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Ousted defense attorney for Drew Peterson, Steve Greenberg, speaks to the media outside the Will County courthouse July 31, 2012 in Joliet, Ill.
By NBC News staff
Drew Peterson has fired one of the member of his defense team who argued against calling Kathleen Savio’s divorce lawyer as a defense witness, testimony that jurors later said convinced them to render a guilty verdict.
Peterson notified attorney Steve Greenberg of his firing Tuesday. Greenberg told NBCChicago.com he was shocked to learn he’d been fired days after jurors disclosed that divorce lawyer Harry Smith’s testimony tipped the scales in the prosecution’s favor.
Despite Greenberg's and the rest of the defense team’s objections, it was Peterson's lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, who ultimately called Smith to the stand.
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Smith told jurors that Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, asked him if she could get more money in a divorce if she threatened to tell police about her husband’s role in Savio’s death.
"For some reason, Drew blindly follows Joel Brodsky, which is just shocking because I think it's Brodsky's strategy that got him indicted and, frankly, Brodsky's strategy that got him convicted," Greenberg told NBCChicago.com.
Greenberg had argued with Brodsky against several motions during the prosecution’s case to limit what Smith could tell jurors under state questioning, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“I’ve filed 74 (expletive) motions to keep him out and now you’re going to undo all of it," Greenberg told Brodsky, which was overheard during the trial, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Greenberg also said he also would have never allowed Peterson and Brodsky to go on a big media blitz, giving radio and television interviews back in 2007.
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“I think Mr. Peterson was represented by five wonderful lawyers out of six," Greenberg told the Chicago Tribune. “His loyalty to the sixth is disconcerting.”
Brodsky said Greenberg was fired for poor performance, saying he was often unprepared in court.
"He's been terminated for his failure to perform and failure to accomplish the task for which he was hired," Brodsky told the Tribune.
Brodsky also called Greenberg "unprofessional" for going public.
Peterson was convicted earlier this month of first-degree murder in the drowning death of Savio, his third wife. Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in October 2007.
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