County officials preparing for media influx in Peterson case
<span>CHESTER -- Drew Peterson's initial court appearance on new charges related to a murder-for-hire scheme created a media frenzy on Monday.</span>
<span>Peterson, 61, appeared at the Randolph County Courthouse on charges of one count of solicitation of murder for hire and one count of solicitation of murder, both Class X felonies, related to an alleged plot to kill Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow.</span>
<span>He is being charged in Randolph County. The solicitation for murder charge carries a penalty of 15 to 30 years, while the solicitation of murder for hire carries a penalty of 20 to 40 years, according to Attorney General Lisa Madigan.</span>
<span>Peterson's original sentence has him behind bars until he is 93. It is currently on appeal.</span>
<span>"We fielded calls from CNN, the national TV networks out of New York and we're sending everything through the (Illinois) Attorney General's office," said Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker in an interview with the Herald Tribune. "I've got a duty to the citizens of Randolph County and I can't be doing just this."</span>
<span>Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff told the Herald Tribune that he is meeting with former Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas next week to strategize how to handle what could be a large media representation at the courthouse for Peterson's March 3 preliminary hearing.</span>
<span>Kaupas was a presenter during the National Sheriff's Institute that Wolff attended after Wolff was elected to his first term in November.</span>
<span>Kaupas retired in December after 43 years in law enforcement.</span>
<span>"We are meeting with him to discuss what our plans are going to be to deal with it," Wolff said. "I reached out to him the next day after this happened and I told him I would appreciate any kind of advice.</span>
<span>"We want to work with the media the best we can and make sure we preserve the integrity of the court."</span>
<span>Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, is serving a 38-year sentence at Menard Correctional Center after being convicted in 2012 for the 2004 murder of his third wife, 40-year-old Kathleen Savio.</span>
<span>He remains a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson. Drew Peterson's attorneys contend Stacey Peterson, a mother of two, ran off with another man and is still alive.</span>
<span>Peterson's story eventually became the subject of a 2012 TV movie called Drew Peterson: Untouchable, starring Rob Lowe as Drew Peterson and Kaley Cuoco as Stacy Peterson.</span>
<span>The movie was based on the 2008 book "Fatal Vows: The Tragic Wives of Sergeant Drew Peterson" by Joseph Hosey.</span>
<span>During his initial appearance, Peterson asked for and received a court-appointed attorney, who Walker said is Lucas Liefer of the Red Bud law office Cooper and Liefer.</span>
<span>The Attorney General's Office and Randolph County State's Attorney's Office are conducting a joint prosecution of the case, but in previous statements to the Herald Tribune, Walker said he filed the new charges.</span>
<span>"The judge will hear the evidence, maybe not all of it," Walker said about the upcoming preliminary hearing. "You don't have to release all of it. Just enough where the judge could determine if there's probable cause for a trial."</span>
<span>Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Tom Shaer said IDOC has only received one media request for Peterson and it was sent directly to Menard instead of his office.</span>
<span>Shaer said Peterson did not respond to the request, which was in 2013.</span>
<span>"Any inmate can get interviewed anytime he wants as long as there's no security issues involved," Shaer said.</span>
<span>Shaer also responded to the accusations from Drew Peterson's attorney, Steven Greenburg, that there have been "some issues" between Peterson and guards at the maximum-security MCC.</span>
<span>"There absolutely have not been 'some issues' with (officers) and offender Peterson at Menard Correctional Center," Shaer said in an email. "There was one allegation last year by offender Peterson of a minor, non-physical situation. There were no witnesses.</span>
<span>"Offender Peterson's allegation was thoroughly investigated and found to be completely without merit."</span>
<span>Nick Reiher, editor-in-chief of the Farmers Weekly Review and managing editor of Bugle, Enterprise and Sentinel Newspapers, gave his opinion on why Peterson's case is popular in media circles.</span>
<span>"Peterson always has been arrogant," Reiher said. "In this case, it is no different. It's almost in some cases as though he were daring law enforcement officials to find anything, do anything.</span>
<span>"In-between all of this, there were wrangles over whether he was allowed to have weapons in his house. His particular attitude seemed to resonate one way or another where not only was his story going nationwide, but he became somewhat of a celebrity.</span>
<span>"A lot of people were sickened by that."</span>
<span>Reiher said the new murder-for-hire charges were surprising only because of Peterson's segregation at Menard.</span>
<span>"It surprises me only because he's been so segregated that he would have any opportunity to do anything like that," he said. "But it also wouldn't surprise me that someone is trying to make a name for themselves.</span>
<span>"I wouldn't imagine the attorney general would get involved if they weren't following this closely."</span>