The State : Judge Delays Peyer Sentence

The San Diego judge who presided over the trial of former California Highway Patrol Officer Craig Peyer said he is “absolutely convinced to a moral certainty” that Peyer killed college student Cara Knott, but postponed sentencing Peyer for his first-degree murder conviction until Aug. 3. “I am absolutely convinced to a moral certainty that he killed Cara Knott . . . I am satisfied, and I will remain satisfied for years, in the fact that Mr. Peyer killed Cara Knott,” said Superior Court Judge Richard Huffman. Peyer was convicted last month of strangling Knott, 20, a San Diego State University student, on Dec. 27, 1986. “I was very startled by that bald statement,” Peyer’s father, Harold, said of Huffman. “We feel that there are many key pieces of evidence that point to reasonable doubt. We feel that Craig is innocent of this crime. There’s a lot of evidence that is inconclusive.”