CHESTER, Ill., July 29 (UPI) — A former Chicago area police officer convicted of killing his wife more than a decade ago — and remains the chief suspect in the disappearance of his wife after that — will now die in prison for trying to exact revenge against the prosecutor who put him away, a judge ruled Friday.
Drew Peterson was sentenced to 40 additional years in prison for trying to arrange the $10,000 contract killing of Will County, Ill., prosecutor James Glasgow two years ago — a plot that was exposed by a prison cellmate Peterson recruited to carry out the hit.
During Friday’s sentencing, Peterson spoke for 25 minutes while addressing Randolph County Judge Richard Brown and, at one point, the prosecutor he tried to have killed.
“Jim Glasgow, there was never any intent to have you killed,” he said, which was immediately met by an objection from prosecutors.
“That’s alright, I’m done,” Peterson answered.
Outside the courtroom, Glasgow dismissed Peterson’s words and called him a “patronizing con man.”
“He is deluded,” he added.
Peterson, 62, has claimed that his discussions with the prison cellmate, which were tape-recorded by the inmate, were not serious attempts to have Glasgow killed.
According to Peterson, he was only trying to help shave time off his cellmate’s jail term by giving him something to report to authorities. None of the prosecutors, trial jurors or the judge bought it, however, and he was convicted in May of solicitation of murder for hire.
Peterson has never admitted responsibility for the drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004 or the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, three years later — whose remains are still yet to be found.
In 2012, Peterson was sentenced to 38 years for Savio’s death.
Before Friday, Peterson was scheduled to be released from prison in 2047 at the age of 93. The additional 40 years tacked onto the end of his term, though, assures he will die in prison.
Peterson was a 30-year member of the Bolingbrook Police Department, near Chicago, and was once named the department’s “Police Officer of the Year.”
