By Joe Hosey
Sun-Times Media
DuPAGE COUNTY, Ill. — Is Drew Peterson getting out of jail?
At least one of his lawyers says there’s no doubt the notorious former Bolingbrook cop will be free by the end of today, the day his murder trial was supposed to start.
“That’s the law,” said Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky, who on Wednesday hand-delivered to Judge Stephen White a motion for Peterson’s immediate release based on the prosecution’s request to delay the trial.
Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow on Wednesday, the eve of the long-awaited trial, sought a trial delay while he awaits an appellate court ruling on hearsay evidence.
Glasgow’s appeal was based on a recent Illinois Supreme Court ruling upholding a DuPage County death penalty case in which hearsay evidence played a key role in the defendant’s conviction.
Brodsky insisted that the appeal could linger for as long as six months, and that Peterson, who is charged with murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, should be free while the matter is pending.
Brodsky said he came to this conclusion after having his “crack legal team working on it” and that “the consensus is yes, [Peterson should be freed] immediately, without bond.”
But one member of the legal team, Joseph “The Shark” Lopez, wasn’t so sure. “I’ve been doing some research on it. It’s not so clear-cut,” Lopez said. “It’s an uphill battle. We expect the state to come out blazing to keep him in.”
Brodsky and Lopez agreed that by filing the appeal, Glasgow “chickened out” just before the start of the trial.
“The day before the trial, on the eve of the trial, when they’re eyeball to eyeball, they blinked,” Brodsky said.
Glasgow lashed back when told of the chicken talk, angrily snapping, “What else would they say?”
“They think everything’s a big joke, everything’s funny.
“There’s nothing funny about this,” he said, pointing out that, no matter what, Peterson’s third wife is dead and his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, has been missing and presumed murdered for nearly three years.
“There’s not a single person who’s going to call me a chicken. That’s not going to happen,” Glasgow said.
Lopez said he and Brodsky will argue for Peterson’s release this morning.
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