CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
The pastor of Drew Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, testified in the former Bolingbrook police officer's murder trial Thursday. Rev. Neil Schori's testimony is critical to the prosecution's case.
Schori dropped a bombshell during cross-examination Thursday: Stacy Peterson told him she lived with a murderer.
Judge Edward Burmila cleared Schori to testify Thursday, after saying the prosecution mislead him on the content of Schori's statements and stopping court.
Peterson has pleaded not guilty to killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. He was charged in Savio's death in 2009, after his fourth wife – Stacy Peterson - disappeared in 2007.
Schori was the first witness to provide hearsay evidence based on Stacy Peterson's words, which he has presented in previous hearings.
Prosecutors told the judge that Schori would speak to how the 23-year-old told him her husband came back home the night of Kathleen Savio's death and told her "to lie" for him. But that sentiment may have actually been inferred from the statement "this will be the perfect crime."
After Judge Burmila reviewed transcripts from earlier hearings, he allowed Schori to take the stand, but restricted him to marital privilege.
The judge allowed Schori to say that Peterson told Stacy to lie, and that she saw him come home with a bag of women's clothing that did not belong to her.
Rev. Neil Schori testified Thursday about a conversation they had on August 31, 2007 at the Starbucks near her home in Bolingbrook.
When Schori arrived between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m., Stacy was already sitting outside the coffee shop on the patio.
"She appeared to be nervous, tentative," Schori said. "She was sitting alone."
During the course of a 1 ½ - 2 hour conversation, she withdrew physically, "pulling her leg up and hugging it."
"She silently cried," Schori said. "She had tears streaming down her cheeks."
"One night she and Drew went to bed at the same time," Schori said, referring indirectly to the night Kathleen Savio died, as he recounted his conversation with Stacy Peterson. "She woke up in the middle of the night and noticed Drew was not in the bed with her."
She looked around the house and couldn't find him, called his cell phone several times and couldn't reach him.
"In the early morning hours," Schori said, "she saw him standing by the washer and dryer… and she saw him dressed all in black and carrying a bag."
He removed his clothing and took out the contents of the bag and put it all in the washing machine. Stacy looked in the washing machine and told Schori that "she saw women's clothing the she identified as not hers."
The pastor testified that Peterson told her that if anyone asked where he was that night, to tell them he was with her. Peterson coached her "for hours" on what to say.
"Soon the police would be wanting to sit down and talk to her," Schori said as he recalled what Stacy told him, "and he told her what to say to the police."
"She said that she lied to police," Schori said.
During cross examination attorney Joe Lopez made the first big blunder for the defense, asking Schori defiantly three times, why if he knew the danger Stacy was in, why did he let her go home to a murder.
That opened the door for Schori to say right to the jury that Stacy told him "she lived with someone who had murdered someone."
Schori said Stacy asked him not to tell anyone and he didn't until going police two months later when Stacy disappeared. For prosecutors, it was a good day.
DEFENSE BLUNDERS DURING CROSS
During defense attorney Joe Lopez's cross-examination, Schori said he did not know what Stacy wanted to talk to him about when she called him to set up the meeting the day before.
Schori said he brought a friend along, who sat about eight feet away to watch - for the sake of Schori's integrity - so the pastor wouldn't be accused of anything improper.
Lopez accused Schori of trying to embarrass Stacy by holding the meeting in a public place. Schori said Stacy was not embarrassed.
Although Lopez questioned him about his previous testimony where he conceded Stacy might not have been telling him the truth, Schori told the jury Thursday morning that he believed Stacy Peterson told him the truth.
Lopez asked Schori if he had ever told anyone about this before he went to police in October 2007. Schori said he did not.
"I told her I would do what she asked me to do," Schori said. "Not tell anyone."
The reverend also admitted he did not give Stacy any advice about what to do.
As Lopez continued to try and undermine Schori's integrity, Lopez made the first big blunder for the defense.
"You let her go back to a home with a murderer?" Lopez defiantly asked Schori.
Stacy Peterson's former pastor said those were not his words. Schori said "that's not my job" - to stop her from going home to her husband.
Twice more Lopez pressed the of Stacy living with a murderer, at which point Schori testified to something he never would have been able to say during his direct examination by prosecutors.
Schori said Stacy told him "she lived with someone who had murdered someone."
Lopez pressed Schori about letting Stacy go home to such a situation.
"I didn't stop her," Schori said.
"Because you didn't believe her?" Lopez shot back.
"Not true," Schori answered.
The jurors took detailed notes while Rev. Neil Schori was on the stand Thursday.
WITNESSES ON DECK
Kathleen Savio's divorce lawyer is expected to take the stand in the former Bolingbrook police officer's murder trial Thursday.
Harry Smith is expected to testify about alleged threats that Peterson made against his third wife.
Smith was called to the stand Wednesday. But because of a potential minefield prosecutors have to navigate of what the divorce lawyer can and cannot say, he did not take the stand.
He could bring hearsay testimony from Kathleen Savio to the case, since she told him about death threats Peterson made to her – that he could kill her and make it look like an accident.
She stressed to Smith that she would never make it through the divorce.
If he testifies, it could open the door to cross-examination where Kathleen Savio is alleged to have perjured herself in court documents related to battery involving Peterson's much-younger fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. If Savio's credibility is undermined during that cross, other things she said may not stand up in the prosecution's case.
FOUL MOUTH THROWN OUT OF COURT
Restaurant owner Jeff Ruby was kicked out of court Thursday after he mouthed the words "f*** you" to Drew Peterson during a break.
Ruby took out newspaper ads criticizing Judge Burmila and Peterson's defense attorneys. The sheriff's deputy was the one who saw Ruby and Peterson make eye contact.
The deupty confirmed Thursday afternoon that 10 witnesses saw the incident. Ruby could be charged with contempt of court.
The victims' advocate was escorted from the building Thursday morning, and cannot come back to the Will County courthouse for the rest of the trial.
Ruby held a small press conference outside the Joliet court on Tuesday, sounding off about the proceedings thus far.
