Peterson trial pushed back to November
<span>CHESTER -- According to Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker, the leaves will be off the trees and the corn will be out of the fields by the time Drew Peterson's murder-for-hire trial begins in Randolph County.</span>
<span>During a motions hearing Tuesday at Randolph County Courthouse, it was announced defense attorney Lucas Liefer had filed a motion for a continuance on June 18 and also a petition to approve expert witness retention and funding.</span>
<span>Judge Richard A. Brown granted the continuance and petition, with the parties apparently agreeing to a Nov. 16 trial start date with jury selection to begin on Nov. 13.</span>
<span>The parties have an Aug. 24 deadline to file any more motions, with motion hearings to begin Sept. 1. The following day has also been set aside if additional time is needed.</span>
<span>"We continued all of the motions that were set for today," Walker said in a post-hearing media interview. "The main motion we were set to hear was prior bad acts that was filed under seal."</span>
<span>During the hearing, Liefer seemed to indicate that more motions may be coming from the defense.</span>
<span>"I would anticipate I would be filing motions of my own and it would make more sense to hear them all at once," Liefer said to Brown.</span>
<span>Walker, who is co-prosecuting the case with the Illinois Attorney General's Office, said the expert witness is in the field of audio recording. On March 3, the State filed notice of the use of an eavesdropping device, used between Oct. 20 and Nov. 23 of 2014, with an extension granted on Nov. 20 to use the device until December 22.</span>
<span>"We decided if we were going to continue one motion, we were going to continue them all," Walker said.</span>
<span>Motions also on file include:</span>
• To permit impeachment (challenging the truthfulness of an individual testifying at trial) of Peterson about his prior first-degree murder conviction if he chooses to testify in this case.
• To admit trial evidence that Peterson previously offered a person $25,000 in 2003 to "take care of" his ex-wife, Kathleen Savio, whom he was convicted in 2012 of killing.
• Limit impeachment and prevent cross-examination of the prosecution's witness regarding the facts or circumstances of the crime he was convicted of.
<span>The parties have previously agreed to keep audio excerpts from taped conversations between Peterson and unnamed informant "Individual A" under seal to prevent prejudicial pretrial publicity.</span>
Originally scheduled to begin on July 6 due to Peterson's request for a speedy trial demand, the proceedings were pushed back to Aug. 31 during a motion hearing on May 22.
<span>Walker said the new Nov. 16 start date is "pretty firm."</span>
<span>"This July 6 setting, no one anticipated the trial to go out this week," Walker said. "That was the speedy trial demand filed by the defense."</span>