Key players in the Drew Peterson trial
July 5, 2010 11:32 PM | No Comments
Love him or hate him, Drew Peterson's day has finally come.
Nearly three years after the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, made national headlines, the retired Bolingbrook police sergeant will go on trial Thursday in the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Here are the people who will be front and center as the courtroom drama unfolds.
THE DEFENDANT
Peterson maintains his innocence, but winning his freedom won't be easy. He must overcome a prosecution that will paint him as a sadistic ex-husband hellbent on stopping Savio from getting a cut of his police pension.
Peterson, 56, has been in Will County jail since charges were filed against him last year. Though he cracked jokes in the days after his arrest, he has appeared much more subdued in recent court appearances.
Looking grayer and heavier since his arrest, he no longer plays to the spectators and reporters in the courtroom as he once did. Still, his occasional joking with his lawyers and courtroom security officers irks Stacy's family.
"He understands what he's up against," family spokeswoman Pam Bosco said. "He understands the seriousness."
Peterson is active in his defense but not overbearing, his attorney Joseph Lopez said. During a hearsay hearing earlier this year, for example, he was complimented by one of his attorneys for instructing him to ask an expert witness if scratch marks on Savio's arms could have been made by her cat. The witness replied it was possible.
Lopez noted, "He's a police officer, so he has some insights to offer. But he also lets us do our jobs. He understands everyone has their own role."
Peterson's family has largely stayed away from court since his arrest, with the exception of a sister-in-law who made an appearance last month. His adult son Eric testified during a pretrial hearing, where he twice answered "no" when asked if he loved his father and if he considered him a good dad.
His four youngest children have been living with his adult son Steve since his arrest. One of his teenage boys is expected to testify on Peterson's behalf at trial.
"He's looking forward to his day in court," lead defense attorney Joel Brodsky said of his client. "His spirits are high. He has a lot of strength."
THE JUDGE
Without a single juror picked, Judge Stephen White has already made history.
White, 62, became the first Illinois judge to hold a hearing under the new hearsay law, a controversial statute that allows some types of secondhand testimony at trial. It was a daunting task, given he had no road map to follow and the entire legal community watching.
"I don't think he struggled with it at all," said attorney Andrew Abood, who represented Peterson during the hearsay hearing but later left the defense team. "I think he's really smart. He gets it. It's obvious he's a former trial lawyer because he understands the law."
With an affable demeanor and a penchant for smiling as he overrules objections, White often defused tensions in his courtroom. For example, when State's Attorney James Glasgow's cell phone rang during the hearsay hearing -- a major mistake in any courthouse -- the judge chuckled as a sheepish Glasgow hurried to silence it.
When it rang a second time, White confiscated it, grinning.
Despite his personable approach, White has maintained tight control over his courtroom and the case. He has made several rulings behind closed doors in an effort to keep prospective jurors from being prejudiced by pretrial news reports. Even the landmark hearsay ruling will remain private until after the trial.
White also cracked down on Peterson's interviews after the retired police officer called a radio station from jail and suggested having a "Win a Conjugal Visit With Drew Contest." The judge ordered Peterson to refrain from any further interviews unless he had the court's blessing.
It's not an accident that the limelight-loving Peterson has not spoken with the press since that time.
White did not respond to requests for biographical information or curriculum vitae for this story. According to the Sullivan's Judicial Profiles reference guide, White is an Army veteran who worked his way through law school as a math teacher and basketball coach at Mokena Junior High School. Upon receiving his degree, he joined the Will County state's attorney's office in 1979, where he rose to first assistant before becoming a judge in 1991.
While on the bench in 1999, he helped launched Will County's first rehabilitative drug court, which aims to divert nonviolent drug offenders from the court system by providing free treatment and more frequent monitoring. He also served as the 12th Circuit's chief judge from 2002 to 2008.
In 2008, he was criticized by Lambda Legal -- a national civil rights organization that works on behalf of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people -- for not waiving court fees for an indigent transgender woman who could not afford to legally change her name.
The Peterson case will serve as White's judicial swan song. After nearly two decades on the bench, he has announced plans to retire in October.
THE DEFENSE
This is Brodsky's first murder trial, but the Chicago lawyer recently surrounded himself with crack criminal defenders after half his legal team left the case this year, citing conflicts. Abood told the Tribune he left because he didn't think the case was winnable with "Joel playing a significant role."
In response, Peterson sent a one-page, handwritten letter to the Tribune last week -- his first comments to the press since 2009 -- in which he praised his attorneys and downplayed any suggestion that his defense had been hampered by the recent shake-up.
It "turned out to be a blessing in disguise with Joel Brodsky assembling the finest team I have ever seen in my thirty-two years in law enforcement," Peterson wrote in a rare jailhouse letter. "I feel safe with my life in their hands."
Brodsky, who turns 53 this month, is a DePaul University law school graduate who started out in business and bankruptcy law before turning to criminal defense. The media-friendly attorney, whom Peterson retained shortly after Stacy vanished in 2007, will give the defense team's opening statement, a responsibility he insisted on handling.
Brodsky's partners include Lopez, an experienced criminal lawyer known for his vigorous defense of accused mobsters. His past client list includes mob hit man Frank Calabrese Sr., Latin King leader Fernando King and feared street boss Anthony "The Hatch" Chiaramonti.
Born and raised in Chicago's Little Italy community, the former bodybuilder with a taste for fine tequila has long amused the Chicago press corps with his colorful quips and even more colorful wardrobe. Indeed, few lawyers would be bold enough to wear bright pink socks while defending hard-boiled mobsters.
Lopez will handle closing arguments in the case.
The defense team also includes Steven A. Greenberg, a prominent defense attorney who represented child killer Brian Dugan at his death penalty hearing last year. He is known for his versatile legal skills and has worked as an analyst for the Fox News Network and CNN.
Also on the case are Ralph Meczyk, who has decades of criminal defense trial experience, and Darryl Goldberg, a young, whip-smart former City of Chicago attorney.
THE PROSECUTORS
While it may be as publicly reticent as its counterparts are gabby, the legal team prosecuting Peterson includes its own cast of characters, including a former judge, a financial whiz with a biology degree and a rising star just seven years out of law school.
They are led by Glasgow, a longtime prosecutor in his fourth elected term as state's attorney who has dubbed Peterson a "hideous B-movie stalker." He most recently took the helm in 2004, after Savio drowned in her bathtub, and hasn't been shy about criticizing his predecessor's handling of the case.
He will present prosecutors' opening statements.
His office secured a court order to exhume Savio's body after Stacy Peterson disappeared in 2007. Glasgow has said he believes Peterson killed Stacy, though Peterson has never been charged.
The task that prosecutors are facing is a tough one: convincing jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Savio was murdered -- despite her death first being ruled accidental by a coroner's jury -- and then that Peterson killed her, even with no physical evidence or eyewitnesses linking him to her death.
But the talented team of attorneys is confident of its case, planning to convey to jurors in detail how unlikely it would be for Savio to drown in her tub -- perhaps by bringing it into the courtroom -- and Savio's fear that Peterson would kill her as they battled over finances and custody of their kids.
Notre Dame graduate John Connor, a formidable prosecutor with a laid-back demeanor, has led the grand jury investigation into both Savio's death and Stacy's disappearance. Kathy Patton, who is chief of the office's felony division, is a skilled questioner able to keep an audience focused just with her tone of voice.
Nicole Moore, the fourth member of the team, joined the office in 2004, a year after graduating from Loyola University's law school. She is already a top prosecutor, spending most of her time in one of the county's busiest felony courtrooms.
Other prosecutors who will assist on the case are Robert Lorz, a respected former judge of 22 years who now heads the criminal division after retiring from the bench in 2008. Dant Foulk is a financial specialist with a biology degree who delved into the fiscal motivations Peterson had for allegedly killing Savio.
Dominica Osterberger, an appellate and post-conviction specialist, is charged with devising unassailable arguments on points of law. Ken Grey, Glasgow's chief deputy, has decades of broad legal experience.
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