Drew Peterson charged with trying to hire hitman to kill prosecutor

Drew Peterson / photo credit Illinois Department of Corrections

(Chicago) Convicted wife killer Drew Peterson appeared in a downstate courtroom Monday morning on charges of trying to arrange a murder-for-hire-plot against a southwest suburban prosecutor.

Peterson, 61, is charged with solicitation of murder for hire, and solicitation of murder for the plot he tried to carry out between September 2013 and December 2014 against Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, according to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.

He appeared in Randolph County Court Monday morning and is next scheduled to appear March 3, a statement from state prosecutors said.

Both crimes are Class X felonies. The murder-for-hire charge carries a mandatory prison term of at least 20 years, and the solicitation charge carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years, prosecutors said.

“I have absolute faith in law enforcement and our criminal justice system to handle this case appropriately.” Glasgow said in a written statement.

“It is unfortunate that prosecutors sometimes must deal with allegations of this nature. However, in no way will a threat to my personal safety deter me from the important work I perform,” Glasgow said.

Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police officer, was convicted in 2012 of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio. His fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007, and has not been found.

He is serving a 38-year sentence at the Menard Correctional Center in southwest Illinois, where he has been moved to a higher security unit that is “more appropriate, given the charges filed today,” Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Tom Shaer said in an email.

“Inmates in the unit where Offender Peterson now resides are much more restricted, in numerous ways, than those housed in other areas,” Shaer said.

Glasgow was scheduled to make a statement on the charges at 3 p.m. at his office in Joliet.

A spokesman for the Randolph County state’s attorney referred questions to the attorney general’s office.