Drew Peterson lawyers to challenge hearsay law named for him
Hoping to thwart prosecutors, Drew Peterson's lawyers said Tuesday they will challenge a new "beyond the grave" hearsay law nicknamed after the former Bolingbrook police sergeant.
The move is expected to delay the start of Peterson's trial on charges he murdered his third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, who mysteriously drowned in her dry bathtub in March 2004.
His trial initially was slated to begin Aug. 24, but lawyers agreed to push it back as the defense studies more than 40,000 pages of investigative reports it recently received from prosecutors.
A new trial date has not been set, but lead Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky warned the hearsay law challenge is so crucial, both sides may fight all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The state would have to stop the prosecution in its tracks and seek an appeal," Brodsky said if Will County Circuit Judge Stephen White agrees with him. "It would require, I believe, Drew's release."
Brodsky also said he will file a change-of-venue request to move the trial out of Will County due to the intense publicity - much of which Peterson fueled through national media appearances and other antics.
Sometimes called the Drew Peterson law, it allows a judge at a pretrial hearing in a murder case to determine whether hearsay evidence - testimony or documents that quote someone second hand who is not available in court - may be admitted at trial.
Prosecutors must prove in the pretrial hearing those statements are reliable and that the defendant's wrongdoing made the witness unavailable to testify. Brodsky argues it runs contrary to the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a criminal defendant the right to confront his accuser in court for cross examination.
In DuPage County, prosecutors successfully invoked the hearsay law in the Oct. 9, 2004, fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Warrenville girl who was killed shortly after accusing an acquaintance of battery. The man, Joshua Matthews, 24, is facing first-degree murder charges.
Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow pushed for the hearsay law as Peterson was under investigation in Savio's death and the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, 23, missing since Oct. 28, 2007.
Peterson, 55, has not been charged in Stacy's disappearance.
Authorities said Savio told relatives of repeated murderous threats from Peterson. Also, in a letter to a prosecutor, Savio wrote that Peterson, "knows how to manipulate the system, and his next step is to take my children away. Or kill me."
A minister also came forward after Stacy's disappearance and told authorities she told him Peterson killed Savio. Prosecutors allege Peterson murdered Savio because he faced "financial devastation" from the couple's ongoing contentious divorce as he tried to begin a new life with Stacy - with whom he had an extramarital affair - and their baby. Glasgow said Peterson even offered a witness $25,000 to kill Savio months before her death.
Drew Peterson maintains his innocence. He has been held in the Will County jail since his May 7 arrest on a $20 million bond. In court Tuesday, Peterson appeared subdued, his trademark grin gone. He did not speak other than answering two perfunctory questions from the judge with a polite, "Yes, your honor."
Peterson is back in court Aug. 14. He also sought Tuesday the return of several seized titles to his vehicles, a trailer and a lightweight airplane to sell the property to help pay for his defense.