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

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

9:20 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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9:15 a.m. Defense plans to withdraw mistrial motion
Peterson attorny Darryl Goldberg said on the way into the courtroom that the defense intends to withdraw its motion for mistrial with prejudice, confirming rumors around the courthouse.

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

9:25 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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9:20 a.m. Defense withdraws mistrial motion
In court, defense attorneys withdrew their motion for a mistrial.

Drew Peterson wants this jury to hear this trial, his attorney Joe Lopez said.

He also asks that the state stop introducing barred testimony, Lopez said.
 ::snipping2::

[KittyMom]

I swear, if DP walks someone should introduce him to KC.  She'd make him a great 4th wife. 

 

For my wedding gift, I will send two rolls of duct tape.

His and Hers.

Sounds like a winner.   

Lol...

lol

Although, I have to say, I've wondered if KC sits around making wallets and purses out of the designer duct tapes?  I can see her thinking she's being so creative and sicko at the same time and getting a kick out of it.  Especially if she shares her 'creations' with her family and friends.

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

9:34 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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9:30 a.m. Peterson addresses judge
Instead of declaring a mistrial, attorney Joe Lopez said the defense wants Judge Edward Burmila to "strike all the hearsay testimony that has been admitted" and bar further hearsay testimony.

The judge then asked Drew Peterson to stand and answer whether he had discussed the decision to withdraw the motion for mistrial, that he agreed with the decision and understood that he could not use the issue on appeal.

"Yes, your honor," Peterson replied
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

9:44 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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9:40 a.m. Judge to issue instruction to jury
Judge Edward Burmila denied the defense request to strike all hearsay testimony, and will issue a "curative instruction" to jurors regarding the state's misstep on Tuesday.

It is unclear exactly what that instruction will say, though Burmila hinted it would be harsh.

Both sides said they will work on a stipulation stating that no order of protection was sought as a result of the 2002 incident where Drew Peterson allegedly threatened Kathleen Savio with a knife.

Court recessed for a few minuted to allow the parties to finalize the stipulation, which is something the defense wanted in order to remove any question in the minds of jurors about whether Savio obtained an order of protection after the 2002 incident.
 ::snipping2::

[KittyMom]

I don't get it.  What are DP's attys doing?  I'm surprised by this move.

[grace-land]

I don't get it.  What are DP's attys doing?  I'm surprised by this move.

If I understand it correctly, they didn't want the order of protection mentioned in court; this issue will probably be addressed by the judge when jurors are in court.

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

10:06 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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10 a.m. Jury told to ignore attorney question
Judge Edward Burmila instructed the jury that Kathleen Savio did not seek an order of protection after the alleged incident in 2002.

"The state's attorney violated an order of the court that they not present this issue to the jury," Burmila said.

He ordered them not to consider the mention of an order of protection for any purpose, but said it was their decision what weight to give to the testimony from former Bolingbrook police Lt. Teresa Kernc "in light of this deviation from the rules."

It was during question of Kernc Tuesday that the prosecution mentioned an order of protection, halting the trial while Burmila considered a mistrial.

Burmila read a stipulation to the jury crafted by both sides stating that "Kathleen Savio did not seek an order of protection regarding the July 5, 2002, incident."

With the jury outside the courtroom, defense attorney Joseph Lopez explained the decision to withdraw the motion for a mistrial, telling the court that Peterson "does not want to hide behind any legal technicalities.

"Drew Peterson wants the world to know he's not afraid nor will he hide."

Testimony from Kernc, which was halted Tuesday, has now resumed.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://twitter.com/StacyStClair

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair  2 m
Savio reported alleged knife-point incident the same day she was served w/ a criminal complaint involving an altercation w/ Stacy Peterson.
 
Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair  10m
Savio reported alleged knife-point incident w/ #DrewPeterson on July 18.

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair  12m
Alleged stair incident w/ #DrewPeterson happened July 5. Savio spoke w/ police about child custody issue on July 11, but didn't mention it.
 
Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
Kernc says she went with a police lt. to interview Savio about #DrewPeterson because "you don't investigate someone at your own rank."
 
Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson atty Steve Greenberg now crossing Kernc, who says she and Drew "were never friends, we were co-workers."
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

10:29 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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10:20 a.m. 'We were never friends'
Former Bolingbrook police Lt. Teresa Kernc testified on cross-examination that she was not close to the defendant.

"It would be a fair statement that we were never friends, but we were co-workers," she said when asked if she disliked Drew Peterson.

She said that Kathleen Savio did not want her to file a police report about the July 5 incident, where Peterson allegedly threatened Savio with a knife.

Kernc also said she was unaware that a week before Savio told her about the alleged attack, she called Bolingbrook police to complain about a visitation dispute with Peterson and never mentioned the attack to officers at that time.
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10:05 a.m. 'She didn't want him to be arrested'
Testimony from former Bolingbrook police Lt. Teresa Kernc resumed this morning.

She testified that after Kathleen Savio told her about the alleged attack on July 5, 2002, Savio wrote out a handwritten copy of her statement, but then crossed out any mention of Drew Peterson's use of a knife.

"She said specifically that she did not want him to lose his job, she didn't want him to be arrested," Kernc said.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

10:57 a.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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10:50 a.m. Defense questions Savio's motive
Former Bolingbrook police Lt. Teresa Kernc testified that Savio told her she had been served with a summons for a battery case filed by Drew Peterson and that she complained about it repeatedly during their conversation.

According to a report she filed about the interview, Kernc wrote that Savio "mentioned that he filed two battery charges against here and both were pending. She feared that she would lose the children and wanted him to stop filing battery charges against her," the report stated.

Kernc said she also wrote that Savio complained that the charges also hampered her ability to get a job at a hospital and she just wanted to get a divorce and move away.

Kernc said she did not recall Savio telling her she had received the battery summons earlier the same day she had filed the report about the Peterson's alleged attack.

Defense attorney Steve Greenberg, in an apparent attempt to show jurors that Savio's allegations were nothing more than an effort to retaliate against her husband, introduced Kernc's testimony from a 2010 hearing in which she testified that Savio's complaints were filed the same day the battery charges were lodged against her.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://twitter.com/StacyStClair

Craig Wall‏@craigrwall  11m
Reporters and observers have to leave cell phones outside courtroom. So a phone rings in court. Judge not happy. Culprit: TV's Judge Pirro

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair  12m
Cramer has been huddling with #DrewPeterson prosecutors this morning as they research hearsay case law

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair  16m
Former federal prosecutor Jeff Cramer, who has been consulting with Will Co. prosecutors, on #DrewPetersonc case is in courtroo today.
 
Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair  22m
#DrewPeterson judge calling break to give state an opportunity to research hearsay case law.

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair  23m
#DrewPeterson prosecutors making several hearsay-related objections during Greenberg's cross of Kernc. All legitimate, but still ironic.

[grace-land]

http://twitter.com/StacyStClair

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson trial is now taking a lunch break until 1:15.

50s  Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
In case you're keeping score at home, it's noon Wednesay and we've only had 1.5 witnesses so far. (Kernc still going).
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://twitter.com/StacyStClair

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
12m   Blum performed an autopsy on Kathleen Savio after her body was exhumed in 2007. He found that she could not have accidentally drowned.

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
16m  #DrewPeterson jury back in courtroom. Kernc ends testimony and prosecution calls forensic pathologist Larry Blum to the stand.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://twitter.com/StacyStClair

Stacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
While blasting state, judge says he is reminded of another jurist who often said "there's nothing left for me to do but blow my brains out."

7mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson judge tells jury that Blum's climbing into the tub is "probative of nothing" and that they should ignore it.

12mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson judge says he is not going to keep re-visting state's defiance of court orders. Says he will tell jury ignore tub testimony.

14mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson judge says the circumstances of the case are creating the aura that the judge is "toothless."

15mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson judge says he doesn't believe the witness purposefully ignore Glasgow's direction.

18mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson prosecutor Glasgow now arguing that Blum really didn't cross the line. Says the witness did not talk about re-enacting slip

23mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson atty Meczyk asks judge to ban entire Blum testimony. "This can't go on and on and on," Meczyk says as he pounds table.

26mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson defense atty says he does not think the error was intentional, but says prosecution is treating judge like a potted plant

32mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
Blum did say he kept his clothes on when he went into the tub. "I didn't take a bath," he said.

34mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson judge asks why expert witness wasn't warned not to go there. Glasgow said he did warn him.

36mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson prosecutor Glasgow did not specifically ask him about getting in the tub. Blum volunteered it.

39mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson judge says "It doesn't appear that any orders I have given the state paid attention to."

40mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
Blum told the jury that he climbed into Savio's bathtub when he visited the death scene in 2007. Judge barred that testimony before trial.

41mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
Stop me if you heard this before: Prosecution is in trouble again for drawing out barred testimony from a witness.

48mStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
Savio's toes were bent back, as if pushing against the tub. Blum does not believe the foot would physically do that if she simply slipped.

1hStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
#DrewPeterson jury told again that Savio had no drugs, alcohol in system when she drowned in tub. Translation: This isn't Whitney Houston

1hStacy St. Clair‏@StacyStClair
Blum is a critical witness for the #DrewPeterson prosecution, but like any scientific testimony it takes a while to get to important stuff.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story

3 p.m. Doctor climbed into Savio's tub
Dr. Larry Blum testifiedthat he visited Kathleen Savio’s Bolingbrook master bathroom on Nov. 20, 2007, a week after performing the second autopsy on her body after it was exhumed.

He said he felt it was extremely important to see where Savio died himself. Blum testified that he even crawled into the tub with his clothes on.

"I felt the two biggest pieces of evidence in this case are one the body and two the tub," he said.

He first answered questions about what he observed in crime scene photographs — which are being displayed for jurors on a screen in the courtroom — taken in 2004 when Savio died.

Prosecutors zoomed in on a photo and asked about the positioning of Savio’s right foot — which they have argued is a sign of a struggle.

"What stands out in this photograph is the very sharp angle that the toes are in, in relationship to the rest of her foot. These are virtually 90-degree angles…These toes on her right foot are extremely extended or bent back."

Blum said he doesn’t believe her foot would be positioned that way in an accidental drowning.

"In the context of this case for a foot to just float down after a loss of conscious or just passively get into that position I don’t believe could physically do that," he said.

Prosecutors have argued her foot positioning suggests she was struggling in the tub when she died.
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2:35 p.m. No toxins in Savio's system
Dr. Larry Blum has spent much of the afternoon assessing the 2004 Kathleen Savio autopsy and talking about how no toxins were found in her system that might have caused her to pass out and drown.

Blum, a forensic pathologist, is considered a key witness for prosecutors, who are trying to prove Savio’s death was a murder, not an accident.

Blum performed the second autopsy on Savio in 2007 and found that her death was a homicide based on the pattern of injuries on her body.

Savio’s death was treated as an accident until Drew Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, vanished in 2007. Savio’s body was exhumed not long after.
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1:40 p.m. Doctor who did '07 autopsy to testify
Testimony from former Bolingbrook police Lt. Teresa Kernc has concluded.

Next up is Dr. Larry Blum, who performed an autopsy on Kathleen Savio after her body was exhumed in 2007. He determined her drowning was a homicide. Her death was ruled an accident in 2004.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story?page=1

3:41 p.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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3:30 p.m. 'You are not a potted plant'
For the second time today, Judge Edward Burmila castigated prosecutors for continuing to ignore his orders.

Dr. Larry Blum testified that he crawled into the bathtub in Kathleen Savio's bathroom even though Burmila had banned any testimony from him about that subject.

Defense attorney Ralph Meczyk asked that the testimony of Dr. Blum — a critical prosecution witness — be stricken. He said that the prosecutors have repeatedly flaunted the court's orders.

"With all due respect to the court…you are not a potted plant," Meczyk said.

State's Atty. James Glasgow apologized to the judge and said it was a mistake by the witness. He admitted he also slipped up after being on his feet questioning Blum for more than an hour

"I was getting a little woozy and I was trying to pay attention to what he was saying…again we were not getting toward a recreation (of the drowning)," Glasgow said.

Burmila opted to instruct jurors to disregard the statement but warned prosecutors that he did not want again to address any more violations of his orders.

"Yesterday it was a brain cramp; today it is wooziness," Burmila scoffed. "The circumstances …are creating the aura that this court is somehow toothless and there’s no consequence other than ignoring the orders I have entered.

"The disrespect for the court in that regard is shocking to the conscience."
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3:05 p.m. Judge chastises prosecution again
Moments after Dr. Larry Blum testified that he climbed into Kathleen Savio’s tub — a statement that Judge Edward Burmila had previously banned — the judge again chastised prosecutors for failing to follow his orders.

"It doesn’t appear that any of the orders that I have entered in this case has the state paid any attention to," he said.

He then granted a defense request for a break, presumably to discuss whether to again ask for sanctions against the state.

Drew Peterson this morning withdrew a request for a mistrial — the third mistrial motion in three weeks that Burmila has seriously considered — after a prosecutor asked a witness a forbidden question.
 ::snipping2::

[flutter1]

Thank grace-land for your updates. I am afraid if I were watching it live that I would be throwing over ripe fruit at the screen. 

[grace-land]

You're welcome, flutter1!  And we thought that the Anthony trial was filled with drama.  Hold on to your chair; there will probably be more drama before this trial ends!   

[grace-land]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-judge-to-rule-on-mistrial-today-20120815,0,6051677.story?page=1

5:18 p.m. CDT, August 15, 2012
Continual coverage of the trial of Drew Peterson for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
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5 p.m. Testimony to resume Thursday
Testimony has concluded for the day. Court resumes Thursday morning.
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4:50 p.m. Doctor assesses Savio's wounds
Dr. Larry Blum said healthy 40-year-old women such as Kathleen Savio don’t drown accidentally in bathtubs unless they’re drunk, drugged or diseased, and Savio was none of those.

He also testified about the various wounds he found on Savio’s body.

Savio had fresh wounds on her right hand and buttock that were suffered no more than one hour before her death, Blum testified.

Blum said bruises on her shins were no more than 24 hours old at the time of her death. He described the bruises as down to the bone and caused by a great amount of force.

Blum also said there were no concentrated edges on Savio’s tub that could have caused the laceration on her head
 ::snipping2::