According to some at long last, on Thursday of this week, Former Illinois Police Officer, Drew Walter Peterson was convicted of the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. To secure the conviction in the Peterson case, the law in the State of Illinois had to be changed before the Prosecutor’s Office would bring charges against Drew Peterson. Was justice served in the Drew Peterson case? I am not so certain that justice was served in the Drew Peterson. What are your thoughts on the guilty verdict in the Drew Peterson case?
In Peterson’s trial, prosecutors relied on normally barred secondhand hearsay statements to convict the former Illinois police officer of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Illinois passed a law in 2008, dubbed “Drew’s Law,” making the evidence admissible at trials in rare circumstances. Witnesses at Peterson’s first-degree murder trial testified about what Savio told them before she died in 2004 and what his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, said before she vanished in 2007.
After the trial, jurors shared with the press that they heavily relied on the hearsay statements in reaching the guilty verdict in the Drew Peterson case.
Here are the statements that juror relied on to convict the Former Illinois Police Officer, Drew Walter Peterson, of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio:
“‘I could kill you and make it look like an accident.’”
“According to Savio’s friend Kristin Anderson, these were the words of Drew Peterson to Savio as he put a knife to her throat, “She said that Drew told her he was going to kill her, she was not going to make it to the divorce settlement, she would not get his pension or his children.”
“Anna Doman testifying about what Savio, her sister, told her six weeks before she was found dead.”
“‘Why don’t you just die?’”
“The words of Drew Peterson after he broke into Savio’s house, grabbed her by the throat and pinned her down a year before she was found dead, according to Savio friend, Mary Parks.”
“Kathy told me that her husband … had told her that he could kill her and make her disappear.”
“Mary Parks testifying about what Savio said Drew Peterson told her.”
“She wanted to know if the fact that he killed Kathy (Savio) could be used against him.”
“Divorce attorney Harry Smith testifying about a conversation with Stacy Peterson days before she disappeared in 2007. She told him she was convinced Drew Peterson killed Savio three years earlier.”
What are your thoughts on the guilty verdict in the Drew Peterson case?
Source(s): “Examples of Hearsay Statements From Peterson,” By The Associated Press, Joliet, Ill. September 7, 2012 (AP). ABC News.
Photo credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Recent Comments