The lawsuit is no surprise to Peterson. But it is surprising the civil suit would be filed before the criminal proceedings are complete.
"Greed. True greed. I'm looking right at you people. This is greed and you know it," said Drew Peterson.
Money is the motive behind the wrongful death suit, according to Peterson, which was filed by the estate of Kathleen Savio. Savio was found dead in a bathtub five years ago. The cause was originally ruled an accident, but has since been ruled a homicide.
"I want to make it very clear this is not about money. It's about justice and getting the money for the kids," said Sue Doman, plaintiff, Savio's sister.
The lawsuit alleges Peterson planned to assault, batter, and murder Savio after a contentious divorce that included physical assault.
"I don't think there is anything that will come out. I still believe she died of an accident," said Peterson.
Peterson's attorneys says the civil case may even be helpful to them because it will allow them to use witnesses they weren't able to call before.
"See, we'll be able to get a lot of information because of this lawsuit we weren't able to get before. So clearly this is a good thing," said Joel Brodsky, Peterson attorney.
> Filing a civil suit before a criminal case is actually complete is highly unusual. The Savio family and their attorneys they say it's time to get justice one way or the other.
"We felt it was time to take some action and keep the wheels of justice moving forward," said Martin Glink, Savio family attorney.
"When he is convicted I will be 100% satisfied with that. But closure? I don't know if I will ever get that," said Doman.
Three attorneys represent the Savio family in the lawsuit. One of them is John Q. Kelly, who represented Nicole Brown Simpson's family in the wrongful death lawsuit against OJ Simpson. He hopes the civil suit will put pressure on the Will County attorneys.
On Tuesday, Will County attorneys said they don't believe the civil suit will have any effect on their criminal case, which they said is moving along.
