Drew Peterson Charged With Attempting To Murder State's Attorney

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 9, 2015 7:35PM

Photo via Illinois Department of Corrections

Former Bolingbrook police officer, convicted murderer and self-styled ladies man/folk hero Drew Peterson was charged Monday with attempting to put a hit on the attorney who put Peterson behind bars for nearly 40 years.

Peterson was charged in Randolph County, Illinois, where Peterson is serving a 38-year sentence at Pontiac Correctional Center, with trying to hire a hitman to kill Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, who successfully prosecuted Peterson in the 2012 murder trial of Peterson's third wife Kathleen Savio. Glasgow was able to secure a conviction from a jury based on a case built mostly around hearsay statements—some made by Savio herself.

Since Glasgow was the target of the alleged murder plot, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office became involved in filing these new charges against Peterson. Madigan said Peterson tried to arrange the hit between September 2013 and last December. Peterson faces one count of solicitation of murder and one count of solicitation of murder for hire. The murder for hire charge carries a mandatory prison term of at least 15 years, if Peterson if convicted. The solicitation of murder charge could add at least 20 years to Peterson's prison term.

Peterson's attorney Steven Greenberg said his client is innocent of these new charges.

"Drew would have nothing to gain and everything to lose by doing that," Greenberg said. "And prosecutors say he's the most careful criminal ever, don't they?"

Peterson's former attorney Joel Brodsky said he wasn't surprised by the new charges.

"When I was representing Drew we did a lot of things that were controversial, but apparently his new lawyers don’t have control over their client, and that’s unfortunate.“

Kathleen Savio's 2004 death was originally ruled an accidental drowning (in a dry bathtub). After the 2007 disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife Stacy made national headlines, Savio's body was exhumed for forensic tests. Her cause of death was still listed as drowning but the her death was reclassified as a homicide.

Previously
Drew Peterson Found Guilty Of First-Degree Murder (Includes a timeline of events leading up to the conviction.)