Drew Peterson Jury Selection Is Underway
Drew Peterson’s murder trial has finally begun. He is accused of murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Savio was allegedly murdered by Peterson back in 2004. Originally, Savio’s death was ruled an accident after she was found dead in the bath tub. Peterson and Savio were in the process of a divorce at the time of her death. They were awaiting the judge to decide on the division of their assets. Just after the divorce, Peterson married his fourth wife, Stacy.
Stacy Peterson, went missing in October of 2007. Drew Peterson became the prime suspect in her disappearance. While investigating that case, detectives began to look back on the death of Savio. Authorities had her body exhumed and a second autopsy was performed. The second autopsy ruling was homicide. Peterson is now facing trial for her murder.
As of yesterday, eight jurors had been selected to take part in the trial. This trial is one of the first to fall under a new law that passed in 2008 in Illinois that allows some heresay. It allows prosecutors the ability to introduce to the judge for review, statements made by “unavailable witnesses” as long as it can be proven that the person that statement was made by was murdered to prevent them from testifying in court. The law is called “Drew’s Law”.
Stacy Peterson remains missing, but authorities believe that she is deceased. A body has not been found and Peterson remains the suspect in her disappearance. Peterson has been in jail since 2009 on the murder charges. He is a former police sergeant for the Bolingbrook, Illinois police department.
The judge also ruled that the prosecutor will not be able to introduce the bathtub in the courtroom. Will County Judge Edward Burmila said that introducing the tub without the context of a bathroom could be confusing to the jury. The prosecution wanted to present the real tub in the courtroom as the murder weapon. The defense is happy about the ruling, saying that the prosecutor only wanted to bring the tub in for dramatic effect.
