FOXNews.com: Barred testimony may cost prosecutors case at Drew Peterson murder trial

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Barred testimony may cost prosecutors case at Drew Peterson murder trial Aug 2nd 2012, 15:44 Legal experts say the judge in Drew Peterson's murder trial may declare a mistrial just days after it began and the ruling could result in the former suburban Chicago police sergeant going free. Judge Edward Burmila could possibly find that the state deliberately entered testimony explicitly barred in advance of the trial -- a ruling that would mean Peterson can't be tried again for murder in the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, and would be freed, according to Gal Pissetzky, a Chicago defense attorney with no ties to the Peterson case. The expected ruling by Burmila follows several awkward moments for prosecutors, who are seeking to prove the 58-year-old Peterson killed his third wife. He also is a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, but has never been charged in her case. A furious Burmila admonished prosecutors Wednesday after the second witness in just their second day of testimony began talking about finding a .38-caliber bullet on his driveway. Thomas Pontarelli, a former neighbor of Savio's, hinted in his testimony that Peterson may have planted it there to intimidate him. "We're going to persist our request for mistrial," said Steve Greenberg, a lawyer for Peterson, before a court appearance Thursday. "Drew can't get a fair trial." Greenberg continued, "I'm very frustrated, should be four or five witnesses by now, like saying someone sent a fish head in a box and Drew's a fisherman. Doesn't mean he sent the box." Peterson, meanwhile, appeared in court Thursday wearing a gray jacket and black pants. Greenberg continued to press the judge for a mistrial with prejudice, which means his client will walk free. "They're (prosecutors) trying to show the fear Savio lived in," Greenberg told the court. "They want to make this all about her fear. Her fear is inadmissible." On Wednesday, prosecutors admitted under tough questioning by the judge that there was no evidence to support the claim. And Burmila wondered aloud about whether the testimony made Peterson appear menacing in jurors' eyes and undermined his ability to get a fair trial. Peterson, who was a police officer in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Savio's death. He also has said he wasn't responsible for his fourth wife's disappearance. The legal snafus are just the latest twist in a case long plagued by problems, including a botched initial investigation that left prosecutors with no physical evidence and forced them to rely heavily on normally prohibited hearsay. The mistrial decision comes before prosecutors have even presented the most delicate of the hearsay evidence, including Savio's alleged remarks to others about Peterson threatening to kill her before her body was found in a dry bathtub at her Bolingbrook home. On Thursday, Burmila must decide if he will wipe out Pontarelli's testimony and then let the trial go on -- something he said he could do as an alternative to canceling the trial. As he left the courthouse Wednesday, Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said, "We're confident that the trial will resume tomorrow morning." But whether that's good for what is the highest-profile case of his career -- maybe in the history of Will County -- remains to be seen. Legal experts say what has unfolded so far has damaged the case. "It's bad news if a judge is chastising prosecutors so much, because it tells the jury, `I don't trust this prosecutor, I don't approve of this prosecutor,"' said Marcia Clark, Los Angeles' lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. "It's a scary place to be as prosecutor." The Associated Press contributed to this report

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