JOLIET, ILLINOIS – A swaggering Chicago-area police officer whose sensational story inspired a TV movie starring Rob Lowe was sentenced to 38 years in prison Thursday for murdering his wife.
Drew Peterson, 59, had divorced Kathleen Savio, his third wife, a year before her death in 2004 at age 40. His motive for killing her, prosecutors said, was fear that a pending settlement would wipe him out financially.
Fascination with Peterson arose from speculation he sought to use his law enforcement expertise to get away with murder.
Peterson is also a suspect in the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, his fourth wife who was 23 years old when she vanished in 2007, but he has not 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.
Peterson’s sentence came moments after he shocked the courtroom with a rare public outburst of anger as he proclaimed his innocence in Savio’s death.
“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.
Lead state prosecutor James Glasgow said it exposed the real Peterson — the one more than capable of murder.
Illinois does not have the death penalty, and 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. Neighbors found Savio’s body in a dry bathtub at home with a gash on her head — her hair soaked in blood.
After his outburst, Peterson addressed the judge with a rambling speech, claiming he had been unfairly convicted. He spoke in mostly hushed tones, crying and trying to regain his composure at times. His voice quivered and his hands shook as he reached for a glass of water.
He aimed some of his anger at Glasgow, saying sarcastically that Glasgow could now celebrate because he has destroyed Peterson’s life. Minutes later, he 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 him. “Never forget what you’ve done here,” Peterson said, gritting his teeth.
Earlier Thursday, Judge Edward Burmila denied a defense request to grant Peterson a retrial. Peterson’s attorneys contended his former lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, botched the initial trial.
A turning point at the trial came when the defense called a divorce attorney who said he spoke to Stacy Peterson before she vanished. Although a witness for the defense, he stressed to jurors that Stacy Peterson seemed to truly believe her husband had killed Savio in 2004.
Before Thursday, Peterson had never publicly showed concern about the severity of the charges and the possible sentence he faced. The glib, cocky Peterson seemed to taunt authorities before his 2009 arrest, suggesting a “Win a Date With Drew Contest” and then, after his arrest, a “Win a Conjugal Visit With Drew Contest.”
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.
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 normally 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 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.”
Peterson’s attorneys have said they might appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds the hearsay law is unconstitutional.
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. Peterson has maintained his fourth wife ran off with another man and is still alive.
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