The judge overseeing Drew Peterson's murder trial on Friday barred important hearsay testimony meant to undercut the former suburban Chicago police officer's alibi in the death of his third wife.
It was one of the first times a ruling on hearsay, or statements not based on the direct knowledge of a witness, has gone against the state during the trial.
The witness in question, Scott Rossetto, was a friend of Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, whose 2007 disappearance led authorities to reopen the investigation into the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Rossetto testified at a 2010 hearing that Stacy Peterson told him days before she vanished that Drew Peterson came in late at night around when Savio died and said, "If anybody ever asks, I was home." That testimony might have helped prosecutors establish that Peterson acted suspiciously around the time of Savio's death and could have been a key piece of their circumstantial case.
Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Savio's death. Her body was found in her dry bathtub with a gash on the back of her head. Peterson, 58, is also a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance, although he has never been charged in her case. Authorities presume she is dead, though her body has never been found.
Prosecutors have no physical evidence tying Peterson to Savio's death, so they have had to rely heavily on hearsay. Such statements usually are not admissible in court, but Illinois passed a law in the wake of the Peterson case that allows them in certain circumstances.
During trial, the judge has allowed most of the hearsay prosecutors requested, including testimony about how Peterson allegedly told Savio he could kill her and make her death look accidental.
Judge Edward Burmila also had initially said Friday that Rossetto could testify. But minutes after Rossetto took the stand and said he had met Stacy Peterson on Oct. 25, 2007, the defense complained prosecutors gave them a different date for that meeting.
At one point, lead prosecutor James Glasgow blamed a 102-degree fever he had the night before for an imprecise email the prosecution sent to defense attorneys about Rossetto.
The case has been beset by problems since Savio was found dead in her bathroom at her suburban home, starting with the fact that investigators collected no physical evidence. Prosecutors also have made a few missteps throughout the trial by discussing matters the judge had barred. Earlier this week, Glasgow blamed one such error on his feeling "woozy" while questioning the forensic pathologist who reclassified Savio's death as a homicide.
Other testimony Friday came from a physician who treated Savio. Dr. Gene Neri said a condition Savio had, called "cervical vertigo," would have made her feel unsteady but would not have caused her to fall.
The testimony was important because the defense maintains that Savio died in an accidental fall in her bathtub and that her condition may have contributed to her losing her balance.
Neri told jurors that precisely because cervical vertigo makes people feel unsteady those with the condition tend to be more careful and so fall less than those without it.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Darryl Goldberg, Neri conceded he last saw Savio in 2002, two years before her death, and couldn't have known how she was faring medically in the weeks and months before her death.
Through his questioning, Goldberg several times sought to keep the notion of an accidental fall in jurors' minds.
"Someone who is in a bathtub without an anti-slip mechanism could slip and fall right?" Goldberg asked.
"They could," Neri responded.
———
Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm
沒有留言:
張貼留言