CHICAGO – Drew Peterson's defense lawyers called an ethics teacher and even trial spectator to the stand during an offbeat hearing Tuesday as they sought to persuade a judge to grant the former suburban Chicago police officer a new murder trial.

The spectacle was in many ways a continuation of public feud between Peterson's current legal team and his former lead attorney. The current lawyers claim former lead trial counsel Joel Brodsky botched the 2012 trial at which Peterson was found guilty of killing his third wife.

If Will County Judge Edward Burmila rejects the motion for a retrial, he has said he would move on to Peterson's sentencing.