CHICAGO - UPDATE: Drew Peterson formally entered a plea of not guilty this morning on charges that he murdered his third wife, Kathleen Savio.Meanwhile, prosecutors have asked for a new judge to be assigned to the case. The hearing currently is in recess.
Drew Peterson is scheduled to be arraigned this morning on charges he murdered his third wife five years ago. But the major issue at that hearing is whether he will get his bond reduced.
The arraignment at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet had been delayed because Peterson's lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, was doing a series of media interviews in New York, proclaiming his client's innocence, the day after Peterson was arrested on a Bolingbrook street.
As with all murder defendants at arraignment, the former Bolingbrook police officer will plead not guilty. But the major news to come out of his court appearance will focus on whether a Will County judge will lower Peterson's $20 million bail.
That bail has kept Peterson in jail since his arrest May 7. He has been unable to post the 10 percent--or $2 million--needed to gain his freedom pending trial.
Brodsky has said he will move to get Peterson's bail reduced to somewhere between $100,000 and $500,000. He asserts Peterson isn't a flight risk, saying that if was going to flee, he would have done so long ago.
An attorney representing Savio's estate said he opposes any bail reduction because any assets Peterson may use to post bail are ones that Savio's estate likely has its own claim on. Savio's estate filed a wrongful death suit against Peterson in April.
It's not known if prosecutors today, in opposing bail reduction, will reveal any evidence they have against Peterson. Brodsky has characterized the prosecution's case as "a weak, circumstantial case at best."
At trial, prosecutors are expected to rely on a new Illinois statute -- one that Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow sought for months and that some call Drew's Law -- to allow Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, to "testify from beyond the grave." Peterson's defense team has vowed to challenge the law -- which would allow a judge to admit certain hearsay evidence into court -- as unconstitutional.
Savio, was found drowned in an empty bathtub in her Bolingbrook home five years ago. Her death at that time was ruled accidental, but prosecutors reopened the case following the disappearance of Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, in October 2007.
Another autopsy ruled Savio's death a homicide. At the time of her death, the couple was in the process of divorcing. The divorce threatened to strip Peterson of substantial assets.
Peterson has denied any involvement in Stacy's disappearance and has not been charged in that case.
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