In America, you are “innocent until proven guilty.”

However, if you appear shady, your alibi is seemingly weak, and the media has hounded your story since it broke five months ago, you’re more accurately “guilty until proven innocent.”

Scott Peterson, this is your new life.

Peterson, 30, entered the media spotlight late last year due to the mysterious disappearance of his pregnant wife, Laci.

The couple had been married for five years and the baby, just a month and a half shy of its due date, was their first.

Everything changed on Christmas Eve 2002, when Scott went to take a solo fishing trip, and Laci took the dog on a walk. Scott returned home later in the afternoon to discover that the dog, muddy and still on his leash, was in the backyard, but Laci was nowhere to be found.

A frantic search ensued, and baby Connor’s due date passed in early February with no birth. Then, sadly, earlier this month, the decayed bodies of a woman and male baby were discovered a mile away and a day apart. They were confirmed as the remains of Laci and Connor.

They were also found three miles away from where Scott Peterson said he had been fishing back in December.

While the spotlight was on Laci, Scott Peterson remained in the limelight on his own accord. On the positive side, he did take part in numerous searches.

On the negative side, he sold Laci’s Land Rover SUV and traded it in for a 2002 Dodge Ram pickup. He also tried to sell the house they lived in, saying that he had problems with it and didn’t want his wife coming back to it.

He also appeared on “Good Morning America” in January and told Diane Sawyer that his wife was “amazing.” But the truth was he had been dating a single mom in Fresno prior to Laci’s disappearance.

When arrested for fear that he was fleeing to Mexico, Peterson had not only bleached his hair, but his eyebrows and new goatee, as well. Media sources claim he had $10,000 in cash with him, as well as his brother’s identification and passport on him.

We may never know what happened the morning of December 24th. But from the information gathered so far, Scott Peterson has failed to keep himself from appearing 100 percent innocent.

Maybe someone meticulously planned out Laci’s murder and framed Scott Peterson. Maybe it was all a terrible accident and an even worse cover-up.

“This could just be a case of an immature idiot getting into a fight and killing his pregnant wife, and then doing a series of really stupid things,” said former federal prosecutor Don Heller in an article in The Sacramento Bee. “On the other hand, it could turn out to be one of the most diabolical, venal cases that I’ve ever seen. And if he didn’t do it, this poor guy is really getting screwed over.”