Judge dismisses weapons charges against Peterson

WILL COUNTY Judge drops gun charges, erasing prison threat

November 21, 2008
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter

A jubilant Drew Peterson hugged and kissed his attorneys Thursday after they persuaded a Will County judge to dismiss two felony weapons charges that could have sent him to prison for up to five years.

"There was a potential to put me in prison for this. This is a happy day for me," Peterson said outside the Joliet courthouses after embracing his attorneys, Joel Brodsky and Andrew Abood.

The ruling by Judge Richard Schoenstedt came after prosecutors refused to turn over internal investigative documents -- including correspondence between their office and State Police -- sought by Peterson's defense team. The order means Peterson -- a former Bolingbrook cop who has been named a suspect in the 2007 unsolved disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy -- does not face any criminal charges.

Prosecutors, though, pledged to promptly appeal the dismissal, which could result in the charges of unlawful use of weapons being reinstated against the 54-year-old Peterson, who had been set to stand trial on those charges beginning Dec. 5.

"We disagree with the judge's ruling. We're very confident we'll prevail on appeal," said Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow.

But if an appellate court declines to reinstate the charges, prosecutors can't legally refile the charges, which alleged that Peterson possessed an illegally modified assault rifle.

The charges stem from a November 2007 search of his home just days after his 23-year-old wife disappeared. Police recovered about a dozen weapons from the home, including the assault rifle.

Peterson's attorneys were seeking the internal investigative documents as they prepared to argue at trial that State Police vindictively targeted Peterson for prosecution.

Peterson in February won a court order seeking the return of the weapons. But before the guns could be returned, State Police revoked his firearm owner's identification card. The weapons charges weren't filed against Peterson until May -- just before a judge was to rule on whether the guns could be given to Peterson's adult son. After Peterson was charged, he was allowed to transfer the guns to his son.

Abood suggested that prosecutors Thursday refused to hand over the documents -- even at the risk of having the weapons charges dismissed -- to avoid having to try a case he called "extremely problematic."

"They're out of the case -- and the case had a lot of problems," Abood said.
Pelkie bristled at that description, saying prosecutors were confident they could convict Peterson of the weapons charges.

Pelkie called Schoenstedt's ruling "unprecedented," saying it would have given Peterson's lawyers access to confidential internal documents, likely including e-mails and memos between police and prosecutors.

"What he [Peterson] was asking for was essentially a fishing trip," Pelkie said, adding that if unchallenged, the ruling would "have opened a Pandora's box for prosecutors in Illinois."

Peterson has insisted that Stacy voluntarily left him. The 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, is also under investigation after authorities exhumed her body, conducted a second autopsy and labeled her bathtub drowning a homicide.