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Attorneys for former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson are still working through discovery in his petition for a new trial after his 2012 conviction for killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
There has been no ruling yet on whether there will be a new trial for Peterson, who turned 69 in January.
On Tuesday, both parties in the case told Will County Judge Dave Carlson they agreed to a new court hearing for Oct. 26. Jason Strzelecki, one of Peterson’s attorneys, said they were still working on discovery needed to support their claims in his client’s petition for a new trial.
The Oct. 26 date will mark two years since Peterson filed a hand-written petition that claimed he was denied effective counsel and that his lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, did not allow him to testify on his own behalf during his 2012 jury trial. That jury convicted Peterson of first-degree murder in Savio’s death.
Peterson has remained incarcerated at an undisclosed location. In 2021, The Herald-News obtained a letter that revealed he was at one point locked up at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana.
Peterson has not been present for the 19 court hearings that have been held in Will County since he filed his post-conviction petition.
Since Peterson filed his petition, Brodsky claimed to WGN-TV in Chicago that he was going reveal “what happened” to Stacy Peterson, Drew Peterson’s fourth wife, who vanished in 2007. However, retired Judge Ed Burmila entered a gag order against Brodsky.
The gag order was requested for Peterson’s attorneys, who were concerned Brodsky would jeopardize their bid for a new trial. The 3rd Appellate Court in Ottawa upheld the gag order against Brodsky.
Following Burmila’s retirement from the bench last year, Carlson, who was the Republican candidate for state’s attorney in 2012 and lost to incumbent Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, chose to take on the Peterson case himself.
Glasgow led the prosecution team in Peterson’s 2012 trial.