Victim to speak `from the grave' in Peterson case

[samanthajane13]

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer Don Babwin, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 46 mins ago

JOLIET, Ill. – Six years after she mysteriously drowned in a bathtub, Kathleen Savio is finally getting her day in court.

Savio essentially will testify from the grave Tuesday, with witnesses expected to tell a judge in Illinois how Savio discussed and wrote about her fears that her husband, former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, would kill her.

The hearing is expected to provide the first detailed look at evidence prosecutors contend ties Peterson to Savio's death. It stems from a state law that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence — testimony from witnesses who recount what they heard from others — in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a defendant killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying.

The Illinois Legislature passed the law after authorities named Peterson a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then exhumed the body of Savio, his third wife, and reopened the investigation into her 2004 death. Though the bill's sponsors were careful never to link the law publicly to Peterson, it has been referred to as "Drew's Law," and his attorneys have long suggested it was passed to put Peterson behind bars.

During the hearing, which is expected to last three weeks, prosecutors will present to Will County Judge Stephen White about 60 witnesses to testify about 15 hearsay statements. White will then decide if the jury can hear any or all of those statements when Peterson stands trial. Peterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Savio, whose body was found in a dry tub. A trial date hasn't been set.

While neither side has talked much about the evidence in the case, from the day Peterson was arrested, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow has made it clear that allowing Savio to tell jurors why Peterson wanted her dead is crucial to his case.

"In essence, what you're basically allowing the victim of a violent crime to do is testify from the grave," Glasgow, who pushed for passage of the bill, told reporters in May shortly after Peterson was arrested.

The list of witnesses remains under seal, but Savio's niece, Melissa Doman, said her mother, Anna Doman, is among those who have been called to testify.

"It would be about things my Aunt Kitty (Savio) told my mom about how she was afraid for her life, she said she was afraid of Drew," Melissa Doman said, adding that she has not been called to testify.

Also expected to testify are other members of Savio's family, including her sister, Susan Savio. It was Susan Savio who told a coroner's jury shortly after her sister's death that Kathleen Savio had told family members that, "if she would die, it may look like an accident, but it wasn't."

The death initially was ruled an accidental drowning — until Stacy Peterson's disappearance led officials to exhume Savio's body, conduct another autopsy and conclude Savio was the victim of a homicide. Drew Peterson has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

Other possible witnesses who could be asked to testify about the stormy relationship between Drew Peterson and Savio are his former colleagues. Eighteen times in two years, police were called to the couple's Bolingbrook home to respond to reports of trouble between the two, with Savio telling officers that her husband had beaten her and threatened to kill her. Peterson was never charged. Savio was charged with domestic battery and later was acquitted.

There also are court documents that prosecutors are expected to present into evidence, including a 2002 order of protection in which Savio alleges that Peterson knocked her down, ripped off her necklace and left marks on her body.

"He wants me dead, and if he has to, he will burn the house down just to shut me up," she wrote.

Among the more intriguing possible witnesses are members of the clergy at a Bolingbrook church attended by Stacy Peterson. In the days after her disappearance, there were media reports that she had told a clergyman a couple months earlier that Drew Peterson had confessed to her that he killed Savio and made it look like an accident.

Peterson's attorneys have made it clear that they will attack the credibility of at least some of the witnesses.

"All it is, is rumor, innuendo and gossip," defense attorney Joel Brodsky said after a recent hearing concerning information contained in the 15 statements. "People had ulterior motives for saying what they said or are out-and-out unreliable people."

The defense is not expected to call any witnesses of its own during the hearing.

"People should not think this is going to be the trial," Brodsky said.

He said the hearing will help Peterson.

"We think that even in this questioning, a lot of beliefs that people have about what was said and who said them are going to be burst, dashed," he said.

(This version CORRECTS that Drew Peterson and Savio were still married at the time of her death.)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/ap_on_re_us/us_drew_peterson

[BeastofBears]

Good! The chance Nicole never got!

[One2Snoop]

Neighbor says Savio terrified of Drew Peterson

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/wgntv-peterson-hearing-halfway-over-feb1,0,5536508.story


Erika Slife and Steve Schmadeke WGN News
February 1, 2010

JOLIET, Ill. - A neighbor of Kathleen Savio testified today that she was terrified of estranged husband Drew Peterson in the months before she was found dead, fearing Peterson had bugged her phone and was sneaking into the home through a hole in the garage.

Nick Pontarelli, 19, said he was 14 at the time of Savio's death in 2004. "Kathy was like a second mom to me,'' said Pontarelli, dressed in a blue oxford shirt and tie.

He said Savio had placed a deadbolt lock on her bedroom door and a second deadbolt lock on the front door, but she believed Peterson had drilled a hole over the deadbolt in her bedroom.

Savio also told him that she believed Peterson had bugged her home and showed him a black box connected to a telephone in the basement bedroom that had been Peterson's before he moved out, Pontarelli said.

She showed him a stack of tapes she said were of conversations she believed Peterson had recorded.

Pontarelli took the stand at a hearing to determine what hearsay evidence a jury can hear when Peterson stands trial for the murder of Savio.

He said Savio showed him a hole leading from a garage to her home that Peterson used to climb through to get into the home. He said Savio had him take a picture of the hole so she could use it during the divorce proceedings.

Pontarelli said he last saw Savio shortly before her body was found in March of 2004. Savio told him over a lunch that she was afraid because the divorce settlement was coming up and she was planning to move away.

That evening, as he was driving back to his home with his family, he noticed a light on in her bedroom. He said he tried to call her but could not reach her.

Pontarelli said Savio was considering suing the Bolingbrook police department, where Peterson was working at the time. "She didn't feel law enforcement helped her as much as they could,'' said Pontarelli.

Pontarelli's father Thomas Pontarelli testified next. He was one of the four people who were in the home with Peterson when Savio's body was discovered; his son, his wife, and another neighbor were the others.

He said that he did not see any clothes or towels in the bathroom in which Savio's body was found; he could not recall if there was a rug on the tile floor. He said that when Peterson saw Savio's body, he took her pulse and asked, "What am I going to tell the children?" Peterson then told people to leave the bathroom because it might be a crime scene.

The senior Pontarelli also said that he was standing in a hallway next to Peterson when Peterson used his cellphone to call what Pontarelli believed to be the police. Pontarelli said that one of the things Peterson said to the person on the phone was that people would think Peterson did it.

Pontarelli testified that Peterson seemed genuinely emotional and that his voice appeared to crack and his eyes seemed to tear up,

More than 30 witnesses have testified about Savio's death and the 2007 disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. Peterson has pleaded not guilty in Savio's death. He hasn't been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

On Friday, Stacy Peterson's pastor testified that she told him how Peterson disappeared from their house the night before Savio's body was found and how he coached her to lie about his whereabouts.

[One2Snoop]

Neighbor: Peterson assumed he would be suspected
By DON BABWIN , 02.01.10, 05:23 PM EST

JOLIET, Ill. -- Drew Peterson seemed distraught upon finding his third wife dead in her bathtub, and he immediately suggested he would be a suspect in her death, a witness testified Monday.

Thomas Pontarelli, a neighbor of Kathleen Savio's, said he was struck by what wasn't in Savio's bathroom when he looked down at her body.

"I said 'Look around, where's her clothes? Where's her towel?'" Pontarelli testified he said to Peterson and others who were there. He said he noticed there was no soap scum in the bathtub.

Pontarelli and his 19-year-old son, Nick Pontarelli, testified at a hearing to decide what hearsay evidence would be permitted at Peterson's upcoming murder trial entered its third week. More than 30 witnesses have already testified.

The 56-year-old former Bolingbrook police officer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Savio's 2004 death, and he is considered the only suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

Savio's death was initially ruled an accident. But after Drew Peterson was named a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance, Savio's body was exhumed, a new autopsy was conducted and her death was ruled a homicide. Drew Peterson has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

[One2Snoop]

Hearsay Hearings Witnesses
http://petersonstory.wordpress.com/hearsay-hearings-witnesses/

This series of pre-trial hearings is being held to determine exactly what hearsay evidence will be admitted into Drew Peterson’s trial for the killing of Kathleen Savio. Prosecutors must prove whether a “preponderance of evidence” shows those statements are reliable and that the defendant’s wrongdoing made the witness unavailable to testify. If not, the evidence cannot be presented to a jury at trial.

Proceedings began January 19, 2010. About 60 witnesses are expected to be called to these public hearings. Judge White has banned all electronic devices (cell phones, laptops, etc.) from the courtroom so names and spellings may not be 100% accurate.

Testified January 19, 2010

* Starbucks employees(X2)
* Issam Karam — former co-worker of Kathleen’s
* Lisa Mordente — former boss
* Kyle Toutges — Stacy’s Uncle
* James Coughlin — Bolingbrook police officer
* Sprint Nextel official
* Alexander Beck — Peterson’s divorce attorney
* Kenneth Simpson — Bolingbrook police detective

Testified January 21, 2010

* Tom Morphey — step-brother of Drew Peterson
* Eric Peterson — estranged son of Drew Peterson
* Patrick Collins — Retired ISP Sgt.and Lead Savio death investigator

Testified January 22, 2010

* Patrick Collins — Retired ISP Sgt.and Lead Savio death
* Sharon Bychowski — Next door neighbor and friend of Stacy’s

Testified January 25, 2010

* Sharon Bychowski — Next door neighbor and friend of Stacy’s
* Nick Gatto — Manager Meijer Supermarket
* Jacquelyn Torrez — Bolingbrook resident
* Hector Torrez — Bolingbrook resident
* Penny ? — Drove Tom home from band practice

Testified January 26, 2010

* Neil Schori — Stacy’s pastor and counselor
* Candace Aiken — Stacy’s Aunt
* Donna Badalamenti — Candace Aiken’s friend

Testified January 27, 2010

* Dr. Vinod Motiani — Kathleen Savio’s general physician
* Patrick Callaghan — ISP Special Agent who investigated Stacy’s disappearance
* Susan McCauley — Worked at Drew and Kathleen’s bar – had affair with Drew
* Elizabeth Fragale — Former assistant states attorney
* Richard Treese — Bolingbrook police officer

Testified January 28, 2010

* Cassandra Cales — Stacy’s sister
* Jeffrey Pachter — Former co-worker of Drew’s
* Keith Rossetto — Former boyfriend of Stacy’s

Testified January 29, 2010

* Pastor Neil Schori — Stacy’s pastor and counselor
* Scott Rossetto — Friend of Stacy’s
* Dominic Defrancisco — Neighbor of Kathleen at the time of her death
* Christopher Wolzen — works at Larry’s Lock Service
* Dr. Gene Neri — Kathleen’s psychologist/neurologist

Testified February 1, 2010

* Nick Pontarelli — teen neighbor of Kathleen’s
* Thomas Pontarelli — neighbor of Kathleen’s
* Mary Pontarelli — neighbor of Kathleen’s

[One2Snoop]

Witness: Peterson denied killing Savio
February 2, 2010 11:26 AM

Kathleen Savio's boyfriend at the time of her death testified this morning that on the night her body was found Drew Peterson denied both killing her and having any motive to do so.

Steve Maniaci said he arrived at Savio's house after police found her body the night of March 1, 2004, and saw Peterson standing outside.

He said he told Peterson, "I sure hope you didn't have anything to do with this," to which Peterson responded, "I didn't."

Later, Maniaci said, he said to Peterson, "It sure worked out well for you Drew." To that, Peterson responded, "She would have lost anyway," referring, Maniaci testified, to the divorce property settlement between Peterson and Savio.
Maniaci testimony is part of the continuing evidentiary hearing in Will County Circuit Court in Joliet being held to determine what, if any, hearsay evidence prosecutors can introduce at the future murder trial for Peterson in Savio's death.

As with witnesses before him, Maniaci said Savio repeatedly said she was afraid of Peterson.
"She said Drew could kill her and would kill her," Maniaci said.

The night Savio's body was found, Maniaci said he told police about a hole in Savio's garage that she said Peterson used to enter her house as well as other incidents between Savio and Peterson.

But none of what he said found its way into the police report on Savio's death, he said.

--Steve Schmadeke

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/witness-peterson-denied-killing-savio.html

[samanthajane13]

Murder suspect's wife told sister he terrified her

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer Don Babwin, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago

JOLIET, Ill. – Former police officer Drew Peterson's ex-wife was so afraid of him that she kept changing the locks on her doors, and so certain it wouldn't do any good, that she asked her sister to care for her two sons after her death, the sister testified Tuesday.

Anna Doman said her sister, Kathleen Savio, visited her home six weeks before she was found dead in her bathtub in 2004 and pleaded for help.

"She said, 'You have to promise me, you have to promise me to take care of my boys . . . Drew said he'd kill me,'" Doman testified.

Savio once talked about how Peterson had bound her hands and feet, then told her he could kill her and that nobody would know he did it, Doman said.

The hearing, which was in its third week, was to determine what hearsay evidence will be allowed at Peterson's upcoming murder trial.

Hearsay, or statements not based on the direct knowledge of a witness, usually isn't admissible in court. Illinois judges can allow it in murder trials if prosecutors prove a defendant may have killed a witness to prevent them from testifying. There's little available forensic evidence in Savio's case, so prosecutors are expected to rely on statements Savio allegedly made to others saying she feared Peterson could kill her.

Peterson, a 56-year-old former Bolingbrook police officer, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Savio's 2004 death, and he is considered the only suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

Savio's death was initially ruled an accident. But after Drew Peterson was named a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance, Savio's body was exhumed, a new autopsy was conducted and her death was ruled a homicide. Drew Peterson has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance.

Doman testified that Savio said she had put important documents in her garage and asked Anna Doman to rush to the house to retrieve them should Savio die.

"She said, 'Everything you need is in here,'" Doman recalled. Doman said she did retrieve the documents after her sister died, but she did not discuss their contents during the hearing.

Doman said Savio's family members suspected Peterson immediately. She said her sister, Sue Doman, confronted Peterson with those suspicions. "Suzy looked at Drew and said, 'Why did you kill my sister?'" Anna Doman said.

Sue Doman recounted earlier Tuesday that Peterson claimed he had found Savio's will after she died, taunting her about it.

"He said, 'Ha, ha, ha. Tell Anna I found the will under the floorboards, and you guys aren't going to get anything."

Earlier Tuesday, Savio's boyfriend said he told police just hours after Savio's body was discovered that Peterson might be involved.

Steve Maniaci testified that Illinois State Police investigators assured him they would consider her death a homicide until proven otherwise, but when prosecutors recently allowed him to look at the 2004 police report from that night — it included none of his concerns.

Maniaci said Savio told him repeatedly that she was afraid of Peterson and feared he could kill her and make it look like an accident. Such talk intensified in the days before her death as she and Peterson fought over property they once held in common as husband and wife.

With that conflict in mind, Maniaci immediately confronted Peterson when he arrived at Savio's house the night her body was found.

"I said, 'I sure hope you didn't have anything to do with this,'" Maniaci testified.

When Peterson insisted he didn't, Maniaci responded in reference to the dispute over property, "'It sure worked out good for you.'"

His testimony came after the lead investigator in the case, retired State Police Sgt. Patrick Collins, conceded he believed her death was an accident from almost the minute he stepped into Savio's suburban Chicago home. And he agreed he conducted a less-than-thorough investigation, even failing to collect any forensic evidence from the scene.

Prosecutors know the cause of death will be a key issue at Peterson's trial, and they will likely rely on Maniaci's testimony to help demonstrate there were signs Savio's death was a homicide staged to look like an accident. Peterson's attorneys have argued her death was accidental.

Maniaci testified on Tuesday, for example, that two nights before her body was found, he saw no bruises on her elbow, finger or buttocks like the bruises clearly visible on photographs shot of Savio after her death.

Asked if he had seen scratches on her arms two nights before, Maniaci, barely able to look at the photographs, answered quietly, "No."

Shown a photograph of Savio in the bathtub with her hair down, Maniaci also said she always put her long hair up when she took at bath.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100203/ap_on_re_us/us_drew_peterson

[One2Snoop]

Drew Peterson, you have the right to remain silent
By Stephanie Chen, CNN
February 3, 2010 11:10 a.m. EST

(CNN) -- Drew Peterson may be fighting to keep what his missing wife and slain ex-wife allegedly said about him out of his murder trial, but he's always had plenty to say about the case.

Peterson, 56, has been charged with the murder of third wife Kathleen Savio. The charges came amid an investigation into the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and denied involvement in Stacy's disappearance.

In court, Peterson has kept a low profile as some 40 witnesses have testified during pretrial hearings.

But in the past, the former police sergeant from Bolingbrook, Illinois, has spoken many of times to CNN's "Larry King Live," NBC's "Today Show," Fox News, the "Dr. Phil" show and local media outlets.

A critical part of his trial, now the subject of a month of hearings, hinges upon whether hearsay evidence can be used against him. Hearsay involves statements heard by third parties and jurors are rarely allowed to consider them because the original speaker can't be cross-examined.

Stacy Peterson and Savio both told others that they feared Drew Peterson and felt that their lives were threatened by him, according to testimony at the hearings. The defense is fighting to keep those statements, and others, out of his murder trial.

more at the link.....
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/03/illinois.drew.peterson.quotes/index.html?hpt=T2


I got the bling. Can't complain.
--Drew Peterson, on perp walk

Stacy Peterson would ask me for a divorce ... on a regular basis, and it was based on her menstrual cycle.
--Drew Peterson to NBC

When people look at me and say, 'You did this to your wife,' I look at them and laugh.
--Peterson, to Dr. Phil

There is no book written on how I'm supposed to act.
--Peterson. to NBC's "Today Show"

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/03/illinois.drew.peterson.quotes/index.html?hpt=T2

[samanthajane13]

Pathologist: Peterson's ex-wife didn't die in fall
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer Don Babwin, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 5, 6:06 pm ET

JOLIET, Ill. – A pathologist who concluded that the death of Drew Peterson's ex-wife was a homicide and not an accident as first determined testified Friday that her injuries weren't consistent with a fall in a bathtub.

Dr. Larry Blum, in his first public comments since the 2007 autopsy of Kathleen Savio, said he didn't think bruises on her body and a laceration to the back of her head came from a single fall. Savio's body was found slumped forward in a dry bathtub in 2004, and Blum said that her position wasn't consistent with a fall.

"There was no blood, hair or tissue on the tub," said Blum, who looked at photographs from the original autopsy and crime scene to help make his determination. "So the evidence doesn't bear that out."

Blum said Savio did drown but her death was not accidental, as another pathologist initially found.

"It was my opinion that it was a homicide," Blum said.

Peterson, a 56-year-old former Bolingbrook police officer, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his third wife, Savio. Her body was exhumed in 2007 following the disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. Drew Peterson has not been charged in Stacy Peterson's disappearance, but authorities say he is a suspect.

Blum's findings will be at the center of the courtroom battle between Will County prosecutors and Peterson's attorneys, who argue that Savio's death was accidental.

Blum testified at a hearing to determine what hearsay evidence will be allowed at Peterson's upcoming trial. Hearsay, or statements not based on the direct knowledge of a witness, usually isn't admissible in court. But Illinois judges can allow it in murder trials if prosecutors prove a defendant may have killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying.

There's little available forensic evidence in Savio's case, so prosecutors are expected to rely on statements Savio allegedly made to others saying she feared Peterson could kill her.

Blum, who said he laid down in Savio's tub as part of his investigation, testified the injury to the back of Savio's head may have been made shortly after her death and not as a result of a fall. He also pointed to a wound in the area of Savio's diaphragm as one that wouldn't have been caused in a fall.

"The bruise was deep, down to the bone," he said.

He said her injuries indicated that there was a struggle.

Blum also testified that Savio had no measurable drugs or alcohol in her system when she died — an effort to head off the argument defense attorneys have raised that perhaps Savio was in a condition that would have made a fall more likely.

Earlier in the day, Mary Parks, who studied nursing with Savio, testified about a day in late 2003 when Savio showed her red marks on her neck and told her Peterson made them.

"She told me her ex-husband had come into the house and had pinned her down," Parks testified.

Parks said Savio told her that during the incident Peterson told Savio, "Why don't you just die?"

She also said that Savio told her Peterson was intent on leaving her with nothing in the couple's divorce — but that even leaving her without any money, a share of the business the two owned, child support or custody of their two sons wouldn't have been enough for him.

"Kathy was very sure that if she gave up every cent ... that her ex-husband still would not leave her alone," Parks said.

Parks said she contacted prosecutors after Savio was found dead but was told there was no investigation into the case.

(This version CORRECTS quote in 3rd paragraph to bear, instead of bare.)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100205/ap_on_re_us/us_drew_peterson

[samanthajane13]

Ex-Ill. cop's hearing feels like real murder trial
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer Don Babwin, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 10, 11:28 am ET

JOLIET, Ill. – Family members, investigators, clergy and even a psychic have spent weeks testifying in a northern Illinois courtroom — and Drew Peterson's murder trial hasn't even started.

Billed as a preliminary step in the case, an extraordinary hearing to determine what hearsay, or secondhand, evidence jurors will be allowed to hear during the former police officer's trial in his third wife's death has turned into a sort of legal dress rehearsal.

The testimony has exposed serious flaws in the police investigation of Kathleen Savio's death, Peterson's deteriorating relationship with his missing fourth wife and perhaps most important: a possible motive.

But none of it may matter if the judge doesn't allow at least some of the witnesses to testify during the real thing.

"If they don't get the hearsay stuff in, then they don't have a shot at this case," said Terry Sullivan, a Chicago attorney and former prosecutor.

Peterson, a brazen former police sergeant, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Savio's death. He is the only named suspect in the October 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, but has not been charged in that case. It was after she went missing that investigators exhumed Savio's body and determined her death was a homicide.

Almost 70 prosecution witnesses have testified during the past 3 1/2 weeks. Defense attorneys plan to begin calling about 20 witnesses next Wednesday to contradict statements made by people who said the two women feared Peterson.

"As long as they're there, it would be tough not to put in evidence that would contradict" the prosecution, said Mark Geragos, a defense attorney who is not involved in the Peterson case but has represented many high-profile clients — including Scott Peterson, the California man convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci.

The hearing is the result of a new Illinois law that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence — statements not based on a witness' direct knowledge — if prosecutors can prove a defendant may have killed a witness in order to prevent him or her from testifying. The law was so closely linked to the Peterson case that some have dubbed it "Drew's law."

Prosecutors, with little physical evidence on which to base their case against Peterson, may have to rely heavily on statements that Savio and Stacy Peterson allegedly made to others. The testimony has included claims that Drew Peterson was furious Savio might get a large portion of his pension, and that Stacy Peterson suggested she could threaten to tell police that Drew Peterson killed Savio to squeeze extra money from him in a divorce.

The hearing has at times moved into areas that have little to do with hearsay. A state police investigator said he quickly decided Savio's death was an accident after her body was found in a bath tub in 2004, so he collected no forensic evidence and didn't even secure the scene. The pathologist who conducted the post-exhumation autopsy on Savio's body three years later testified that bruises and the position of her body indicated she was killed after struggling with an attacker.

The mix of those witnesses is part of a broader strategy to make the secondhand evidence more plausible and persuade the judge to allow as much as possible at trial, Sullivan said.

That's likely why much of the hearsay evidence has focused on Stacy Peterson. A minister testified that Stacy Peterson told him she was afraid of her husband and that Drew Peterson was wearing black and carrying a bag of women's clothes the night before Savio's body was found. Drew Peterson's stepbrother said he helped Peterson move a blue barrel out of his house and suspected it contained Stacy Peterson's remains.

Dozens of other witnesses provided small pieces of what prosecutors contend is a puzzle that will help jurors believe Peterson could have killed Savio.

Drew Peterson's attorneys, meanwhile, have asked about medication Savio was taking and pointed to a doctor's report that said Savio complained of dizziness. And while under no obligation to call witnesses in the hearing, they have now decided to do so.

Neither side wants to leave anything to chance, Geragos said.

Prosecutors "want to make sure that when they put evidence in ... that there's nothing that comes back to bite them," he said.

Attorneys also anticipate challenges to the state's hearsay law, perhaps to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"It's a perfect storm for both sides to have to deal with it," Geragos said.

___

Associated Press Writer Karen Hawkins contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100210/ap_on_re_us/us_drew_peterson


Gee-YA THINK???