Peterson gets new judge
JOLIET — Another day, another judge for the Drew Peterson murder case.
Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes was removed from the case against the former Bolingbrook cop and alleged wife killer during a Monday morning hearing.
(Herald News File)
Chief Judge Gerald Kinney replaced Policandriotes with Judge Stephen White. White is the third judge to catch the case since Peterson’s indictment and arrest less than a month ago.
State’s Attorney James Glasgow got the removal of the first judge, Richard Schoenstedt. Peterson’s lawyer, Joel Brodsky, then moved to get a substitute for Schoenstedt’s replacement, Policandriotes.
Brodsky also requested that Policandriotes not be replaced by Judge Daniel Rozak, claiming he “fears he will not receive a fair and impartial trial” from either judge.
E-mailing media
Prior to the hearing, Brodsky furiously e-mailed media outlets trying to get more publicity for the case.
Peterson faces a pair of first-degree murder charges in connection with the March 2004 apparent bathtub drowning of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Peterson is also the sole suspect in what state police have termed the “potential homicide” of his missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.
Stacy vanished in October 2007. Peterson claims she ran off with another man. The young mother’s friends and family have steadfastly insisted she was the victim of foul play and believe Peterson did her in.
Thursday motions
Thursday morning, after getting the call from Chief Judge Gerald Kinney, White scheduled a hearing for Wednesday afternoon, during which time prosecutors will try to convince the judge to forbid attorneys from releasing information contained in discovery evidence.
Glasgow also will attempt to prevent Brodsky from playing cards with Peterson during his jailhouse visits.
Glasgow first raised the issue in a motion he filed last week in which he said Brodsky was caught playing cards with Peterson during a May 24 visit. The supposed card game was only possible because of special treatment allotted to Peterson last month.
Kinney had granted Brodsky permission to meet with Peterson in unlimited face-to-face “contact visits,” a privilege Glasgow said Brodsky is abusing.
“It is the position of the state that a card game is not an appropriate use of the contact order,” Glasgow said in his motion. He also said Kinney’s order “singles out Drew Peterson for preferential treatment as opposed to other inmates” in the county jail.
Peterson, who is in custody on a $20 million bond, is being held in his own cell away from other inmates. A spokesman for the sheriff’s department said Peterson is being kept out of the jail’s general population due to the notoriety of his case and because he is a former police officer.