Hearsay evidence key

Much of the focus of pretrial hearings and a two-year long appeals battle has focused on so-called hearsay statements purportedly made by Savio and Stacy Peterson that prosecutors contend link Drew Peterson to Savio’s death.

But medical testimony from experts, including Dr. Larry Blum, a pathologist who examined Savio’s body after her 2007 exhumation and concluded she was murdered, may be even more critical, legal experts said.

Blum and other pathologists called by prosecutors are expected to testify that bruises and abrasions on both of Savio’s arms, along with a one-inch long cut on her scalp, couldn’t have been caused by an accidental fall in her own tub. Instead, they were injuries she suffered struggling with an attacker, the experts likely will say.

“The pathology is really going to be important. “If ( jurors) accept it wasn’t an accidental death, (Peterson) could be in trouble,” DeLuca said.

Other experts agree, saying compelling medical testimony could convince jurors the initial autopsy and investigation that concluded Savio died accidentally simply were wrong.

“You can make a case they missed something,” said veteran defense attorney Terry Ekl, a former Cook County prosecutor.

The hearsay evidence prosecutors expect to use is intended to bolster the medical findings that Savio was murdered and also point to Peterson as her attacker.

That evidence includes written statements Savio made to police and a prosecutor in which she alleged Peterson threatened her with a knife during a 2002 confrontation in her home.

She made similar allegations in conversations that same year with her sister, while she told a friend Peterson grabbed her by the throat and claimed he could kill her and make her death look like an accident.

A crucial statement from Stacy Peterson likely to be