Drew Peterson's attorney visited with him over the weekend for the first time since the former police sergeant was arrested on murder charges last week.
Joel Brodsky met with Peterson for about an hour over a closed-circuit video set-up at the Will County Jail on Sunday. Brodsky says his client is boyant, confident and innocent.
"Obviously, he knows how serious it is," Brodsky told reporters. "But he's also just being himself, cracking some jokes ... that's what an innocent man will do. He's not acting. He's being himself.
Peterson, who has taunted the media and public about his innocence in the disappearance of his fourth wife for 18 months, appeared in court Friday to face first-degree murder charges in the drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
He didn't seem to mind being arrested and charged with murder at all. As he was escorted into the building, a shackled Peterson looked up and smiled at news cameras.
"Three squares a day and this spiffy new outfit, how could I complain?" he said. "Look at all this bling!"
Brodsky said he has studied the bail amounts set in Will County cases during the past 10 years and would request an amount even with those cases.
"If Drew was going to run, he had ample opportunity in the last 18 months to do that. He didn't run. He's not going to run," Brodsky said.
And while Brodsky said the first step is to get Peterson out of jail, he also said his legal team is weighing the pros and cons of leaving the high-profile case on local territory. He said the intensity of the local coverage may have colored people's views on the case.
"Elsewhere in the country...people have less strong opinions about Drew," he said.
No lawyer appeared with Peterson at his bond hearing Friday, so the judge continued the proceeding until May 18. Peterson will stay in jail -- and get to keep his new outfit -- until he's able to post $2 million ,10 percent of his $20 million bond, or until his lawyer is able to get that amount reduced.
At about the same time, Peterson's on again, off again girlfriend, Christina Raines, and a companion were at the Bolingbrook home collecting Raines' belongings. [Video]
U.S. & World
Peterson was arrested by Illinois State Police during what turned out to be a less than routine traffic stop about mile from his home Thursday evening.
“I should have returned those library books,” a handcuffed Peterson told police as he was arrested, the Daily Herald reported. Read the full Peterson indictment here.
State's Attorney James Glasgow said the bond request was "granted without question."
"This is an extremely grave and serious matter, and I think that's reflected in the bond," Glasgow said.
Glasgow's team of prosecutors will try to use statements Stacy Peterson allegedly made before she disappeared -- that Drew admitting to her that he killed Savio -- as evidence in the trial. Peterson's attorney told WGN he'll challenge the constitutionality of that new exception to the hearsay law, which essentially allows prosecutors to use out-of-court statements of someone who was killed to hide a homicide.
The Illinois law that allows the hearsay exemption was passed specifically to help prosecutors in the Peterson case.
Savio's body was found in a dry bathtub in their home in 2004. Her death was initially ruled an accident, but later classified as a homicide when a second autopsy was done. Last month, Savio's family filed a civil suit against Peterson, claiming he caused her wrongful death.
Peterson's children, who were in his home when police arrived to search for evidence, were initially taken to Department of Children and Family Services, before being released to the care of his older son, Steve.
At a news conference late Thursday evening, Illinois State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said Peterson was processed and transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility in Joliet.
Dobrich said officials have tracked more than 1,100 leads in Savio's death and the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, Drew Peterson's missing fourth wife.
"Our journey has been far and wide. It has been exhausting," Dobrich said. "Ironically, for all of us, the murder of Kathleen Savio and the disappearance of Stacy Cales Peterson has made us all better police officers and has made our great agency stronger."
Chicago Sun-Times: Drew Peterson Timeline
