Let Me Respond to Those Who Hate My Defense of Drew Peterson

Drew Peterson 

Bolingbrook, IL—In this once sleepy town outside of Chicago things were quiet and simpler.  Drew Peterson’s legend placed this suburb on the national map.  Or more precisely mishaps involving a 30-year career cop’s wives brought the nation and even Hollywood’s spotlight here.

Drew Peterson is not my friend, relative or former co-worker of mine.  I’ve only spoken with him once while having a lunch with him and his primary lawyer Joel Brodsky.   That was just two days before he was arrested.  He was polite, personable and well mannered.  I’ve not been retained as Peterson’s defense investigator, at least not yet.

I have little interest in defending this honorably retired cop other than defense investigations of the accused is what I do in order to pay my rent.  When I take on a case I'm fully committed gaining any and all evidence to help a client. 

I am however going to zealously defend Peterson's presumption of innocence, due process and the right to legal counsel.  That is just what I’ve done.

Peterson is charged with the murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio.  They were embroiled in a divorce fight for control over marital assets.   Savio was found in her locked home inside her bathtub dead.  Originally this was investigated and ruled an accident. 

Let’s argue for a moment that Dr. Michael Baden who was hired by FOX News to do a second autopsy of the woman years later is correct in his opinion that Savio was murdered.   We can only guess that Peterson did this.  A not so insignificant problem is trying to figure out how Peterson could gain entry to the house just after Savio changed the locks.  People have argued that Peterson had the motive but it appears he lacked the means and opportunity to kill Savio.   Frankly Baden’s autopsy findings are incredibly weak even if anyone was to believe them.

Stacy Peterson is this hapless cop’s fourth wife.  She, like her own mother who disappeared years earlier is missing.  Before you begin to suggest Peterson was involved with that too you need to know that they have never met.

Stacy Peterson was seeing other men including a young man from Coal City, IL who told police that Stacy told him of her desire to slip away and disappear just days before she did.  Frankly I suspect any of the men she was dating of involvement if there was foul play.  Stacy has never been found and Peterson has never been charged in connection with that disappearance.

There are those that don’t want or need evidence to convict and hang Peterson for what they claim are two murders.  That kind of due process we can expect out of Communists and Nazis.  I’d hope, only the most ignorant Americans would accept that kind of justice.  There are millions of ignorant Americans that don’t understand that they and their loved ones would eventually suffer under that kind of a dangerous police state.

Peterson will never win the title of husband of the year and neither would most cops.  Cops have a difficult life of constant conflict; occasional violence and they make lousy husbands.   Nobody ever talks about some grim realities of the notoriously high suicide rate and the inescapable fact of rampant undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder associated with this profession.  

Peterson like all of us deserves the presumption of innocence and the credit for never having been convicted of a crime in his life.  Illinois politicians made a special law just for Drew Peterson to allow hearsay evidence into an American court.  That is nothing less than shocking.  Is has the strong order of an Ex-Post-Facto law enacted after an event that is being retroactively applied in addition to it’s other frightening aspects.

Nobody including me has to like Peterson’s marital history or the way some people claim he treats women.  We are free to dislike or even hate him but when we accept the violation of his rights to a speedy trial, due process and allow for hearsay evidence we are only hurting ourselves and way of life.

I’m not really defending Drew Peterson, but myself and everyone else from bad government.  Every government in history has victimized his or her own people at one point or another.  Our own government has slipped into a police state over the last four or five decades.  It will only get worse unless we stop the slide.