Joliet, IL—Retired Bolingbrook police sergeant, Drew Peterson recently convicted
of murder is now serving a 38 year sentence that seems to guarantee he dies in
an Illinois prison. The conviction was
obtained through tainted hearsay evidence banned in America since the adoption
of our Bill of Rights.
Americans have lost or seen liberty watered down, as right
after right is destroyed with unlawful searches, arms prohibitions, Due Process
and free speech abuses. Hearsay
evidence in court trials is something out of the Third Reich, not a free
nation.
Whatever you may think about Drew Peterson he would never
have been convicted without the outrage of hearsay evidence being used against
him. Peterson was denied the
Constitutional right to confront witnesses testifying against him. If this happened to him it can happen to
anyone. Prosecutors can now convict
anyone they choose for anything they want.
We fought wars to prevent what happened in the Drew Peterson case.
Several lawyers represented Peterson during the trial. They all had different ideas but every ship
has a captain and that was Joel Brodsky.
Neither Brodsky nor any lawyer can be perfect especially in a system
that seems to change rules hourly. I
will suggest every lawyer on the team wanted to win but personalities and egos understandably
clashed.
When Peterson was convicted the legal team suffered a
massive meltdown. The bad feeling and
lawsuits between the lawyers may last for years or even a lifetime. The blame naturally will fall on the captain
of the ship. I say the blame was
misplaced because of the breakdown of simple justice through the introduction
of hearsay evidence.
The term, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel was used to
attack former lead lawyer, Joel Brodsky By Steven Greenberg. Every appeal seems to allege ineffective
lawyering because it’s a necessary shot to win a new trial. Even the greatest lawyers can be found
ineffective at some time in a complicated trial. The claim has been overblown.
In the end an understandably desperate Drew Peterson was
convinced he’d instantly win a new trial by allowing legal team member Steve
Greenberg to fire Brodsky and crafts a motion for a new trial. Brodsky was forced to withdraw from the
defense and then his legal strategy became the target of Greenberg’s motion for
new trial. It was a nasty display that
seemed more about vendetta than real issues.
Somehow the hearsay evidence issue was lost in the avalanche of bad
feelings.
The Motion for a new trial was an in artful mess that did
not survive and Peterson was sentenced to prison. Suddenly and quietly Greenberg and his
co-counsel dropped Peterson as a client.
That withdrawal by his new lead lawyer Greenberg left
Peterson totally unrepresented. The
Court has already appointed the Illinois Appellate Defender for further
proceedings that are expected to take years or even decades to resolve these
incredibly important issues.
The Drew Peterson Defense Team is dissolved now. In retrospect their enemy was government
tyranny not each other or failed valiant efforts. The prosecutor along with the Illinois
Legislature and the trial judge ganged up to deprive Peterson of his right to
confront witnesses against him in court.
Unfortunately tyranny won and civil rights, freedom and liberty lost.
Comments
None of us should be jailed on account of bravado, and also only if we have committed a real crime.
Who is going to ensure that the guardians and the system is honest - in a society that for the most part cannot see and does not know first hand the corruption or just doesn't care?