Oke Happy Reading - Joel Brodsky in full flight:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/peterson/687659,CST-NWS-atty08.articlePeterson's lawyer caught in spotlight
JOEL BRODSKY | Police calls, suspension of law license uncovered
December 8, 2007
BY JOE HOSEY Herald News
Chicago attorney Joel Brodsky has the hottest case in the country.
His client, former cop Drew Peterson, has appeared as a guest on network television and as a subject in supermarket tabloids. Brodsky himself followed suit, showing up on the "Today" show and other news programs covering the disappearance of Peterson's wife, Stacy, who has not been seen since Oct. 28.
http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedia/120707atty.jpg_20071208_04_05_50_150-116-165.imageContent Joel Brodsky says he has gotten hate mail and been besieged by interview requests since becoming Drew Peterson’s attorney.
(AP)
Initially, Brodsky welcomed the publicity. But now, Brodsky, who is 50 and has practiced law for 25 years, says he got more than he bargained for. He receives hate mail, is besieged with interview requests, and in recent weeks, reporters have focused on his own background.
Among other incidents, they found several police reports over the years, including three domestic calls, one involving a SWAT team responding to Brodsky's Wilmette home.
According to a report of the Sept. 2, 2002, incident involving a "suicidal person," Brodsky's wife, Elizabeth Brodsky, told police "Joel Brodsky was in the house armed with a shotgun."
He had gone to his car to get a shotgun, police said. Elizabeth Brodsky "screamed at [her daughters] to get their shoes and leave now," the report said. "Mr. Brodsky exclaimed, 'That's right. You leave, get out of here, now I'm going to do it right and blow my head off with this shotgun.'"
No one was arrested.
The Brodskys admit they were arguing but say the matter was the result of miscommunication and that police portrayed it inaccurately.
Joel Brodsky said he never planned to harm himself.
"I'm in my living room watching TV. Next thing I know, I'm getting a call from a hostage negotiator," Brodsky said.
"Most of this stuff is blown out of proportion," Elizabeth Brodsky said.
In 2004, an Illinois disciplinary board suspended Brodsky's law license for three months after he signed a dead man's name to close the inactive bank account of a client's estate, public records show. Brodsky signed the dead man's name again to cash a $23,000 check from that account. But the Illinois Supreme Court agreed with a review board that Brodsky did not commit forgery because he did not intend to defraud anyone.
Brodsky says it was the challenge of fighting the tide of public suspicion that attracted him to Peterson's situation.
''There has to be a voice out there saying, 'Whoa. Wait a second. Let's look at the facts,'" he said.
Brodsky got involved with the Peterson case after contacting Peterson following the former Bolingbrook police officer's appearance on the "Today" show.
Brodsky said he told his wife: "That would be an interesting case. I could do that case."
He said he expects no arrest or charges against Peterson in Stacy Peterson's disappearance or in the death of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was exhumed for another autopsy in the wake of the Stacy Peterson investigation.