Ex-attorney for Drew Peterson mounts new challenge to gag order

A former attorney for convicted killer Drew Peterson is seeking to once again challenge his gag order that prohibits him from publicly talking about his former client’s case.

Since 2022, Joel Brodsky has been under a gag order to not disclose attorney-client communication in the case that resulted in Peterson’s conviction of the 2004 murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in Bolingbrook.

The gag order was issued to Brodsky after Peterson petitioned in 2021 to overturn his murder conviction. No decision has been made on Peterson’s petition because his attorneys continue to evaluate the issue of Peterson’s mental fitness.

Brodsky’s previous challenges to his gag order have been rejected by retired Will County Judge Dave Carlson and current Judge Jessica Colón-Sayre.

But Brodsky has mounted a new challenge to his gag order, as well as a second gag order, in a Sept. 16 motion. In that motion, Brodsky claims the 2022 gag order and the new one imposed this year violate his constitutional right to free speech.

Brodsky’s motion claims the “only interest” served by the gag orders is to “shield the legal system from criticism.”

Colón-Sayre may issue a ruling on Brodsky’s new motion on Oct. 10.

Since participating in a NewsNation interview earlier this year on the Peterson case, Brodsky has been defending himself in an indirect criminal contempt case filed against him.

Brodsky has filed a Sept. 18 motion to move that case to either Cook County or another county other than Will County.

Brodsky’s motion argues he won’t receive a fair trial in Will County because of the publicity surrounding the Peterson case. He further argues his trial would be unfair because the witnesses against him are attorneys for the county.

Colón-Sayre may make a decision on that motion as well on Oct. 10.