Judge says authorities can keep items seized from Peterson's home

JOLIET, Ill. -- A judge on Monday denied a request to return 11 guns, two vehicles and other items seized from Drew Peterson's home but said he would revisit the issue as the investigation into the disappearance of the former police officer's wife goes on.

Attorneys for Peterson had argued authorities have had ample time to examine items seized since Stacy Peterson went missing in late October, but said Monday that Will County Judge Daniel Rozek's ruling was reasonable.

"Forensics are very intricate, detailed," attorney Joel Brodsky said after the five-minute hearing. "It's only been seven weeks and we're happy the judge is going to keep a leash on them."

Brodsky said he believes Rozek's intention to reconsider the request next month is his way of telling prosecutors they can't indefinitely keep the items, which also include four computers belonging to Peterson's children and a backpack belonging to his wife.

Peterson did not attend Monday's hearing, but said at his Bolingbrook home that he's been paying $350-$400 a week to rent a car and his kids need a computer for school.

"All I'm looking for is one back," he said of both the seized computers and vehicles.

"How long does it take to scan the computers?" he added. "You copy the hard drive and you're done with it."

Stacy Peterson was last seen Oct. 28 and reported missing by her family the next day. Drew Peterson, a former longtime member of the Bolingbrook Police Department has said he believes his wife left him for another man and is alive.

The investigation also prompted the exhumation of the body of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio. Prosecutors have said evidence indicates Savio's 2004 death may have been a homicide staged to look like an accident. Results of a new autopsy have not been released.

Brodsky said Monday he wants a special prosecutor to look into leaked information from a grand jury convened in the investigations, calling the leaks "prodigious to say the least."

The Will County grand jury has been hearing what is meant to be sealed testimony, but many details have appeared in media reports, often attributed to unnamed sources.

"It is obvious to anyone who watches the television news-based entertainment media, especially certain television cable channels, that there is a serious and continuing leak of information emanating from these Special Grand Jury proceedings concerning Sgt. Drew Peterson," Brodsky wrote in a two-page letter to Rozek.

Will County state's attorney's spokesman Charles Pelkie said Brodsky "is speculating" about what goes on before the grand jury and called the letter "an attempt to discredit the grand jury proceedings."

"There's no basis in fact, no basis in reality for what he is requesting here," Pelkie said.