The murder trial of former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson came to a close Thursday with the delivery of a guilty verdict from the jury.
After nearly 14 hours of deliberations, jurors announced Thursday afternoon that they had found Peterson guilty in the death of Kathleen Savio, his third wife.
Peterson, 58, pleaded not guilty to murdering Savio, whose body was found in a dry bathtub in 2004. He remains the lone suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife Stacy Peterson.
Why do I have the feeling, this won't be the last we hear of Drew Peterson.
Dime to a dollar says the appeal is already in the works and that this will climb all the way to the Supreme Court, just because of the legality of the "Hearsay law" alone.
After the verdict was delivered, defense attorneys decried the conviction's basis on hearsay evidence, and reasserted Peterson's innocence, calling Savio's death "a household accident."
Drew Peterson was arrested for Savio's murder in 2009, under an Illinois law passed in direct connection with this case. The "hearsay law" allowed judges to admit hearsay evidence in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a victim's death was directly connected to a defendant's efforts to prevent them from testifying.
I see this still as an, open window of opportunity,
I'm just not comfortable with this. It does set a precedent, for future use. I know people that lie through their teeth and get their friends to back them, to get their own way.
Unreasonable doubt means the smoking gun, not no evidence and convicted on hearsay being made into a legal law. It's scary to actually think they made it a law.
You better think Guantanamo bay, coz, that's where this law leads to.
(Taken from an earlier article)
Because of a botched initial investigation, detectives collected no fingerprints, strands of hair or any other physical evidence in the death of Peterson's third wife. So Illinois legislators passed a law aimed specifically at the former suburban Chicago police officer. That allowed prosecutors to pursue a conviction based substantially on statements Peterson's ex-wives made to friends and acquaintances.
