Print
Nov 20, 2008 4:22 pm US/Central
Judge Dismisses Gun Charges Against Drew Peterson
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) ―
-
-
Drew Peterson outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. (File)
CBS
A judge has dismissed felony gun charges against Drew Peterson after Will County prosecutors refused to hand over internal documents.
Judge Richard Schoenstedt ruled Thursday that prosecutors must give defense attorneys documents they compiled leading up to Peterson's arrest.
In a hearing, the judge said if prosecutors wouldn't hand over the documents, he'd have to drop the charges. Will County Assistant State's Attorney John Connor refused to do so.
The former Bolingbrook police sergeant suspected in his wife's disappearance was in court. His attorney, Joel Brodsky, says he's pleased with the judge's decision.
Peterson allegedly owned an assault rifle with a barrel shorter than allowed by state law. He hasn't been charged in the October 2007 disappearance of Stacy Peterson, his wife, but has been called a suspect in the matter. Authorities have called the case a possible homicide.
Peterson has said he believes his wife left him for another man.
After Stacy Peterson vanished, authorities reopened an investigation into the 2004 drowning of Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, and exhumed her body. Savio's death was reclassified from an accident to a homicide after an autopsy.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Video: CBS 2's Picks To Click
