Drew Peterson, a former Chicago cop convicted last year of murdering his ex-wife, was sentenced to 38 years of imprisonment Thursday. It was the lesser sentence because the judge said, he took into account Peterson's service in the military and on the police force.
The 59-year-old Peterson faced a maximum penalty of 60 years in jail for drowning Kathleen Savio, his third wife, in her bathtub. He was also given four years' credit for the time he served since his 2009 arrest, reported the Associated Press. Illinois does not have death penalty.
Judge Edward Burmila sentenced Peterson just after he screamed, "I did not kill Kathleen."
"Yes, you did! You liar!" said Savio's sister Susan Doman.
She was removed from the courtroom following the orders by the judge.
Peterson blamed Will County State Attorney James Glasgow.
"All aspects of my life have been destroyed," he said. "And in telling you this, I'm not looking for any sympathy, but anything you sentence me to, you're sentencing me to the Department of Corrections to die!"
He further said that his constitutional rights were violated by giving him "cruel and unusual punishment."
The Associated Press reported that after Thursday's hearing, Glasgow said that people got an opportunity to see a "psychopath" reveal himself.
"That shrill...screech. ... That's the guy killed Kathy," he said.
Initially Savio's death was ruled as an accidental death. But it attracted great attention from the people nationwide after the disappearance of Peterson's 23-year-old wife Stacy Peterson. This made authorities think to take a second look at Savio's death and rule that she was a victim of malicious killing.
Peterson's trial was mostly based on hearsay - statements Savio made to others before she died and that Stacy made before she vanished. Illinois passed a hearsay law in 2008; modified to Drew Peterson's case and named it "Drew's Law," which assisted in making some of the evidence admissible, reported the Associated Press. It also reported that the prosecutors had no physical evidence against Peterson.
According to the Associated Press, the hearsay 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."
It was speculated that Peterson sought to use his law enforcement expertise to get away with murder, reported the Associated Press. Jurors convicted him of Savio's murder in Sept. 2012, although he is not been charged with Stacy's disappearance.
