CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
The focus was on the evidence today in Drew Peterson's murder trial, but the attorneys provided jurors with frequent distractions that irritated the judge.
It may have been bad blood spilling over from yesterday, or perhaps it was the magnitude of what was at stake with the state's key forensic pathologist calling Kathleen Savio's death a homicide.
But either way, it injected some real theater into the trial that the judge struggled to control.
Defense attorney Ralph Meczyk and State's attorney James Glasgow traded boisterous objections throughout the day, but it was their additional banter that prompted the judge on numerous occasions to chastise them like a parent would a child for their extraneous comments.
"Ralph Meczyk and I shook hands in the hallway and in fact he just came down and wished me well, there's no personal hard feelings whatsoever," Glasgow commented.
In between that drama, the state's key forensic witness Dr. Larry Blum told jurors that Kathleen Savio's injuries were not the result of a slip and fall accident in her tub resulting in an accidental drowning. For the first time jurors heard testimony that Savio's death was a murder.
The defense maintains that Peterson's third wife died from injuries sustained when she slipped and fell in the bathtub where her body was found in 2004.
Savio's death was originally ruled an accident. But after Peterson's fourth wife, 23-year-old Stacy Peterson vanished in 2007, Savio's case was re-opened. Investigators exhumed her body and ordered a second autopsy, performed by Dr. Blum.
In testimony from the previous day, Blum pointed out a series of bruises to Savio's chest, hip, breast, arm, hand and shins that he said were inflicted less than an hour before she died. He pointed to scrapes on her buttocks and elbow that he said could not have been caused by the smooth surface of the tub in an accidental slip and fall.
The pathologist also said Wednesday that the blood caked on the 40-year-old woman's face would not have been there if the she was lying face down in a tub full of water.
The forensic pathologist told the jury Thursday that the straight-line gash in the back of her head "did not occur from a fall" in the circular tub lacking pronounced edges.
Referring to the head injury and bruising shown to the court on Wednesday, Blum said he "just couldn't see how it could happen" from a fall in the tub.
"[Kathleen Savio] was brutalized that night," Stacy Peterson family spokesperson Pam Bosco said, referring to the graphic photos of Savio's injuries displayed in court Wednesday. "If that wasn't apparent to the jury, what would be?"
Drew Peterson, 58, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Those charges were handed down in 2009, after Dr. Blum's autopsy.
The former Bolingbrook cop is a suspect in Stacy Peterson's disappearance, but has not been charged. She has never been found. Any mention of Stacy Peterson is barred from this murder trial.
"It was my opinion that Kathleen Savio died of drowning," Dr. Blum said, referring to the cause of death. He determined her manner of death to be a "homicide."
Blum at one point talked about surprises that arise in autopsies by reciting a saying he fashioned after a character in the movie "Forrest Gump." He told jurors "Death and death investigation is like a box of chocolates ... often times you're surprised."
JUDGE ANGERED BY PROSECUTION'S LATEST ERROR
The judge overseeing the Drew Peterson murder trial seemed to be growing tired of repeated mistakes by prosecutors. Judge Edward Burmila chastised the state during Blum's testimony Wednesday, for failing to follow a specific order – again – calling this actions shockingly disrespectful.
Burmila has told prosecutors that Dr. Blum could not talk about getting into Savio's bathtub to examine how smooth it was, to determine if it caused any of her injuries. Blum testified that there were no edges pronounced enough along Savio's circular tub to cause a 2-inch, straight line gash on the back of her head. The position of her body in the tub and a pattern of bruises also pointed to murder, he said.
Prosecutor James Glasgow said after 90 minutes of questioning, he was getting a little woozy, and did not notice the witness was about to go into prohibited testimony. He apologized to the court for that mistake.
Defense attorney Ralph Meczyk encouraged Burmila to throw out all of the testimony from Blum - one of the state's most important witnesses - arguing that prosecutors have continually flouted the judge's rules and then claimed they were innocent mistakes.
Burmila denied that request and allowed Blum to resume testifying.
Peterson's attorneys down played Blum's testimony, and called Wednesday an "interesting day" in court. But they say the case will be made when they cross-examine Dr. Blum.
For the first time prosecutors lashed out a defense attorneys for mischaracterizing missteps.
"Mr. Meczyk went way overboard," Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said. "This nonsensical attack on the state's case just to try to gain an advantage has got to stop."
Defense Attorney Joe Lopez cited Judge Burmila's reaction in response:
"You've seen the significant mistakes they've made," Joe Lopez said. "Just look at the judge's reaction to see if we're out of line."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
