Let him stay, let him read, members here have great minds. Here is an article for you to read Brodsky:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heral....RSON_S1.articleBill could affect Peterson cases
HEARSAY LAWSJuly 12, 2008
By JOE HOSEY
jhosey@scn1.comDrew Peterson's third wife has been silent for four years, and his fourth wife has not been heard from in nine months.
A bill on the governor's desk could allow them to speak.
It would give a judge the authority to allow hearsay evidence at a criminal trial passed through both the state House and Senate and is now waiting for the governor's signature.
"It's under review," said Brian Williamsen of the governor's office. But the bill's sponsor, Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, D-Joliet, said he called Rod Blagojevich's people and put in a request to make the bill a law.
"We have contacted his office and asked him to make it a priority," Wilhelmi said of the bill, which passed through the Senate 43-0.
"It's overwhelming in its unanimous support," Wilhelmi said. "People recognize it's important."
State's Attorney James Glasgow worked with Wilhelmi to craft the bill.
"He helped draft the bill," said Glasgow's spokesman, Charles B. Pelkie. "He flew out to Washington to view a California case (before the Supreme Court) with similar issues."
Glasgow also said he was going to make his feelings known to Blagojevich.
"I'll be talking to the governor's advisor on public safety (Friday)," he said Thursday.
The proposed law would give judges the discretion to allow statements that previously would have been excluded by the hearsay rule. The judge would have to decide during a pretrial hearing that the statement was made against a defendant who silenced the witness. This silencing, for example, could have been accomplished by killing the witness.
Peterson caseThe law might apply to missing Bolingbrook mother Stacy Peterson, the wife of former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, whom state police named a suspect in her "potential homicide." Stacy supposedly told a minister Peterson killed his previous wife, Kathleen Savio.
Or the law might come into play with Savio herself, as she sent a letter to former Assistant State's Attorney Elizabeth Fragale in November 2002 in which she wrote, "(Peterson) knows how to manipulate the system, and his next step is to take my children away. Or kill me instead."
State police found no signs of foul play in Savio's March 2004 apparent bathtub drowning. In the wake of Stacy's disappearance, her death was ruled a homicide and the state police were given another crack at investigating it.
Pelkie would not say if the hearsay bill now on the governor's desk was drafted with Peterson in mind.
"(Glasgow) can't comment on a specific case," he said.
Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, contends the proposed law has no bearing on any potential murder case against his client, and he cited Giles v. California, the same case Glasgow went to Washington to hear.
"Because of the Giles case, the new hearsay law does not make a whit of difference," Brodsky said.
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