People v. Peterson

Drew Peterson, was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his third ex-wife, Kathleen Savio and sentenced to 38 years’ imprisonment. Savio’s body was discovered in her bathtub in 2004 and her death was initially determined to be an accidental drowning. After the disappearance of Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, Savio’s body was exhumed and the cause of death was determined to be a homicide. The appellate court and Illinois Supreme Court affirmed Peterson’s conviction and sentence, noting that there was no challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. The courts upheld the admission at trial of testimony about prior bad acts and of testimony about hearsay statements made by Savio and Stacy. The court applied the forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine, which permits the introduction of an absent witness’s statements where the defendant engaged in conduct designed to prevent the witness from testifying. The court rejected arguments that counsel rendered ineffective assistance when he called attorney Smith as a witness at trial, to testify about Smith’s conversation with Stacy concerning Peterson’s involvement in Savio’s death and that Smith’s testimony should have been barred by the attorney-client privilege. Defense counsel was not operating under a per se conflict of interest despite having signed a media contract. View "People v. Peterson" on Justia Law