Former Peterson Attorney Joel Brodsky Files Libel Suit Against Tribune, Attorney
By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 7, 2013 3:00PM
Joel Brodsky, the former attorney for Drew Peterson, filed a libel lawsuit Wednesday against Tribune Co. and his former colleague Steven Greenberg, among others.
At the center of the lawsuit is a letter obtained by the Tribune where Greenberg said Brodsky’s decision to bring Kathleen Savio’s divorce attorney Harry Smith to the stand in Peterson’s trial for Savio’s murder. Smith testified that Peterson’s missing fourth wife Stacy told him that Peterson murdered Savio. The jury in the trial pointed to Smith’s testimony as the moment that sealed Peterson’s conviction. Greenberg called Brodsky’s decision “one of the greatest mistakes in the history of jurisprudence.”
"You wafted the greatest case, by ignorance, obduracy, and ineptitude. Your effort to blame me is suggestive of a six-year-old child changing the rules of the game when he falls behind, before taking his ball home, loudly declaring that his opponent cheated instead of appreciating he was just out of his league. … “Take credit, for you single-handedly may have put Drew away for the rest of his life.”
Brodsky resigned as Peterson’s attorney last December, has been sniping with Greenberg for months in the media and even fired Greenberg from the Peterson defense team after the trial. In his lawsuit, Brodsky claims Greenberg’s letter was "a false narrative" intended to defame him and put his practice "in a false light in the public eye” and losing out on profits.
The lawsuit also named Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair, AOL Patch, Patch Media Corp. and Patch editor Joseph Hosey as defendants in the suit.