Drew Peterson Round-Up
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 16, 2008 5:00PM
Just when you thought you were safe from anything Drew Peterson-related, Bolingbrook's most notorious ex-husband is back in the news. Last week, a grand jury indicted Peterson on two counts of unlawful use of a weapon stemming from a supposedly illegal transfer of his shortened assault rifle to his son. On Monday, Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt heard arguments over dismissing all felony gun charges. Peterson's attorneys insist that he carried the weapon while working as a police officer and is thereby protected by the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004, which allows "law-enforcement officers and retired law-enforcement officers in good standing to carry a concealed firearm in any jurisdiction in the U.S., regardless of most state or local laws." Assistant State's Atty. John Connor disagreed, pointing out that Peterson had been arrested for carrying an illegal weapon, not a concealed weapon. Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky also claimed the Bolingbrook Police Department had given Peterson permission to carry the rifle, though a spokesman for the BPD denied such a claim.
In other Peterson gun-related news, the embattled former cop gave friends a "secret" gun that Illinois State Police missed during their initial confiscation of his personal arsenal. Ric Mims, a former Peterson friend, previously claimed that Peterson had shown him the gun, a .22 that has a barrel that folds into its handle. In March, D-Pete attorney Brodsky called Mims "slick" and added "He's trying to sell another story to the National Enquirer now that he's run out of money." Burn! But now other friends have stepped forward and shown that Peterson signed the gun Mims mentioned over to them. Len Wawczak and his wife, Paula Stark, have a handwritten note that transfers the gun to them. Police later confiscated the gun when they seized Stark's firearms, a move Stark claims was solely because they were friends with Peterson. The gun has not been mentioned as connected to any potential crimes, so we don't know what the big deal is, other than to prove a defense attorney is kind of a jerk. Big surprise.
And, finally, a judge ruled it was okay for D-Pete to leave the state for vacation with his kids.