelve jurors deciding his fate, which is what he had been promised by his defense attorney.  He went to trial with a jury panel of six.  Ultimately, in July 2016, the judge granted our Pro Se Motion, which outlined the juror misconduct and asked for an evidentiary hearing.  We went back to court on July 28, 2016, negotiated a plea deal with the prosecutor, and I picked Martin up at the county jail a few hours later, PRAISE GOD!!! That is when Covert Ops Jury Investigations, Inc began, and why it still exists today.

Our heartfelt desire is to give all those WRONGFULLY CONVICTED, a chance to be reunited, with those they love, on THIS side of the fences!  We are painfully aware that people lie, to get on juries. Was their intent to execute vigilante justice? To feel important? Did they have a connection to the case? Were they there to ensure a win for the State?  We believe some or all of those motivations play a part in their decision to lie.  Since we began investigating juries in 2015, we have uncovered at least one lying juror in all of the cases we have investigated.  This is shocking to us and to everyone who we tell, because it is a third degree felony to lie to the court! We are also told by defense attorneys that the one question they are asked most is, “How can I get OUT of jury duty?”  We succeed because we do not stop searching, until we find that biased juror – or jurors – who lied, to make themselves appear more favorable, so they would be chosen for the jury.  We have found at least one biased juror on every jury we’ve investigate – sometimes more than one!