Drew Peterson back in Will County court on psychological evaluation

A former Bolingbrook police sergeant convicted of killing his third wife was back in court Wednesday for another psychological evaluation.

Drew Peterson, 71, was in a wheelchair and wearing glasses when he was brought to the courtroom of Will County Judge Jessica Colón-Sayre.

Peterson will undergo a psychological evaluation, and the evaluator is expected to produce a report.

Peterson’s next court date is set for Aug. 11 for a status on that report.

Peterson’s attorneys have questioned their client’s mental fitness as he pursues a bid to overturn his 2012 conviction for the first-degree murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, 40, in 2004.

Peterson has claimed that he received ineffective legal representation, and he believed prosecutorial misconduct occurred in his case.

In a court filing, Jason Strzelecki, one of Peterson’s attorneys, contends that Peterson is “incapable of relaying his allegations of constitutional deprivations” to his legal team in a manner that would allow them to “adequately and ethically submit claims” to a judge in the “context of post-conviction proceedings.”

The last time Peterson was in court was April 4, 2024.

Strzelecki said that in even setting aside the “fact that [Peterson’s] mental state seems to have continued to deteriorate since [April 2024],” Strzelecki believed a past judge finding no bona fide doubt as to Peterson’s mental fitness was “clearly in error.”

Peterson’s attorneys are seeking a more specialized psychological expert to evaluate Peterson.

Peterson was charged with Savio’s murder about a year and a half after the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, who was 23 at the time she vanished. She has never been found.