The case against Drew Peterson: Testimony from 'beyond the grave'
STRATEGY | Prosecutors plan to use 'hearsay' statements from murdered wife
Crucial evidence against Drew Peterson when he stands trial for the murder of third wife Kathleen Savio could come from Savio herself -- and possibly even from Peterson's still-missing fourth wife, Stacy.
Will County prosecutors plan to use statements Savio purportedly made to relatives and others about threats from Peterson to bolster their allegations that the former Bolingbrook police officer drowned her in a bathtub in 2004.
A new state law enacted last year with the support of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow makes it easier to use "hearsay'' statements from victims who were allegedly killed to prevent them from testifying against their attackers.
"You're letting someone testify from beyond the grave,'' Glasgow said of the law enacted last November, which was referred to informally in Springfield as the "Drew Peterson bill'' because of its ties to the high-profile case.
The statements of Savio and Stacy Peterson may be critical -- though some legal experts question the constitutionality of the new law -- because authorities apparently have little physical or forensic evidence tying Peterson to his third wife's death.
There are no signs of forced entry to the Bolingbrook home where Savio died; her death originally was ruled an accident, not a murder, and defense attorneys have hinted that a teenage son of Savio and Peterson will provide an alibi for him.
Peterson was returning the couple's two sons to Savio on March 1, 2004, when she was discovered dead in an empty tub, her hair streaked with blood from a cut. Investigators initially concluded she had bumped her head and drowned before the water drained from the tub.
After Stacy Peterson vanished in October 2007, investigators reopened Savio's case. Citing a second autopsy done after her body was exhumed, they ultimately concluded she had been murdered.
Among the steps State Police investigators took during that probe was to yank the bathtub from the house for analysis. It is expected to be shown to jurors who hear the case.
In announcing the murder charges against Drew Peterson, Glasgow acknowledged that prosecutors plan to introduce as evidence statements made by Savio in the months before she was slain.
Savio told relatives she feared Peterson because of threats he allegedly had made against her. The couple had recently divorced, though they had yet to formally divide their financial assets.
"The court can allow those statements in at trial,'' Glasgow contends.
Even statements allegedly made by Stacy Peterson to her church pastor in the weeks before she disappeared could be used against Peterson during the trial of his third wife, authorities said.
A suburban minister has claimed that before she vanished, Stacy Peterson confided to him during counseling sessions that Drew Peterson had admitted to her that he had killed Savio.
A spokesman for Glasgow wouldn't comment on those statements, but another suburban prosecutor who backed the change in state law said he thinks Stacy Peterson's comments to her pastor would be allowed as evidence at Drew Peterson's trial under the new law.
"The pastor's testimony should come in unfettered,'' said DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett.
The law faces serious constitutional questions, some legal experts said. A similar federal law was struck down last year. The state law could face the same fate because it appears to unfairly limit a defendant's right to cross-examine an accuser, DePaul University law Professor Leonard Cavise said.
"It should fall flat on its face,'' he said.
Drew Peterson's attorneys have publicly cited evidence that is generally inadmissible in court: polygraph tests.
In television interviews Friday, defense attorney Joel Brodsky repeatedly claimed Peterson's innocence by noting that he passed a lie detector test when questioned on the details of Savio's suspicious death.
"He passed that polygraph exam 100 percent,'' Brodsky said on ABC's "Good Morning America.''
Glasgow plans to be part of the legal team prosecuting Peterson and said he is optimistic about its outcome.
"We're very confident in our case,'' Glasgow said.