Drew Peterson Offers Kind Words For Judge, Makes 1 Request

JOLIET, IL — Convicted of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, former Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson remains optimistic that 2022 will be the year that his 2012 murder conviction gets overturned.

Will County court officials recently added Peterson's latest prison letter to his court file. Nowadays, the 67-year-old Peterson is serving his prison sentence out of state. He's at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

Will County Judge Ed Burmila, who presided over Peterson's 2012 murder trial, agreed to schedule a hearing on whether Peterson's post-conviction motion can move forward.

Peterson has asked that his murder conviction be overturned on the grounds that his lead criminal defense counsel, Joel Brodsky, provided ineffective assistance at Peterson's trial from a decade ago.

Among other things, Peterson insisted in his six-page October letter to Judge Burmila that Peterson wanted to testify in his own defense, but Brodsky refused to allow that.

"Petitioner claims that he is innocent of this crime," Peterson wrote in his Oct. 19 letter. "Petitioner was denied of his right to effective assistance of trial counsel. Joel Brodsky was my lead counsel. He lied to me about his experience defending homicide cases. In fact he had none. He put me out to the press and put me on national television. He stated if you have nothing to hide go on television."

In his December follow-up letter to Judge Burmila, Peterson had this to say:

"Dear Judge Burmila, thank you for going forward with my post conviction petition. It's hard enough to deal with a case while free. Dealing with a case while incarcerated is almost impossible," Peterson wrote.

"I find myself indigent, and I'm requesting from the court a court-appointed lawyer. I'm financially unable to retain counsel on my own. Thank you for your consideration in this matter."

Burmila has scheduled a status hearing on Peterson's post-conviction appeal for 9 a.m. Jan. 21 in Courtroom 801 at the new Will County Courthouse.

The body of Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, has never been found, and Peterson has not been charged in connection with her October 2007 disappearance.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

'Help' For Drew Peterson: 4 Will Co. Officials Appointed To Case

Drew Peterson Wants Conviction Tossed, Heads Back To Will County