Peterson's house going to auction block?
Scoopsville: Huh? Sneed hears an attorney for jailed murder suspect Drew Peterson is hoping to rent out/auction off Peterson's empty Bolingbrook home for broadcast use during his upcoming trial!
"We are thinking it could be an excellent site for a news broadcast during the trial," said attorney Walter Maksym, who filed a federal suit against JP Morgan Chase bank recently for suspending Peterson's access to his $220,000 credit line.
(AP)
"It would be a perfect place for someone like Geraldo Rivera. Don't you think?" Maksym told Sneed.
Peterson, who is in jail charged with the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, was hoping to use the credit line to post part of his bond, pay his attorneys and hire expert witnesses. The credit line was authorized in 2005 and suspended by the bank in May.
"If he can't pay for his own defense, the taxpayers could wind up paying for the enormous cost of the defense," Maksym said. "I'm not handling his murder case. I'm working with his attorney Joel Brodsky, who is vigorously defending him, and we are looking for any way possible to raise money so Peterson won't be denied a fair trial. The bank severed his credit line because Peterson is being detained for trial, and we believe it violates federal law."
Auctioneer Leslie Hindman tells Sneed she received a call from Maksym on Tuesday wondering if she might auction off "the use of Peterson's house as a site for broadcast during the trial."
Quoth Hindman: "I said, 'No. I'm not interested in doing such a thing. It would be much too weird.' "
The Peterson home, which once housed his missing fourth wife, Stacy, and four children, has been vacant since Peterson was incarcerated in May.
New developments in the Amy Jacobson case: Jacobson, a reporter for WMAQ-Channel 5 who was fired after WBBM-Channel 2 aired footage of her in a bathing suit while pursuing a story, won the first round in a lawsuit Tuesday.
•uExplanation: The woman whose home was used to secretly tape Jacobson settled out of court with Jacobson on Tuesday for an undisclosed sum. Jacobson's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, refused to comment on the settlement -- but noted the lawsuit is still going forward against CBS.
•uBackground: Jacobson filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 for airing the tape of her at the home of Craig Stebic, whose estranged wife, Lisa, has been missing since April 2007. The tape of her at Stebic's backyard pool led to her termination.
Sneed hears Gov. Quinn is going to appoint two new members to the CTA Board: John Bouman, president of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and Katie McClain, the Chicago director of the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation.
Actress Jerry Hall, mother of four of rocker Mick Jagger's children, told the Brit press recently her "pleasures are different now."
•uTranslation: "I like to garden and collect warm eggs from my chicken hutch in the morning," she said. Isn't that special.
Anthony Sowell, the former Marine whose Cleveland home was littered with the bodies of 11 dead women, has a pacemaker and requires regular heart medication.
It pays to play: Diva singer Mariah Carey was reportedly paid nearly $1.7 million to perform at the opening of a posh hotel in Turkey six months ago.
Today's birthdays: Jonathan Winters, 84; Demi Moore, 47; Leonardo DiCaprio, 35; Calista Flockhart, 45; Amy Jacobson, ageless.