JOLIET, Ill., June 25 (UPI) -- An Illinois pastor can testify Stacy Peterson told him her husband coaxed her into giving a false alibi the weekend of his third wife's death, a judge ruled.
Will County Judge Stephen White ruled to allow Pastor Neil Schori's testimony under a new Illinois statute allowing certain types of hearsay at trial. The statute is known as "Drew's Law" after Drew Peterson, the defendant who goes to trial July 8 for allegedly killing his third wife Kathleen Savio in 2004, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
Judge White ruled Schori could testify about an August 2007 counseling session in which Stacy Peterson admitted lying to police after Savio was found dead.
Stacy Peterson allegedly told Schori she woke up to find Peterson missing the night before Savio's body was found, the Tribune said.
Schori allegedly told the judge Stacy Peterson lied to investigators for Drew Peterson, who coached her "for hours" on what to say to police.
Savio's death was initially ruled an accidental bathtub drowning, but authorities reopened her case presuming her dead after Stacy Peterson, Drew Peterson's fourth wife, disappeared in October 2007, the newspaper said.
Peterson, 56, has not been charged in the Stacy Peterson case, the Tribune reported.
