Updated 3:53 p.m.
Testimony ended with three more Bolingbrook firefighters taking the stand. None of them remember seeing the mystery towel. The attorney who represented Kathleen Savio in her divorce from Drew Peterson was in the hallway waiting to testify but arguments over what he will be allowed delayed his appearance. He will be called next week.
Updated 3 p.m.
Judge Edward Burmila was dismissive of prosecutor John Connor's claim that Kathleen Savio was put at a disadvantage in her divorce case when she was killed.
"Just because it makes logical sense doesn't mean it makes legal sense," Burmila said
Updated 11:30 a.m.
Prosecutors called to the witness stand the locksmith who opened Kathleen Savio's door the night she was found dead.
The locksmith, Robert Akin, said he often is called by the Bolingbrook police to open doors. He did not know whose house he was opening or why he was opening it.
He said he was met at the house by Drew Peterson, who was in uniform.
Akin said he knows Peterson well and when he was asked to identify Peterson in the courtroom said, “Nice tie.”
He picked a doorknob lock that could be locked from the outside without a key. A deadbolt that needed a key to lock from the outside was unlocked.
After he opened the door, people he did not know went inside. He stayed on the porch "chit-chatting" with Peterson.
Soon after he heard "like a lot of commotion, screaming."
Peterson then "just looked and said, 'I got to go,'" and went in the house, Akin said.
Akin's testimony will continue this afternoon.
Updated 11:45 a.m.
As the trial continued Thursday, Judge Edward Burmila merely told the jury to disregard the final part of Thomas Pontarelli's testimony from Wednesday.
The trial continued with testimony from Bolingbrook Firefighter-Paramedic Louis Oleszkiewicz. Oleszkiewicz had examined Kathleen Savio's body.
He was very firm about the mystery blue towel in photos of the crime scene not being on the tub when he was present.
He also said there was no "sediment ring" in the tub. He said Savio's body was "cold" and "waxy."
He also said only Bolingbrook police officers--not state troopers or investigators--were at the house when he was present.
Updated 10:10 a.m.
A mistrial has not been declared in the case. Judge Edward Burmila is currently working on new instructions for the jury, and not all of Thomas Pontarelli's testimony from Wednesday will be stricken.
Orginal post
Drew Peterson attorney Joel Brodsky appeared before the media Thursday morning and proclaimed there is a possibility his client will be a free man by the end of the day.
That comes one day after attorneys for the former Bolingbrook police officer and accussed wife-killer pressed Judge Edward Burmila for a mistrial. That move was prompted by the testimony of Kathleen Savio's neighbor Thomas Pontarelli.
Pontarelli, while being questioned by Assistant State's Attorney Kathleen Patton, testified he found a .38-caliber bullet nose up in his driveway in 2002. Pontarelli believes Peterson placed the bullet in his driveway to intimidate him.
As soon as Pontarelli mentioned the bullet, defense attorney Steve Greenberg leaped to his feet and demanded a mistrial. Greenberg pointed out that Peterson has denied placing the bullet in Pontarelli's driveway and said there was no way prosecutors could prove he put it there.
Patton conceded that she could not tie Peterson to the bullet and Burmila mocked the notion that he must have been the one who placed it there.
Read More: Drew Peterson Coverage on Patch