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Peterson blames lawyer, gets 40 years

Posted July 29, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

It was all a scam.

That's what former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson repeatedly told Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Brown on Friday during his sentencing hearing at the Randolph County Courthouse.

Peterson, 62, was sentenced to 40 years in prison, on top of the 38 he's currently serving for his 2012 Will County murder conviction of third wife Kathleen Savio.

Peterson must serve 85 percent of his new sentence, which will run consecutive to his current one - meaning that he will likely die behind bars.

"Certainly what the gentleman's done, he deserves to be in prison," said Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker - who co-prosecuted the case with the Illinois Attorney General's office - during the post-hearing news conference. "But a lot of people think that prosecutors take a lot of pride in 'Oh, this person's going to die in prison.'

"Nobody wants to see anybody die, but that being said, does he deserve to be in prison the rest of his life? Absolutely."

Peterson was found guilty on May 31 on charges of solicitation of murder and solicitation of murder-for-hire, ending a year-and-a-half saga of pretrial proceedings that led to a six-day trial.

In the end, it took only an hour for a Randolph County jury of eight men and four women to find Peterson guilty of trying to arrange the killing of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, who prosecuted Peterson's 2012 murder conviction of third wife Kathleen Savio.

"Everything you heard on those tapes was staged and fabricated," Peterson said to Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Brown, referencing the Menard Correctional Center conversations between himself and Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate-turned-informant Antonio "Beast" Smith that were the heart of the prosecution's case.

"I knew the recordings were coming."

Peterson said he was very suicidal at the time, being an inmate in what he described as "the third-worst prison in the country," and thought he could help Smith get time off of his sentence by scamming Glasgow.

"I didn't think I'd live to the end of it," Peterson said.

Glasgow called Peterson's reasoning "ludicrous."

"How preposterous," Glasgow said after the hearing. "He thought he was going to win the appeal (of his 2012 case), so he's going to help this guy (Smith) on a questionable overhear."

"Antonio didn't get any time off, that's not automatic," Glasgow continued. "So (Peterson) is going to muddy himself up on a potential (murder-for-hire) charge like this, which will make sure he never gets out?

"I mean, who in the world would believe that? I don't even know how he could have said that in the courtroom."

Peterson also blasted his court-appointed lawyer, public defender Lucas Liefer, for allegedly failing to prepare him for trial and not presenting 16 to 18 witnesses at trial who allegedly could have proven Peterson's innocence.

During the hearing, Brown denied two motions by the defense - one to declare a new trial and the other for Liefer to withdraw as Peterson's counsel.

In regard to the latter, Liefer stated that there was a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.

"We're not communicating the way we should," Liefer said.

Peterson called Liefer's conduct "malpractice at best" and said the Red Bud attorney failed to bring up at trial that the whole thing was a scam.

Brown told Peterson that it was his choice not to testify and that no one, including Liefer, could make that decision for him. Peterson said Liefer "emphatically" advised him not to.

"You're supposed to listen to your attorney," Peterson said. "That's why I didn't testify."

Peterson also stated that Liefer was full of "piss and vinegar" during the pretrial proceedings, but alleged that once it became apparent they were going to trial, the attorney's demeanor changed.

"Mr. Liefer failed to properly prepare me for trial," Peterson said. "I said I wanted to testify and we were going to spend days in preparation, but we spent zero time."

Peterson stated that he advised Liefer a month before the trial to talk to Walker about the scam.

"Mr. Liefer comes back and said Jeremy Walker offered a deal," Peterson said. "Threatening a public official at two years (in prison) and 50 percent (served)."

Peterson alleged the deal was later pulled off the table because "Glasgow didn't want it."

While making his victim impact statement, and remarking on the awkward position of making one as a prosecutor, Glasgow said the system of criminal justice is the true victim and a threat against himself "is a threat against every prosecutor."

"My son was playing outside with the family dogs and thought he heard a gunshot and came inside scared," Glasgow said, while talking about how the murder-for-hire case has affected his family.

Glasgow stated that upon investigation, he believed the sound came from a ceramic burn pit falling over.

"Certainly my family is my main concern," Glasgow said during the news conference. "The outrage of me doing my job as a prosecutor and this defendant having the audacity to try to have me killed for doing my job is just a moral outrage."

Glasgow also credited the FBI and its "Star Wars technology" for gathering enough recorded evidence to convict Peterson, as well as the variety of agencies for keeping the investigation under wraps.

"All it takes is one person talking out of school and it spreads like wildfire and the whole thing is done," Glasgow said. "So it was a miracle we were able to keep it quiet for the length of time we did."

While addressing Brown later in the hearing, Peterson seemed resigned to his fate, telling the judge he could sentence him to whatever he wanted.

"This sentence, I won't outlive it," he said.

Peterson then turned and addressed the man he was convicted of trying to arrange to kill.

"And Jim Glasgow, there was never any intent to have you killed," he said.

After Walker objected to Peterson being allowed to address other people in the courtroom, Brown handed down his sentence.

During the hearing, Peterson indicated he plans to appeal his murder-for-hire conviction to the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon. His appeal of his 2012 conviction is pending before the Illinois Supreme Court.

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