Drew Peterson's Arraignment Pushed To May 18

JOLIET, Ill. — Drew Peterson, the former police sergeant who hasn't hesitated to crack a joke or pose for the camera since his fourth wife's disappearance more than 18 months ago, was told Friday he will have to wait more than a week to answer allegations he drowned his third wife in a bath tub. But he remained flippant.

Sheriff's deputies escorted Peterson into the Will County courthouse a day after he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the 2004 drowning death of Kathleen Savio. The ex-cop wore a red jumpsuit, was handcuffed and had shackles around his legs.

"Three squares a day and this spiffy outfit, look at all this bling," Peterson, who is being held on $20 million bond, quipped as he walked by reporters.

Inside, Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt continued Peterson's scheduled arraignment to May 18 because neither of Peterson's attorneys could attend Friday's hearing. Peterson didn't speak in court except to tell the judge he understood the continuance.

Peterson, 55, also is a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy. He's denied wrongdoing.

Savio's body was found with her hair soaked in blood from a head wound, just before the couple's divorce settlement was finalized. Her death originally was ruled an accidental drowning but authorities later said it was a homicide staged to look like an accident.

The indictment alleges that "Peterson on or about Feb. 29, 2004 ... caused Kathleen Savio to inhale fluid," causing her death.

Savio's family has long voiced suspicions, saying she feared Peterson and told relatives if she died it would not be an accident. Their fears resurfaced after the October 2007 disappearance of Stacy Peterson, then 23.

Drew Peterson is a suspect in her disappearance, which police have called a possible homicide. But he has not been charged and has repeatedly said he thinks Stacy Peterson ran off with another man.

Despite his flip comments, "Drew takes these charges very seriously," defense lawyer Joel Brodsky said Friday in an interview on ABC's Good Morning America. Brodsky said "wisecracks and comedy" are just Peterson's way of dealing with stress.

Glasgow said Thursday that the case against Peterson would include evidence that might previously have been inadmissible. Last year state lawmakers passed legislation that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove the defendant killed a witness to prevent them from testifying.

"In essence what you're basically allowing the victim of a violent crime to do is testify from the grave," Glasgow said.

Savio filed an order of protection against Peterson in 2002 and in it she wrote that she feared Peterson could kill her.

"He wants me dead and if he has to he will burn the house down just to shut me up," she wrote.

In an interview on Chicago's WGN-TV Friday morning, Brodsky said he will argue that prosecutors cannot use Savio's statements about Peterson.

"It's going to have to face a constitutional challenge," he said. "We're now involving rumor and innuendo and unreliable evidence in a homicide case."

Brodsky questioned whether Savio's death was really a homicide and said Peterson's $20 million bail is unreasonable.

Peterson has seemed to relish the spotlight since Stacy Peterson's disappearance, appearing in a People magazine cover story and on multiple national talk shows — most recently to tout his new engagement to a 24-year-old woman.