JOLIET – A judge decided against declaring a mistrial in Drew Peterson's murder case Thursday, criticizing prosecutors for entering inadmissible evidence but concluding the former police officer still can get a fair trial.

Testimony resumed shortly after the in-court legal drama that threatened to end the high-profile trial before it had barely begun.

The ruling by Judge Edward Burmila followed several blunders by prosecutors, who are seeking to prove the 58-year-old Peterson killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was found in a dry bathtub in 2004. He also is a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, but has never been charged in her case.