‘A line you don’t cross’: Experts weigh in on Peterson case
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(NewsNation) — Former attorney Joel Brodsky represented suburban Chicago cop Drew Peterson more than a decade ago when the officer’s fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared.
In 2019, the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission suspended Brodsky’s law license for two years, and he has not yet applied to have it reinstated.
In an exclusive report, Brodsky told NewsNation that he is considering revealing new details that Peterson told him.
“I know everything about both of his wives – everything,” Brodsky said. “I feel bad about Drew still not taking responsibility and Stacy still being missing. I’m thinking about maybe revealing what happened to Stacy and where she is.”
Legal experts, however, say that revealing such information is unheard of and breaks the trust of the legal system.
“No. This is a this is a line you don’t cross,” trial attorney Mark Geragos said during an appearance Tuesday night on NewsNation’s “Banfield.”
“You don’t do it because you justify yourself. You don’t do it because you’re angry at your disciplinary system and you’re gonna strike back under the mantle of ‘I’m gonna give the victim’s family some peace of mind,’ Geragos said.
Criminal defense attorney Mark O’Mara also weighed in, saying that both Brodsky and Peterson “love publicity.”
That in and of itself, is not a reason to betray a client’s trust, O’Mara said.
“Brodsky, in one sense, has nothing to lose, because he’s never going to practice law again. And this sort of suggestion that, OK, ‘I’m going to tell something because I now can,’ I find it not only disgusting and despicable, but it really, it affects and undermines the very fabric of the criminal justice system,” O’Mara said.
“Now, if these potential clients think ‘I could pull a Brodsky,’ and that’s what it’s now going to be called. And for my own personal reasons, frustration with this system, I’m going to start telling secrets of a client,’ no one’s going to tell us what they need to tell us to effectively represent them,” O’Mara said.