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Peterson case on track for jury selection

Posted May 12, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

After nearly a year and a half of delays, the Drew Peterson trial appears on track for jury selection starting next Friday at the Randolph County Courthouse.

The parties in the murder-for-hire case were back in front of Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Brown today for a case management conference, during which Illinois Assistant Attorney General Bill Elward argued that defense attorney Lucas Liefer improperly interviewed four inmates by not having anyone present other than himself.

The inmates are listed as witnesses by the defense.

"I didn't have any help at the time," Liefer said. "I did nothing wrong."

Brown sided with Liefer on the matter, affirming that the Red Bud attorney didn't violate any rules.

"I have interviewed a lot of inmates in my day and nobody was with me," Brown said.

Elward argued that the inmates gave conflicting statements when they were interviewed in May 2015 and again in June 2015, and alleged inconsistencies in reports tendered to the prosecution.

One inmate in particular, Albert Chavez, was stated to have told investigators during the June interview that he was running a scam and Peterson knew that the FBI's informant - referred to in court documents as "Individual A," but revealed to be Antonio Smith during the April 22 motions hearing - was wearing a wire.

Elward asked Brown to allow the four inmates to be brought to the courthouse to be interviewed by the State during a hearing that is scheduled for next Thursday at 10 a.m., the day before jury selection begins.

A court reporter will transcribe the interviews, which will be regarded as sworn statements.

"I will consent if Individual A is brought in and I can depose him at the same time," Liefer said.

In other news, Brown also heard arguments on a Motion to Compel filed by the defense related to phone records and prison commissary purchases made by Individual A (Smith).

Liefer said Individual A has been getting paid and asked the State to produce updated phone records, as well as a current financial ledger.

"To request this info today, I don't know if it's timely," Brown said.

Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker said the State is not in control of where the informant is.

"The FBI has been in this case the entire time," Liefer said. "He has been in possession of the feds."

Walker argued that the State and the FBI are two separate agencies and the State has had to subpoena the FBI themselves.

Brown directed the state's attorney's office to make a call to its federal contacts to request the information, especially what the informant's commissary account is, and report to the court the results of its efforts.

"I am not going to somehow prevent people from testifying because we don't have a disc of recorded telephone calls a week before the trial," Brown said.

Lastly, the parties asked for a copy of the jury list and to view the juror questionnaires. Brown agreed, as long as the questionnaires did not leave the courthouse.

In a follow-up interview after the hearing, Liefer said the questionnaires include questions about personal background and work history, as well as if the jurors have any pending court cases.

"It's general questions to give us an idea out of the gate who we're dealing with," Liefer said.

Liefer said prospective jurors will be brought into the courtroom next Friday and introduced to everybody in the case. They will then be asked if they know any of the people involved.

"The purpose of that is I wouldn't be surprised if there were some people who are my current clients and obviously, they would have to go," Liefer said. "We would like to know where you work. There's a lot of people that work at Menard (Correctional Center) and that's something we would want to know."

Liefer noted that there are people who specialize in jury selection.

"You try to define your target area for the defense," he said. "Is it male, female, blue collar, white collar.

"We do have what our target juror would be."

Liefer stated one of his biggest concerns in picking 12 jurors and two alternates is the media following of Peterson.

"Not so much the media attention on this case, but the attention on his prior case," said Liefer, referring to Peterson's 2012 murder conviction in Will County. "I can't lie that those are some of the concerns I have.

"I want to see what (the jurors) have been exposed to and see if they can be a fair and impartial juror."

In a separate interview, Walker concurred with Liefer.

"I'm hopeful that people will be fair and open and just listen to this case," he said. "Just because you've heard about a case, doesn't exclude you from being a juror."

Ultimately, Liefer said there is a strategy to picking a jury.

"It's like playing cards," he said. "You don't know what cards you're going to be dealt, but there are some things that you can do to get the best hand that you can."

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