Peterson grins as felony weapons charge fails again

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A Will County judge for the second time has dismissed a felony weapons charge filed against former Bolingbrook police officer Drew Peterson.

The ruling Friday by Judge Richard Schoenstedt prompted a broad grin from Peterson, though the 56-year-old ex-cop still remains jailed on charges he drowned third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004.

But the decision could help his police officer son, Stephen, who faces dismissal from the Oak Brook Police Department for allegedly taking the modified AR-15 rifle from his father before a search of Drew Peterson's Bolingbrook home in November 2007.

Oak Brook police in August suspended Stephen Peterson from his job after he acknowledged taking the rifle and at least one other gun from his father just after the Oct. 28, 2007, disappearance of Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy.

Schoenstedt's dismissal of the gun charge bolsters Stephen Peterson's contention that he did nothing wrong in holding the guns for his father for several days after Stacy Peterson's disappearance, said attorney Tamara Cummings.

"It pretty much supports our position -- there never was anything improper about him taking the guns," said Cummings, who represents Stephen Peterson.

In dismissing the weapons charge against Drew Peterson, Schoenstedt ruled that prosecutors hadn't shown he was barred from owning the short-barrel, assault-style AR-15 rifle.

"Under different circumstances, the officers of the Bolingbrook Police Department would have been able to possess ... this very weapon," Schoenstedt wrote in his ruling.

Defense attorneys had argued that Peterson as a police officer was allowed by federal law to own the weapon, which they said he used in his law enforcement duties.

"It was absolutely the correct decision to make," said Joel Brodsky, one of Peterson's attorneys.

Will County prosecutors in May 2008 charged Drew Peterson with felony unlawful use of a weapon, contending he had illegally modified the rifle by shortening the barrel.

Schoenstedt, however, dismissed that charge in November 2008, though prosecutors appealed his ruling. An appellate court later reinstated the charge and sent the case back to Schoenstedt.

Prosecutors could still appeal the judge's latest dismissal of the charge, though a spokesman for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said no decision has been made.

Peterson's pending murder trial has been delayed by an appeal from prosecutors seeking to admit second-hand, hearsay statements against him from several key witnesses, including Savio herself.

Peterson remains a suspect in Stacy Peterson's still-unsolved disappearance but has not been charged.