Currently serving a 38-year prison sentence for killing his third wife Kathleen Savio, Drew Peterson did not appear at the Will County Criminal Courthouse Wednesday morning as several hearings got underway.
The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office asked for a special prosecutor to handle a case involving Peterson’s former attorney Joel Brodsky, who they said violated a 2022 gag order.
The judge accepted the motion to appoint a special prosecutor in the case. The state said the reason for the recusal is that Brodsky may be called as a witness to future post-conviction proceedings.
The state believes Brodsky violated the order by speaking to the media and violated his attorney client privilege.
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“Anybody who wants can go on YouTube and watch the video and tell me where there I violated the attorney client privilege,” Brodsky said.
Though Brodsky denies the allegations in court, the state wants him held in contempt of court. Brodsky filed a motion to dismiss the petition.
“Judge Carlson seems to think this gentleman from the appellate defender’s office will use his discretion and look at everything and make a determination,” he said. “I would hope that he realizes what’s right in front of your face, that there’s no violation of the court order.”
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Meanwhile, Peterson is fighting to get his conviction overturned, saying he did not receive effective counsel and that his former attorney did not allow him to testify. Peterson wants a new trial.
“The public defender hasn’t even amended that, this is still the proceedings on the hand written pro se post-conviction petition filed by Peterson,” he said. “So why they haven’t amended, why they haven’t gone ahead with the motions to dismissed it—there must be something going on.”
Peterson’s team wants doctors to do an evaluation to see if he’s mentally fit and whether his recent national media interview could be used as part of the evaluation. The judge quashed the subpoena request for the footage.
The judge said the plan for the next hearing is to go over the evaluation and if deemed necessary, bring Peterson to court.
The next court hearing for Peterson and his former attorney is scheduled for April 1.
