Peterson agrees to settle lawsuit

Wife's daughter is owed $35 million

DURHAM -- Convicted murderer Mike Peterson owes his slain wife's daughter more than $35 million, according to a wrongful-death suit judgment signed this week in Durham County court.

But lawyers say it is doubtful that Caitlin Atwater, daughter of Kathleen Peterson, will ever collect any of that money.

"Whether it is $25 or $35 million, it doesn't really matter," said Kerry Sutton, a lawyer for Peterson. "Mr. Peterson doesn't have any money."

Jay Trehy, a Raleigh lawyer who represented Atwater in her suit, called the order a "symbolic" one that "speaks to what a fine and excellent woman Kathleen Peterson was."

It also is meant to keep Peterson, a writer and novelist, from profiting from any manuscripts he might write from behind bars.

"The idea is to make sure he doesn't try to make money off a book," Trehy said.

Kathleen Peterson, a former Nortel executive, was found dead on Dec. 9, 2001, at the bottom of a staircase in the couple's Durham house. She was 48. To this day, lawyers say, Mike Peterson maintains that his wife died accidentally in a fall.

But a jury found otherwise. On Oct. 10, 2003, after a two-month trial, Mike Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder. He is serving a life sentence.

He tried to get the conviction reversed, first by the state Court of Appeals and then the state Supreme Court.

But in November, the Supreme Court upheld the trial court decision. The appeals avenues left for Peterson -- a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court or motions for relief from state and federal courts -- are long shots, his attorneys acknowledge.

Although Peterson filed for bankruptcy protection from prison, Atwater would be able to make a claim for any money he made behind bars or if his final appeals resulted in release, Trehy said.

Peterson and Atwater agreed to settle the wrongful-death suit a year ago for $25 million. In the settlement, Atwater agreed to stay the case until Peterson's criminal appeals are exhausted. If he is ever exonerated, she would be allowed to reinstate the suit.

The agreement was not approved officially until this week when Judge Orlando Hudson signed the consent order.

At an interest rate of more than 8 percent imposed by the courts, the $25 million settlement has grown to more than $35 million since the suit was filed.