Drew Peterson, convicted wife killer, guilty again in prosecutor murder plot

Unbeknownst to him his chosen accomplice behind bars was wearing a wire

Peterson in court on verdict day (AP)

A jury in Illinois has convicted a former Chicago policeman with attempting to arrange the murder of a prosecutor who put him behind bars three years ago for the murder of one of his wives.

The guilty verdict against 62-year Drew Peterson came on Tuesday afternoon from jurors who had deliberated for barely an hour. They convicted him on charges of solicitation of murder for hire and solicitation for murder, which carry a possible prison sentence of up to 60 years.

Peterson, who sat expressionless as the verdict was read in court, is already serving time for the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. It was the principle prosecutor in his murder trial, States Attorney James Glasgow, whom had been targeted for death by Peterson from inside prison.

The case against the former officer was underpinned by tape recordings between him and the inmate with whom he was hoping to orchestrate the killing. Unbeknownst to him, however, that inmate, Antonio Smith, was working with the authorities.

Jurors had heard Smith confirming that arrangements had been made for someone on the outside to carry out the hit. “I told him what you said, that it's the green light on, that basically go ahead and kill him,” Smith said on the tapes. “That's what you wanted, right? ... It ain't no turning back.”

“OK, all right. I'm in,” Peterson was heard to respond. “From the first time we talked about it, there was no turning back. ... If I get some booze in here, we'll celebrate that night.”

A defence lawyer for Peterson had attempted to persuade the jury that what they had heard was nothing more than loose prison talk and proved nothing. “This case is wrought with inconsistency and incomplete evidence,“ Lucas Liefer told the jury.

Among those in the public seats was the sister of Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacey Peterson, who went missing in 2007. Her disappearance garnered headlines around the world, which in turn prompted Mr Glasgow to re-open the case of the third wife, Ms Savio, whose earlier death had been ruled an accident. The re-opened probe in turn led to Peterson’s 2013 murder conviction.

Still today, there is no word on what happened to Ms Peterson, although in the prison tapes Peterson was heard suggesting he thought she was still alive. As he passed a sister of Ms Peterson inside the court on Tuesday, he was seen muttering something to her.

Earlier on Tuesday, prosecutor Steve Nate told the jury in his closing argument that the tape recordings surely showed that Peterson was guilty of trying to have Mr Glasgow rubbed out. “He said it, he meant it, and he's guilty,” he averred to the packed courtroom.

Long before the solicitation to murder case, the notoriety of Peterson - he made a now infamous appearance on CNN’s Larry King Show in 2008 to argue his innocence just one year before his eventual arrest - prompted a Lifetime made-for-television film about his life, Drew Peterson: Untouchable, with Rob Lowe in the title role.

At the first trial, a witness said Peterson had offered him $25,000 to find someone to kill Ms Savio. She died barely three months after the couple had been divorced. Signs of a struggle were found when Mr Glasgow ordered a second autopsy on her body.