Nov 16, 2009 3:37 pm US/Central
Peterson Lawyer: Prosecutors Withholding Evidence
Defense Lawyer Joel Brodsky Says In A Filing That He Requested Information About Police Interviews
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Drew Peterson's mug shot.
Will County's Sheriff's Department
Where are hundreds of pages of key evidence in the pending Drew Peterson murder trial?
That's what his defense attorneys want to know.
CBS 2 has learned that Peterson's attorneys are asking the judge to throw out the case.
It's the latest salvo fired by Drew Peterson's defense team, a three-page motion asks the judge to sanction the prosecution because of what the defense calls the state's failure to produce police interview and field notes.
"You have to comply with the discovery rules," CBS 2 legal analyst Irv Miller said. "You have to turn over police reports, you have to turn over notes, and there's pretty stiff sanctions if you don't."
Defense attorney Joel Brodsky declined to be interviewed. But in his filing, he writes that Peterson filed a motion for discovery six months ago. The motion specifically asked for "the disclosure of any written or recorded memoranda containing the substance of oral statements." Brodsky says those handwritten notes have not been handed over.
He formally requested them last month.
"It's pretty significant because any time you have a significant discovery violation, that is one good reason not only for the judge to throw out the indictment before trial, but it's a very good reason for the appellate court to throw out the conviction after trial," Miller said.
There are more than 800 names on the Peterson trial witness list. Tens of thousands of pages of discovery documents have been turned over to the defense team, so Miller says it's conceivable that the documents weren't turned over because of simple human error.
"An error in communication, that's one thing," he said. "But if it's an intentional act of 'Listen, we're not turning this over,' that's a big problem for the prosecution."
Ultimately, Miller says, it would be up to the judge to decide.
A spokesman for the Will County State's Attorney declined to go on camera but said, "We'll comply with all discovery requirements as prescribed by the court and the Supreme Court rules."
Sources tell CBS 2 that prosecutors say the defense team has also failed to produce all of its discovery documents.
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