French Authorities Investigate Cornbleet Murder

By Margaret Lyons in News on Jan 15, 2008 7:40PM

French legal authorities are in town this week investigating the murder of Loop dermatologist Dr. David Cornbleet. Hans Peterson, who confessed to the murder, is being held on the French-controlled Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, but French law prohibits his extradition because he's a dual citizen. French prosecutors say they can handle the case, and they're in Chicago interviewing Cornbleet's family and gathering evidence to start criminal proceedings. Peterson has yet to be charged with a crime.

Cornbleet's family--with the backing Dick Durbin and Barack Obama--wants the trial to be in the US. His son told ABC 7, "We do not want the trial to be in France. It's a huge inconvenience to my family, basically put our life on hold for a month, who knows how long, so that Hans Peterson can get a lighter sentence. We don't think that's fair." According to French law, Peterson could face up to 22 years in prison; if he were tried here, he'd be facing a life sentence.

Local crime writer (and one of our all-time favorite Morning News contributors) Kevin Guilfoile is the authoratative voice on the case, which gets more complicated and bizarre with every development. [S-T, ABC 7, CBS 2, Trib]

Photo from the MySpace page the Cornbleet family maintains