Drew Peterson, Wife-Killing Ex-Cop, GUILTY in Plot to Murder Top Prosecutor

CHESTER, IL — A Downstate jury retired Tuesday morning to deliberate the guilt or innocence of wife-killer Drew Peterson — and found him guilty just after lunch.

This time, Peterson, 62, was found guilty of plotting the murder of Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow from behind the walls of Menard Correctional Center. Glasgow led Peterson’s prosecution in 2012 and got him sentenced to 38 years in prison for drowning his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

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Career prison snitch Antonio “Beast” Smith, 25, was the prosecution’s star witness in its case against Peterson.

Smith, a fat, slope-shouldered, bespectacled convict, first met Peterson when he was transferred to protective custody at Menard Correctional Center in August 2013.

Smith said he and Peterson hung out during their brief recreation periods and at dinner, and would cook meals together in a cell. Smith also said he protected Peterson, who had been preyed upon by other prisoners.

Smith wrote to Will County prosecutors and alerted them to Peterson’s supposedly murderous plans. In his closing argument, Peterson’s attorney, Lucas Liefer, pointed out how Smith later admitted in a letter that he lied to Glasgow’s assistants so he could get transferred out of a Pontiac Correctional Center, where he had been snitching on guards.

“I lied to them bitches,” Liefer recalled Smith saying. “And when he said ‘them bitches,’ he was referring to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office in a taped interview.”

Liefer also said Peterson never explicitly ordered Glasgow’s death, was not recorded using the words “murder” or “kill,” and that no money was exchanged to carry out the supposed hit.

“He spent more time talking about Nancy Grace, and running drugs from Mexico, both things that are never going to happen, than he talked about James Glasgow,” Liefer said.

Assistant Attorney General Steve Nate, one of three prosecutors on the case, ran through a list of reasons why Peterson would want Glasgow dead. Peterson harbored a “deep hatred” of Glasgow and blamed him for ruining his life, getting his police officer son fired, and trying to take away his pension, among other things.

Liefer noted to the jury how the prosecution had two assistant attorney generals on the case, as well as Randolph County State’s Attorney Jeremy Walker, and that the investigation was led by the FBI.

“It would be nice to be a prosecutor,” Liefer said.

“If it weren’t for Jeremy Walker, I probably would be state’s attorney,” he said, before exclaiming, “Oh my gosh, did I just commit solicitation of murder?”

Walker said Liefer did not commit solicitation of murder, as he did not want him killed for putting him in prison.

Walker said he and his wife are friends with Liefer and his wife, and that he plans to go out for drinks with Liefer after the trial is over.

“As mad I am right now, we’re still going out for drinks,” Walker said. “Our wives will still be friends. Because he doesn’t want me dead.”

Talk of Brothels, Drug Running, Romantic Movies, Killing as Wife-Killing Cop Faces Snitch Cellmate in Murder-for-Hire Trial

Jury sits in judgment of claims Drew Peterson plotted Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow's murder: Full Trial Coverage.