Drew Peterson arrested/indicted for murder 3rd wife Kathleen Savio #1(GUILTY)

[grace-land]

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/07/16/drew-peterson-kathleen-savio-court-date

Get caught up: The Drew Peterson trial
updated 11:23 AM EDT, Tue July 17, 2012

NEED TO KNOW
•Peterson will be on trial in death of third wife, Kathleen Savio
•He has pleaded not guilty; jury selection starts July 23

In less than a week, lawyers will begin to pick the 12 jurors who will decide whether Drew Peterson killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
 
Neighbors found Savio's body in a dry bathtub in 2004 in her suburban Chicago home. Two autopsies performed after the initial one concluded that she had been involved in a struggle that left physical marks, including "a 1-inch blunt-force laceration on the back of her head, five scraping abrasions and six blunt-force black-and-blue bruises on her extremities, abdomen and buttock," according to noted pathologists Michael Baden and Larry Blum, who examined the body at the behest of Savio's family.
 ::snipping2::
There are no cameras allowed in the courtroom, but In Session on truTV will have a crew in the courthouse.

[grace-land]

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8740206

Drew Peterson due in court for pre-trial hearing
Wednesday, July 18, 2012

July 18, 2012 (JOLIET, Ill.) (WLS) -- Drew Peterson heads back to court Wednesday for the final hearing before jury selection starts for his murder trial.

Lawyers and the judge were expected to discuss about five or six motions Wednesday.
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[grace-land]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/13817962-418/drew-peterson-judge-might-ban-some-hearsay-testimony-against-him-after-all.html

Drew Peterson judge might ban some hearsay testimony after all
July 18, 2012 4:09PM
Updated: July 18, 2012 5:49PM

Some crucial hearsay statements still could be barred from Drew Peterson’s murder trial because of questions about their reliability, despite an earlier appellate court ruling they could be used against the former Bolingbrook cop.

The ruling Wednesday by Will County Judge Edward Burmila also raises the possibility that Peterson’s long-delayed murder trial still won’t begin as scheduled on Monday.
 
The appellate court ruling earlier this year appeared to clear the way for prosecutors to use 14 secondhand statements that allegedly tie Peterson to the 2004 drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
 
But Burmila said a 2010 ruling by retired Judge Stephen White that some of the statements couldn’t be used at the trial because their reliability was uncertain still could prevent prosecutors from using those statements at Peterson’s trial.
 
Defense attorneys praised the ruling.
 
“The door is open to barring some of the hearsay,” defense attorney Steve Greenberg said.
 
Burmila could rule Monday on which statements may be withheld from jurors, who are scheduled to begin being selected that day. If Burmila bars as many as 9 statements, prosecutors could opt to immediately appeal his ruling, which could again delay Peterson’s trial.
 
Burmila, though, said he may not rule until after the trial begins and prosecutors attempt to introduce each of the disputed statements.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/07/18/drew-peterson-in-court-for-pre-trial-motions/

Drew Peterson In Court For Pre-Trial Motions
July 18, 2012 3:11 PM
Updated 07/18/12 – 6:32 p.m.
 
JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) – Drew Peterson was back in court Wednesday as prosecutors and defense attorneys hashed out what pieces of evidence should or should not be admitted when his murder trial starts next week.

Will County Judge Edward Burmila ruled prosecutors could display a 3-D model of the alleged murder victim, Kathleen Savio, but they could not submit evidence that Peterson planted a recording device at Savio’s home. Prosecutors had sought to describe Peterson’s effort to bug Savio’s house as evidence of his alleged plan to kill her.
 ::snipping2::

The Savio case rests almost entirely on the new autopsy report and the 14 hearsay statements that prosecutors say would allow Savio and Stacy to testify from the grave. There is no physical evidence, other than the new autopsy report, and no witnesses to testify that Peterson killed Savio.
 
In the statements, both women speak about feeling threatened by Drew Peterson.
 
Jury selection is slated to begin on Monday.

[grace-land]

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/07/20/report-drew-petersons-defense-team-lists-stacy-peterson-as-trial-witness/

Report: Drew Peterson’s Defense Team Lists Stacy Peterson As Trial Witness
July 20, 2012 9:52 AM

JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) — Drew Peterson’s defense team has reportedly included his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, on the witness list – even though she has been missing for nearly five years and is widely believed to be dead.
 
As WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports, Peterson has not been seen since Oct. 28, 2007 and has long been presumed dead. Prosecutors suspect she died at the hands of Drew Peterson.
 ::snipping2::

[jamcakes]

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Drew-Peterson-heads-to-trial-in-third-wife-s-death-3724999.php


Updated 01:08 p.m., Saturday, July 21, 2012

Drew Peterson heads to trial in third wife's death

CHICAGO (AP) — For a man whose fourth wife had just disappeared, Drew Peterson didn't sound the least bit worried. He seemed almost gleeful, suggesting that she had run off with another man and that all her threats of divorce coincided with her menstrual cycle.

Authorities investigating that disappearance back in 2007 soon started wondering if Peterson might have been involved with the earlier drowning death of his third wife. But that didn't faze him. He joked about a "Win a Date With Drew" contest and discussed appearing on a reality TV show about a Nevada brothel.

The crass swagger continued even after the former suburban Chicago police officer was arrested in the drowning, which had originally been ruled an accident. Peterson called a radio show — collect, from jail — to joke about a "Win a Conjugal Visit With Drew" game.

Five years after he became an object of national scorn, Peterson is about to go on trial on charges that he murdered Kathleen Savio in 2004. His fourth wife, Stacy, has never been found.

Observers say Peterson may benefit from the three years he's been behind bars and out of the public eye.

"He really was becoming one of the more hated individuals in America," said Joe Tacopina, a prominent defense attorney in New York. "Because he was in jail, he took himself off the front page, and that can only help him with a jury pool."

Peterson's attorney agreed.

"Nobody's going to deny that Drew's relatively goofy behavior rubbed people the wrong way," said Joel Brodsky, who explained Peterson's actions as both the byproduct of a sometimes grim job and his way of moving on after his wife left him.

"The fact that he hasn't been at that for a period of years certainly helps some of his past antics fade from memory."

The case, which begins Monday with jury selection, is sure to rekindle memories of the media frenzy that engulfed Peterson before his arrest, when he often joked with an army of news crews camped outside his house and even invited Geraldo Rivera into his kitchen.

 ::snipping2::

The frenetic coverage "absolutely has the possibility of reigniting," said Mark Geragos, a prominent California defense attorney who has been at the center of comparable firestorms, including when he represented Scott Peterson (no relation), a California man convicted of murdering his young wife and unborn child.

Prosecutors expect to tell a relatively simple story: Drew Peterson killed his ex-wife to keep her from making off with much of his money in a contentious divorce. Sometime around Feb. 29, 2004, according to the indictment, Peterson went to Savio's house and in the bathroom caused her "to inhale fluid," killing her.

But that simple story is complicated by what happened after Savio's body was discovered by a friend of Peterson's. Peterson had called the friend to the house to look for Savio, saying he was worried.

The investigation unfolded nothing like the ones jurors may have seen on television programs such as "CSI" and "Law & Order."

Detectives are expected to testify, as they did at a hearing in 2010, that nobody collected a single fingerprint or hair fiber at the house. They will likely acknowledge that Savio's relatives, who could have told investigators about the couple's ongoing battles, were never interviewed.

Jurors may also hear, as a judge did at the 2010 hearing, that Peterson was allowed to sit in on a police interview with Stacy Peterson as a "professional courtesy." This happened while officers were trying to confirm Peterson's whereabouts the weekend Savio died.

They may hear from another detective who has already testified that he was "disgusted" by the investigation, that he thought Stacy Peterson was "hiding something" and that he strongly suspected Savio's death was not an accident.

When it does come up, it will be prosecutors who ask about it.

"You have to bring out all your failures, all the flaws of the case, yourself," said Marcia Clark, the former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who led the unsuccessful prosecution of O.J. Simpson.

The two sides will also argue over something that is rarely an issue in a murder trial: Whether a murder was actually committed.

Because Savio's death was originally ruled an accidental drowning, prosecutors will present pathologists to explain that an examination of Savio's body after it was exhumed revealed she had been killed.

Brodsky said he has three pathologists ready to testify that Savio's death was, as originally determined, an accident.

The defense is bound to use the disputed findings to put forth its own theory about why Peterson was charged — "because of heat from law enforcement," Geragos said.

If there is any physical evidence linking Peterson to the crime, prosecutors have not said what it is. Instead, the case they present to the jury is expected to be largely, if not totally, circumstantial.

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, who famously said after Peterson's arrest in 2009 that Savio would speak "from the grave," is expected to call witnesses to testify about what Savio and Stacy Peterson told them.

Already, people have testified at a previous hearing that Savio described episodes in which Peterson held a knife to her throat and told her there was nothing she could do to protect herself from him.

Even without physical evidence, jurors can convict suspects on circumstantial cases. And they do so often.

"The jury is going to look at this like a web, and good circumstantial cases put the defendant in the middle of that web," said David Erickson, a former state appellate judge who teaches law at Chicago Kent College of Law.

The biggest question is whether Peterson will take the stand. Brodsky will not say. In many cases, attorneys reserve that decision until after prosecutors complete their evidence.

But Erickson suggested that Peterson might have to testify.

Good circumstantial cases "force defendants to take the stand," he said. "You are in the middle of that web, and you've got to come up with an alternate explanation of how you got there."

[grace-land]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/13689340-418/the-names-to-know-in-the-drew-peterson-trial.html

The names to know in the Drew Peterson trial
July 20, 2012 4:42PM
Updated: July 21, 2012 10:14AM

◆ Drew Peterson: Former Bolingbrook cop. Media sensation. Accused of killing his third wife. Peterson’s life hasn’t been the same since his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007. That’s when prosecutors started asking questions about the 2004 drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, previously ruled an accident. Peterson fed national media interest with wisecracks and bizarre behavior. He arrested and was indicted in Savio’s murder in May 2009, and he has been held at the Will County Jail ever since.

◆ Kathleen Savio: Drew Peterson’s third wife and his alleged murder victim. They had two children together but became embroiled in a bitter divorce after she learned her husband was cheating. She was found dead in a dry bathtub in her Bolingbrook home in March 2004. Authorities initially ruled her death an accident — they said she slipped, fell and drowned, and they say water from the bathtub leaked through the seal while she lay there. But prosecutors had her body exhumed after Stacy Peterson disappeared in 2007. Her body was autopsied for a second time and her death was ruled a homicide.
 
◆ Stacy Peterson: The former Stacy Cales met Drew Peterson while working as a clerk at a Bolingbrook hotel. She was 17. He was 47 and married to Kathleen Savio. They married in 2003 and had two children together, but Stacy mysteriously vanished on Oct. 28, 2007, the day she was supposed to go to her brother’s house to paint. She hasn’t been seen since and is presumed dead. Police have said Drew Peterson is the prime suspect in her disappearance.

◆ Judge Edward Burmila: A former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. He was Will County’s state’s attorney’s from 1988 until 1992, when he lost his bid for re-election to James Glasgow, the current state’s attorney. He has represented clients facing the most serious of criminal charges as a defense attorney and became an associate judge in 2003. He took over the Drew Peterson case in May at the end of its long appeal process. Peterson’s last judge, Stephen White, retired in 2010. Burmila is a graduate of DePaul University College of Law.
 
◆ Joel Brodsky: The brash, aggressive leader of Drew Peterson’s defense team is a lifelong Chicagoan who rarely avoids TV cameras. He has tried felony and misdemeanor criminal cases and represented clients in state and federal courts. He graduated from DePaul University College of Law.

◆ Joseph “The Shark” Lopez: He’s the fashionable, quick-witted lawyer who represented Frank Calabrese Sr. in the Family Secrets mob trial of 2007. He has been practicing law since the early 1980s and has represented clients in dozens of murder trials. He’s expected to give the defense team’s closing arguments. He graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
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[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-peterson-jury-0722-20120722,0,2573043.story

Selecting Peterson Jury expected to be a difficult, delicate task
July 22, 2012

 ::snipping2::
Barring an 11th-hour appeal, jury selection will begin Monday in Will County. Opening statements in the trial, expected to last about four weeks, have been scheduled for July 31.

Choosing the 12 people who will decide Peterson's fate will not be an easy task for either side, experts said. Peterson's personal and professional history, coupled with extensive pretrial publicity, makes it difficult for both the defense and prosecution to create a profile of the ideal juror.
 ::snipping2::

[Green Eyes]

Jury selection to start in Drew Peterson trial  July 23, 2012


http://news.yahoo.com/jury-selection-start-drew-peterson-trial-062818289.html
 
::snipping2::

CHICAGO (AP) — Jury selection is to begin Monday in Drew Peterson's long-delayed murder trial, where prosecutors want the former suburban Chicago police officer's wives — one he's charged with slaying and another who has disappeared — to effectively testify from their graves through friends and relatives about his threatening to kill them

A judge will vet would-be jurors starting Monday. A 200-person jury has been waiting three years for a trial to get under way. It was put off because of appellate court battles over the Savio and Stacy Peterson statements.

 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/13890745-418/jury-selection-set-to-begin-in-drew-peterson-murder-trial.html

Eight people chosen so far for Drew Peterson jury
July 23, 2012 9:28AM
Updated: July 23, 2012 9:53PM

A few saw the movie.

A couple peeked at the headlines — they couldn’t help it.

But most members of Drew Peterson’s potential jury pool said they could be fair to the former Bolingbrook police sergeant finally going on trial on charges he murdered his third wife, 40-year-old Kathleen Savio. By Monday night, eight had been chosen to serve on the jury.
 
Peterson’s long-awaited trial began Monday despite fretting over the possibility of yet another last-minute delay. Judge Edward Burmila chose not to rule on whether prosecutors can use some disputed hearsay statements to convict Peterson, heading off a potential pre-trial appeal.

Instead he’ll let Peterson’s lawyers object to them during the trial, which begins with opening statements July 31.

That settled, Burmila’s bailiff led 39 potential jurors into his courtroom. And the introductions began.
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[MuffyBee]

Thank you all for the updates.  I'm hoping justice will prevail. 

[KittyMom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxiVGynC804

The REAL Drew Peterson.

[grace-land]

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8747796

Drew Peterson Murder Trial: Jury seated, opening statements begin next week
Updated at 05:31 PM today

July 24, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A jury is now seated in the murder trial of Drew Peterson. Twelve jurors and four alternates have been chosen to decide if Peterson is guilty in the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

The Drew Peterson murder trial is set to begin with opening statements next week.

Jury selection only took two days, although it did start a bit late Tuesday morning because Peterson could not fit into his pants. Apparently, he gained weight in jail, so he had to be outfitted with another pair.

Ever since Peterson was charged with killing his Savio, it has been the court of public opinion that has determined the former Bolingbrook cop's guilt or innocence.

Now it is up to seven men and five women to decide Peterson's future. It is a jury that both sides like. Peterson's attorneys call it "a great one."

"It's from all different walks of life, they come from all different places, they're male, they're female, they're young, they're old. It's perfect. It's exactly what you want. It's an exact mirror of the people that live here," said Peterson's attorney Joe Lopez.

"We've very happy with how jury selection went," said Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow. "We're looking forward to opening statements next Tuesday."

The jurors include a broadcasting student at Columbia College, a secretary, a part-time poet and an older man who is taking up flying as a hobby.

For a second day in a row, Peterson introduced himself to a new pool of jurors. Dressed in a navy blue blazer with gray pants, Peterson said, "Good day ladies and gentleman, my name is Drew Peterson, I'm the defendant in this case. I'd like to thank you for your time and wish you all a good day."
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[grace-land]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/13975220-418/meet-the-drew-peterson-murder-trial-jury.html

Meet the Drew Peterson murder trial jury
July 24, 2012 7:10PM
Updated: July 24, 2012 7:51PM

The seven-man, five-woman jury that will decide Drew Peterson’s fate is a diverse group that includes:

A Hispanic man in his 20s who studies broadcasting at Columbia College and earlier attended Bolingbrook High School while Kathleen Savio’s oldest son, Tom, also was at the school. His brother serves in the Army, while his parents both work at Will County high schools.
 
A Plainfield man who formerly owned a construction company, now works as a consultant and plans to retire Sept. 1. He’s married with two grown children and takes flying lessons.
 
A divorced woman in her 50s who works as an office secretary, who once edited her college’s newspaper and describes writing poetry as “a passion.” She also reads mystery novels, true crime books and watches TV cooking programs.
 
A woman whose family emigrated from Poland when she was a child. Her favorite TV show is “Dancing with the Stars.”
 
A divorced Bolingbrook man in his 40s who works for the U.S. Postal Service, but formerly served in the Army National Guard and attended law school and graduate school.
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[cadillac]

Ah- so Peterson is too big for his britches now???

[MuffyBee]

Ah- so Peterson is too big for his britches now???

He's been a legend in his own mind for a long, long time.        JMHO 

[MuffyBee]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/drew-peterson-murder-trial-hinge-statements-wives-dead/story?id=16863562
Drew Peterson Murder Trial Could Hang on Words of Two Absent Women
July 29, 2012

The murder trial of former Illinois cop Drew Peterson could hinge on the statements of two women who won't be at that trial: his third wife he is accused of murdering and his fourth wife who has disappeared.

A jury of seven men and five women will hear opening arguments Monday on whether Peterson, 58, killed his then-wife Kathleen Savio in 2004 and made it look like an accident.
 ::snipping2::
In the trial, prosecutors will argue that bruises on Savio's neck, together with Peterson's history of domestic violence and his statements about Savio's death to his fourth wife prove that he murdered Savio.
More...
 (2 pgs)
Video at Link

[grace-land]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/13993285-418/judges-long-legal-career-leads-to-peterson-trial.html

Judge’s long legal career leads to Peterson trial
July 29, 2012 8:36PM
Updated: July 30, 2012 2:13AM

 ::snipping2::
Trial rules
 
Peterson’s defense attorneys and prosecutors asked Burmila for several rulings since May as they prepped for Tuesday’s opening statements. Some have been definitive.

Burmila said prosecutors can’t mention the possibility that Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, might also be dead, for example. He also said he’ll compel former Savio divorce attorney Harry Smith to testify about Savio’s misdemeanor battery charges.

In one hastily called emergency hearing in May, Burmila also ripped prosecutors when he thought they’d suggested in a sealed motion he’d had inappropriate conversations with defense attorneys. Prosecutors said they never meant to make such an claim.

But other rulings seemed open-ended. For example, Burmila said jurors may hear the testimony of Stacy’s pastor, the Rev. Neil Schori, but only after prosecutors prove it’s relevant. Defense attorneys say prosecutors will fall short of that burden.

He also denied a motion to let prosecutors show jurors the bathtub where Savio died, though he said he might reconsider the idea later.

Finally, in what was considered a blow to Peterson’s prosecutors Monday, Burmila refused to say ahead of the trial whether he’d let in some disputed hearsay statements. Prosecutors had pushed so hard for a ruling at an earlier hearing that Burmila ordered an assistant state’s attorney to sit down.
 
“You don’t tell me when I’m going to rule,” he said.
 
Clifford Zimmerman, clinical associate professor of law at Northwestern University, said there are at least two ways to read Burmila’s approach to the case so far. The judge could be hedging, he said, because of its political nature. Or he could be showing caution, waiting to see how the trial plays out before offering a ruling that could later be reversed.

“A good judge is not going to make decisions before they have to,” Zimmerman said.

So far Burmila has said he’ll let Peterson object to the hearsay statements on a case-by-case basis. Prosecutors said an appellate court ruled such statements may come into the trial. But Burmila said he’s hung up on the ruling made by Judge White in 2010.

White ruled those statements were unreliable, and Burmila said he’s not sure if he can overrule the decision made by his predecessor.
 
“I am not Judge White’s appellate court,” Burmila said.

[grace-land]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/30/opening-statements-in-drew-peterson-murder-trial-to-begin-tuesday/

Opening statements in Drew Peterson murder trial to begin Tuesday
Published July 30, 2012

 ::snipping2::
A jury in the murder case against Peterson was selected last week. The panel of seven men and five women includes a part-time poet, a U.S. letter carrier, a woman who likes to read the National Enquirer and a research technician whose favorite TV show is "Criminal Minds." The jury also includes three male alternates and one female alternate. Nine jurors are white, two are African-Americans and one is Hispanic.   
 
Opening statements will begin Tuesday, and prosecutors are expected to call their first witnesses later that same day.
 ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/30/opening-statements-in-drew-peterson-murder-trial-to-begin-tuesday/#ixzz227hpiZYm

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-drew-peterson-trial-20120731,0,7146895.story

Drew Peterson trial begins today with opening statements
6:44 a.m. CDT, July 31, 2012

 ::snipping2::
Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow is personally trying the case and is scheduled to give the state's opening argument. To prove their case, prosecutors will rely on circumstantial evidence and, they hope, hearsay statements from Peterson's third and fourth wives that will allow them to speak from beyond the grave.

Defense attorney Joel Brodsky will provide Peterson's opening argument. The defense is expected to argue that Savio's death was an accident and that there is no physical evidence placing Peterson at the scene of her death. The trial in Joliet is expected to last between two and four weeks.