Will County judge takes on Drew Peterson’s post-conviction case

A judge who once unsuccessfully challenged James Glasgow for Will County State’s Attorney almost a decade ago will now preside over one of Glasgow’s most high-profile criminal cases.

On Thursday, Judge Dave Carlson reassigned post-conviction case for Drew Peterson, 68, to his own courtroom following the retirement of former Judge Ed Burmila, according to court minutes in the case. Peterson’s case is scheduled for a status hearing on Oct. 12.

Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, is seeking to get a new trial following his conviction of the 2004 murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40. Burmila was the judge in that trial in 2012.

Carlson once worked as a prosecutor in the state’s attorney’s office for both Jeff Tomczak and Glasgow in the early 2000s. In 2012, Carlson ran as a Republican challenger to Glasgow, a Democrat, but lost.

During the race, the “Chicago Tribune” published article where Carlson was quoted saying Glasgow was “rusty” in his prosecution of Peterson and committed errors that caused Burmila to consider a mistrial.

Glasgow was quoted saying he took on the case because he was integral to its development and because of Peterson’s smirking contempt for the police investigation.

After Carlson lost his state’s attorney bid, he was appointed as an associate judge in 2013.

Burmila had sent the Peterson case back to Carlson for reassignment to a new judge on Aug. 12, because of his impending retirement. As the presiding judge of the Will County Courthouse felony division, Carlson can assign cases to other judges or himself.

Burmila’s May 19 gag order for Peterson’s former attorney, Joel Brodsky, is still in effect.

The gag order prevents Brodsky from talking about his representation of Peterson to the media or anyone other than his own attorney. Brodsky appealed the gag order to the Third District Appellate Court in Ottawa.

Peterson’s new attorneys requested a gag order after Brodsky said in a WGN-TV interview that he was thinking about disclosing the location of Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since 2007.

Peterson’s attorneys contended Brodsky – a potential witness – could jeopardize the fairness and integrity of their client’s post-conviction proceedings.

As of Monday, the appellate court has not made a decision on the gag order, according to Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Byrne.

On Aug. 11, the appellate court upheld a Will County court decision to rule in favor a pension board’s decision to terminate Peterson’s pension benefits.

The ruling said the pension board’s determination that Peterson’s murder of Savio was related to or connected to his service as a police officer was not erroneous and supported by the manifest weight of the evidence.