Drew Peterson back in Will County court for psychological evaluation

A former Bolingbrook police sergeant convicted of killing his third wife was back in court on Wednesday for another psychological evaluation.

Drew Peterson, 71, was in a wheelchair and wearing glasses when he was brought to the courtroom of Will County Judge Jessica Colón-Sayre.

Peterson will undergo a psychological evaluation, and the evaluator is expected to produce a report.

Peterson’s next court date is set for Aug. 11 for the status of that report.

Peterson’s attorneys have questioned their client’s mental fitness as he pursues his bid to overturn his 2012 conviction for the first-degree murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, in 2004.

Peterson has claimed he received ineffective legal representation and he believed prosecutorial misconduct occurred in his case.

In a court filing, Jason Strzelecki, one of Peterson’s attorneys, contends Peterson is “incapable of relaying his allegations of constitutional deprivations” to his legal team in a manner that would allow them to “adequately and ethically submit claims” to a judge in the “context of post-conviction proceedings.”

The last time Peterson was in court was on April 4, 2024.

Strzelecki said in even setting aside the “fact that [Peterson’s] mental state seems to have continued to deteriorate since [April 2024],” Strzelecki believed a past judge finding no bona fide doubt as to Peterson’s mental fitness was “clearly in error.”

Peterson’s attorneys are seeking a more specialized psychological expert to evaluate Peterson.

Peterson was charged with Savio’s murder about a year and a half after the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who was 23 at the time she vanished. She has never been found.