(CNN) -- Despite defense criticisms of what it called a "shameful" leading question about whether Drew Peterson tried to intimidate a neighbor, a judge ruled Thursday that the former Chicago-area police officer's murder trial can proceed. Five witnesses took the stand in Joliet on Thursday, but not before lawyers from both sides argued about whether a mistrial should be ordered, thus bringing the entire case back to square one. This debate followed testimony Wednesday by Thomas Pontarelli, a Bolingbrook, Illinois, neighbor of Peterson's ex-wife Kathleen Savio and one of those who found her dead in a dry, clean bathtub on March 1, 2004.
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Drew Peterson's lawyer calls prosecutors "shameful" and demands a mistrial
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The judge refuses, though he strikes a part of the testimony of one witness
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The former police officer is charged with murder in the 2004 death of his third wife
Thomas Pontarelli
But he also said the trial should continue and that the jury could consider the rest of @placeholder's testimony.