12/19/2007 (www.foxnews.com) The Big Story Guest: Joel Brodsky

“Peterson hires Private Investigators, Concerns GJ Leaks”

http://www.acandyrose.com/2007-12-19-BigStoryJohnGibson.htm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317634,00.html

This is a rush transcript from "The Big Story With John Gibson and Heather Nauert," December 19, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JOHN GIBSON, "BIG STORY" CO-HOST: Meantime, her husband, Drew Peterson says he has now hired his own private investigators to search for Stacy. From the get-go, he's been saying that he thinks Stacy ran away with another man, so where is Drew looking? With us now for a big story exclusive interview is Drew Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky. Joel, welcome. So, you know just —

JOEL BRODSKY, DREW PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: Hello.

GIBSON: A number of things to cover with you if you don't mind but let's start with hiring the private eye. Drew hires a private eye. Where does he think Stacy is?

BRODSKY: Well, that's what the private eye is hired to find out. We're starting by following up electronic leads, text messages, cell phone calls, things of that nature, and seeing where they lead us. They just started, and that's how they are going to start proceeding.

GIBSON: Joel, the — there are now reports that Drew's kids may be called before the grand jury. What can you tell us about that?

BRODSKY: Well, I know that his older boy is — they were called before the grand jury but they weren't interviewed by the grand jury. There is a child advocacy center where they were questioned by the state's attorneys because they are rather young, they're teenagers, I think 13 and 14, and they were fully interviewed once. I haven't heard that they were going to be called again, but if they are called, they are subject to grand jury jurisdiction and will have to come.

NAUERT: Joel, you've been saying that you want a special prosecutor named in this case. Why is that?

BRODSKY: Yes, bebcause of the leaks. Every day, practically.

NAUERT: Do you know for a fact that there are leaks coming from this grand jury?

BRODSKY: Absolutely, and I know that the state police are just as frustrated as we are with them. They don't want the investigation being disclosed to the public any more than we do.

NAUERT: Now, the state's attorney's office though says that no leaks are taking place, and by the way leaks, if you want to call them that, could come from witnesses and that's not necessarily a banned thing

BRODSKY: No, but I — we never believe that anything was coming from the state's attorney's office, but the state's attorney, in order to —

NAUERT: No, I said the state's attorney's office says leaks just aren't happening, that you all are wrong.

BRODSKY: No. Well, they're wrong. For example, the bank records, and the cell phone records, those records are given to the grand jury and then handed out by the state's attorney to the various investigating agencies. I'm sure that the cell phone company didn't disclose what the cell phone records said and I'm sure that the bank didn't disclose what the bank records said. So, the only way -

NAUERT: But Joel it isn't illegal for witnesses to come out and tell members of the press or anybody else what they testified to.

BRODSKY: Well, that's why I mentioned about cell phone records and bank records because under bank privacy laws and electronic communication privacy laws, it would be illegal for the cell phone companies and the bank companies to talk about what they have disclosed to the grand jury. That's why I'm saying that these two items show that there is a leak

GIBSON: All right. But Joel, even if it's a leak, these records evidently show that Drew was in a certain area where he says he wasn't. That's where his cell phone apparently pinged, and that's why they conducted that search which has now being called off of that canal. Can explain where Drew was if his phone is pinging in an area where he says he wasn't?

BRODSKY: Well, like I say, I'm not going to get into time lines about where Drew said he was. He gave that to the state police, but anybody that's ever had a problem with their cell phone bill knows that the cell phone records are not 100 percent reliable. They have millions upon millions of bits of data coming in almost an hourly basis and you know, while they are somewhat indicative of what can happen, they are not 100 percent reliable as we've just found out when the state police realized there are nothing there.

NAUERT: Joel, you are his attorney, why can't you tell us what his alibi is?

BRODSKY: Well, because as any good lawyer will tell you, once you give a statement once and give it to the authorities — that's where it ends. And we're not going to go into the detail about that. Now, if the Illinois State Police wish to release the copy of Drew's statement, that's fine, but we're not going to give another statement or another explanation about the timeline on that night. Remember, they said he's a suspect. He's the target of their investigation, so we have to be cautious.

GIBSON: Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson's attorney. Big exclusive interview here in the Big Story. Joel, thanks a lot. We'll talk to you again.

BRODSKY: My pleasure.