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Nancy Grace
Drew Peterson Can`t Stop Talking
Aired December 24, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAT LALAMA, GUEST HOST: Tonight: He`s a suspect in his fourth wife`s disappearance, and his third wife`s mysterious bathtub death is under investigation. Former police sergeant Drew Peterson says the media won`t leave him or his children alone, but Peterson seems to be the one who just can`t stop talking, courting even more attention with several TV, radio and print interviews, not to mention photo sessions in his own back yard.
But through all of this, Drew Peterson maintains just one theory about what he says happened to Stacy. He claims his missing wife took off with another man and pleads with her to come home and end this nightmare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You say the media`s bothering you, the media`s bothering you, and it`s harassment. But don`t you think we`re helping in the search for Stacy?
DREW PETERSON, SUSPECT IN FOURTH WIFE`S DISAPPEARANCE: Well, go out and search. You know, they`ve been through my house a few times, so it`s, like, she`s not here. So (INAUDIBLE) see here. So, you know, am I worried about her and her safety? Yes. I have been from the beginning. But people aren`t asking that. They`re asking, How are you reacting? How are you feeling? And I`m answering that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drew Peterson would never hurt anyone. That`s what the former cop`s mom told a Chicago newspaper. And then she went on to say she`s ashamed of her daughter-in-law, Peterson`s wife, Stacy, for running away and for leaving her son to face all this suspicion. Drew Peterson is a suspect in his wife, Stacy`s, disappearance, and now the death of his previous wife is under scrutiny.
LALAMA: Good evening. I`m Pat Lalama, in for Nancy Grace. Tonight: Former police sergeant just can`t stop talking to the same media he says won`t leave him alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: What would you be telling Drew Peterson right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would tell him to obviously keep his mouth shut.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get yourself back in the house and shut your mouth. You`ve got to wire his jaw shut, take him out of Dodge, hide him away somewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`d start with duct tape wrapped liberally around his mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let your lawyer do the talking. Let your lawyers have the comments that need to be made to the media.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Continue to talk, and a jury will never let you walk!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stay in the house. Don`t talk to anyone. Don`t talk to he media.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s killing himself in the public eye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every one of these statements is going to be lined up against this guy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s better off just keeping his mouth shut.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The less he speaks, the better off he will be, ultimately, whether he is charged or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LALAMA: Well, what happened to young mom of two Stacy Peterson, who vanished in the Chicago suburbs? And why won`t her husband/suspect, Drew Peterson, stop talking to the media?
Well, for the very latest, let`s go to Mary Frances Bragiel, reporter with WBBM Newsradio 780. Mary Frances, I mean, he may hate the media, but he`s using new media now for help, is he not?
MARY FRANCES BRAGIEL, WBBM NEWSRADIO 780: I don`t think that he hates the media. I`ve never thought that he hates the media.
LALAMA: Yes, he probably loves the media, right?
BRAGIEL: Exactly. That`s why he`s out there every chance he gets. Every time I call him, he picks up the phone. He`s more than willing to talk to me. I mean, his attorney doesn`t speak to me. He speaks to me, though.
LALAMA: What does that tell you, though? I mean, just like you said, he pretends to have this, you know, hateful disdain for members of the media, but really, it almost seems like he can`t live without the media, at this point.
BRAGIEL: I think he views himself and larger than life. He loves the spotlight. And I think that that is why -- it`s part of his personality. That`s why he`s had no trouble getting women in the past, this string of women that he has dated or been engaged to, obviously been married to. And as is (ph) all (ph) said, he`s a real charmer.
LALAMA: Well, that`s -- Snake charmer, maybe, some people would say.
Kathy Chaney, reporter with "The Chicago Defender," you know, I was just referring to new media, as in the Internet, which is part of media. But now he`s asking people on the Internet for help, is he not?
KATHY CHANEY, "CHICAGO DEFENDER": Yes, he is. He needs help with his legal defense fund. And he -- just he went on the "Today" saying, you know, I need some representation. Anyone out there willing to take on my case? He`s basically doing the same thing now. He`s going to the Internet, searching for legal defense help (INAUDIBLE)
LALAMA: Pat Brown, criminal profiler, would the word "audacity" seem unfair to apply to him? Asking -- and by the way, he doesn`t just say to the public, Oh, could you give me some money, he says, I`m going to the American public, as if it gives it some sort of panache to speak to us as great Americans, right?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, to the women, he`s trying probably to get to donate to his fund, it`s probably a good idea to say that because who is going to give money to Drew Peterson except Drew Peterson groupies, women who want to be important in the world? So you know, I`m helping the underdog. Poor Drew Peterson. You know, I know how this works. The police are always out to get somebody. They`re out to get him, and I`m going to fight for him. I`m with Drew!
LALAMA: You know, it`s interesting you say that because I`ve covered a lot of criminal trials in LA, where if the suspect has a certain panache to him, there are literally women in the courtroom there, you know, looking for a husband. I mean, it`s shocking.
Kathy Chaney, though, I hear regarding the request for money that it may not be going to so well.
CHANEY: No. Well, like you said, you know, everybody pretty much is looking at him, like, Are you kidding me?
LALAMA: Right.
CHANEY: He`s not going to get much money.
LALAMA: All right. Well, all right, speaking of the "are you kidding me," we`ve got a fabulous little timeline of all the great quotations from Drew Peterson that we thought we would go over with you today and maybe talk about some of this. Some of the more recent from the arena of the December 7th week, he talks about himself as a celebrity and says, "I`d rather be a celebrity for something good."
Mary Frances Bragiel, do you think he thinks he`s a media icon now?
BRAGIEL: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. That`s why he continues to go out in the front whenever the media is there. He claims he doesn`t like it, but whenever we`re there, he`s out there. And people walk up to his door and he answers the door and he talks to us, or you call him on the phone and he picks up the phone, or he does media interviews with "People" magazine. So absolutely, he believes he`s a celebrity.
LALAMA: Oh, and yet he did stay quiet for a little while until recently, when I know he spoke to your radio station about wanting, you know, the money. But Kathy Chaney, you know, he was walking around with a videocamera. Shocking to me! He`s outside with a videocamera, videotaping the reporters. My understanding is a network television show gave him that camera. What was that about?
CHANEY: "Good Morning America" gave him the videocamera to basically turn the tables on media. We`re out there constantly, day in, day out, shining the light on him, rolling the footage. So what better to do but have him film his own video journal and look at the media?
LALAMA: Pat Brown, you know, I know all the lawyers are telling him to, Shut up, shut up, shut up. But he just can`t help himself. Profile someone like that for us.
BROWN: Well, he is -- first of all, he`s a gregarious sort of man, anyways, always been that way. That is Drew Peterson. He`s always been the life of the party. And he`s managed to get all those men to hang around him in the bars and he`s gotten all those women to marry him and have sex and (INAUDIBLE) when he`s still married to other people. So I mean, he`s never been able to not get what Drew Peterson wants. So he thinks his gregariousness works, so he`s going to keep working what`s always worked.
LALAMA: Yes, he is not inclined to believe that staying quiet might be good for him, it doesn`t seem like it.
BROWN: Exactly.
LALAMA: And you know, he`s made a couple of comments that I thought just seemed awfully crass. You know, even if you didn`t love your wife anymore, she`s still missing or dead, we`re not sure. But saying things, Mary Frances, like, Well, you know, "Playgirl" hasn`t called me yet for -- to do a spread, and I`m not going to be getting any dates. How does -- I mean, have you heard any of those things? And I mean, what does he think he is, a ladies` man or something?
BRAGIEL: Oh, he absolutely thinks that he`s a ladies` man. I mean, he`s a charmer. But again, as he said to the media, you know, when he gets nervous, he laughs. And so that`s why he does that. I mean, he -- from the beginning of this, when he first walked across the lawn and he had his face covered in an American flag, we went up to the door and he said to us, you know, through the screen without looking at him (ph), I`ll never return a library book late, and started laughing, you know, at the beginning of this. So I mean, you know, there`s something wrong with a person like this who shows absolutely no remorse for his wife who is missing.
LALAMA: Kathy Chaney, what`s the mood in -- with the neighbors, who probably got sick of seeing satellite trucks around? I mean, what are you hearing from the people in the neighborhood?
CHANEY: They are actually relieved that the media is gone, the big media fanfare. But they know that we`re coming back. It`s just a matter of time. He`s due back in court tomorrow. We`re coming back, and who knows what happens with the case later on, where we just may be back out there for another 40 days.
LALAMA: Well, didn`t he have a sign, a "No trespassing" sign on his lawn? But did anybody really believe that he wanted no one to trespass?
CHANEY: That`s what he wanted people to not do is trespass. But how can you really stop it? I secretly think that he doesn`t want it to stop.
LALAMA: Yes. Pat Brown, you know, he says -- now he`s whining that, Oh, everyone`s turning on me, my friends are turning on me, the neighbors used to like me, oh, you know, even my cop buddies aren`t returning my calls. I really think that this upsets him, that he really just doesn`t get why -- I mean, really doesn`t understand why people are maybe saying, You won`t be coming to my Christmas gathering or my holiday gathering.
BROWN: Well, he`s never taken responsibility for his behavior. And I always thought it was really kind of funny when his mother came on and she said -- she blamed Stacy for everything that`s wrong, and her son has never hurt anybody. I`m thinking, Wait a minute. What about your son having all those adulterous affairs? Is that not hurting somebody? So I think Mom has trouble accepting the fact that her son`s bad behavior should bring things to him that aren`t so good, and he himself doesn`t understand that, either. I mean, the apple didn`t fall far from that tree.
LALAMA: Well, would a profiler say -- and you know, I know this term gets thrown around a lot, so forgive my -- forgive me for being trite -- but sociopath -- is that -- I mean, I`m not a doctor, or maybe I shouldn`t say it, but some people might say this is a little bit sociopathic. Is that wrong?
BROWN: Well, a little? Pat, I wouldn`t say a little. I`d say a whole lot.
LALAMA: Thank you.
BROWN: I will say yes, tremendous amounts of psychopathic traits. Actually, I would say he has every one of those psychopathic traits, but not calling him a psychopathic.
LALAMA: Well, you know, here`s a quote. OK, check this out. Quote, "I would tell Stacy I`m ashamed of her for putting my family through this. She knows where she is." Mary Frances, what`s your take on that?
BRAGIEL: You know, that`s just making him -- they want people to feel sorry for him. I`m not a psychologist, but I can tell you that`s exactly what he`s trying to do, make him (ph) feel sorry for him because Stacy took off with another man, when, in fact, everybody knows except him that Stacy did not take off with another man.
LALAMA: Well, you know, he made a lot of comments. And we women, and there are four of us here tonight, probably took a little bit of issue with this. On wife three and four, he blamed the problems on hormones, right, Kathy Chaney?
CHANEY: Yes, he did.
LALAMA: Could you describe for us? I don`t want to do it. You do it.
CHANEY: Well, pretty much it`s every time she got into some type of mood, any time she had her cycle, she would lash out at him.
LALAMA: Right. Every time she wanted a divorce, right?
CHANEY: Yes. I mean, completely insulting to all of the women.
LALAMA: Right. And I believe he even said something to the effect of, And then again, with Kathleen, it was the same thing. I mean, I think he believes this stuff. He also said something that really I thought was kind of interesting. When he would talk to the media more recently, at the end of the conversations, he would go, I have to go in now, or something like, This is making me sad. Mary Frances, do you know about those?
BRAGIEL: Oh, absolutely. I`ve seen all of those, when he says that stuff. And then he starts to laugh at the end and walks in there. I mean, nothing makes this man feel sad. You know, it just doesn`t.
LALAMA: Pat Brown, OK, I don`t even know how to pose, to frame the question. Wouldn`t you just automatically -- wouldn`t there be some sort of emotional impact, even if you are responsible, which we don`t know that he is? But how can you play it so -- with so much fun and so much levity?
BROWN: Well, probably because there is zero emotional impact. If you are a psychopath, those things do not affect you because you have no feeling for other people. They just simply do not matter to you. They`re kind of like cardboard cutouts in your life, you know, in your little dollhouse, and you just move them around and play with them. And when you don`t like them, you just kind of rip them up and toss them aside. They are meaningless to you. So how can you have emotions about something that is meaningless to you?
LALAMA: Yes, you just the quote, Why would I look for somebody who`s gone? (INAUDIBLE), you know, whatever. But the thing is, even if you don`t love her anymore, you still have a certain, you know, sadness to your wife leaving you with four kids.
BROWN: Why? Why? If you don`t love your wife and you really don`t love your children, either, perhaps, because if you are a psychopath, those children are no more lovable than your wife.
LALAMA: Well...
BROWN: They`re just, again, little cutout dolls in your -- shorter ones, you know, in your dollhouse.
LALAMA: That brings me to my next question, Kathy Chaney. He does make comments about how the media is terrorizing his children. Has he not said that?
CHANEY: He said that on several occasions, and there is absolutely no way that the media could be terrorizing his children. We`ve never seen his children pretty much out there. No one`s tried to talk to the children. I mean, we have sense. You know, we know what our limitations are.
LALAMA: Right. Right.
CHANEY: And even the family has said that the children, even the smallest ones, don`t even know what`s going on.
LALAMA: Right. I mean, you`d have to be a real dog meat reporter to try to talk to one of these kids.
CHANEY: Exactly.
LALAMA: I`d hunt that reporter down myself and beat the living daylights out of him. And then finally, he claims in this pursuit of money that he`s had six jobs at once before. Mary Frances, do you buy that? He`s trying to prove to everybody how hard he works, "I`ve carried six jobs at once."
BRAGIEL: Listen, maybe he has. I don`t know if they`re legal jobs. I have no idea. But he`s living very comfortably at this point in a $6,000-a-month pension.
LALAMA: Probably jobs just like trying to entertain all the women in his life.
All right, more on the Stacy Peterson case when we come back. But first, to check out new pictures of Nancy`s twins and all the latest messages from Nancy, head over to her baby blog. It`s all at CNN.com/nancygrace. And remember, Nancy`s very much anticipated return to Headline News is just days away, back on January 7 in this very chair at 8:00 PM Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a network interview, Drew Peterson says he had nothing to do with the disappearance of his wife, Stacy Peterson, or the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Peterson has never searched for Stacy. The former police sergeant claims he was never violent with the 23- year-old missing mother of two.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LALAMA: I`m Pat Lalama, in for Nancy Grace. I want to discuss Kathleen Savio, wife number three, just very quickly because this is weight on my mind. I`m a stepparent. I know how things work with visitation. He claims when he brought his kids home one night after a weekend with him, Kathleen wasn`t home, so what he did was tell a neighbor, and they called a locksmith to get in the house. Now, when my stepkids -- when their mom`s not home, we take them back home and we wait until she gets home. So Mary Frances, does that seem a little odd to you that his claim was, Well, I didn`t want to go in the house because she`d accuse me of stealing something??
BRAGIEL: Well, what`s odd about the claim is that the Bolingbrook Police Department did release a log of all these domestic calls between Drew and Kathleen Savio, and most of them were child-related, dropping off the kids late, you know, not picking them up at the right time, so stuff like that. So I would -- I would think that this would be a huge deal, a huge issue, and that he -- you know, it just doesn`t make any sense.
LALAMA: Well, but, you know, Pat Brown, I think what I`m saying is that, what was he going to do -- Let`s say he got the door open, was he going to drop them off, Hey, see you, kids, now I`m leaving? I mean, is it just me making too big a deal? That just seems odd. And he brings the neighbor over to go in the house, and then ultimately discover Kathleen`s body.
BROWN: Yes. First of all, it`s an extreme method. Like you say, you just would normally take the kids back and try to find out what`s going on. I think it`s one of those things where you don`t want to find the body alone because then you would be there alone with the body and then you might be suspected of doing something to that person. So you always call up the neighbor, your brother, your sister, or maybe the sister-in-law, and say, Gee, So-and-So`s not home. You want to meet me there and we`ll see what`s up? This is used over and over again in many cases where the spouse is actually involved in the homicide.
LALAMA: Well, you know, his mom -- and we referred to her a minute ago, Betty Morphey -- has really defended him. And you know, in fairness to Mom, it`s her son and it`s a hard thing to try to imagine that your son has done anything wrong. But I mean, she`s upset because she says fellow officers have turned their back on him. She says that`s disrespectful. And then I like this one. When asked why he refused to let officers search his home she said, "Would you want people going through your house?"
Mary Frances, I guess it`s -- you know, I`m not blaming her for anything he may or may not have done, and he hasn`t been charged with anything, but it does sound like maybe he`s a little coddled. And it is his mom, but isn`t he being a little coddled by her statements, or am I just being too hard on her?
BRAGIEL: No. She -- I mean, she`s a mom. I mean, you know, obviously, she`s coddled him his whole life, which could be the reason he is the way he is.
LALAMA: Yes, well, I was trying to imply that, but I wasn`t sure I could, so...
BRAGIEL: Yes. And she clearly has blinders on. But I will tell you this, she, as well as her husband, his stepfather, called us vultures. So we`re not -- they`re not big fans of ours, the media.
LALAMA: All right. Well, one of my favorites, Kathy Chaney, remember when he said something like, What do you get when you cross -- what`s the joke -- the pig with the media? You remember the rest of that?
CHANEY: Right. And you get nothing. You just get nothing. And no one knew what the hell -- sorry...
(LAUGHTER)
CHANEY: ... what that meant. It was just empty. It was completely empty, and it made him look even more stupid.
LALAMA: Well, it sounds like he has at least listened to -- very quickly, Pat Brown -- his lawyers more recently. Does it sound like he`s learning to stay quiet? Very quickly.
BROWN: I think it`s just for a few seconds. He`s not going to be able to stand it. He`s got to go back out there and start controlling things again, so we`re going to hear back from him real soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He swears he`s telling the truth, but is Drew Peterson hiding secrets about two of his wives? The mystery begins on October 28. That`s when Peterson, a veteran police sergeant, reported his fourth wife, Stacy, missing. The search for the 23-year-old began almost immediately. But while family members, volunteers and police looked for Stacy, her husband did not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LALAMA: I`m Pat Lalama, in for Nancy Grace. Pat Brown, I think what a lot of people are wondering -- all these statements -- and they seem just sort of, you know, out there in many ways. But is there a prosecutor somewhere writing every one of them down? And is any of this stuff admissible, and you know -- or is it just dreck, basically?
BROWN: Well, if it comes out of his own mouth, it`s admissible. But -- and of course they`re going to use it to try to build up a whole profile of this man to see where they can go with it and how they`re going to -- how they can make a case out of it, how they can convince a jury that this guy is guilty of what we might think he`s guilty of.
LALAMA: Yes. And he hasn`t been charged. Got to say it. Got to say it.
BROWN: Might think he`s guilty of.
LALAMA: Well, you know, he -- exactly. He said this, quote -- he admits -- "I`d look at me as a bad guy, but basically, I`m a good person who does good things." Gee, Mary Frances, if he`s -- if you believe so much in your innocence, why would you say, "I would look at me as a bad guy"?
BRAGIEL: Again, I`m not a psychologist, so I don`t...
LALAMA: That`s all right.
(LAUGHTER)
BRAGIEL: But I mean, you know, are you surprised by anything that he says at this point, Pat? I mean, he just -- I think it all goes back to trying to get sympathy for him. That`s all it is.
LALAMA: Well, Pat...
BRAGIEL: He wants people to like him, is just I think he`s always gone about...
BROWN: Right. And Pat Brown, I was just kind of going there. I mean, is there a psychology for him saying, Gee, you know -- it`s almost like he`s self-effacing -- I can see why people think I`m a bad guy. Is he trying to, like, win people over with a comment like that?
BROWN: Oh, well, actually, I think he`s amused by it more than he`s trying to win people over because he`s not doing a very good job of winning anybody over with anything he`s said so far, and he`s obviously pretty unconcerned with his little comments that he`s thrown out there.
I just think that he doesn`t understand how normal people view him. He doesn`t really get it. And if he has psychopathic traits, that`s one of the top ones. He doesn`t have any empathy for other people. So how can you put yourself in somebody else`s shoes when you don`t understand those other people at all?
LALAMA: Right. Kathy Chaney, he did extensive interviews, a couple on the "Today" show. How do you think the perception -- how did he fare? Do you think people at the end said, Oh, you know, poor guy, or do you think it worked to -- it hurt him?
CHANEY: No, it`s...
LALAMA: What was that laugh about, Kathy?
(LAUGHTER)
LALAMA: Go ahead.
CHANEY: It`s not going to help him at all. People have not changed their perception. They think he`s guilty, and that`s basically it. And him going on there -- like the defense attorneys on the show said, Keep your mouth closed. And it`s hard for him to do. He can`t help himself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW PETERSON, SUSPECT IN WIFE`S DISAPPEARANCE: It`s mind-boggling. You know, it`s just like people are looking at me under a magnifying glass. And it`s very upsetting. I mean, what I had for breakfast is a big -- is newsworthy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drew Peterson addresses the media upon arriving home from his second interview in five days on NBC`s "Today" show. The former Bolingbrook police officer is a suspect in the disappearance case of his 23-year-old wife, Stacy, and says he`s tired of all this attention.
PETERSON: Please go home. Thanksgiving`s in the next couple days. Please go home. Please leave me alone. Please don`t get involved in my (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No such antics earlier on national TV, as new legal counsel Joel Brodsky insisted on answering most of Matt Lauer`s questions. This from Brodsky in response to an independent autopsy by Dr. Michael Baden that showed that the death of Peterson`s third wife, Kathleen Savio, was staged to be an accident.
Meanwhile, Peterson`s first wife, Carol Brown, was appearing on ABC`s "Good Morning America" to say the Drew she knew was not capable of murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Over the weekend, we heard from the family of his first wife, who said, OK, he was very controlling, he cheated on her, but as for any type of physical or mental violence, that didn`t happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LALAMA: He says the media won`t leave him alone and even mocks them by turning the camera on them outside his home. But veteran police sergeant Drew Peterson still continues his media blitz, denying he had anything to do with his third wife`s mysterious death or his fourth wife`s disappearance.
After many invitations, Peterson`s attorney, Joel Brodsky, finally talks with the Nancy Grace show about his client and what he says is misinformation about the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ve got to ask you about some of your client`s latest comments, which are getting so much play. And I have to just recap them. He says, "I`m a celebrity now. I`d rather be a celebrity for good," but he considers himself a celebrity. He says, "I`m not going to get another date." And he also said at one point, "Despite what you may have heard, I`m not going to be on the cover of `Playgirl.`"
What is he thinking to be making these comments? Because he`s upset that his former cop buddies aren`t talking to him. You think?
JOEL BRODSKY, ATTORNEY FOR DREW PETERSON: Well, I think, to some extent, he`s playing with the media. I mean, that`s -- Drew`s personality is -- he`s messing with you guys. You know, every time he goes to the mail, to take his mail out, you know, there`s 15 cameras on him. And he just -- he`s just messing with you. That`s the long and the short of it. So that`s what it is.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, what do you tell him to do? Because everybody`s been hollering, you know, Stop talking, Drew, doesn`t your attorney tell you to stop talking? What do you tell him?
BRODSKY: You`re right, his attorney does tell him to stop talking every single day. But you know, it`s hard when you go to the mailbox and you`re surrounded by 20 cameras, or you`re trying to back your car out of the driveway and they stick cameras in your face and a microphone in your face. It`s kind of hard not to say something. We`re trying to, you know, give him things to say, but it`s difficult -- he -- especially for Drew. I mean, his personality is that he wants to say something. He wants to get a rise out of sometimes, and that`s what he wants to do.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask you a question, because he feels that the media has conducted a witch hunt, and I think you`ve even been quoted as saying something similar to that. When you see him behaving like this, do you understand why he is portrayed the way he is in the media?
BRODSKY: Well, it`s like feeding -- what we call feeding the beast, to some extent. You have to understand what`s going on with -- at Drew -- in front of his house is absolutely unprecedented. I cannot think of any other person who`s been held in siege for a month and house turning basically a bunker, you know, and the media just -- they can -- they -- the police will not or cannot -- I think it`s they will not get the media to get away from the front of his house.
Three o`clock in the morning, the generators come on. They wake everybody up. They`re -- it`s -- it`s unreal. And what he`s doing, to some extent, is a reaction to that. I`m sure -- in fact, I know this for a fact. If the media wasn`t out in front of his house to the extent it was, and they were down the block in a parking lot and we were doing, you know, kind of controlled -- controlled situation, you`d see a totally different person. You`d see -- you wouldn`t get these type of wisecracks. It would just -- it wouldn`t -- it would be a different situation.
So to some extent, he is a victim of the -- of the...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, but you know what?
(CROSSTALK)
BRODSKY: -- media attention --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t necessarily buy that because I`m in the media. I`ve been on those stakeouts. And you know, it`s never pleasant, but it is -- it`s part of our system. Just like there are police, we are an important part of the entire picture. And I`ve been on stakeouts. I`ve covered the Michael Jackson case, the Robert Blake case, the O.J. Simpson case. There were always media circuses --
BRODSKY: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- wherever we went.
BRODSKY: But did you ever have it out in front of a single family home in a small suburb?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes!
BRODSKY: Not with Michael -- for this period of time? Not with Blake, where he lived in a mansion, or with Michael Jackson, where he live in a compound. But I mean, right on the front lawn of the house for weeks and weeks and weeks of hundreds of hundreds of media personnel.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s bring the attorneys back.
BRODSKY: OK.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Richard Herman and Christine Grillo, he`s making a point that, obviously, he feels very strongly about. Do you think this is an excuse for his behavior, Richard?
CHRISTINE GRILLO, ATTORNEY: I think -- oh. Sorry.
RICHARD HERMAN, ATTORNEY: Joel, there`s nothing you can do to help him right now in the public eye. Everything he does, he does wrong. If he was out searching for the body, he would be criticized for that.
BRODSKY: That`s true.
HERMAN: He`s got to go. You`ve got to wire his jaw shut, take him out of Dodge, hide him away somewhere and get rid of him for a while. And you`ve got to stop talking about the case and let it take its course because you`re not doing him any good, and he`s killing himself in the public eye.
BRODSKY: Well, I disagree -- I disagree with --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, wait a second. We`ve invited him on the show. And we`re happy that you`re on the show, Joel, because we`ve been inviting you on the NANCY GRACE show over and over again. So you know --
BRODSKY: Well, I got to disagree with part of that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.
BRODSKY: I would certainly like to see, you know, Drew be quiet. There`s no question about it. I do advise him to stop many of his comments. But as far as my getting out there -- you know, we have to respond to certain things. For example, this truck driver, you know, the truck stop thing, where it turns out that we come out and show that the truck driver that said he was told was meeting Drew was, in fact, in Louisiana at the time. Or the mistakes that Dr. Baden made in his statements about the autopsy.
We have to get out there and get our message out that a lot of -- there`s a lot of misinformation being broadcast, and I`m trying to, you know, hold back the tide and get at least some of our story out there that there`s a lot of misinformation. That`s my purpose in coming on.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Christine, prosecutor?
GRILLO: No, Joel, just -- what I`m thinking is, wouldn`t -- isn`t it better -- isn`t he attracting it even more? His responses almost warrant them to jump on him even more, that if you -- I understand and I do agree that, yes, some things need to be addressed, but need to be addressed appropriately. He`s acting so inappropriately time in and time out, again and again, giving -- almost feeding that media that they want to be out there, they want to keep questioning him because he`s making it more of a circus. He`s not saying anything that`s going to help him.
So wouldn`t it be in his best interests, and you as his attorney, to really -- yes, to address those things like the truck drivers, and then go out, get your paper, come back in. Don`t come out with a videocamera.
A flurry of new developments in the Stacy Peterson disappearance. Again, we`re very happy to have with us Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson`s attorney. We`ve been inviting him on the NANCY GRACE show, and we`re glad that he decided to come on and tell his side of the story.
You were talking about the trucker story.
BRODSKY: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: An anonymous source tells "The Chicago Sun-Times" that the trucker story is a lie because, according to this anonymous source, police checked the phone records and determined that this trucker, who claims he saw a man appearing to be Drew Peterson, who came up to him at a Bolingbrook truck stop hours after Stacy Peterson was last seen, and said, Here, take this package -- it turn outs that this guy, according to this source, was in Louisiana.
BRODSKY: Correct.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
BRODSKY: That was apparently a reliable police source, so it came from the police department itself, who obviously checked out that lead. And that was what I was saying when that lead came out on Saturday night. Everybody seemed to grab onto it as a factual development, when it was really nothing more than the Illinois State Police chasing one of the probably hundreds, if not thousands, of leads that they have. And they have probably over 100 officers right now and FBI agents just following lead after lead after lead. And most of them, if not all of them, to today have led nowhere. And this is another one that led nowhere.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but Joel, the reason why everybody jumped on it is that it wasn`t initially from a police source. It was a press release from the Illinois State Police saying, Hey, if you`re a trucker out there and a man who looks like Drew Peterson asked you to take a package, call us. I mean, don`t you think they would have checked his phone records before issuing a news release?
BRODSKY: Well, I would have hoped so. I mean, you would think that they would. But I`ve seen a few, you know, mistakes in the investigation. You know, I mean, (INAUDIBLE) Illinois State Police is a good organization generally, but they have a lot of people here doing a lot of different things, and who knows who made the decision to do the press release.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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LALAMA: Right after Drew Peterson`s fourth wife goes missing, he refuses to talk about the case. But when police fire up their investigation, naming him a prime suspect, well that is when he won`t stop talking to the cameras. He says 23-year-old Stacy Peterson left on her own and now he says he is angry with her for creating this media circus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He seems to be way too happy given the circumstances and almost as if that he is enjoying this celebrity status.
JOEL BRODSKY, DREW PETERSON`S ATTORNEY: Well, I know that he is not enjoying the celebrity status. When I`ve talked to him about -- when we sat down in my office and we have talked about things and when the subject turns to the holidays coming up and his children, he gets very emotional. He just doesn`t show that emotion in public -- or he just doesn`t show that emotion to the cameras.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But, Joel, can I jump in, he was a serial cheater by his own admission. He told "People Magazine" he cheated on his first wife, his second wife, his third wife with the fourth wife who is now missing. I mean, doesn`t this paint a portrait that`s not very -- well, certainly it`s a slightly chauvinistic portrait?
BRODSKY: Yes. Well, it is also -- you know, you have got to say what`s good for the goose is good for the gander. I mean, all of the women -- that like Stacy knew she was the other woman with Kathleen, and I think Kathleen, if I`m not -- I may be incorrect on this, but I think I remember that she also knew that Drew was involved with his second wife when she was with him.
So I mean, these women made a choice, they went with a man who obviously wasn`t quite the most monogamous man in the world, and you know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Christine Grillo, prosecutor who specializes in domestic violence cases, is that what you call blaming the victim?
CHRISTINE GRILLO, PROSECUTOR: Yes, in a sense it is. But you know, we keep talking about his behavior, as a prosecutor, make no mistake, I`m loving this, I`m absolutely loving this, because I don`t think there`s a jury or a juror left that`s going to find one redeeming quality about this individual, about Peterson if this case ever does go to trial.
But I want to get back, Jane, to the polygraph. We kind of glossed over it. He doesn`t want to do a polygraph and Joel was explaining, it`s a 50/50 shot. But if this is something that he is so sure that he had absolutely nothing to do with, why wouldn`t he? Why wouldn`t he just agree to do a polygraph? They`re not 50/50. A majority of the time, defense attorneys are begging us to polygraphs on their clients.
In this situation, why doesn`t he want -- it almost -- it makes him look a bit more guilty, Joel, it really, really does.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And why is he wearing dark sunglasses all the time? Because the first thing I thought of as a lay person is, you know, eyes tell a lot. Eyes reveal the soul. And if you`re wearing dark sunglasses all the time, especially in the Chicago area, I`m starting to wonder, like, what is it that you`re hiding about your expression, Joel?
BRODSKY: Scientific way of looking at it, because he`s wearing dark sunglasses, there`s something nefarious going on? I mean, that`s evidence.
You know, I really hope that the jury is going to look at the evidence. And I don`t think we`re ever going to get to that point, but in the abstract, if we do have a jury, I hope that jury is going to look at the evidence and weigh the evidence and not weigh whether they like or they dislike somebody, because really like and dislike have nothing to do with guilt and innocence.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Once again, we have to warn and always say that he hasn`t been charged with anything and he deserves the presumption of innocence and that`s why we`re happy to have his attorney on with us tonight here on the NANCY GRACE show to give his side of the story.
Now we were talking about evidence, Joel, and I want to talk to you about this latest warrant and some of the things that they are looking for because one of them is pool chemicals. Now Cassandra Cales, Stacy`s sister, has said in published reports that she was over at the house before Stacy disappeared and said, what`s that big blue barrel over there, and Stacy said, oh, that`s pool chemicals.
And now, of course, they are looking for a blue barrel which a neighbor claims to have seen Drew Peterson and another unidentified man move the night that Stacy disappears. And a relative claims that he helped Drew Peterson move a barrel that was warm to the touch and later tried to commit suicide. What do you make of all of that?
BRODSKY: Well, there are a lot of aspects to that story. But the main point I would like to make is that, you know, Drew has a very small, above ground, maybe three-foot deep pool. And somehow people are saying that he has got a 55-gallon drum of chlorine. Well, a 55-gallon drum of chlorine would be enough to last a century with a pool that size. It`s just not the case. There was no blue barrel.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Everybody is wrong about the blue barrel?
BRODSKY: Well, you know, we have unidentified neighbors and unattributed sources. And you know, in this day -- I would love to see a receipt, some evidence, a credit card receipt, a cash receipt, something that Drew actually went out and bought a 55-gallon barrel drum of chlorine at some time within the year before Stacy`s disappearance.
I`m sure we have got 64 investigators and FBI -- and 100 FBI agents on there, I`m sure they can come up with the receipt.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: well, if there was a blue plastic barrel, wouldn`t those same chemicals eat right through that plastic?
BRODSKY: Well, I mean, that depends on what type of chemicals you are talking about. And that`s why we`re dealing with this -- we`re into the area now of absolute and total speculation, we might as well be talking about something on a "CSI" program.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. But the reason is that they mentioned pool chemicals in the search warrant.
BRODSKY: Yes. And that search warrant, I think, was, more than anything, the fourth search warrant, which is the second one regarding the cars, was really mostly in response to the motion that we filed for return of property, which is going to be heard this -- at least be presented to the judge this Wednesday.
And I think what they realized was that in the third search warrant, they didn`t give them -- the judge did not specify that they had the right to seize the vehicles. And that`s really what they changed in the fourth search warrant, that it gave them the right to seize the vehicles, I think too late.
But in any event, the thing that they seem to have added to the fourth search warrant were unnecessary. They already had -- the third warrant already covered trace evidence, it already covered a lot of this stuff. So it was really, I think, more of a reaction to my motion than anything else.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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LALAMA: Where is 23-year-old Stacy Peterson? And why have police named her husband the prime suspect in her disappearance?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Terri from West Virginia, what is your question on this subject?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you doing?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi. How`re you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m glad his attorney is there because my question pertains to him. If this gentleman keeps going on the TV stations and saying he`s innocent and all that, why doesn`t his attorney go with him and independently do a polygraph? He doesn`t have to do it in front of the police. They can do it independently and prove that he`s not lying.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson`s attorney, you heard the question.
BRODSKY: Well, this -- yes, and this is not the first time that polygraph has been brought up. Well, my research, and it`s reported by several prominent statisticians and physicians, show that polygraphs are -- when you`re just trying to determine proof of innocence outside of an interrogation room, are about as accurate as flipping a coin. So when you say, Take a polygraph, you might as well say, Well, let`s determine his innocence or guilt by flipping a coin. It`s the same statistical probability of it being right or wrong.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but if you`re totally 100 percent sure that you didn`t do something why not? Because -- especially with him. He`s not a nervous person. He`s very confident. And the chances of him then passing are increased because sometimes there can be false positives with people who are extremely nervous and they perspire a lot and they shake a lot. But look at him. He`s there, you know, goofing around with the media, talking about dating. I mean, he`s the perfect candidate for a polygraph.
BRODSKY: But given it`s a 50/50 shot, I mean, it`s just as easy as he`s calm, cool and collected -- it`s -- I mean, it`s like saying, Heads you`re guilty, tails you`re innocent. Statistically speaking, when you look at it in a broader sense, it`s no more than flipping a coin, a 50/50 shot. So there`s no real validity to it. It`s not going to tell you anything that really means -- that has any meaning to it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LALAMA: Tonight, let`s stop to remember army specialist Avealalo Milo, only 23 from Hayward, California, killed in Iraq. Growing up in American Samoa, he dreamed of becoming a preacher and using his life to help others. A newlywe, He leaves behind a large and lovely family, including his dad Marico, mom Falola, two sisters, a brother, and widow Joycelyn. Avealalo Milo, an American hero.
Thank you to all of our guests and you for being with us. Remember to visit Nancy`s baby blog on CNN.com/NancyGrace. And Nancy is back on Headline News January 7th, mark it! See you tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. sharp Eastern. Until then, have a great evening.
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