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| FILE - In this May 8, 2009 file photo, former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant Drew Peterson arrives at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., for his arraignment on charges of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife Kathleen Savio. On Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, Will County Judge Edward Burmila sentenced Peterson to 38 years in prison for Savio's murder. |
JOLIET, Ill.
(AP) -- Drew Peterson - the swaggering Chicago-area police officer who
gained notoriety after his much-younger fourth wife vanished in 2007 -
was sentenced to 38 years in prison on Thursday for murdering his third
wife.
The sentence came moments after Peterson
shocked the courtroom with a rare public outburst of anger as he
proclaimed his innocence in the death of Kathleen Savio.
"I did not kill Kathleen!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, emphasizing every word.
Peterson
seemed to look across the courtroom at Savio's family. Savio's sister
Susan Doman shot back "Yes, you did. You liar!" before the judge ordered
sheriff's deputies to remove her from the courtroom.
Illinois
does not have the death penalty, and the 59-year-old Peterson had faced
a maximum 60-year prison term. The judge gave him four years' credit
for time he has served since his arrest.
Jurors
convicted Peterson in September in Savio's 2004 death. Neighbors found
the 40-year-old's body in a dry bathtub at home with a gash on her head -
her hair soaked in blood.
Peterson is also a
suspect in the disappearance of Stacy Peterson - who was 23-years-old
when she vanished - but he hasn't been charged in her case. It was her
disappearance that led authorities to take another look at Savio's death
and eventually reclassify it from an accident to a homicide.
Fascination
nationwide with Drew Peterson arose from speculation he sought to use
his law enforcement expertise to get away with murder.
After
his courtroom outburst, Peterson addressed the judge with a rambling
speech, claiming he had been railroaded. He spoke in mostly hushed
tones, crying and trying to regain his composure at times. His voice
quivered and his hands were shaking as he reached out for a glass of
water.
He aimed some of his anger at lead
prosecutor James Glasgow, saying sarcastically that Glasgow could now
celebrate because he had destroyed Peterson's life.
"You
perpetrated the largest railroad job ever in this country," Peterson
told him. Minutes later, Peterson challenged Glasgow to look him in the
eyes. Glasgow, who had been taking notes, laid down his pen, folded his
arms and looked straight back at Peterson.
"Never forget what you've done here," Peterson said, gritting his teeth.
Peterson
had divorced Savio a year before her death. His motive for killing her,
prosecutors said, was fear that a pending settlement would wipe him out
financially.
"We all got an opportunity to
see a psychopath reveal himself in open court," Glasgow told reporters
after Thursday's hearing as he called Peterson a "cold-blooded killer."
Before
Thursday, Peterson had never publicly showed concern about the serious
charges and the possible sentence he faced. The glib, cocky former
police officer seemed to taunt authorities before his 2009 arrest,
suggesting a "Win a Date With Drew Contest" and then, after his arrest,
"Win a Conjugal Visit With Drew Contest." More recently, his story
inspired a TV movie starring Rob Lowe.
His
personality loomed large over his trial, illustrated by crowds of
bystanders gathered outside the courthouse in a circuslike atmosphere
after his conviction last year, cheering as prosecutors walked by and
shouting, "Loser. Loser. Loser," at defense attorneys.
Savio's family members told the judge Thursday that they hoped she was somehow watching the proceedings.
"I
hope she is haunting him in his dreams," said Henry Savio Jr., the
victim's brother. "I hope ... she is watching his descent into hell."
Savio added his only consolation was that Peterson would be "rotting in prison for the rest of his life."
The verdict was a vindication for Glasgow and his team, who gambled by putting on a case they conceded was filled with holes.
Prosecutors
had no physical evidence tying Peterson to Savio's death and no
witnesses placing him at the scene. They were forced to rely on
typically barred hearsay - statements Savio made to others before she
died and that Stacy Peterson made before she vanished. Illinois passed a
hearsay law in 2008 tailored to Drew Peterson's case, dubbed "Drew's
Law," which assisted in making some of the evidence admissible at
Peterson's trial.
The hearsay - any
information reported by a witness not based on the witness' direct
knowledge - included a friend testifying that Savio told her Peterson
once put a knife to her throat and warned her, "I could kill you and
make it look like an accident."
A turning
point at the trial came when the defense called a divorce attorney who
said he spoke to Stacy Peterson before she vanished. Rather than
blunting her credibility, the witness stressed to jurors that Stacy
Peterson seemed to truly believe her husband killed Savio.
Earlier
Thursday, Judge Edward Burmila denied a defense request to grant Drew
Peterson a retrial. Peterson's current attorneys contended his former
lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, botched the initial trial and had been the
one to decide to call Smith to the stand. Brodsky stepped down from the
defense team in November, as his quarrel with Peterson's current lawyers
worsened.
Prosecutors suspect Peterson killed
his sandy-haired fourth wife because she could finger him for Savio's
death, but her body has never been found and no charges have ever been
filed. Jurors weren't supposed to link her disappearance to Savio's
death, and prosecutors were prohibited from mentioning the subject.
Peterson has maintained his fourth wife ran off with another man and is still alive.
Peterson's
attorneys have said they might appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court on grounds Illinois' hearsay law is unconstitutional.
