He likes to talk, but don’t expect Peterson on stand
Drew Peterson loves to talk about himself, but the Will County jury that will decide his fate probably won’t hear a word from him during his murder trial.
While Peterson’s attorneys are publicly coy about whether he’ll testify, sources say the cocky, wise-cracking former cop likely will keep his mouth shut and let his lawyers do the talking.
That’s a smart, safe move, say legal experts not involved in the trial.
With prosecutors forced to rely on limited circumstantial evidence, there’s no reason for the often-abrasive Peterson to risk irritating the jurors chosen to determine whether he drowned Kathleen Savio in 2004.
“There’s no upside. If you put him on and they hate him, that could push it over the edge,” said attorney Brian Telander, a former Cook County prosecutor and DuPage County judge.
Another veteran attorney was more blunt.
“All those trophy fish you see hanging on the wall have one thing in common: They opened their mouths,” said the attorney, who asked not to be identified.
If Peterson testifies, he could open the door to specific questions from prosecutors about where he was and what he was doing at the time his third wife died. Those sensitive topics likely will be tough to raise otherwise, experts said.
And Peterson taking the witness stand might prompt some jurors to unfavorably recall his heavily publicized antics before and even after his 2009 arrest, including dismissive comments about Savio and his missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson; the parade of women he entertained at his home; the jokes before a court appearance about his handcuffs being “bling.”
“Drew’s worst enemy was himself,” said Richard Kling, a professor at Chicago Kent College of Law.
Peterson has to avoid at all costs rubbing some jurors the wrong way at the worst possible time. The easiest way to do that is to avoid the witness chair, experts said.
“My belief is the jury wants to hear from the defendant,” said Paul DeLuca, a former Cook County and DuPage County prosecutor now in private practice. “But if he gets up there and makes the jury angry, that’s not good at all.”
Still, if Peterson decides he wants to testify, his attorneys can’t stop him, experts agreed.
“I can’t fathom a circumstance in which he’d testify, but it’s up to him,” said attorney Sam Amirante, who defended serial killer John Wayne Gacy and later served as a Cook County judge.