PATTI BLAGOJEVICH: FEEL SORRY FOR HER OR NOT-SO-MUCH?

Patti Blagojevich - photo courtesy of NBC.comLast night, I finally broke down and watched "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here" with friends. I must say, Mrs. Patti B appears to be a likeable lady. (Maybe that's because my friends kept me happy with M&M's and vino?) She was the only female team member to stick her hands in something icky to get an object and other members voted to keep her on the team. Her image on this show is quite different than what you hear on those FBI tapped calls of her screaming and dropping F-Bombs.

Patti is standing by her man & bringing home the bacon

A good wife sticks by her man's side. Shoot, many women bounce after their husband's arrest! (In fact, I think she got pretty lucky by not being slapped with some handcuffs herself.) Not that I'm suggesting she's a criminal, but, she was in the home all those hours that Blags was doing "business" on the bugged family phone while sitting on the couch in his jogging suit.

Go ahead, call Blags a scumbag criminal.  As you know, I disagree.  Gov. Blagojevich is not a Gov. Spitzer nor is he a member of the Gambino crime family.  He does not have offshore accounts and he does not have cash tied up in real estate.  Follow the paper trail...um, it doesn't exist! Blago is a wannabe criminal at best. 

Like her or not, Patti is taking one for the Blags team by doing this silly show.  Blago's defense attorneys need to be paid and her kids need to go to school.  And, Patti needs to create an image separate from that of Mrs. Rod Blagojevich because, no matter how much Rod wants to be compared to Ghandi, it ain't happenin'.

Careful what you say, Patti

But do not think Patti is only on the show for the money; clearly, she has a plan: she wants use the national platform to attempt to sway the public opinion about her husband's case. As I suggested in my interview with the Today Show (when she announced her participation in the show), she has to be careful what she says about her hubby.  Obviously Patti didn't listen to my advice because on the June 1 episode she says, "I can't really get into it too much, except that, yeah, they made a big hoopla about something that wasn't even the truth. My husband was governor for six years, and you know was always about doing the right thing for people." Keep your mouth shut, Patti. Play the jungle game and tell your fellow team members, "I would rather not talk about the case."

If Patti is really just doing the show soley for the money (and image makeover) then the "my poor hubby" pity party cannot be mixed in with chillin' with the Baldwin brothers while playing with tarantulas.  Your job is to get some cash and fix the public's opinion of you. Leave the Gov. Blago persuasion up to his attorneys for their closing arguments before the jury.

www.tamaraholder.com and www.xpunged.com

FOX CHICAGO'S JEFF GOLDBLATT MYSTERIOUSLY OBTAINS INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTS IN DREW PETERSON CASE

Exclusive: Papers Reveal Peterson Case

- Call it the case against Drew Peterson. It's been over three years since his third wife Kathleen Savio was murdered and a year and a half since his fourth wife Stacy disappeared. Tonight, for the first time, Fox Chicago News has obtained documents showing how prosecutors are building their case against the former Bolingbrook police officer.

The documents were stolen from an Illinois State Police car then photocopied and dropped off for anchor Jeff Goldblatt. Inside is information never before seen by the public including a timeline of what happened to Stacy, a list of 59 leads, and the police report from the night of Kathleen Savio's murder.

"I was shocked by what was in there, I was really, really shocked," said Charlie Doman, Kathleen nephew. Doman received a copy of the documents after the Post Office found the papers, saw the Savio name, and delivered them to his mom.

But he adds his life has changed for the worse ever since the State Police found out he had the information. At one point he contends troopers threatened him to get the paperwork back. He says, "The female State Police said at first they were going to kick my door in and search every piece of paper in my house until they find what they were looking for if i didn't give them right then and there."

Doman eventually returned his copy. But you can see why police wanted them. The timeline alone lays out in great detail what investigators think happened to Stacy Peterson and what Drew did with her body. According to the documents, they note Stacy was dead by 10:59 am on October 28th. That night, they describe Drew removing the body with his step brother Tom Morphey in a "large blue round plastic container weighing approximately 150 pounds with screw on top with clear plastic protruding from outside."

As for what Drew did with the body, the timeline indicates they believe he may have disposed of it in a quarry in the Bolingbrook area.

Fox Chicago News contacted the State's Attorney's office about the documents. A spokesman told us he was aware they were stolen but did not think our story would compromise their investigation.

Pamela Bosco, a spokeswoman for Stacy's family, said she's been told the case is still active and investigators are still gathering evidence. When we told her about the missing documents, she replied, "when we want to go to court on this, we want to make sure it is done correctly and im sure the prosecution and ISP know this is an important case."

This is an important case for Charlie Doman as well. He feels coming forward will help expedite the investigation although he admits he fears the State's Attorney and State Police will be upset with him. When Jeff Goldblatt asked Charlie how he would respond if they say this tarnishes their case, he replied, "I think they need to step it up a notch then."

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WORD ON THE STREET: TODAY DREW PETERSON TO BE SERVED WITH COMPLAINT FOR WRONGFUL DEATH OF 3RD WIFE, KATHLEEN SAVIO

At 10:30 tonight my phone started ringing from a number I didn't recognize. I didn't answer because, well, it was late! The phone kept ringing and ringing so finally, I answered. On the other end was a reporter (who shall remain nameless) who has been neck-deep in the Drew Peterson saga for years. The reporter wanted to know: Did I hear the news? Did I know anything? Could I confirm Drew Peterson was about to be sued for the wrongful death of wife #3, Kathleen Savio?

Kathleen Savio
Of course, I am not the attorney representing the Savio family for the wrongful death suit (and clearly I am not representing Drew Peterson) nor am I privy the latest development. To remind you, I did represent a member of the Savio family when he appeared before the Peterson grand jury. This was publicly reported so I am not sharing with you anything you didn't already know. You also know the grand jury proceedings are entirely confidential....

But I did read the story on NBC5's website and it looks like this report may be accurate. Article here.

DREW MAY BE SERVED WITH A WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT! WOOHOO!

O.J. SIMPSON'S CIVIL SUIT REVISITED

Let's go back to the infamous O.J Simpson murder case. O.J. was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, on June 12, 1994.

The families of both victims sued O.J.; the Browns sued on behalf of Nicole's children in a survival suit for assault and battery of Nicole and the Goldmans sued for the wrongful death of Ronald. (Essentially, the jury did not have to determine if O.J. was responsible for the wrongful death of Nicole - this was a Brown-family decision in an effort to protect her children.)

Regardless, after the jury acquitted O.J. in the criminal case, a separate jury was picked for the civil case. In the criminal case, a unanimous verdict of all 12 jurors was required to find O.J. guilty; however, in the civil case, only 9 of the 12 jurors were required to determine whether he was liable. Also, the burden of proof in a criminal case is "beyond a reasonable doubt" which is far higher than the burden of proof in a civil case which is "preponderance of the evidence." In short, on February 4, 1997, the civil jury found O.J. liable and awarded the Brown and Goldman families a total of $33.5 million in damages against O.J.

WHY THE FILING NOW? TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR KITTY'S FAMILY TO SUE DREW!

There is no statute of limitations for prosecutors to charge Drew Peterson in any of the alleged murders of wives Kathleen Savio and Stacy Peterson, there are time constraints on filing a civil suit. In the O.J. case, O.J. was arrested immediately after the murders; however, in this case, Drew has yet to be arrested and charged in either case.

Illinois' wrongful death statute of limitations:
“Every such action shall be commenced within 2 years after the death of such person but an action against a defendant arising from a crime committed by the defendant in whose name an escrow account was established under the "Criminal Victims' Escrow Account Act" shall be commenced within 2 years after the establishment of such account.”

Is the filing too late?:

Notice the statute says only “2 years after death.” Kathleen was found dead in her bathtub in 2004 from what was originally called an accidental death. However, Dr. Michael Baden had her body exhumed in November 2007 and ruled her death a homicide.
Option 1: The amended cause of death as homicide in November 2007 gives the family until November 2009 to file.
Option 2: The clock ran out 2 years after Kathleen’s death, which would have been 2006. The reclassification of cause of death is irrelevant for the purposes of the statute of limitations. ( I presume Drew Peterson will first attack the plain language of the statute and use this argument.)
Option 3: The family set up the escrow account less than 2 years ago, so the statute of limitations has not run out.
Option 4: The Savio family has the statute of limitations figured out and it will not be an issue.  I figure this is the answer!

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE PROSECUTION’S POSSIBLE INDICTMENT OF DREW?

In the Simpson case, the civil case was tried after the criminal case. Here, however, Will County prosecutors are being accused of dragging. Seems like Kitty's family has no choice but to file now. Time is of the essence in the civil case. The family does not get the benefit of time.

Maybe this filing will force the State’s Attorney to hurry up and indict Drew. What’s taking so long? With the filing of a civil suit, this allows the civil attorneys access to materials the prosecutors may have wanted to keep all for themselves. What if Joel Brodsky files his appearance on the civil case?  He'll then get documents that he was not able to previously obtain!

Come on, State's Attorney Glasgow, indict Drew already!

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U.S. ATTORNEY'S DEADLINE TO INDICT BLAGOJEVICH IS QUICKLY APPROACHING - 1 WEEK AWAY - APRIL 7! WHAT DO THEY REALLY HAVE ON HIM?

ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich

Putting the question of ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's sanity aside, are we then left with a real criminal or just a guy with helmet-head hair? I say the latter. 

We are approaching the EXTENDED deadline for U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald to formally charge Blagojevich in alleged pay-to-play schemes, including the attempted sale of then President-elect Obama's Senate seat.  Judge Holderman gave Fitzgerald a 90-day extension to indict him - just one week away - April 7. 

Remember, Fitzgerald said the charges against Blagojevich were so severe they would "make Lincoln roll over in his grave." So what's the holdup?

Since that bold statement, no official charges have been filed and all this time has passed. I suspect the charges against Blagojevich are going to be trumped up.  I am not saying he should not be charged with criminal misconduct; however, I do not think he will be charged with the serious offenses that were initially alleged.   I think that the U.S. Attorney jumped the gun and arrested Blagojevich a bit too soon. The Feds should have waited for the money to exchange hands in the sale of the Obama Senate seat.

What did Blagojevich really do that was so illegal? He may have WANTED TO OR DESIRED TO sell the Obama Senate seat but conversations with multiple F-BOMBS about that desire are not enough to charge him with a crime. Remember "ATTEMPT" requires a SUBSTANTIAL STEP to be taken and it wasn't!

Agreed that Blagojevich was an outta-control Governor disliked by most BUT is he a criminal? My bet is NO - he's a wannabe criminal at best.

We shall see...

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