May 20, 2024
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Ex-Bolingbrook cop Drew Peterson’s attorneys issue subpoena to NewsNation

By Felix Sarver
Drew Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police officer, was back in a Will County courtroom on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Peterson made his first court appearance since filing a petition seeking to overturn his 2012 conviction for the murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004.

Drew Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police officer, was back in a Will County courtroom on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Peterson made his first court appearance since filing a petition seeking to overturn his 2012 conviction for the murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004. (Photo by Felix Sarver)

NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield’s exclusive interview with former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson has provoked subpoenas to the network and WGN-TV from his attorneys, court records show.

The subpoenas from Will County Public Defender Michael Renzi’s Office commanded the representatives of NewsNation and WGN-TV in Chicago to appear March 6 at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. The office is representing Peterson, 70, who was convicted in 2012 of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40.

Peterson’s attorneys have been contending with his 2021 post-conviction petition to overturn his murder conviction. There has yet to be ruling from Will County Judge Carlson on whether the petition should be dismissed.

On Tuesday, Carlson issued an order “dealing with WGN and [Nexstar Media Group] as well as NewsNation at the request of the parties,” according to court transcripts of the hearing.

The court order was based on the interview from Banfield, who managed to attain what she said was an “exclusive jailhouse interview” with Peterson. The interview also ran on WGN-TV.

Carlson’s court order was not available in the court docket early Thursday afternoon.

The minutes of the court docket entered by a clerk said the subpoenas were for videos created before, during and after the interview with Peterson, all correspondence with Peterson, communication from the Illinois Department of Corrections, and “all financial records pertaining to any compensation with the defendant.”

In 2022, the public defender’s office had requested a gag order on Peterson’s former lawyer, Joel Brodsky, following his interview to WGN-TV where he said he was considering revealing what Peterson told him about Stacy Peterson, who vanished in 2007.

On Feb. 5, Carlson granted the public defender’s office request for a mental evaluation of Peterson. The attorneys have not publicly disclosed their reasons for that request. On that day, Peterson made his first appearance in court since he filed his post-conviction petition.