Drew Peterson due in court for 1st time in 2 years

JOLIET— Drew Peterson is due to return to court for the first time in nearly two years.

A status hearing is scheduled for Friday in Will County in the former Bolingbrook police officer’s murder case. He is accused of killing his third wife. It’s the first step toward a trial that is expected to begin this summer. His trial was postponed as attorneys battled over what evidence could be admitted.

Peterson was set to stand trial in the summer of 2010. But prosecutors appealed a judge’s decision to forbid them from presenting certain hearsay evidence. Last month, an appellate court ruled the evidence could be presented.

Peterson was charged in the 2004 drowning death of Kathleen Savio in 2007 after Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared the same year.