"No reasonably competent lawyer would have his client go on TV and talk and talk and talk," Steven Greenberg, Peterson's current attorney, said of Brodsky, the attorney who led the defense during the 2012 trial.
Peterson, 59, was convicted in the 2004 bathtub death of his third-wife, Kathleen Savio. The case was originally classified an accident, but reopened in 2007 when his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared. Stacy remains missing, and Peterson is considered a suspect in that case, but has never been charged.
Peterson faces up to 60 years in prison.
In a last ditch effort before sentencing, Peterson, 59, asked for a new trial.
Greenberg was on Peterson's counsel in 2012, too. When asked by Judge Edward Burmila, who presided over the murder trial, why Peterson, who had multiple attorneys, only listened to Brodsky, Greenberg said working with Brodsky was a "dictatorship."
That statement led Brodsky, in the overflow room at the courthouse, to laugh out loud and slap the bench. Greenberg and Brodsky have been sparring publicly for months, and Brodsky took the stand on Tuesday.
The family of Stacy Peterson has witnessed the 2012 trial, the public fight between lawyers, and believes the judge should move ahead with the sentencing.
"There is nothing unethical about what happened in trial with the defense team. They just [made a] poor decision," Pam Bosco, Stacy Peterson family spokesperson, said.
Cassandra Cales, Stacy Peterson's sister, has not missed a day of court. She is confident that Peterson will spend the rest of his life in prison.
"It makes me feel good to see Drew not being in control, being locked up," Cales said. "I can see the emotional toll it has actually taken on him."
Former judge: Peterson defense "ineffective"
Greenberg argued Wednesday that Peterson's 2012 trial was botched by the defense team led by Brodsky. On Wednesday, Greenberg called former judge Daniel Locallo to testify during the second day of a re-trial hearing before Judge Edward Burmila.
"I stated in the courtroom, Mr. Brodsky representation was prejudicial to Mr. Peterson. His tactics and contract receiving sufficient enough to cause trouble," Locallo said.
Locallo said Brodsky's decision to call a divorce attorney for Peterson's missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, was "not a reasonable trial strategy." Locallo, who now practices law, also said he agrees with a statement made by lead prosecutor James Glasgow in 2012 that the defense's decision to call that witness was a "gift from God."
"He is the one delivering, in Mr. Glasgow's words, 'a gift from God,'" Locallo said.
Locallo said it was "ineffective" because it was the first time the jury heard a witness suggest Peterson killed Savio. Many jurors on the Peterson trial have said that testimony clinched Peterson's murder conviction.
"Up until that point, there had not been any direct evidence in respect to Mr. Peterson causing the demise of Ms. Savio," the retired judge testified.
Prosecutors, who did not call any witnesses during the re-trial hearing, argued that Peterson's defense attorneys had 130 years of experience between them, and made a "strategic decision" to call the witness.
