County Board Member Calls Out Drew Peterson Prosecutor

Lame duck Will County Board member Kathleen Konicki took a shot at top prosecutor James Glasgow for supposedly praising a Cincinnati tycoon jailed for muttering an obscenity at wife-killer Drew Peterson.

Konicki accused Glasgow of lauding Cincinnati restaurateur Jeff Ruby in a courthouse hallway a week after Ruby was arrested and briefly jailed on a contempt of court charge.

"Mr. Ruby is feted as a folk hero," Konicki, a Homer Glen Republican, wrote in an email to Chief Judge Gerald Kinney. "To understand his status, it may be helpful to take into consideration the hallway conversations of officers of the court."

Konicki referenced one hallway conversation in particular. She claimed it occurred Aug. 30 and she quoted Glasgow as saying, "I don't like all the things they're saying against (Drew Peterson's missing fourth wife) Stacy Peterson, when she's not here to defend herself, to explain what she meant. And I don't care (what) they say, I respect that guy from Ohio (Jeff Ruby) who came all the way out here. At least he stands up for what he believes in."

Kinney had a printout of the email added to Peterson's court file.

Glasgow's spokesman, Charles B. Pelkie, pointed out factual inaccuracies in Konicki's email—including her claim that the jury was in the courtroom when Ruby allegedly cursed Peterson.

"The letter itself is detached from reality," Pelkie said. "Some of the things she alleged happened just didn't happen. I don't know what she thought she heard in a crowded courthouse hallway."

Konicki, who was defeated in the March primary and will be out of office at the end of her term, said she reached out to Judge Kinney—as well as to trial Judge Edward Burmila and Peterson's attorneys—for no other reason than to make them aware of the situation.

"The court won't know this unless I tell them," said Konicki, who added that she was not seeking any remedy for what she says she saw. Konicki also said she had no idea her email would be placed in Peterson's case file.

"I'm not hoping the court does anything," Konicki said. "I want the court to know."

Ruby, who is due back in Joliet on Oct. 12 to answer a charge of contempt of court, said Glasgow wasn't the only one paying him respect, and that he even got his due from two of Peterson's lawyers.

"You know who else respected what I did and said it publicly?" Ruby asked. "A guy named Joe Lopez. And so did Steve Greenberg. And so did most of America."

Attorneys Lopez and Greenberg were two of the six lawyers defending Peterson at the murder trial. Peterson has since fired Greenberg. Greenberg filed a motion to withdraw from the case Wednesday.

Peterson's sentencing for murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, is set for Nov. 26. He faces 20 to 60 years in prison.

Konicki attended every day of Peterson's five-week trial. She often advocated for Peterson, arguing with others in the hallway about his innocence.

"Clearly she's got an agenda with regard to the case and she's trying to advance that agenda," Pelkie said, noting that Glasgow cannot remember making the statement attributed to him by Konicki.

"He has no recollection of this conversation at all," Pelkie said. "There are so many factual inaccuracies with regard to what Ms. Konicki says happened, one has to question what she thinks she heard in a crowded hallway."