Monday, April 29, 2013
Accused of stealing a client's money, one of Drew Peterson's attorneys agreed to a three-month suspension of his law license, the Chicago Tribune reported.
A member of convicted wife-killer Drew Peterson's defense team took a three-month license suspension to settle a disciplinary case brought against him, the Chicago Tribune reported. Clarendon Hills attorney David Peilet agreed to the suspension, according to the Tribune. Peilet did not join Peterson's defense team until after the disgraced former Bolingbrook cop was found guilty of murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in September. Peilet was part of a failed effort to win a new trial for Peterson. According to the Tribune story, Peilet was accused of stealing $4,000 from a client he represented in a Cook County drug case. A complaint was filed against him with the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission. "The ARDC …
Saturday, March 9, 2013
A Plainfield murder trial ended with a guilty verdict on the week's last day—and much, much more, in this edition of Court Supervision.
A week-long murder trial wrapped up with a guilty verdict Friday afternoon. The jury took two days to convict Ricardo Gutierrez, 23, of first-degree murder. Gutierrez gunned down Javier Barrios in October 2007 in Plainfield. Barrios was 18 when he was killed. Jury selection started Monday in the Will County Courthouse. Gutierrez's attorneys, Jeff Tomczak and Paul Napolski, said the killing was carried out in self-defense. That was just one of the things going on in court last week. There was also: Find all these stories and more on our Facebook page
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Judge Edward Burmila said he was "shocked" by lawyer Joel Brodsky's conduct, and now Brodsky's license to practice law could be in jeopardy before the state's Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission.
The judge in the Drew Peterson murder case said he was "shocked" by the behavior of attorney Joel Brodsky in the aftermath of the convicted wife-killer's sentencing last month. "I've never seen an attorney comport himself the way Mr. Brodsky did," Judge Edward Burmila said during a Tuesday morning hearing at the Will County Courthouse. And Brodsky's law license may be in jeopardy now that Judge Burmila is alerting the state's Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission to Brodsky's antics. After Peterson was hit with a 38-year prison sentence for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, his former attorney, Joel Brodsky, did a WGN Morning News interview and blamed Peterson for moves he made at the trial. Judge Burmila first said he …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Drew Peterson's former attorney was called to the witness stand but wasn't asked anything about the murder trial he was blamed for losing.
Drew Peterson's longest serving attorney tried to argue his way out of testifying at a hearing to determine whether the convicted wife-killer needs a new murder trial, but couldn't dodge his trip to the witness stand. But even after attorney Joel Brodsky failed to convince Judge Edward Burmila he didn't have to testify, he wasn't asked too many uncomfortable questions about the trial he has been blamed for blowing. Instead, Peterson lawyer Steve Greenberg stuck to questions about Brodsky's financial dealings with Peterson. He also asked about a contract Brodsky and Peterson entered into with Florida publicist Glenn Selig. The ABC network paid Peterson and Brodsky $10,000 for "licensing rights" to Peterson's photographs and videos, …
Monday, February 18, 2013
If Drew Peterson doesn't win his hearing for a new murder trial this week, the judge is packing him off to prison.
Drew Peterson has one more shot to dodge a trip to Stateville, and it all comes down to a hearing scheduled to start Tuesday morning. After more than three and a half years in the Will County jail and a five-week trial that wrapped up in September, the disgraced former Bolingbrook cop's lawyers will try to convince Judge Edward Burmila to give him a do-over. And that's not all—matters from a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Peterson by his slain third wife's family will be shoehorned into the proceedings. And one of Peterson's current attorneys, Steve Greenberg, expects to argue that Judge Burmila should sanction former Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky. But wait—there's more. Peterson's lawyers plan to call Will County State's Attorney …
Saturday, February 2, 2013
We could swear we've seen some of these people around here before.
So it's Groundhog Day. This whole week felt like Groundhog Day. Day after day we seemed to be seeing the same people over and over. Maybe our minds were playing tricks on us. Or maybe not. Just look, on Friday we had one of the lawyers representing Drew Peterson in court trying to get former Peterson lawyer Joel Brodsky to give up his financial records. Peterson and Brodsky have been haunting the courthouse for years now. Peterson has been found guilty of murder, and Brodsky no longer represents the convicted wife-killer, but it doesn't look like they've really gone away. And Margarita Hernandez, who faces charges she set up a sex date with a teenage boy, was in court not once, but twice last week. The first time, her trial was scheduled …
Friday, February 1, 2013
Former Drew Peterson lawyer Joel Brodsky gave in and turned over his financial records, but attorneys for the convicted wife-killer want him to hand over even more.
The attorney accused by a former colleague of blowing the Drew Peterson murder trial has surrendered his financial records, but lawyers for the convicted wife-killer want even more. Attorney Joel Brodsky at first resisted a subpoena for his financial records but eventually complied, to an extent. Attorney Steve Greenberg—who still represents Peterson and is fighting to get him a new trial—wants additional documents from Brodsky "There's still more records," Greenberg said after a Friday morning hearing before Will County Judge Edward Burmila. "Hopefully we'll get them and that will be that." If Brodsky doesn't cough up the records, Burmila will convene a hearing Wednesday. The judge ordered that Peterson—who has been locked up at the …
Saturday, January 26, 2013
The lawyer blamed for losing Drew Peterson's murder trial is resisting attempts to get at his financial records.
The lawyer representing Drew Peterson the longest before his unceremonious departure from the case is trying to keep his financial records out of the public eye. Attorney Joel Brodsky filed court papers to head off a subpoena for records of his financial dealings with Peterson. The lawyers still representing Peterson claim Brodsky blew what would have been a successful defense against charges Peterson murdered his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Brodsky did such a bad job, Peterson's attorneys contend, that the convicted wife-killer should get a new trial. Peterson's attorneys are trying to get their hands on Brodsky's financial records in hopes of showing Brodsky put his interest in making money in the media and entertainment industries ahead…
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The case of a Tinley Park man who allegedly beat his wife to death with a weightlifting bar was just one of the thing's going on at the Will County Courthouse this week.
The Tinley Park man charged with beating his wife to death with a weightlifting bar had his bond set at $5 million. And if Bahaa Sam, 47, comes up with $500,000 cash he needs to secure his release, he must turn in both his American and Egyptian passports, Will County Judge Roger Rickmon ordered at Sam's bond hearing Thursday. Sam allegedly bludgeoned his wife with a weightlifting bar after they argued over his lack of employment. Sam's wife, 38-year-old Nermeen Gamal Sam, had bitten her husband's finger when he blocked her from leaving the house, police said. Sam then murdered his wife in front of their 4-year-old son, police and prosecutors said. But that wasn't the only thing going on at the Joliet courthouse, although it may have been …
Monday, December 17, 2012
Joel Brodsky slapped back with a bizarre court filing just days after getting blamed for blowing the Drew Peterson case.
Last week, one of the lawyers working to get wife-killer Drew Peterson a new murder trial blamed attorney Joel Brodsky for blowing the case. On Monday, Brodsky slapped back, filing a court paper claiming former co-counsel Steve Greenberg "suffers from a severe mental illness." Mentally ill or not, Greenberg is still on Peterson's defense team. The same can't be said for Brodsky, who tearfully claimed in October that he was voluntarily withdrawing from the case. In last week's memorandum penned by Greenberg, which paints Brodsky as a delusional, petty, fame-hungry liar, it alleges that Brodsky was "discharged" from the defense team. Brodsky has followed his withdrawal—or discharge—from the criminal case by pulling out of a wrongful death …
Flora Dora
3:18 pm on Wednesday, May 1, 2013
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