On Monday, lawyers of Drew Peterson filed a motion to dismiss the wrongful lawsuit in which the former police officer was convicted of first degree murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004.
The jury delivered the surprising verdict on Thursday. The verdict came as a surprise solely because it was the first murder trial based largely upon hearsay evidence.
The verdict was one of its kind for the Illinois justice system, as it is the first case allowed to continue purely on hearsay or "Drew's Law," a term coined as a result of the Peterson case. In fact it was for this very reason that the case faced chances of a mistrial, not once, but three times. The first two times was because defense attorney Joel Brodsky called for the case to be dismissed on grounds of mistakes committed by prosecutors. The third time it was the defense that withdrew their petition for a mistrial before the judge could rule.
On Friday, the 12 jurors who convicted Drew Peterson of first-degree murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio held a news conference in Joliet, Illinois.
One juror, Ron Supalo told Fox News that he has uneasy about the decision the remaining 11 jurors had concluded. In the end, he agreed with the remaining team and voted the 58-year-old former police officer to be guilty.
Supalo told Fox News, "We (the jurors) weren't the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "Right or wrong, this was the hearsay law, and we had to use it in this case."
Peterson could be facing up to 60 years in prison, since Illinois does not have the death penalty. Peterson will face his sentencing on November 26.
In closing arguments of the five-week trial, the defense reiterated its fundamental argument throughout the case, which was that prosecutors were basing their accusations on hearsay evidence. Defense attorney, Brodsky has constantly argued that prosecutors only possess hearsay evidence and lack any physical evidence to incriminate Peterson.
If the judge rejects the petition to dismiss the case, Brodsky is likely to appeal the verdict. One of the Peterson lawyers went so far as to say that they were willing to the case right up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Thursday, after 13 hours of deliberation a jury of 12 found former police officer Drew Peterson guilty of murdering his third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004.
Peterson was a former sergeant in the Bolingbrook Police Department in Illinois. In 2007 he became the chief suspect for the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. The Search for Stacy led the police to discover the body of Savio, who was found in her dried bathtub in 2004.
