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Will County Sheriff's Office / AP file
Drew Peterson is shown in a May 2009 booking photo.
Updated 4:00 p.m. ET: The judge presiding over the Drew Peterson murder trial ended court early Wednesday to give defense attorneys time to consider whether they still want to pursue a mistrial after a question to a witness from prosecutors prompted jurors to be escorted out the courtroom, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Judge Edward Burmila asked Peterson's defense team to consider the testimony of Thomas Pontarelli be stricken from the record as part of a compromise to their motion for a mistrial with prejudice. If granted, Peterson could not be retried again on the same charges.
During the trial in Joliet, Ill., Will County Assistant State's Attorney Kathleen Patton asked Pontarelli about Peterson being angry with him for helping his ex-wife, Kathleen Savio, change some locks in her home.
Peterson, a former Chicago-area police officer, is on trial for the murder of Savio, who was found dead in her bathtub in 2004.
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Patton asked Pontarelli, who lived next door to Savio, if he had felt intimidated by Peterson. Pontarelli replied he had been, saying "yes ... he accused me of changing the locks. I said I didn't, but I got his message yesterday. "
Asked what the "message" was, Pontarelli told jurors about a 2004 incident where he found a .38-caliber bullet in his driveway, prompting outrage by defense attorney Steven Greenberg.
Greenberg immediately objected, the Tribune reported.
After Pontarelli and the jurors left the courtroom, Burmila asked Patton if she would be able to demonstrate that Peterson had been the one who left the bullet.
She told him she could not.
"What is the purpose of you trying to let the jury think that Mr. Peterson put a bullet in the driveway of Mr. Pontarelli." Burmila told Patton. "Why would you do that? You are going to leave the jury with the impression that the defendant put it there."
"This is not negligence or over zealotry, this is intentional," Greenberg said.
Drew Peterson trial: No hit man testimony allowed, judge rules
Prosecutors argued they had not tried to poison the jury.
Burmila told prosecutors the statement about the bullet was not supported by any evidence and that their actions were "very troubling."
"The state's argument makes absolutely no sense to the court whatsoever," he said.
Savio's death was initially ruled an accident, but suspicions were raised after the disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, in 2007.
Her body has never been found and she is presumed dead. Peterson maintains that she ran away with another man.
The trial has been a heated contest between both sides from the start, with the defense motioning for a mistrial on the first day and prosecutors making 25 objections during the defense's opening statement.
Pontarelli testified that he helped Savio install a deadbolt lock on her bedroom door in 2002. He said Peterson asked him not to help his ex-wife and to not change the locks on the front door, to which Pontarelli said he did not do.
Earlier this week Pontarelli's wife, Mary, testified her son had changed the locks to Savio's front door.
Thomas Pontarelli told jurors of an incident while helping Savio move some of Peterson's belongings into the garage one day, when Peterson arrived and told him "Any friend of hers is an enemy of mine."
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Pontarelli recalled the night that he, Mary, his son Nick and Peterson discovered Savio's body. He said he entered the bathroom after hearing a scream and saw her lying in a clean, and "pristine" bathtub.
He testified that after Peterson checked her pulse, he made a phone call, telling the person on the other line "people were going to think he did it."
The Tribune reported defense attorney Joel Brodsky would not say whether the trial would continue.
"The ball is always in the the judge's court," he said.
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Leave a Comment:
Could we get some competent attorneys to put this predator away?
No kidding. I think this guy killed at least two wives, however, that line of questioning seems like it may set him free again. If I were the defense, I would decline that compromise outright since he has a good chance at getting off on appeal if the judge does not toss the case.
it would have been nice if we had competent non crooked cops who investigated too.
When your entire case is based on hearsay, rumor, innuendo, suppositions, and speculation, what does it matter if you put in a few lies ?
I hope this judge does toss this case. It is way past time for someone to stand up for the rule of law.
This is in the state of Illinois where the politicians are all Democrats. This is in the Chicago area which has been declared the most politically corrupt city in the nation. Illinois Democrats do not appoint competent people. Illinois Democrats play "pay to play". The Chicago Drug Gangs shoot several people each day and Obama doesn't care. He goes to Colorado for an ugly event that is no less ugly than a week's violence in Illinois. Illinois is the land that criminals love. The top Dem is Obama! Thinks about it.
I sorry but i think he guilty of taken 2 to 3 or more lives.Those he killed never had a chance to live.Why should he.
Corruption can be found anywhere, unfortunately. It's stupid to blame it on one political party, city, or the president because it is EVERYWHERE.
It would be nice if society viewed women as people instead of objects, then maybe so many men wouldn't be killing their wives and girlfriends.
IF women didn't treat themselves as objects then maybe you would have a point.
But as long as women insist on acting like property to be dressed up, repainted, remodeled, refinished, reupholstered, and wearing those stupid high heel shoes your point is moot.
Have you seen the TV programs, the magazines, the pervasive all encompassing surround sound actions of women looking to auction themselves off?
flip
Just because women treat themselves as objects does not mean men have to. And most REAL men don't.
flipspiceland - Women do all that crap you mention to ATTRACT men! The competition is fierce, and women outnumber men in most places. Maybe if more men would stop expecting their girls to look like Playboy models and stop offering to pay for them to have plastic surgery, women would not resort to such measures. Regardless, no woman, no matter what she looks like or dresses like, deserves to be abused or even killed by her mate.
Hot-in Miami
As long as you are concerned with being HOT(to the point you have to tell people you are)that is what you will get. Those men that want HOT and nothing else and those are the dangerous ones. You do not HAVE to be anything other than what you want to be, try being yourself and not a hot playboy model. I think you would be surprised who would be attracted to you then-but be ready for a real relationship with some depth. I am surprised your parents did not tell you that-or perhaps they did and you did not listen. And in that case I just got ignored as well.
First most jurors are just like, well, me. Second most jurors have a lot more common sense than most lawyers(if not intelligence). Third present the evidence and don't TELL me, as a juror, what it means, let me determine what it means. But then I have been called but never selected. I don't fit the system. Thank God! Dumb bast---- every one.
And the fix is in!
Drew Peterson is a dirt bag.. He killed two of his wives and would kill again if he could. He, as his attorneys do too, feel he is above the law.. Huh..... Oh yea, Drew is the law...
Don't give me this Chicago, Obama did it @!$%#.... Grow up.. Drew Peterson did it. I don't care if he lives in Alaska......... Doesn't matter
Jamie Alvarez get a grip......
I would love to smack that smirk off his face.
I think Drew Peterson is a dirt bag. He probably did kill 2 people. But we don't convict people on being dirt bags and on probablys. He deserves a fair trial just like you'd like to have if you were accused of killing two people.
If the prosecution is so stupid as to try to sneak in implied evidence in a case where he's already got the jury lined up against him and with rules that let them bring in hearsay "evidence," then they deserve whatever they get. If that means Drew walks, then I guess he does. That doesn't mean anyone is going to believe him when he says he didn't do it (need an example: OJ Simpson comes to mind - found not guilty but it didn't change my beliefs).
So, where is the ax lady Nancy Grace when the world needs her???
out constitution is safe, nancy grace retired.
OK, I am a civil (LOL) attorney and claim NO expertise in criminal procedure. First Mr. Pontarelli's (neighbor) testimony is NOT hearsay. Hearsay would be if Pontarelli claimed his missus found the freaking bullet, why? Because she as the declarant is AVAILABLE to testify. I would guess the objections are due to the nature of the testimony not being corroborated and prejudicial to the defendant. Hearsay testimony has plenty of rules as to admission, one of which is the unavailability of the declarant, ie Kathleen, Stacey.
Be that as that may I would also guess Mr. Potarelli didn't call the police about the bullet cuz the defendant was the police and had already threatened numerous people, 2 of whom are dead. A criminal lawyer could opine on this better, but the guy saw the bullet and was intimidated. It consists of a witness providing character evidence, again unsubstantiated.
The defense is messing with the system also with trying the case in the media.They are playing the OJ defense, don't get me going on that one. From what has been written the behavior of a witness,the defendant and the defense attorneys in the courtroom is at best disrespectful and worst just disgusting. Although folks do laugh because of the tension in a case, that should be kept OUT of the courtroom.
The trial is slowly unfolding, give the prosecution a chance, most cases consist only of circumstantial evidence, CSI is a fairy tale world. Peterson may walk, however, unless Stacey magically appears, they are doing their best with the case they have. And the defense game is to villify the victim, Kathleen. Just my two cents.