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Drew Peterson withdraws request for mistrial

By Michael Tarm
Published August 15, 2012 4:00am ET
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Drew Peterson withdraws request for mistrial
FILE - In this May 8, 2009 file photo, former Bolingbrook, Ill., police officer Drew Peterson leaves the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., after his arraignment on charges of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife Kathleen Savio. Lawyers for Drew Peterson on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012, have withdrawn a motion for a mistrial, allowing the former Illinois police officer's murder trial to go ahead. The defense attorneys' move follows several blunders by prosecutors seeking to prove that the 58-year-old Peterson killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. He's also a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, but never has been charged in her case. Peterson told the judge Wednesday he does not want a mistrial. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) | M. Spencer Green

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Drew Peterson told a judge Wednesday that he wanted to withdraw a request for a mistrial, and his lawyers explained that the former suburban Chicago police officer wants the current jury to decide if he killed his third wife.

Defense attorneys also asked Judge Edward Burmila to declare all hearsay evidence in the trial inadmissible — a motion the judge again denied. Testimony resumed soon after.

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