Attorney Breaks Silence Regarding Alleged Crooked Behavior in Drew Peterson’s 2021 Trial

Renowned attorney Joel Brodsky — who defended convicted killer Drew Peterson nearly 20 years ago — has broken his silence about allegedly crooked behavior during the ex-cop’s 2012 trial for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Brodsky was slapped with a gag order in 2022 after publicly suggesting to Chicago’s WGN that he knows what happened to Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, whose 2007 disappearance is what sparked police to reinvestigate Kathleen’s death, and later claiming he had “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” and that there were “other victims.”

But in a First Amendment lawsuit recently filed against Will County, Ill., public defenders and prosecutors, obtained by the National Enquirer, Brodsky argued that the real reason the lawyers requested the gag order was to keep him from exposing alleged “prosecutorial misconduct as well as judicial misbehavior and collusion” that he supposedly witnessed.

The explosive lawsuit names four prosecutors, including longtime Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow; four public defenders who represented Peterson in a still-pending petition for a new trial; and the special prosecutor assigned to pursue contempt charges against Brodsky for allegedly violating the gag order.

Some of the allegations in Brodsky’s damning 33-page complaint include: The judge “allowed outside attorneys” to speak with Peterson during the trial without his lawyer present; one of Peterson’s defense lawyers leaked a story to the media that “prejudiced” the jury pool; and prosecutors conspired with officers to pack the courtroom with vocal “people who hated Peterson,” including a restaurant owner who “cursed at Peterson in front of the jury.”

The former Bolingbrook, Ill., sergeant was ultimately convicted of killing 40-year-old Kathleen.

Brodsky notes that the prosecutors and public defenders have worked together for many years — and alleges that their wrongdoing “was so serious in nature that not only would it cause the reversal of Peterson’s conviction in a properly handled post-conviction case, but could also result in repercussions” for the defendants. He is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages — plus punitive damages.

So far, eight of the nine defendants have filed motions to dismiss Brodsky’s case, including the prosecutors, who charge the legal eagle is “improperly” seeking to “usurp pending state court proceedings.”

The dismissal motion filed by the Will County State’s Attorney Office states, “[Brodsky] also improperly seeks to hold the Will County Prosecutors liable for a ‘gag’ order issued by the state court while a special prosecutor was prosecuting the contempt case.”

Meanwhile, Drew is serving 38 years behind bars for Kathleen’s murder, plus an extra 40 years for trying to hire a hitman to knock off prosecutor Glasgow, who helped put him behind bars.

Drew has long been the prime suspect in the death of Stacy but has never been charged because her body hasn’t been found. The mother of his two youngest kids vanished at age 23.

“As long as he’s locked up, it’s fine by me,” Cassandra Cales, Stacy’s heartbroken sister, tells the National Enquirer. “All I care about is giving my sister a proper burial.”

Cales established an online fundraiser to pay for a dive search for her sibling in a canal where she thinks her remains are located — because the authorities “never worked with me. I can give them information, and they basically slam the door in my face.”

Cales vows, “I’m never going to give up the search for my sister.”