Judge says Drew Peterson's property must be returned
Authorities investigating the disappearance of Drew Peterson's wife, Stacy, must return all items seized from his home within 30 days, a Will County judge ruled today.
However, it was not clear whether police will return guns taken from Peterson's home after prosecutors revealed in court their office wants to revoke a state ID card that allows Peterson to own firearms.
Peterson has not been charged with a crime and denies any wrongdoing, saying he believes his wife ran off with another man.
The former Bolingbrook police officer did not attend the hearing in Joliet. Attorney Joel Brodsky said the two were flying Wednesday afternoon to New York for Peterson to appear on the "Today" show.
The Thursday morning appearance will be Peterson's third on the NBC morning program.
Brodsky said his client will be glad to get his belongings back. "As an American citizen who is not charged with any crime, he's glad his constitutional rights were upheld."
Police investigating Stacy Peterson's disappearance seized items included 11 guns, two vehicles, computers and several other items during the execution of a search warrant in November at Peterson's Bolingbrook home.
In granting Peterson's attorney's motion for the items to be returned, Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt imposed one condition: Peterson must agree not to challenge the validity of photographs of the property, copies of hard drives from the computers, or documents related to the items at any future trial -- should he or someone else be charged in the case.
Schoenstedt scheduled a status hearing for March 17.
In court, prosecutors revealed their office is seeking to seeking to revoke Peterson's firearms owners identification card, which is issued by State Police and required in Illinois to own a gun. No reasons were given.
State's Attorney James Glasgow's letter to the State Police seeking the revocation was mailed Tuesday, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office, Chuck Pelkie, confirmed after the hearing.
"We can't say on what basis. We're not going to discuss the contents of the letter, but there was a basis for his request," Pelkie said.
As for the judge's general ruling, Pelkie said: "We feel it's an appropriate and reasonable ruling by the judge and we don't have a problem complying with the ruling or with his time frame."
Brodsky said he first heard Wednesday morning of prosecutors' efforts to revoke his client's FOID card. He refused to speculate what reasons prosecutors might try to use for the action.
"There's no valid reason for doing it. I think it's a fairly sad response and attempt to circumvent the judge's order," and not return the firearms, Brodsky said. "It will never be successful."
The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Stacy Peterson, who was 23 when she disappeared at the end of October, prompted authorities to reinvestigate the 2004 drowning of Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, who died shortly before their divorce was finalized.
Savio's body was exhumed for an autopsy, and authorities last week announced that her death has been ruled a homicide; four years ago, a coroner's jury ruled her death was an accident.