“Emergency Motion” court date tomorrow for Drew Peterson

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We noticed a couple of new events for the Drew Peterson murder case and a hearing scheduled for tomorrow, May 25, at 4pm.

EVENTS
05/23/2012 Emergency Notice
05/23/2012 Impounded Document- Motion to Limit Electronic Communication to…

Since that’s all we’ve got from the Will County Circuit Court site, we could only speculate at this point about what the motion entails. It’s impounded which means that the motion isn’t available for public inspection, but we’ll try to find out what it’s about and will update as we learn.

UPDATE NOON CST: Since the motion is impounded we won’t be able to report more about it unless someone else leaks it. We’ll let you know if that happens. It’s likely that there won’t be an actual court appearance by Peterson tomorrow.

UPDATE 6:15 CST: Well, what do you know, information about the impounded motion was leaked after all, along with some tidbits about the defense (which would indicate to me that the source was a member of the defense team). Guess we’re free to write about it now.

The motion to “limit electronic communication” was filed under seal Wednesday. Sources told the Chicago Tribune that the state’s attorneys office was worried that too many conversations about the case were being handled via email and after standard work hours.

UPDATE 5/25/12: After a heated hearing, during which the State complained that the defense was emailing the judge directly in an attempt to make arguments outside of court, Judge Burmila agreed to limit e-mail communications between all parties to business hours. (See ABC video above)

Feel free to discuss the case in the comments thread. We’ll probably see Drew back in court on June 6th.

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64 thoughts on ““Emergency Motion” court date tomorrow for Drew Peterson”

  1. Well, about the only thing I’d have to say about this is if it was a defense motion, whether it’s impounded or not, half the Will County/Cook County/Lake County and Kendall County public would have access to it, because that’s the way the defense works. I’m sure there will be a flurry of motions to come. Who knows if that target date of a trial will actually happen! JMO, of course.

  2. BTW, to clarify my above comment, Mr. Seidel of the SunTimes reported on one of the motions, in which the defense (Steve Greenberg) made a “snarky” remark about Scotty beaming Drew up aboard the Star Ship Enterprise. I thought that was part of the motions that are impounded!! The thing is, the defense passes out whatever it feels like first, then it gets put under seal. What kind of stuff is going on in the Will County Court system, namely, the events leading up to the Drew Peterson trial?

    Shaking my head…..

  3. Yeah, they’ve sorta been walking all over the gag order, Unless they took gag as to make people gag, in which case they are doing a fine job.

  4. IMO, that gag order, or whatever they want to call it, is a farce. The defense motions always seem to wind up in the hands of certain media outlets, and then we hear they’re impounded, or under seal. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

    That’s why I don’t think this was a motion that the defense wants heard on an emergency basis. We’d have heard all about it by now, wink, wink.

  5. Don’t worry, Brodsky can’t keep his trap shut long…he’ll be calling media outlets ASAP. Maybe they are going to try once again to get Drew out of jail.

  6. If it’s a motion on behalf of the state and it’s granted, my guess is that Joel will probably not say anything.

    You can see from the title fragment that it involves limiting “electronic communication” of some sort so it concerns twitter, email, etc. My guess is it’s not a big deal–especially as we’re hearing there most likely will be no actual court appearance tomorrow.

  7. Emergency Motion Law & Legal Definition
    Emergency motion is a motion that is presented in court without the normal requisite five business days notice. It is a special motion used for considering a decision quickly in order to avoid irreparable harm. An emergency motion provides immediate relief as the response is delivered quickly than a normal one by the court.
    http://definitions.uslegal.com/e/emergency-motion/

  8. This is only the start of what is probably to come. Motions coming out of the woodwork. I wonder if the trial will actually start when it’s supposed to.

  9. Impounded, schmimpounded. Here’s your leak:

    Will County prosecutors will be back in court Friday, after filing an emergency motion to curtail all parties in the Drew Peterson case from discussing legal and logistical matters via e-mail.

    The motion to “limit electronic communication” was filed under seal Wednesday. Sources told the Tribune that the state’s attorneys office was worried that too many conversations about the case were being handled via email and after standard work hours.

    Like many of his counterparts in the federal court system, Will County Judge Edward Burmila likes to use e-mail to communicate with attorneys and receive filings. Peterson’s defense team also mostly communicates with each other electronically because most of them work in different offices.

    A spokesman for Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow would not comment on the motion because it remains under seal, but he confirmed it was filed by prosecutors.

    “It deals with procedural issues,” Will County State’s Attorney spokesman Charles Pelkie said.

    Burmila will discuss the matter with both sides at a hearing set for 4 p.m. Friday, a rare time for a judge to require attorneys to make an appearance ahead of an upcoming holiday weekend.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-drew-peterson-prosecutors-seek-to-limit-email-use-by-lawyers-in-case-20120524,0,3642437.story?track=rss

  10. Yeah, this seems to me to be the defense finding a way to stick it to the prosecutors, because they’re the ones that filed this emergency motion. No one other than the defense finds a way to leak out something to their press buddies.

    What a circus. What a bunch of complete boobs. Does no one on that team have any class, or is this all about “gottcha?”

    So, already there is an issue regarding Rules of Procedure? That’s just great. And the defense is making their snarky kind of analysis of how they all communicate?

    That’s just swell.

  11. It seems to me that the defense, some of which have come and gone, with some here to stay, should have used their time better to get their dogass of a murder defendant out of jail three years ago, rather than waste their time coming up with snarky, snotty, bullshit comments and news snips. No matter how you cut it, Drew Peterson spent three years away from civilization, with the potential of becoming a pumpkinhead, yet, he and his attorneys think this is all one big joke.

    The joke is on the murder defendant. He’s been locked up for three years. Snark that!

  13. We’ll let you know if/when we learn anything about the hearing today which is just getting started. Sounds like the head of the Drew Peterson fan club is in attendance.

  14. Joseph Hosey ‏@ShorewdILPatch
    Judge in Peterson case restricting email communication from defense and prosecution to business hours only.
    5:52 PM – 25 May 12 via txt

  16. Hold on to your seats, folks. Sounds like Judge Burmila is driving a wild ride of a roller coaster.

    After he screams and yells and rips the State a new butthole, and says he can’t split the baby, it’s all or nothing, he rules that all emails have to be during business hours.

    Apparently, Brodsky argued some of his points to the judge in emails??

    Maybe Judge Burmila needs a vacation.

    Oh boy.

  17. Judge sets limit on e-mail communications in Drew Peterson case

    Stacey Baca
    May 25, 2012 (JOLIET, Ill.) (WLS) — A Will County judge heard arguments Friday on an emergency motion in the Drew Peterson murder case. Prosecutors wanted the judge to limit e-mail communications about the case.

    The emergency motion was about e-mails sent between the prosecutors, the defense attorneys and the judge. In the end, they agreed to only send e-mail to each other during business hours, between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

    Peterson is accused of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, and is also a person of interest in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

    Peterson sat stone-faced throughout the hearing.

    The state filed the emergency motion. They wanted to put parameters on the e-mail communication that the defense was using. Prosecutors allege that defense attorneys were using e-mails to make arguments directly to the judge rather than using the appropriate legal channels.

    At no point did prosecutors allege that Judge Edward Burmila was doing anything wrong, but the judge started off the hearing visibly annoyed. He gave the prosecutors a tongue-lashing, saying, “You just can’t cut the baby in half. Either we’re going to have e-mail or we’re not. And if we cannot agree on having e-mail, then forget about it.”

    In the end, both sides agreed to the business hours-only compromise.

    “(The agreement) is going to help us immensely,” said Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow. “This is a very complicated case. When there is a loose end out there because of an e-mail that came in, it makes it difficult to keep control of everything.”

    Clearly, at some point there were some e-mails that were either missed because the defense had sent them late at night — that was alluded to in court. The content of those e-mails is sealed.

    http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8676284

  18. You will hear, in the video, that there were a couple of emails sent late at night, 11pm, 12am., by the defense. WTH?

    So, if the State wanted to clarify the time frame of when emails are sent and expected to be acted upon, why did Judge Burmila scream and yell at them, and make it sound as though he was being accused of something, when that’s not the case? Then he goes on to make a simple ruling to clarify exactly what the State asked for.

    OMG, it’s a train wreck. I can just see it.

  19. No After-Hours Emailing in Drew Peterson Murder Case

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Drew Peterson murder case will have hold off on sending email after 5 p.m.
    By Joseph Hosey

    The judge in the Drew Peterson murder case scolded prosecutors but then went along with their request to stop after-hours emailing by defense attorneys.

    Judge Edward Burmila convened an after-hours emergency hearing Friday to resolve the after-hours email issue, and he spent much of it taking prosecutors to task for having “exposed the court to suspicion” by filing a “hyperbolic” motion.

    Prosecutors filed the motion under seal Wednesday, but Burmila said it had been released to the public and gives the impression that “the court and the defense are participating in some sort of unethical communication,” and this is putting prosecutors at a disadvantage.

    Burmila has allowed both sides to present motions to each other via email in an effort to expedite the 3-year-old murder case.

    Peterson, 58, has been jailed since May 2009 on charges he murdered his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

    Peterson, a former Bolingbrook cop, is also the sole suspect in the state police investigation of the October 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. Stacy Peterson remains missing and no one has been charged with harming her.

    Burmila said he was not going to put limits on attorney emailing — but he was willing to prohibit it completely.

    “I don’t see how I can do the Solomon routine and cut the baby in half,” he said. “Either we have electronic communications or we don’t have them at all.”

    The Judge then offered to let prosecutors and Joel Brodsky — the only one of Peterson’s five defense attorneys to attend the hearing late on the Friday before Memorial Day — to hash out a compromise.

    Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow stood up and volunteered that he is 61 years old and said that “these emails (from the defense) come flying in 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock at night.”

    “I didn’t envision beyond work hours we’d be doing that,” Glasgow said.

    He and Brodsky then agreed to only send email between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, at least until the case’s next scheduled hearing on June 6. Brodsky did say that if he was up late at night crafting an email he would hold off until the morning before sending it.

    http://shorewood-il.patch.com/articles/drew-peterson-judge-no-after-hours-emails

  20. Prosecutors filed the motion under seal Wednesday, but Burmila said it had been released to the public and gives the impression that “the court and the defense are participating in some sort of unethical communication,” and this is putting prosecutors at a disadvantage.

    I don’t know — a judge who comes out of the gate screaming and yelling, and implying that he’s been accused of doing something unethical when, in fact, the prosecution distinctly said this judge wasn’t being accused of doing anything improper, sounds like a wild man who has an ax to grind.

    Who looks like the loon here?

  21. Peterson tiff all about emails
    BY JON SEIDEL May 25, 2012

    Drew Peterson’s judge took offense Friday to a prosecutor’s attempt to limit emails bouncing back and forth between attorneys in the case.

    But the simple result of a hastily called hearing to discuss an “emergency motion” in the three-year-old murder case is this: attorneys from one side can’t email attorneys from the other after work hours.

    The motion came from Assistant State’s Attorney Kathy Patton. It was filed under seal, but its contents were hashed out during a hearing late Friday afternoon in Judge Edward Burmila’s courtroom. The judge has said lawyers in the case may email motions to help expedite Peterson’s trial.

    But Burmila took passages in Patton’s motion to suggest he’d engaged in improper dialogue with Peterson’s defense attorneys. He said that exposed his court to suspicion based on unsubstantiated, hyperbolic allegations.

    Patton said she simply feared Peterson’s lawyers had begun in their emails making legal arguments that should be made in a courtroom — and on the record. Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow said things had “gotten out of hand” and he could come to an arrangement with Peterson’s lawyers.

    Peterson — who is charged with the murder of third wife Kathleen Savio — was in the courtroom for the prosecutors’ tongue-lashing. So was his Chicago-based attorney, Joel Brodsky, who arrived in Joliet nearly an hour after the hearing was to begin.

    When given his turn to talk Brodsky said, “I very much enjoyed the drive” but had nothing to add. He ultimately agreed to wait until morning to hit “send” on any motions he produces after hours.

    http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/12775079-418/peterson-tiff-all-about-emails.html

  22. Three different reports/reporters, and…..

    IMO, it sounds like they’re all pretty much in agreement with their interpretations that this judge went ballistic over what should have been a simple clarification.

    Of course, they didn’t say ballistic, but it sounds like it must have been clear that the man sitting at the bench was making a mountain out of a molehill.

    I hope the death of Kathleen Savio gets the proper trial and results it should, without politics or animosity being thrown in the mix! If the evidence isn’t up to par and the jury sets the murder defendant free, then so be it, but this stuff is just plain nuts.

    Let the games begin.

  23. Judge limits e-mail communication in Drew Peterson case
    Updated: May 25, 2012 8:22 PM CDT
    Craig Wall

    Judge Edward Burmila was blistering mad at prosecutors after they filed an emergency motion seeking to limit when and what type of emails could be sent between parties in this case.

    The judge at one point threatened to so far as to ban the use of e-mails in the case.

    It was a late night email from Drew Peterson’s attorneys Joel Brodsky that sparked the communications controversy.

    Prosecutor Kathleen Patton took the verbal beating because in her motion it seemed to Judge Edward Burmila that he was being accused of “unethical communications,” in his response to an email, allegations which he blasted as unsubstantiated and false.

    Prosecutors found themselves constantly on the defensive. After court, the state’s attorney set the record straight.

    “We never for a moment alleged the judge did anything improper, none of his responses were inappropriate, he’s always maintain his judicial decorum of neutrality,” Will Co. State’s Attorney James Glasgow said.

    Attorneys in the Peterson case have been communicating via email, but the late night ones left prosecutors overwhelmed, even though the judge himself had been responding after hours.

    We normally don’t get emails after 5 p.m. in most of our cases. Most of the attorneys we deal with during working hours so this created a very unusual situation. We’re looking at managing 4,000 felonies, what if every attorney in all 4,000 felonies started sending us emails at midnight?,” Glasgow said.

    Brodsky says that even though some e-mails were sent late at night, the defense didn’t expect the judge to read them until the morning.

    “We never expected anybody to look at the emails late at night,” Brodsky said. “We always thought they would look at them in the morning when they came in, but it’s simple, it’s no big deal. If the state had told us it’s a problem we would have simply programmed the computer to send the emails at 8 o’clock in the morning.”

    Peterson was in court for the hearing, and found the whole thing amusing according to his attorney, but in the end the lawyers agreed to ease the emails.

    http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/18625567/drew-peterson-prosecutors-go-to-court-over-e-mails

  24. Judge rips Peterson prosecutors
    He calls allegations made by state in motion ‘highly inappropriate’

    Joliet, IL, USA
    By Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune reporter
    9:08 p.m. CDT, May 25, 2012

    The judge hearing the Drew Peterson case raked prosecutors over the coals Friday for filing a “hyperbole”-filled motion that he said unnecessarily “exposed the court to suspicion.”

    With the trial of Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant charged with drowning his third wife, set to begin in about two months, Judge Edward Burmila said he had encouraged defense attorneys to share motions with all involved parties via email before they were filed so the state had more time to respond.

    But earlier this week, prosecutors filed a sealed motion seeking to bar those emails, and Burmila said the state’s motion misstated the facts and implied that he had improperly made substantive rulings that should only have been done in court.

    Burmila called a rare hearing for 4 p.m. — a half-hour before the Will County courthouse closes — on the day before a holiday weekend to address the matter. He said in court that the timing of the hearing wasn’t “punitive” but based on the availability of the attorneys.

    He first ordered State’s Attorney James Glasgow or his criminal division chief, Kathy Patton, to substantiate the allegation that Burmila had limited emails to those discussing the location of the trial and the availability of witnesses.

    “Mr. Glasgow, Mrs. Patton — call your first witness,” Burmila said.

    The two attorneys conferred, and then Patton asked for a minute to respond.

    “You don’t have a moment,” Burmila replied. “Call your first witness. You knew this was set for hearing.”

    Prosecutors conferred for about five more minutes before saying they would withdraw the allegation.

    But Burmila wasn’t finished.

    He said it was “highly inappropriate” and “shocking” for prosecutors to imply that he had made substantive rulings by email when he had not.

    “I don’t believe for a moment that’s what Mr. Glasgow believes in his heart,” Burmila said. “This motion was not well-thought-out.”

    Patton told the judge she had not meant to imply that and said she would “certainly apologize if the court took it that way.”

    “This is not a question of me having taken it some way,” Burmila interrupted.

    Glasgow also apologized to the judge. “This apparently got out of hand,” he said. “We did not intend to show any disrespect.”

    Prosecutors were concerned that defense attorneys were sending emails late at night that they didn’t have a chance to respond to until a day later, he said.

    “I’m 61 years old,” Glasgow said. “These emails started flying in at 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock at night. It seemed to be getting away from us.”

    In the end, both sides agreed for now to only exchange emails during office hours.

    After the hearing, defense attorney Steve Greenberg said, “It’s a shame the state felt compelled to do this when their concerns easily could have been handled in an email.”

    Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin July 23. Burmila said in court Friday that only an emergency would cause him to delay the trial.

    Peterson is accused of drowning his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in the bathtub of her Bolingbrook home. He is also the sole suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife Stacy Peterson, but has not been charged.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-drew-peterson-hearing-20120526,0,1298179.story

  25. Wow, does Schmadeke know shorthand or just have a photographic memory? That’s a ton of quotes from a court room where electronic recording devices are banned.

  26. OK, so the judge got his undies in a bundle and took offense at the idea of his integrity being in some way impugned.

    But, he can’t be blind to the fact that from the very beginning Peterson’s defense has handled this case in a very unorthodox and at times, unprofessional manner.

    I don’t find it strange at all that the state is calling out the defense team for trying to pull some crap in emails rather than in the courtroom. After all, for four years Joel Brodsky has tried to prove his case in the media. I’m not sure he even knows that it’s supposed to happen in the courtroom.

    And admittedly, the defense team is made up of a large number of lawyers, all operating out of different offices. That gives them no excuse for trying to operate outside the accepted confines of the legal system. Naturally they’ll email and call each other, but when it comes to legal briefs they should be submitted in the customary manner.

    Sure, it’s all fun and games to them but the stakes and the consequences are very real, no matter how much their client may smirk in court.

  27. Wow is right. Guess the Tribune will clearly have a reserved spot in the limited press seating allowed in Judge Burmila’s courtroom for the trial.

    Teacher’s pet?

  28. Prosecutor Patton had a valid request in asking that Brodsky’s trial arguments be made on the record, not in emails to the judge, after hours and all.

    This is all a shame. The trial hasn’t started, and already the judge is embroiled in a pissing contest with the lawyers over what should have been an easy task to tackle.

    Greenberg’s comment was a bit silly, but aren’t most of the defense comments meant to be? Good for a laugh or two.

  29. ‘Mummified’ body found in Blue Island house

    May 23, 2012 (BLUE ISLAND, Ill.) (WLS) — Police in suburban Blue Island say a ”mummified” body has been discovered in a home.

    The body was found Tuesday in a two-story home in the 2800-block of West 141st Street.

    Officials have not been able to determine the identity or age of the person, or how long the body was in the house.

    http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8673728

    Of interest because Stacy’s mother went missing many years ago from Blue Island and has not been located to this day.

    However most of the houses on that block look relatively new – maybe no more than 10 years old.

  30. Man found in Blue Island home died from heart disease

    By William Lee and Ryan Haggerty
    Tribune reporters
    3:29 p.m. CDT, May 23, 2012

    A body described as “mummified” has been discovered inside a home in south suburban Blue Island, officials said.

    The remains were found by Blue Island police on Tuesday in a two-story home in the 2800 block of West 141st Place, officials said.

    [snipped]

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-mummified-body-found-in-blue-island-home-20120523,0,6291033.story

  32. Its about time the trial has been set for this case. Does anyone know if the trial is going to be live trial on tv? Also a friend of mine has been surfing around on the net and was wondering (she is like me she is into this case too lol) where she can donate to stacys’ family for a few of the shirts that has her missing person poster on it? if anyone knows, please give me a holler. Thanks!!

  33. Anyone hear if the human remains found near
    interstate 55 have been identified? They were found Apr. 11th.

  35. angellea, Although the state of Illinois has begun a pilot program to test out cameras in trial court rooms, Chief Judge Gerald Kinney has stated that Will County will most likely not be up to speed by the time Peterson goes to trial in July, 2012.

    I don’t know if the searcher T-shirts are still available anymore, but you might try asking at Stacy’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/findstacypeterson

  38. Peterson, Vaughn trials could overlap in Will County this summer

    By Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune reporter
    8:43 p.m. CDT, May 30, 2012

    Prosecutors said Wednesday that they are preparing for two of Will County’s biggest criminal trials in years to overlap this summer, with both Drew Peterson and Christopher Vaughn scheduled to face a jury in adjoining rooms at the Joliet courthouse.

    Peterson, the former Bolingbrook police sergeant accused of drowning his third wife, is scheduled to go on trial July 30, with jury selection taking up the week prior. Vaughn’s jury selection is scheduled to start Aug. 13. He is accused of shooting to death his wife and three children in the family’s SUV on the way to a Springfield water park.

    Assistant State’s Attorney John Connor is a key prosecutor on both cases. On Wednesday, he told the judge hearing the Vaughn case that the state was adding two new prosecutors to assist with the trial.

    “We’re proceeding as though my schedule will not permit my continued participation in this case,” Connor told the judge…

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-christopher-vaughn-hearing-0531-20120531,0,7380109.story

    Vaughn’s been in jail for something like 5 years. Odd that no one seems to think his rights are being trampled and yet they bewail the cruel and unusual punishment of Peterson waiting for his trial in jail.

  39. Two high profile cases at the same time – whew.

    Another common factor is the evidence tech that was assigned to both cases. Robert Deel has some controversial ideas in both cases.

    In Kathleen Savio’s case, he decided not to collect any evidence, and he made up his mind quickly that her death was accidental. He neglected to notice severe damage to her body, due to bruising and a gash in her head, though.

    In Christopher Vaughn’s case, he said fellow investigators “quickly dismissed the possibility that anyone but Christopher Vaughn was responsible for the slayings…”

    Isn’t it ironic that HE quickly dismissed the possibility that Drew Peterson was responsible for Kathleen Savio’s death, but was so thorough and thoughtful in the Vaughn case by trying to convince his fellow investigators there may have been someone other than the husband involved in the murders?

    No wonder he’s been barred from investigating any case in Will County. It’s his way or no way.

  40. Another interesting connection is that George Lenard is now representing Christopher Vaughn. He was part of Peterson’s defense team for a while but left over irreconcilable differences with Joel Brodsky.

  41. Latest Case Events:

    05/25/2012 CF – Minute Entry
    05/25/2012 Impounded Document- Notice of Filing and People’s Response to
    05/25/2012 Impounded Document- Notice of Filing and People’s Response to Motion
    05/25/2012 Impounded Document- Notice of Filing and People’s Response to Motion
    05/25/2012 Impounded Document- Notice of Filing and People’s Response to
    05/25/2012 Impounded Document- Notice of Filing and People’s Response to
    05/25/2012 Impounded Document- Response to Motion in Limine to Bar Mention of
    05/30/2012 Impounded Document- List of Witness, Notificaton of Reports
    05/30/2012 Impounded Document- List of Witnesses, Notification of Reports

  42. This is not about Drewpy, per se, but says so much about Brodsky:
    “The revocation of Zimmerman’s bond also puts pressure on O’Mara to not delay the trial”, McClean said. Randy McCLean is a former prosecutor.

    “When your client is out on bond, the pressure is much lighter to rush to trial … because your client is sitting at home,” he said. “When your client is sitting at the Seminole County Jail, your client is going to want this resolved.”

    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/02/zimmerman-credibility-could-be-issue-in-legal-case-1644204143/?test=latestnews#ixzz1wg7Mqtql
    ***
    This is just ONE of the things I can’t figure out in this symbiotic relationship between Brodsky and Peterson.

  43. Oh, wait. ‘Symbiotic’ was the wrong word to use, there…those two are just alike. Perhaps it should read “#%(&^ relationship” instead. :>)

  44. Did you see that ZImmerman’s defense have set up a web page and twitter account to ensure that they are able to communicate their version of events (as well as solicit funds)?

    I have a feeling that as things progress, both the web page and twitter account will disappear.

    What is it with lawyers trying to argue their cases to the public? The public won’t be deciding anything. It just looks like what it is…attempting to poison the jury pool.

  45. Is it serving the clients’ best interests to do this kind of thing? A lawyer comes along, advises the client to set up a website to get funds for a defense, and so it goes. If a lawyer hooks up with a high profile client, who’s well known in the media, and that client doesn’t have the resources or funds to pay exorbitant legal fees, tough! Either the lawyer should walk away and pass on defending someone who’s incapable of paying his/her large fees, or STFU and defend the client for whatever he can pay in fees.

    This is all hinky nonsense. In Zimmerman’s case, he’s going back to jail. Who’s fault is that? He had legal counsel prior to this current attorney, and he dumped them. Sound familiar?

  46. BTW, Peterson had an attorney by the name of Fred Morelli advising him in the early days of Stacy’s disappearance. He counseled him to refrain from making public statements, and, if I am not mistaken, I do recall Peterson saying he was shocked at how much his expected defense might wind up costing. So, Peterson dumps him, and he goes on national tv and asks for some schmuck to come along and save him from the sharks.

    Along comes Brodsky….

    …In a city rich with big-time defense lawyers, Joel Alan Brodsky seemingly came from nowhere to land the hottest criminal case in the country as Drew Peterson’s attorney.

    After all, Brodsky has never defended a homicide case. He is on more familiar turf handling drug cases and civil lawsuits….

    Snatching Peterson as a client was a watershed moment for Brodsky, who over the last decade has weathered his own personal and professional problems — divorce, bankruptcy and the loss of his law license for three months due to disciplinary action….

    After watching Peterson appeal for a lawyer in November during an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, Brodsky said he contacted the network to pass his name on to Peterson.

    Brodsky said he was vying against a dozen or more lawyers — some of whom wanted as much as $250,000 upfront — when he met with Peterson, conducting some of the interview in Brodsky’s car to avoid the horde of reporters and cameramen in front of Peterson’s Bolingbrook residence.

    “We talked for about an hour and a half,” Brodsky recalled. “He said, ‘You’re it.’”

    Brodsky said that he brought paperwork, laying out his credentials, but that Peterson made his choice without reading it.

    “He said: ‘The way I decide is I meet somebody. I trust them or I don’t,’” Brodsky recalled…

    Whether others approve of Brodsky’s style or not, it may well have helped in his meeting with Peterson in November. In a phone interview last week, Peterson maintained that he picked Brodsky for other than financial reasons.

    “He has a great legal mind. He has the ability to recall cases and points of law that’s uncanny — and Brodsky’s fun,” Peterson said. “He kind of clicks with my personality.”…

    http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-01-15/news/0801140689_1_drug-cases-lawyers-drew-peterson

    Peterson was further promoted and made an even bigger media spectacle, a website for money was set up, his house was hawked for rent by suggesting the media use it as a base for reporting on his trial, his Harley was turned into murderabelia and listed on Ebay for in excess of $50,000….

    Still, Peterson has spent over 3 years in jail. Wow. Great representation.

  48. Drew Peterson jail exclusive: ‘I’m sick of being called sinister’
    BY MICHAEL SNEED
    June 4, 2012 2:17AM

    The Peterson file . . .

    He’s been called untouchable, unflappable and a killer.

    “I’m sick of being called sinister,” said accused wife murderer Drew Peterson, who has been imprisoned for the past three years awaiting trial for the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, and is the chief suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

    “I’m just a wise-ass [ex-cop] who gets in trouble for attempting to be funny,” Peterson told Sneed. “But what’s happening is not funny.

    “I’m very angry about what has happened to me and my family— and especially the Illinois State Police unexpectedly interrogating my son Tom recently at college and questioning him for hours [about the death of his mother, Kathleen Savio].

    “I want them to get off his back,” said Peterson in an exclusive pre-trial interview with Sneed Sunday at Will County jail, where he has been held for the past 1,158 days. “My children have suffered enough.”

    Ironically, the interview was conducted on the day that another one of Peterson’s sons with Kathleen Savio, Kris, 17, was graduating from Bolingbrook High School.

    “I want to raise my kids, and there is nothing more important to me,” said Peterson, who has few visitors and claims his best friend is now “TV.”

    “Time flies, and days drag, and I’m bored, but I’m OK,” said Peterson, who added “because I think of myself as a man in ‘jail’ awaiting trial — and not in ‘prison’ for killing someone.” (Jury selection in his trial begins July 23.)

    Dressed in jail attire and speaking at the visitor center at the jail, Peterson, who was polite and personable ­— addressing me as “Miss Sneed” and telling me for a long time “I thought you were a guy” — claims “every day I eat three meals a day, make my bed, get cleaned up, watch TV, and live basically in solitary confinement.”

    During the 30-minute interview, minus tape recorder and a barely audible phone hook-up, it was obvious Peterson is not an introspective man. Taking responsibility for his choices is not a strong suit.

    Peterson agrees his marriage choices were disastrous, and he accepts no responsibility for the failure of his marriages. He added he probably should have “never gotten married” but lauds himself as being a good father.

    “There is nothing more important to me than my children,” said the former Bolingbrook cop, who has six children with three of his four wives. He is estranged from his eldest son, Eric, with his first wife, but is incredibly close to their second child, Stephen, who is raising Peterson’s and Stacy’s children, Anthony and Lacy. “They are being raised in my home, which is paid for, and living on my pension.” He also claims to be incredibly close with his two children with third wife, Savio: Thomas and Kristopher.

    As a cop, “I was good at handling domestic disputes,” he said. “Really good.” But he considers himself “a romantic” who basically married “women who changed after getting married.” (He doesn’t blame himself at all.)

    “I put my aunts and my mom on a pedestal, and I guess that’s what I wanted when I got married . . . looking for that combo woman who cleaned house and took care of the kids. I don’t think I’d get married again, but who knows. Christina Raines [his last girlfriend] asked to marry me three years ago, but I haven’t seen her in a long time [a year]. She got spooked by the press.”

    Peterson described Savio, whose death in 2004 was considered an accident until Peterson became the focus of his fourth wife’s disappearance, as “a hellcat.”

    “It was a marriage of constant one-upmanship, and she was very aggressive, violent and outspoken. She punched Stacy once in the face in front of the kids and was arrested. But she was found not guilty because the kids said she didn’t do it.

    “My sons [Savio’s sons, Thomas and Kristopher] have never asked me if I killed their mother. It’s unspoken. They don’t have to ask. They know I didn’t. Tom was head of his high school graduation class and is now in college in Pennsylvania. Kris is heading to Western Illinois University this fall. And my son, Stephen, is what holds this family together. He [and his girlfriend] are taking care of my littlest [preschool/kindergarten children, Lacy and Anthony].”

    So how does Peterson explain the disappearance of his youngest children’s parents?

    “They have been told Stacy is on vacation and that I am working with my lawyer [Joel Brodsky] to clear up a legal problem,” said Peterson.

    What does Peterson tell them their mother was like? “I tell them she was beautiful. Her Aunt Candace, Stacy’s mother’s sister, writes to me about how important they are to her and how, when she visits, she will help take care of them.

    “You know, Stacy’s mother disappeared,” said Peterson. “Her name was Christie, and she had legal issues and at one time was living under an alias. She ran away. She showed up once, but when Stacy disappeared she had been long gone.

    “You know, it’s possible Stacy is now living with her.”

    Does Peterson miss Stacy?

    “Sometimes I do,” he told Sneed. “Sure.”

    So what would be the first thing Peterson did if Stacy suddenly reappeared?

    “Ask her to sign the divorce papers,” he said.

    http://www.suntimes.com/12959517-761/drew-peterson-jail-exclusive-im-sick-of-being-called-sinister.html

  49. “I’m very angry about what has happened to me and my family— and especially the Illinois State Police unexpectedly interrogating my son Tom recently at college and questioning him for hours [about the death of his mother, Kathleen Savio].

    Umm, I’m pretty sure Tom Peterson is now an alibi witness for his father, so just using common sense, the prosecution has the absolute right to question him about his mother’s death and what his testimony might be. Yes, his father can be “very angry,” but it’s his choice to put his son in the middle of this mess. As usual. Peterson is angry about Stephen’s situation too, but he only needs to look in the mirror to see who’s responsible for his woes. Of course, as Sneed reports, he takes no blame for his failed marriages–it’s his wives who need to do that.

  53. My question exactly.

    And, OMG, more sad sack Peterson. What exactly is the point? What does he want? He’s about to go to trial which is as much as any murder defendant can expect. Does he think the whole thing should just be called off because he’s….sad?

    The briefest summary of the facts of this case make him the one and only suspect in the murder of two women. Does he think that’s all a joke?

    And oh so sorry that his son, Tom, is questioned from time to time about the circumstances of his mother’s death.There’s only one person to blame for that – and it’s Drew Peterson.

  54. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

    Drew and his defense can bring up the fact that Stacy’s mom disappeared all they like but it will NEVER, EVER be admissible in court if and when he goes to trial for Stacy’s murder.

  55. phil_rosenthal ‏@phil_rosenthal
    It appears Drew Peterson has not been called “sinister” in media since at least 2008, per Nexis, despite his complaints.

  56. Just because her mom went missing, doesn’t mean it is heriditary. Thats like saying her mother was killed in a car accident, so she probably will be too. Then they turn around and don’t want any mention of Stacey being missing in Kathleen’s trial.

    I am also against the emailing to save time. This is not about saving time, this is about getting it right. The way Joel plays, everything sent to the other attorneys and judge will also be sent to the Ms. Sneed, by “mistake” of course.

    In our county court system, everything must be hand delivered to the courts and stamp upon delivery. No email, no fax. Old fashion paper trail. Delivery to other parties must be documented and certified and also filed with the court.

  57. These new converts to the Drew Peterson Pity Party do realize that he has a PR firm working on his behalf, right?

    The Publicity Agency ‏@PublicityAgency
    #DrewPeterson interviewed by #chicago #suntimes in advance of next month’s trial

  58. Meanwhile, actual things continue to happen with Peterson’s case:

    06/01/2012 Notice of Motion
    06/01/2012 Impounded Document- People’s Supplemental Response Filed Under Seal

  59. I did my own search and despite Drew and his lawyers claiming over and over that he has been portrayed as “sinister” in the media, I couldn’t find one case in which he was called that.

    The closest I could come was from an Erika Slife story from 2008 which said:

    The investigators and experts re-examining her death as a possible murder are now asking how police could have been so quick to overlook signs that something sinister may have happened to the third wife of Drew Peterson, then a sergeant for the Bolingbrook Police Department.

    Meanwhile Drew has been whining that “sinister sells” since his interview with Larry King. Claiming that he’s being “called sinister” though is just a lie.

  60. Since Peterson’s defense and PR think it’s a good time for him to be talking publicly about the altercation between Stacy and Kathleen, let’s make sure we hear from all sides:

    MICHAEL LISAK, KATHLEEN SAVIO`S NEPHEW: “A camcorder in the car, basically pointed at my aunt`s door, she came outside and she said what she had to say and I`m sure some words were exchanged and basically this was a setup, this was a setup to see how she would react and Drew being the cop that he is, basically as soon as she went outside and started running after Stacy. And I saw the video firsthand. My aunt showed me and my mom this. Drew tackled my Aunt Kathleen and pinned her to the ground, put a knee to the back of her head.” – “Yeah, it`s sick. It`s sick. I mean she`s screaming please help me, somebody help me, somebody help me, and Stacy gets out of the car and continues to videotape this while Drew was on the cell phone calling the police department that she assaulted Stacy.” – “I mean, that`s really what happened. From what I saw on the video firsthand, my aunt never touched Stacy. I mean, she went at her and said some words that I think she had a right to.”

    http://www.acandyrose.com/kathleen_savio.htm

  61. Nick Pontarelli told of Stacy driving by Savio’s home and giving her the finger. That same day in May 2002, Savio was charged with battery for allegedly punching Stacy in the face. The way Nick Pontarelli told it, Stacy was videotaping Savio with a camera supposedly stolen from Savio’s home.

    During a confrontation, Stacy called out that Savio struck her, Nick Pontarelli said. Peterson, a Bolingbrook police sergeant, then threw Savio to the ground, twisted her arm behind her back and pushed her face into the grass, the 19-year-old testified. Peterson also warned away those who tried to intervene, he said.

    “Every time anyone would approach, we were told it was police business,” said Nick Pontarelli, whose mother pulled up in her car while Peterson was pinning Savio to the ground.

    “I said, ‘Drew, how could you pin your wife down into the lawn in front of the whole neighborhood?’” Mary Pontarelli testified. “He said, ‘Mare, don’t come any closer. This is police business.’”

    Savio was later acquitted of the battery charge. She was arrested on another occasion for allegedly battering Peterson and was again acquitted. Despite her numerous calls to the police, Peterson was not arrested once.

    http://petersonstory.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/drew-peterson-hearsay-hearing-day-9/#comment-57207

  62. I had a convo today with Joe Hosey, and he brought out a very good point.

    Peterson called Kathleen a “hellcat.” He’s a murder defendant.

    …She punched Stacy once in the face in front of the kids and was arrested. But she was found not guilty because the kids said she didn’t do it.

    Point: If that is the case, then his kids “lied” to protect their mother. If they would lie to protect their mother, then why wouldn’t they lie to protect their father?

    Either Peterson’s version of the events between Kathleen and Stacy is not true, or, in the alternative, it happened as he says it did and Kathleen’s sons did lie and will lie to protect their parents.

    If Peterson was counseled by any of his attorneys to do this interview, including not taking any responsibility for his failed marriages and bringing attention to his children covering up for their late mother and now murder defendant father, whew, boy, what a mess! Stupid, stupid, stupid. Let him keep on talking!

  63. What was and is the point of this? This piece does not make Peterson look good.

    He sounds like he’s lost his mind, and so has the boob that let him do this interview.

    It’s getting close to trial, Why do something this stupid so near his chance of getting his case heard in court? This article sure isn’t going to endear him to the public, and it doesn’t much matter anyway.

    Aside from that, I wonder if Judge Burmila will be concerned about this un-gagged interview? What a circus in Will County!

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