(Image Source: Tom Gianni/ WMAQ ) BY ELIZABETH HAGEDORN ANCHOR ZACH TOOMBS Ex-cop Drew Peterson has been sentenced to 38 years in prison --  eight and a half years after his ex-wife was found dead in a bathtub. Chicago’s WLS-TV has the latest. “He took the witness stand and the first thing out of his mouth ... he screamed into the microphone with a look of rage on his face, and looked directly at Kathleen Savio’s face and screamed ‘I did not kill Kathleen.’” Kathleen Savio’s drowning death was initially ruled an accident in 2004. But after the disappearance of Peterson’s then 23-year-old fourth wife, Stacy Peterson in 2007, investigators exhumed Savio’s body and ruled her death a homicide. (Via WBBM , WJW ) Peterson gained notoriety for his role as a suspect in the disappearance of Stacy, but was never charged. After years of delays over hearsay evidence, a jury in September found Peterson guilty for Savio’s murder. In this latest court battle, Peterson’s lawyers attempted to persuade the judge that the 59-year-old defendant deserved a retrial. ( Via Fox News ) WMAQ reports several jurors said they changed their mind after the defense team’s decision to bring a divorce attorney to the stand backed fired on them. The attorney, who spoke to Stacy before her disappearance, testified that she told him she believed her husband killed Savio. Prior to his sentencing, Peterson accused the prosecution of staging the homicide and conducting “one of the most expensive investigations in the history of the United States.” Kathleen Savio’s brother told media after the ruling. “I’ll never have my sister again. I still have to go see her in a cemetery, but at least I know she’ll have justice and there isn’t a cold-blooded killer out there.” ( Video via KSDK ) The judge denied the request of the defense give the Peterson a new trial.