Peterson, Vaughn prosecutions cost $500,000

The high-profile murder trials of Drew Peterson and Christopher Vaughn cost Will County at least $500,000 to prosecute, and there are still bills left to pay.

The county transferred $500,000 into a special prosecution fund a few years ago, money that was meant largely for those cases. However, it has already been spent, and Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow has asked for $100,000 more, The Herald-News in Joliet reported Thursday.

The Will County Board will vote Dec. 20 on replenishing the fund to pay for bills due to expert witnesses in both trials, which ended in September. Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, was convicted of the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Vaughn, of Oswego, was convicted of shooting his wife and three children to death on a trip to a water park in 2007.

Peterson will be sentenced next year. Vaughn was sentenced to life in prison.

Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for Glasgow’s office, said the cases weren’t normal homicide trials.

“When you get right down to it, they were probably two of the biggest cases in the history of Will County,” he said.