Drew Peterson murder trial: Meet the Prosecutors

Will County State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow will lead a four-member team of highly experienced trial attorneys in the prosecution of Case Number 09CF1048, People v. Peterson. Biographical information on members of the trial team, including the State’s Attorney, is provided below.

Will County State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow

Will County State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow is the lead prosecutor in the murder trial of Drew Peterson. State’s Attorney Glasgow has a long and distinguished career during which he has implemented groundbreaking initiatives to investigate, prosecute and prevent crime.

In his long history with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, Glasgow served as a lead prosecutor in both the Misdemeanor and Felony Trial Divisions. He has successfully prosecuted felony criminal cases ranging from retail theft to first-degree murder. In addition, he secured jury convictions in three death-penalty cases. Two of those convictions in the 1990s were against Gregory Shaw and Elton Williams. Both were convicted of shooting Crest Hill Police Officer Timothy Simenson.

Glasgow served as Will County’s elected State’s Attorney from 1992–2000, and once again as the elected State’s Attorney from 2004 to the present. He currently is serving his fourth term. He received his Juris Doctor from Northern Illinois Law School and his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois. He has been practicing law since 1981.

Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Patton

Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Patton is State’s Attorney Glasgow’s Criminal Division Chief. In that role, she supervises and directs more than 50 assistant state’s attorneys who prosecute roughly 3,000 new felony cases and more than 4,000 new misdemeanor cases each year. Patton has been with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office for a total of 19 years, eight years in the 1980s and the last 11 starting in 2001. She has served the last five elected state’s attorneys and has successfully prosecuted numerous murder cases as well as other felonies over the course of her career. In one notable case, Patton secured a conviction and an eight-year prison sentence against a local fire chief and his wife who stole more than $100,000 from the accounts of an elderly woman he and his wife had befriended. Patton received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and attended graduate school at Columbia College. She received her law degree from Valparaiso University.

Assistant State’s Attorney John Connor

Assistant State’s Attorney John Connor spearheaded State’s Attorney Glasgow’s Grand Jury investigation into the disappearance of Stacy Peterson and the murder of Kathleen Savio. He has been a prosecutor for the past 14 years and helped launch the state’s attorney’s Major Crimes Prosecution Unit. He also was instrumental in establishing the office’s Computer Crimes Prosecution Unit, which specializes in criminal cases that involve digital evidence. As a felony courtroom supervisor, he successfully prosecuted criminal cases ranging from theft and robbery to rape and murder. He served as the lead prosecutor in more than 25 felony jury trials, notably securing a conviction and 104-year prison sentence for Larry Southwood, who sexually abused a 14-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy. Connor also served briefly as a prosecutor for the Illinois Attorney General’s High Tech Crime Bureau in Chicago. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois Law School and the University of Notre Dame.

Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Koch

Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Koch has been a prosecutor with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office since 2003. He has prosecuted a broad range of felonies including murders and many complex financial crimes. In 2007, Koch worked with Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Patton to secure the convictions against the former local fire chief and his wife for defrauding an elderly woman of more than $100,000 from her life savings. He also helped spearhead the creation of State’s Attorney Glasgow’s Financial Crimes Prosecution Unit, which handles complicated cases involving financial exploitation, theft, identity theft and loan fraud. Koch serves as a supervising attorney in a felony courtroom. He graduated from Bowling Green State University in Ohio with a degree in sociology. He received his law degree from the John Marshall Law School in 2003.

UPDATE July 8:

A member of Drew Peterson’s defense team contacted us to ask that we devote equal time to the defense and post bios of Joel A. Brodsky, Ralph E. Meczyk, Joseph R. Lopez, Steven A. Greenberg, Darryl A. Goldberg, and Lisa M. Lopez. I told him that if we were provided with bios that we would be happy to post them. Please note that over the last five years this blog has covered each new addition to the defense team (and also the withdrawal of several attorneys) as they occurred.

Source: Will County State’s Attorney Facebook Page

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