JOLIET, IL — Will County Judge Dave Carlson instructed Drew Peterson and several prosecutors and Will County Public defenders to be back in his courtroom on Thursday morning because he may announce his decision on efforts to classify the 70-year-old Bolingbrook police sergeant turned murderer as being mentally incompetent to participate in his post-conviction appeal.
Under the presence of heavy security, including members of the Illinois Department of Corrections, watching Peterson’s every move in Courtroom 405, Monday morning marked a hearing on the public defender’s recent filing seeking to declare their client as mentally incompetent. However, the clinical psychiatrist who did the evaluation of Peterson came to an inconclusive finding, one of Peterson’s public defenders informed Will County Judge Dave Carlson.
The public defender asked that Carlson continue Peterson’s post-conviction case for a later date in order to obtain another evaluation for Peterson, this time by a neuropsychologist. As for Peterson, he did not say anything to anybody while in Carlson’s courtroom, although he seemed to be keenly aware of his surroundings, often looking around the courtroom gallery where his former lawyer, Joel Brodsky, was sitting.
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Peterson’s post conviction filing argued ineffective assistance of counsel.
One of the prosecutors informed Judge Carlson that if he found Peterson mentally incompetent to participate in his post-conviction case, theoretically, Peterson should be transferred from the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections to the Illinois Division of Human Services, where he would undergo rigorous psychiatric treatment to address any matters of mental illness.
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The prosecutor informed the judge that that’s what happened with one particular criminal defendant whose case is being handled by Judge Vincent Cornelius.
At one point, Judge Carlson asked the public defenders to provide him with the clinical psychiatrist’s report, and the judge announced that the report would be deemed a confidential document for the time being. After reading the report, Carlson appeared skeptical about what he was reading, telling all the lawyers in his courtroom to pay attention to page eight of the report because “those paragraphs … answer a lot of questions.”
“I’m going to impound this. I’m not going to make it a public record,” Carlson told everyone.
Finally, Carlson told all the lawyers and Peterson that he was setting another post conviction hearing for Thursday morning and that Carlson may be prepared to announce his ruling on efforts by the Will County Public Defender’s Office to find Peterson mentally incompetent.
At one point, Carlson told everyone in the courtroom that he’s fearful of having the court go down the road where psychiatrist after psychiatrist meets with Peterson for one on one evaluations and everyone keeps coming up with “inconclusive” findings.
Most important, Peterson has already been tried and convicted of murder, the judge explained. The issue of Peterson’s mental competence was not raised more than a decade ago when Peterson, the former Bolingbrook Police Department sergeant, stood trial at the old Will County Courthouse, for Kathleen Savio’s March 1, 2004 death at her Bolingbrook house.
In 2009, a grand jury indicted Peterson for the first-degree murder of his third wife, Savio, and in 2012, a Will County jury later found Peterson guilty, and he was sentenced to 38 years in prison. Peterson has never stood trial in connection with the disappearance and presumed slaying of his fourth wife, Stacy, who vanished in October 2007.
In 2016, Peterson was also sentenced to another 40 years in prison for a jailhouse plot to have the Will County State’s Attorney killed.
As for Chicago attorney Brodsky, he was warned by Judge Carlson on Monday morning that he must keep his mouth shut regarding Peterson, or he will wind up in the Will County Jail for violating the pretrial release conditions of Brodsky’s criminal contempt charges filed by Bill Elward, special prosecutor from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
On March 1, Brodsky was charged with violating the court’s previous gag order imposed upon him by giving an interview with a true crime television show host for NewsNation regarding his role as Drew Peterson’s lawyer back in February.
Related Joliet Patch coverage:
Joel Brodsky Brings Drew Peterson Drama To Will Co. Courthouse
Drew Peterson To Undergo Fitness Evaluation In Bid For New Trial
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