Trying to Discredit Morphey

[Lorie Taylor]

Posted by Rescueapet on Wordpress
petersonstory.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/michelle-lefort-lisa-wards-co-author-speaks-out/#respond


Brought up from older interview about Tom Morphey, and the Media trying to discredit him.


Joel Brodsky said…

To address briefly the post of May 3, 2008 at 1:07 PM., let me start by saying that you are obviously unfamiliar (as I was at the start) with the games the media, especially the cable media, play. You would be totally amazed.
But I want to first address the quote attributed to my partner, Reem Odeh. She never said those things. What occurred was that she engaged in a long conversation with a reporter in which they discussed many subjects, including the media, the Today Show interview (which occurred the next day but which had been promoted by NBC), and if we had been approached by book publishers. The reporter then cobbled together the quotes and the story which you have now quoted from. It is extremely inaccurate, (made out of “whole cloth” as they say), and out of context, and we complained to the reporter. You will notice that the story has not been repeated or quoted in any other papers. That is because Reem told everyone it was not accurate.
In fact many of the quotes in the newspapers are inaccurate or out of context, (though not as badly done as the quote from Reem) I would say they get a quote right and in context about 50% of the time, or less. It is not that they are bad intentioned, but that is just the nature of print journalism. When it comes to quotes tv and cable are the best because you get to see the comment being made. The truth is when it comes to depth in a story go to the print media, when it comes to accuracy of quotes, go video. And then always remember, believe half of what you see and very little of what you read.
As to the blue barrel and Dan Abrams, this is a good example. Actually Dan Abrams people had a copy of the pictures via e-mail a week before we went on. Then they took grapic scans while we were in the studio so they could put the pictures on the screen. (The pictures are recent pictures of Tom Morphey smoking a crack pipe and stoned out of his mind) We wanted to put these out to counter a recent news article that portrayed Morphy as clean and sober since the mid-90’s. (in fact he was fired from his last job in September of 07 because he kept showing up for work drunk). Abrams people agreed to show the pictures on the condition that Drew also come on the show. We agreed because the pictures are important on the issue of Morphy’s credibility. (By the way he is not in protective custody, he is in rehab because the State is trying to clean him up, but its not working. He still is not clean enough to go before the grand jury after 5 months of rehab, thats how messed up he is. Not a credible witness I say.) When I realized that Abrams was not going to show the pictures, as his producer had agreed, then I decided to try to show them to the camera, but Abrams cut away and just described the pictures verbally, which did not do them justice. (So what appears like me trying to sneak a picture on tv is not what occurred. The bottom line is that there is no evidence (receipts, credit card records, forensic traces, etc.) what so ever that a blue barrel / container ever existed. Morphy was so horribly messed up on drugs and alcohol at that time you cannot rely on anything he as to say. (Webmaster – the pictures are on my office computer and if you want I can e-mail them to you so your bloggers can make up their own minds about Morphy.)
Finally, the Steve Dahl “Date With Drew” thing, was both intentional and a mistake. Dahl’s people knew we were going to call in, and we new in advance that he was going to address the fact that for some reason Drew is hit on by women because of the publicity. Dahl is a radio comedy legend in Chicago for over 20 years and he had been doing a Drew parody (including songs) every day on his show for from a half hour to an hour. He had been very hard on Drew, and we thought if we joined in his comedy bit we could take some wind out of his sails, and maybe even change the slant of his comedy. (Kind of like when politicians go on comedy shows to laugh at their campaign mistakes) It was going well until Dahl suggested the dating contest. I mistakenly ok’d it. We approved because of what we have latter come to understand is an inappropriate sense of humor that cops, defense lawyers, prosecutors, develop to deal with the daily tragedy and stress they deal with. We all tell tasteless jokes about some very tragic situations to psychologically deal with the situations. I just did it in public which was the mistake.
I hope this adds to your understanding of the media issues in the Peterson case.
May 4, 2008 10:19 AM</blockquote

legalpublication.blogspot.com/2008/05/legal-pub-is-firm-believer-in-our.html

[Lorie Taylor]

Posted by Rescueapet on Wordpress

petersonstory.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/michelle-lefort-lisa-wards-co-author-speaks-out/#respond

Tom Morphey speaks out against claims to discredit him

Stepbrother: Drew tries to discredit me

Original source:
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1469992,Stepbrother-Drew-tries-discredit-me_jo031009.article

March 11, 2009
By JOE HOSEY [e-mail]

BOLINGBROOK — If he is supposed to be such an unreliable, delusional, mentally ill alcoholic, Thomas Morphey wants to know, then why has Drew Peterson gone to such lengths to discredit him?

“From the very beginning, they have done nothing but paint me in a certain light,” said Morphey, the stepbrother of the celebrated murder suspect. “If there was nothing to hide, why would they go to the extremes that they have?”

Thomas Morphey says his stepbrother Drew Peterson and his attorney Joel Brodsky have done their best to smear and discredit him since he told authorities what he knew of the disappearance of Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy.

It might have something to do with Morphey recently accusing Peterson of asking him to kill for him the day before Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, was last seen alive.

And on the next day — Oct. 28, 2007 — Morphey said he helped Peterson carry a blue barrel out of the Peterson home and down to a waiting sport utility vehicle. Morphey believes Stacy Peterson’s body was in the barrel.

Morphey said the experience left him despondent and fearful for the welfare of his longtime girlfriend and her three children. He attempted suicide two days after Stacy vanished, he said, in hopes they might escape Peterson’s malice.

Morphey survived the drug overdose. The next day, he said, State’s Attorney James Glasgow offered him immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. The Herald News has obtained a copy of the immunity offer, which demands the full story of what he was up to with Peterson the weekend of Oct. 27, 2007, along with his disclosure of any knowledge he has of the “kidnapping or murder of Stacy Peterson.”

Peterson’s pattern

Since then, Morphey said, Peterson and his attorney Joel Brodsky have done their best to smear and discredit him.

In fact, Brodsky held a press conference Tuesday in Chicago in which he questioned why Morphey has not gone before the grand jury and his viability as a witness.

“If they found him credible, (Morphey) would have been one of the first witnesses they would have brought in and they would have based the entire investigation and the entire case on his testimony,” Brodsky said at the news conference called to rebut Morphey’s first public allegations against his stepbrother that were first reported in The Herald News.

Morphey said he sees a pattern in this, with Peterson ripping anyone who dares speak ill of him — including ex-wives, a former fiancee, a minister and two friends, Len Wawczak and Paula Stark, who worked with the state police to record his conversations.

“It’s been anyone who has anything negative to say from the get-go,” Morphey said.

Morphey also accused Peterson and his friend, Steve Carcerano, of paying one of Morphey’s former girlfriends $500 for photographs depicting Morphey in a less than favorable light.

Brodsky, without success, attempted to distribute the photographs, one of which allegedly showed Morphey smoking marijuana. The woman, Holly Steele, confirmed in September that she sold the photographs to Peterson and Carcerano.

Carcerano said he remembers accompanying Peterson to purchase photographs of Morphey but did not know the name of the woman they obtained them from. He also disputed the $500 price tag for the pictures but did not give a figure for them.

Morphey described the picture ploy as “the stunt that they tried to pull in the beginning, buying 10-year-old pictures and trying to make them seem recent.”

More witnesses?

Despite the backlash from Peterson and Brodsky, Morphey said he has no regrets about breaking his 17-month silence to go public about the role he believes he played in Stacy Peterson’s disappearance.

“I feel like a weight’s been lifted,” he said.

And Morphey hinted there may be more potential Peterson witnesses going public.

“I don’t think it will be too long before Len (Wawczak) and Paula (Stark) have had enough where they say what they need to say,” he said.