Thread: Cop suspected in wife's disappearance

Hearing for Drew Peterson comes to an end[i]
Don Babwin, Associated Press Writer – 56 mins ago[/b]

JOLIET, Ill. – A hearing for Drew Peterson ended Friday night with the same question it began with a month ago: Is there enough evidence to convince a judge that the former police officer may have killed his third and fourth wives to keep them from testifying before a jury?

In dramatic closing statements after the last of more than 70 witnesses testified, prosecutors portrayed Peterson as a cold-blooded killer who took the lives of Kathleen Savio in 2004 and Stacy Peterson three years later to keep them from getting his money.

"They are killed so they can't take the witness stand in a divorce proceeding," said Will County Assistant State's Attorney John Connor.

But defense attorneys said the case against Peterson is built on lies.

Savio's death was a tragic accident, they said, and Stacy Peterson may have vanished in 2007, but she's not dead.

"For someone to say five, six, seven, eight, nine times that she's dead doesn't mean she's dead," defense attorney George Lenard said. "The reason she is not here with Mr. Peterson is that she left, and she left with another man."

The former Bolingbrook police sergeant is charged with Savio's death, but no charges have been filed in Stacy Peterson's disappearance. Friday's closing statements marked the first time they said outright they believe he killed Stacy Peterson.

The unprecedented hearing is easily the most extensive use of a state law allowing a judge to admit hearsay evidence in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a defendant may have killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying. The law was passed after authorities named Peterson a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then exhumed Savio's body and reopened her death investigation.

The statements that prosecutors want Judge Stephen White to admit as testimony are those in which the women allegedly expressed to friends and family that they were afraid Peterson would kill them.

Prosecutors want friends and relatives of Savio to be allowed to testify about a threat she described, in which Peterson reportedly held a knife to her throat and allegedly told her he could kill her and make it look like an accident. They also want the judge to allow a friend of Stacy Peterson to testify Peterson had told her he killed Savio.

Defense attorneys argued that many of the statements shouldn't be admitted. For example, they pointed to statements Savio gave police after the alleged knife incident in which Savio never said Peterson had a knife.

"She describes things the way she wants in order to make people feel sorry for her," said Andrew Abood, saying Savio wasn't a credible witness.

White also must consider testimony from three pathologists. They all agreed Savio drowned, but two — including Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City chief medical examiner who testified Friday — contended Savio's death was a homicide. The other pathologist backed the original finding that her death was an accident.

Throughout the hearing, it became clear the hearsay evidence is critical for prosecutors. They presented no physical evidence linking Drew Peterson to Savio's death, and Stacy Peterson remains missing.

Abood characterized the weakness of the case against Peterson this way: "They (prosecutors) want to come in here and say it's a staged crime scene because they have no evidence."

But prosecutors said the only explanation for the deaths of both women is that Peterson killed them. Both, they said, posed a threat to Drew Peterson. They said he was worried his property settlement with Savio would wipe him out financially, and that Stacy Peterson's planned divorce from him would do the same.

What happened, Connor said, is exactly what Savio and Stacy Peterson feared would happen, as friends and family described.

"Mr. Peterson's wives are two-for-two in predicting their own murders," he said.

White did not say when he would rule on the hearsay, but he did say he would order the ruling sealed until a jury is selected. He explained that he didn't want his decision to influence potential jurors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100220/...Fyc2F5aGVhcmk-

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Drew Peterson's trial on third wife's death to open
By Joseph Hosey | Reuters – 3 hrs ago.

JOLIET, Illinois (Reuters) - Opening statements are set for Tuesday in the trial of a former suburban Chicago policeman charged with murdering his third wife found dead in a bathtub in 2004, after suspicions were raised when his fourth wife disappeared three years later.

Drew Peterson, a former cop in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, is charged with killing third wife Kathleen Savio, who was found by Peterson and some neighbors dead in her dry bathtub in March 2004.

State police investigators decided almost immediately that Savio perished in a freak bathtub accident and did not scour her home for murder evidence.

They reviewed that conclusion after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in October, 2007. She has never been found and police presume she is dead.

Following the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, authorities exhumed third wife Savio's body and a new autopsy suggested she had been murdered.

Peterson was charged with murdering Savio but has not been charged in the disappearance of Stacy Peterson despite being the only suspect in what police describe as a "potential homicide."

The strange circumstances involving Peterson's last two wives have drawn national attention to the case. Even before the trial began, the Lifetime television network aired in January a movie called "Untouchable," starring Rob Lowe as Drew Peterson.

The movie garnered record ratings of nearly 6 million viewers for the network.

Experts said the case could be tricky to prove for prosecutors because of the lack of physical evidence. Prosecutors are expected to try to use statements made by Stacy Peterson, who they say told others before she disappeared that Peterson killed third wife Savio.

The judge presiding in the case, Edward Burmila, already has dealt prosecutors a blow, saying the jury cannot be told Stacy Peterson is missing and possibly dead. Jurors will only be told that she is not available to testify.

http://news.yahoo.com/drew-petersons...121451994.html

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Jury convicts Drew Peterson of 3rd wife's death
By DON BABWIN and MICHAEL TARM | Associated Press – 58 mins ago.

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Drew Peterson — the crass former Illinois police officer who gained notoriety after his much-younger wife vanished in 2007 — was convicted Thursday of murdering a previous wife in a potentially precedent-setting case centered on secondhand hearsay statements.

Peterson, 58, sat stoically looking straight ahead and did not react as the judge announced jurors had found him guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Her relatives gasped, then fell into each other's arms and cried.

Illinois has no death penalty, and Peterson now faces a maximum 60-year prison term when sentenced Nov. 26.

The trial was the first of its kind in Illinois history, with prosecutors building their case largely on hearsay thanks to a new law, dubbed "Drew's Law," tailored to Peterson's case. That hearsay, prosecutors had said, would let his third and fourth wives "speak from their graves" through family and friends to convict Peterson.

Hearsay is any information reported by a witness that is not based on the witness' direct knowledge. Defense attorneys said its use at the trial would be central to their appeal.

Both relief and excitement showed on the faces of Savio's family members as they stepped out of the crowing courtroom. Her sister, Susan Doman, threw herself into the arms of her husband.

"Finally, finally, finally," Mitch Doman, Savio's brother-in-law, said as he and his wife cried. Seconds later, he looked up at a reporter and said with a smile, "We finally got that murdering b-st-rd!"

Peterson's personality loomed large over the trial, illustrated by crowds of bystanders gathered outside the courthouse in a circus-like atmosphere, cheering as prosecutors walked by and shouting "Loser. Loser. Loser" at defense attorneys. People driving by honked their horns.

Before his 2009 arrest, the glib, cocky Peterson seemed to taunt authorities, joking on talk shows and even suggested a Win a Date With Drew Contest," a suggestion he modified after his arrest when he phoned a radio show from jail suggesting a "Win a Conjugal Visit With Drew Contest," all of which was enough to inspire a TV movie starring Rob Lowe.

"The whole world has been waiting for Drew Peterson to be convicted. They hate him," said defense attorney Joe Lopez, speaking to dozens of reporters outside over the booing and chants of detractors on a nearby sidewalk.

The verdict was a vindication for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow and his team, who gambled by putting on a case they conceded was filled with holes. Glasgow, who is running for election this year, drew cheers from the crowd outside and chants of, "Four more years!"

"He was a thug," Glasgow said of Peterson, his voice rising in indignation. "He would threaten people because he had a gun and a badge. Nobody would take him on. But we took him on and he lost!"

The case began with a gruesome discovery.

A neighbor came across Savio's body on March 1, 2004. She was face down her dry bathtub, her thick, black hair soaked in blood and a 2-inch gash was on the back of her head.

The drowning death of the 40-year-old aspiring nurse was initially deemed an accident — a freak slip in the tub. After Peterson's fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007, Savio's body was exhumed, re-examined and her death reclassified as a homicide.

Drew Peterson had divorced Savio a year before her death. His motive for killing her, prosecutors said, was fear that a pending settlement, which included their $300,000 home, would wipe him out financially.

The 12 jurors deliberated for more than 13 hours over two days before reaching a decision. The seven men and five women raised questions about whether they were taking the case seriously by donning different coordinated outfits each day of testimony, but did not wear matching attire Thursday.

Jurors didn't talk to reporters after the verdict. They issued a brief statement saying they believe their decision was just.

Fascination nationwide with the former Bolingbrook police sergeant arose from speculation he sought to parlay three decades of law enforcement expertise into getting away with murder.

Savio's brother, Nick Savio, grew emotional as he read a statement from the family outside court, calling Drew Peterson a "cold-blooded killer" and saying "everyone gets payback for what they have done to others.

"Stacy, you are now next for justice," Nick Savio declared as he finished speaking.

Prosecutors suspect Peterson killed his sandy-haired fourth wife because she could finger him for Savio's death, but her body has never been found and no charges have ever been filed. Jurors weren't supposed to link her disappearance to Savio's death, and prosecutors were prohibited from mentioning the subject.

Stacy Peterson's relatives said they hoped the conviction will lead to a break in Stacy's case and Glasgow said after the trial that the case was still under investigation and that charges against Peterson in her death was a real possibility.

"The longer any person is gone the easier it is to prove that they haven't just simply run away, that they are deceased," Glasgow said after the verdict.

Peterson has maintained his fourth wife ran off with another man and is still alive.

Prosecutors faced enormous hurdles as they tried Peterson for Savio's death.

They had no physical evidence tying Peterson to Savio's death and no witnesses placing him at the scene. They were forced to rely on typically barred hearsay — statements Savio made to others before she died and that Stacy Peterson made before she vanished. Illinois passed the hearsay law in 2008, making the evidence admissible at trials in rare circumstances.

The hearsay included friend Kristin Anderson testifying that Savio told her Peterson once warned her at knifepoint, "I could kill you and make it look like an accident."

Stacy Peterson's pastor, Neil Schori, testified she told him that her husband got up from bed and left their house in the middle of the night around the time of Savio's death. Drew Peterson later coached his fourth wife on how to lie to police, Schori said.

Peterson's attorneys have said they may appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds Illinois' hearsay law is unconstitutional.

"It's a very dark day in American when you convict someone on hearsay evidence," Lopez said.

Some legal experts worried about the precedent a conviction dependent on hearsay would set, saying it could open the floodgates for the admissibility of such evidence in Illinois and elsewhere.

Prosecutors had to establish the most basic fact for a murder trial: that there was actually a murder. Pathologists testified for the defense that Savio's wounds indicated an accident; those testifying for the state said it was impossible for a single fall to cause both the wound on the back of her head and the bruises on the front of her body.

Prosecutors several times raised the judge's ire for broaching inadmissible subjects in front of jurors — issues that could also be cited in a defense appeal.'

Peterson's band of colorful, wisecracking defense attorneys — who joked outside court that Stacy Peterson could show up any day to take the stand — committed their own share of errors. As they sought to blunt the credibility of hearsay, for instance, they ended up prompting their own witness to repeatedly emphasize that Stacy Peterson was convinced her husband killed Savio.

http://news.yahoo.com/jury-convicts-...194658507.html

Drew Peterson Guilty in Murder-for-Hire Plot
Closing arguments ended Tuesday morning in Chester, and the case was handed to jurors.
May 31, 2016

Jurors found former suburban Chicago police officer Drew Peterson guilty Tuesday in a plot to kill the prosecutor who helped convict him in 2012 of murdering his third wife.

The verdict was reached within two hours of closing arguments and after about an hour of deliberation. "The evidence in this case was clear that the defendant plotted from jail to solicit the murder of State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow," Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. "I thank the members of the jury for their service, and I commend the prosecutors for their hard work and relentless commitment to bringing this case to a successful conclusion."

Peterson, 62, is serving a 38-year sentence for the death of Kathleen Savio and faces up to 60 more years in prison.

A prison informant testified last week that Peterson enlisted him to plot the death of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow. "It's the defendant's own words that prove him guilty beyond reasonable doubt," said Steve Nate of the Illinois attorney general's office, which assisted Randolph County prosecutors with the case.

In a written statement after the verdict, Glasgow said a jury "once again has held him accountable for his unlawful actions."

"Four years ago, I successfully prosecuted Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio," Glasgow said. "He is now serving a 38-year prison sentence for a brutal act of violence that claimed the life of an innocent woman. Rather than accepting responsibility for his crime and serving his sentence, he has continued his illegal activities behind bars by plotting my murder, a crime which his recorded conversations show he would have been all too happy to take care of himself."

Undercover Recordings Played in Drew Peterson Trial

Prosecutors said Peterson believed he would be able to successfully appeal his conviction in Savio's death if Glasgow was dead.

Peterson's court-appointed public defender has dismissed the secret recordings of his client arranging for the hit with informant Antonio "Beast" Smith as exaggerated prison boasts. The lawyer also attacked the informant's credibility.

According to wiretapped conversations played in court, Peterson was planning an alcohol-fueled prison celebration after arranging for another inmate's uncle to kill the prosecutor. "You know this (expletive) gonna be all over the news," Smith says in the recordings. "This is about to be huge."

"But the first thing they will identify him as the guy that got me," Peterson responds. "That's what he's known for, the guy that prosecuted Drew Peterson."

Told by Smith that his uncle — whom he never actually called — would commit the crime by the next month, Peterson suggested that Glasgow's death would be a "nice Christmas present."

The recordings show that Peterson also discussed selling drugs in Mexico if he gets out of prison, as well as his fears that Glasgow would also charge him in the death of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who remains missing.

Savio's death was initially deemed accidental. Glasgow reopened the case after the 2007 disappearance of Stacy Peterson, Peterson's 23-year-old fourth wife. Peterson was never charged in her disappearance but told the informant he worried that Glasgow would eventually do so.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local...381375641.html

Inmate Testifies Drew Peterson Admitted Killing Missing Wife, Wanted Prosecutor Killed
The former police officer is accused of plotting to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars for his third wife's death
By Charlie Wojciechowski and Associated Press

In an unexpected moment in court Monday, an inmate at the center of a murder-for-hire trial against Drew Peterson claimed the former suburban Chicago police officer, who was convicted in the murder of his third wife, admitted to also killing his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

The statement came at the start of a trial on allegations Peterson tried to have the prosecutor who put him behind bars killed.

Stacy Peterson, the ex-Bolingbrook sergeant's 23-year-old fourth wife, disappeared in 2007, prompting authorities to reopen the investigation into the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

While Drew Peterson has maintained his innocence, he remains a suspect in the young woman's disappearance and was convicted and sentenced to 38 years in prison for Savio's murder.

Even as he faces additional time in prison, Peterson is appealing his 2012 murder conviction to the Illinois Supreme Court. His defense attorneys previously contended that Stacy Peterson had left for another man and was alive. Peterson divorced Savio a year before her death.

An inmate at the maximum-security Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois where Peterson was held, however, claimed in court Monday that Peterson admitted that he killed Stacy Peterson because "he believed she knew who killed Kathleen Savio."

Antonio Smith also testified that he struck a deal with the 62-year-old ex-cop to kill the prosecutor in his murder trial. "He said he wanted to find someone to take care of James Glasgow," Smith said.

Peterson has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he enlisted another inmate between September 2013 and December 2014 to help plan the death of the Will County State's Attorney.

Smith claimed he befriended Peterson while the two spent time in the prison yard, agreeing to a price of $10,000 to have Glasgow killed.

Glasgow also took the stand Monday, detailing the stress the alleged threat has caused him. "I have a wife and family and I had to tell them about this," Glasgow said. "My wife was very unnerved by it."

The Illinois Attorney General's Office and the Randolph County State's Attorney are prosecuting the latest case against Peterson, who faces a sentence of up to 60 years if convicted of both solicitation of murder for hire along with solicitation of murder.

The crux of the state's case is expected to consist of wiretapped conversations between Peterson and a confidential informant. Prosecutors have not identified a prospective hit man.

A public defender representing Peterson unsuccessfully sought to bar the secretly recorded conversations, arguing that the Will County judge who authorized the wiretap improperly met with the jailed informant, whose name was inadvertently disclosed during pretrial proceedings.

It's not clear whether Peterson, who opted to not take the stand in his murder trial, will testify this time. Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker said the witness list has been placed under seal.

Should he testify, prosecutors will be able to question Peterson about his murder conviction, Circuit Judge Richard Brown has ruled. But they won't be able to discuss a 2003 attempt by Peterson to pay $25,000 to someone whom he asked to "take care of" Savio.

The judge has also granted a defense request to allow discussion at trial about the details of the confidential informant's own criminal history.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local...380498721.html