SPECIAL BULLETINS REGUARDING STACY, KATHLEEN CASE

[Lorie Taylor]

January 24, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statement on the status of Stacy Peterson, Kathleen Savio investigations
Contact:
Charles B. Pelkie
[phone]
[phone] (cellular)
[e-mail]


The following is a statement from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office regarding the status of the Stacy Peterson and Kathleen Savio investigations:

The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office has been working closely with the Illinois State Police Investigative Task Forces that are investigating the disappearance of Stacy Peterson and the death of Kathleen Savio. The task forces have notified the state’s attorney’s office that they have investigated more than 1,900 tips and leads since this investigation began in late October. The task forces continue to investigate these top priority cases utilizing all available resources.

At the same time, the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office has convened a Special Grand Jury to investigate Stacy Peterson’s disappearance and Kathleen Savio’s death. The Special Grand Jury was convened in November and is in session and working each Thursday. It will continue to meet for roughly the next four months with an option to extend its service for another six-month term should that become necessary.

The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office remains confident that justice will be served at the conclusion of these methodical and disciplined investigations.

Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Stacy Peterson or the death of Kathleen Savio is asked to contact the Illinois State Police Investigative Task Forces Office at [phone] or e-mail the office at [e-mail].

[Lorie Taylor]

February 27, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Drew Peterson’s FOID card revoked
Contact:
Charles B. Pelkie
[phone]
[phone] (cellular)
[e-mail]

The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office announces that it received confirmation from the Illinois Department of State Police on Wednesday that it has revoked the Firearm Owner’s Identification Card of Drew W. Peterson.

The Illinois Department of State Police confirmed that the department sent a letter to Mr. Peterson on Wednesday informing him of the revocation. Mr. Peterson’s attorney also has been notified.

Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow on Tuesday sent a letter to State Police Director Larry G. Trent requesting that his department exercise its authority under 430 Illinois Compiled Statutes 65/8 to revoke Mr. Peterson’s FOID card. Neither the letter from State’s Attorney Glasgow nor the Illinois Department of State Police will be released.

[Lorie Taylor]

February 21, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pathologist declares Kathleen Savio’s death a homicide
Contact:
Charles B. Pelkie
[phone]
[phone] (cellular)
[e-mail]

JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced today that his office has received the final report on the autopsy performed on the remains of Kathleen S. Savio on Nov. 13, 2007.

Dr. Larry W. Blum, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, concludes in his report that the actual cause of Kathleen Savio’s death was drowning and that the legal manner of death was homicide. Dr. Blum’s report was delivered to the Will County Coroner’s Office on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 and immediately forwarded to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Illinois State Police.

“Dr. Blum’s forensic report renders his expert opinion that this is a homicide,” State’s Attorney Glasgow said. “We have been investigating this as a murder since reopening the case in November of last year. We now have a scientific basis to formally and publicly classify it as such.”

The complete autopsy report is a component of the investigation into the March 1, 2004 death of Kathleen Savio and will not be released. However, the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Illinois State Police are releasing the following quote from the conclusion in Dr. Blum’s report:

“It is my opinion based on my education, training, experience and personal observations, and to a reasonable degree of medical and scientific certainty, compelling evidence exists to support the conclusions that the cause of death of Kathleen S. Savio was drowning and further, that the manner of death was homicide.”

This was the second autopsy performed on Kathleen Savio’s remains. The first was performed shortly after her death in March 2004. Her body was exhumed on the morning of Nov. 13, 2007, and Dr. Blum performed the second autopsy that afternoon.

In his report, Dr. Blum notes that he reviewed photos taken from the scene at the time of Kathleen Savio’s death as well as reports of the initial scene investigation. He also carefully examined the physical location of Kathleen Savio’s death on Nov. 20, 2007 as part of his investigation.

His report includes the results of microscopic examinations and toxicological tests conducted on postmortem tissue specimens. The specimens examined by Dr. Blum were collected during the first autopsy on March 2, 2004, the second autopsy performed by Dr. Blum on Nov. 13, 2007, and a third autopsy performed by Dr. Michael Baden on behalf of Kathleen Savio’s family on Nov. 16, 2007.

The results of those examinations and tests are part of the investigation and are not being disclosed at this time.

The Illinois State Police are investigating the murder of Kathleen Savio as well as the disappearance of Stacy Peterson. Kathleen Savio’s murder and Stacy Peterson’s disappearance are simultaneously being investigated by a Special Grand Jury that was convened in November 2007.

[Lorie Taylor]

April 15, 2008

Proposal could affect evidence allowed in possible Drew Peterson prosecution

Measure would loosen hearsay restrictions at trials
By Erika Slife and Matthew Walberg | Tribune reporters


A Will County state senator has filed a measure that, if passed, could influence the type of evidence allowed in a possible prosecution of Drew Peterson.

Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (D- Joliet) has offered an amendment to the state's code of criminal procedure, backed by State's Atty. James Glasgow, that would allow hearsay testimony if the witness who made the statements was not available to testify in person because the defendant had a hand in that person's absence.

Neither Wilhelmi nor Glasgow's office would comment on whether the measure was inspired by the Peterson case, but the senator said the state's attorney requested the amendment earlier this year. Glasgow's office has been immersed in the investigation with a special grand jury since late last year.

Under the proposal, if prosecutors can convince a judge that the defendant, for example, bribed, threatened or killed a witness to prevent testimony, the judge could allow the statements the witness made to others to be heard in court.

"By closing this loophole, if you will, we can allow prosecutors to bring those statements into court and make sure those criminals are brought to justice," Wilhelmi said.

Peterson, 54, is a former Bolingbrook police sergeant who is a suspect in the Oct. 28 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then 23. Authorities labeled her case a potential homicide, and the investigation led them to re-examine the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40. She was found dead in 2004 in an empty bathtub, and her death, initially ruled an accident, was said by Glasgow in February to have been a homicide.

Friends and families of Stacy Peterson and Savio said the women told them that Peterson had made repeated threats and that they had feared for their lives. Stacy's pastor, Neil Schori, has said she confided to him that Peterson killed Savio.

Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for Glasgow, declined to comment on specific cases the proposed legislation would apply to, but said Glasgow backed the measure.

"We hope to utilize this law in the future, and we fully expect prosecutors will use it to enter evidence into trials, evidence that was previously not available to them," Pelkie said. "This amendment makes sense. Criminal defendants have been able to profit from their illegal acts, and what we're trying to do is ensure that these statements are admissible so they can't escape justice through additional criminal actions."

But Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said the amendment would have no bearing on his client if he is ever charged in connection with either Savio's death or his wife's disappearance.

"You can't change the law to get somebody, especially when it has to do with a fundamental constitutional right," Brodsky said.

Opponents of admissible hearsay argue that it goes against the 6th Amendment, which says, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right. . .to be confronted with the witnesses against him." In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that hearsay evidence generally cannot be used at trial, repealing more lax interpretations of the rule.

Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the issue again when it hears arguments about a California law that allowed a police officer's testimony to be admitted into the trial of Dwayne Giles, a Los Angeles man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Avie. The police officer testified Avie told him Giles had threatened to kill her.

With a high court ruling inevitable, Steve Baker, a legislative liaison for the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the criminal justice section counsel for the Illinois State Bar Association, wants to know what the hurry is in Illinois.

Until the court rules, "both sides are playing in the mud," he said.

[Lorie Taylor]

[Lorie Taylor]

www.wbbm780.com/Could-Drew-Peterson-Go-Free-/5344656

Posted: Thursday, 01 October 2009 3:08PM

Could Drew Peterson Go Free?
Steve Miller Reporting

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The attorney for Drew Peterson says Peterson could be a free man again as soon as next week - depending on what happens in court tomorrow.

Drew Peterson will be in Will County court in connection with charges that he murdered his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

The judge is expected to rule on a defense motion for a change of venue, and the judge is expected to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the so-called "Drew's Law," hearsay testimony that would allow statements by the missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, into evidence.

Peterson's lawyer Joel Brodsky says odds that the judge will rule in Peterson's favor - and not allow the hearsay testimony - are better than even.

And Brodsky says he expects prosecutors would appeal.

"And if they do appeal, under Illinois State Supreme Court rules, Drew Peterson will get out of jail. And that could happen - if everything goes in our favor - it could happen as early as next week."

A spokesman for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow says Glasgow is confident the hearsay law will pass constitutional muster.