Kathleen Savio: Listening to a voice long silent

Peterson murder case hinges on words of his drowned wife

By Erika Slife, Matthew Walberg and Jeff Coen

Tribune reporters
May 10, 2009

Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow called the case against Drew Peterson the biggest of his career, one he will prosecute himself...

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But the evidence likely will be circumstantial. There are no known witnesses.

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And prosecutors are expected to rely on a new Illinois statute -- one that Glasgow sought for months and that some call Drew's Law -- to allow Peterson's slain ex-wife, Kathleen Savio, to "testify from beyond the grave."

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Peterson's defense team has vowed to challenge the law -- which would allow a judge to admit certain hearsay evidence into court -- as unconstitutional."They've got problems," said Peterson attorney Andrew Abood. "You don't do 18 months of a grand jury investigation with a strong case. They're going to have problems with cause of death, as well as who done it."

Glasgow -- who has never commented on whether the new hearsay law directly pertained to the Peterson case -- declined last week to discuss the evidence against the former Bolingbrook police officer. Some attorneys and legal experts believe that prosecutors will face hurdles but that the obstacles will not be insurmountable. Juries tend to like circumstantial cases, they said, playing detective and feeling like they're "solving" the case.

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Others said that when prosecutors present a case without eyewitness testimony or a damning statement from the defendant, they often find themselves facing a skeptical jury."Juries tend to want a more tightly constructed case if it's entirely circumstantial," said attorney Mark Rotert, a former state and federal prosecutor now in private practice.

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There are no known witnesses to the death of Savio...what is known is that she and Peterson were in the midst of a contentious divorce when she died. Their fights -- some physical -- are outlined in Bolingbrook police reports and letters that Savio wrote to a former assistant state's attorney and to an ex-TV news anchor.

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Her sister told the coroner's jury that Savio believed if something should happen to her, her death would only look like an accident.

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Under the new hearsay law, which took effect in December, Glasgow could ask a judge to admit Savio's letters and alleged statements to friends and family into court. He would have to prove to the judge by a preponderance of evidence that Peterson murdered Savio to keep her from testifying against him, that Savio's statements are credible and that the best interests of the court would be served if the statements were admitted into evidence."

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It allows testimony from the grave, so to speak, about threats of violence made toward the victim," said defense attorney Lawrence Wolf Levin. But he said Glasgow would be taking a risk by relying on a law that could face legal challenges. Opponents of admissible hearsay argue that it goes against the 6th Amendment, which reads, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him."

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"Nobody really knows whether this law will stand up and what its final viability will be," Levin said. A higher court could see it as a denial of due process and strike it down, making the Peterson case even harder to prove.

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There's another unusual aspect to the case: Two official autopsies were performed on Savio.

State police immediately decided her death was not suspicious, and -- based on a state trooper's testimony -- a coroner's jury concluded she accidentally drowned. But after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in October 2007, Glasgow reopened the investigation into Savio's death. Her body was exhumed for the second autopsy, and the results, Glasgow later said, confirmed his suspicion she had been murdered.

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Records from the investigation and second autopsy indicate that a small gash on the back of Savio's head was an attempt to make her death look like an accident, authorities say. She had bruises on both shins and her lower abdomen and abrasions on her hand, wrist and arms, according to the original autopsy report.Defense attorney Steve Greenberg, who has analyzed the Peterson saga for national news shows, said he sees the case as a tale of two autopsies.

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"The second Savio autopsy is just a different interpretation of the injuries," he said. "The same injuries were documented in the first one, but what apparently happened is it was treated differently because Drew Peterson was a police officer. It's just a fact that authorities at the time took his story and didn't really look into it."

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Greenberg said he doesn't expect Glasgow will undercut his own case by running from the first autopsy, however. "He'll say, 'That was just that pathologist's opinion at the time, but it's really up to you to decide,'" he said. Glasgow will then point to the injuries noted in both autopsies and ask the jury to use common sense.

"He'll ask, 'Do you think that someone who falls in a bathtub would have 17 bruises on their body?' "But Peterson's legal team expresses confidence a jury will be unable to reconcile why a second autopsy, or investigation, would indicate murder.

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"We believe that the death was accidental," Abood said, "and we have an autopsy to support that, along with a county coroner's investigation."

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Peterson, 55, now sits alone in a Will County Jail cell awaiting a May 18 arraignment, but he drew a lot of attention to the case, partly because of his penchant for courting the tabloids and young women. His attorneys said they will reserve the right to ask for a change of venue.

Video

Related links
Mary Schmich: Drew who? Exactly.
Peterson jokes at hearing, families on edge
The Peterson investigation Photos
Drew vs. the media Photos
Drew Peterson video Video
Kathleen Savio Photos
Drew Peterson's indictment (pdf)
Drew Peterson news
Peterson case timeline

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"I don't think this case got any more publicity in Will County than it did anywhere else in the Chicago area, or the state," Greenberg said, "and you also have to remember that it's not where you're leaving, but where will you go."

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The case could land in a worse place for Peterson, he said: "Is a Peoria jury going to be any better for him? Probably not. Probably it's even more conservative."Regardless of where the case is tried, the key could be whether Savio's letters and alleged statements are entered into trial.

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Her family is confident the truth about what happened will come out in court, and that it could be Savio who helps prosecutors solve the case." Kathleen was a very determined woman," said her niece Melissa Doman, "and it's becoming apparent that she can't be silenced from the grave."