Drew Peterson , the former Chicago police officer accused of killing his third wife, was sentenced to 38 years in prison for the murder of Kathleen Savio.
Savio’s death in 2004 had initially been ruled accidental until Peterson’s fourth wife came out missing in 2007 and investigators decided to take a second look at it. After denying a plea deal, a retrial ensued.
Peterson was convicted last September of killing Savio and was facing a maximum of 60 years in prison.
Savio was found dead in a bathtub, and her death was at first ruled accidental. She and Peterson at the time were going through a contentious divorce.
Peterson’s defense attorneys told reporters they would appeal the conviction, saying the trial had been riddled with problems.
"They changed the rules to convict him, they changed the evidence," said attorney Steve Greenberg. "They changed everything."
The Illinois state legislature passed a law, dubbed "Drew's law," in response to the case, loosening requirements for circumstantial evidence.
Peterson was a police sergeant in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and over the years has carried out a high-profile public relations campaign asserting his innocence both in the death of Savio and the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, who is presumed dead. He is the only suspect in her disappearance.
Witnesses testified in the trial that Peterson threatened Savio, tried to hire a hit man and said he could make her death look like an accident.
Prosecutor James Glasgow, asked what he was thinking when looking at Peterson in the Joliet courtroom on Thursday, said: "You're a cold-blooded murderer and I'll stare you down until I die."
Peterson's first and second wives have remarried.
The Peterson case was the inspiration for a popular Lifetime television network movie, "Untouchable," based on the case, starring Rob Lowe.
